Escape to Belize - Lamanai Mayan Temples

 We wanted to do a little more exploring of the Mayan Culture - there are a lot of sites there on Belize, and into Costa Rica. We decided to go back to the Mainland and head to a site called Lamanai.

It was one of the oldest, continuously inhabited sites, and they think it was inhabited until about 1600's.

But to get to it -

we woke up at 4:30 again and headed to the Ferry

Thats us - we were a little tired still.... but check out our boat 👇  Thats the ferry you take to the mainland - and the sun was coming up - it was SO pretty... and a little wet - 

We got to Belize City and were ( was?) Picked up by our driver - he took us to the Orange Walk - and we boarded a smaller boat - along with 9 other people ....

For a Great ride up the river!!! 

Three of the other folks were from England. They were there working on a conservation project, but the man was an avid bird watcher. So we got to stop and see a lot of crazy birds along the river. I apparently have good eyes, since I was the one who spyed such things. I was told to just raise my hand every time I saw a bird or a iguana - and if I saw a crocodile they would be very happy . I found a baby one....

And then - we arrived!!!!

The men who drove the boat served as our tour guides, they were also brothers. Oh! and they were also of Mayan descent.  This is the first temple he took us to - the boys started climbing right away. I might have waited a bit - I wanted to see them at the top first!

They made it!!! so I went up too - you just had to see how high it really was. And remember the original mayans were short - my son is 6'7" and he had to stretch on some of those steps!!

Hope you aren't afraid of Heights????

This one was the Jaguar Temple - this was the Jaguar. There was one on both sides. have you ever played angry birds?  For some reason these reminded me of that game.

I believe the one below is called the High Temple - it isn't climbable - which is probably okay - I think he said it was over 100ft tall.... to get to it you hiked back, and there was a ball court - where they played games.

This one ( above and below) is the Mask Temple - These masks are made differently and he said they probably had kept working on this temple up to the abandonment of the place.

They said they found the site in the early 1900's but the major excavations didn't begin until the 1970's

The high priests and the elite lived around the temples - then the outer layer was the peasants - the house below is what they lived in. I have to say it is not very big. The three of us pretty much filled the room. So I am guessing they were more of and outdoor culture...

Our guides mother made us Stewed chicken, rice, beans and plantains -that we ate for lunch and then got back on our boat to ride up the Orange walk....

We made it back to Belize city in time to catch the ferry - and see the sun set on our way.

After my last experience with jungle rains on the mainland - I took a change of clothes in my backpack!! ( You could leave it in your drivers car) just to make sure I wasn't going to be soaking wet on the way back to our house.... Smart right??

We have a few more days to vacation - so there's a few more photos to share!!

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