We woke up this morning and explored our surroundings at our new hotel, The Black Orchid. Olaf was impressed with these shells that are as big as he is.
We left out in the morning towards the Mayan ruins of Lamanai. On the way we saw men working in the sugar cane fields. They let a fire run through the field prior to harvesting, which makes it more brittle and easier to cut (and as an added bonus... the fire chases all the snakes out of the field!)
You know how we have a sugar beet factory close by? They have a sugar cane factory!
While we were waiting to board our boat we found a playground and Olaf wanted to try out the slide.
...and the swing!
All 40 of us boarded our boat for the 90 minute journey up the river (the roads are pretty bad to Lamanai so boat is a great way to travel!) Along the way our captain/guide stopped the boat and showed us different plants and animals along the river.
Here are cacti that look like snakes:
If you look closely you can see little crocodiles sunning themselves on the branch:
Olaf thought they were neat... from a distance.
An iguana on the river bank (how in the world did our guide spot these driving speedily along the river?!)
We came across a distillery (where rum is made) and the sugar factory that produces molasses and brown sugar. These barges are completely full of brown sugar (my favorite!)
We saw another Mennonite village. Like at home, the Mennonites here practice different levels of modernization. The ones we visited the first day were the most modern I have ever come across. These ones don't use electricity or even rubber. The tires on that tractor are replaced with metal ones.
When we arrived at the ruins the narrow river opens up into a large, beautiful lake.
This jaguar face was on the first pyramid we saw. It was the perfect size for Olaf. (Again, most of the sites here give complete permission to touch and climb the ruins. The only time they rope them off is if they deem them too dangerous to climb and if there are any inscriptions still remaining.)
We've probably climbed over a dozen temples this trip and Olaf wanted to take a little nap at the top of this one.
Can you find the little brown frog?
Just like animals, some plants have a symbiotic relationship. But this plant is a parasite, aptly named the "strangler fig." You can hardly see the tree trunk through the vines.
We found another ball court! Olaf has his game face on.
Just like at other sites, the ruins here at Lamanai have several layers of temple designs. Rather than tear them down and start over they would just build them in front of and on top of the old one. This one had designs added in front at some point in time.
This is the last temple we will climb on our trip! Olaf is sad but a little relieved!
This is one of the temples that has the front roped off. Only 1% of all the structures here are cleared off. So all the temples that you've seen pictures of only have the front exposed. This temple is best to climb up the back. Look at how steep the steps are!
We saw (and heard) more howler monkeys!
There are two woodpeckers with red heads in this picture.
These faces are a reconstruction. The originals are behind the reconstructed faces.
A stela with a picture of a king with a head-dress.
It's so crazy. This is a metate they would use to grind corn. It's made of (I think) granite or some other rock that can't be found anywhere near here (remember, everything here is limestone!) so they know that these people were able to trade with others from Guatemala, Mexico, etc. Also, you can touch it, pick it up, take pictures of it... It's crazy what they'll let you do here!
This is a Black Orchid. It's the national flower of Belize.
We found Olaf a friend. They hung out on this polished wood stump during dinner. We ate fish and lobster, even though we rarely eat seafood. But when the whole country is never further than 60 miles from the ocean you have to try the seafood!
Olaf hanging out on an old rusty anchor at the restaurant.
Today's trip was lots of fun! Lamanai weren't the biggest ruins but they had some neat history. This was the only ancient Mayan city to still be inhabited at the time of the Spaniards' arrival in the 1600's. All the other sites were abandoned around 900bc. So this is the only site we know the real Mayan name for: Lam'an'ain (the Spaniards simplified it to Lamanai) which means "submerged crocodile." We were also able to see some really cool, diverse wildlife from the boat.
It was an un-belize-able experience! (not my pun... the tour guides use that one about 50 times a day! ha!)
