After a week in Ireland of weeding flower beds and veg beds, germinated the first batch of vegetables, enjoyed winter seafood and a few walking when weather is fine, it is time to head off to do a long trip, while there is still not much happening in the garden.
We have chosen to go to Belize for around 4 weeks, to enjoy snorkelling, visiting Mayan ruins, hiking, bird watching, and fishing. It gained independence from Britain in 1981 and is a rare English speaking country in that part of the world.
It involves 8 hours flight to Toronto, then 4 hours flight down to Belize city.
Even though Belize city is the major entry place to the country, it is a small town with mostly run down wooden buildings, once grand in the colonial era.
There are two Mayan sites in the north to visit. Mayans were very powerful from 200BC to 900 AD in Belize. Their decline was suspected to be due to climate change, with a prolonged period of drought leading to collapse of agriculture.
The closer one is Altun Ha, a site in the jungle with 7 temples for storing tombs of previous kings. A lot of valuables had been excavated, including a grapefruit size carved Sungod head in jade, the biggest piece of jade in Latin America.
It is easy to walk up 4 of the temples to see the layout of the place. I have a soft spot for ancient structures, always find them in good proportion and fantastic hand building ability.
The other Mayan ruin, Lamanai, is in the jungle next to a river, hence the most popular way to reach it is by boat. On the way, the guide pointed out a number of wildlife in the area, baby crocodile, tiger heron, osprey, tacoon, kingfishers etc.
Lamanai is a group of 3 buildings, built around 500AD, adorned by giant faces, only a few able to see clearly.
I walked up 2 of them just to feel the steepness of the steps, and the magnificent view at the top, of the tall trees in the jungle.
The third one cannot go up, not because it is in poor condition nor for preserving it, just because an unfortunate and careless tourist fall down a few years ago.
The guide said that Belize is the only country where you can still climb Mayan ruins, all other countries have forbidden this activity. All the more reason to climb as many as I could, I like to physically feel how much work gone into building structures like these.
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