Belize May 2005 - September2005
Once
over the border into Belize, the difference from Mexico was
instantly noticeable. All the signs were in English, the language was
English, or a Creole mix depending on who is talking to who, and the
general feel was much different. The town of Orange Walk
itself, which was my destination, gave me the feel of a place
struggling to survive. A lot of hotels were closed down, and there were
quite a few drinking dens scattered around. It reminded me of Tennants
Creek in Australia,
which only seems to be exist because you need a town there to make a
convenient stop off whilst on the way to somewhere else. That said,
everyone was friendly enough, and I stayed in a Japanese run hotel
opposite a Chinese restaurant which was up for sale.
The trip
to Lammanai was one of the best ones I’ve ever been on. The
river boat journey to the site was interesting, and the guide pointed
out things like orchids, river snakes, iguanas and crocodiles. We
stopped off to talk to some young mnemonites, who are a religious sect
descended from German settlers, and are a little bit like the Amish,
not believing in technology or modern ways, except these kids
were smoking and listening to heavy metal on a portable stereo. It must
be frustrating for them being surrounded by the modern world, but not
allowed to take part in it.
We arrived at the site
and had a meal before going around. Lammanai itself was not a
particularly outstanding site, but it was interesting for several
reasons. The area had been inhabited from around 1500BC right through
until the early 1800’s, there was a large carved face on the
front of one of the temples, and there were no Chac’s with
the goggle eyes and trunk nose. There were only three of us on the trip
which made it all the more personal. It started to rain towards the
end, but it was still warm, and in a way unique to climb to the top of
a 100 foot temple in a downpour. Caught the 'St. Trinians' bus to
Belize City with no problems, and after a bit of wandering around
aimlessly, found myself a suitably dodgy guest house for the night. The
whole of Belize City is like one decrepit shanty town, seedy and
sleazy, and I loved it!
I had planned to visit a site called
Altun Ha, but circumstances worked against me, so I decided that the
best thing to do was spend the weekend on Caye
Caulker, which is a tiny island in the Carribean an hour from
the city. The water taxi over there was pretty nippy, and the sea was
calm. When we docked, I bumped into a girl I’d met at
Palenque and we had a quick chat before I wandered off to find myself a
shed to stay in for a few nights. At 20 Belize dollars it was easily
the cheapest place on the island.
Did
a lot of chilling out and taking it easy (it’s a hard life!),
and booked a snorkeling trip for the following day, which was
absolutely fantastic! The first stop at the coral reef was just to get
used to snorkeling again, which I found to be no problem. There were
thousands of fish around with every colour and pattern imaginable, and
the coral itself was of all shapes and sizes, with natural channels to
swim through. The second boat stop was to swim with the sharks and
rays. It’s a little unnerving at first, feeding a ray with
fish from your hand six feet underwater, whilst sharks are swimming
just beneath , but it’s one hell of an experience! There were
probably about 20 rays in all, and three sharks. I could have spent the
whole day there, but had to move on in the end . What a memory though!
The
day after, I decided to spend on the island not doing a great deal, so
nothing to report other than I finished reading a book and drank a
couple of bottles of Guinness.
Last day of the month, the
31st, and I headed back to the mainland and caught a bus out to San
Ignacio, known locally as Cayo. Settled into the hotel and
had a wander around whilst I planned what to do in the area. The
following day I visited the site of Xunantunich, which involved
catching a local bus, and then a short ferry ride (as in 1minute)
across a small river. There were some nice carved friezes at the site
and some stelae, but no images of Chac the rain god. Although
these civilisations further out from the Yucatan region are classed as
Maya sites, the religious aspect seems to be missing from them. I
managed to take a short video of an iguana walking near the
river which looks pretty cool, and when I got back, I booked a tour to
visit the ATM cave for the following day.
Unfortunately, the
following day the tour was cancelled because during the night a storm
had blocked the path with fallen trees, but I’d heard good
things about the tour, so I made up my mind to stay an extra day and
re-schedule it.
And it was a good job I did too as
the experience was totally amazing. It was about three
quarters of an hour away from the town, and at the end of a dirt track,
we ditched the van and hiked in for a few kilometres crossing several
streams and climbing over some of the fallen trees which were still to
be cleared. We reached the cave entrance, and stopped for a food break
before entering the system itself. Off with the t-shirt, on
with the safety helmet and we started with a short swim into the cave.
My boots were feeling pretty heavy by now, I can tell you! After that,
it was a series of wading, clambouring over rocks, squeezing through
gaps, climbing and swimming. It really was great fun, and Carlos the
guide was very passionate about what he was doing . The rock formations
with stalactites and stalagmites were some of the best I’ve
seen, and the cave was pristine.
After
a couple of hours, we reached the back chamber where the Mayans had
left their offerings to the Gods.
This
place was so cool it’s unbelievable! Right there at my feet
and fingertips were pottery and skeletons calcified to the floor over
time, exactly as they had been left over a thousand years ago. The
unique aspect of the cave is that you can be that close to
something so ancient, and know that it hasn’t been
moved in all that time. Seeing artifacts in museums is all fine and
good, but seeing it in situ like that was a real privilege. The whole
excursion was mind blowing, a wonderful mixture of fun, exercise,
challenge and history. Met up with a couple of people after the trip,
and moved on to Tikal with Mark, an American lad of about the same age
the following day.
The border crossing from Belize into
Guatemala had the normal chaotic scenes of backed up traffic, money
changers and people wandering around cluelessly.