Belize Lamanai Ruins - 22nd Dec 2008

We were up at 6:30 to catch a local bus just out side the Howler Monkey lodge.
We thought at first that we might get an empty bus, seeing as it was so early.
This only lasted for a couple of miles, as the driver continued to stop for local after local.
There are no official stops, just people sanding at the entrance to their drives who then wave the bus down.
By the time we arrived in Orange Walk, all the local men plus myself were standing at the back.
The seats were all taken by women who would squeeze 3 to a seat. The children just seemed to be stacked one on top of the other.
From Orange Walk, we changed bus and were dropped off at the boat rides to the Lamanai ruins.
Luck was on our side, as we hadn't booked but were able to jump onto the first boat leaving which had space.
The boat journey took about an hour and a half, as the driver would stop to point out the many variety of birds and plants as he drove along.

This strange thing is actually a cactus

Termites must be huge !!

On route, we passed a Mennonite sect, which is similar to the American Amish

If you have ever seen the film The Deliverance, you will know just how scary these two guys looked

Squeal Piggy Squeal !!!!!!

The rest of the locals seemed fine.
We stopped to chat with these two guys, who were fishing.
Their idea of fishing was to go out in a dug out canoe, which had gaffer tapes to cover the wholes.
They would then use a spear gun and dive into the water to look for fish.
It all sounded quite simple, until the guide mentioned that the river was also home to crocodiles !!!

















Once back on land, the guide led us around three of the main ruins which have been excavated to date.
He mentioned that there were 100's of other temples on the site which have not been excavated yet, as the previous excavations had caused too much damage to the temples.
The carving below is meant to have a large crocodile headdress, but this collapsed just after its excavation.

















The whole structure was uncovered in a bright red colour. This faded very quickly, which is one of the main reasons why future excavations have been placed on hold

The following is the largest of the 3 temples.

So we were told, the Mayans played a game between two players with a ball made of rubber.

The winner of the game was then chosen for sacrifice, which they thought was a great honor !!!

With so few good players, its no wonder the game never caught on.

The first thing you notice about the largest temple, is just how steep the steps are

The view from the top was fantastic.

The final temple was built for a queen.

All the other temples focused on crocodiles to represent the underworld.

The queen seemed to prefer the jaguar, and has carvings of them at the entrance to her temple.

The following shows the temple.

The following is meant to be a jaguar, and is part of the bottom left of the main temple

After our day at the ruins, we caught a local bus which was heading towards Orange Walk.

The first bus we flagged down drove passed us, but with the help of a local we managed to jump on the next one.

We jumped off the bus in Orange Walk and straight onto another bus heading for Chetumal, which is just over the boarder into Mexico.

The journey was cool, right up until the Mexican boarder.

We were the only tourists, so the bus driver had no intention of holding anyone else up as we navigated the various checks.

The first check on the Belize side wasn't too bad, as we managed to run out of the checkpoint and across a main road to jump in front of the bus which had to navigate a one way system back out to the main road.

The next stop at the Mexican boarder wasn't so successful.

The passport control guy decided to take lunch just as we turned up.

By the time we made it through, there was no bus to be seen.

We ended up waiting for half an hour in hope that the bus would eventually appear, but in the end we just gave up and jumped onto another local bus which took us into town.

It was late as we arrived into Chetumal, so we selected the closest accommodation t the bus station - BAD Move !!

The night club and the constant revving of engines wasn't too bad.

It was the scratching all night !!

The beds were lined with plastic under sheets, which mus have had something to do with the constant flow of men and women to and from the hallway outside.

The following morning, we got up very early and decided to move on.

We were both covered in bites, which was rather a worry as there wasn't a mosquito in sight :)

Being right on top of the bus station, we were soon on a bus heading for Tulum.

Belize - Black Howler Monkey 21st Dec 2008

Leaving Caye Caulker was a shame, but at least there was no rush for the boat.
We arrived at the dock for the 10am crossing, then waited another 45 minutes whilst the driver chatted and joked with some of the locals from the island.

After arriving back into Belize City, we had to kill some time before being picked up by a driver who was to take us to a monkey sanctuary.
We managed to find a local cafe, that only sold ice cream and waffles even though it advertised a full menu from the entrance.
For once, the driver turned up right on time.
After an hours drive, we arrived at Howler Monkey Lodge.
We were soon checked in and shown to our room ( see below ).
This was one of the better rooms on the lodge, although we weren't here for the comfort.
That said, the bed was one of the worst I have ever slept on. In hind sight it may have been better to have used the floor !!

We only had the one night here, so as soon as we were refreshed with a cold drink we headed off out to the visitor information which we had seen back on the main road as we approached.

We were greeted at the information centre by a local guide, who convinced us to do a 2 hour walk around the local area to look for the local Howler Monkeys.
He explained that the area was a nature reserve that the locals had set up without any government involvement.
It was all very simple. The locals who signed up would leave 20 feet at each boundary to grow wild. This would leave a 40 foot wide strip between each land owner which with over 90 involved, has created a natural environment for the Howling Monkeys to thrive.
Our guide walked us through peoples gardens, until he eventually found a group of Monkeys.
They had no fear of humans, as they had never been threatened.
The younger ones immediately climbed down from the trees to investigate, which meant that at times we were at eye level and only a foot away.

After our introduction to the monkeys, our guide them walked us around the edge of the forest pointing out different plants which were still used by locals as medicines.

After completing the walk, we decided that we would also give the night walk a go, where we would actually get to walk inside the forest but a night !!

We had our evening meal at the lodge, then set out again for the visitor centre to meet our guide.

This time we were met by a really old man who had worked for the last 20 years as an assistant to the many organisations that were involved with the Howling Monkeys.

This old guy was dressed in a bright yellow fisherman's wet weather coat, black welling boots and a beard that had never seen a razor. He looked like he was about to take us deep sea fishing, when in fact he was about to walk us into the forest in the pitch black.

The walk started from the local grave yard, which was the entrance to the forest.

We were told to follow our guide as quiet as possible, and to turn our torches off when he signalled to do so.

With two over weight brits traipsing through the forest, it was hard for us to keep quiet.

The old guy never made a sound as he walked over the fallen branches, which is not quite what could be said for us two.

We managed to catch sight of a armadillo for a split second, as it made for cover.

We also heard what we were told was an ant eater, but that was about it.

Our guide kept making us turn off our lights so we were standing in complete darkness, so that he could listen for the animals before heading off in their direction.

I think that our not so light feet might have had something to do with the fact that we didn't see a great deal that night.

The best part of the walk, was the fact that this old guy was able to take us right to the edge of the forest where our lodge was, even though we had not been following any laid out path and in complete darkness.

Belize - Caye Caulker 18th Dec 2008

After a dull night in Belize city, we got up early to catch the sea taxi over to the island of Caye Caulker.
Although the guest house wasn't that good, its location meant that within 5 minutes we had walked to the taxi dock and awaited our boat.

The moment the taxi pulled away from Belize city, you could see just how stunning the coast line of Belize was.
Its just a shame that the city itself lacked any reason to stay there.
The guide book warned about going out at night through fear of theft or worse !!

After a 45 minute journey, the boat pulled up at the dock for Caye Caulker.
We were immediately greeted by chilled out taxi drivers, all trying to offer us lifts.
These taxi's were different to any we had seen before - They were golf carts !!
There are no cars allowed on the island, although you have to question why you would want a taxi as you can walk the length in just over 10 minutes.

Caye Caulker was a real surprise.
There were no paved roads, just compacted sand with locals selling gifts that were being made in front of you.
The whole atmosphere here was really laid back, with the sounds of Bob Marley belting out from huge speakers from every bar and restaurant.
The locals would switch between Creole and English, although you could never understand them unless they were actually talking to you and slower than normal.

I spent the next 3 days diving, whilst Alison had to catch up on some washing :)
The diving here was great.
Alison commented that the washing was the same as else where - A women's work is never done !!

There were no early mornings for diving, just a leisurely 9am start where you didn't actually get away for at least another half an hour as the staff would laugh and joke as they prepared for the trip.

The diving here was great, with guides that would do the serious stuff first about safety etc, then revert back to their chilled out approach to every thing - there was never a rush to do anything.

The following are some of the photos taken from North Cove, Tackle Box, Esmeralda and Gallows Point

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This fellow was guarding the dock of Belize Diving Services.

Belize Diving Services

The 5 at the back are the staff

Not quite JAWS, but when they come up close you start to wonder if they are !!

One of the few Spotted Eagle Rays that we saw whilst diving

One happy chappy :)

One of the dive masters playing with an old coke bottle he found whilst diving.

A great leisurely place place to dive, with some great staff who had a joke about everything.