My border crossing from Chetumal, Mexico, into the next country on my list, Belize, went pretty smooth, if not a little slowly. I took a bus full of tourists, just like me. First we exited the bus to get stamped out of Mexico. Normally you get charged a Mexican tourism tax with your airline tickets, which I did, but I read that the border guards try to scam tourists into paying it again when leaving. Me and the couple in line next to me were all armed with our airline receipts ready to argue, but the guards insisted that this “departure” tax was different. See, if you just change the name of the tax then you can charge the same tax twice. Rather than make a scene I just gave them the $40 and the “I know what you’re doing and I hope you choke on it” death glare. I can’t imagine why Mexico has such a bad reputation with all this corruption. Wierd! Anyway, a few hours later, I arrived at San Ignacio in the western part of Belize.

There’s not much to San Ignacio. It’s a super convenient base for the sites in the area, though, so there are lots of hotels and restaurants and other tourists walking around. They do have a lot of cool street art here also.

My first day here was an easy one. I grabbed a colectivo headed further west to the first thing on my list, Xunantunich. It turns out that Belize has it’s fair share of Mayan sites too. I will be doing things other than Mayan ruins on this trip, but this first few weeks, however, is pretty much all Mayans.

After getting dropped off at the entrance to Xunantunich, I immediately have to board the hand crank ferry across the Mopan River.

And next, a one mile walk to the site where I start with their little museum at the visitor center. Luckily, it’s really cloudy today and not too hot.

Xunantunich is the modern name given to the site, like most Mayan sites. It means “maiden in the rock”. It seems around 1892, people started seeing the ghost of a woman wearing white and with red eyes climbing the steps of El Castillo and then disappearing into the stones. Spooky!

Not all of the cool carvings are in the museum. These were outside what is believed to be a royal tomb.

Xunantunich is a fairly small place, but there are a lot of cool temples in that small area. It’s also very close to San Ignacio and very easy to get to so it was a bit crowded. This might be the busiest Mayan site I’ve been to on this trip so far.

El Castillo was, is, and will most likely remain the second tallest building in Belize. It’s quite a climb. But first some views from a smaller temple across the way.

I wasn’t expecting it, but El Castillo has some awesome carvings remaining on either side of it.

The view from the second tallest building in Belize was definitely worth the climb. And the breeze up there felt amazing!

What goes up, must go down.

I still haven’t really seen any iguanas. Aside from the hundreds at the Tulum ruins in Mexico several days ago, this guy on El Castillo is the only one I’ve seen.

I wandered around a bit more and found a separate hut with a few beautiful stelae inside. Most people call it a day at this point, but I took the short hike into the jungle to see groups B, C, and D. Everything up to this point was group A. There really wasn’t much to see, but the walk was nice.

Time to head back across the ferry and catch another colectivo back to San Ignacio.

Back in San Ignacio I grabbed a quick lunch then walked into the suburbs to rent a car for a couple of days. Carlos runs a car rental business out of his house. This is a first! I had booked it online, but to pick it up I just went to his house, knocked on the door and we signed the contract and handled the payment right there on the porch while the wife and kids were playing inside. It’s an unusual setup, but he has nothing but great reviews. Before going back to the hotel I drove my new Honda CRV up the hill to check out the Mayan ruins right here in town, Cahal Pech, starting with the small visitor center.

I don’t know what these pink plants are, but they sure are pretty, and they’re everywhere on this hill.

Cahal Pech was actually a palace for an elite Mayan family rather than a city. It must have been a fantastic place in its day.

There were a couple of structures around, but the site is primarily about the central courtyard.

Once inside the main courtyard I climbed up the tallest pyramid and surveyed the site.

There are lots of cool entries and pathways to wander and get lost in as well. Cahal Pech is a pretty unique Mayan site and was a great way to end the day.

Next was my really big driving day. I drove probably a total of about seven hours to get to these next two sites, but I got it done. After the first two hours of driving I reached the first stop, Altun Ha, in Belize’s northeast.

Unique to most Mayan cities, Altun Ha was made famous by all the jade artifacts found here. The most famous of those is known simply as The Jade Head. The sign said it gets insured for 5-10 million dollars when it travels to museums for exhibitions and the rest of the time it’s kept in the Belize Central Bank vault, so this is just a replica. The real one is considered Belize’s most prized national treasure, though.

Altun Ha was a pretty compact site and didn’t take too long to explore. I also got to enjoy my visit by listening to the reggae music blasting through the jungle from the nearby gift shops at the entrance.

Basically, I took pictures of the site from the top of every single structure in the place. It was awesome!

The Temple of the Sun God is the main attraction. There were a lot of cool details left on the front. It also doubled as a tomb for an apparently very prominent man. A lot of the jade artifacts from Altun Ha were found in that tomb with him, along with many other valuable items.

This guy in the pic below is the Mayan Jester God. I don’t really know what a Jester God is in charge of, but it’s believed to be the same god depicted on The Jade Head.

It was another two hour drive to the next stop. I really didn’t know anything about Belize before coming here, but it was originally a British outpost, so the main language here is English. It’s also a bit of a melting pot. There are Latinos, Afro-Caribbeans, a lot of American ex-pats, and a ridiculously large population of German Mennonites. The road to my next stop took me through what is apparently their center in Belize. It was lots of farms and horses and buggies everywhere.

I managed to avoid running down any of the Mennonites and finally made it to Lamanai. Once again they had a small museum at the outset to get me started.

Lamanai means “submerged crocodile”. I’m assuming it’s because it sits on the edge of the really beautiful New River and there are probably crocodiles in there, but I don’t really know. Today Lamanai consists of primarily three temples. First was the Jaguar Temple.

It was named the Jaguar Temple by archaeologists because of the jaguar faces on either side. Creative!

In order to get to the next temple I had to walk through the Maya ball court. In an earlier post I mentioned that the captain of the losing team was usually beheaded at the end of the game, but I was mistaken. It turns out the captain of the WINNING team was usually beheaded at the end of the game. It was considered a great honor. I don’t get it! The only way to have a successful career is to keep losing?

Next up was the High Temple. They don’t let anyone climb this one unfortunately. It’s impressive just the same. Lamanai is also pretty exceptional in that it’s one of the longest inhabited Mayan cities ever, about 3500 years! It was first established in the 16th century BC and continuously inhabited into the 20th century AD. Talk about impressive.

I have mixed feelings about this last temple at Lamanai, the Mask Temple. It’s named that because of the incredible masks on either side, but they covered them up with these fiberglass replicas. I understand needing to preserve them, but it would’ve been nice to somehow see the real deal.

At least the replicas are accurate, though. A guide standing nearby showed me a picture of one of the originals underneath before they were covered up. I guess that will have to do.

After exploring the site I took a short walk down to the river to enjoy the view. I didn’t see any crocodiles, though. This has been a big day with a lot of driving, but it was worth it. Now for three more hours of driving back to San Ignacio.

The big famous Mayan ruins in this area are called Caracol. It’s super remote and way out in the jungle and everything I read said it was really difficult to get to without a four wheel drive or all wheel drive vehicle. That’s why I opted for my all wheel drive Honda CRV. But, they’re doing a lot of road work out there and even though it’s still dirt, it was smooth sailing all the way. I assume they’re going to pave it soon.

The lack of iguanas and toucans is a bummer, but a jaguar sighting would make up for it. I didn’t have any luck, though, so I just kept on with Caracol.

At Caracol, they get right down to business. One of the first things you come to is Caana, the biggest temple here, the main event. Earlier I climbed the second tallest building in Belize, El Castillo at Xunantunich. Well now I’m gonna climb Caana, the tallest building in all of Belize. That’s right, the two tallest buildings in Belize are both ancient Mayan temples! The pic below is a bit deceiving, though, because you can’t actually see the top from here, so follow me.

Fun fact, I found out that all these really tall doorways were made that way to accommodate the headdresses that the Mayans wore.

There were lots of interesting details to see on the way up.

On top of Caana you come to a small courtyard and there you find the true summit of the tallest building in Belize. Ironically, the view wasn’t as spectacular as you might imagine, but I made it.

I’m really glad I decided to wander around up there, though, because on the side of that top pyramid were these amazing carvings. Everyone else came and went without ever seeing them. Awesome!

On the way down I got a unique view of the other temple across the way. It had a lot of interesting carvings on it as well and there were several random carved stones lying around too.

Don’t forget the Maya ball court.

This next structure was probably a royal residence of some sort. It looked more like a house than any other structures I’ve seen here or at other sites.

At most of these sites the howler monkeys are hanging around. Up until now I haven’t been able to see any, but I hear them all the time. Their howls are terrifying! If I was walking through the jungle and heard them without knowing what it was, I would definitely be scared. I sort of got to see some here at Caracol. They’re really hidden in the trees though. This was the best picture I could manage. They may sound intimidating, but they don’t look it.

This next stela, is without a doubt the best one I’ve ever seen. And it was just standing out here in the jungle all by itself, far from everything else. No signs, no explanation, nothing. Magnificent!

I wrapped up my visit to Caracol and had a nice picnic lunch before heading back on the newly improved road back to San Ignacio. I’m checking Mayan ruins off of my list like my life depends on it.

That’s the last of the Mayan ruins here in Belize, but I’m not done with this country just yet. I still have one more day so I decided to go check out some waterfalls in the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve. But first, I learned that there’s an iguana rescue right here in San Ignacio. If I can’t find iguanas in the wild, then I guess I’ll overdose on iguanas by taking a tour of the Green Iguana Conservation Project.

The rescue is on the grounds of the very posh San Ignacio Resort. The green iguana is prized for its meat, which took them directly to the endangered species list. So this project was started to try to save them and educate people about their plight. A lot of the iguanas they’ve rescued and turned loose have decided just to stay at the resort. They lurk in the bushes and even on the tennis court, like this one below. They know a good deal when they see one!

In the pic below meet Gomez. Gomez is the local stud. His two girlfriends with him are both pregnant currently. The best part of visiting this place is that we’re allowed to touch and pet the iguanas. They don’t seem to mind at all.

I even got to hold one. They’re surprisingly light.

Next we went into a separate enclosure to hang out with some of the smaller juveniles. The younger ones are mostly bright green and blend in with the leaves. It took a minute, but then I realized just how many of them there were in there. Wow!

Then the really cool part that I wasn’t expecting at all, feeding time. The guide gave us lettuce and told us to go crazy. I fed iguanas with one hand and took pictures with the other. I kind of wanted to take this one, seen below, home with me. When they’re this close to you and looking directly into your eyes you can really see their personalities.

Now for the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve. The easiest waterfall to get to was first, Big Rock Falls. A short drive and a short but steep decent down the steps of doom leads the way.

This is a really popular spot for swimming, but luckily I got there early enough before the big crowds arrived.

I didn’t stay too long because I read this next waterfall was really hard to get to on account of the four wheel drive only road and I had limited time today, so off I went.

It was about a fifteen mile drive down dirt roads and only the last three miles or so were really bad, and then only in a couple of spots. My little Honda CRV made it all the way to 1000 Foot Falls without any issues. There is a hike down to some pools by the falls, but like I said, I was pressed for time so I just hung out at the viewpoint for a bit and had a snack.

This is the tallest waterfall in Central America and as it turns out, it’s actually a 1600ft plunge. I guess 1000 Foot Falls sounds more dramatic though. It’s a cool sight and I’m really glad I came out here. I almost didn’t because of everything I read about how bad the road is.

Now the fun part. The worst stretch of the road coming to the falls was downhill and I didn’t give enough credit to the gravity assist. Going back that little Honda just didn’t have the guts and I got stuck. Both back wheels were off the ground! So I walked the two and half miles or so back to the falls to ask the caretaker if he could help me. I noticed the nice jeep parked in front of his cabin before. When I told him the situation he answered, “Oh, that’s a big problem for you. My car doesn’t run right now.” Crap! Most of the land around here is owned by the Hidden Valley Resort and about a mile up there was a run down cabin that belonged to them. He told me to go there and if the guys were there working, they could help me. Luckily, they were there and holy crap were they nice! They immediately got in their beat up Toyota, drove us all up there and pulled me out easily. They said they pull tourists out of there all the time. LOL I bet!

The rest of the drive back was easy and I made it back to San Ignacio just in time to return my exceptionally dirty rental car. I didn’t tell them about taking it to 1000 Foot Falls though. They don’t need to know that. I spent one last night in San Ignacio and now it’s time to move on to the next stop. Tomorrow, another border crossing and more adventures. Until the next post…