Today we went to Lamanai. We took an hour and a half boat ride 33 miles up the New River to the ruins. The boat ride was awesome, we saw tons of birds, crocodiles, iguanas, and some monkeys that actually came into our boat to eat some food!! Our tour guide was amazing; while boating down the river he would stop periodically and point out a small bird in the trees, a lizard size iguana on a tree branch, or a submerged Croc. I guess 16 years of working on the river helps...
Once we arrived at Lamanai, we ate a prepared lunch of rice 'n' beans, chicken, potato salad, salad, and fried bananas. Then, on to the ruins... The first site we saw was called Mask Temple, because of the huge excavated masks at the bottom of the temple. Then we moved on the High Temple, which was an enormous temple that they allowed us to climb all the way to the top. The hike up was hard work but well worth it; we were above the canopy and we could see above all of the trees in the jungle! We continued on to ball court and Stella 9. The Stellas are carvings into stone that tell the archaeologists when they were done and what purpose they served, which help us to know the history of the site. Lastly, we went to the Plaza which housed the royal Mayans and the Jaguar Temple which got it's name from the Jaguar carvings at the bottom.
When the tour was over we made our way back to the Cristina, our boat, and our tour guide made us all some rum punch for the ride back. We drove a lot faster on the way back and we were able to see some iguanas, crocodiles, and neat birds on our own.
Darren & Rachel,
ReplyDeletethis is so cool to be able to veiw your trip, it looks like a beutiful place. and that you are having a good time. be safe Love You & Miss You, Uncle Mike & Aunt Nina
Dear Rachel and Darren,
ReplyDeleteI just think it is fantastic that you are able to see the animals in the wild!! How funny that the monkeys jumped into your boat! Did you see any large iguanas?? I hope they could not jump into the boats!! Rob wants to know if you were able to take any pictures of the temples or was that not allowed? How did the fried bananas taste? Mom
We did see a HUGE, bright orange iguana! The tour guide said we were lucky to see it because they only turn orange during mating season. I will upload a picture of it, it was awesome! And we did take pictures of the temple, we will post those too. Fried bananas are absolutely delicious, they are served at breakfast, lunch, and dinner! :)
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