Lamanai the "submerged crocodile" to Corozal

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River boat tour

We arranged to take a boat tour up the New River to another set of Mayan ruins - Lamanai. The boat trip up river took about half an hour. Our driver/tour guide, Javier expertly navigated us through the semi-narrow river at about 30mph! When we arrived, we had a few minutes before our tour began. Before we headed back along the paths, we were able to see a couple of Black Howler Monkeys that are apparently quite prominent in the area…these were the only ones we saw though. Javier, who wasn’t the greatest tour guide, had two interesting habits.
#1 - He repeatedly called us “My friends” basically beginning every other sentence with it.
#2 - He constantly repeated the name of the animal/plant/ruin he was explaining.

We visited three partially excavated structures of the over 700 on the site. We were able to climb the tallest structure - Structure N10-43. Javier told us it was “Physical on the way up and psychological on the way down” I didn’t find it too tough on the way up, kind of fun actually, but the way down was a little tricky! I actually had to sit on each step so that my foot would reach the next!

After the tour of the grounds, we ate lunch, and then took the boat back down the river.

Flat tire

On our way through Orange Walk, we got a flat tire! For me, it was probably the least stressful flat ever…not too much to worry about when you are travelling with two handy guys! It took Ben & Joe about ½ an hour to change the tire, then we drove 2 seconds to the tire shop (there are many around Belize) where the tire was patched for $5 US!

Corozol

We drove all the way to Corozol - the most northerly city in Belize, very close to the Mexican boarder. We enjoyed a walk by the water, played on some swings, and then ate a yummy dinner. We thought we had scammed air conditioning for the night because the unit was on in the afternoon when we checked in, even though we hadn’t paid for it…to our dismay, at around 1am, the unit shut off and the room became a sauna! Only Ben was able to enjoy his sleep that night…

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