Mayan Ruins in Belize

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We were up early again this morning for the sunrise. There was a little bit more wind this morning, but perfect temperature. We headed to the Placencia Village to Carmen's for breakfast. We had "stuffed fry jacks" and the "fry tacos". Carmen's is where the locals go for breakfast. The 4 of us 8 for about 7 US dollars. The plan for the day was to go to some of the Mayan Ruins. We headed south of Placencia and first stopped at the Nim Li Punit Ruins. We were really the only ones there and were able to go through the visitor center and the ruins without seeing anyone else. The Nim Li Punit Ruins are known for a jade piece of jewelry that was found. A replica was in the visitor center. The ruins also had a "ball court" that the Mayans have at many of their settlements. We headed to Pearleans (previously Coleman's Café) for lunch. It was in the travel book on Belize as the place to go in the area. It was a very nice typical restaurant with a buffet lunch. rice, beans, heart of palm, coleslaw, chicken. It was not a large place, but several of the locals were there for lunch. Next we headed to a small village off the main highway down one of the gravel side roads. There was supposed to be a chocolate place called Ixcacao that grows the cacao and then processes there as well. It was good we had the Ford Ranger because the road was gravel and full of potholes and boulders. We finally found the place and it did not appear that it was open for the day. The main gait was closed, but there was a side gate. We went through the side gate and found the doors locked. The caretaker of the building was in the upstairs and had some windows open and she came down to open the shop so we could get some chocolates. There was no one around to give the tour on the "chocolate process", but who cares if you can eat the chocolate. We bought a few of the different kinds of the chocolate bars and then headed back to the truck to eat our chocolates. It was really good chocolate. We headed back to the main road and then headed towards the next ruins. It was called Lubaantan. We pulled into the parking lot and we were the only ones there again. This ruins is known for the "crystal skull" that supposedly had been found there many years ago. There is also speculation that it was a hoax. The ruins were larger and more impressive than the ones earlier in the day. This area also had one of the "ball courts". After the full tour we headed back to the truck for the ride home. It was another 7 miles down the gravel road back to the main highway. We had made a loop around. We headed back to the resort and then after some relaxing out by the pool we got ready for dinner. We met Sriracha's friend and her family from home. They are also traveling and are just down the road from us. Dinner at Rumfish in Placencia Village was very good.

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Photos

Lubaantan
Sriracha, Pedro and Kasie

Lubaantan
Pedro, Kasie, Sriracha and Lori