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Published: February 4th 2011
Heading out on the New River to Lamanai
that's our van driver Jake on the dock. He was wonderful. We promised to find a melodica for him once we're back in the states. Good morning. It's a lovely day here again in paradise. Wind calmed down yesterday and today looks to be the same.
I have to back track to Wednesday night when Fred and I went to the Sports Bar to play in the international trivia contest. There were 6 teams most with 4-6 people...we were the only team of 2. Fred was a superstar at geography, pretty good at history and all I knew was that emu eggs were green. The game lasted about 90 minutes with us winning 3rd price....$20bz off our tab.
Thursday morning we got up at 6 am. We'd set alarms on both our cell phones so we awoke a cuckoo clock and a barking dog...you guess who had which one.
Had a really great breakfest at Cafe Amore then walked to the water taxi dock. Took the 7:30 AM taxi to Belize City...terrible ride....they had us packed in like sardines. I read my guide book about Belize and the Lamanai ruins to kill the 1 hour trip. Freddie chatted with other tourists going to the mainland to do touristy things.
Our van driver met us at the water taxi terminal...very nice Belizean man
named Jake. During the hour trip on the Northern highway (a paved road but more like a secondary road at home) he filled us in on the Mayan culture...he is Mayan on his mother's side...and current issues going on in Belize. We then took a 30 mile boat trip on the New River. Our boat was a long, shallow draft skiff, with a bimini top and a 75 hp Yamaha Enduro. There were 10 of us including the guide...Emir a local, who did a super job. Our first stop along the river was to see a pair of iguana...aka wish willy or bamboo chicken. There was a hawk keeping a close eye on them probably thinking the iguana would make a good lunch. Soon a pair of spider monkeys came down from the trees and right onto our boat. Emir had brought a bag of bananas and the monkeys obviously knew this routine well. The female, nick named Greedy, came all the way to the stern of the boat, sat next to Emir eating her banana and helping herself to another from his bag. Emir passed more bananas to the folks in the bow to feed to the male. One
Wish Willy
female iguana. The male was 3 times her size and bright orange because it's mating season. He was onshore and I just couldn't get a good photo of him. lady asked Emir if she needed to peel it first. Emir answered "there are no tourists in the jungle to peel the bananas for him and he does just fine by himself". Another guy in our group says "he's already had two...don't you think he's had enough?".....clearly uncomfortable being so up close and personal with a spider monkey.
We continued past a lovely riverside drug/alcohol rehab place for wealthy Americans, it's neighbor a rum factory....odd combination...a sugar cane processing plant and then on to Lamanai. Emir stopped the boat to show us egrets, kingfisher, jacana, hawks, a Mennonite farm and many locals fishing in small boats. We did get to see the jabiru stork...the most famous Belizean water bird. It can be 5' tall with a wingspan of 10'. There were a pair tending their nest in a tall tree with no leaves on it and were clearly visible with binoculars. The river had white lilies in the calmer shallow water close to shore. Emir had an incredible eye for spotting the birds and we couldn't imagine making the 30 mile journey without GPS. He was a 5th generation fisherman and grew up on the river so it was
spider monkey
This the female name "Greedy". like a local road system to him. At one point in the trip, the river narrowed and the jungle plants completely enclosed us. I told Fred it reminded me of the jungle river ride at Disney World but without the mechanical rhino.
Once at Lamanai we docked the boat and brougt the two coolers containing our lunch and drinks on shore to one of the two huts with picnic tables. Emir provided stewed chicken, beans and coconut rice, mashed potatoes, coleslaw and pica de gallo. We began our tour at the museum...good thing because we got a 20 minute midday shower. You could really feel the humidity once we started walking through the jungle. So glad it wasn't 100 degree and very happy there were no bugs...we left our Cactus Juice in our cabana!
The first temple we saw was the Mask temple which we all climbed. The lighter colored parts at the base are a fiber cover over the original stone work. This cover protects the structure from the acidic rain water. At the High temple I chose to keep my feet firmly planted on the ground. Fred and everyone else from our group climbed to the
Greedy
so cute! top. Very impressive!!!!! The ball court was next. The Maya had two teams of two men each playing a game sort of like basketball with a rubber ball...yes made from the sap of the rubber tree. The winners were beheaded and this was considered an honor. Playing the game on earth was supposed to help you win the game in the after life. All people automatically go to hell in the after life and the animals of the world go with you. You have many tests to pass to get to heaven and the animals help you. The Jaguar got it's spots from being burned in hell. That's the very condensed version of the Mayan belief.
I couldn't get over the size of the palms and trees in the jungle and the photos just don't capture that. We next visited the royal residence and bathrooms and finally the Jaguar temple. Back on the boat for the return trip. This time we saw one of the storks flying with either a snake or eel in it's beak....lunch for the family. Saw a 10-12' crocodile, a smaller 4' croc and a tapir...unfortunately dead...the national animal of Belize. Emir tells us that
sugar cane processing plant
canes are trucked in, processed then loaded onto 3 steel barges and towed down river to Belize City. A wooden boat made from mahogany is the tug. The tow rope is tied to a single piece of wood made from the "Bullet Tree". We're told this wood is so strong it will break a nail. the larger river boats capable of carrying 50 people and having twin outboards are causing problems on the New River. It's not unusual to find a dead manatee or croc that's been run over by one of these more powerful boats. In sections of the river where it's wide like a lake, the water lilies nearly filled the whole area except for a narrow channel. Not any more. Fish and bird populations have also been negatively affected.
Our return water taxi was 20 minutes late. We watched as they loaded 3 big dollies of luggage and boxes onto the taxi and wondered where they were going to put the humans. There were fewer folks on this trip so we had a little breathing room. One native lady was very agitated....aided by too many Belikins before boarding. She was yelling at some guy seated on the opposite side of the boat from her. The taxi has a closed fiberglass cabin...not open air like the ones in the Virgin Islands, so her shrill voice was like nails on a chalk board. I told Fred the way she spoke reminded me of the black magic lady in the movie "Pirates of the
Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest". A young German girl that had been on our trip to Lamanai finally yelled "For God's sake would you shut up...PLEASE!!!!!!" Soooooo glad that worked and we finally and some peace.
Back at the hotel, we met up with other guests in the bar for some nice cold "Panty Rippers" and frozen mudslides. A couple from Hamden, CT had come in today...their flight from Hartford delayed 24 hours because of the ice storm. Six of us went to Don Corleone's for bruschetta, seafood lasagna and gnocchi. YUM!!!
Back at the ranch we CNN and caught up on the latest news from Egypt, then called it a night.
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gerry
non-member comment
hi, lloks like you are having an awesome time. Great pics! Miss you both! You better bring back warm weather! Enjoy the rest of your trip!