Belize Part II - Lamanai

After spending 3 days on Ambergris Caye, Chris and I, along with his parents and his brother and his brother's fiance, made our way to the local airport for a quick flight in yet another teeny tiny plane to make our way to Lamanai Outpost Lodge, nestled in the jungle in the Orange Walk District of Belize.

I had a feeling the landing strip was going to be straight out of a movie, and indeed it was. It was a short strip of barren earth cleared of jungle growth. Going in for the landing, we were treated to our first views of the Lamanai temple complex, Mayan ruins I was looking forward to exploring.

After a smooth landing, we laughed as we found ourselves stranded in the jungle, all alone. Our pilot asked if someone was coming to pick us up. I certainly hoped so! A few moments later, we were met by a representative of the lodge who had come to retrieve us and take us to the lodge.

The moment we pulled into the lodge, I immediately felt like I was at camp. Not a surprise, as the nearest full-service lodge or hotel was over 70 miles away.

The Lamanai Outpost Lodge sits on the banks of the New River Lagoon, a 28 mile long spring feed lagoon, and is surrounded by rain forest. The outpost consisted of wooden cabañas with thatched roofs, a far cry from our previous accommodations, however Chris and I loved it. Each cabaña had a little porch, where one could sit and enjoy the views.

After settling in for a little bit and enjoying lunch, we gathered to plan our lodge activities. As part of the Lamanai Outpost Lodge experience, each guest is provided with a list of activities one may participate in each day. We decided to spend the evening aboard a pontoon boat, taking in the sunset from the lagoon on the Sunset Cocktail Cruise. The cruise was our first view into the beauty of the region and the perfect way to settle in after another day of travel.

After our Christmas Eve cocktail cruise, we met in the lodge bar for a card game of "Screw your Neighbor." Chris' family has a tradition of BRUTAL card games when the family gets together for holidays and events. I learned this a year ago when I spent a portion of the holiday with his family, and again this past June when we gathered in Coeur D'Alene for Ironman. "Screw your Neighbor" is a favorite card game when more than 4 want to play, as Hearts is the go to with four players. While I had won games in the past, this trip was not kind to me on the card-playing front -- I lost every game. After playing cards until late into the evening, we all turned in and planned to meet in the morning for the adventure I had most been looking forward to -- exploring the Mayan ruins.

After meeting for Christmas breakfast, we set out via boat to explore the local Lamanai Maya Ruins, which were located a mere 1/4 of a mile away from the lodge. A fun and different way to spend the holiday!

Lamanai means "submerged crocodile" in Maya. The Lamanai temple complex sits atop the western bluff of the New River Lagoon. While on our tour, we learned that Lamanai was occupied continuously for over 3,000 years, well beyond most other Maya sites, until at least 1,650 AD. Lamanai features the second largest Pre-Classic structure in the Maya world and unlike other ruins, much of Lamanai was built in layers where successive populations built upon the temples of their ancestors, instead of destroying them.

Lamanai is the third largest archaeological site in Belize. Although hundreds of ruins are said to remain unexcavated in the nearby jungle, three of the most impressive temples have been renovated: the Temple of the Jaguar Masks, the Mask Temple, and the High Temple.

The first temple we visited on our tour was the Jaguar Temple (also known as the Temple of the Jaguar Masks), named for its boxy jaguar decoration. It was truly stunning. My first thoughts upon viewing the temple was how brilliant the Mayans were -- having the intelligence and ability to shape limestone into blocks, create mortar to put the blocks together, and then arrange the limestone blocks to construct amazing temples. I was also shocked when our guide said, "Go ahead, climb it!" (Vastly different than viewing historical sights here in the United States where you usually can't even get near the site, must less climb it or touch it!)

The boys immediately took off for the top. It was fun to climb up to the top, but getting down was a bit tricky, as wet limestone covered with moss is quite slippery!

We next came upon my favorite temple, High Temple, the largest of the four we visited while on the tour. From the top of High Temple, we were able to enjoy 360 degree views of the jungle, the lagoon and the rain forest beyond. (Interestingly, a significant portion of the Temple of the Jaguar Masks remains under grassy earth or is covered in dense jungle growth. Unexcavated, it would be significantly taller than the High Temple.)

Next we visited the Stela 9 Temple. This temple featured a Late Classic stela, Stela 9, (a column or pillar monument), which represents Lord Smoking Shell. The date depicted on Stela 9 celebrates the anniversary of the lord's reign and the conclusion of the year. Our tour guide shared with us that the burials of five children ranging in age from newborn to eight had been discovered beneath the stela, indicating a site of high significance since human offerings are not usually associated with the dedication of monuments.

Finally, we visited the Mask Temple, a temple adorned by a 13-foot stone mask of an ancient Maya King with a crocodile-mouth headdress. This structure was built and modified between 200 BC and 1300 AD. Excavations of the temple have revealed burial tombs and other structures lying beneath the temple.

We were fortunate to be staying so near to site, that we had concluded our tour before the hundreds of daily visitors came in off of cruise ships. We were clearing out just as they came in. After our Christmas day touring of the ruins, we headed back to the lodge for a relaxing afternoon reading on the dock, before making our way to dinner and our second adventure of the day -- a Spotlight Nature Safari.

The Spotlight Nature Safari was one of my favorite activities in the jungle, as we saw so many amazing sights. After the sun had set, we climbed aboard a river boat and headed out into the darkness. We boated around with our guide searching the lagoon's edge for wildlife and exotic plans with a spotlight. During this trip, we saw many iguanas, crocodiles, and bats, as well as hundreds of birds and exotic plants and flowers. We were treated to the blooming of a provision flower - a bloom which lasts only a few hours - as as soon as it blooms it is attacked by bats seeking out its nectar and pollen. The adventure was scary at one point as we made our way up a creek off of the lagoon and sat in pure darkness and silence for about five minutes, just listening to the jungle. Chris photographed everything on this adventure, and took some really amazing photos. While not the way I traditionally spend Christmas, it was a wonderful day.

The next morning, Chris had signed us all up for a Boxing Day "Jungle Dawn" excursion, that required us to sign up for a 5:30 wake-up knock, as there are no phones so no wake-up calls! At six am we headed out into the jungle on foot to see what was to be seen. First, we made our way to the old sugar mill, built by the British that dates from AD 1860 – 1875 and includes approximately 200 acres of land that was planted with sugar cane. It was a fairly archaic steam operated mill whose life was short lived. About the time we made our way to the sugar mill, we started hearing the erie howl of Howler monkey's, awaking from the night. I could see that Chris and his brother wanted to chase after them, as we were all dying to see a Howler monkey, but they resisted. As we made our way through the ruins we had toured the day before, we were treated to all sorts of sights - a toucan, parrots, hawks, woodpeckers, vultures and yes, a troop of Black Howler monkeys. Chris caught them all on film.

That afternoon, Chris and I headed back to the Lamanai ruins to try to catch the elusive toucan on film, as it was the only bird we were not able to capture on film in the morning, as it had been too high in the tree. Alas, all of the jungle life we had seen early in the morning must have been taking an afternoon siesta, because we saw NOTHING, other than cruise ship tourists and locals enjoying the ruins. Chris did, however, take some beautiful photos of two little girls climbing around on the High Temple. They were thrilled to have their photo taken.

When we headed back, we all met for dinner and then set out for our final evening adventure in Lamanai - a Crocodile Encounter. This adventure was had on an airboat - a mode of transportation I had not yet experienced in my life. Armed with earmuffs (the fan was REALLY loud), we took off for Dawson's Creek (that really was its name) in search of a crocodile. The moment we left the open water and headed into the marsh was a scary one, as for a fleeting moment I forgot we were in a fan boat that could handle the marsh vegetation.

Our guide, Marecio, explained that the lodge, in conjunction with the University of Florida, is conducting research regarding crocodiles. If we were successful in catching a crocodile, Marecio explained we would take measurements and gather data regarding the crocodile and its location.

As we boated about, we watched for flickers of light - the spotlight on the boat catching the eyes of lurking crocodiles. Within a few moments, Marecio spotted a crocodile and jumped off the boat to pursue it. It wasn't very big, so he was able to capture it with his bare hands.

He brought the crocodile back to the boat to gather information about it. A scan revealed that the 2 ft crocodile had been previously captured, as it had been microchipped. After gathering the pertinent information, we released the crocodile and headed back to the lodge.

After another brutal game of "Screw Your Neighbor," I headed to bed, as our final day in Belize was again to begin at 5:30 am, this time for a sunrise canoe adventure.

After another wake-up knock, we headed out in canoes to explore Dawson's Creek and its surrounding tributaries, in search of manatees, otters, crocodiles, parrots and other wildlife. While we didn't see any manatees, otters or parrots, we did see many species of local birds. Chris taught me some new canoe paddling techniques as we made our way back to the lodge to pack and head back home.

I was NOT looking forward to traveling back home, as I was sure some sort of travel disaster awaited us. Indeed, I would not be let down.

After packing and another game of cards, we made our way back to the airstrip to our awaiting plane to take us back to Belize City. This time I rode up with the pilot. It was actually rather fun. I do not know how pilots land planes! So scary.

When checking in in Belize City on Continental for our flights from Belize City to Houston and then Houston to San Francisco, the agent informed us that Chris' reservation had been canceled. Of course it had. After explaining that he had not canceled his reservation, as we were on the same reservation (and proving this issue with our printed confirmation), the agent put him on the flight from Belize City to Houston, but told us she wasn't sure if he'd make the flight from Houston to San Francisco, as it was oversold. I was NOT happy. (For the last time - I will NEVER fly Continental again.)

Waiting for our flight, we played our final game of cards (Chris was crowned the champion of this family gathering) until Drew and Kim had to board their flight to New York. Shortly thereafter, the rest of our way made our way to our flight back to Houston.

In Houston, we had to say goodbye to Chris' parents, which was a sad moment, as their departure signified the official end of our vacation. Good thing we have another to look forward to next summer!

While I missed my family greatly, the trip was amazing.