Well, it's taken me a little bit longer than I would have liked to get more posted about Belize. I figure I have at least one more post after this one. Our first full day in Belize, Monday, we went to one of the bigger Mayan ruins in Belize called Xunantunich. I believe that it means "Stone lady".
In order to get to the site, we had to cross the river. There's no bridge, so we took the ferry. This was a fun experience. I don't know if it would pass code in the US. Dan is walking down to the ferry, because all the passengers had to get out of the car before it was driven onto the ferry. The the operator hand cranked us across.
This was the first part that we saw. It was the castle. There were three major "mounds". The castle, the Temple and another mound in between those two which they have allowed to be mostly recovered by grass. I believe this is to minimize damage to it. One of the neat things, was that we were able to climb all of the mounds.
This is Cassie and me on top of the castle.
This is from the middle mound looking towards the temple. Just to give you an idea of the scale, you can see some people on the steps. And yes, Dan is holding a Terrible Towel. As we headed for the temple it started to rain. Thankfully there was a pavilion near by that we were able to take shelter in. It came down pretty hard for quite a while.
These are the steps at the side of the temple. The rain was pouring down them like a waterfall.
By the end there was only one dry corner of the pavilion. Poor little J. was so patient and good being held.
The rain finally started to let up so Dan, Cassie and I decided to head up the temple. David stayed in the pavilion with J. Dan wanted to take this picture for his waste water treatment buddies back at home. It appears to be some kind of drainage ditch. And here is another Terrible Towel shot.
We had to take several to make sure we got the best one we could. Dan hopes to post one on a local radio station's website where they collect pictures of people with the Terrible Towel all over the world.
The carvings behind him are a fiber glass replica of what would have been there. That's some pretty impressive stone carving.
This is a picture from the very top. It was starting to rain again and we ended up waiting out the worst of it in a little alcove at the top. You can see them in this last picture. We were in the one on the left. That was our Monday. Quite an experience. I'm really glad that we were able to go. It's amazing what these ancient civilizations were able to accomplish, and at the same time so sad knowing how hopeless their religion was.
