Part 7, The Submerged Crocodile

On March 10th we set out relatively early to catch a boat in Orange Walk Town.  Our destination: the Mayan ruins at Lamanai.  After consulting our guide books we called Antonio Novelo of Jungle River Tours which is owned by Antonio and his two brothers.

Antonio Novelo, our guide to Lamanai

We soon boarded a boat and began our tour on the New River with Antonio and his assistant for the day, Joe.  The boat ride was seventy-five minutes through the northern jungles of Belize where we saw so much wildlife!  Along with the six of us there were four other passengers on our boat including a young man named Christian from Romania, a young woman named Beatriz from Germany, and two French ladies - one who lives in Belize and the other who lives in Florida.  Besides being extensively knowledgeable about the Maya sites, Antonio Novelo is a wildlife expert, and pointed out the lurking crocodiles, iguanas, and dozens of species of birds that you might otherwise miss. The boat also floated past the only operating sugar mill in the country.
 

A tug boat used to move barges near the sugar refinery.

A molasses barge.

Watching for wildlife.

A successful fisherman on the river.

When we arrived at the ruins we promptly found a picnic table to enjoy our lunch made by Antonio's wife.  It was traditional red recado chicken, rice and beans, coleslaw, veggie salad and lemonade.  It was tasty but didn't compare to Lorena's cooking. 
According to Wikipedia...."Lamanai (from Lama'anayin, "submerged crocodile" in Yucatec Maya) is a Mesoamerican archaeological site, and was once a considerably sized city of the Maya civilization, located in the north of Belize, in Orange Walk District. The site's name is pre-Columbian, recorded by early Spanish missionaries, and documented over a millennium earlier in Maya inscriptions as Lam'an'ain.

Lamanai was occupied as early as the 16th century BC.  The site became a prominent centre in the Pre-Classic Period, from the 4th century BC through the 1st century CE. In 625 CE, "Stele 9" was erected there in the Yucatec language of the Maya. Lamanai continued to be occupied up to the 17th century AD. During the Spanish conquest of Yucatán Spanish friars established two Roman Catholic churches here, but a Maya revolt drove the Spanish out. The site was subsequently incorporated by the British in British Honduras, passing with that colony's independence to Belize.

The vast majority of the site remained unexcavated until the mid-1970s. Archaeological work has concentrated on the investigation and restoration of the larger structures, most notably the Mask Temple, Temple of the Jaguar Masks and High Temple. The summit of this latter structure affords a view across the surrounding jungle to a nearby lagoon, part of New River.

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.

Welcome to Lamanai

A black howler monkey foraging in the trees.

The national flower of Belize....the Black Orchid.

A section of the Mask Temple.

Restoration in progress.

The Mask Temple

The High Temple

The view of the New River Lagoon from the top of the High Temple.

A jungle view from the High Temple.

Coming back down....lots of steps.

Hot and getting tired.

Dave sporting his Indiana Jones look.

Is that Sarah or Jane swinging from a vine?

Stele 9 - the burial place of five royal children.

Temple of the Jaguar Masks.

Temple of the Jaguar Masks.

A courtyard area near the Temple of the Jaguar Masks.

Temple of the Jaguar Masks looking across the nearby courtyard.

The ruins were magnificent and Antonio was the perfect guide.  Belize is a birdwatcher's paradise with over 540 species living in the small country.  With Roger's quick page-turning we were able to identify many animal species. 

This Central American Spider monkey was happy to come aboard our boat and have a snack.

A Morelet's Crocodile.

Our overall wildlife sightings for the day were quite impressive....
Morelet's Crocodile
Common Slider (turtle)
Boa Constrictor (Roger actually touched this guy as it was climbing a tree)
Olivaceous Cormorant
Jabiru Stork (birdwatchers come to Belize specifically to see this bird)
Wood Stork
Boat-Billed heron
Bane-throated Tiger Heron
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Northern Jacana (these birds walk on top of the floating lily pads and are also called Jesus Christ birds)
Turkey Vulture
Black Vulture
Snail Kite
Black-collared hawk
Yucatan Poorwill
Mangrove Swallow (I loved watching these tiny birds dart above the surface of the water)
Ringed Kingfisher
Belted Kingfisher
Tropical Kingbird
Great Kiskadee
Great-tailed Grackle
Yucatan Black Howler Monkey (when they howl they sound like lions roaring, most groups only see one troop during their visit to the ruins but we saw three different troops)
Central American Spider Monkey
Central American Agouti

Once we returned to the house we were all sunburned, windburned and exhausted.  We ended the day with showers, cold Belikins in the courtyard and chicken, beans and fryjacks made by Lorena for dinner.  Another perfect day!