The Belize Diaries-Day 2

The day started early with a 7:15 pickup on the dock outside our hotel. Our destination was some Mayan Ruins in the heart of the jungles of Belize. Our guides for the day were Albert and Eddie. We headed out to the open water between the island and mainland Belize. These waters were mainly fishing grounds where they caught crabs and lobsters. Albert told us that the fishermen come out and catch the crabs and then they measure them, cut off one claw, and then throw them back in the water so that with a few months time they can re-grow a claw, thus instead of killing the crabs they can come back and harvest their claws over and over again. So just picture if you will a whole bunch of crabs limping around in the ocean with one stubby claw. It's really pretty sad when you think about it.

After crossing the ocean we entered the mainland by a river and followed the river into Belize. Our guides slowed the boat down and offered us fresh fruit (yum) and pastries and a variety of drinks. When I asked what they had that was diet to drink this was Albert's response....."No diets in Belize. The larger the woman the more lovin' she gets." I then asked him if he wanted a green card to the states. After snack time, we arrived at the Bomba Village.
Then we loaded on a bus. I use the term bus loosely. If you ever saw the movie "Romancing The Stone" this bus looked like the bus she got in when she was trying to get to the Hotel Cartihenia in Columbia. We were on this bus for an hour on a one lane dirt/gravel/potholed road. Our bus drivers motto was "65 and stay alive." The bus dropped us off at another river where we got on another boat and picked up another guide. We went up this river to the village of Lumani. He hiked through the jungle with Howler monkeys swinging in the trees above us to the various temples that had been excavated. The temple in this picture was called the high temple. It stands 112 feet. We were allowed to climb this one by holding onto a rope and pulling ourselves up the steep stairs. I must admit at this point that I acted very brave but I was scared to death and completely out of breath. Once we got to the top we could see Belize to the East. Guatemala to the West and Mexico to the north. Then the real challenge came. Getting down. Everyone agreed that the worst part was having to smell our stinking underarms as we were holding onto the rope to get down. It was so scary and I am still very sore from the climb.



Then they fed us lunch and rum punch. Put us back on the boat. Then back on the bus. Then back on the other boat and finally dropped us off at our dock around 6 p.m. This excursion was well worth the money. If anyone goes to Belize, I highly recommend taking this trip. It gives you all the aspects of Belize. Ocean, River, Jungle.