Like this:

The last banana orchids of the season.

August 11, 2008

Lingering at Lamanai

Tuesday morning we are up at 7:00 AM, sitting at the end of our pier, waiting for the boat to take us to Lamanai, another Mayan ruin on the mainland. Boat seems to be the most convenient mode of transportation on the island and the fastest. No golfcarts, pedestrians or bicycles in the way, just a straight shot from pier to pier, and each major hotel or resort with its own.

Speeding across the water to the mainland, we are bound for the New River, and the small town of Bomba. Once we get there, a bus take us to another part of the river. Then, back on the river to the ruins of Lamanai, located on the Lamanai lagoon, deep in the rainforest. Along the way, a guided tour of the flora, fauna and history of the area by Herman and Frank, dread-locked Creoles with a delightful accent and sense of humor.

We zoom across the shallow-ocean, spray in our faces and a sense of anticipated adventure. Once we are on the river, a breakfast of Johnny-cakes with chicken, ham or cheese and fruit is served on the boat. True to their word, the educational portion of the tour begins. We are in the rainy season, and find that the river was a riot of color and smell in June when the banana orchids were in bloom, but this is August. Our guide manages to find one small late-bloomer that he brings on board for us all to smell, photograph and look at more closely. The dark, tea-colored brackish water has no clarity, but we are told that crocodiles and manatees lurk underneath. The blobs of mud hanging from the trees are termite nests, and mangrove trees are one of the main vegetations on the shore.

Termite nest in the jungle. They taste minty.

Bomba is a small village that only recently acquired running water and electricity. Sitting at the dock, our next mode of transportation, a dark green school bus, with the requisite window air-conditioning. Next to that, a source of pride in the village, and built especially for the tourists, the facilities. Boasting a private flush toilet for women, and 2 urinals out in the open on the other side of the wall for the men. Why bother? We all laugh.

Approaching Bomba in Orange Walk District, Belize

Even little boys in Bomba throw rocks

Climbing aboard the bus, we bounce our way on sand roads for several miles. Then we come to the Pan American Highway. I think the Mayans would be ashamed. The last paving was done many years ago, now it is concrete interspersed with more sand. The hot, bumpy ride soon puts many of us to sleep. The sites out the window, jungle with some crudely planted crops and occasional fields with cattle. “If you want land,” the guide explains, “You go out and clear the jungle, and plant something and the government will give it to you.”

Boarding the chicken bus in Bomba

Set-up especially for tours, the next stop boasts more restrooms, these really decent, a covered picnic area and hammocks. But there is no time to rest. This time we get in 2 different boats, each with its own guides. We are in the smaller group and take off ahead. Mark spots the flipper of a manatee, but by the time the boat slows down, it has totally disappeared. We slow from time to time to see other points of nature. At one tree there is a bird that is so camoflaged it looks like a branch stop. How does the guide know where there will be birds?, I wonder. Do they stuff them and sit them up in the trees to show tourists?

Passing the Mennonite settlement of Shipyard, we admire their clean and neatly organized community. The group had come at the turn of the century, their pacifism, making their stay in Mexico intolerable during the revolution. They had an agreement with the government to be productive farmers. Using only the methods approved by their religion, horse and buggy, no electricity etc., they are responsible for a large percentage of all the fruit and field-crops grown in Belize. Turning a bend in the river, teen-age boys jump off a wharf and try to show-off. Where are the girls? Probably back home cooking, cleaning and sewing

Picnic area at Lamanai

Entering the New River Lagoon

Finally the river opens into a wide lagoon and we pull up to the wharf. A cobbled walk leads to a picnic area, restrooms, a museum and gift shops. Getting off the boat, we walk over to the picnic area and wait for lunch. Typical Belizean fare, jerked chicken, coleslaw, beans and rice and fruit, but it is delicious.

Lunch over, we walk through the museum and then meet our tour guide, a native Mayan with his own special interest in the area. Only 95% of the ruins have been excavated. As you walk through the jungle, there are huge mounds that look like hills, but these are other ruins that haven’t been uncovered. The country has no money to do such work, and relies not only on grants from countries like the United States and Canada, but also the expertise of their scholars to make sure the work is done correctly.

A quiet howler monkey in the trees.

There are only a few main structures that visitors see at Lamanai. Walking through the jungle, the guide tells us many things about the plants. There is the give and take plant, covered by hundreds of thorns, each capable of inflicting severe pain, reduced only by sap from the same plant, hence its name give and take. Huge strangler figs are BFT, big fat trees, related to the Banyan, with its entangled trunk and root system. Howler monkeys, hang from the tops of some of the trees, this being their nap-time, they’re really not into howling right now.

Jaguar temple with jaquar face. Weathered facade

Walking into a clearing, we observe the Jaguar Temple. Named for the stylized jaguar face at each end. One shows the effects of weather and jungle and the other has been built up so that the jaguar face can be more clearly seen. According to archaeologists, the temple was built in the 6^th century BC and used until the Spaniards came in the 1500s.

The High Temple at Lamanai

Hiking to the top of the High Temple is a physical challenge going up and a mental challenge coming down. Would I make it? I didn’t even stop to think about it, just plunged ahead. A huge rope from the top helps both ways, but you have to trust the rope. Would if one tourist too many has pulled their way to the top? The pinnacle is magnificent, a tremendous sense of accomplishment, rewarded by cool breezes from the jungle and an incredible view of the tops of the trees and the lagoon in the background.
The Mask Temple features a 13-foot high mask of an ancient Mayan king. Unlike other ruins, the Mayan continued to build on this site, over the structures of their ancestors. The name Lamanai means submerged crocodile and the lagoon is now a site for their study.

It takes physical strength to climb up the temple . . .

hiking down the temple is a mental stretch.

But the view from the top is well worth it.

The Mask Temple features a 13-foot high mask of an ancient Mayan king. Unlike other ruins, the Mayan continued to build on this site, over the structures of their ancestors. The name Lamanai means submerged alligator and the lagoon is now a site for their study.

Close-up of Mayan mask.

The Mask Temple is from a later period.

But it is quickly growing dark, and we need to get back before its does. The trip out takes about half the time as the trip in. The boat guides are experts and can probably do the trip in their sleep. Water sprays from the back of the boat, as we zoom through the jungle, plants brushing the sides of the boats. All too soon we are back to our hotel dock, with light to spare — an amazing journey through time and indescribable scenery.

These river guides really know what they are doing.

Advertisement