Ancient Mayan Cities - Xunantunich & Cahal Pech

Xunantunich (Soo-nan-TOO-neech) and Cahal Pech (Petch) were some of the smaller (but still beautiful) places we visited in Belize. It was actually pretty zen because there were a lot fewer tourists there. At Cahal Pech, there was basically no one. We even laid down on top of the highest temple and had a nice relaxing moment before a busy day of taking a bus back to Belize City and then a water taxi to Caye Caulker.

First up, Xunantunich. We stayed at a place called the Trek Stop, which caters to backpackers. It was very hippie-ish with rainwater showers and compost toilets, but it was actually pretty nice. We had a fan in our room (and electricity!) and everything. We had chosen it because if its proximity to the ruins, inexpensiveness, and potential to meet other backpackers. Unfortunately, we ended up being the only ones staying there! Just kind of a freak thing, being the rainy season in the middle of the week. It was sort of cool, having the place to ourselves. The only problem was that rainwater showers have zilch water pressure so we didn't take showers for a couple of days.

We walked the half mile to the river and got on the ferry. There the sign said 1 mile to the ruins, but there were a lot of tourists taking cabs. Scoffing at them, we took the one mile hike. Straight uphill. All the way. Super steep. Now, I don't know about you, but when I'm backpacking across country, doing tons of manual labor, hiking up temples, and scuba diving on my "relaxing vacation," a whole bunch of extra walking uphill isn't really what I'm looking for. Especially in the crazy humidity. But, as was the case with pretty much everything on this trip, I feel like I really earned the pretty pictures.

Xunantunich's most notable feature is its Western Frieze. It is so beautiful. What you see here is actually an artist's replica set in front of the real frieze to protect it.

See how those stairs line up? What do you want to bet that's a direct North-South line? The Mayans were so cool.

Canopy view from the top of the highest temple. We sat up there for a while, chatting with a tourist from Chicago, originally from Latvia. We traded stories of temples and recommendations of places to visit. We forgot to ask his name, so we called him Latvia Chicago for the rest of our trip.

Current excavations.

Next up, Cahal Pech! This one was at the top of a hill, too, but we had taken a cab from our hotel as it was about 10 miles away. So, we just had to hike down the hill, which was very fortunate, as we had our backpacks with us. 

Give it scale, Liz!







Big stairs! For reference, Liz is about 6 feet tall.



Hey, we were both here! All gross and sweaty!



Zen moment. She also has a very similar picture of me from when I wasn't looking.

The very last installment of Ancient Mayan Cities will be about Tikal, the really spectacular one. You know the thing about saving the best for last!

Ancient Mayan Cities - Lamanai

Lamanai means "submerged crocodile" in an Ancient Mayan dialect. Actually, it doesn't. It means "submerged insect" because the Spaniards kept pronouncing the Mayan wrong. But, let's pretend it means "submerged crocodile," shall we? Lamanai was unique in that it is located along a river, and it thrived much longer than any of the other cities we visited.

The first time I went, it was by road, but the second time we had a very pleasant river cruise. It was really cool and there were plenty of animals to shoot (with a camera).

A brown sugar factory.

My monkey muses. 

Bats.

The first time I visited Lamanai, it was rainy, and that beautiful green moss basically has the friction coefficient of ice after a sprinkle. Long story short, I fell. Ouch. The second time, it was nice and dry and we were able to climb temples without fear of slipping off. 

The Jaguar Temple. 

The tall column is a stelae, upon which the history of the area and its rulers is inscribed. The stelae that you see here are replicas as exposure damages the carvings. The real ones are in the museum on the property.







The Mask Temple. These masks are also replicas, protecting the real carvings behind them.









The view from the top.



Here is the aptly named High Temple that I mentioned before in my Climbing Temples post.









I love seeing the top of the canopy. It almost seems like an escape from the jungle.

Ancient Mayan Cities - Caracol

Caracol is an amazing Ancient Mayan city in Belize, one that requires traveling on a very bumpy and twisty road. Take your motion sickness meds! I thought I could tough it out to avoid feeling drowsy all day, but it made things very uncomfortable. Despite the road, the ruins were awesome. Totally worth it. The biggest temple at Caracol is the highest building in Belize. Not just the highest ruin. It was also one of the first big temples I climbed on my journey.

This is where the archaeologists live. MRP accommodations looked super fancy in comparison. Like, way fancy. We had running water. 

Water Reservoir

A tunnel dug into a temple in this plaza. I believe there was a tomb that was recovered.



Here's Liz, giving everything scale for me.



Ball courts are my favorite. Though archaeology can never be an exact science without a time machine, it is believed that the ball game was played ritually, and sometimes to resolve conflicts between rulers. A rubber ball was bounced with the hips and shot through hoops (not visible here, they are long gone). It is also believed that the winner or team of winners of the match were sacrificed at the end. In addition, they most likely wore protective gear made out of limestone. Mayan ballplayers make our modern day football and hockey players look like slackers.  

This is a larger plaza of temples, including the Temple of the Last Lintel.



Look, we were really there!



These wood beams are original. The top of these doorways are called lintels. This original lintel is the only one that hadn't rotted away. It's amazing they lasted so long.

Ceiba trees were sacred to the Ancient Maya. They believed that a spirit took a journey along the ceiba to reach the afterlife. There is/was always one planted next to a Mayan city. 

Howler Monkeys. A whole family, including a baby that freaked out and had to be rescued by his daddy. 

Here's a terrible picture of me powering up the really big temple and everyone else I was with giving up (except for Liz, who was behind me with my camera). 

Unfortunately, there is big courtyard at the top, so it looks like I climbed a tiny temple. Trust me, it's huge. 

Got tiny, steep steps? 

The view from the top. 

Amazing carvings.

Caracol was kind of a badass. For a long time, it was thought that Tikal (the largest Mayan city in the area) defeated Caracol when they went to war, but archaeologists have actually discovered that the opposite was true. The smaller city, Caracol, was the victor in the conflict. Go, underdog!