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.