explora

BELIZE, CENTRAL AMERICA
May 2005
For years I would hear from Chris how great the ruins how blue the water (when scuba diving or snorkeling) and how laid back the culture was of Belize. One year Chris and I had planned to go but work never allowed the chance so the trip was scrapped. In early 2005 I decided to choose a destination off the usual path to travel somewhere without knowing a soul or a plan to go somewhere that was not a major city or in Europe. Belize was it. With no agenda just a rough guide a ticket and a backpack l left Brooklyn to head to central America, BELIZE. Full of fear and excitement I left may 17 2005 with not a clue what I was doing except that I had to take this trip. World travel was fairly new to me having only traveled Amsterdam (Holland) Frankfurt (Germany) and Copenhagen (Denmark) this would be a different experience that I would want to expand on and continue in other countries. I remember reading about Caye Caulker the day before out of a Mens Health Journal magazine and I said that looks like a great place to start. Four hours and a water taxi later would place me at the start of excursion. A cab driver gave me 2 pieces of advice when I arrived outside the airport. One watch out for the women in Belize City they fast, fast, fast. Two take it easy and slow down no shirt, no shoes, no problem the popular motto of Belize. The first stop was Cay Caulker one mile west of Belize Barrier Reef, a small beach village with a distinct cultural flavor not found in large scale tourist developments. To me this place was so chill that penguins migrate here for the winter. A population of 1300 people derived of Mestizo, Garifuna and Creole culture occupy this 5 mile long white sand village. Snorkeling, diving and fishing tours are the main attraction or swimming with man-rays and sharks in a nearby cove. Caye Caulker was the best place to start or end the trip, which I did both.
From Caye Caulker I would travel back mainland to take a bus from Belize City to Orange Walk District to see the ruins of Lamanai. A majority of the ruins in Belize are recently uncovered and not even a fraction of the amount that are still covered by jungle and mounds of earth due to non existent funding for excavation. Lamanai was built by the Mayans around 100 B.C. and in translation means "Submerged Crocodile". Most of the trip were tours of mighty Mayan temples more impressive than I had imagined. In San Ignacio I would experience Xunantunich a.k.a "the Maiden of the Rock" which stands atop a steep 2 kilometer hike. Here holds one of the largest temples in Belize known as El Castillo 40 meters high and yeah we hiked up the top, shocking! Going down was much worse for fear you would crack your skull open on the steep steps, how did the Mayans do it with such short legs? Of course there would be taller temples to climb like in Caracol which holds the largest Mayan site in all of Belize 88 square kilometers with possibly 30,000 structures built at one time. Only the core of the city can be seen, 38 square kilometers and at least 38 structures. The largest of these structures Caana also known as the "Sky Palace" towers above the forest at 42 meters high with 3 temples above that, this is the largest building in all Belize. The best tour of this trip was in Actun Tunichil Muknul 5 kilometers of subterranean caverns partially in water. For starters there was the 40 minute hike through the jungle that your guide mentioned not to touch a thing or fall behind without speaking up. The second fact would be the 10 feet of water that you had to swim just to enter the cavern at the river base, I don't know how to swim ...yet. The caverns where known as the entrance to the underworld consisting of sacrificial chambers, burial grounds, tombs, stalactites and water up to your neck. The caverns were dark and narrow at times at other moments we had to climb our way into areas that were above water level. This portion of my trip was full of adventure different than what I would experience in N.Y.C., different not better.
My final days were spent back in Caye Caulker where the weather was the brightest and the people remembered your face because the island was that small. There I could chill on the beach, drink a few brews, watch the sites go bye and remember the sites that were ...truly beautiful! That's another story.
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