First Weekend Exploring Belize

This weekend was absolutely AMAZING!!! We decided to get away from the "city" and start seeing all the awesome sites that this country offers. Orange Walk is where we decided to go first. It's an area Northwest of Belize City and is home to the New River and the Lamanai Mayan Ruins. Our trip began with a 2 hour bus ride, (actually, make that a VERY hot and crowded 2 hour bus ride) to Orange Walk. And just so you know, when I say bus I mean a very old school bus. It was actually quite an experience since vendors came on the bus to sell snacks and drinks before we left and about 15 people ended up having to stand, since it was filled to the max. However, it started clearing out a little since we stopped just about every hundred yards to drop someone off. During the ride I saw some of the smaller villages and towns with some pretty harsh living conditions. It was definitely eye-opening and really made me think about the extra things I claim to "need" but actually don't.

Upon arrival in Orange Walk we were greeted by our Jungle River Tour guide who took us to our hotel called the Lamanai River Retreat; this is where our fantastic weekend began! After a super nice welcome from the owner's son, Khen (pronounced like "Keen"), we dropped our bags in the room and headed to the restaurant on the property. After meeting all of Khen's family and getting to know them a bit, we ate a delicious meal complete with some freshly squeezed pineapple juice. My mouth is still watering from that meal!

 

The Lamanai Riverside Retreat and it's 3 guest rooms!

 

This is the restaurant and deck area of the hotel, complete with a hammock!

 

View of the river and riverside dining tables from the deck. It was so peaceful out here!

This was our room. Rachel and I took the bed with and elephant comforter, and Jessica took the twin.

Fresh pineapple juice... yum!!!

The next morning (Saturday) we woke up, had a delicious breakfast, and headed out for our jungle river tour that leads to the Lamanai Mayan Ruins. We saw lots of Belize's natural inhabitants such as crocodiles, birds, iguanas, and spider monkeys. It was so cool to see all these creatures so up close and actually interact with the monkeys... they were SOOO cute!

  

Fry Jacks... amazing biscuit/funnel cake things that are amazing for breakfast with a little strawberry jam!

A little relaxing in the hammock before the boat tour!

Rachel and I on the boat... before I lost my hat. The wind was a little too strong that day... : (

The New River aka "the river of friends", since it was mostly used for trade

                                                      

lots of crocodiles...  

and monkeys!

They grabbed bananas right out of our hands and even walked around on the boat for a while!

 

 

 

If I come home with a pet monkey, don't be surprised!

 

  I can't say that I'll be trying to smuggle in an iguana through customs though... lol

There's a pretty substantial Mennonite community in Orange Walk. They contribute lots of produce and beef to the community. Also, they have tractors with iron wheels, because they don't believe in rubber... just in case you wanted to know.

This is the sugar cane mill. It's the second largest source of revenue for Belize behind tourism.

I loved the cute little riverside houses with thatch roofs; they're so tropical!

After the 2 hour boat tour we arrived at the Mayan site and ate lunch before beginning our hike through the jungle to get to the actual ruins. We had a traditional Belizean meal of stew chicken, rice and beans, fried plantains, and salad and topped it off with a Coke. Our tour guide was great and shared a lot about the Lamanai Mayan culture with us after lunch.

 

 

You know me well enough by now to know that I had to take a pic of my lunch... it was super yummy! 

The actual hike through the jungle was really cool, but also a little scary after being warned to look around for spiders, lizards, snakes, and scorpions. I'm happy to report that none of these things were seen on our hike!  I was amazed the huge size of the trees, leaves, vines, and other plants in the jungle. Think of the Rainforest Cafe, only 100 times better! lol

 

The leaves were huge!

 

Snake cactus...it really did look like snakes until you got up close to it.

The clearings of the jungle were home to the Lamanai Ruins, which were established for places of sacrifice and trade between themselves and other tribes. The intricacy of the carvings on the ruins were absolutely beautiful and a little unbelievable to think that the Lamanai could do them with simple tools and no fancy machines. The people of Belize still follow in the footsteps of the Mayans in the respect that they lead simple lives and work hard for what they have. The tallest ruin in the area was nearly 100 ft. tall, and it was the only one that we were allowed to climb. The climb to the top was a little nerve-wracking since the the steps up were steep and pretty tall between each one. Let me just say that it was probably one of the coolest things I've ever done and had the most beautiful views from the top! It was well worth the climb up and the even steeper climb back down.

 

The Jaguar Temple at Lamanai. The sun was super bright in this area, so the picture didn't turn out so well.

This large stone was a bed... I'm pretty thankful for my mattress, pillows, and sheets right about now! 

 The High Temple at Lamanai. It's the largest ruin in Belize and the 3rd largest in the Mayan world at 33 meters tall.

There we are after climbing only a few steps and already a little tired!

 

Still on the way up...

 Yay! We made it!!!

 

A couple veiws from the top... it REALLY was breathtaking!

 

We were above the jungle!

We ate dinner at the retreat after the tour and ended up meeting up with 2 girls from England that we met on the tour earlier in the day. They are in Belize City finishing their internship for medicine and will graduate as doctors in a couple months. Sadly, they're leaving Belize on Friday to go visit some other countries in Central America before returning home. We're hoping to meet up with them for dinner before they leave later this week. It's Tel (in the blue shirt) had a layover in Atlanta on her way to Belize; this also marked her first time in the  States. It was overnight, so the airport got a cab for her to take her to the Super 8 Motel down the street. It's gets even better, because the cab driver offered to take her to Waffle House on the way but after seeing it she declined. We told her that she got to see the best that Atlanta has to offer! lol.

 

Us with Hannah and Tel from England!

We were almost as sad to leave the Lamanai Riverside Retreat and it's owners as we were to leave Atlanta a couple weeks ago, since they really became like a second family to us, complete with 7 brothers and sisters. We will definitely stay in touch with them while we're in Belize and will most definitely be spending at least one more weekend with them in Orange Walk. I should also mention that they're all pranksters which will explain the very scary looking snake picture...

 

  We met "heart-check" (aka the terrfiying snake) on Saturday morning at breakfast. After Raul (the retreat owner and Khen's dad) brought our food he nicely pointed out that "heart check" was sitting right beside our table on the ledge of the deck. After one glance we were all yelling and jumping out of our seats, not to mention yelling at Raul for not telling us that we had a guest sooner! After letting us carry on about the situation for several minutes, Raul walked over and kicked the snake which revealed that it was in fact fake. However, we did get a little "heart check" that morning! lol

These little guys were the second "heart-check" we got just before leaving Sunday morning. Khen told us that he had something to show us before we left so he brought out the family photo album while his dad grabbed 3 baby crocodiles. When he brought them out we though they were real until he pushed them in our faces while we were all gathering around to check them out! After that "heart-check" we warmed up to them, and they turned out to be pretty cute!

Just a quick pic with Khen before we left...

 

and a pic of his mom and dad (they were the only ones around when we checked-out). 

I have some cool videos too, including more views from the top of the jungle as well as the roars of the howler monkeys. I'm having a little trouble uploading them, but hopefully I'll be able to post them soon! Stay tuned!