Boat Trip to Lamanai

I woke up early and went in search of breakfast.

Not a whole lot to see in Orange Walk.

I finally found some breakfast but was unable to get them to lay any eggs.

Back at the hotel I found some eggs that were already scrambled and ready for consumption. We then headed out to catch a boat to Lamanai. Lamanai is one of the longest occupied cities, active from 1200BC to 1600AD. It is also one of the few cities where the original name is known and it means submerged crocodile.

We took off, winding our way through the various canals.



We passed a sugar factory that was working on polluting the earth, but they were also making rum so I was conflicted about the whole thing.

We found a lizard hiding, can you spot it?

As we went along I was trying to get my mind in the time of the Mayans, seeing the same wildlife that they may have seen as they traveled the river.







We then came across John McAfee's vacation home. For those of you who don't know, he created the anti-virus program McAfee. He sold the company a while back, and if you have heard him speak within the last five years three words come to mind, "Bat Shit Crazy".

Speaking of bats, here are a few. They are fairly dormant until you get close, then we get to see who screams the loudest.

Belize is home to many Mennonites and we spotted the elusive creature.

They spook easily so we had to keep our distance.

Some local fisherman trolling using a paddle, string, and hook. No motor or fishing rod needed.

We finally approached Lamanai.

As we entered the site we were greeted by the great Jaguar Temple, unfortunately an actual jaguar was nowhere to be found as that would have made an amazing picture.







I put some Cacao bits in my mouth to suck on. I stopped going out with my mind and let the spirit of Cacao come to me, telling me about this space, letting it guide me in the space. Many tourists just take off and climb up the steps, they have no connection to this place, no understanding. I explored it in my own way, in a way that worked for me.

Once I felt the temple accept me, I began to climb up to the top.



There was a tree to greet me at the top.

And the views were beautiful, I was so lucky to be here at this point in time.





With Cacao as my guide I continued through the site, listening to the spirits it brought me. A beautiful tree, a beautiful moment.



I then found this amazing temple tucked away with it's stelae still shining bright.



The spirits lead me to the high temple and I could feel it's power. It had been waiting for me.



As new kings succeed the old ones, they do not remodel, but rather build on top of the existing. Each king getting higher and higher, closer to the Gods. Sending a message to their people that they are better then their previous king.

The fella on the left looked like he just ate a bad piece of white fish.

The fella on the right was a bit more portly and seemed to enjoy his black beans.

Once they gave me permission to proceed I started climbing, and the views were breathtaking. Although it might also be the steep climb in the heat of the day that took my breath away.



I spent some time just taking it all in, letting myself become the Mayan kings of past.

This last temple appeared to be in amazing condition and the carvings held up well. That is until you went up and knocked on them. They are actually fiberglass recreations meant to protect the originals underneath from tourist's hands that are covered in sunscreen and bug repellent.





This temple had limited views but you could feel that was not it's purpose, it spoke proudly of displaying the mask of the king.

After a full day of exploration, both of the site and personal, I thanked the Cacao spirit and we headed back. Lucky our boat captain had a banana at his disposal when we found this guy.



But wait, how did our boat captain know to bring a banana? Was there another boat in front of us that was planting these various animals and another boat behind us picking them up? I knew there was no way our captain could have spotted the green lizard in amongst the green leaves we saw at the start of this trip.



We were staying at the Black Rock Lodge in San Ignacio today and we were very late, even by Belize time. So the lodge called us to make sure we were OK, now that is customer service.

VIDEO: Mayan Cosmology - Day 6