I had booked my trip back in December after extensive research. I like to give myself something to look forward to to help me through the cold Vermont winters!
I flew out of Boston and down to Belize to begin my tropical getaway...this was my second trip to Central America and I knew to expect the heat and humidity, boy did it feel good to be warm! Although the temps did rise into the 90s and 100s, so a little too warm perhaps;)
I stayed at the Bird's Eye View Lodge
It was the end of the dry season, and I could see signs of this in the scorched landscape along the road, and by the skinny animals trying to get by until the more abundant rainy season...
My room was bright and comfortable...
The following morning, after a delicious breakfast, I went on an all-day tour to the ancient Mayan ruins of Lamanai (meaning Submerged Crocodile)...
we took an hour and a half boat ride down the New River, and met several inhabitants along the way, including this curious spider monkey!
we pulled up to the boat landing...
and made our way through the jungle to the 1st of several Mayan ruins...the first one we saw was called the Jaguar Temple...
we then continued through the hot, humid jungle to the biggest of the ruins, which we saw peeking through the trees...
this one we could climb! So we took the 'tourist stairs'...
The following day, I took 2 half day tours. The first was to the Community Baboon Sanctuary, where there were Howler monkeys resting up in the trees in the heat of the day...
If I thought the day before was hot at 95 degrees (fahrenheit), I was in for a surprise! It was a burning 105 degrees, and without some kind of sun protection I would've had the worst sunburn ever! But it was still worth it to see what I saw next...
In the afternoon, the hottest part of the day, I put on more sunblock and a bandana, sunglasses and sun protection sleeves on my arms...and headed to another Mayan site, called Altun Ha (meaning Rock Stone Water), when I got there, I was the only visitor! So I had the whole place to myself! It was like a private tour...
After another full day of exploring the past and present of Belize, I headed back to the lodge for one more night. I had met some nice couples there and we spent the evening outside watching a thunderstorm roll in, and with it some well-needed cooler air!
then it was back on the plane to make my way back home...
another amazing journey exploring God's Awesome Creation!
Safe travels,
Rachael
#travel #belize #adventure #jungle #mayanruins
