Lamanai

After an adequate breakfast in the same hotel dining room (but served buffet style to circumvent the service issues) we boarded the bus along with another local guide for a 90-minute trip north from Belize City to “Orange Town.” The guide gave us some history and facts about the country that were somewhat more interestingly presented than yesterday.

An iguana suns himself (herself?) on a wall in Belize.

Along the way our driver spotted a large Jabiru stork -- white with red neck -- that the local guide told us was very rare to see, and is the largest bird native to the western hemisphere. Apparently there are no avid bird watchers in our group, because no one was all that excited to see such a rare species.

Jabiru stork in the distance

At Orange Town (which isn’t much of a town) we transferred to a large outboard boat that could easily accommodate all 16 group members, plus our OAT guide. The local guide continued as boat driver. We made good speed, but stopped periodically when he saw particular birds, or in one case, bats, that were noteworthy. Again, no bird watchers aboard to get overly excited, but it was reasonably interesting. But when the skies opened and it began to rain on us, the bird watching stopped entirely as most of us huddled under a tarp.

A cormorant along the river

After about an hour total (the last 15-20 minutes under the tarp) we arrived at the Mayan site called Lamanai, located in a rain forest preservation area along the river. The site was well preserved and uncrowded. The most unique feature was the “masks” decorating two of the structures. One jaguar mask was original, most were reproductions that allowed the originals to be preserved elsewhere, protected from the elements.

Bats cling to a tree trunk above the water.

We docked at Lamanai in the rain.

Because of the rain the trails were quite muddy and slippery, and climbing pyramids was left only to the youngest and most daring in the group. The guide brought along a picnic lunch for us to eat on the site, and fortunately there was a thatched-roof shelter with picnic tables. Though the rain had abated, as we loaded the boat for the 50 minute return downstream to Orange Town, there were dark and ominous clouds over our path. Fortunately, it did not rain nearly as hard as on the upstream trip, and most managed to tolerate the sprinkles.

A somewhat crude jaguar mask at a very ancient temple.

Mary demonstrates ancient corn grinding equipment.

All in all, we were lucky to have only been rained on this one day in a two week excursion during the rainy season. The trip ended with a nice farewell dinner at a local restaurant (not at the hotel, thankfully), and a short bus ride to the airport the following morning. The trip home was long but uneventful, and we even arrived on time in Minneapolis.

A pyramid emerges from the jungle.

A one of the famous temple masks at Lamanai -- the end of a very good trip.