Belize - Kings and Queens of the Castle

April 5-7

Hello everyone!

Belize is many things. One thing it's not, however, is tall. Its highest point is a mere 1,124 metres above sea level (that may seem high in the UK, but my last two houses have been 960m and 1100m up). That doesn't mean it lacks tall things, mind…

An iguana at the top of El Castillo in Xunantunich

Big Rock Falls

El Castillo at Xunantunich

From Belize City, Hannah and I headed west with her sister and brother-in-law. We based ourselves slightly above a settlement that calls itself the Twin Towns: Santa Elena and San Ignacio.

I'm in the car. We're on a ferry, you'll see it later.

San Ignacio is very close to the Guatemalan border

Like Belize City, it was initially quiet due to the Easter weekend. On the way, having dodged arguably the country's biggest sporting event, we stopped at St Herman's Cave to hike. It's a fascinating place that needs a torch to truly appreciate. Apparently it was once used by Mayans for rituals; as you'll see in the next blog, it wasn't the only cave used for that purpose...

St Herman's is a large limestone caving system

We can walk in about 80 metres without a guide

Being away from the coast, the scenery was markedly different. Forget ocean breezes and introduce lush, green forests. Humidity and UV were similar, mind: insanely high.

View from the cave entrance

The twin towns were nice enough, fairly unremarkable. They have some potentially interesting spots to visit, like Cahal Pech Archaeological Site and Green Iguana Sanctuary. But we were using this as a base to go further afield. 

Up in the clouds, and very humid

This river flows all the way to the Caribbean Sea

One morning we headed south, “high” into the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve. We’d been told that there were a couple of beauty spots involving water in the area. This is where we learnt that the weather can be a little bit unpredictable - before enjoying the first area, we had to briefly take cover from a sharp downpour under a hut.

Rain!

Hiding under a hut from the shower

Rio On Pools sounds like it’s a linguistic mix of English (Pools) and Spanish (Rio). It’s actually all in English, as the river is called the River On. They are a set of small pools and mini waterfalls that sit within a small section of the tributary. The water looks a lot cleaner without rain, but it was still a nice swim.

The blue sky hadn't existed 10 minutes before!

The slightly muddy waters at Rio On Pools

I didn't get much further than this, the current was quite strong

Within this park is a much larger fall, called Big Rock Falls. To access these, we parked at a hotel called Blancaneaux Lodge. The place is stunning, which explains why a room for two costs over $1000 a night. Randomly, it is owned by Francis Ford Coppola, of Godfather and Apocalypse Now fame.

Apparently Coppola visited Belize in the 1980s 

Horse. Head attached, thankfully. If you've seen
The Godfather, you'll get the reference.

Big Rock Falls isn’t far from here, but recent weather has made the trail quite muddy. The return hike was in the middle of the day, making it particularly draining. 

Little stone slabs were a saviour here

I imagine it's much harder in rainy season

Quite the reward, though. Powerful water gushes from a height of over 40 metres into a plunge pool, before flowing over more granite in the form of mini falls into a larger pool. Definitely worth a swim.

Big Rock Falls

That dark blob is me swimming up to the falls

There was another place we had to swim whilst staying in San Ignacio (more about that next time). One other highlight involved water; however, this was not water we wanted to enter. After all, we had our car with us…

The ferry to get to Xunantunich

The journey takes probably less than a minute

Heading to the Mayan site of Xunantunich (pronounced shoo-nan-too-nitch) involves crossing the Mopan River on a hand-cranked ferry. That man in the picture above is doing all the work. After accidentally cutting to the front of the line, we rolled aboard and across before arriving at the site of the ‘Stone Woman’.

The site is split into 4 zones: A to D

Xunantunich is much bigger than the other Belizean site we visited, that of Altun Ha. Being on the river, it was an important ceremonial and trading centre for other parts of the Mundo Maya and even beyond. At its peak, its population may have exceeded 10,000. The ‘downtown’ area alone measures about one square mile.

In 2016, the largest royal Maya tomb ever found was discovered here 

Various structures have been left in differing conditions

What I found particularly striking about this site was its main structure: El Castillo, or ‘The Castle’. It is enormous. It stands at 130 feet tall - almost 40 metres. We’re used to seeing multi-storey buildings and skyscrapers; imagine arriving here, having not seen anything human-made taller than a tree, and having to crane your neck to look at the top of that! Very intimidating, I’m sure.

Even now, it's the second-tallest structure in Belize!

El Castillo has had some alterations over time; it probably didn’t have bannisters on the side staircases, for example. We learnt that recent renovations have been done to reemphasise one aspect of this imposing stone structure. The intricate carvings on the sides of the castle were restored about 10 years ago, using new technology to make them look exactly as they once were. They include visuals of various gods.

Archaeologists think that the faces wrapped
around the whole Castillo in its original form

The friezes are elaborately carved

You’re allowed to climb to the top of El Castillo. The view is not for those who aren’t a fan of heights, particularly if you look directly down. It is incredible. 

Not one for the acrophobic among you...

You can see Guatemala from the top

Like all other Mayan sites, Xunantunich was abandoned at around 900 CE. Like all other Mayan sites, we are yet to truly understand the reason. Having been rediscovered almost a millennium later, Xunantunich is the oldest continuously excavated Maya site in the country. They are still finding new elements and curating older ones so that it can be seen in its true, original glory.

They have found 26 large structures so far

Xunantunich also had residential areas

I’ve said before about each Mesoamerican ruin I visit being unique. Xunantunich didn’t disappoint, with the need for a ‘ferry crossing’ adding to the aura and fun. Like Big Rock Pools, El Castillo is a high point - literally and metaphorically - in many ways in the beautiful country of Belize.

This is a fryjack: hearty, unhealthy Belizean food

The dog who walked back with us from Big Rock Falls

El Castillo at Xunantunich

Love you all,

Matt

Belize - Good Friday?

April 3

Hello everyone!

After a lovely few days, Hannah and I were leaving Honduras. We were heading north to the one Central American country I was yet to visit: one that's a little bit different from the rest…

View from the Swing Bridge, Belize City

Altun Ha

Welcome to Belize, Central America's outlier. The main reason is that this little patch of land - I say little, still bigger than El Salvador - has ties to Great Britain. Little need to practise my Spanish here!

Belize is very similar in size to Wales, but
only half a million people live there

Only 3 countries have gained independence from the UK since Belize

Belize is a relatively new country, only becoming independent in 1981. Before that, and since 1862, it had been a British colony, latterly known as British Honduras. 

Belize is often said to the be the national
flag with the most colours: over 12

Britain used the land as a strategic logging base for harvesting wood

Belize is Central American. It is also very much Caribbean. Cycling around its former capital and largest city, Belize City, gave me vibes closer to the Bahamas than Guatemala, for example. I know there are other places on the isthmus, like Puerto Limon in Costa Rica, that ooze Caribbean culture; it just seems to me that more of Belize is more Caribbean.

Some buildings, like this one, are less Latin American in style

Lots of palm trees around Belize City

Our first view of Belize was spectacular, coming from one of the smaller planes that does international flights. You can't normally read off the pilot's radar screen. It was a mixture of feeling privileged, as if being on a private jet, and mild trepidation when any gust of wind pushed the side of the plane.

There were 7 passengers on our plane

Belize has over 400 islands, known as Cayes

We arrived on Good Friday. I didn't initially realise this, which caused a problem as I was supposed to be immediately going to the Honduras embassy to get a second visa in order to travel back through the country next week to get to El Salvador. Long story, frustrating story, and one that won't happen now, partly because there was no way of getting a visa in Belize on time if the embassy was closed.

It wasn't just embassies that were closed until Tuesday...

Some houses had Easter decorations in their windows

It was closed. Turns out almost everything was closed. Not an exaggeration, this. Good Friday is an enormous deal in Belize. The big city felt like a ghost town.

What was the question, though?

Almost every restaurant was closed

Most people stock up in advance of the day. Obviously, that was difficult for us to do as we arrived on that day. We borrowed bikes from the place where we were staying that night to explore, and try to find food. 

One positive about it being a holiday was that we had less traffic to negotiate.
Good thing as the way to brake on these bikes is to pedal backwards...

The ferry terminal area

This proved challenging. Eventually, near the city’s Swing Bridge, we found a pop-up selling something called a ‘boil-up’: fish and a ton of starches. Exactly what was needed after a rain-specked cycle.

It is pronounced 'bile-up' - there are
varieties of language here, such as Creole

The big lump is a dumpling, known as 'boiled cake'

A couple of supermarkets - intriguingly, all with Chinese names - were open on the way back, giving us an opportunity to stock up on food for later. We also bought some beers. The lady at the checkout told me to hide the beers in my bag, as they weren't supposed to be selling them. When visiting a different supermarket later in the day to buy milk, a local man was refused when trying to buy beer, being told that they “weren't selling beer today”. Good Friday - enormous deal.

We did manage to find a fruit stand on the way back - watermelon,
along with instant noodles and plastic cheese, was our dinner.

The national beer is called Belikin

Another Good Friday superstition here is that you shouldn't swim in rivers or the sea on that day, for fear of being turned into…a mermaid. I thought those kind of beliefs belonged to a different era…

The Temple of the Masonry Altars

The site is 50 km north of Belize City 

This is Altun Ha, found about an hour's drive from Belize City. The land of modern-day Belize, like its neighbouring countries, was part of Mundo Maya: the Mayan World.

You're allowed to climb the ruins here, which leads to impressive views

Many areas are yet to be fully excavated

Altun Ha was a medium-sized Mayan settlement, with up to 10,000 citizens living there at its peak between 500 and 600 CE. There were hundreds of structures, with some of them visible today. One of the prominent temples is the Temple of the Masonry Altars. If you've ever been to Belize, it's the picture on the national beer bottle.

There are also other residential buildings and a ball court

Within this, archaeologists have found a tomb of an elderly priest

The name translates as ‘stone water’. The name is derived from the pond found nearby. Archaeologists became aware of the settlement in 1963, and believe that it was a key trading link between the Caribbean Coast and central Mayan strongholds such as Caracol and Tikal.

The name is from the Yucatec Maya language

The earliest evidence of life here dates back to 200 BCE 

Though not particularly large or grand, Altun Ha was quite a rich settlement. This is because of its use of a particular mineral: jade. It was at Altun Ha that the largest carved jade structure in Mesoamerica was found. Worth between 5 and 10 million dollars, the head, which depicts the Sun God called Kinich Ahau, it is kept in the country's Central Bank. They have a replica at Altun Ha, seen below.

The head is 15 cm tall and weighs almost 5 kg

It adorns stamps and other things in the country

Like the main city in Belize, Altun Ha was very quiet - we had the site to ourselves for a while. It really does seem that a Good Friday and Easter weekend in Belize is one on which not a lot happens!

Eerily quiet Belize City

Eerily quiet Altun Ha

Kinich Ahau, the Sun God

Love you all,

Matt