here comes the sun
a sunny, warm day trip to Caracol
04.09.2010 - 04.09.2010 92 °F
Last weekend we went on a small day trip to Caracol, a maya archaeological site in Belize that houses the tallest building in the whole country of Belize. We left bright and early with two vans and a pickup (the vans housed us and all of the tour guides that are auditing the class) and headed up towards Mountain Pine Ridge yet again, as that is where the one road to Caracol is.
On the way there we had some small adventures - one of the tires in our van blew out so we had to pull over so that the guides could replace it. While we were stopped I went exploring with a few girls, and while using a public bathroom a lizard fell off the ceiling! It was terrifying, and one girl tried to pick it up but it ran away, the whole thing was a very entertaining fiasco.
We made it the rest of the way to Caracol without incident, but I was concerned to find out that because we are so close to the Guatemalan border, we had to have an armed escort to the site of the ruins! Two men with huge weapons drove in front of our vehicles the last half hour of the journey and then waited until we left. All around the actual site there were also guards, sitting on trees and wandering around with their guns over their shoulders. It was certainly an experience.
The ruins were beautiful, my favorite so far, but it was a very hot day so everyone was very tired. We walked around the smaller sites for a few hours, ate lunch next to a tree with orependolas (cool birds that have hanging nests), and then headed towards the tallest building.
The building, called Caana, has about 90 steps that were about up to my mid thigh that you can take to the top. Lets just say that in the blazing sun it was certainly a hike. But it was worth it, because the view from the top was absolutely amazing. We stayed up there for a bit, then hiked back down and left the park. On the way back we stopped at a small cave for about 10 minutes so people could swim, and then we arrived back in San Ignacio. It was a fun little trip, but I think I've had enough of ruins for my time here.
Posted by akalisze11 04.13.2010 11:49 Archived in Belize Tagged bus
