Growing up in New Mexico and especially spending as much time as I did in Chaco Canyon when I was in high school, I’ve always felt immersed in the culture of the Ancestral Pueblo people. I don’t remember learning about them; it’s like I’ve always known about them. The Maya, on the other hand, I know almost nothing about. So it, was with high expectations earlier this week that we visited Xunantunich, the second largest Mayan site in Belize.
Maya culture was in decline before Chaco even really got started. The Mayan population in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico reached millions, with more than 10,000 at Xunantunich but close to 200,000 at the largest Mayan site in Belize, Caracal. The huge population meant clearing the jungle to support food production, and that created havoc on the land and the climate, which led to the Maya decline. The Maya still exist today; they just weren’t around in huge numbers when the Spanish arrived, and their phenomenal cities had been reclaimed by the jungle, leaving behind puzzles that archaeologists are still sorting.
We took our tour with Belize Caving Expeditions (https://belizecaving.com/) because that’s what our cottage host in San Ignacio (https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/17859805?source_impression_id=p3_1559872704_ocvIRNlG3DMjmpD6) recommended (and we got a discount). Like Placencia, there are tons of tour agencies, and they all run about the same prices. We were very pleased. As we were the only two on the expedition, Miguel, a native of the area, was our private guide, and he did a great job. We learned a lot about Maya culture (the Day of the Dead springs from it), history, language, and more. He also treated us to rum punch, chips and salsa, and fresh watermelon after the tour.
The featured site at Xunantunich is El Castillo, the castle, the second largest man-made structure in Belize (and the photo at the top of this blog post). Archaeologists do not believe it was a tomb, but living quarters for the city’s elite family. We climbed to the top, which gave us a great view of the beautiful surrounding countryside. It’s only a kilometer to Guatemala!
We love San Ignacio and the Cayo District of Belize. With its rolling hills, large rivers, fascinating history, and gregarious residents, we have determined this is one of the places we will live in our upcoming world travels. Expect to see and learn more!
Prior to those travels, though, we still have this trip to complete. So we took a water taxi from Belize City northward to Ambergris Caye (pronounced key, by the way). If you chose to sit on the top deck on the side of the San Pedro Express taxi, prepare to be splashed (and, even with sunscreen, sunburned) during the 1.5 hour ride.
Belize City 
Splash in the ater taxi! 
Unbelievable color
The colors of the ocean around the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef (second largest reef in the world) are magical. It’s hard to believe water can be that blue. We can’t wait to get out and dive!
In the meantime, though, we are exploring San Pedro, the town on Ambergris Caye. It’s an old fishing village turned tourist mecca. The amount of resorts and condos under construction on an island that is far from just about anywhere is mind boggling.
As an old fishing village, the streets are narrow and made of some combination of block/brick/concrete/sand/dirt/pot holes and, of course, speed bumps. Most people travel around the caye in golf carts. The ride is rough, to put it mildly. We got in a bit of rush hour tonight (which included cars, taxis, bicycles, pedestrians, drunk tourists, tractors delivering supplies to grocery stores, hand-pulled carts delivering produce, hawkers sitting in chairs to sell their wares, smoke from all of the restaurant BBQ grills…well, you hopefully get the idea). Sights, sounds, smells — downtown San Pedro provides sensory overload, even before you try to drive a golf cart through them.
Rush hour was upon our return, in our little golf cart, from Secret Beach, which isn’t a secret at all, but it is a teeth-jarring, pothole and speed bump filled 4-mile (or so) ride to get there from town. A gentleman who greeted us at the beach (which is beautiful but doesn’t have a great snorkeling) told us it was only a small, seven bar beach. New way to measure the size of a beach: the number of bars it has. You learn something new every day.
Finally, we have a new favorite snack in our Belizean travels. Coconut Cream filled “Biscuits” (cookies!) from a company called Devon. They are a product of Trinidad and Tobago, distributed by a Jamaican company, and they are absolutely yummy. We bought a package as soon as we got off the plane and haven’t been without them since. They are keeping us sustained during all of these activities.