As far as Mayan ruins go, Lamanai is the longest continually occupied site in Mesoamerica. Starting in 1500 BC and going until the 1700s, the site had people on it for 3200-ish years. The population was about 34,000. Plus it’s the second-largest site in Belize at 860 acres. Only 5% of it has been excavated.
Lamanai (they think) means “submerged crocodile,” supposedly named for the crocodiles that hang out in the nearby New River Lagoon. It’s a bit of a trek to get to the site. You take a bus from Belize City to AyinHa Adventures headquarters, then you take a boat up the lagoon to the site.
AyinHa Adventures headquarters. They serve a buffet-style lunch of beans and rice (cooked in coconut milk), potatoes (cooked in coconut milk), fried plantains, corn on the cob, watermelon, salad, and mixed vegetables. Plus they give you a coconut with a straw in it. Then you can wander the grounds and pick a scenic spot to enjoy your food.
The restaurant uses ingredients from its organic greenhouse garden. They gave us a tour of the grounds while we waited for our boat.
It’s a speed boat! It takes about 20 minutes to go from the restaurant to the ruins.
This is the Jaguar Temple. (You can see the Jaguar mask’s eyes, nose, and mouth.)
The Mask Temple! It’s the one you can climb! The only exception is in case of rain, since the limestone gets slippery. (Does it look like it rained? It rained.)
And in the short time we were there, it went from sunny blue skies to a monsoon-style thunder storm. Palm fronds were breaking off and falling onto outbuildings, my clothes, shoes, and bag were waterlogged, and lightning shot through the sky while we stood under a metal picnic roof in a grove of tall trees. ADVENTURE.
The speed boat trip back was not as fun in the rain. We were definitely happy to get back to warm showers on the cruise ship.
Turning the corner in a speed boat!
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