CENTRAL AMERICA 2021
Monday, November 8, 2021
We fly through Dallas, then nonstop to Belize City, Belize.
I was surprised that no one checked my vaccination status or covid negative test before we landed and checked in through the lines for customs. One of the custom’s agents was being so thorough that she was removing everything in the suitcases. What a mess and slowdown. We moved over to another line for one who was not so picky.
Tuesday November 9, 2021 Ramada Belize City Princess Hotel, Belize City, Belize.
Our main focus for this trip is the Maya and their history in Central America. They were one of the dominant groups in mesoamerica before the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century. By then they had left the great cities they had built and were living in small villages with many languages. They reached their peak in the classic period, 250 AD to 900 AD. During the classic period their population could have reached between 2,000,000 and 10,000,000. Debate continues for the reason of their fall around 900. Some theories postulate it could be related to drought, a new religion, exhaustion of the natural resources and or warfare. Mayan agriculture included slash and burn farming, irrigation and terracing.
The Archaic Period: 7000-2000 BCE The aboriginal peoples here settled down from hunting and gathering and started growing crops.
The PreClassic 1500-200 BCE – People started building stone and brick cities.They developed hieroglyphic writing by the 300 BC. They recorded their history. Their screenfold books were destroyed by the Spanish.
The Classic 250 to 900 AD When city-states were linked by a complex trade network.
950 CE to 1539 CE. Following the decline of Classic Maya civilization and included the abandonment of Maya cities.
Mayans were very religious and worshiped many gods related to nature. Sun, moon, rain and corn gods featured prominently. When glyphs show bones they are about the underworld. They had Kings or Holy Lords who claimed to be related to the gods and followed a hereditary succession. These Holy Lords performed elaborate religious ceremonies to mediate between the gods and the people. The high born and priests would live at the ruin and villages would be in the nearby surroundings.
Our plan is to visit seventeen Mayan sites including all of the major ones, plus some obscure, seldom-visited sites in Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
Our first day on tour we drive to a small dock where we board a speed boat to take us to Lamanai. Lamanai means submerged crocodile. This ruin was dated from 200 BC to 500 AD the Preclassic and Classic Mayan period. We get to the site via a river called New River. It was new to the Spaniards who named it. The river is very busy with wild life. Birds fly, perch and wade along the banks and shallows. Fish leap out of the water being chased by larger fish. We also see turtles, a crocodile, and some small bats that are roosting on the sides of trees. Our river guide is knowledgable and answers all of our questions about the wild life that we see. As we near the Mayan site we pass by a Mennonite community.
We arrive at Lamanai Archeological Reserve, a 950 acre site just as two troops of Black Guatemalan Howler monkeys are battling it out in the tree tops. The larger adult males are roaring at one another. They are the loudest land animal in the world and the volume can reach 140 decibels. Jets are 150. Howler monkeys can be heard for about 5 km through dense forest. Later in the visit we get to see a couple of young monkeys chasing each other not far from where we are admiring a ruin of a latrine. It has obvious plumbing made of carved stone.
Howler monkeys defend a range of about 5 miles. They eat fruit and leaves. They have a prehensile tail, the end of which has a tactile pad and prints like on our finger tips. Troops are usually about 6 to 9 monkeys, one to three males, their mates and offspring. Females are about 14 pounds and males 24. The largest troop I heard of on the internet was 15. We can see small round grape sized red ripe figs that those monkeys could be fighting over. Usually they get water from the leaves that they eat. When it is very dry they will come down out of the trees for a drink but this is rare. Weaned at about 18 months, these monkeys live fifteen to twenty years. They are the largest monkeys in the Americas. They are recovering their population because local land owners have pledged to protect the remainder of their habitat in a 20 square miles in the Belize river area. This includes several Creole (mixtures of Spanish and Maya) villages.
We hear the howler monkeys throughout our stay at the ruin as we walk from one structure to the next. There are also spider monkeys in the tree tops but they don’t call attention to them selves like the howlers.
The reason I think the howler monkeys sound like T.Rex is because Steven Spielberg taped howler monkeys, to use for his T Rex roars in his movie, Jurassic Park.
Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021 Ramada Belize City Princess Hotel, Belize City, Belize.
As we drive to Altun Ha, (Rockstone Pond) we are held up briefly at a check point. The guards have M16 rifles that have been given to Belize by the US. The police are checking to see that we are wearing our mask in the car. (Our guide says he got a $500.00 ticket for leaving his house with his mask under his chin. $250.00 US) They also check for human trafficking, contraband and auto insurance. We are waved through. They generally don’t bother tourists.
Altun Ha was built around 200 AD near the Caribbean Sea. The buildings we see date from the third and tenth century A.D. The population would have been about ten thousand at its peak. Villages date from 1500 to 200 BCE. At its zenith there were 10,000 Maya living here. There are two plazas and two temples, images of one of which adorns both Belikin beer labels and the one dollar Belizean bank note.
One of the unique features of Altun Ha is its Maya made reservoir. It is lined with yellow limestone clay to stay water tight. There are two main plazas and thirteen other structures. It was an affluent ceremonial center. The largest temple rises 54 feet above the plaza floor. A single staircase climbs to the top where the altar was used for the majority of the religious ceremonies. The temple, dedicated to the Sun God, has 7 layers.
Six main groups of people live in Belize. In order of abundance:
Mestizo: Mayan / Spanish
Maya: There are more than 20 linguistic types of Mayan.
Creole: European / African
Garifuna: Caribbean / African
Chinese
Mennonites
In the 1957s more than 3,000 German/Dutch Mennonite people came to Belize from Northern Mexico, and started farming. Before Mexico they lived in Canada. They came for religious freedom and the promise that their children would not have to serve in the military. Things were changing for them in Mexico so both progressive and conservative Mennonites moved to Belize. Mennonites provide 85% of the poultry and dairy for all of Belize. They also provide vegetables, cattle, hardware and building supplies. They are excellent carpenters and house builders.
Thursday, Nov 11, 2021 Midas Hotel, Cayo, Belize
Breakfast is spinach, bok choi, fresh tortillas, pineapple, papaya and banana. We have a round separate room like a yurt. About 1/3 of it is a bathroom.
To get to Cara col, we drive through a Mountain Pine area where the pine beetle did a lot of damage. We see small pine trees that have been planted to replace the ones that were lost. The road through this pine forest is unpaved and very rough. It takes about 3 hours to get to the 30 square mile Caracol site, in high canopy jungle, and until recently it took four hours. One piece of the road midway was recently graded and packed for a quicker ride. We bump along and dodge or drive through large potholes. This site is not popular with the large tours since it is so difficult to get here.
On the way we stop at the Rio Frio cave where we stretch our legs and get some relief from that rough ride. The cave is large enough to have a very small natural beach at the bottom. We did not go down there but admired it from above where there was a path good for just a few people. Flow stone decorated many of the walls.
When we finish that rough ride we enter the thirty square mile area of Mayan Caracol. Caracol means snail. Snail shells were found scattered at this site when it was discovered in 1937 by a logger. This site possibly dates to 1200 BC, there is a wooden lintel at one of the temples here that dates to 70 AD. It is thought that Caracol once covered seventy square miles at its peak in AD 650. There was no reliable source of water but 150,000 people may have lived here. Reservoirs were built and channels were designed to drain the structures of rain during the rainy season. The three months of dry season were livable due to the reservoirs, a large agriculture field system and elaborate city planning. Agriculture was done on terraces. This is the largest Mayan site in Belize. There are forty miles of causeways that extend to outlying sites, and the site is in a high altitude jungle. There are five plazas, an astronomical observatory and over thirty five thousand structures that have been identified. Twenty four Stelae with altars and two ball courts are here too. The highest pyramid structure, Caana Caracol or Sky Place, is topped by three temples and rises one hundred forty three feet above the jungle floor.
Stelae are tall stones that are sculpted in low relief. Dating from 400 BC thru 900 AD, they are associated with low circular stones called altars though their function is not clear from the archeology. Currently these altars or imitations of them are used in religious ceremonies by modern Maya. Stelae glorify and record the deeds of the rulers. They sometimes have Mayan glyphs featured in the low relief. Some of the stelae were reused in the post classic period. One of the stelae here recorded the date of 860 AD. A first century tree made a lintel in the Astronomical Temple. Bas relief decorations show a Mexican rain god with Eyes of a macaw, corn kernel teeth, and a Jaguar face.
Friday, Nov. 12, 2021 Midas Hotel in Cayo, Belize
We drive thirty minutes from our hotel to Canal Pech Archaeology site. This is one of the oldest Mayan ruins on the planet with dates from 1500 BC to 800 AD. It is located so close to town that it is surprising as we transition a from modern civilization to the remains of this very old civilization. There are 7 plazas and 39 structures over two acres. The site is situated above the confluence of two rivers. That puts it at a good defensive advantage. The tallest structure is 25 meters high. Ceramics dating from 12,000 BC were found here. Excavation was done in 1988 with restoration completed by 2000.
There are sapodilla trees here. This was the original source for chicle which was used to make chewing gum. The Maya also chewed the sap of this tree. We see trees scarred with slashes where the sap has been collected. At a roadside stand we buy a sapodilla fruit for $1.25 It’s flavor is excellent. It looks like a sapote fruit but is much tastier.
Next we cross over the Mopan river on a hand crank ferry to another Mayan ruin called Xuntunich. This is a large ceremonial center located on a limestone ridge of a hilltop that provides a panoramic view of the surrounding area. Its tallest temple, El Castillo, rises 130 feet. The building served as a residence, shrine and administrative building for the Elite who lived here. It was built late between 700 to 1000 AD. Most populations of Maya were declining during this time while Xunantunich was prospering. The latest date on a stelae here is 830 AD with evidence of occupation till 900 or 1000 AD. Eastern and western sides of the building have large stucco friezes with carved elements that represent the sun god, moon and Venus.