Thursday – I went back to Cahal Pech ruins, this time with my professor. He is basically the expert in Maya archaeology for the entire world and has excavated Cahal Pech and most of the ruins here himself. The ruins were even better than I remembered. I discovered even more secret rooms and passageways and hearing all the stories about the Maya while being there made it so much better. Afterward, we stopped at Cayo Twist for ice cream again.
Friday - we officially switched living situations. I am now living at the Inn, as opposed to the guesthouse. My two new roommates are Becky and Kate. The room is definitely very different than what I am used to, but I think I will get used to it fast. We have a mini kitchen in our room with a small fridge and microwave, which is nice, but we hardly get any light in our room and the beds are basically a slab of concrete. I have not seen any ants yet, but this room is also known for having an infestation of ants, especially around my bed, so I’m just going to hope for the best.
My new bed
Saturday – around 6pm, my roommates, Emily, Kourtney, and I decided to go to Caracol for the weekend with our friend Renee, Greg, and four Belizeans. One of the Belizeans is Chris Awe, son of Jaime Awe, our Maya archaeology professor, who knows all the roads and information we would need to know. One of the other Belizeans is Raph, who had worked at Caracol for 4 years and knew the site well. Caracol is another Mayan ruin site, with one of their temples, Caana, being the tallest in Belize (and tallest building in Belize as well…over 160 feet tall). We took 3 different cars and Chris brought along two tents, some blankets, and a few foam pads to sleep on. We all chipped in for gas and then stopped at the store to buy pasta, sauce, eggs, hotdogs, etc. for dinner and breakfast and then we were off.
The drive takes about two hours and requires you going along extremely narrow, rocky, bumpy roads. Of course it was dark as we were driving, so it was hard to see and we all find it really hard to trust the other Belizean drivers that are on the road, so anytime we go anywhere, it’s always a little stressful. Once we got to the checkpoint before entering the site of Caracol, we had to convince the security there that it was ok for us to spend the night. It is a huge security issue because Guatemala is only about 6 miles away from Caracol and they have been known to attack Belizeans and tourists (Belizeans and Guatemalans typically do not get along). The people at the checkpoint started telling us stories of how people have been stopped while driving by Guatemalans and that there are snakes, jaguars, and other animals that lurk about. After hearing all this, we were all a little hesitant, but Chris and Raph, since they know Caracol so well, were finally able to convince the other guys that we were students doing some research and archaeology work, which is why we had to go and we were safe with them and did not need an escort with a gun. This debate took about 45 minutes, and then took another half hour drive to actually get to the site.
At the site, there is an empty building with a ramp that is going to eventually become the new welcome center, but we were able to use it to set up camp and sleep there for the night. We drove all 3 cars right into the building, since it’s all open, and used the headlights on the cars to see. Once the tents were all set up, a few of the guys went over to the cooking area and starting cooking pasta and chili for us, while Chris took everyone else on a night walk. On our way, we met the site dog, Blanca, who is the most friendly, soft, playful dog I’ve seen here so far. We also ran into/almost stepped on a fer-de-lance snake, about 6 feet long and the most poisonous snake in Central and South America. I personally did not see it, since I was in the back of the group, but Eddie, one of the other guys who came with us, was only a couple inches from the snake and could have easily been attacked.
Our camp for the night
Chris took us to Caana, the tallest temple, and we climbed to the top, although it was pitch dark and nobody could tell how high we actually were or how many steps we actually climbed. All we knew is that there were three different platforms while climbing, and every time we thought we were at the top, there were even more steps. When we finally made it to the top, the view of the stars was amazing. We were so high off the ground that it felt like we could touch the clouds and stars. Chris told us stories about the Maya and their beliefs, and then we hiked back down to see if dinner was ready.
At dinner, all the guys who work at the site were there eating with us and talking with us. Since there were only about 3 bowls, we took turns eating and cleaning the dishes. For the rest of the night, we all just hung out and talked. I was exhausted and practically asleep standing up, so as soon as one person said they were going back to camp, I jumped at the chance to go back and go to sleep. About 10 minutes later, everyone else came back and went to sleep as well. Since we were surrounded by forest, we could hear howler monkeys, which sound like jaguars, and other strange animals all night. Somehow, we all still managed to sleep until around 9 and then cooked eggs, hotdogs, and toast for breakfast.
Cooking area
After breakfast, we went on a tour of Caracol with Chris and Raph as our personal tour guides. There are so many different plazas of temples, it’s insane. Each temple and area has its own story. I could have spent another day there and still felt like there was more to explore. The best part by far was definitely seeing Caana in the daylight. Staring at it from the ground, you can’t even see the top of it. It looks like it ends there, but there’s actually even more stairs behind it that go higher with several other small temples on top. Only the very elite would live and get to climb to the top of this temple. The peasants and servants were made to bring the rulers whatever they needed, so the rulers never had to set foot climbing up or down the temple. The rooms people slept in are built into the temple and we found lots of hidden rooms and places where tombs could have been and actually were found.
Caana
temple across from Caana
We also got to see an excavation site underway. None of the men were currently working on it, so most of it was covered with tarp, but you could tell in some of the enclosed areas where stairs are under the ground and how big the temple will be once they are done. Its amazing how much still has yet to be discovered here in Belize. Uncovering that one temple will take years and there are so many other mounds that have to be excavated still, but not enough men or the resources/money to do so yet. If anyone is interested in Maya archaeology, Central America is definitely the place to be.
climbing into a small tunnel
Next weekend is la ruta maya…more camping out for 4 days straight with no sleeping bag…should be an experience!
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