Lamanai River and ruins tour

For this tour we had to get up at 5:30 in the morning.  Our tour guide was to pick us up at 6:15.  However, we were at our dock until almost 7 before getting picked up!  We had started wondering if we had been gypped!  Luckily we had not paid in full we had only left a $100 deposit and while that would have been a lot to loose it would not have been the entire amount.  Close to 7 in the morning however our guide finally made his way to the dock!  We were the first to be picked up, after us were another couple, and then a family of four.  With all on board we headed toward the mainland.

  Our first boat ride was approximately an hour long, which included about a 40 min. boat ride thru beautiful crystal clear water and the remainder was thru a river (not beautiful or crystal clear, lol).

 

We made it to a little village, called La Bomba (Spanish for the bomb.)  When stepping out of the boat there were some beautiful water lily’s in the water I was trying to take a picture of them and inadvertently took a picture of a huge snake!  I never even saw the snake until we were uploading our pictures to the computer that night!  At La Bomba we were served breakfast, our meal consisted of either a ham & cheese or shredded chicken served on a croissant type bread and some fresh tropical fruit.  I grabbed the chicken sandwich and instructed my hubby to grab the ham & cheese so that we each could have 1/2 of each.

  I was putting some fruit on my plate, when I heard the dad tell his kids to stay away from the fruit since they did not know how clean it was or how clean the hands were that served it!  Well, I just could not resist (it was an open invitation to have some fun, you know!)  I stuck my fork in a piece of papaya and turned to them as I placed it in my mouth and then said, "hmmm pretty darn good!"  I just saw the man kind of cringe and look away.  For the record though it was pretty darn good, you know for parasite infested stuff and all!  After breakfast we had but a few minutes to look around before having to get on the bus that would be another hour ride to the location were we would get on yet another boat!  It was not so much that the location was far, it was more that the road conditions were bad.  It was all good though, Ricky had a cooler full of sodas and beer for us to drink during the ride even if I was the only one who took advantage of that!  The road trip was cool we saw tons of small villages on the way and different wildlife including a baby croc in a small pond right next to someone’s house!

 

We finally made it to the place where we boarded the boat that would take us down the Lamanai River and to the ruins.

  I have to tell you that upon initial inspection of the boat it looked pretty rinky dink, you know the type of boat that could easily be turned over by a huge crocodile!  It was another 45 minute boat ride to the ruins this time with a different guide.  We saw few birds, some bats and one iguana, but no crocodiles!  I asked the guide why we did not see such a big variety of wildlife and his answer was because the river was so high. 

 

Once at the archeological site our guide first served us lunch.  Belize style BBQ chicken, rice, beans, salad, and a habanero sauce that he promised would open our sinuses up!  It was all good, incredibly good!  The habanero sauce did just as promised, but fortunately a smooth belikin was on hand to tame the flames!  Once done with lunch, the first thing we saw was the small museum on the grounds.

  We saw no signs that stated we could not take pictures so we did.  Then on to the trail we would see five structures in all.  The jaguar temple, the remains of a home, the Stela temple, the high temple, which you are allowed to climb and the views from atop are spectacular, and finally the mask temple which depicts a large face sculpture of a Mayan king.  Our guide was excellent, not only did he know his Mayan history he was also quite good at pointing out animals on the trail that were very well camouflaged!  He spotted a little bitty snake on the side of the trail that was the exact color of the leaves!  Even after he pointed it out most of us could not see it!  He moved it a bit with a stick and upon its movement we all finally saw it.  Then he proceeded to make it move away from the trail since it was uncomfortably close!  With a very small stick he shooed it away deeper into the forest and then explained how it was sometimes called the seven step snake, since after being bitten by one of those you would only take about seven steps before dropping dead, YIKES!  I wonder how many tourists would sign up for that tour knowing that ;)

 

Another highlight of the tour was all the howler monkeys that literally come down to be just within feet from you!  They are actually quite the posers for the camera!  One word of warning!  The mosquitoes are insatiable you can literally see a dark cloud around a person there because so many mosquitoes are swarming around you!  Don’t forget the bug spray!  It is also 80% humidity there so prepare to sweat!  On the 1^st boat ride back and bus ride for that matter, I unfortunately do not have much to report since I kind of fell asleep!  Too much sun, exercise, loss of electrolytes, nothing to do with too much belikin at all ;)

 

Once back in La Bomba, we were given the opportunity for a little shopping.

  The people there all sell things made of ironwood, a type of wood that is only found in Belize.  So as you can see it is quite the long excursion we were gone from our resort almost twelve hours getting back at about 6 in the evening.  However in my opinion well worth it!