Lamanai Ruins & Boat Out Of Fuel In Croc River
Trip Start
Sep 29, 2007
1
11
221
Trip End
Ongoing
Lamanai,
Belize
Sunday, October 14, 2007
The water in the New River was 4 feet above average so we were not expecting to see much wildlife. The river is heavily infested with crocodiles of various length from 6-14feet. We saw one straight away wallowing in the water near a children's play park which had been submerged. The crocodile was swimming around under children's mural paintings on the wall. Wilfred pointed out to us a yellow breasted bird and then a white crane which gracefully took flight off giant lillypads where lillies of white and purple bloomed from the water.
The river's tributaries meandered many ways zigging and zagging taking us deeper into the jungle while we searched for crocs on the banks. Many people get lost here. The Mayans used this river as a trading route and then Europeans used it to transport rich mahogany and cedar downstrean causing major problems in Belize forests. There is a fruit bat species who has it's habitat here, we saw three of them. This bat pollinates the main cactus that is used for Mexican tequila and if the bat disappears, so does the tequila...... and they won't let that happen. We witnessed what everyone on the boat called "The National Geographic" moment when a falcon flew down and attacked and killed a baby bird learning to fly. Our guide has seen jaguars here however, it is highly unlikely we would see anything like that in a motorized boat making lots of noise.
It was raining on and off the whole trip and we were warned not to climb the temples in case of lightning which strikes the highest points. We were told the story of the rain and lightning god Chac. He is one of the most intriguing characters in Mayan mythology. He is commonly featured in the masonry motifs of ruins in these areas. His behaviour is highly unpredictable and he can strike with his great power when least expected (hurricanes). Here is how the story went. Those who failed to afford sufficient honour to the all-powerful Chac would suffer his wrath. In the 1980's a famous American archaeologist disturbed a shrine hidden deep inside a sacred cave dedicated to Chac. Soon after on a clear, sunny day a bolt of lightning fatally struck the archaeologist while he was standing atop the sacrificial pyramid at Chitchen Itza. We decided not to climb any more temples out of respect for the gods. This didn't stop all in our group clammering all over them for photographs. They must allow people to climb the structures as tourist dollar is needed for maintenance of the sites.
We had a traditional Belize lunch and were led around the site by Wilfred. We could hear and spotted some Black Howler Monkeys who sound quite vicious from a distance. These monkeys are only found in Belize. The temples we saw included the Temple Of The Masks which had a large sculpted stucco face uncovered. There were more pictures which had been studied then re-sealed for the future. I like that idea of puting them back to rest. We also saw The Temple Of The Jaguar which is uniform in symmetry and architecture and a certain stone layout made it look like the jaguar face was staring at you.. This was a royal tomb. We were told stories of the murder of millions of Mayan people and of whole tribes that perished during the Spanish conquest.
We saw flint tools, pottery and other artifacts that showed an advanced manual technology. There were polychrome dishes found. These were found with images of amphibians, reptiles, butterflies, birds, deer, tapirs, other animals and insects but no mosquitoes. Mozzies rule the jungle here now. It is thought that mosquitoes are one of the 10 diseases (plagues) brought from Egypt and with no cure for malaria back then, it wiped out alot of people when it was introduced. Some of the artifacts found in tombs and temples are on expedition in museums all over the world however, the Mayan still own them and there are plans to return all the artifacts to Lamanai when the goverment provides a secure and guarded building to house them. Guards have been killed and whole areas looted for artifacts. Another interesting piece of ceramic was kind of like a russian doll set where each doll is opened to reveal a smaller one inside. Inside the smallest ceramic pot was a vial of liquid mercury weighing 131 grams. No-one knows what it was made for but it is a potent poison and is made by heating to very high temperatures. The excavation of ruins takes a very long time, needs the correct professionals and is extremely expensive. At Lamanai alone there is 2800 years of continuous human activity recorded in stone and 718 structure spread over 4.5km2.
We learned that cocoa beans (chocolate) was the go. It was used for celebrating special events, as payment and for making alcohol. An underground chocolate fermenting area was found at Lamanai. There was a volcanic stone tree carving on site which was local to Guatemala 1000km away. It has been concluded that only a king or very powerful person could have had the power and resources to move this heavy rock that far.
We studied some heiroglyphic symbols on a stela tree stone which was glittered with quartz crystal. Wilfred deciphered them into dates on the Mayan calendar and into political symbols. One was to mark the end of a kings reign which lasted 22 years. There had been an extravagent ritual and the tree stone carving had been planted in front of a large temple. The king's profile was shown with a head dress, his face protruding from inside a serpents mouth, jade ornamental jewellery, bracelets, a jesters cap point and holding a septor with his right arm over his heart. The Mayan kings and Egyptian pharaohs believed they were living gods representing the people. One of his symbols said "Lord Of The Sky".
In 2012 on the solstice, the Mayan calendar will click over to a new cycle. some individuals will get invitations to celebrate in gathering places of Mayan relevance. The Mayans are fascinating with their love for extravagent ritual and ceremony and their obsession with calendars, mathematics and astronomy. They have a dark side too, ritual human sacrifice. But then, so do we too have our own version of ritual human sacrifice, a history of intentional genocide of minority and indigenous populations. I wonder what will happen if all the ancient tribes disappear and a cycle ends? Wilfred gave us two books to read, "Breaking The Mayan Code" and "Forest Of Kings".
We ran out of fuel on the way back to Orange Walk and floated downstream until we hit mangroves where the crocodiles lurked. The Americans broke out the Carribbean Rum and the Austrians handed around chocolate biscuits while Wilfred made phone calls and fuel arrived later. We spotted a large croc cruising like a log but never felt in danger. The day was extremely interesting and worthwhile for our journey. We head to The Baboon Sanctuary tomorrow.
