An (Orange) Walk on the Wild Side

  Orange Walk, Belize
Monday, January 14, 2008

On leaving Caye Caulker we decided to stop at a town called Orange Walk before we headed to Mexico. The main (well, only) reason for stopping here was to visit the Mayan ruins of Lamanai which are accessed by boat from Orange Walk.

The

Crocodile

boat journey was the highlight of the trip as we got to see crocodiles, massive iguanas and loads of different birds. As the boat arrived, our very amusing guide, Hilberto took us on a walk through the jungle to get to the  ruins. On the way a girl in our group spotted a small cute looking snake (if snakes can ever look cute) curled up on a rock. As we all crouched down to get photos our guide walked over to see what the fuss was about. He then (very casually) informed us that it was known as a ´Five Step´ snake because if you are bitten you can only walk five steps before you collapse! You´d never see a group of people move so fast. Shades of Kill Bill!

Although the ruins were not on the scale of Tikal they were still impressive and had some interesting parts. They had a ball court where they used to play a game a bit like keepy-uppy but they had to get the ball through a hoop. Some think that the losing captain was sacrificed while others think that the winning captain was sacrificed as it was an honour - either way, not something to be taken lightly! And we thought we took our football seriously in England!

On

Us by the Jaguar Temple

the journey home, we drove past a small farm which was part of a local Amish settlement. They refuse to use certain modern day equipment such as cars and electricity and dress in a very old fashioned style with all of the  men in blue dungarees with big beards and straw hats. This is only part of a very diverse mix of people that Belize has for such a small country, including Mayas, Africans and many Chinese (which was very evident in Orange Walk with an abundance of Chinese restaurants).

Tomorrow we head for the Mexican border!