We began our Belizean adventure with a trip to the Lamanai Mayan ruins, near Orange Walk. Lamanai means submerged crocodile, apparently, which is appropriate. We saw one on our way there.
This is Colin. He was our guide at Lamanai. He was an expert naturalist and historian of Mayan civilization. He was a nice dude, too. Colin drove us up the New River to the excavated site of Lamanai, past countless biological wonders.
We were windswept.
This lovely water walker is the Russet-naped wood rail.
Colin shows us the nutmeat of the Cahune Plam, a giant of the Central American forest with leaves that make excellent thatch, and nuts with extremely high oil content, and unbelievably hard shells.
This is devil’s cactus clinging to the branch of a host tree. You can also see other epiphytes on the branch, and an iguana. You can’t see, but we also saw four little bats sleeping on the underside of that branch.
This is what we saw when Colin told us to look for a Jabiru Stork. It’s small in this picture, but gigantic in real life. We saw one up close in the Belize Zoo later, and you’ll see it too.
We start our exploration of Lamanai. There are two large temples, the Jaguar Temple and the High Temple. This is the Jaguar Temple.
Colin explains the history and way of life of the ancient Maya, or what we know of it, anyway. Of course there are many living Maya today as well, but the complex civilization which these erected these buildings and temples is truly gone.
Colin leads us through the foundations of houses which contain bed platforms of stone. These would have been houses for the most powerful.
Reid stands at reconstruction of the one of the frescoes at Lamanai. These are fiberglass replicas created to both display the original form, and protect the original plaster, which still rests underneath.
Two adventurers looking out over the jungle. (Also both tired, and one still quite sick).
Tea and Kate 
THANKS, will share🤗
Marie Waring
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