Mexico Mayan sites 2006

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Across to the Gulf of Mexico to visit the Mayan sites.

Across the narrowest part of Mexico to the Gulf coast where we visited the ancient site of La Venta.

The huge Olmec Heads in the museum were impressive.

The big stone carvings were disturbed when oil and gas exploration began so the original locations for many of the stones has been lost or is unknown.

We wandered around the grass covered central pyramid.

This site is just a small one but very important.

In the jungle to visit Palenque ruins.

From the big city of Villahermosa we went to the small town of Palenque where we stopped to get information about the ruins.

In town we met a German couple in a Mercedes RV who had just spent a year travelling in South America.

The Maybell trailer park set in natural tropical jungle was a great place to stay for a few days.

The local Indians peddle their wares

Bright and early we got onto one of the small VW buses to go up the hill to the ruins.

The tour buses were already parked and we had to join all the crowds as we walked around the site.

No information is available at the site so it was good that we had obtained a plan in town.

Palenque reached its peak in 600-700AD and it was the capitol of a province bordering the Grijalva and Usumacinta rivers. This is a huge site but on show is just a fraction of the impressive structures.

The Palace is an imposing structure but most of the walls have fallen down.

This is the Temple of the Skull, named from the carvings of a rabbits skull.

Inside was a tomb and evidence of the colours that were used to paint the walls.

Even though it was still early the sun was hot and climbing up the steps was hard work.

From the temples on top of the structures it is possible to see the size of the site.

The location is excellent-on a ridge that catches the breeze and had streams running down to the plain below.

Looking through a telescope we were amazed to see the planet Venus-wow that was a bonus!

We walked down through the jungle to the museum which has an excellent display of artefacts found at the site that give an insight into the way of life of the complex.

At the gift shop we chatted with a group of young men from UK who were just beginning a world tour and we wished them Bon Voyage!

The Mexican State of Campeche on the peninsular.

At a brief stop at Rio Bec Dreams, a restuarant run by Diane, an English lady and Rick her Canadian husband, we enjoyed a lovely meal and some good conversation

The beautiful mural painted by a visitor gave an impression of how the nearby Mayan site at Becan would have looked.

Tally, the Jack Russell, took a liking to our bus and would come and sit with Jim!

When we left we had to check for a stowaway.

Into the Rio Bec region and Mayan sites in the jungle.

The site at Chacana was deserted and we could enjoy the stroll through the jungle.

This is the doorway to the temple of the mouth of the serpent-impressive teeth!

Unusual curved towers

The ball court was a focal point of most Mayan sites and was the centre of many rituals.

Spectators watched while players tried to get a ball through a stone ring using only the hips and knees.

The losing team had their heads cut off!

The large important site at Becan has some unique features.

Surrounded by a moat 5metres deep and 16metres wide seven bridges allowed access into the complex.

A covered passageway or street with niches for offerings or items for display.

Is this a Mayan Mall?

The route through the site is marked with arrows and we enjoyed a peaceful few hours wandering around.

Ropes help people to climb up to the top of the pyramids though the sign asks that you do not attempt the climb. The steps are very big and steep and coming down is difficult.

Jim went a short way up the steps and then decided not to go to the top!.

The stonework was much more intricate and many of the towers had curved corners.

Many of the facing stones were still coloured red and we began to picture the place as shown in the mural at Rio Bec.

At last we arrive at the Caribbean Sea and Belize.

In the state of Quinta Roo we arrived at the city of Chetumal.

We just had to stop here for a photo shoot!

The campsite just out of town was right on the Caribbean sea and the setting was idyllic.

The canons are replicas of ones used in a battle with the French.

BUT!!! it was very windy and there was a plague of little black flies.

The exterminator came to spray three times!!

Too many people were expected at the popular sites on the Yucatan for the spring solstice. We decided to visit other jungle sites which were much more interesting.

Now we were preparing to leave Mexico and headed to the border with Belize.

No problems at the border of this Commonwealth country and we were soon on our way along the Northern Highway beside the Caribbean.

We parked by the taxi rank in Orange Walk while we got some Belize Dollars and a few supplies before heading to the campsite at Victors Inn.

We did not sample the cow foot soup!

English is the main language, spoken with a Caribbean lilt, everyone is called 'mon'.

At Bermudian landings we visited the Community Baboon Sanctuary and enjoyed the informative display in the visitor centre.

Howler monkeys live here in safety and we took a nature walk with a lovely lady guide who knew where to find one of the troops.

The rope ladder was built by one of the guides.

The monkeys can cross the grass lane used by the villagers.

On down the highway we got caught in a traffic jam of tractors taking trailer loads of sugar cane to the processing plant.

Typical Belizean house.

Then we had to stop and chat with two bikers from Australia.

Cheryl and David Laing have been travelled around the world twice on Honda Shadows since 2000 and were now on the way back home via Mexico and the USA.

On the front mudgaurd of Dave's bike was a Jaguar that he was given in Warrington!

They were amazed to find we had lived there!

We promised to visit when we get down under and swap tales.

Belize City and a 4x4 competition beside the Carribean!

The Cucumber Beach Marina was our base for a few days while we had a look around Belize City.

The roadside cafes were doing good business.

It is a busy city with crowded streets and a well stocked market selling a variety of unusual fruits and vegetables.

This pillar box looked familiar but very tall!

The Cathedral, Methodist Chapel and Government House were the most impressive buildings.

This is the Baron Bliss memorial and lighthouse.

At the marina a short muddy course was being used for a competition to find the King of the Mud.

Landrover enthusiasts are the same all over the world!

It was a charity event organised by Rotary and we enjoyed the fun.

This Defender is used in the jungle to haul mahogany trees!

Many competitors got stuck in the mud including some powerful American pickups and a good time was had by everyone.

The Belize Zoo and southern highlands.

The Belize Zoo was a delight!

Narrow trails through the jungle lead to an amazing collection of exotic birds and animals.

This new site is home to many of the endangered animals, birds, trees and plants that are native to Belize.

The spider monkeys swung through the trees while the old ones sat and watched the visitors.

The keel billed toucan is a star - so colourful!

The signs around the zoo are full of witty rhymes and made us smile!

This black jaguar was awesome but the one sleeping up in the tree was easy to miss!

This haughty bird is a jabiru stork.

This scarlet macaw was hard to miss!

The tapir is the national animal of Belize-

that is what he thought of us!

The Western Highway leads down to the capitol city of Belpoman.

A concrete place where we stayed for just a short while to get fruit at the market.

We were getting used to the hot humid conditions and had fans everywhere in the bus to help keep the temperature below 30deg.

So as we headed into the mountains we welcomed the cooler air at the small town of San Ignacio

The Inglewood campsite was grassy and full of spectacular trees and we decided to stay a while.

But there was work to be done and socks to be washed.

Jim was busy sorting out his bit box, cleaning and fixing motorcycles.

But it looks more like a garage sale!

Now we were headed for the ruins at Xunantunich-but the ferry was too small for the bus and we did not want to leave it parked on the highway.

So onward we went to the Belize border with Guatemala.

Easy crossing and we were in another Country

Through farmland we turned north along lake Peten Itza up the hill into the jungle and Tikal National Park.

Guatemala and the impressive temples at Tikal.

Tikal was the capitol of the Mayans and the site was occupied from 700 BC until 1500 AD. These huge structures were left to decay until the 19th century when work began to clear the jungle and catalogue the structures.

Seen from the top of Temple IV the jungle hides most of the 3600 buildings.

It takes over twenty minutes to get to the nearest temple.

Camping overnight in the park allowed us to walk around the ruins in the evening when the crowds had left and the animals and birds came out to play.

This is the Main Plaza with two huge temples and lots of altars and stelea (carved stones)

Jim climbed up to take photos but Dot stayed below in the plaza.

The terraces and one of the ball courts.

One of a row of seven temples is under restoration and this photo gives an idea of how the jungle has taken over the buildings.

Just a few of the many altars and stelea.

Next morning at 0600 hours we were listening to the jungle awake as we walked to Temple V-the top was shrouded in mist.

This structure has just been restored and now visitors have to climb the wooden steps at the side.

To get an idea of the size of the stone steps Dot went a short way!

Then it was time to walk through the jungle to find the Pryamid of the Lost World-

more incredible structures and Jim climbed to the top of this one.

The detail in some of the buildings shows how impressive they must have been to the 120,000 inhabitants of this awesome jungle city.

In the museum were many beautiful vases, jade jewellery and incense burners found in the tombs.

Exploring the delights of Central America.

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