fishingbuddha

What another great day in paradise. After yesterdays tarpon adventure I was able to leave the fly rod in our hut and venture out to Belize city. We started off the day at 5 am carting to San Pedro to catch a ferry to Belize city. Note to self to make sure u know where u are going because we didn’t have internet so no Google maps. Thanks to some early morning locals we found the departure area and took off for a 1.5 hour ferry ride to Caye Caulker and then Belize city.

We were picked up by our guide in Belize City. His name was Clarence but he says everyone calls him Brown Sugar. we join four other people for a guided tour of Atun Ha which is a famous Mayan ruin where a Canadian archeologist found the jade skull.

Our tour started off checking out the north side of the city where the middle to upper class live in houses worth up to $350,000 usd. Apparently there are 400,000 people living in this city but honestly it didn’t seem too crowded. Our tour guide mentions that in Mayan times there were 2.5 million mayans living in this area.

Interestingly Belize became an independent city in 1981 so it is relatively new as an independent country.

Our drive takes us through the north part of the city and out to the country side 45 minutes away. Upon arrival we were both awestruck by the size and beauty of the ruins. Hard to comprehend but absolutely amazing.

Aside from the fact that the mayans carried each block from ten miles away, one of the coolest things we learned was related to the location of the ruins. Apparently if u stand in the centre of the field between all the temples and out your hands together you can feel the magnetic field because apparently the center area is right in the center of the earths axis. As well if u stand in certain areas and clap, the temples give off distinct acoustics which was also amazing.

We learned so much as our guide actually studies Mayan culture for three years at college. Suck an amazing experience and one that got both Rebeca and I interested in learning more about Mayan history.

After the tour we got to check out the south side of Belize city which is more like the hood. Overall it was interesting but I wouldn’t stay in Belize city if we ever returned. Not much here except public and private schools each with their own church or sometimes churches.

There was one cool place we wish we got to see which was a manatee dolphin crocodile and howler monkey look out which was along the Belize River. Perhaps if we come back we would check that out.

Our day ended with a ferry ride back to San Pedro where we enjoyed an amazing seafood diner at the Anglers Restaurant where we tried some local food , stone crab and octopus ceviche. We learned the locals harvest stone crab by taking the largest claw from the crab and returning the rest to the ocean to grow back the harvested crab leg.