Our second day in Orange Walk starts at 9am with our guide that comes and pick us up from the hostel to drive us to the boat dock. Today, the plan is to spend a full-day exploring the beautiful ruins of Lamanai (“the submerged crocodile”) and the amazing nature surrounding them. Not so bad uh?
At the dock we meet our fellow boat buddies from US, Holland, Guatemala, all super excited to visit this out-of-reach ruins. If a boat-tour which includes private guide to the ruins as well might sound fancy, it’s because it is. In fact, the lowest pice we were able to get yesterday was 45USD/person… definitely not the cheapest day-out exploring we’ve done so far.
Costs apart, we finally set off for our adventure toward a piece of Belizean ancient history and by 10am we’re already lost in the labyrinth of canals all around the vast river. A brief stop to watch a heron fishing, a couple of minutes spent observing a feather-light bird walking on top of water surface and then some more looking at some tiny bats half asleep on a branch popping out of the water. What an incredible nature tour this is! Enjoying nature in this amazingly beautiful landscapes has no equals; the two-hours (more or less) before the actual arrival to the ruins, make it already worth the slap of money we paid for the tour.
Once at the ruins, another great adventure awaits in front of us. Even though mosquitoes start to be the worst enemy of the day (literally found in flocks), the place is magical. The guide explains us that this used to be a mayan village but has later been moved down the river when the place has been converted into an archaeological site. So right now, the ruins are completely immersed in the middle of the jungle with nobody to be allowed to deteriorate the place any further. Result? Perfectly conserved pieces of history in a crazy unique setting!
The tour of the ruins is very enjoyable, especially when you have a guide who answers any question the group has and also add its own “picturesque” touch. The Mask Temple, jaguar temple, a couple of other complexes and then the Castillo: all of them are great beautiful sights!
Additionally, in the ruins area we also get a chance to see our first howler monkeys and a couple of red-throated drogons which we get told are pretty rare to see here in the area. Awesome! The walking through the ruins ends up in probably the best possible way: a tasty homemade lunch before a sunset boat ride back.
What a beautiful day at the ruins! Nature & History all in one in an all-inclusive package of fun and knowledge. We would definitely come back!
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