Belize, Day Six

A non-fishing day for us, we toured the Lamanai Mayan Ruins in Orange Walk, Belize. We traveled by airplane from San Pedro to Orange Walk; then, we took a boat up the New River for 28 miles. Along the trip we saw Spider Monkeys, Iguanas, Fruit Bats, Cormorants, a baby crocodile and a 11/12 ft. crocodile. We watched the Jesus Christ birds on the water lilies. People were fishing for what looks like rainbow bass, but that they call snook (freshwater version). An osprey flew overhead and raced us, as did red-winged blackbirds. There are a number of Mennonite colonies located along the New River, as well.

We toured the ruins and opted not to climb the Jaguar or the main temple, due to the extremely high humidity. Howler Monkeys hawked out their grunts and marked their territories. Cody recorded them on his iPhone for anyone to hear, should they desire to do so. We saw wild okra, the nut and tree from which Imodium AD is made, banana orchids, spider cactus, and many other beautiful plants and palms. It was a wonderful trip, but in-country Belize receives almost no wind, and the chopping and production of cane adds a kind of sickly-sweet odor in the air. A Texan owns a ranch near the cane mill and rum factory, and he has a herd of water buffalo. With the exception of them, the cows here are very, very skinny. At its width, we were told Belize is 67 miles wide (almost my one-way drive to work)!

A wonderful trip, barring the humidity.  Cody and I are both glad we took the day off from fishing to go take this tour!