Belize--Tikal Vacation February 2017

Our Book of Mormon Tour to Belize and Guatemala, February 22-28, 2017 with my sisters Karen and Edie and their husbands, and friends.  

 
Our hotel in Orange Walk, Belize on Wednesday and Thursday, February 22-23, 2017.

Sunset over the lagoon

Kathryn Ann, Edie, and Karen

Entrance into Lamanai Landing.

We had a private balcony over the water.

 Ellen, John, and Kathryn Ann

On the New River going to Lamanai.

  Water lilies.

The speed boat.

Lamanai Architectural Reserve

 Roger and Edie

 Karen and Richard

 John and Kathryn Ann

Detail of the Mask Temple

Lynn and Clare Bailey, Clark and Ellen Wallace, Edie and Roger.  We could understand their conversations on top of this temple from the plaza below because the sound carried so well.

 The construction of this temple began about 100 BC.  The name has been almost unchanged for 2000 years.

We could buy souvenirs.

We returned home on the speed boat.

Banana tree--memories of Equador.

Altun Ha, near Belize City.

The children wear uniforms to school.  This little girl and her sister were there on a field trip with their mother.  

Jade is highly prized in Mesoamerica. 

Even inland and away from rivers, some homes are built on stilts.  This allows for clothes to be dried underneath in the rainy season and provides a cooler sleeping area in hammocks.  It seldom gets below 70 degrees and the humidity is usually at least 70%.

None of the animals in the Belize Zoo were taken from the wild.  They have either been injured, orphaned, born there, given as gifts from other zoos or confiscated pets .  Many of these animals could not survive if they were released back to the wild.

Jaguar--national animal

Toucan--national bird

We spent Friday and Saturday nights here.

Sunset from Cahal Pech, San Ignacio, Belize.

Our room with a double and twin bed.

We had a private balcony.

 View from the balcony

Bathroom

Bathroom sink

River on the border of Guatemala.

Washing dishes (or clothes)

Typical roadside eatery

View along the road.

Parque Nacional Tikal, Peten, Guatemala

Buildings around the main plaza of Tikal.

The man is using a branch as a broom to sweep the leaves of the plaza and walkways.  Snakes and other wildlife avoid being on open, clean pathways.

The Gran Plaza is the most important part of the park because its buildings are the most impressive of Tikal's architecture.  These building took more than 1000 years to build.

Sacrificial altars.

A termite nest which has killed the tree.

Temple IV is also called the two-headed Snake Temple.  It is the tallest temple in Tikal and in all Mesoamerica.  It was built in 740 AD and is 70 meters (230 feet) tall.  We climbed to the top and enjoyed the magnificent view.

View from the top of Temple IV.

Kathryn and Edie

Kathryn, Edie and Roger

 Karen and Edie

Karen.    Notice how narrow the steps are and how small the top area is.

This is the Great Pyramid, the oldest building in Tikal.  It has different architecture from the rest of the buildings in Tikal.  In Tikal they didn't build on top of other temples but moved to a nearby area. This structure dates from the time of Christ while the other structure in Tikal are later.  There is a very reverent feeling in this area.

A typical dirt road leading off the main street.

Branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in San Ignancio, Belize.

Roger, Edie, and Richard.

Interior of the building.  I played the piano for the meeting.  

 We rode in vans through very rugged, hilly terrain.  Much of this area is a nature preserve and there are very few homes.

Butterflies don't like heat so search for shade.  They can live as long as 6 months with proper nutrients.

There were also many hummingbirds and beautiful flowers.

 The owners are originally from the Netherlands.

She explained the life cycle of the butterflies showing us live examples.

 To get to the caves at Barton Creek we had to drive through this river.

 We went in a canoe into this limestone cave which was very large inside.

 The area around the cave was beautiful.  We had lunch there.  The man is Lance, one of our guides. 

People are not buried in the ground, but above because of the water table and danger of flooding.

 After changing to a bus when we got to a paved road, we rushed to get to Belize City to catch the last ferry of the day to Caye Caulker.

The ferry was very, very crowded.

Lance, carrying packs both front and back.  We had to move our luggage from the boat, along the pier, and through the sand on the beach to our hotel.


We stayed at this ocean front hotel on Sunday and Monday nights.  It did not have an elevator.

We had a king-sized bed.

Views from our balcony on the second floor.



The steps are of uneven heights.

Hammock on our balcony

View of the ocean front from our private hotel pier.

Roger and Edie.

The island is only three streets wide.

Woman carrying bundle on her head.

John in one of the swings on the beach.  

There are no cars on Caye Caulker.  People walk or use bikes or golf carts.

The ocean is a beautiful green color!

 We traveled by water taxi to San Pedro on Caye Ambergris for lunch, shopping, and a trip on a glass bottom boat out to the 1000 mile Belize Barrier Reef.

Ellen, Clark, and Lynn swimming in the warm ocean.  They said it was warmer than the hotel swimming pool.

Children returning home from school.  All wear uniforms and the color indicates the grade.

 Sunset from our catamaran.  A hurricane in 1961 split the island into two sections and this is the divide.

All of the restaurants serve liquor so a bar is a focal point of many places including grocery stores.  A major export of tropical areas was sugar cane which was made into molasses then into rum for ease of transport.  It is against the law to buy liquor before age 18.   We had breakfast here of fruit, juice, and pan dulce (sweet bread).  Other places we had an ample breakfast buffet.

The subtle white line you can see at the horizon is the Belize Barrier Reef where the waves are breaking.

Richard and Karen

Kathryn and John

Edie and Karen ended up wearing baseball caps to keep the hair out of their faces because of the wind.  Cell phone/internet service was very spotty.  The natives didn't carry phones though the guides and tourists did.

Drying clothes

GO  SLOW -- Caye Caulker

Kathryn Ann and John 

From the airplane you can see the islands off the coast of Belize.  We had a marvelous time and are grateful for the opportunity to travel with family and friends.