Lamanai Outpost

A 4:45am start this morning, to take a canoe trip up one of the small creeks dotted throughout the wetlands.
We observed many birds.

Abdul, our guide is just 21 and a Mayan descendant.

The creek was still and beautiful with water lillies and logwood trees.

This is the lodge from the lagoon.
As you can see, the lodge is in a beautiful pristine location. Belize us an amazing country. There are only 300,000 people living here and 40% of the available land must, by law be kept aside for parks, natures reserves and conservation purposes. The lodge is built by local villagers from local renewable resources and the lodge hires most of its staff from the same nearby village.

After breakfast, we were very priviledged to go to Lamanai, the Mayan ruins renowned as a past Mayan trading town.
Here we saw one of the few intact stellas with Mayan heiroglyphics on it depicting the life and events attributed to Snake, a one time ruler of the town. It tells the years if his life and the things he accomplished. This ruins is very special, the architecture is different to most other Mayan ruins and is much older.

We were allowed to walk to the top of the temples and view the surrounding area. We also were looking for birds and animals on our walk.

This is the Mayan ball court. Only high level people were allowed to play the game. No one really knows how it was played or what was the purpose of the game.

The Belize Tourist Police came to inspect the hotel this afternoon, and like all small beaucratic departments wanted to introduce some ridiculous rules relating to huge signage depicting water safety that should be erected on the jetty as you arrive. This would really compromise the natural beauty of this place. The lodge is made from timber and locally sourced palm thatch. It is really beautiful with lovely balcony and restaurant created out of wood and exposed to the elements. It utilises ordinary objects to create the ambience. Old kerosene tilly lamps are used for lighting, natural timbers for seating, bathrooms etc. The cabanas are designed around a Mayan hut, with palm thatched roofs. Inside they are airy, weather and insect proof.