Wednesday
Belize City, Belize
So, starting off early I got on a bus and headed into the mainland to see some Aztec ruins.
The land was mostly flat and dry but the mountains we greener and more lush.We had to take this little ferry across the river to get to the ruins.
I made some friends on the bus so I hung out with them during the tour. You can't really see the flowers here but they were pretty.
And here we are at Xunantunich, it's pronounced shoe-nan-too-nich, very smooth. The ruins were under repair and development so some had workers on them and were covered so they didn't get hurt.
We were free to walk around a bit and get pictures before the tour started.
So, yeah, the shorts look pulled up way too far don't they. Oh well, it was a cool place and I was happy just to get my picture there. You can see the covering on the largest pyramid.
Here's our guide, a real descendant of the Aztec people. He was really nice and knew everything about the history of his people. The tree in the center had fruit that they called something like "Cow Balls", from the resemblance.
Our guide took us to each of the smaller ruins and explained what it's use was. This place was a religious center. In the first picture the guide is standing next to the stela, a place where a sacred inscription stands for all to see. The second picture is of an offering place.
It was hard to fit the whole pyramid in so I tried to get different shots of it.
Here I am again!! A different view of another rock formation.
These are some of the people I talked with. By the end of the tour I had chatted with just about everyone. This small mask was in the front right side wall of the largest pyramid. To protect the carvings they cover them with a kind of plaster and dye them so they eventually match the surrounding rock. They also have to keep adding cement to hold the crumbling rocks together.
On the right side of the pyramid is this cool carving, you can hardly tell it's not the real thing, but the covering to protect it. They do a great job so you can see what's really underneath, making sure the detail shows through. Now we're walking up the side path towards the top. The men are excavating a portion of it and protecting it.
Well, there's lots more of this area so let's move on, shall we?