The tiny town of Hopkins is so relaxing that we didn’t even get around to taking the camera out of the car. We spent three days lazing around reading, walking on the beach and eating pizza. The town was a friendly mix of local Mayas, Garinagu and Gringos, which meant good food, good bars and good music. Tuesday night is drumming night, so we had a chance to see the local Garinagu drummers in action. The band included skin drums, vocals and a man playing the turtle shells.
While the beach was wonderfully relaxing, Western Belize and the Cayo district was calling. The drive from Hopkins to San Ignacio was a short one, and we spent the afternoon exploring the Mennonite community of Spanish Lookout. The town itself is a base for the local white Mennonite community, who produce the almost all the dairy and chicken products in Belize. While we did see the occasional long dress, bonnet, beard or cart, most of Spanish Lookout felt like a slice of rural America. Large shiny trucks parked next to well-built and well maintained houses definitely seemed more in keeping with Iowa or Montana, than with rural Belize. Highlight of the day was taking the car across the river on a hand cranked car ferry.
The following day we were up early for a tour of the Actun Tunichil Muknal Caves. After a long bumpy drive to the park entrance and an hour hike through the jungle (which included three river crossings), we made it to the cave entrance. After swimming across a deep dark pool, the trip continued into the cave and along the river, which was sometimes ankle deep, but often reached your waist. It was a very exciting, and slightly chilly trip. ATM caves were visited by Mayas for hundreds of consecutive years, and contains pottery, and remains of human sacrifice. Archaeologists believe that the locals begun by leaving food sacrifices, and as times got tougher for the Maya, their priests and religious men started sacrificing men, then children and babies in an attempt to appease the gods. Spookiest of all, were the bones of a young man who had his spine broken as part of a ritual sacrifice, and was left to die slowly, trapped in the dark cave. His bones can be seen today covering against the cave wall for protection.
On a slightly lighter note, Xunantunich is a Maya ruin in Western Belize. The sight is named after a ghost or ‘stone woman’ that people have claimed to see around the sight since its rediscovery in the 1890s. A great little sight to visit, Xunantunich is accessed by hand cranked car ferry, which of course adds to the adventure. By this stage of our trip however, we were suffering from ``ruin fatigue`.
The following day we were up early for a tour of the Actun Tunichil Muknal Caves. After a long bumpy drive to the park entrance and an hour hike through the jungle (which included three river crossings), we made it to the cave entrance. After swimming across a deep dark pool, the trip continued into the cave and along the river, which was sometimes ankle deep, but often reached your waist. It was a very exciting, and slightly chilly trip. ATM caves were visited by Mayas for hundreds of consecutive years, and contains pottery, and remains of human sacrifice. Archaeologists believe that the locals begun by leaving food sacrifices, and as times got tougher for the Maya, their priests and religious men started sacrificing men, then children and babies in an attempt to appease the gods. Spookiest of all, were the bones of a young man who had his spine broken as part of a ritual sacrifice, and was left to die slowly, trapped in the dark cave. His bones can be seen today covering against the cave wall for protection.
On a slightly lighter note, Xunantunich is a Maya ruin in Western Belize. The sight is named after a ghost or ‘stone woman’ that people have claimed to see around the sight since its rediscovery in the 1890s. A great little sight to visit, Xunantunich is accessed by hand cranked car ferry, which of course adds to the adventure. By this stage of our trip however, we were suffering from ``ruin fatigue`.