When we first visited Belize in 2010, one of the things we chose to skip was a tour of the Lamanai Mayan Archaeological Site. This time it was high on my list of must sees.
Lamanai is unique among Mayan sites for two main reasons:
1) Lamanai was continuously inhabited from 1500BC through 1800AD – that is a seriously long time and means that it continued to be inhabited several hundred years after many other Mayan sites in the region had been abandoned. Because Lamanai was built on a river the people there were able to avoid drought-related food and water crises that plagued other cities. Just to emphasize the longevity of this civilization, 1500BC to 1800AD is over 3000 years!! The fact that I would round this number to 3000 says something as I’d be rounding off more time than the US has been country.
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Here’s the view from the top of the High Temple, I thought it was pretty impressive.
2) You get there by a 25-mile boat trip, which seemed like much more fun than a bus or rented car, and to ice the cake there were animal to be seen along the way.
While I did not see any crocodiles, like I was hoping, but watching this little guy eat a banana more than made up for it.
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