Altun Ha, Belize District, Belize
Altun Ha – Belize Zoo
On
Belizean Highways
after
paying again our 50 cents of toll, we are driving down the Northern
Highway. I may should mention Belize has 4 highways: the northern
Highway – The Western Highway – the Southern Highway and the
Hummingbird highway. And after the end of today we already drove half
of Belize’s Highways.
Junk
yards: we also came by several one, so we stopped and checked if we
can find a local lisence plate – so far we did not got lucky... so
we are still on the search. And as Gine pointed out how many tourist
go in each country they go to on a jun yard?
Ok
we are nearly proficient now: pass when you can, remember there are
speed bumps and often they have a yellow sign, so always keep on
lookout: they are high and hard (yes we know we missed one and were
not even driving that fast) – also often at the speed bumps they
sell food or drinks: guess you already have to slow down. Another
thing not to miss are the potholes: they can be deep and some are
filled with stones which are higher than nearly as deadly.
Left
turns: one very unique road rule was pointed out to us: when you turn
left, you go on the right shoulder until the road is clear and then
you turn – because the roads are so narrow, that you would block
the traffic
Our
final leg to the ruins went via the old highway, which was narrow but
very good and already we could see a lot of busses... guess the
cruise ships are in town. We were wondering why that one guy passed
the bus when we are that close, but then after the bus was so super
slow at the first pothole we knew why and passed them too.
Altun
Ha
Parking
is free, but someone came by and asked Paul for his name and it got
written down: Guess Paul is now known in Belize. And then we worried
a bit about all the busses: ok only 5 and the tour groups – but in
the end it all worked out pretty well. Even we discovered there were
at least 3 different cruise lines in port today.
- It got settled 200 BC until 900 AD: it was a mayan trading post and a religious center – they assume that around 10.000 people lived here, with 3000 in the Core area
- The real name is unknown, it got the name Altun Ha = Stone water – previously it was called Rockpond: because of the large reservois constructed by the Mayans: it was lined with clay to hold water and it shows the advanced knowledge of the Maya to collect water and allowing the stream to continue on it’s track
- Archaeologist arrived in 1964: they found around 250 structures and 500 identified mounds – ok we saw several of the mounds – the site was excavated by Dr. David Pendergast from the Royal Ontario Museum
- it is the best excavated site in Belize – and also the most visited one
- even it is only a medium Mayan site it looks from what they found that it was extremely wealthy
- we also learned that the Mayans understood the concept of the wheel, but there were no horses or oxen to pull a wheeled carriage trough the rugged terrain
And
who is David Pendergast?
- Born in 1934 he was an American Archaeolgist and got famous for it’s excavations in Altun Ha and Lamanai
- while pursuing his doctorat he worked as a Museum Curator and already in 1957 he started excavations in Tikal – and then he did more excavations in California, Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Belize as well as Cuba
- he began excavations for the Royal Museum of Ontario from 1964-1971 in Altun Ha where he found the Jade head in the B4 structure he then named the Sun god Temple
- from 1874 – 1986he directed archaeological research in Lamanai – constructing it’s time chronology
- and to be fitting he also married an archaeologist
ok,
we know it had 2 plaza’s: A & B – how exciting – guess the
Archaeologist are not that fancy when it comes for naming – after
we came in, we discovered on how small the site is once we came in:
you start walking between some round mounds and then on the right we
see stairs going up on a mound: ok that must be
unexcavated
mound A6: it’s unexcavated and one of the highest buildings, on
top there are a few remains of some buildings, otherwise it looks
like a huge grass covered mount: but what is the most amazing is the
view from the top: in front of us is Plaza A and on the right the
temple of the green tomb and right across we see the A3 pyramide and
the A4 stairs and behind the Plaza B with on the left the huge temple
of Masonary – wow it is so absolutely super cool. And one of the
guides was up there and told us that he will take some pictures of us
and that he knows the best spot to take them... oh and we could
already see the Cruise ship tours (by the way they didn't had time to go up here)
A1
= Temple of the Green tomb: and yes you can go up, so we went up,
and here in this temple they found over 300 green jade pieces: beads,
earings and rings. They also discovered some human remains and
traditional funerary treasures – actually up there on top where we
were, that is where they discovered the tomb. And as everywhere here,
there are super photo opportunities
- Jade is an ornamental mineral, known for it’s green varieties and it is naturally occuring in Belize’s
- Obsidian is a natural occuring volcanic glass, and it is produced when lava is colled rapidly
A3:
having only names and numbers shows how no-one clearly knows what
they are: this pyramid has some stairs going up again and from here
we can see down the back to Plaza B as well we have super views on
the huge Temple of Masonry altars. Up here are again some rooms –
what for??
A5:
so they say it is partly excavated – I would say not at all but you
can imagine where stairs and walls were – I mean it is all
overgrown with grass – you can imagine how they came here and then
start to dig
A4
– rooms: from here we go over A4 which extends to B1 they say
that here were once interior rooms – guess you need a lot of
imagination – but it’s perfect to sit down for a drink. But from
here we can go through
B3
– rooms: so you go up and there are a lot of little rooms, I
mean you can see some walls and then we decide because we are totally
on time that we visit what made this site famous:
Rock
stone ponds: they say it’s a 10 Min walk we did it faster and
it is going right through the jungle and then we come to that huge
pond: a spring starts here, and the mayans diverted the creek and
build the huge pond so that it can then can run off into the old
track once the pond is full and overflows. Here we also saw some huge
palm leaves: I mean Paul is tiny compared to them!! And then it is
time for a last climb today:
B4
– Temple of masonry altar or the temple of the Sun god: it
looks amazing from the front and then we walk up wooden stairs on
unexcavated site and once you are up you stand in front of a round
altar: ok we had to see how it looks like if we sacrifice Paul.
Inside this pyramide they found likely the most impressive tomb of
this site: in 1968 they found a solid jade head also referred to as
Kinich Ahau – the sun god: what made it so famous is that it is
solid jade, weighs 9 pounds and is 6 inches high: we saw a replica in
the museum (the original is in the vault in the bank of Belize worth
between 5-10 Mill $)) And because everyone comes up here there are 2
sets of stairs one up and one down....
Ceiba
Tree: and right at the bottom is a huge Ceiba tree and with
listening in on the tour guides we learned that this was a sacred
tree of the Mayans
Now
it’s time for the museum: to read up a bit more – about all we
haven’t known: like that the Mayan’s knew about the wheel but
didn’t know how to use it... Did I mention that it is totally sunny
and we soaked up a lot of sun!!
On
the road again
today
is one of the 2 big driving days: 180 km in total – and so
we are again for one hour on the road but this time we get a bit of a
break because we drive by the only prison of Belize in Hattie ville
(by the way this town is named after Hurricane Hattie in 1961 when
they made here a refugee center for the people who got homeless in
Belize City and it looks like some stayed. Paul’s question was: do
you think they treat them well.
Another
cool thing we saw a brandnew road they built and the electric poles
are in the middle of the road – guess you don’t drive to often
over the middle line or pass a vehicle.... And then Gine complained
about Paul because he drives to fast and constantly passes someone –
until one of those old busses passed us, guess I can say that we are
the fastest (even we are a bit faster than google map)
And
then we are on the western highway, until we come to the:
Belize
Zoo
this
is a must do for all tourists coming to Belize, or this is what we
read. So why is this zoo so famous:
- it is considered the best small zoo in the wrold and the most visited place in Belize’s
- the zoo began when Richard Foster shot a wildlife documentary entitle “path of the raingods” in Belize in the early 1980s. After the shooting was over the animals had become partly tame and they wondered what to do with them. So the Biologist in charge of the 17 animals started the Belize Zoo to display native Belxean wildlife in their natural surrounds
- today you find here all native animals to Belize.
With
only 125 animals it is a quite small and in a few hours you can see
all: so we started out and I have to say we did not see all but we
saw nearly all of them and by the way some of the animals we never
even heard about: the little grey fox, the Jaguarundi and the Happy
Eagle, the Crested Guan and Curassow, the Jabiru Stork: which is huge and we could hear it when he
cleaned it’s wings. We had fun looking for the Black Howler Monkey
– but today we haven’t heard dem, admired the Puma sleeping,
found the ocelot (which is more like a kitty cat in Leopard look).
What I really liked were the tapirs – and we saw several once of
them: at one spot he always tried to push his nose through the fence:
- it has the shape of a pig with a short trunk
- they live in the forest of Central and South America (and South Asia)
- there are 4 different tapirs: I think we saw 3 of them: the Bairds or Central American Tapir, the south American Tapir and the Mountain Tapir
- they eat fruit, berries and leave and use their nose to search for food in the ground
- when looking at their feet from the top they have 3 toes and from the bottom 4 toes
Walking
along the freshwater pond with turtles and we saw more tapirs, as
well as deers when Paul discovered a jaguar: sitting there and
posing. We then watched the spider monkeys walking along on the
ground and sitting in the tree...
by
then 2.5 hours later we really needed a break and then decided we
don’t need to see al the birds and rather keep going – so after
another busy day we needed a break!! Oh and then we wanted a cold
drink, that is when we discovered that Gine bought Coconut water
instead of water!!! not our favourite.
What
I really liked about the zoo were all the nice hand painted sign and
the rescue story of each of the animals, also the walks were all
like going through the jungle and not like a zoo with cages made for
the animals... you had the feeling all they did was put up fences and
make walkways through the jungle... so yes it is very unique and cute
our
little cabin
ok
30 more km and also by two small totally overgrown cemeteries and
then we are there: first challenge was the construction site in the
circle – but we could drive after going once in the wrong direction
through to the western highway. Then it was a bit more exciting
because our cabin was: behind the hydro lines: no street name or
number... and so once we were close to where the Camelote Village
were on the lookout for the gas station: because the 3rd
gravel road after the gas station before the Hydro we turn right, at
the end left and then there is a gray house with a gate: through the
gate at the end of the property is the cabin: and so at the end of
that street we turned left and I said to Paul it is right now on the
left side: yes there was a cabin with no walls.... but we found ours
too!! it is a super cute little place, right away we made coffee, we
would have liked to sit outside so we used the stairs....
Chicken
on the Run
What’s
for supper, we decide tonight we go out: ok so what is all here we
found the Chicken on the run... driving by they don’t speak English
but we got it that they are open until nine.... there was another
place Gine found on Google map and so we followed the instructions
and we went into the middle of the Roarng Creek town I mean you can’t
go any more into the area were the locals live – gravel with huge
potholes and mostly super old buildings, once the GPS said to turn
right – but that path was only for walking not driving... and where
the restaurant should have been were only super old houses... so we
slowly made our way back through lots of turns in that town and came
by a open sign for a restaurant “Chicken wrap 1 $” - I would say
that it as local as it can be, so we stopped and checked but it
looked a bit weird especially when she told us it is no meat it is
bones...
Let’s
fill up the gas yes it is 10 BD so not so cheap... but there was a
lot to see at the gas station because besides having a sunset there
were thousands of birds on the palm trees and on power lines.
Back
at the Chicken on the Run: it was super yummy and for sure local –
we absolutely loved it.
Time
to head back and do our evening duties; trip advisor, finances,
diary, downloading pictures....
2025-05-22