St Herman’s Blue Hole National Park, Belize

The Belize Audubon Society is in charge of this national park in an effort to create a balance between people and the environment. The Bz$8 ticket price contributes to the conservation in Belize (www.base@btl.net). 

At first I went to the cave, there are two ways to get there; the highlands and the lowlands, and I took the low road. It was an easy enjoyable walk that took about 20 minutes. I also went for the unguided tour; if you want the guided one it can take four hours and requires getting wet, down and dirty. There is a crystal cave too, but that is several more hours and more dirt. It sounds like fun for another trip.

Next there is the “Blue Hole”; this has two trails one that take you around through the jungle for one mile giving you a chance to see many birds and other wildlife, or you can walk about five minutes down some stairs to a beautiful lagoon. The lagoon has two parts; one goes into a cave with bats, stalactites and dripping water from the ceiling, the other has delightful turquoise blue water inviting you in for a cool swim. I went early Sunday morning and I had the place to myself this I highly recommend.

You can spend a little more than an hour to all day. I spent three hours; it was a delightful way to spend a morning.

Xunantunich Archaeological Reserve, Belize

Xunantunich is located atop a ridge above the Mopan River, well within sight of the Guatemala border – which is a mere 1 kilometer (0.62 mi) to the west. It served as a Maya civic ceremonial center in the Late and Terminal Classic periods to the Belize Valley region. 

Xunantunich’s name means "Stone Woman" in the Maya language (Mopan and Yucatec combination name), and, like many names given to Maya archaeological sites, is a modern name; the ancient name is currently unknown. The "Stone Woman" refers to the ghost of a woman claimed by several people to inhabit the site, beginning in 1892. She is dressed completely in white, and has fire-red glowing eyes. She generally appears in front of "El Castillo", ascends the stone stairs, and disappears into a stone wall.

The first modern explorations of the site were conducted by Thomas Gann in the mid-1890s. Gann’s successor, Sir J. Eric S. Thompson, implemented a more methodical approach, and was able to establish the region’s first ceramic chronology.

 

Carvings on the peak of the El Castillo pyramid (Structure A6) at Xunantunich, has an Artistic rendering of plaster frieze on the west side of the 13 story building. The frieze is more than 9 feet high and 30 feet long, which dates back between 800 and 900 AD. The frieze features a three dimensional image of a Maya ruler, ancestor gods, dancing figures and earth monsters. 

El Castillo pyramid it is the second tallest structure in Belize (after the temple at Caracol), at some 130 feet (40 m) tall. El Castillo is the “axis mundi” of the site, or the intersection of the two cardinal lines. Evidence of construction suggests the temple was built in two stages (the earlier dubbed Structure A-6-2nd, which dates to around 800 AD, and the later Structure A-6-1st). Structure A-6-2nd had three doorways, whereas Structure A-6-1st only had doors on the north and south. The pyramid lies underneath a series of terraces. The fine stucco or "friezes" are located on the final stage. The northern and southern friezes have eroded, and the others were covered during the reconstruction and over time. There is a plaster mold on the Eastern wall frieze. The frieze depicts many things. Each section of the frieze is broken up by framing bands of plaited cloth or twisted cords (which represent celestial phenomena). The frieze depicts the birth of a god associated with the royal family, gods of creation, as well as the tree of life (which extends from the underworld, the earth, and the heavens).

This site has a well maintained park with easy walking pathways so wheelchairs, strollers and walkers can get around, you just will not able to climb the pyramids. The hand crank ferry is a wheel on off one. 

The price was Bz$10. For the day, open 8am-4:00pm every day.

It was a very nice ruin to visit and I recommend it to all. I know my grand-kids would have love it.

Cahal Pech Archaeological Reserve, San Ignacio Belize

Cahal Pech is dated from 100 BC to 650 AD and was discovered in 1950 and is located in the town of San Ignacio in the Cayo District of Belize. The site was a hilltop home for an elite Maya family, and though most major construction dates to the Classic period, evidence of continuous habitation has been dated to as far back as far as 1200 BC during the Early Middle Formative period (Early Middle Preclassic), making Cahal Pech one of the oldest recognizably Maya sites in Western Belize.

Cahal Pech site core consists of 34 large structures. During the Classic Period, the site and its sustaining lands may have encompassed a realm of approximately 16 square km. A large collection of Formative Period figurines (1000 BC-250 AD) have been found on site. 

The name Cahal Pech, meaning "Place of the Ticks", was given this site during the first archaeological studies in the 1950s, led by Linton Satterthwaite from the University of Pennsylvania Museum. It is now an archaeological reserve, and houses a small museum with artifacts from various ongoing excavations.

The primary excavation of the site began in 1988. Restoration was completed in 2000 under the leadership of Dr. Jaime Awe, Director of the National Institute of Archaeology (NICH), Belize. But actually it is still going on with the help of archaeology students. 

Archaeology students that where there working on the Cahal Pech Archaeological Reserve have come from all over the world; this goes on each year for up to two month in June and July.

Green Iguana Conservation Project, San Ignacio, Belize

It now cost Bz$18 dollars for adults, you will have a guide that explains everything and helps with you and the iguanas. This project is housed within the San Ignacio Resort Hotel grounds, where the work to breed and raise the endangered green iguanas is done, before releasing them into the wild. This project is self-sustaining through the fees charged to visitors. It is an interactive exhibit so come prepared to touch, hold and feed the iguanas. You can also sponsor and name one of the dragon like reptiles (www.sanignaciobelize.com). 

 

The green female iguana lays 30 to 90 eggs at a time. They mate once a year (Nov through Jan); females carry the eggs for 60 days, and then lay them, 90 days later they hatch. Once they are laid in the ground then they are left unattended. Temperature controls the sex of the eggs; 85 degrees gives you females. This project is only producing females at this time do to the severely depleted iguana population in Belize. 

These iguanas are then released onto the hotels back protected property to get used to being in the wild and then migrate off on their own. 

Iguanas have been eaten by Belizeans here and if the female is full of eggs they are eaten too (these eggs are thought to be like Viagra and to help with male fertility, but not true), but only animals eat the eggs once they have been laid. 

 

 

Green iguanas grow about one foot per year. The males have the taller spikes on their backs and change color to bright orange and red during mating season. Males can get up to 6 feet long and female only get to three feet long. The green iguanas will live for 35 years or so. Green iguanas are vegetarian whereas the black ones are carnivores or scavengers and they will eat the baby green iguanas.