In the last two weeks I have taken hundreds of photos, beginning with my final days in Valladolid, my stopover in Cozumel, my one-day explorations in Chetumal, and my first few days in the beautiful country of Belize.
I have selected the best of these photos, and would like to share them with you. As usual, you can click on any photo to see a larger, more detailed image.
Goodbye Valladolid
During my last weekend in Valladolid, five of us from the Hostel Candelaria took a crowded cab to a small Mayan village about ten miles from Valladolid. Our destination was to witness a Sunday afternoon outdoor theatre program presented by local Mayan villagers. The next several photos were taken at this theatre presentation.
In this photo, two men are carrying a load of fish in a segment of the program that was acting out the harvest.
A large group of Mayan youth dancing a traditional folk dance on a large raised wooden stage.
Another beautiful traditional dance involving these tall poles and colorful ribbons.
A closer-up view of one of the pole dances. In this photo, the dancers have created an elaborate weave pattern on the pole by intertwining their ribbons as they dance in circles.
A young man pretending to be a bull in a mock dance that mimicked a bullfight.
Carnaval in Cozumel
JayDee, sitting at our street-side outdoor table. Notice the homemade tiara and all of the beads. We sat here at this table enjoying a delicious buffet meal while waiting for the Carnaval parade to begin.
Me sitting at the same table. JayDee made me a cute little tiara as well, and let me wear half of her elaborate bead collection. I am wrapped up in my pink Cozumel sweatshirt because it was actually quite cold.
You may notice the whitish-grey in my hair. Yes, that is my natural color beginning to show through. I have decided to leave my hair alone while I am on this trip. It is time to see what I really look like … LOL
We shared our table with Bob and Henrie from Canada. I have gotten to know them both during our weekly game nights. As you can see, the street was already quite dark before the evening parade began.
One of the early walking groups in the parade.
One of the unique floats.
This little princess was adorable as she rode by in her carriage.
Some more unique costumes.
Is that “Lightning McQueen”? — the parade was filled with movie celebrities.
A little fun with the movie “Ratatouille”.
Egyptian flavor.
More dancers in fancy costumes.
A little Halloween flair.
Chetumal Color
My five-star luxury hotel in Chetumal – The hotel Ucum. At only $16 US, it was a place to sleep and to shower–not much more.
This unique sculpture was found outside a small town square in the center of town. On the left is depicted a Mayan woman, on the right is a Spanish man, and in the middle is a young Mestizo (mixture) child. A large portion of Yucatan residents are mixed descendants of both the Mayans and the Spaniards. In Spanish, they call themselves “Mestizos”.
A large road heading from the center of Chetumal down toward the waterfront, eight blocks to the south.
A large clock tower, just a short hop from the ocean waters. Chetumal sits on the edge of a large saltwater bay. There are no beaches in this part of town. The water was murky and dirty looking, even emitting a slight odor. I definitely would not swim here …
A beautiful water view shortly before sunset. Belize is only a short distance off to the left.
Walking along the waterfront street toward the east. If you look close, you can see how brown and murky the water is.
A view of the winding divided waterfront street. You can see a row of vendor carts lined up on the opposite side of the street in the distance.
A unique fisherman statue along the waterfront. Across the water, in the faint distance, you can barely see the shoreline of northern Belize.
Another view of almost-sunset along the beautiful waterfront road.
An early float in Chetumal’s Sunday night Carnaval parade. Both Cozumel and Chetumal have multiple parades on several days throughout the Carnaval celebrations.
Another of the unique floats. These first two are very similar to many that I saw in the Cozumel parade.
This small parade entry was honoring the king and queen of the “Third Age”–in other words, the elderly king and queen. They also had child king and queen, and normal king and queen.
A beautiful owl costume.
More beautiful costumes.
More beautiful costumes.
A fun larger-than-life puppet.
More beautiful costumes.
More beautiful costumes.
These uniquely costumed women were dancing behind a cultural float.
More fun, unique costumes.
Fantasy on stilts.
Mario and Luigi, and other fun characters.
A delightful little zoological entry with children riding.
Belize Or Bust
A large overhead sign in the “free area” — a few hundred yards between the Mexican exit booth and the Belize customs building.
Sugar cane growing along the road in northern Belize.
Looking out the front window of my bus. The young man standing in front of the window was the one who helped with luggage, collected money, and coached us through the customs process. I found him very friendly and helpful.
A typical second class bus – an old school bus that has been painted purple and white.
The bottom floor of this house is the little “Juanitas Diner” where I have been eating all of my meals in Orange Walk–meals of rice and beans with chicken.
Typical buildings around Orange Walk.
I have seen many of these old trucks parked around town, loaded down with what looks like sugar cane stalks. You can see an older wooden home in the distance.
Another beautiful old wooden home.
One of the many chinese restaurants around town. I’m assuming that the owners live in the top two floors.
This view is looking north along the main street in the town of Orange Walk. The center of town is about two blocks straight ahead.
This is the beautiful “Town Hall” in the town of Orange Walk. I love the beautiful architecture.
This little home is the headquarters of the Jungle River Tours here in Orange Walk. It is right on the corner of the main town square. While waiting for my Tuesday morning tour, an 80-something man came out and talked to me. Even though he was speaking english, I had a very difficult time understanding him. He proudly told me how he built this home out of Mahogany, back in the 1960s, for about $300.
The little town park in the center of Orange Walk.
An older Mennonite woman crossing the street near the center of town.
A row of second class buses lined up near the center of town.
One of the unique water towers in town.
Jungle River tour
Following are photos from the all-day jungle river tour that I took on Tuesday, February 16. For some strange reason, in the midst of my zealous editing/deleting of extra photos, I mysteriously lost every photo I took of the baby crocodiles, birds, and sleeping bats. They have disappeared into thin air, and I cannot find them in my recycle bin.
A beautiful boat ride along the “New River”–southbound on a 34 mile journey to the Lamanai ruins.
This friendly little spider monkey came down from his tree to check us out. I’m sure he does this with tourists almost every day.
He made himself right at home in our boat, looking around for food.
Here he is resting in his perch above the water.
Enjoying a banana on the edge of the boat.
A beautiful Mennonite farm at the small village of Shipyard, about halfway down the river between Orange Walk and the ruins at Lamanai.
For most of the journey, the waters were calm and glassy.
Our tour guide called this a snake cactus. He told us it is often called pigs-guts cactus or Devil’s-guts cactus.
More of the beautiful winding river.
I love this majestic tree in a lower, marshy area.
Entering the Lamanai ruins at last.
A blurry view of the beautiful trail leading 3/4 of a mile into the ruins.
I love this view. These two owls were perched high up in a tree, perhaps 30 or 40 feet above the trail. I love how my camera flash reflected off the eyes, and the focus on my zoom was incredible. These cute little guys hide out in the dark shady shelter of thick vegetation almost every day. Our tour guide spotted them one day, and points them out to all of his tours. He was very careful to wait till no other tour guides were around before showing them to us.
This is the first pyramid that we visited. Notice the original face sculptures under the awning to the left. These are from the pre-classic period, being very old. Nearby, constuction workers are preparing detailed replicas which they will soon place above these originals in an effort to preserve them. It won’t be long before tourists are no longer able to see these beautiful originals.
These are mirror image originals on the right side of the pyramid. They too will soon be covered by replicas.
A view from the top of these ruins, looking toward the lake in the east.
Another view from the top, looking straight down the front toward the west.
One of the replicas being constructed to cover the original faces. This one is covered by plastic.
This is the largest and tallest of the temples–towering 111 feet above the jungle below. I climbed all the way to the top. The steps were tall and extremely steep. Luckily, a rope runs down the middle section, giving something to hang on to if you lose your footing. You can barely see the yellow-orange rope in the detailed image.
A view from the top, looking east toward the lake.
A view from the top, looking almost straight down the front of the pyramid. The Howler monkeys were screeching in the trees just barely to the left.
Your’s truely, on top of the world after a long climb.
Three of our group, standing on top of the pyramid. The man on the right, with the white shirt is the young man from southern California who tried to help me with my eyeglasses at the end of the tour.
A side view of the upper steps, attempting to capture some perspective on how steep they really were. Photos just don’t do it justice.
Another view of people climbing down. Notice that the skyline is parallel with the top of the photo. I was not tipping the camera in an attempt to make it look steeper. This is quite the fun little climb.
Our tour guide in front another of the small ruins.
A long distance view of the fourth and final pyramid that we visited. in the foreground are remains from the residential area of the rulers here at Lamanai.
Profiles of two howler monkeys climbing high in the trees above. They really make an eeirie sound.
Another howler monkey swinging through the branches above.
Yet another howler monkey zoomed in from a distance. It was very difficult to capture them on film, as they were always moving, usually in thick branches and leaves.
The fourth and final pyramid, in a closer shot. Notice how the jungle is growing all over the sides and top. The excavations have only been performed on the front of the structure.
This is a closeup at the left base of the pyramid. Another of these unique sculptures exists on the right side. If you use your imagination, you can see that this represents a jaguar–with eyes, nose, teeth, and even ears. You can barely see this in the lower left of the previous photo of the entire pyramid.
A view on the return boat ride. Look how beautiful and smooth the water is–creating a perfect mirror.
On our way back, we wound down a few different river channels, passing two more spider monkeys that are very friendly with tourists.
The two spider monkeys, holding hands, waiting for more bananas.
Only the braver of the two would join us in the boat. He also walked all around the boat to see what he could find.
A sugar factory that we passed on he way back. At one point in time, sugar was the main industry of Belize.
Howler Monkeys
This last link is not a photo, it is a short video clip of a few howler monkeys. The monkeys are mostly hidden. You can barely see their movement back in the leaves (left middle). You also get a brief glimps of the screeching howling noise that they make.
The video is very short — about 9.8 megabytes to download. I hope it works. Just click on the link and wait …