A little history: Lamanai is a VERY unique site in a lot of respects. Firstly, it is the only site I know of, maybe even the only site period, that experienced continuous occupation from pre-classic times all the way through the arrival of the English in the 1800s. Obviously the people living there at the time of the Spanish and the English were not as they would have been in the Mayan heyday, but the fact that they were there still means that there is an absolute wealth of archaeological and historical data about the site. Also, the continued occupation means that the site is HUGE. I don't remember the exact number but there are apparently somewhere around 200 structures there, which is amazing. The site was excavated for 12 years by Dr. Pendergast (spelling is my best guess), a British archaeologist who is considered to be one of the best in the world. Oh! And the name Lamanai is cool because it is actually the original Maya name of the site, which we don't usually know. Lamanai means "submerged crocodile" in Maya, and is a reference to the Maya creation story.
Picture time!!! As I mentioned yesterday, we actually accessed this site by river, which was REALLY cool. We took a three hour bus ride and then hopped a couple of powerboats to head up the New River (called the "River of Foreigners" by the Maya), just as the ancient Maya would have done to access the site for trade.
The river was amazing, and very unlike rivers I'm used to at home. Of course, there was the obvious fact that it is flanked by the jungle. Also, though, it was very wide in places (like lake-sized) and generally deep, or at least rock-free.
Here's the dock at Lamanai. The whole site is actually really well maintained for visitors by the Institute of Archaeology. It was really cool to see a site that has come so far along compared to ours!
This (super awesome!!) mask is on the side of one of the smaller temples at the site. It represents a king, and was discovered underneath three other walls because as Maya kingship changed hands they would cover up the past rulers' monuments with their own. Nowadays that's awesome because it means that some of them have been protected from the elements and remain preserved today.
The high temple!! Currently, this building is equivalent to something like 33 stories high, but given the fact that it lost no less than 55 tons of stone from the top in the last hurricane, it was very probably MUCH taller. Also, sorry for the weird pose--I was trying not to scratch.
Climbing the temple! That rope was VERY helpful--those stairs are steep!
We had to get back off of the High Temple pretty quickly after this because the lightning started up again and I guess it has a penchant for hitting people up there, but it was so amazing to get to be on the top of something as amazing as this. We spent probably four hours exploring the site, which was fantastic, then boarded the boats back to our bus. Oh! And we saw a crocodile and these bats that are soley responsible for pollinating the plant that makes tequila, and the other group got to feed monkeys, but I didn't get any pictures, sorry! Still, amazing day!
Today I'm headed to the ATM Cave (which stands for some really long Maya words that I can't remember) and I promise to tell you all about it.
Love you!
Elise
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