Lamanai Mayan Ruins Belize 2/15/2015

Some more thoughts on my visit to the ancient Mayan site of Lamanai. After an exciting boat ride up the New River we disembarked and had a nice lunch. We then toured the museum and learned a lot of the history of the Mayans who inhabited this area  over 3500 years ago.  Our guide introduced us to some of the flora and fauna of the area as we walked toward the ruins of the once large city.

My first encounter with the works of this ancient culture was the magnificent Jaguar Temple. We then explored some ancient residences of the royal families.  My mind imagined the generations who were born, lived and grew old amid this ancient structures. I got to see a ball court where the Mayans played games with a large rubber ball. The winner of some of these games was rewarded with a passage to the afterlife, with his death.

We next climbed the High Temple, standing 125 feet above the jungle. It was a steep climb but the spectacular views were worth it. Finally we viewed and explored the Mask Temple, containing  two of the best preserved stone mask in Belize. I always wanted to explore  a lost city in the jungle, since I  first read about them in the  How and Why  Wonder Books, Lost cities.  Scratch another item off the bucket list.  I created a photo gallery on my photograph page of some photos I took and also posted them on my Flicker site.