On Saturday Danny and I had an adventure on the mainland.  We started the morning with a 5AM wake-up so that we could be at the local airstrip (yes, airstrip NOT airport!) at 6:30AM for our ride from the island to the mainland.  We took a tiny, 12 person plane for a 15 minute trip over to the airstrip in Belize City - again, not an airport.  Here are some pictures from the trip over.

                 

Here is the dirt landing strip in Belize City.

Here is our tiny little plane.  

Danny took a while to recover from our early morning.

Our first stop was at the Mayan ruin called Xunantunich (shoe-NAAN-two-nich) very close to the border with Guatamala.  In order to get to the site we had to take this hand cranked ferry  across the river.  

I don't think I would like this guy's job.

Here we are at our first Mayan ruin site.  It was a hot walk, but well worth it.

Thanks to Danny's eagle eyes, we saw some howler monkeys in the wild.  These monkeys were playing around in the branches above us.  When we were leaving, this group started howling at another group of monkeys that were down the hill.  It was wild to hear!  They are really loud!

Behind us is the structure called "El Castillo".  It is 40 meters (131+ feet) tall.  We climbed all the way to the top!!

This part of the structure is a dwelling with a child's bed in the far left and an adult bed in the middle on the right - very comfortable stone slabs.  The seating bench on the lower right was constructed so that the 4ft 5in Mayans could not touch their full foot to the ground, but only touched their toe tips.  Modern day Mayans still sit this way - even though the furniture allows them to put their feet flat on the ground.

Here is the view of the area from half-way up the structure.

The friezes on one side of the structure were beautiful.  They represent various Mayan gods, but I can't remember all the details.  One very interesting thing is that the face on the lower right represents the physical deformities that were considered signs of beauty and power - flattened forehead and bridge of the nose created by binding the head of the infant, and crossed eyes created by placing a focus object longterm in front of the developing infant's eyes to make him cross-eyed.

Halfway up the structure and already high up.  I was freaking out.

Some of the way up was inside the structure, but most was on the outside - up very small steps (the Mayans were small people).  I battled my fear of heights and made it all the way up to the top!

From the top you can see Belize on the left and Guatamala on the right.

Intrepid Danny relaxing at the top of the world!!

On the way back down....these are the friezes on the other side of the structure.

We had lunch on the road - rice and beans with stew chicken and potato salad.  YUMMY!  We also met a new friend - Daphne - who was visiting the island from Vancouver, Canada.

Our next step was cave tubing.  The cave structures were amazing and the river ride was so relaxing.  With the vegetation surrounding us, we felt like we had entered the world of dinosaurs.  We used waterproof cameras so I have no photos to post (except this one LOL). 

                                                   

They put horses on the side of the highways to take care of the grass growth.  The horses are dropped off in the morning and given water.  They spend the day eating and are picked up in the evening to be brought back to their home.  Saves lots of money.

Finally, we went to the Belize Zoo.  This place was amazing!  One of the best zoos I've seen.  Here are a few of the animals we saw.

The Tapir is  the national animal of Belize

The toucan is the national bird of Belize.

Please, Please, Please give me a treat!!!

This cat was captured in the wild with a mouthful of bad teeth - she could not eat so survive.  She was taken to the zoo where all her teeth were removed - and now she is pissed off!!

Did someone say they wanted a black jag???????

This guy was celebrating a birthday.

This guy is a cousin to the American turkey. 

 The more attractive cousin??

"Who you looking' at??!!"

We flew home on another puddle jumper.  The rain held off until just before we took off, so we were happy.  We were thoroughly exhausted when we got home, but were very happy.

As the rainy season comes to an end, it is making its presence known.  We had such torrential rains yesterday that many of the schools were closed - except for Danny's.  The kids here walk to school via dirt roads that flood so getting school in a storm is a nightmare. In addition, the parents are afraid that the kids will get sick if they walk in the rain.  To boot, my school is built on short stilts over a swamp so classroom flooding is a distinct possibility.

I'm not sure what will happen for the rest of the week as we are expecting rain for the next several days.

Today is a national holiday - Garifuna settlement day.  It commemorates the arrival of the settlers of African descent who were kicked off of the island of St. Vincent and arrived in southern Belize.  The Garifuna are one of several ethnic groups represented in Belize.  Unfortunately, it is pouring on and off today also and that is putting a damper on the celebration activities.  

Back to school tomorrow for both of us.  This weekend we will be going down to Caye ("Key") Caulker to explore.  We have been told that going there is like going back 15 years in time.  I have heard that the island is very quaint.  It should be a good day.  Hopefully, we will get a break in the weather.

We'll keep you up to date.