a couple weeks after our trip just up the road to Xunantunich, Cameron, Jessica and i rented a car and braved the Cristo Rey road and beyond to Caracol, Belize's most isolated site. the road winds through the villages of Cristo Rey and San Antonio (one of the few villages in Belize where the majority of residents speak Yucatec Maya, as opposed to the more common K'ekchi and Mopan you find in the south), before venturing in to the surprising pine forests of Mountain Pine Ridge. don't know why, but i certainly never expected to find pines in subtropical Belize. shows what i know...
with an estimated 36,000 structures, Caracol is said to be one of the largest sites in the Mayan world. but this being Belize, where funds are scarce, the site is largely unexcavated. it's truly a bizarre experience to look up on a walk through the jungle to realize that the hill you're staring at is in all likelihood a building that a thousand or so years ago housed the ancient Maya or played host to their religious ceremonies. the people living at Caracol have all long since fallen prey to disease, famine, war and European conquest (though no one seems to be sure which), and the jungle has taken over. their descendants live on, but in far reduced numbers, and in small villages scattered around Central America. Caracol alone housed a population nearly half the size of the entire present-day country of Belize. its largest pyramid is still one of the tallest structures in the country.
a couple weeks after our trip just up the road to Xunantunich, Cameron, Jessica and i rented a car and braved the Cristo Rey road and beyond to Caracol, Belize's most isolated site. the road winds through the villages of Cristo Rey and San Antonio (one of the few villages in Belize where the majority of residents speak Yucatec Maya, as opposed to the more common K'ekchi and Mopan you find in the south), before venturing in to the surprising pine forests of Mountain Pine Ridge. don't know why, but i certainly never expected to find pines in subtropical Belize. shows what i know... 
with an estimated 36,000 structures, Caracol is said to be one of the largest sites in the Mayan world. but this being Belize, where funds are scarce, the site is largely unexcavated. it's truly a bizarre experience to look up on a walk through the jungle to realize that the hill you're staring at is in all likelihood a building that a thousand or so years ago housed the ancient Maya or played host to their religious ceremonies. the people living at Caracol have all long since fallen prey to disease, famine, war and European conquest (though no one seems to be sure which), and the jungle has taken over. their descendants live on, but in far reduced numbers, and in small villages scattered around Central America. Caracol alone housed a population nearly half the size of the entire present-day country of Belize. its largest pyramid is still one of the tallest structures in the country. 
1 comment:
This is exactly the sort of adventure I would like to go on. If only the tooth fairy would cough up the money! These sites have to be awesome in the true sense of the word.
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