Altun Ha

After traveling into Belize City to get Belize SIM cards for our phones and stopping at the grocery store for some lunch “stuff”, we drove the Old North Highway to Altun Ha, a Mayan ruin from about 200 BC.  The road into the site was terrible — at times one-lane, potholed paving with sharp drop-offs to the shoulder.  Approaching vehicles had to each pull of into the shoulder in order to proceed.  The dust was amazing as there were quite a few vans and a large number of tour buses. 

Altun Ha was quite impressive.  Large pyramid-like structures built as part of the Mayan village.  The area was livable because of a continuous water supply and a reservoir that the Mayans had built.  We were able to climb to the top of two of the pyramids and enjoy the view that the high priests would have enjoyed while alive and where they were eventually buried.  There were a number of vendors along the path into the ruins trying to sell us authentic local crafts.  Most were quite “touristy” rather than artsy.

Back at Villa Boscardi we sat out in the cool shade in the back, read and caught up with email, then walked to Admiral”s Bay restaurant for another outstanding dinner: grilled fish (Janet) and Belizian style pork chops (David) all served with coconut rice and beans and cole slaw.  Very nice food in an out door sitting area right on the water.  Our waitress remembered us, commenting that we must have liked the food as we were back from the night before.

 

 

-- Janet (text) and David (photos)