Lamanai Ruins

All, Belize, Travel

by admin December 22, 2018 Post Comment

Written by my husband, Patrick Reck

A jungle boat ride into the heart of a lost civilization.

Our trip to the Mayan Lamanai Ruins felt like a journey into the past…

It was the only destination in Belize truly on Clara’s ‘Belize Bucket List’. As a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Clara is an avid reader of the Book of Mormon. In the Book of Mormon, the Lamanites are one of the two major tribes inhabiting the Americas that descended from ancient Jewish immigrants. When we landed in Belize, the Lamanai ruins was the one place we knew we were going.

Driving from the north coast, we arrived early in the city of Orange Walk to book our trip–it is about a 2 ½ hour drive from Sarteneja to Orange Walk.

You can book your tour of the Lamanai ruins through several of the local hotels in Orange Walk. Based upon some good reviews, we chose Hotel de la Fuente in the heart of downtown. (Click here to check out the hotel.)

Travel tip: during the slow season, you can get away with same day booking. In the busy months, it is best to plan ahead. Even in November, our trip filled up.

We booked our tour to the archaeological site through Lamanai River Tours. For only $50 USD a person, you get a tour guide, a boat ride to and from the ruins, entry to the ruins, plus lunch…and rum punch!

(In Belize, whenever someone is trying to sell you a tourist package, whether it be a ruins tour or snorkeling trip, their icing-on-the-cake selling point is rum punch, added at the very last minute to sweeten the pot.)

After an hour of getting ready and drinking coffee in the hotel cafe, about 30 of us boarded a modern motor boat on the New River, just behind the hotel, and were introduced to our tour guide Wilfredo.

Wilfredo made our experience all the more magical.

Looking like a sidekick of Indiana Jones, Wilfredo is a native Belizean and an accomplished archaeologist. He dressed in an all-white safari outfit with horn-rimmed glasses. As we began our 32 mile river journey, he spoke with a rich gravitas and a deep respect for the history and ecology of Belize. He had that soft spoken, yet animated manner of a storyteller who keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Sitting back with my arm around Clara, listening to Wilfredo, feeling the warm tropical sun and cool river breeze…

I was literally transported to another time and place.

It was an experience right out of a movie. The further we got away from Orange Walk, the more the jungle came alive, the tighter the tropical forest squeezed in on the New River.

Wilfredo was well versed in the local ornithology, and we were treated to a world class bird tour. Singing above the hum of the motor, swiftly darting back and forth across the bow of the boat, sitting proudly on display along the river bank, Wilfredo would stop the boat to help us all admire the bouquet of colorful birds.

In a single day, I saw more unique bird species than I had in most of a lifetime.

Wilfredo also came prepared to allow one lucky gal (hint, hint, wink, wink) to feed an expectant spider monkey, who, at the sight of the boat, clambered on to the branches hanging low above the river to snatch a banana.

After a 90 minute ride of meandering curves, the New River opened up, and we reached the wooden docks of the Lamanai ruins.

The enchantment and mystery and beauty of this entire experience has led me to ramble and meander through my memories. There’s a lot I want to share, especially since this was my first experience visiting ruins of the Mayan world. But I will spare the details of particular sites and share my overall impressions.

First: The trees. I love trees. The trees around the Lamanai ruins are amazing and so impressive in size, often as large as 12 feet in diameter, towering over the jungle floor. They create an atmosphere and ambiance that is beyond description.

Second: The stones of the ancient temples and buildings. Its visual texture is familiar from movies and media, but in person, it has a rawness that is unparalleled; the prominence of moss and ferns and earthen cover make the structures seem like a part of nature.

Third: The idea of ruins often is conveyed with a sense termination, of being past and gone and relegated to an era that no longer exists. I’ve traveled extensively in Italy, touring Roman ruins, and have gotten this feeling. The feeling of something preserved under glass at a museum. But in Belize, at the Lamanai ruins, the stone and structures convey something entirely different…

The Lamanai ruins gave me a tangible connection to those ancient people…

A living history that I was stepping into. Wilfredo shared a few facts that stuck with me… the Lamanai ruins contains records of 2600 years of continuous occupation. 2600 years! And after 12 years of intense archaeological work and restoration, only 6 of 718 buildings have been entirely excavated. Not even 1%!

It’s important to note that most of the largest and ornate buildings were completed around 700 AD. But the fullness and richness of the civilization that existed here staggers my imagination.

A few hours of walking around and hearing about the functions of the various temples and buildings has given me a lifetime of questions. How advanced were the Mayans? Why did their civilization collapse? What can we learn from their way of life?

In the haze of past meeting present, I slowly strolled out of the Lamanai ruins and exited through the gift shop. We chatted with Wilfredo over a delicious lunch of stewed chicken, rice, and beans–a Belizean staple–under a covered patio before departing on the boats. Back aboard, we toasted with a celebratory rum punch and settled in for a warm, sleepy cruise down the New River to Orange Walk.