Belize-Lamanai

 Our adventures to Lamanai almost didn't happen. Due to not fully understanding our directions, I was trying to keep our family in our room until the Captain announced we could disembark (as they had done yesterday), but we were getting perilously close to our meeting time on our tickets. So we went down to the levels where you disembark to be told we couldn't wait there. We asked where to go, they checked our tickets, and told us to move quickly to the Venetian room where we were supposed to be meeting. We got there just as our group was leaving and heading out to the ferry to go to Belize. Made it by the skin of our teeth. 

After landing in Belize, we met up with our group. Ellie suddenly realized that she had forgotten a hair thing and was frantically looking in shops for something to pull her hair back with. We found a stretchy bracelet and used that. Then we joined up with our group and hopped on a bus to go to the river, where we could take a boat to get to the temple of Lamanai (sunken crocodile). 

The spot where we met our river jungle cruise (as Liam likes to call it) was cute, with some botanical gardens, a small gift shop, a bar, and of course, our boat. Ellie and Miles, much to their delight, spotted a Basilisk lizard. 

After a brief stop at the dock, we donned our life jackets and hopped in our boat for the 30-minute boat ride down to Lamanai. Liam was all smiles as this has been a fantasy of his ever since seeing Disney's film: The Jungle River Cruise.

Our first stop on our tour of Lamanai was the temple of the Jaguar, named for the Jaguar carved faces at the bottom of it. 

Ian was in his element, knowledgably spouting off facts and asking questions. 

Next was the high temple, which is the one temple you are allowed to climb up. On the way up, we spotted a mom and baby howler monkey in the trees. Ellie informed us that the howler monkey noises were what they used for the T. rex roar in Jurassic Park. The noises they made were crazy big and loud compared to their tiny little bodies. 

Those little black bodies in the trees were them. Best shot I could get with a phone camera. 

We made it to the top of the temple and could see all across the jungle. Naturally, this meant we needed to yell "Jumanji" to break the curse. https://photos.app.goo.gl/CYX5JRgKTvTUXSs97 It was also at this temple that Ian was stopped by another tourist and asked if he was planning on pursuing this as a career. When answered in the affirmative, they proceeded to grill Ian on his beliefs regarding whether aliens built Mayan temples. Ian credibly kept a straight face and told him very definitively, No, they were built by the Mayans. 

The final temple was the Temple of the Masks, with Olmec-influenced face carvings. 

These were pretty detailed and quite beautiful.  After this temple, we walked back to the dock, got on our boat, and went to the dock in Belize. Ther,e we had a traditional Belize lunch, which is very Caribbean in style and taste. Then it was time to hop back on the bus and get on our cruise ship. The kids were only disappointed that there wasn't more time to shop in some of the stores in Belize on the way.