Lubaantun

I borrowed one of the farm’s bicycles and rode to Big Falls to use the internet. It was not as far as I thought it would be. I think it will be reasonable to bike that to use the internet, instead of paying to take the bus. When I got there and found the internet place, the lady told me that it did not open until afternoon- 1 pm. This was Saturday morning, a little after ten. That gave me a few hours to burn.

I didn’t want to bike all the way back to the farm and hang around for a few hours, so I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to visit Lubaantun. The road leading to it breaks off the main road just north of Big Falls, so I had passed it on my way to Big Falls. Big Falls is south of the farm, on the way to Punta Gorda. The sign said 7 miles to Lubaantun. That’s a bit of a trip, so I toodled around a bit thinking about whether or not to go for it, and then decided I would.

I’ve biked that distance many a time, but it’s a little bit more difficult when the road is broken. Only the main highways here are paved; all the other roads are broken- like they were previously paved, but it was never maintained. So it’s not just an unpaved road, but a broken up road, with rocks all over it, pressed into the soil. Not an easy experience to bike over. You have to continuously look for the best section to traverse. Quite a few times on the downhill sections, I was hanging on to the handlebars for dear life.

I made it safely to Lubaantun, though, and it only took about an hour. There is a parking area where I leaned my bike up against a tree, then put on my backpack and walked in. Leading up to the ruins, there is a long grassy alleyway where the local villagers set up their blankets and sell their “maya-craft”. That is a part of the experience, so I stopped and looked at what each family had available. There were many interesting bracelets and necklaces, and I might go back and get something before I leave, but I did not really have the money for that on this trip.

I got up to the ruins and walked around and took some pictures. The majesty of it is amazing; it was all constructed from rock and has lasted a thousand years. The man at the tourist center said that when the found it, a lot of the sections were filled with rubble and dirt, which they carefully excavated away to find the rock structures beneath. It was all very interesting. There is a smaller ruin closer to the farm, Nim Li Punit, which I plan to visit too, but I think Lubaantun is the largest in Belize. Interestingly, it is where the best preserved crystal skuil was supposedly found by Mitchell-Hedges in the 1920’s. (For all you Indiana Jones fans. Not that The Crystal Skull was the best sample of Indiana Jones filmography.)

(Note: I never got the pictured uploaded to my computer in time for this post, so I will have to add the pictures to it later.)

I biked back down to Big Falls (a lot easier than biking to Lubaantun), and used the internet for a couple of hours. I posted my Hummingbird Farm:First Impressions piece, checked my email, and took care of some other things I have been meaning to take care of. Then I biked home to Hummingbird Farm, which rump sore and spirits high.