So after lunch, it's a brisk walk to and through the ruins and surrounding areas. The original city of Lamanai has only been excavated to about 8 percent of original. It's difficult to explain the sense of age and permanence of the structures. When near them, and climbing their stairs to the top, you get a sense that they were built to last forever, and will be here long after mankind is gone. There is also the reminder that at some point in their past, they were used for sacrifices, and enough blood was shed to permanently stain the stonework.
The stairs were steep and built for the ruling caste, who were clearly much taller than my 6' frame, going up the stairs to the top was tiring, and heading back down was only accomplished with the utmost care, and usually in the squatting and scooting motions.
In the next to the last picture here, taken from the top of one of the ziggurats, you can just barely make out a few people in the middle left of the picture. It was a long way down and I didn't mind one bit taking my time scooting down to get to the ground again. As a possible point of reference the palm trees were about 60 feet tall. We were up over 100 feet in the air, and I could plainly see just how flat most of Belize is, see the last picture for example, we were well above even the tallest trees, looking out past the New River and into the countryside beyond. Nearly as flat as Texas, but much more interesting (sorry Texas.)
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