2009-12-21 Belize Journal-Happy Solstice
Our firstfull day in Belize! We had a great day of exploring and new adventures. We started out the morning an hour early, the watch did not take the time change. Had a great breakfast and then off on the first adventure. Boat ride on the New River to the Lamanai Mayan ruins. I was expecting a African queen type of boat trip but was pleasantly suprised with a fast boat, narrow rivet and lots of turns. We stopped to feed the spider monkeys first and one jumped into the boat. Obvisiously he has been around people a lot as he was not afriad and ate all the bananas we could feed him just walking up and down the isle of the boat. We stopped to check out multiple bird along the way including "Jesus" bird that could walk on water and many herions. The weather was cold and rainy so I with out my rain coat (left in buffalo airport) was quite cold. Luckily they had some old beat up raingear that helped a bit. The ruins where pretty impresive. Several tall structures. We got to climb the high tower, very similar to the temple in Coba, steep and slippery. Lu oily it also had a rope to hold onto. The view fro on top was great of the country side and lagoon. We could also see a group of howler monkeys in a tree top nit far away. They maid this load howling noise, just like out of Jerasic Park. It was a bit spokey when we first entered the park actually. The clouds did lighten and the rainstopped for the tour. We had lunch, a quick tour of the visitor cener and a chnace to check out the gift shops. The ride back was a bit warmer and dry. A quick nap some ready and a great lobster dinner followed. We played some ping-pong , packed for Tikal and Noe on bed writing and reading.