I.II.VII.I – San Ignacio: Day One
SAN IGNACIO
I.II.VII.I – DAY ONE
27/09/22
Having to peel myself away from Roy and getting out of the most comfortable bed in existence proved to be one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Luckily enough, we had a full day of activities and adventures ahead of us.
After having breakfast and bidding Kay and Darcy adieu, Roy and I rented a car and started making our way towards San Ignacio; my final destination in Belize. Finally, it felt as if I would be showing Roy around, given that he had never been to some of the places I had set my mind to visit. Plus, the locals here spoke Spanish – giving me a good excuse to brush up on all that I had learned thus far whilst impressing Roy in one fell swoop!
Our first stop was one I had been looking forward to immensely – the ruins of Xunantunich. Ahh, ruins – I had missed them so much! Back in Mexico, I had been visiting all kinds of ruins on most days, satisfying my Tomb Raider cravings and keeping my inner historian entertained throughout. Ever since I had gotten to Belize, the closest I had gotten to ruins were the ruined ones in the Marco Gonzales Archaeological Reserve in San Pedro. But finally… Finally I’d be quenching my thirst for archaeology and history once again!
Xunantunich
Something quite odd and quirky about the site of Xunantunich is that to access it, you have to cross the Mopan River on a hand-cranked ferry.
At my insistence and much against Roy’s wishes, we hired a guide to take us around the site. I had roamed ruins on my own before, and whilst that allows you the freedom the peruse every single rock and remnant, I felt it quite pointless not knowing where they came from and what their purpose was. However, I do have to give it to Roy that hiring this one guide might not have been the brightest move. Carlos; a seventy-something-year old gentleman who spoke fluent Mayan and Spanish had been working on the site since the sixties. You’d think that’d make him the perfect candidate to give us the best possible tour, only he was everything but. He’d tell us everything he’d think was necessary (the most basic stuff which we already knew), he’d keep on circumnavigating around every single question of ours (which, believe it or not, weren’t about his dogs), and most frustrating of all, he’d have to stop to recover his breath after every ten metres or so (heart failure?). Don’t wanna sound like an agist, but perhaps it might be time for retirement?
Guide or no guide, we still got to enjoy the ruins. Xunantunich – the information board told us, means “Maiden of the Rock” and was built in the Classic period on a hill overlooking the Mopan in order to control trade over the river, housing some 10,000 to 20,000 inhabitants at its peak. From stelae found in the site, we now know that the Mayans living here were in constant struggle between Tikal and Calakmul.
After walking up a short hill which nearly left Carlos dead, we reached the A-I Plaza; a square that is surrounded by the most important structures here in Xunantunich – all contained within the verdant tropical rainforest and aligned to the directions of the universe.
Perhaps the most striking of constructions here is the El Castillo, a large pyramidal structure that’s around forty metres high. As we started on our way up the north staircase, we could already start to see the elaborate frieze on the temple’s eastern side which previously wrapped around the entire building. This, Carlos told us, made reference to the sun, moon and Venus. As we went up an interior stairway, we found ourselves at the top of the pyramid where we could appreciate two chambers standing parallel to each other. As always, the view from the top was one that left the both of us in pure ecstasy, with the plaza right beneath our feet and the Group C structures surrounded by the jungle right in front our very eyes. Here we could see various platforms which were used for ceremonial and civic purposes, as well as other ballcourts, temples and pyramids.
As we made our way down very patiently, we then headed towards the Group C, stumbling upon Kay and Darcy who had randomly decided to come here as part of a day tour. They had made the right choice and roamed the temples freely without a guide though. As we left Carlos resting in one of the plazas, we continued our tour with the others, climbing over pyramids and taking our time to absorb it all. It felt so good being in another Mayan ruin site after so long that I didn’t mind the fact that I had barely learnt anything about its history.
Cahal Pech
Our plans, or rather, my itinerary, took us to yet another archaeological site; that of Cahal Pech. This time round, still exasperated from Carlos’ ‘tour’, I easily gave in to just wander around the ruins without a guide. Thankfully, a museum at the entrance gave us a clear understanding of the city’s history.
The city of Cahal Pech, much like that of Xunantunich, was built over a hill overlooking the Mopan River in order to secure trade. Whilst it was built in the Early Pre-Classic, it developed into one of the primary centres in the Belize River Valley later on during the Late Pre-Classic when it had reached a peak population of around 10,000 to 15,000 inhabitants.
The city is oriented towards the southwest and northeast axis and boasts of eight plazas which contain the usual features – temples, pyramids, ballcourts, residential areas and stelae. Upon entering Plaza B from the north side, one is welcomed by three pyramids on the left and a large, raised platform on the east where civic and ceremonial centre is found. To get to the latter, a staircase leads to a square-shaped entrance that leads directly into Plaza A where some of the most important structures may be found. These include structure A1 which is a multi-tiered pyramid measuring some 24 metres in height that can be climbed via a central staircase.
We spent a couple of hours roaming the site freely, exploring the temples and the residential areas, climbing up the labyrinthine interior staircases that completely disoriented me by the end.
Tourin'
In wanting me to experience the real San Ignacio as much as possible, Roy made it a point to drive me by the Spanish Lookout; a Mennonite town where a couple of thousand Anabaptists live.
Mennonites, much like the Amish, are known for their idyllic lives, spent following Christ’s teachings and valuing rural life and agriculture above all. Unlike the Amish, however, Mennonites are more open to the use of modern technology, with the community of the Spanish Lookout being more modernised than most. Belize’s Mennonites arrived in 1958 after immigrating from Canada, settling as farmers around the surrounding Aguacate Lagoon; a herbaceous swamp in the midst of a prairie and rolling hills that is home to thousands of avocado trees from which it got its name. Also, just as an FYI, the word aguacate literally translates to ‘tree testicles’. The lake is also a popular attraction amongst birdwatchers – attracting storks, herons and hundreds of other species.
After a drive around their town and a walk by the lake, we made our way back to the city. Accustomed to his fancy resort, Roy had to make do with the cheap motel I had already booked for us. The handsome fool thought I had been kidding when I told him I only needed a bed to sleep in and a bathroom to shower and, well, relieve myself. Imagine if he were to sleep with a regular backpacker – hah!