Weekend Tourist Rides Again

Last Saturday I was in Orange Walk District as a guest at a country wedding. My hosts decided I should visit the ancient Mayan site of Lamanai before the celebrations began, and so it was that I found myself speeding up the New River Lagoon with four other tourists and a guide.

The boat trip was scenic enough; clean water, lovely clear light, the usual crocodiles, toucans, iguanas etc lurking in the mangroves, but best of all was the fresh breeze as we whizzed along in our boat.

Lamanai itself is an impressive site in an isolated setting in the jungle. The biggest structure is the High Temple, a sort of pyramid with an outside staircase leading to the top. The temple is about 35 metres high (or 11 storeys, to put it in perspective).

Climbing isn't my thing, in fact I dread walking up steep staircases without banisters, but I knew you'd expect to hear about the view from the top, so up I went.

The stairs were steep, about 18 inches high, so it was quite a strenuous climb in the heat. Yes, the view from the top was spectacular; I could see right across the jungle canopy and over the lagoon to the mountains of Guatemala. I was actually more concerned though with the view to the bottom of the temple, where our guide, who hadn't climbed up because he was afraid of heights, looked about as big as an ant.

I really didn't want to go down, but realising I didn't have a choice I just crawled down backwards and didn't look at anything except the step in front of me.

All in all, it was physically challenging going up, and psychologically terrifying coming down, but hey, I confronted my fear and lived to tell the tale!