By The Florida Hoosier
Published by The Florida Hoosier
at Smashwords
Copyright 2011 The Florida Hooiser
Chapter 1
Belize City
Not being extremely
fond of jungles and with visions of Voodoo dancing in my mind, my
apprehension had been at a rather high level as I prepared to visit
Belize. The journey had actually began the previous summer after
spending a month in the outback of Australia.
Lynn Gardner
and Helen Mitchell Hedges were displaying the crystal skull in
Indianapolis the following week. Mitchell- Hedges , had discovered
the skull while visiting Belize with her father in the 1920s when she
was sixteen years old. She was on tour in the United States and at
the meeting relayed an interesting story on how she came about
finding the skull.
She told how they had searched in the
jungle for the pyramid Lubaantun where the skull was reputed to be
located. Upon discovering the pyramid, she being the smallest was
elected to go down in the cavern in search of the treasure. Braving
the hazards of entering an opening in the pyramid that possibly
hadn’t been explored in centuries, she found the renowned skull and
brought it to daylight for the first time in centuries.
Thus
my journey into the ancient Maya land began, it all seemed very
exciting and not knowing quite what to expect I began to make plans
for the January expedition.
Looking out the window of the
plane as it began it’s final approach into the Belize City airport
I noticed a rather large cow grazing near the runway, this did
nothing to dispel my anxiety about the approaching adventure. Luckily
for us and the cow, she was more interested in eating the grass
growing alongside the runway than becoming roadkill for an MD-80.
As
I entered this jungle paradise, it felt as though I was entering
another world, I definitely wasn’t in Kansas any longer. Stepping
out of the plane, no jet way greeted us, it was down the steps and
across the tarmac to the tiny airport.
The airport, a small
cement block building, had none of the creature comforts that are
associated with airports in the United States, the only creatures
were several cats that had made their temporary homes in the airport.
Customs and immigration consisted of two plywood tables on saw
horses, thus we opened our luggage and displayed our underwear to the
world. Smiling, well armed, friendly guards were manning both
positions, and we were checked through with great efficiency. Leaving
the airport by way of the back door ,a 15 year old taxi, a Ford Crown
Victoria whisked us away to our hotel as our great adventure in the
jungles of Central America began!
A native Belizian, almost 7 feet tall, greeted us as we pulled up in front of our humble abode, a two story house with a picket fence in front. Immediately he asked where we were from, after I had responded I was from Indiana I was surprised when he asked me if I knew Bobby Knight. I had seen a flurry of basketball goals on the way from the airport, it seems as if the modern day Mayas are still obsessed with basketball, as their ancestors practiced a rudimentary form of the sport centuries ago.
His second question set us back a little, "Do you want to buy any drugs?" Not being one that engages in that sort of activity, "No thanks." was the reply. One can only imagine the quality of the jails in this tiny country. We had been warned that the same people who would try to sell us drugs, would also turn the buyer into the local authorities, thus earning a reward, getting the drugs back and re-selling them again to the next victim.
The accommodations at our bed and breakfast, The Fort Street Hotel, were adequate, complete with a community bathroom. One soon learned to knock and holler before entering. Hemmingway is reputed to have stayed here, but just as George Washington is said to have stayed at every house in New England, so Hemingway is said to have stayed in many places. In both cases , much of it is true. Settling in for the evening , dinner was the first thing on the agenda, Red Snapper wrapped in a banana leaf, with all the trimmings and a quart sized Margarita seemed to be a decent way to start our little adventure. Might as well enjoy the evening, tomorrow we venture out into the hinterland, hard to envision what adventure might await us in the land of the Maya.
Chapter 2
Tikal Guatemala
After spending the first night of our journey in Belize City ,the time had come for the five of us, along with our Maya driver and guide to make the long drive to Tikal in neighboring Guatemala.
As we neared the border to Guatemala I couldn't help but notice that it resembled something out of a James Bond movie, khaki uniformed solders with semi-automatic weapons standing guard over a lonely deserted guard shack out in the middle of nowhere.
After the border guards checked our passports, we were detained for quite a while, no reason, they did not check anything, it just seemed that when they became tired of looking at us, they let us into the country.
Entered the Guatemala from Belize it was as if we were coming in the back door. We drove past an army base, complete with barbed wire fence and angry looking guards, It didn’t take long to realize this wasn’t the time or place for horse play or to make any move that might arouse suspicion.
I began wondering if I had done something REALLY stupid. There were no freeways here, just a mud road with a gazillion potholes, and this was the main road. I can only imagine what the back roads were like!
As of now, the Guatemalan government hasn't adopted our highway system, traveling along an extremely bumpy, dirt road one has plenty of time to observe the jungle and the many different types of wildlife living there.
Several tiny
villages dot the landscape, the people who live in thatched hut roofs
are extremely poor, owning only the bare essentials and probably a
horse with which to do meager substance level farming. Women are
washing their clothes in the river, just up stream from where some
one else is drawing the daily supply of drinking water from the same
body of water. With all of our supposedly necessary clean water
standards one wonders why they don't get sick. We Americans get sick
and they probably do too, however the human body is much more capable
of warding off disease then most people want to admit.
I have
nothing against a clean environment and the cleaner the better,
however, in my humble opinion, a lot of our clean air standards are
more about selling water and air filters than they are about clean
air and water.
As we arrived at Tikal, we had seen very few people on the road so It was amazing how crowded it was, most people come to Tikal from Guatemala City, we had entered from Belize and was unaware of the popularity of the site. Checking with our local tour guide, we were informed that we had no room for the night at the Jaguar Inn, the local hotel. As happens quite frequently in third world countries, our room had been given to someone else.