Sun, 7 Mar

Sun, 7 Mar i had originally planned to leave this morning with Eddi. she was heading south to Punta Gorda, and i was going back to San Pedro. i wasn't in any hurry, so Marta suggested that i stay another night and go to Xunantunich today, and then spend another night with her. she dropped me off at the main road and i caught a taxi south again, almost to the Belizean border town of Benque. Xunantunich (zoo-nan-tun-ich) is another Maya settlement. it is on the other side of that same river where the kids were swimming. so you have to take this ferry across. it's run by a man pulling a cable .... as you can see, he takes cars and trucks across as well. it is a mile or so walk up a gravel road to get to the temples. taking my time, minding my toes, i enjoyed the views. i saw several wooden boxes about 1ft square, that were hanging from trees, with a rope and pulley attached to them. i asked at the visitor center and was told that a bee keeper was using them to capturing bees and taking them to their bee farms .... interesting .... i also took these pictures of these fruits ... the tree is call "HorseBalls" ... i guess you can see why. the fruit is a favorite of the Howler Monkeys. Xunantunich was discovered in 1938. it was another ancient city that thrived between 650-1000AD and supported 7-10,000 people in a radius of 1-2 miles. i mentioned that Cahal Pech in San Ignacio used to send smoke signals back and forth. Xunantunich means Stone Maiden because legend tells that a maiden appeared one night briefly, but then turned to stone. Xunantunich survived the initial collapse of the Maya civilization but was abandon around 950-1000AD. all of the sites i went to were quick to stress that the collapse of the Maya cities did not mean that the Maya culture became extinct. Many Maya people live in Guatemala, Belize, Mexico, and Honduras today a photo of the main temple .... nothing too special about it from this side .... but, ....either side of the temple is highly decorated, and of course, has been restored .... but it is very interesting to look at. there was nothing like this at any of the other sites i visited . this was on the North side of the Temple ... and the South side of the Temple i climbed all the way up to the top of this temple, and was inside the temple taking a few photos, out the doorway looking south ... and the other side, looking north ... when i heard people talking below and making noises like the Howler Monkey makes ... so i climb down i go to see if i can see them too ... yes, there was a troupe in the trees. to my inexperienced eye, it appeared there was a 'mom' 'dad' and at least 2 young ones. i watched the little ones for quite a while ... it looked like they were having a fun time with their 'monkey business' ..... i took these photos, which do not give you any idea of what was going on. check out my video on You Tube ... and see the fun they were having. video is named "Howler Monkeys" .... go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE6pnHx2pGI i then climbed back up to the top of the temple for some panorama views .... when i was at the top i talked with 2 women who were here with a group of nurses from Loyola in Chicago. the one woman has been bringing students here and visiting The Medicine Trails at Chaa Creek for 15+ years. when i came down again, the monkeys were still there playing, and entertaining everyone, under the watchful eye of their parents.... i walked back down the road again, across the ferry, and had some roadside grilled chicken, rice and beans, then caught a taxi back to the entrance to Chaa Creek; where i walked the mile or so to Marta's house. in the evening she took me to work with her at Chaa Creek and the guys in the kitchen set a place for me at the table for dinner. everyone there was so nice! i've also posted the video, titled, "Spider Monkey" from Tikal on You Tube. you can see it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMJTFfuicXM