Unbelizable! Crossing Belize to Climb a Ruin

Xunantunich, Cayo District, Belize
April 13, 2016

Xunantunich. Before we proceed on our crossing of Belize, I should provide some guidance on how to pronounce Xunantunich since I will be saying it a lot. Although it is a modern name, Xunantunich is a Mayan word meaning “maiden of the rock” or “stone woman”. Since not many people outside Mexico and Central America know how to pronounce Mayan words and letters, the locals provide an English phonetic spelling: “Shoo-nahn-too-nitch”. Say it a few times, and it starts to flow off your lips.

I came to Belize by way of a cruise ship. The previous day we docked in Cozumel, Mexico, but after a half-hour there, I was not a gracious guest and left all of the contents of my stomach on the beach. I high-tailed it back to the ship, and spent the next 12 hours relieving myself of all the other contents in my gastrointestinal system. We were scheduled to reach Belize the next morning, and I had already booked an offshore excursion to visit one of the Mayan ruins in the country. I had not yet had the opportunity to see some Mayan ruins, and this was on my bucket list of things to see and do. I had this opportunity to check off this item, and I doubted that I would ever have another opportunity.  

Luckily I was feeling better the next morning. The Carnival Freedom was anchored offshore from Belize City, and we took a tender from the ship to the dock.  Waiting for me and several dozen fellow cruisers were two buses that would take us from the east end of Belize to the west end of Belize.  Our destination was in the Cayo District only a mile from the border of Guatemala. We first had to travel through the streets of Belize City, the largest city and former capital of the country, and 80 miles and two-and-a-half hours later we will arrive at the ruins of the second largest Mayan temple in Belize (and the second highest structure in the country).  

The Mopan River as viewed from the ferry

Once we left Belize City, we traveled on the cross-country Western Highway, gently rising from the coastal plain to the lowlands. The first sign of topographic relief was the Manatee Hills south of the highway. The hills are bumps on the savanna plains, but as we traveled further west the mountains of southern Belize came into view. The forested Mountain Pine Ridge kept to the south as the highway skirted the northern edge of the mountains. I could tell we were getting closer to Guatemala since the Spanish influence became more pronounced in the towns and businesses  we passed, and soon our bus turned right off the highway and came to a stop at a crossing of the Mopan River.  

The road on the other side of the river led to the Xunantunich archaeological ruins, but there was no road over the river. A hand-cranked ferry transported the bus passengers 100 feet across the river, and since road on the far side of the river had a steep incline, vans took us the last 3/4 mile to the visitor center. The ruins are not visible from the visitor center, and a walk up another steep incline was required to get to the ruins. The walk slowly reveals the ruins, and our first sight of the ruins was the top of the tallest structure. We came across the outer ruins that framed the left side of the road and then entered the core of Xuantunich.

The core sits on top of a limestone hill shaved by Mayan hands over 1,200 years ago.  The shaving created a level area, which stands about 600 feet above sea level, and lots of building materials. For the viewing of the present inhabitants of Belize and its guests are El Castillo, the main building and center of the city, and a couple of plazas, a ball court, and several smaller ruins.

El Castillo

El Castillo, Spanish for "The Castle", is the structure that first catches your eye. It is the second tallest structure in Belize (the first is another Mayan ruin) and rises 130 feet above the south end of the main plaza. A climb up most of those 130 feet will be rewarded with an expansive view near the top. Before I got to the top, I stood below a large frieze on the east side. I was not in a rush like others in my group, and I took some extra minutes to admire this ancient art work. This frieze is the only complete one of the four on El Castillo. The friezes on the north and south sides were most likely destroyed by erosion and structural collapse, and on the west side is only a part of the original frieze.

A frieze is a broad horizontal band sculpted with limestone plaster, the Mayan version of stucco. It has "various geometric and naturalistic designs that symbolically represent concepts related to ancient Maya religion and cosmology. More importantly, the friezes served to symbolically place the rulers who lived on the Castillo within the center of the Maya universe, and to legitimize their divine right to rule. The placement of the frieze on the Castillo was also purposely planned because it coincides with the location of this large building at the center point of the site, at the very spot where the four arms (or sections) of the city converge." Three masks decorate the frieze on the east side, the masks representing the World Tree or Pax Gods, the Moon God, and the Rain God Chaak.

The view from the top is so expansive I could see another country. Well, Guatemala is less than mile to the west, but I did get to see lots of Guatemalan scenery from this viewpoint in Belize. The viewpoint also offered the best perspective of the ruins and its setting in this part of the Mayan domain. I was soon shooed down from the top of El Castillo to catch up with my group. We visited a few other ruins, and we were then given 15 minutes to explore on your own. We only got to be at Xunantunich for 90 minutes, but it was a worthwhile 90 minutes as this Geographer got to check off Mayan ruins from his Scrapbook bucket list.    

The frieze on the east side of El Castillo

The view to the north from the top of El Castillo