Today our Students for Global Communication group traveled to the Altun Ha Mayan ruins. To begin the day, we ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant. I noticed that the food was very Americanized. The hotel offered an omelette station, french toast, bacon, and yogurts. The restaurant also had different kinds of cheeses, and cereal with milk that came from a box, which were the only things I noticed that were not typical American breakfast foods. The cereal with milk from a box was actually not too different from an American bowl of cereal with milk from a cow in terms of taste and texture.
After breakfast, our group met our tour guide for the day, Roland, and we boarded the bus for an exciting day at the ruins! Roland gave us a lot of Belize history and information about how life is in current day Belize as we traveled by bus. We were provided with a lot of fun facts! We drove by a few of the local prestigious high schools, and we were informed that those high schools are gender specific. We learned that Spanish is included in school curricula from elementary school up through high school even though English is the primary language in Belize. This sounds very similar to how Americans typically have to take a few years of a second language in school, but I would imagine it is less effective for Americans since they only take the language for a few years versus from elementary school through high school like the Belizeans. Belizeans speak creole with their family and friends at home as well. Roland also told us that words that end in "er" are pronounced with an "a" sound. For example, the word "better" is pronounced "betta" in Belize. I found this very interesting! Roland told us that the major way of transportation was by water until the 1920s. I noticed that the rivers are very curvy so I imagine that it took a lot longer to travel by water than it does by roadway now. We also learned that most children by 1 year of age are able to swim, and this makes sense considering the people would have been used to traveling by water and it would have been safer for the children that way. We also found out that in Belize, prostitution is illegal, however, "special waitresses" are acceptable in their culture, and there are many hotels that rent out rooms by 2 or 3 hour increments. Roland also informed our group that sugar is the biggest export of Belize, and sugar cane is burned to produce electricity in northern Belize. I think that sounds very efficient considering sugar is so common in Belize! We all noticed on the bus ride that there were no speed limit signs, and we later found out from Roland that it's because there are no people to regulate the speeds. I almost couldn't believe it. I cannot imagine Americans having no speed limits and driving however they want. It is amazing that Belize is able to do that and there are not more accidents. However, I did notice that there were lots of speed bumps throughout the roadways, so I assume they help to keep vehicles at safer speeds. We were also informed that local gas is $4.70 per gallon currently. If that was the price in the United States, there is no way that the majority of Americans would be able to drive as much and as far as we do.
Once we arrived to the Mayan ruins of Altun Ha, I was amazed by the size of them! The Altun Ha ruins were once palaces, temples, homes, and burials for the Mayan people. Roland began our tour with a nature walk around the grounds. Our group was able to smell and taste the All Spice tree leaves. It smelled wonderful! We all learned that the All Spice leaves were used to create Novocaine, and we experienced it when the leaves were in our mouths. Our tongues went slightly numb in the places where the leaf hit. None of us had any idea that All Spice leaves were a main ingredient for Novocaine prior to the tour! I imagine those leaves were very important to the Mayans back in 600AD when they were living there since they served a multipurpose. We also learned that the Bay Cedar trees were the natural Imodium of the rain forest, so I'm sure they were very useful to the Mayans as well! Roland talked to us about and showed us many other trees around the ruins, and they all seemed to have their own purpose, and were all beautiful in their own ways. We learned that the Mayans only cut things from the rain forest (for example, leaves for a thatch roof) 9 days before or 9 days after a full moon. The people would try to cut them down as close to the date of a full moon as possible. Towards the end of our nature tour, Roland showed us the major body of water for the Mayan people. He told us that the body of water has never gone dry since the day it was discovered. I found this very impressive considering how unpredictable the weather is, and how quickly weather patterns change. I suppose it just goes to show that the Mayans knew what they were doing when they chose a place to settle and build their Mayan villages.
Overall, I was greatly impressed with the ruins. They were very large and I can't imagine having to build those huge structures with nothing but human strength. I enjoyed the tours and learned a lot! I am very much looking forward to traveling down to Dangriga tomorrow with my group!
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