Xunantunich
My destination in Belize
For our day in Belize, I chose the shore excursion to the Mayan ruins of Xunantunich, near the border with Guatemala, at a cost of $79.

I started the morning by taking a tender from the ship to the cruise ship terminal in Belize City.
In the middle photo, the stairs taken from the ship to the tender boat can be seen.



Here was my first view of the shore of Belize City from the tender boat. -->




We took a tour bus from the cruise ship terminal, following the Western Highway two hours, past the Belize Zoo and San Ignacio, until we reached the turn-off for Xunantunich.  To reach the ruins, we had to get off the bus and take a hand-crank ferry across the river.  In the right-hand photo, the ferry operator can be seen near the hand-crank.  Our tour group crossed both ways with vehicles on the ferry with us.



There was a mile between the ferry and the site, so we took vans from the ferry to the parking lot
(which had restrooms and two shops).




We walked up the path from the parking lot to reach the ruins.



This was my first view as I arrived at the Xunantunich site. -->



<-- First, we climbed these stairs . . .

         . . . and came to this courtyard --->

Stairs at Xunantunich are very steep!

We climbed to the top of this building -->


This was the gorgeous view at the top of the first building -->

The stairs were so steep (and no railings), I had to go back down by sitting!  It was well worth it, though.




<-- This was the beautiful view looking back at Xunantunich from our first climb.


               Our tour guide was Gilbert -->



After a brief talk by Gilbert about Mayan history, we started towards El Castillo, the largest, tallest structure in Xunantunich.  We climbed up the front stairs to the middle, then made our way across to the left to view the frieze.

<-- This is what is at the top of the stairs.  Our guide said they are remnants of bedrooms.

We walked around to the left to view the reproduction of the frieze -->

Our guide said the real frieze is behind the reproduction (for protection).



The top of El Castillo was more than 100 feet high.  The climb was steep, and the view was steeper.  The left-hand view is looking back at Xunantunich; the right-hand view is looking towards the Guatemala border.



We climbed back down from the top of El Castillo and walked around the side to see the other frieze, this one real.  After that, we took the staircase down to the ball court.




There was not much to see of the ball court, but here are two view of it.

After walking back to the parking lot, taking a van back to the ferry, and re-crossing on the ferry, we had 15 minutes to shop at a strip of local tourist craft stalls.

Notice our bus in the background.  -->




On the way back to Belize City, we stopped for lunch at Windy Hills Resort.  We ate under a thatched roof.  The "local" lunch was delicious: stewed chicken, rice and beans (the best!), cole slaw, fried plantain, and a good fruit punch.
Everyone at my table ate it all!



Overall, I highly recommend a trip to Xunantunich if you find yourself in Belize!


Introduction
 The Ship
 My Cabin
 Food
 Day 1
Day 2 Belize Roatan Island Grand Cayman Cozumel

Last updated December 31, 2006
Contact the webmaster