Belize
Belize: Cave where the kids used to play
We were up in the mountains of the Pine Ridge area of Belize. After driving for miles along a very bumpy dirt road, we reached an abandoned little town. The small houses were still standing, but clearly uninhabited for quite a long time… Read article…
Belize – Crushed at Caracol
Caracol was a major Mayan city, that today lies in ruins in the jungles of Belize. At its peak (well over a thousand years ago), Caracol had about 140,000 people, more than double the population of the largest city today, Belize City… Read article…
Coral reefs and Coppertone don’t mix
You try to be good, and do the right thing. On a tropical vacation, you know all about applying sunscreen liberally to protect from those damaging rays. But now a new study finds that common sunscreen ingredients may be killing coral reefs… Read article…
Missed connections – c’est la vie
My trip back from Belize took about 24 hours longer than expected, but that wasn’t such a bad thing. In fact, in a way it made me feel good about people. The trip started out great, with a morning puddle jumper from Ambergris Caye to Belize City… Read article…
Belize and the boat people
There were 13 of them, out on a little open boat for 10 days. This is where it all went down. An otherwise lazy afternoon at Ambergris Caye was interrupted by the arrival of a boat full of Cuban refugees. It was a small, open fishing boat… Read article…
So there we were… swimming into the ATM
We’re in central Belize, in a region of dense tropical jungle, full of ancient Mayan ruins. We’re swimming into the Actun Tunichil Muknal cave (commonly known as the ATM cave). It’s full of ancient relics and sacrificial skeletons… Read article…
Human sacrifices – in blue
One of the most famous Maya sites is Chichen Itza, on the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. It’s well known for (among other things) the Sacred Cenote, a large, deep, round well that was used by the ancients for human sacrifices… Read article…
Who built the Maya pyramids?
Maya cities in Central America are known for their great temples and pyramids, rising out of the jungle. Until now, everyone believed they were built by kings and local rulers. Lisa Lucero challenges that, saying that other people built pyramids too… Read article…
Mayan temples glittered in the sun
Ancient Mayan temple builders used pigments containing mica to make their buildings glitter in the sun. Rosemary Goodall, a Queensland University of Technology researcher, found that the mica was applied over red paint… Read article…
Mayan vase used to communicate with ancestors
A rare and intricate Mayan “death vase”, over a thousand years old, has been discovered in Honduras. Scientific analysis of its contents is shedding new light on ancient rituals. The team believes that the vase contained a corn-based gruel, flavored with cacao, and laced with ipecac… Read article…
