Costa Maya

Another update on the Cruise we took in March. Our first stop was in Costa Maya, here we had booked a tour to see some Mayan ruins. The ruins were discovered around the early 1970's and are considered new compared to other ruins in Central America. We really enjoyed the history shown here and it was kind of neat to stand on the ruins and imagine what it would have been like to have lived there a few thousand years ago. The guide said that the ruins in this area were dated about 400BC and peaked at about 200AD.

This picture shows one of many pineapple stands we passed on our way to see the Mayan ruins. The pineapple was very fresh and tasted great!

This picture shows one of the temples that had been painstakingly uncovered, the ruins are mostly excavated by hand so they do not damage the structure.

 This is the same temple with some random tourists getting in the way of a professional photographer trying to perform his craft. (Camrie and Emma)

 Another Temple uncovered, this one was up on a hill with a great view of the landscape, you could literally see for miles around. And being above the jungle floor made it refreshing with the breeze. If I built a house this would have been the spot I would have chosen.

 This picture is of trees and a small hill under the trees. The area is completely littered with these small hills with jungle growing over them. Under each of these hills, or mounds, are small structures made of stone. They say that these dot the landscape for about six miles in any direction. This was, at one time, a very large city.

I am told that they will probably never uncover these smaller ruins because there manpower is spent uncovering (by hand) much larger ruins in the surrounding area. The ruins are so numerous in this area that they pick and choose the larger ones and spread out in different areas so they get a better feel for the lifestyle of the inhabitants.

To my way of thinking... if they keep choosing the largest ruins then they will keep uncovering temples and ignore the rest. Not sure if I understand this process as it does not allow them to see, aside from the temples, how they really lived. Maybe its a prestige thing... the archeologists do not want to be known for uncovering a bunch of small dwellings, when they can instead, uncover these wonderful temples.

 After the visit to the ruins the other part of our excursion for that day included the afternoon at a freshwater lagoon. This lagoon is spring fed and is about 24 miles long a few miles wide and on average about 20 ft deep. This area is mainly limestone, and is very pourous. Because of the limestone the freshwater lagoon cannot support vegetation which in turn does not support fish because of the lack of vegetation. I was happy to hear that it did not support alligators either.

We were able to do some kayaking and enjoy the clear, refreshing water.

Below are some random pictures that I thought you would enjoy...

These steps took us out from the jungle floor and onto the plateau where the other two larger temples were located.

 It was kind of fun having two clowns along to entertain us!

This is a picture of a couple of serious tourists.



and back to the clowns!!!

On top of the plateau looking over the jungle floor, you could literally see for miles from up here!

All in all Costa Maya was a wonderful stop, the ruins were really neat to see and I was amazed at how flat the land was.

The next post will be of Belize. Until next time, love you all!

Garth, Janene and Emma