Old Piles of Words Because the word is mightier than the stone.

Belize and Caracol

We finally left Guatemala after our jungle voyage, with hearts heavy but happy.  The next step for us is Belize.  We took a public bus to the border, where we had to pay yet another bribe to the Guatemalan border agents to get our passports back before making our way to the Belizean city of San Ignacio.  The first thing we did there, of course, was book a tour to the fantastic Maya city of Caracol, some two hours south in the forest.

The trip to Caracol is a bit of a circus in itself. A few years ago, a series of armed robberies on the road led the government to ban independent travel to the site.  Now, it can only reached as part of a convoy escorted by the Belizean army.  As fancy as this sounds, I think that this is just part of a racket to make sure that tourists have to book a tour agent to get to the ruins.  We arrived late and missed the convoy, but our driver happily continued on the "dangerous" road without a second thought.  Once there, the supposed guards seemed more interested in napping than guarding the site.

Anyway, Caracol was a smallish city for most of its history, but appears to have arrived on the Mayan scene with a splash in the 6th century AD when it allied itself with Calakmul in a war against Tikal.  Caracol apparently managed to gain annual tribute payment from Tikal in this campaign that lasted for a century or so.  These payments then fueled a boom in construction that gave Caracol the appearance it has today.

This appearance includes a couple of interesting features.  One is the great pyramid of Caana, which at 141 feet is still the tallest structure in Belize today.  Another unusual feature at Caracol is the predominance of the triple temple construction.  This style, in which each pyramid is topped by three small temples instead of one large one, is very common among preclassic sites such as El Mirador, but almost unseen in the Classic period during which Caracol flourished.

A few other artistic features stand out on the carvings and stuccoes found at Caracol.  One is the interesting blend of styles that sees Teotihuacan gods mingle next to Mayan ones one many of the giant masks overlooking the temples.  This suggests a strong ties between Caracol and the distant power, but nothing is known of this relationship. Another is an apparent habit of binding large stones around the necks of prisoners, a feature shared with another city farther to the west, Dos Pilas.

On the way back we stopped at the Rio On to enjoy a swim in some natural pools in the granite bedrock before heading back to San Ignacio for some food, drink and, above all, sleep.

Enjoy the pictures!

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