Belize: Orange Walk Town / Lamanai

After visiting Altun Ha, we continued to the town of Orange Walk, where we spent 2 nights in a kind of guesthouse. Although it was an absolute rundown place, it was very nice there, especially because of our friendly host Ricky, who made every effort to make us feel comfortable and had everything we needed.

In Orange Walk, we wanted to visit the famous Mayan site of Lamanai. It's best to visit Lamanai as part of a guided tour, as you can then take a boat along the river to reach the site. Ricky organized everything for us. The Mayan site itself is nice, but not incredibly spectacular. However, the river ride is spectacular, as you can enjoy the landscape and see many animals, especially birds. We also spotted a crocodile on the riverbank.

During the boat ride, we suddenly got quite a fright when we came around a curve and there were a few guys standing over the water in the trees, who looked like they came straight out of the TV series 'Little House on the Prairie'. They were German Mennonites, as our guide explained to us. We also passed one of their villages on the way. These people came from Germany and live as if it were 200 years ago. In 1958, 10 families came to Belize, and today the group consists of about 15,000 people. They are very important for Belize, as the majority of agricultural products are produced by them. They are also the competence center for metalwork and repairs throughout the country. We will encounter these people again and again during our journey through Belize, they are easy to recognize: they wear overalls and a hat and travel in a cart pulled by horses. You expect the Ingalls to come around the corner at any moment.

Our guide was really good and had many interesting pieces of information to share during the tour. Unfortunately, it's always difficult to remember so much information at once, it should actually be recorded on tape. It's interesting that the Mayan sites always consist of several layers, including the pyramids. This is because each new ruler simply built on top of the old structures based on their own ideas.
Another curious piece of information was that the word Chocolate comes from the Mayan language. The Spaniards took over chocolate or cocoa from the Maya and brought it to Europe. Chocolate was initially only drunk as a hot beverage, and later eaten as a sweet. And so, Chocolate in the Mayan language means nothing else than 'hot drink'. Funny.

In the resort, you could constantly hear the deafening roar of howler monkeys. And indeed, suddenly we spotted a whole family of howler monkeys on a tree. Luckily, we had our binoculars with us, so we could observe them very well. Taking photos, however, was difficult. In addition, other monkeys joined in, spider monkeys. Very cute. It was very funny to watch them as they raced up and down the trees and swung from branch to branch. Absolutely cool.

We also had the opportunity to talk a bit with our guide about the local conditions. He mentioned that he had to work a lot and help his parents during his childhood. So, we naturally asked if he could still go to school. School attendance is compulsory in Belize, but not free. The school costs about $120 per year. In addition, there are costs for the school uniform and half of the teaching materials. Single mothers have the hardest time, as a divorced father only has to pay about $12-15 per week per child. That should cover food, accommodation, clothing, and school. However, it must be said fairly that a considerable amount comes together when all mothers have 10 children, as was the case with Carol and Linda from Belize City.

There were some people from the USA in our tour. One woman from this group lives in the north of Belize City and had friends from the States visiting. She said she did not find Belize particularly expensive at all, she and her husband have a nice little house right by the sea and can live very well on only about $1200 per month here. About 5 minutes later, they mentioned that they had construction workers in the house who were doing some remodeling. It's amazing, they are such nice people, and they actually work for $20 a day! Umm, yes.... If you're good at math, you'll notice that even if the construction workers worked every day of the month, they wouldn't earn more than $600 per month. So, half of the good life. No further comments....