Caracol is a Mya city located in the Chiquibul Forest Reserve. The trip inland takes you three hours to San Ignacio in the Cayo district and then down South about 25 miles passing through San Antonio, which equated to about 2 and a half hours (surprise!). The roads were so rough, you couldn’t go more than 15 miles per hour. Hence, a high clearance vehicle is required to get to Caracol.  Expect to sign in at the ranger station halfway from San Antonio to sign-in and receive a military escort to this ruin. The last escort out is 11:00 a.m. so make sure you are there before then. Otherwise you will need to go alone. Also, you can expect to cross over drawbridge. You have to stop and wait for the barricade to be raised and while waiting we were asked by the guard to make a donation for a sick family member. We are not sure if it was legit or not, but it almost seemed like a toll in a way. It’s hard to say no when you are sitting there waiting. There is no set limit for what is owed to get through this toll.

Take the “Mountain Pine Ridge Road” southward from Santa Elena, or Georgeville; both on the Western Highway in the Cayo District. The route is well marked.

The Caracol ruin consists of three plaza groups, surrounding a reservoirs, central acropolis, dozens of structures, and two ball courts. The largest structure of Caracol is the Caana pyramid, which reaches a height of almost 140 feet, and remains one of the tallest man-made buildings in Belize. It lies at the foothills of the Maya Mountains at an elevation of 1500 feet above sea level. At around AD 250, during the Classic Era, Caracol was an urban epicenter with a population of over 140,000, which is a greater population than modern-day Belize City. To support this many people, the city architects of Caracol built an immense agricultural field system and laid out numerous living and work structures in a radial pattern over 65 square miles. Caracol was considered to be one of the most powerful lowland Mayan cities because they were constantly engaged – and successful – in war. Over 200 burials have been excavated here. It has often been said that Caracol once conquered Tikal, but this has not truly been verified.

You can either go alone to these ruins or go with a local tour guide company- ranging around $85 USD per person. We opted to go alone and used the help Belize books and information panels to guide us. Little did we know, the military escorts will also get out of their car and escort you around the ruins on foot, making sure you see every nook and cranny of the ruin. Courtney though will argue that they only escorted us around on foot because they are not used to seeing pretty blonde girls in Belize. I think they were just bored and wanted some entertainment. The two military men were quite charming and gave us some good laughs.

Why do you need to be escorted by the military might you ask? We were told that a couple of years ago (2004) a few tourists at Caracol had been mugged and robbed by Hondurans while visiting the ruin. (which you can see into Honduras from the tallest ruin in Caracol, the Caana pyramid.) Since then, the Belize government and Tourism board have spent millions of dollars trying to upgrade the roads, facilities for visitors and the site itself. They are hoping to make Caracol the main point of interest for Belize’s Maya sites. They hope to keep travelers who are presently going on to Tikal in Guatemala in Belize, as well as to attract Guatemala visitors.

The ruins were breathtaking, the views astounding. The experience was unforgettable. The pictures- incredible. I got to hold a M-16 and felt safe and secure traveling to Caracol. We didn’t experience any robbers and in fact Caracol has not had any bandit incidents since then . The ruins themselves were sparsley populated with other visitors that day. I believe there were seven other tourists there that day, all of whom were with a tour guide. It was almost like we had the place to ourselves!

One unique thing to see is the gas station in San Antonio. See if you can find it there (and in our photos below!) Make sure you have plenty of gas before going to Caracol. Courtney and I had about a half tank and we were not aware it would take about 2 and a half hours each way, so we were freaking out and worried we would run out of gas. Luckily, we filled up in Antonio just in time.

The last photo in the gallery was the sunset when we were pulling up to Table Rock Jungle Lodge at the end of our trip.

The deviation took us past Five Sisters Lodge and down a road we just didn’t know would lead to a destination. Once we got there, we had to guess at the trail as a few sort of led in almost the same direction. We headed out, video loaded and recorded every step of the way. This video shows a few highlights of the visit.

All of this was shot with the V.I.O. POV (except the stills) that I picked up from Backcountry.com I took copious amounts of video with this thing and if it weren’t for human error, I would have had some awesome footage of the trip to ATM. Grab your own…

I told Courtney before we went, I want to see a monkey in the wild. I knew there was a good chance of that going to Belize. I have dreamed about monkeys since I was a little girl. So much in fact, that I painted one on my childhood bedroom wall. And tigers too! They are still on my list to see in real life (not just in a zoo, I want wild!!!)

Anyhow, we happened upon Thursday to Caracol to run into some baboons with no plans to see wild monkeys. We headed to Caracol, and as we approached the Mayan ruins after parking our car, we heard rambunctious noises coming from the jungle. Noises that sounded like a predator in battle with it’s prey. I didn’t know what to think of it untill the soldiers who assited us (again, another post in itself) told us that the sounds were coming from baboons (or howler monkeys) nearby. “Monkeys!?” I was so excited. “Will I get a chance to see these monkeys?!” “Yes, we can take you there after the next ruin.” After exploring a few ruins and patiently waiting for Courtney to climb one of the ruins in the second common ground, we finally started to approach the sounds we heard coming from the jungle. My heart was racing. I looked up into the trees from where the sounds were echoing and saw branches moving ever so slightly. On those branches, I saw itty bitty monkeys. THOSE LITTLE ANIMALS WERE MAKING ALL THAT RACKET? Are you serious? I couldn’t believe my ears!! They were little black monkeys hanging around the trees and trying to climb closer to us in curiosity of their new found friends. The sounds died down as they swung the branches above and worked closer to us to explore us. We admired and ooed and awed and tried to coax them closer to us, but they would only go so far. Courtney took several photos, trying to zoom in as much as possible.

The gallery below features our photos:

Harrison and Kent led us up a trail with a buncha stairs to our first launch site. They told us a few tricks to zip-line and then we were off! We soared from ramp to ramp above the Belize jungle. We soared, we laughed, we giggled, we squealed. It was an absolute blast and an incredible experience. I had been waiting years to do this. Since I was a little girl. It was everything I ever dreamed of. Although, I wish it lasted longer! It took us about 20-30 minutes to complete the course. But it was worth it!

Here are the photos. Look for video in the near future!

U.S. dollars are accepted as readily as the local currency in Belize, so you don’t have to be too concerned about the exchange rate there.

It is mostly recommended to carry cash with you when traveling to Belize. Carry only the allotted amount of money you need for the day and to store the rest in a safety deposit in your hotel room. If need be, there are ATM’s frequenting shopping areas and the small towns.

Traveler’s checks can take some time to cash and they are increasingly not accepted anywhere.

Also, bring a credit card for back-up. But only use if absolutely have to. While the item may be priced in USD, the credit card companies are charged in Belizean dollars. The credit card company will have to exchange that from the USD and they will charge you a fee for that exchange. If you’re concerned about money, stay away from credit cards while in Belize.

I personally am considering grouping the money into envelopes for each day that I plan on spending. That way, I can label the envelope, say, “Monday.” and just grab it out of the safe per day. I know that I will for sure have an envelope labeled “LAST DAY.” That will include the Belize Exit tax and necessary cash for any obstacles that may get in the way for catching our flight home. If we miss that flight, apparently we will be stuck in Belize until the following Saturday. Yikes!