I cannot believe we did not really post on Caracol yet! By far the one of the best experiences of our trip to Belize!

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.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with this developing story, Liz and I recently posted a story about our encounter with a baby howler monkey named Jack only to be contacted by several conservation groups who informed us of the unfortunate details of this monkey’s disposition. We later altered the post to remove our photos with the monkey and posted a new public service announcement to inform people of the horrors associated with this “pet monkey.” Our efforts have had remarkable results as can be seen in the email below from one of our contacts in Belize.

Good luck to Jack the monkey, Jerry, Robin Brockett and anyone else involved in today’s attempt to seize Jack to save him. We hope you are successful.

“Courtney and Liz

Been up since 02:00 hrs preparing for today. Just to let you know that we are just about to leave with the Forestry Department and a Police / Army squad to try and seize your young monkey Jack.

I will be accompanied by Robin Brockett who is the world renowned monkey rehabber that we are extremely fortunate to have in Belize at the moment.

If we get Jack, then this little fellow will join a small troupe of monkeys currently being prepared for release (although this will take up to two years). At the moment Jack’s future is now considerably brighter than it was before you raised awareness of his plight. He will now be socialised with other monkeys as well as get veterinary care, and of course get the correct monkey food. He will also be released into an approved area where he should be safe from all but the most determined poachers. (And as he is a male the chances are that he will never be targeted by poachers)

If we are successful today, I think you will be able to say that you were directly responsible for saving this monkey, as Forestry admitted to me on Friday, that if your story had not been published on the web, then they probably would not have done anything about him. As his plight is now a matter of public record, they have had their hand forced in this matter and we now have a strong response.
I think the way that you two have handled this matter has been exemplary and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the correction to your website and for the increased awareness that has resulted.

Fingers crossed, I will let you know what happens later on today.

Jerry”

Table Rock Jungle Lodge was a great place to stay and it was as close to the jungle experience as you can get. There are many key features to the lodge that both Courtney and I thoroughly enjoyed.

Table Rock Jungle Lodge has a fruit farm and has a few animals on the property. Jen, one of the keepers, was kind enough to take us on a tour of the property. The farm produced everything: limes, starfruit, oranges, mangoes, bananas and more. Everything was fresh as fresh could be. We were encouraged to pick the fruit but only under one condition: that we ate the fruit entirely and did not let it go to waste. While we did not visit in the fruitful season, we were able to experience fresh limes and fresh starfruit right off the trees. The limes we added to some cocktail drinks and they were so fresh and yummy. The star fruit turned out to be a delightful taste as well.

The minute we arrived at Table Rock, we dropped off our bags in our rooms and headed toward the Mayan River for a canoe trip. Chris, Jen’s husband and lodge keeper assisted us with getting the canoe in the water. The lodge dogs also joined us and took a quick dip. We had an enjoyable canoe trip, but we both agreed we prefer kayaks over a canoe. Our canoe adventure was cut short when I proclaimed my exhaustion from the long day and little amount of sleep I received the night before. The long day of traveling from San Pedro to Jaguar Paw and then to San Ignacio took it’s toll on me. At this point we returned to our room.

Table Rock Jungle Lodge also has a bar on site that Jen will happily serve you drinks at and keep you company. Courtney and I took full advantage of this while we used the wireless signal and updated our posts. The bar is in the dining cabana and has a really great set-up. Just a few steps away you can sit on the deck in the middle of the jungle and enjoy the jungle sounds and watch the stars.

Our room had the bare bone essentials, but everything in unique wood. It also had little lighting and we were reminded to always turn off lights when we weren’t needed as to conserve energy. This was not a problem for us and we were happy to do it. The bathroom was agree at walk in stone shower. The only complaint I would have about the rooms is the lighting. In the sense that they use maybe 2 watt bulbs in the room and have no lights in the shower. The bathroom itself is dimly lit, thankfully. In Belize, it gets dark early- at about 6 o’clock. The daylight gets cut short and Courtney and I used every drop of sunlight we could. That means indoor activities were designated for after dark. When we showered, it was pitch black except for the faint bathroom light. I have bad night vision, so the lighting was particularly a problem for me. Regardless, you can come properly prepared with flashlights and headlights. All of which we used there at Table Rock Jungle Lodge.

Jack. Jack is the howler monkey that brought huge smiles to our faces at Caracol, one of the Mayan Ruins. As a side note, we skipped out on Xunantunich and decided to do Caracol due to some influences by locals, or should I say, Chris and Jen from Table Rock Jungle Lodge. Chris and Jen recommended this ruin over the others and that is a separate post in itself. We will get to it, I promise! But I will tell you, it was AMAZING!!!

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:

About the only downside to the trip to ATM was the tour group. Mayawalk is not a tour company I’d recommend to any potential tourists. I hate to say this, because their prices are cheaper than the competition, but the experience could have been far better with a better company. “Why,” might you ask? There were a number of shortcomings:
Liz was ill so she couldn’t go. They charged me a 50% cancelation fee, explaining that they’d already purchased a lunch for her, etc. The lunch, while tasty, cost $4US. I know this because I bought lunch from the same place they did the day before. No other sacrifices were made on their part. They definitely didn’t turn any potential guests away. I realize a cancelation fee is almost always applied, but this was unbelievable; especially because of their next ding.

To the guides credit, he did tell a great story, and I did thoroughly enjoy the experience, despite the constant grumblings of one of the other guests. He still shared some interesting stories and described how the Maya may have interpreted different features of the cave, such as the sacrifice victims and the rock formations. I really wish I’d been able to make the POV function for that trip. Sans video, it was still an excellent narration and I can’t for the life of me, remember all of the details.