We drove the van to the San Ignacio Chapel on Wednesday morning to pick up the missionaries. San Ignacio is about 2 hours inland and south from Belize City. This was our first trip to Caracol.
San Ignacio Chapel
Our Group
How many missionaries does it take to change a tire?
The Sandbergs and Brother Kib, a member from San Ignacio, also drove cars. Twenty of us traveled together. Unfortunately, Brother Kib started having problems with his rear wheel soon after we started out. The missionaries soon had it fixed, or so we thought.
We are having the rainy season at this time in Belize. And there are days when it seems to rain cats and dogs. Buckets full of water seem to come down all at once. This made the dirt roads even rougher. Many places were flooded, and most of the road was badly washboarded.
Most of the bridges had no guardrails.
We all had to stop about halfway and check in at the security base manned by military personnel.
After 50 miles of very rough dirt road, we were happy to arrive at the Carcol archeological site. We took lots of photos. This is the largest ancient Mayan settlement in Belize. The site also has the highest temple ruin, which also happens to be the tallest manmade sturcture in Belize.
After the sisters changed into casual clothes, we were off to explore!
This is the first temple ruin we found at Caracol.
A smaller ruin
This is the largest and tallest temple ruin found in Belize. It is called the Cana Temple and is much taller than it appears in this photo, as there is more at the top and back that can't be seen from this angle. The missionaries standing at the top look pretty small, only because the temple is huge.
Elder Pattee and Elder Vasquez
Sister Pattee walking amid Caracol ruins
Another temple
The arena--surrounded by ruins
Stopping part way up
Elder Pattee explores a passageway--or is it a crypt?
Sunstone
Large stella stone
Reservoir made and used by the Mayans
Archeological huts used by those on "the dig"
The stones were placed under a roofed structure by the archeological team to protect them from the weather.
The rain stopped during the time we were exploring, but on our way back it started to rain again. Halfway down the dirt road, the wheel on Brother Kib's car almost came off. We were forced to leave the car at the sign-in station. He felt it should be safe with all that military security.
Then we all crowded into the 2 remaining vehicles. The zone leaders decided to ride in the back of the truck.
We enjoyed the day. It was an unusual break from missionary work. We enjoyed visiting this area, which is very likely a Book of Mormon site.
1 comment:
i love these pictures! so fun to talk last night:) love you!
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