![[Photo]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/1897059152_008eebefee.jpg)
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Travel: Centennial Olympic Park, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Travel: Centennial Olympic Park, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Tag: Travel
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Travel: Actun Tunichil Muknak, Belize
Our last excursion in Belize was to a cave system about an two-hours outside of Chaa Creek. Called Actun Tunichil Muknak (or A.T.M. for short), the caves were used by the Mayans as a place of worship.After driving out towards the A.T.M., we parked the van and hiked 45 minutes to the mouth of the caves. Once there, we hopped into the river flowing out of the cave, and swam inside. After about 100 yards, the water was shallow enough to stand up. After hiking through the water for about half a kilometer, we climbed out of the river and spent an hour walking through the formations which 2,000 years earlier were a Mayan burial ground.
The whole day was spectacular, not just the journey, but the formations and especially the Mayan artifacts left untouched for over two millennia.
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Actun Tunichil Muknak, Belize -
Travel: Last Free Day, Chaa Creek, Belize
Tomorrow we are going on our last excursion, so today we did … well, pretty much everything left on our list in Chaa Creek.We got up early and spent the morning birding with a local naturalist. After breakfast, we went mountain biking through the nature reserve next door. After lunch, we got a tour of the reserve’s butterfly farm. Finally, after dinner, we hiked the resort’s River Trail (which, up to this point, had been closed due to high water levels caused by the wet season).
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Last Free Day, Chaa Creek, Belize -
Travel: Caracol Archaeological Reserve, Belize
Our first major excursion in the Cayo District of Belize was to Caracol, which is the largest known Mayan site in Belize. The reserve contains the largest building in Belize (the 2,000 year old “Sky Palace”) and dozens upon dozens of excavated ruins from the Mayan Classic period.One monument here records a military victory over the army of Tikal — a larger Mayan city across the border in Guatemala — in 562CE, where Caracol’s Lord Water is shown to have captured and sacrificed Tikal’s Double Bird.
Part of the excitement was having AK-47 toting members of the Belize Defence Forces escort us from the Mountain Pine Ridge ranger station to the ruins. Apparently, about two years ago, a group of Guatemalan bandits (angry about the aforementioned defeat of Tikal, I’m sure…) crossed the border and held up a couple of tour buses. While the bandits were caught long ago (and presumably taken out back and shot) the Belizean authorities aren’t taking any chances with their tourist revenue.
The ruins themselves were just amazing, and we were two of 30 people in the park that day, so had the place largely to ourselves. Simply amazing.
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Caracol Archaeological Reserve, Belize -
Travel: Chaa Creek Natural Reserve, Belize
As with the first day in Placencia, we spent the first day in Chaa Creek wandering around the area. The place we are staying is surrounded by a 350-acre nature preserve, and we spent the morning hiking around the resort’s seven miles of trails.Explore the Photo Set:
Hiking in the Chaa Creek Natural Reserve, Belize -
Travel: Transfer to Chaa Creek, Belize
The morning of day six saw a surprisingly easy three-hour transfer from Placencia southern Belize to just outside of San Ignacio in northwestern part of the country. Outside of the 27km of dirt roads to get from the Turtle Inn to the main highway, the trip was remarkably easy.Once in Chaa Creek, we spent the afternoon walking around the grounds of The Lodge at Chaa Creek which is where we will be spending the last half of our honeymoon.
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Transfer to The Lodge at Chaa Creek, near San Ignacio, Belize -
Travel: Trip up Monkey River, Belize
Our second major excursion in Belize was up the Monkey River, which is one of the larger rivers in southern Belize. We took a boat up the river and saw all sorts of wildlife (Howler Monkeys, Egrets, Ospreys, Crocodiles, ect.) and had lunch in Monkey River Town on the way back through.back at the turtle inn, after making our way through the vast majority of the happy hour special list, we finally asked the bartender what the locals drink when they don’t want bad fruity resort drinks.
he introduced us to the rum and coke, with belize’s own one barrel rum.
the rum is made with sugar cane, which gives it a bit of a vanilla taste — which makes it a lot less like drinking alcohol, and a lot more like drinking vanilla cokes.
mmmmm.
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Boat Trip up Monkey River, near Placencia, Belize -
Travel: Rainy Day at the Turtle Inn, Belize
Today was our first day of rain in Belize (and it would ultimate turn out to be our last), but as we were planning on spending the day at the resort, it didn’t turn out to slow us down a bit. We realized today that we haven’t taken a single picture of our accommodations, so we spent part of the day wandering around snapping pictures of where we stayed.we spent the bulk of the afternoon at the pool bar, which just so happened had happy hour specials that made the drinks actually mostly affordable.
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Rainy Day at the Turtle Inn, Placencia, Belize -
Travel: Snorkeling off Laughing Bird Caye, Belize
Our first major outing was to Laughing Bird Caye, a National Park in Belize (where, coincidentally, The Nature Conservancy has a few marine projects). Belize is home to the largest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere, and we spent the day snorkeling through the western fringes of it.Explore the Photo Set:
Snorkeling off Laughing Bird Caye, Belize
![[Entrance Road to Chaa Creek (Last Photograph in Belize), The Lodge at Chaa Creek, San Ignacio, Belize ]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/1648118281_40155af29d.jpg)
It was quite lovely, but I can see why there was so much criticism about the 1996 Altanta Olympics for being so horrifically commercial. Everything in the park — and I mean everything — had a corporate sponsor on it: bricks, plaques, buildings, statues, etc. I can’t imagine what it would have been like when lined with 100s of booths representing a patheon of corporations preying on the American consumer culture.