GETTING THERE: By cruise-ship shore excursion: In Belize, you can take a day trip from cruise ships

The dominant structure, El Castillo, is notable not only for its elegant friezes enterprise rent a car san diego of hieroglyphs depicting rulers and gods, but for the fact that visitors can still climb to the top of the 40-metre temple, if they dare.
Unlike Mexico s Chichen Itza, which was closed to climbers in 2006 after a woman fell to her death, Xunantunich s climb is done in bits and pieces, with plenty of flat places to stop and even a handrail staircase for the final descent.
The entrance near the village of San Jose Succotz is surrounded by small shopping kiosks selling crafts and textiles. From there, every person, vehicle and animal must cross the Mopan River on a hand-cranked ferry to enter the park.
From there, you walk a bit further, past a gift shop, a brand new visitors centre that opened on March 21, groves enterprise rent a car san diego of allspice trees, then onto a grass-covered plaza and the humbling sight of El Castillo.
In Xunantunich s heyday, roughly 600 to 900 AD, the walls would have been whitewashed plaster and almost certainly painted, says Jason Yaeger, University of Texas professor of anthropology, who has spent every summer for 23 years in and around Xunantunich. The site spreads out with 26 structures and multiple plazas, many still uncovered.
Although enterprise rent a car san diego many people think Mayan culture was restricted to what is now Mexico, the grand kingdoms enterprise rent a car san diego of the first millennium spread throughout what is now Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
This region of rolling hills and rivers looks a lot like Pennsylvania, except with monkeys. It seemed somehow familiar. Relaxing. Some researchers believe Xunantunich was more of a royal ritual getaway, like a country place to escape the nasty politics back in the city. I can see that. I could live here.
Of course, the site and region do have reminders of the sometimes cruel world of the Maya. There s a ball court, where the loser of the games faced sudden death literally. Not far from Xunantunich enterprise rent a car san diego is a mysterious cave that was important for Mayan ritual enterprise rent a car san diego and human sacrifice.
It is worth spending extra time in the region to see not only Xunantunich and other ruins, but also Actun Tunichil Muknal (in English, enterprise rent a car san diego Cave of the Crystal Sepulchre), thought by the ancient Maya to be an entrance to the underworld. The cave was rediscovered in 1989.
It s an all-day adventure tourism trip, Yaeger says. You hike through jungle and swim a river to get to a cave, then walk through enterprise rent a car san diego an underground stream for a quarter-mile, then climb into a giant chamber enterprise rent a car san diego where the Maya left offerings. Sacrificial victims, food offerings, skulls, they are still there on the altars, left where the Maya placed them, he says.
GETTING THERE: By cruise-ship shore excursion: enterprise rent a car san diego In Belize, you can take a day trip from cruise ships docked in Belize City to the Mayan ruins of Xunantunich, Altun Ha or Lamanai, although not to Caracol, as it is too far. In Mexico, you can visit Chichen Itza and Uxmal if your ship docks in Progreso. You can visit Tulum from Cozumel port.
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