Thursday, May 15, 2008

Lamanai

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Laminai is an ancient Mayan ruin which is only partly excavated. Built around 3000 a.d. the Laminai site was never abandoned and had Mayan Indians living on it till 1981 when the Belize government turned the ruins into a park, and by the magic of law, what was once peoples homes now became a tourist attraction.

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The pyramids, or temples, were often built by leaders as monuments to themselves. Thus, most of them are not hollow, have no rooms, and serve no purpose other than to represent a ruler's greatness in history. And they do that well.

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Climbing to the top!

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At the top!

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On the way back from the ruins we went through the villiage of Bomba. Bomba was a run down sort of place where one out of every two buildings was falling apart neglected. I asked Oliver, a nice chap from London, to snap a photo of me next to this tire which had fallen over by the river. We thought it would be good to do a "Tires of the World series" Not a bad idea. Collections really are funny things. They tend to give people a sense of purpose and accomplishment. I.E., look at all the stamps, coins, cards, games, marbles, cars, money I have collected! I am being productive...etc...to be fair, it is hard to argue with this, collecting various things isn't a bad thing to do in life. Especially if it can pay off later, like with money. But it does seem disheartening that so much of a sense of accomplishment does weight in on having a mission like this.

Lately I have also been debating types of travel. Is it better to stay in one place for at least 2 weeks and get a grip on things. Thus, you only see one city, but you get to know it properly. Or to bus your way through a country in 2-3 days, "seeing" everything, but not really "knowing" it? I guess it depends largely on where you are, and what you want to do. In life, there is never enough time for all the combinations.

4 comments:

homewithjo said...

I vote for the stay in one place long enough to truly learn & feel it.

Anonymous said...

That water looks gorgeous. (Not sure I'd be brave enough to jump in with all those occupants though!)

Anonymous said...

Gah! Left that comment on the wrong entry.

Doh.

cpi65 said...

Why set yourself the criteria in the first place? Provided there are no time constraints, I suggest you stay in any one place until you are satisfied, be it 2 days or 2 weeks - then, and only then, move on. By setting conditions, you only create the possibility of forcing yourself to make changes you are unhappy about!