After a two-hour boat ride going over 8-foot swells THE ENTIRE TIME, we finally made it to the calmer, reef-protected area of the ocean near the Blue Hole.
I thought the room was so cheap just because it was terrible. But that night I also learned that the discount was also due to the fact that the room is twenty feet away from the island's only MEGA CLUB that plays insanely loud reggaeton music (played over a PA, inside a rectangular building entirely constructed of corrugated sheet metal - like it was MEANT to be heard) until 2am every night. (I'm laughing as I type this because I remember myself laying in bed that night reggaeton-dancing-myself to sleep to the bed-rattling beat.)
The entire time my mind was trying to soak in the details and atmosphere of the place and comprehend the minds of the people who designed and built it, it kept getting interrupted with a voice saying "this is JUST LIKE being in an Indiana Jones movie!"
From the Wikipedia summary: "Baudrillard defined "hyperreality" as 'the generation by models of a real without origin or reality' it is a representation, a sign, without an original referent. Baudrillard believes hyperreality goes further than confusing or blending the 'real' with the symbol which represents it; it involves creating a symbol or set of signifiers which actually represent something that does not actually exist, like Santa Claus. Baudrillard in particular suggests that the world we live in has been replaced by a copy world, where we seek simulated stimuli and nothing more."
...we hiked our way through the jungle again for a bit to Tikal's Temple IV. Built in 741 AD and standing 212 feet tall, "Temple IV is the tallest pre-Columbian structure still standing in the New World."
After telling us about the site, our guide let us loose to explore. So mind-boggling to walk around and try to picture what the place might've been like in the hey-day.
He's called a Long-billed hermit! If you look on the left you can see his colors. I like how the top part of his beak is black and the bottom part is yellow. So handsome and hermit-y.
Busy day! Went back to the hotel for a nap.THIS, by the way, is the hilarious / terrifying entrance to my hotel: Hotel upstairs, MEATSHOP downstairs!.
Sure, you're welcome to stay here. As long as you can overcome your fear of the obvious horror-movie danger of us murdering you in your sleep and SELLING YOU AS FOOD in conveniently-located meatshop downstairs. Haven't you seen the movie, Hostel, you idiot?
Built around 800AD and standing 130+ feet-tall, it's the second-tallest structure in all of Belize. After walking up the first group of steps to the first terrace, we went to the other side of the pyramid...
View of the courtyard! More unbelievable than the fact that you can actually climb up to the top of these monuments is the fact that there aren't any safety railings or roped-off areas to prevent you from falling off the edge and plummeting to your death. Even getting this close to the edge to peek over and take this picture made the people up there with me nervous and made my palms start to sweat. Haha.
This sign is another example of something I found really charming about Belize. They're an English colony and English is the official language, but a lot of the signs there phonetically spell out the local pronunciations of words! SO GOOD!
Our guide Percy paused and casually asked "Anyone thirsty?" before slashing his machete in a diagonal arc at a thick vine above his shoulder and offering the fresh water pouring out of it for each of us to drink.
So amazing / horrifying! (Dear non-vegetarians, I hope you remember this photo next time you tuck into a delicious crab and/or lobster! Ew! Ew! Sea bugs!)
