We spent two nights and one full say in Corozal at the Hotel Maya. Our host at the hotel insisted we check out Santa Rita, the recently restored local Mayan ruin (obviously Santa Rita was not the original name). This site is famous because it is the "true" location of the first wedding between a Spaniard and a Mayan princess. The story goes that the Spaniard was shipwrecked here, and the local chief was going to kill him. Instead, the Spaniard begged for his life, fell in love with the chief's daughter, and eventually became a Mayan. In the end he died fighting against the Europeans at San Gervasio in Cozumel. His wife also died near Santa Rita when the Europeans invaded. In recent years, their wedding is reenacted, as it symbolizes the merging of the two cultures. Our hotel host is very involved with this celebration. When we arrived she was working on designing some flyers for the event. Unfortunately we could not stay for the wedding, but decided to check out the site anyway. The groundskeeper there was very knowledgeable and informative, and was very opinionated about what should be done with Mayan artifacts found in Belize. Many of them are currently located in museums in Europe and around the world. He was especially annoyed by the fact that the Crystal Skull is in Canada and not in a museum in Belize.
Probably the best thing about going to Santa Rita was the fact that we ran into two wonderful Canadians, Janis and Gordon. We mentioned to them that we had wanted to go to Cerros, another Mayan ruin, but had decided against it as the hour-long, $50 cab ride was not worth it. They were excited about going, so we ended up splitting the cab fare after a quick lunch. We're really glad we did; the ride in itself was really interesting. The road was really rough, and at one point there was a hand-cranked ferry across a river. Two men worked on the ferry all day transporting up to four cars each way at a time.
Cerros is unique in that the temples are restored with reproductions of the original carvings. The oceanside location doesn't hurt either.
Unrestored portion:
And here we are, left to right, Ania, Janis, Caryl, our driver Alberto, aka Skull, and Gordon. What a great day, and a great end to our time in Belize!
Probably the best thing about going to Santa Rita was the fact that we ran into two wonderful Canadians, Janis and Gordon. We mentioned to them that we had wanted to go to Cerros, another Mayan ruin, but had decided against it as the hour-long, $50 cab ride was not worth it. They were excited about going, so we ended up splitting the cab fare after a quick lunch. We're really glad we did; the ride in itself was really interesting. The road was really rough, and at one point there was a hand-cranked ferry across a river. Two men worked on the ferry all day transporting up to four cars each way at a time.
Cerros is unique in that the temples are restored with reproductions of the original carvings. The oceanside location doesn't hurt either.
Unrestored portion:
And here we are, left to right, Ania, Janis, Caryl, our driver Alberto, aka Skull, and Gordon. What a great day, and a great end to our time in Belize!
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