search of the elusive jaguar.
Knowing full well that this is a difficult request to fulfill, we still went head first into arranging this adventure for Kathrine Lanpher of More Magazine. Very aware that a full on sighting of a jaguar would be difficult, Katherine armed herself with a machete, bug repellent, and the itinerary we put together and headed south to Belize!First stop was the Cockscombe Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, the only jaguar preserve in the world,
the possibility was there, and Katherine did get a chance to located scratchings and scat! At least she knew at that point that indeed there was a population of jaguars in the area (or at least one individual). Her guide Ernesto Saqui (mayacottages.com) was diligent about locating and tracking a jaguar and the group spent hours and hours out on the hunt.Next Beyond Touring booked rooms at Gonzaleze Guest House located directly i
n Indian Church Village in northern Belize (Orange Walk District). These guest rooms are located within the small community and is a 10 minute walk from the premiere Maya ruins site of Lamanai. The crew of More Magazine directly supported the community by staying 'right' in it, and by paying for the services direct, that is the meals and rooms were provided by the local community itself, not a third party who then paid the community for their work. The meals were provided by Las Orquedias, a very successful all woman's organization that hosts and provides traditional meals for traveling families, student groups, archaeological field schools and couples.Las Orquedias also provides a traditional hands-on cooking lesson where interested individuals can learn about ancient as well
as modern meals and cooking techniques. Delicious dishes like chimole (Belize's black dinner), escabache (a chicken and onion soup), banana leaf tamales, and of course hand made (& hand ground with a mano and metate) corn tortilla. Student groups who stay a bit longer also have the opportunity to do traditional Maya planting known as Milpa farming, this provides the field to table perspective of the main staple of Central and South America, maize.Jaguars are tough to spot in the Lamanai area but are present, a hike through the tropical forest to the Lamanai Archaeological Reserve western and northern boundaries was unproductive as far as jaguars go. But it gave the crew another opportunity to 'be out there' and that is truly the only way to see things!
The ruins of Lamanai offered the first glimpse in the fascinating history of the Maya culture, the
Mask temple thus named for the huge human face that is carved from the limestone stucco. The face may represent that of the important ruler buried within the Mask temple, it dates to AD 500, and is the only tomb at Lamanai.The next stop on the Lamanai Maya ruins tour was structure N10-43, also know as the High Temple due to it's 110 feet height (image below was taken on top of this structure). This is one of the most securely dated Preclassic structure of this size in the entire Maya world. Knowing that the elite Maya at Lamanai had enough power to build such an enormous ruin at such an early date - AD 100 - provides archaeologists a possible reason for why this major city was able to survive over 3,000 years of unbro
ken occupation. This powerful early foundation may have been one of the reasons this city-state was propelled to thrive even well into Spanish Colonial times.And of course the structure at Lamanai with the most interest was the N10-9, also known as the Jaguar Temple. At the base of this ruin, flanking either side of the lower stair are two Jaguaroid masks, these represent an animal that we know first hand from the archaeologists was rarely recovered in midden (trash) areas. We know this powerful and elusive animal was revered because we see it on buildings (such as this case), on pottery vessels, recorded on ancient paintings, as well as noted in Maya bark paper books.
Lamanai is a magical area,
Indian Church Village is a very welcoming and warm spot (both hospitality wise and weather!), and is a 'MUST SEE' on any Belize itinerary.More Magazine crew makes there last stop at the La Milpa Field Station (Program for Belize, pfBelize.org, Rio Bravo Conservation Area),
this stop offers Green Dorms as well as thatched single occupancy local construction cabanas. Wildlife abounds here, with deer and ocellated turkeys spotted on a regular basis on the station grounds near the restaurant. Again hiking commenced upon arrival in search of a jaguar, Rudy Ramirez assisted with the hunt, and hunting is good in this area, this is the largest track of preserved tropical forest in Belize and next to Cockscomb one of the best spots to possibly see this beautiful creature. But again no such luck, even a night spotlight cruising did not produce a thing.....
As Katherine says regarding her Belize jaguar hunt......"...the sighting never came, but I see my world different now. Spend eight days waiting for something magical to happen, and eventually it will"
