Xunantunich I

Back to Belize.  As long as we were in the neighborhood, we dropped by a Mayan ruin.  This one is called Xunantunich.  The owner of Banana Bank Lodge told us to pronounce it like Shoe-not-to-itch.  Last time I posted a bunch of pictures caused all kinds of loading problems for people, so I’m going to break it up into parts.

To get there you have to take the ferry.  This is not your large, multi-vehicle carrier you might find up around Seattle.  This is a little hand-cranked job.

 
The first actual ruin you see after leaving the parking lot is a little trading center built into the hill.  The complex is on the other side.

 
We were told everything was quarried limestone originally, including a completely covered over courtyard which looked like a lovely park by the time we got there. Then everything was painted white.  This fits much more closely my original impression of Mayan Pyramids.  We can only surmise that people have removed much of the original limestone over the years to be used in other construction projects.