Altun Ha

This week I was able to go to Altun Ha, a Mayan city just outside of Belize City, Belize. It's called a Mayan city and not ruins because it's still standing as it was, just a little overgrown and with a lot less (okay, zero) inhabitants. It had two large courtyards with temples on all sides.


The steps look like they are covered in cement, but it's a mixture of limestone dust and water that took almost a year to make. We saw the pits where they stirred all day. The mixture moved into five different pits with a new process each time in order to be ready.

One of the temples we were allowed to climb. The steps were steep, slippery, and irregular, but the view was pretty cool from the top. Here's the side view of the temple.

The back side of the temple had completely grown over with grass and flowers and at least thirty butterflies flew from flower to flower. My batteries were dying in my camera, so I didn't have a screen to see if the photos turned out well. I managed to snap this almost-clear shot to show how cool it was.