Belize

This was my favorite day. We saw iguanas, monkeys, crocodiles, the ruins were really cool, and the food was great. Our tour guides did a good job teaching us about the culture in Belize and letting us know what kind of animals are there (like jaguars, tucans-the national bird in Belize, anteaters, etc.).

We ported in Belize City, and drove to a place where we had lunch (this consisted of chicken, coconut rice, coconut tarts, fried bananas, fruit, salad, chips and onion salsa-which I didn't try because they said it is way hot) then went up a river to Lamanai where the ruins were.
This is where we saw the crocs. I only saw two-one on the way up and one on the way back, but others in my boat saw 4. I guess I'm just not a good crocodile spotter.
There is a log looking thing towards the back, which is a crocodile. There are also some birds on the lilly pads they call Jesus birds because they walk on water.
This is an amish community in Belize. They call them the Mennonites.
Cheesy smiles.
Riding up the river-it was pretty windy.
This is a crocodile we saw on the way back. It's on the log.
Right after we got off the boats, we saw these black howler monkeys.
This is the first temple we saw. I think it was called the Jaguar temple. John Lund was standing at the top and told us this temple was like the one King Benjamin was on when he spoke to the people in Mosiah. Because of the direction of the building and the accoustics of the area with the trees, he was able to talk in his regular speaking voice and we could hear him just fine.
This temple was so tall! We could see it above the trees when we were coming up the river.
We of course had to climb it and this is the view from the top. It was so pretty. I unfortunately have developed my mom's fear of heights, so my knees were a little weak once I got up there. It didn't help that the steps were so tall and narrow. I don't know how the Nephites did that daily.
If Justin wasn't up there with me, I would have had a hard time coming down. But the view did make it so worth it.
Just don't look down...
The last temple we saw. The temples actually have layers under them. Every 52 years (when everything lines up on the Mayan calendar) they would build another layer over the previous layer. Each layer had its own design and they've only found up to 9 layers. But this picture shows into another layer. There was also a tomb inside this temple.