Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
makes an offering, while on the left side a column of very clear glyphs separates the
main figure from a guard.
Beyond the visitor centre, you enter the site itself through a plaza surrounded by walls
and buildings of cut stones held together without mortar. While few of the structures
have been excavated to any great extent, the open areas between them have been
cleared and maintained as rich green lawns, making it a delightful place to stroll
around. Pass through the beautiful
walled ball-court
to reach the
South Group
, which
may have functioned as an observatory to record the sunrise at the solstices and
equinoxes. The
West Group
, by contrast, remains very much overgrown, allowing you
to feel as though you're exploring all-but-virgin jungle.
6
Big Falls
The Southern Highway crosses the Río Grande a couple of miles southwest of the
Silver Creek Road turnoff. The village of
BIG FALLS
here holds a petrol station, store, a
couple of bars and a luxury resort. It's not a particularly pretty place, but it does boast
Belize's only
hot spring
, a sumptuous spot for a warm bath. The spring feeds a creek
that flows into the Río Grande, just upstream of the bridge in the village centre.
Dump
The unfortunately named village of
DUMP
, four miles southwest of Big Falls, amounts
to little more than a petrol station. It marks the road junction where the Southern
Highway makes an abrupt ninety-degree turn for its final fourteen-mile run to meet
the sea at
Punta Gorda
. A separate road continues west from here towards the border
town of
Jalacte
(see p.215).
Silver Creek Road
he unpaved
Silver Creek Road
branches off the Southern Highway just under five
miles southwest of Nim Li Punit, then curves first west, and then south, for nine miles
to join the road to Jalacte, two miles west of Dump. While primarily of interest as
offering the only access to the Maya site of
Lubaantun
(see below), it's also a very
attractive route in its own right, passing through the modern Maya villages of
San
Miguel
and
San Pedro Columbia
.
San Miguel
Sprawling across a verdant clearing in the rolling foothills of the Maya Mountains, the
attractive village of
San Miguel
was settled in 1950 by Kekchí Maya migrants from
Santa Teresa, to the southwest. As well as holding a TEA guesthouse (see box, p.220),
it's also home to the
Back-a-Bush
budget lodge (see p.220).
Lubaantun
1.3 miles north of the road between San Pedro Columbia and San Miguel • Daily 8am-5pm • Bz$10
Set on a high ridge two miles north of San Pedro Columbia, the Late Classic city of
Lubaantun
is the best-restored ancient Maya site in southern Belize. Impressive
though it is today, it covered a much larger area during its brief heyday, between
around 730 AD and 860 AD. Its original name being unknown, the modern Maya
“Lubaantun”, which means “place of the fallen stones”, seems appropriate in view of
its ruined state. While many structures remain topped and entangled by mighty
trees, however, this is still a spectacular and compellingly beautiful site. Essentially
it's a single
acropolis
, holding eleven major structures, five plazas and three
ball-courts. Climbing the high pyramids is not allowed, but the view over the forest
is staggering nonetheless.
Lubaantun came to the attention of colonial authorities in 1903, and archeologist
Thomas Gann was sent to investigate. A survey in 1915 revealed many structures, and
three ball-court markers were removed and taken to the Peabody Museum at Harvard.
