Caracol

Assistant Staff: Sol

2017/02/23

I headed to Caracol after picking up our breakfast at the hotel.

The road to Caracol is not paved, so you can take free massage on 4WD Jeep. Luckily we didn’t have mud. I enjoyed totally the different landscape from the window.

We had breakfast at Rio on Pool. We had really elegant time seeing the fall that sparkled in the morning sun.

Caracol means snails in Spanish. It is said that so many snails were found here. The main pyramid is Caana, Sky palace. It has 43m of height, and it’s the highest building in Belize. Caracol has 2 plazas on the north and south sides, and Caana is located in the northern plaza.

You will see the first residential area, which was for lower-level classes such as workers. The second one was for middle classes such as sculptors, hunters and merchants. After passing residential areas, I reached Plaza B on the north side.

The upper part of Caana represents the heavenly world and the king climbed this pyramid as if he get closer to heaven. You can’t see the top from the bottom. There are 3 small pyramids on the highest floor.

I could see kinda entrance under the pyramid because they were excavating on the top floor. Belize has a lot of unexcavated remains. You will see many ‘hills’ in every Mayan archeological sites, but they are not hills but unexcavated pyramids or residences. Because Belize is shot of money for excavation, many Mayan ruins are left untouched that might have jewels and new historic discoveries.

There is a pyramid with jaguar masks on the opposite side of Caana. These masks are replicated and original ones are hidden behind replicas, but it re-creates the flavor of the time.

The ball court in Caracol is really big. It has a round stela in the center, and it is said that winner’s names were carved on it.

The scholars think that totally different people lived in Plaza A on the south side. I’m so wondering how they lived together.