I booked this tour through Carnival on the first day of the cruise. I have already done Lamanai and Xunantunich–The other two Mayan ruins excursions Carnival offers in Belize. At $75 this was by far the cheapest of the three. The other two were both over $100.

These came the day before the excursion regarding the meeting time and water shuttles. I was happy to see my meeting time is 8:30 for a 9:30 departure. That should allow me to eat a real breakfast instead of room service like the last time I was here.

This is one port where I recommend booking any early excursions through Carnival. I say that because you have to account for the water shuttle situation.

If you are on a Carnival excursion they just have you meet in the lounge. If you are on an outside tour and need an early water shuttle you will need to get a number. Sometimes there are long lines for those numbers in front of the coffee shop. I like avoiding that situation.

I am in the main lounge now to meet my excursion.

They called water shuttle passes 1-3. After breakfast I walked by the coffee shop on the promenade deck. They had water shuttle passes across from it 1-20. The number 6 was the first one available. 

I don’t like they way they’re doing this. On Vista they would look at your ticket as you walk in and give your excursion sticker. Here they’re calling them out one by one and people with stickers are running all over the theater handing them out. You have to hold your hand up until someone gets to you. It was so much better the other way.

How many people? Sixteen. Don’t you see the others?

My tour was among the first groups called as expected since it is one of the longer excursions.

We sat on that water shuttle for 40 minutes before leaving. I was on that shuttle for a total of 1 hour and 10 minutes. My tour was supposed to leave 30 minutes ago. This is why it’s good to book with Carnival in Belize. I know a Carnival tour won’t leave. Our entire group is on this shuttle.

I have a green sticker so I’m going to terminal 2.

They have bathrooms in the terminal.

I got my seat in the back.

And we’ve filled up.

And we’re off. You can see the ship out there.

Lindbergh park. This is where Charles Lindbergh landed The Spirt of St. Louis in 1927.

Altun Ha is about an hour drive from Belize City.

The first thing they did was give us water getting off the bus. I guess it depends on the tour. On the Xunantunich tour here in December the guide had his mom selling us waters for $1 each. These are free.

What if the guy from the ruins in Cozumel who always said “ah” was at Altun Ha? He’d say ah. The guide would say not ah, ha. He’d say ah. The guide would say it’s not ah it’s ha. Ahhh. You get the idea.

Usually the downside to ship excursions is the large groups. This time they divided us up into three groups of 12.

The Altun Ha museum.

The first thing our tour guide did was point out the different trees in the area. This is an avocado tree.

The is a mamey apple tree. It’s not like a real apple tree.

This is a cedar tree.

The tree up ahead with the green sign in front of it is an all spice tree.

Our guide gave us each an all spice leaf. It smells just like cinnamon. Mayans here would drop their dead in all spice leaves to help with the smell.  If you chew the leaves they have a numbing effect. It was common for Mayans to drill holes in their teeth and put jade in them. For a procedure like that they would chew the all spice leaves.

Altun Ha “Rockstone water” is located 31 miles north of Belize City and Covers an area of 3 square miles. We will just be touring the core area which is mostly excavated.

We are coming up on plaza A which is where trading is believed to have occurred.

This plaza is surrounded by five buildings two of which have not yet been excavated. Those are the two that still look like green mounds.

This structure looks like it’s going to have a staircase up the middle of it once excavated.

This is the Temple of the Green Tomb. They found a royal tomb there with over 300 pieces of jade inside it.

Nearly 1,000 pieces of jade have been found at Altun Ha. The unusually large amount of jade found at this site, as well as it’s proximity to the ocean, is why it’s believed Altun Ha was a major trading post in this area.

No Stelae or ballcourts were found at Altun Ha. This is the first site I’ve seen without any Stelae. Tulum and San Gervasio are the only others I’ve seen without a ballcourt.

This is the temple of the rain god which is the first one we are able to climb.

Here you have a good look at the two structures that haven’t yet been excavated.

There are several rooms at the top of this structure.

Plaza B from the top of the Rain God Temple. Plaza B is the ceremonial plaza where plaza A was the trading plaza.

Possibly the most important structure in all of Belize sits at the head of Plaza B. The Temple of the Sun God. It’s also known as the Temple of the Masonry Altars. It’s the big one. The one from the beer bottles.

This is more of what we’ve seen at other sites. Adding new stones in front of old stones.

We are now entering Plaza B.

The structures on the side of Plaza B were residential buildings–High class residential buildings.

Seven levels of tombs were found in the Temple of the Sun God, also known as the Temple of the Masonry Altars.

The reason the Temple of the Sun God is so important is because the jade head was found in one of tombs there. The jade head is a six inch tall, eleven pound piece of jade sculpted into the head of Sun God Kinich Ahau. It’s the largest jade sculpture ever discovered in the Central America.

The jade head is the crown jewel of Belize. It’s stored in a vault with 24 hour security in the Belize central bank. The Belize central bank is built to look very much like the Temple of the Sun God. When the jade head is brought out for display, it has more security than the prime minister does. Our tour guide’s grandfather is the person who actually found the jade head in 1968 though the discovery is credited to the archeologist he worked for.

Everything in Belize seems to revolve around this structure. Their beer. Their bank. Their crown jewel. We’re about to climb it.

Sun God Kinich Ahau rears his ugly head again. There are actually five of these on the temple.

You aren’t able to climb from the front. There is a stone staircase on the side for the ascent and another stone staircase on the back for your return.

This is a look at the stone steps. They start out nice and easy but get tougher at the top.

This is the view from the middle of the Sun God Temple. Now we’re going to the top!

They do have a handrail for this part of the climb but it’s about to disappear for the last stretch.

This is where it gets a little rough. Bigger steps, a steeper climb, and no handrail.

But this is the payoff.

This alter at the top is where blood letting or sacrifices would take place. I’ve never seen a Mayan altar this well preserved.

The Temple of the Rain God from the Temple of the Sun God.

This is the way down on the back side of the temple. They have a nice railing all the way down.

They have shops on the way out. We had 15 minutes before we had to leave. Our tour guide’s aunt has a bar so I’m going for some beers. I totally forgot about the Altun Ha museum. This would be the time to visit it.

Two for $5.

My time gauge is as long as the bus driver is in the luggage compartment, I’m good.

Another 2 for $5.

First on board.

It was a short drive to our lunch restaurant “Highway Trails.”

They had water, sodas, and other drinks. I purchased two more beers.

Chicken, rice and beans, and cole slaw seems to be standard excursion food in Belize.

The bathrooms are out back.

Back on the bus the guy in the row in front of me reclined his seat. I think he was expecting me to be all the way over by the window but I have the whole row. He got married and I didn’t. I can manspread on an hour and twenty minute bus ride. He got a knee in the back until he moved his seat up. Not all the way. Halfway.

I like to get the ship in this picture but the position of Glory makes it impossible today.

I had another hour and fifteen minutes until the last water shuttle but due to a misprint in the paper Fun Times I thought I had just 15 minutes.

I enjoyed this tour. What stood out to me was the altar at the top of the Temple of the Sun God. It’s the best preserved altar I’ve seen.

If anyone wants to do the Mayan ruins for the first time in Belize I would recommend this one. I have now done all three of them. Altun Ha is the cheapest of the three excursions. They split us up into smaller groups. It’s the shortest bus ride. There isn’t a lot of walking. You don’t have to walk through the jungle. There are two temples you can climb–one easier than the other. You get to see maybe the most significant temple in the country there. And you get lunch afterwards. It’s a much easier day than Xunantunich and Lamanai.

• Belize
• Mayan Ruins