Belize Day 5: Cahal Pech "Place of Ticks"



Why would you nickname a Maya ruin The Place of Ticks? Tt was a cow pasture when first archaeologists discovered it in the 1950's. The cows and everything else were infected with thousands of ticks.

Nowadays there are not so many ticks and today there were no other visitors. We had the ruins to ourselves. Cahal Pech dates back to 900 BC. While it is smaller, the place is still extremely interesting.

Climbing down the steps of a temple, I spotted a couple of large rat like creatures. A friendly, ex-park ranger walked up to us and explained that these were Gibnuts. They grow up to two feet and weigh around 20 pounds. This animal is a prized culinary dish in Belize. We were told that the Queen of England had Gibnut for dinner when she visited. Chalk this one up for bizarre foods.

The ex-park ranger now runs a small gift show on the premises. He proudly told us that he had planted some of the trees in the ruins. We walked with him over to his shop and met his sons. 

This would be our last night in San Ignacio. For tomorrow, we journey to the lost city of Tikal.

Next: Road to Tikal

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