Day of Rest

Sunday

6.29.2008

I slept hard, probably because the concrete room I am staying in has AC, and becomes a human refrigerator at night. It's wonderful. This morning I woke up before 7am and decided to explore Corozal Town. I still get that urge of exploration, common to all men or maybe just to teenage boys. First I exercised on the front porch and a cool wind licked up off the bay. Zac was awake by 8am and gave me a quick orientation around town. I set out walking and went to mass at St. Francis Xavier church in the town square. It is a beige and yellow 1970s creation, like a spaceship landed to rescue any surviving Mayan aliens. The service was lively, though, and I was quickly won over by the programmed synthesizer beats. How can you not feel happy singing, "I got that joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart (what?!) down in my heart, down in my heart!" The only other gringo was Father Brian, originally from Chicago, who was celebrating his first mass there after being in Colombia for 11 years.

I wandered the streets for a few more hours, found an open internet cafe, wrote the previous blog, and then found a great dive for lunch and to shield me from a sudden downpour. When I returned everybody was watching the Germany vs. Spain soccer match. I hid away and read more about Belize in my guidebook. I found out in my reading that less than one mile away stood the unmarked ruins of an ancient Mayan temple called Santa Rita. I borrowed the car and after one wrong turn I found it. My first Mayan temple! It was modest, to be sure, but I experienced that thrill of discovery, even though shacks, dogs, and children circled the site. It was a similar experience to my wanderings around Republican era Roman sites. It reminded me of gazing out the window at the aquaeduct ruins scattered near the Due Santi campus, in the Albano region south of Rome along the Via Appa Antica. I climbed to the top which afforded an excellent, panoramic view above the tree tops. I could see for miles. Santa Rita was founded shortly after the Trojan War, about 1000B.C. but this temple reached its pinnacle around 900A.D. Unfortunately, most of the stones had been cannibalized by the 1950s to build modern Corozal.





Shortly after returning home two great guys, Jeremy and Rhett showed up, and that night our entire group went to eat on the edge of the bay at a hotel restaurant.




-AR