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Abroad, Beliz, Guests

Adventure: Boris Bongolov in Belize

posted by Dario
Mar 21, 2017 1402 0 0
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The Maiden from the Rock

 

“I don’t know what are they doing here – I think they might be eating our monkeys.” – Jacob has spent the past two decades establishing an education centre and forest research station deep in the jungles of Belize. BFREE is nested in a protected area in the South of this Caribbean country where the Maya Mountains harbor a remarkable species diversity. The dawn chorus of the birds echoing around the trees can barely be heard over the barbaric screams of the howler monkey family that is on the lookout for the next portion of fig fruits while jaguars and pumas are hiding in the forest shadows. The harpy eagles are one of the biggest birds of prey and a new arrival in this forest – Jacob thinks they are feeding on the noisy monkeys.

While Belize may be occupying a small land area between Mexico, Guatemala and the Caribbean sea that is home to less than half a million people, its cultural diversity is impressive. Formerly known as British Honduras, Belize gained independence fairly recently in 1981 and is now an English speaking country in a region that is dominated by Spanish speakers. For such a small country, Belize harbors surprising ethnic diversity that includes significant German Mennonite, Mayan and East Asian minorities alongside at least 5 more ethnic groups. People here live life their own way. Locals do not shop in big supermarket chains but instead go to the small shop in their neighbor’s house marked with a big CocaCola sign turned orange from the tropical sun. The fast food chains are not existent but you can always find a stick of sugar cane or a piece of fruit should you need a snack.

The territory of Belize had been part of the Mayan civilization for millennia before the arrival of the Spaniards in the XVI century and the Mayan temples still remain one of the tallest strictures in the country. Local Maya say that they see a woman with red eyes dressed in white appear in front of a temple in Central Belize, climbs the steps and vanishes into the stone walls. The temple is now named “Xunantunich” meaning “the maiden from the rock” in the languages of the Mopan and Yucatec Maya.

Early attempts to excavate the site led to noticeable damage to some of the buildings due to the use of dynamite and the export of artifacts to foreign museums. Significant effort has been invested in conserving the site recently with eight buildings now unearthed and more to be found under the trees in the surrounding area. At its peak more that 200 000 people lived in and around Xunantunich before severe drought led to political unrest with the city eventually being abandoned.

Belize is well worth a visit. Although direct flights to Europe are few and far apart, Belize city is well connected to other airports in the region. The whole country is easily accessible by road and numerous organizations (such as Monkey Bay – https://www.monkeybaybelize.com) might be able to offer logistic support for visits to more remote places especially for education groups.

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Dario Dionisi



If you want to know something more about me – my soul is a traveler, my origin is Italian and my true essence is a faithful friend. I am always open to new ideas and will be very happy if you want to contact me at dario@beyondsofia.com

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Dario • Exploring beyond Sofia
Grateful to had the opportunity to go to so many p Grateful to had the opportunity to go to so many places this year, sharing some of my favourite snaps of #2022 , can’t wait to see what adventures are awaiting me during 2023 🤩

#yearoftravel #europe
Oh my god, is it already the end of the year! This Oh my god, is it already the end of the year! This year was full with surprises from our beautiful planet. In this video I gathered some of my most favourite nature spots and moments that I had the luck to record. And seriously there is no better caption to describe them than OH MY GOD 🤩

#ourplanet #ohmygod #momentsthatmatter
Life edition #2022 Life edition #2022
Welcome to the Vaticans wonders ✨ #Vatican #mus Welcome to the Vaticans wonders ✨

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The eternal city slaying since 751 BC #Rome #Ital The eternal city slaying since 751 BC

#Rome #Italy #eternalcity
“Good afternoon passengers. This is your captain “Good afternoon passengers. This is your captain speaking. I’d like to welcome everyone on Rightwing Flight 86A. We are currently cruising at an altitude of 10.000 km above sea level at an airspeed of 645 km per hour. The time is 3:25 pm. The weather looks good and with the tailwind on our side we are expecting to land in Rome approximately fifteen minutes ahead of schedule. I’ll talk to you again before we reach our destination. Until then, sit back, relax and enjoy the rest of the flight.„

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Living the Ancient Greek way | Series two Let’s Living the Ancient Greek way | Series two

Let’s be honest, living during the ancient times of Greece was probably cool.

They had so many different and creative crafts that most of them we can witness until nowadays.

A good example for this is the new museum of the Acropolis. A modern building representing the exactly same proportions of the Parthenonas.

In the museum you can see fundamental artefacts picturing the believes and life from ancient times.

But probably the best part for me was the chance to see by myself all the perfect details crafted on different surfaces.

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Living the Ancient Greek way | Series one The hil Living the Ancient Greek way | Series one

The hill of Acropolis
- Parthenon since 432 BC
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