The first time you see them, it’s hard to believe they call them ruins. Fact is, the Mayan descendents that function as your tour guide when you hike through the ancient ruins of Belize do not like them to be called ruins at all.

Carocal on the Belize mainland was not the Belize I’d imagined. My friends all showed me photos of their Belize trips…the usual island vacation stuff…blue water, palm trees, incredible diving, the fishing and all the flowery drinks and seaside hammocks you associate with Jimmy Buffet and Jerry Jeff Walker’ anthems.

Mostly, my friends never went to mainland Belize, where I am now. And as we start to ascend the Mayan temple deep in the verdant jungle, I can’t believe my eyes…and feet.

My shoes are traipsing over ancient stones, some of the steps raise up over knee high, and it is a bit of a grunt to get to the top.

But my breath is stolen for a different reason: I have ascended the tallest man-made building in the entire country of Belize: A 15-story Mayan pyramid that soars to 140 feet above sea level!

A friend on the trip summed it up best:

“It’s surreal, you’re walking through dense jungle, and it opens up and you see monkeys running around among all these huge rock structures built by hand without modern equipment.   How did the Mayans get these huge rocks up 140 feet to the top of their temple?”

The aura is astounding. You almost expect to see Harrison Ford burst from a tunnel pursued by brightly painted native warriors with blowguns.

The part of Belize I have grown to love, the central coastal region of the country, has all that same island vacation tropical paradise stuff, plus another world of wonders in the form of volcanoes, whitewater rivers, preserves where wild jaguars roam and of course the remains of Mayan civilization.

And a whole lot fewer tourists. There is plenty of room to roam, and to be alone doing it. In fact, 41 percent of Belize is nature reserve managed by the government or other organizations, and 70 percent of Belize land is still covered by some kind of forest.

Overpopulated Guatemala has depleted it’s natural resources, but Belize remains pristine…and full of mystery.

Around the ruins where we hiked, there are lots of structures still uncovered in the complex. Mounds of earth and ancient relic reclaimed by the jungle remain untouched because there is no funding to come dig them out. How much amazing architecture that was wa-a-a-ay ahead of it’s time remains hidden in the jungle here? No one can say.

On the temple, arches and rounded entryways boggle your mind, as you see first-hand where heavy stones were somehow fit together in a complex pattern to become solid, without mortar or cement. Holes in certain parts of buildings correlate with the sun angle at certain times of day – really advanced stuff.

Stuff you will not find on any of Belize’s wonderful, touristy islands nor any of the small private ones. I cannot wait to see what else the mainland holds!

I didn’t worship at the Mayan temple, but I think my heart started to worship this incredible little country a little.