Xunantunich, Belize

Formerly known as British Honduras... Belize is one of the lushest... most beautiful countries I've ever seen.... but also perhaps the poorest.

Above is a pic I snapped of "El Castillo"... the 130 ft tall pyramid at the far end of the ancient Mayan site seen just as we walked into the plaza. All Mayan structures were made of quarried limestone. Because they didn't want to heft millions of tons of limestone around to get to their building sites, the Mayans always had a town geologist. The geologist's job was to find a location with all the limestone they would ever need to construct their city and then build the city in the middle of that spot. INGENIOUS! Duh! Even the floors are made of solid limestone. The Belizian government has chosen to leave the floors covered by the overgrown grass in order to keep down the erosion. There are some exposed areas though... what beautiful stone floors!!!!! I'm jealous!

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Xunantunich pronounced shoo-NAHN-too-nich with an accent on the NAHN, means "Stone Woman"

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Americans think its pronounced... tuna sandwich... LOL