Final Day in San Ignacio

 Right outside of our hotel in the main street of San Ignacio, Belize

Happy Easter!! It's sad being away from my family for the first time ever on this day. I miss my people so much! On the other hand, these adventures the past few days have been nothing short of amazing and I'm so thankful to have this experience to see more of the world. Today, we take our final excursion in San Ignacio to the Mayan Ruins. Tomorrow, we will take a Water Taxi to San Pedro where we will start student teaching throughout the upcoming weeks. So excited!

View from the top of the Caracol Mayan Ruins, also known as "Caana" (skybox)!! This temple is about 138 feet above the ground, and took over 300 years to build. Looking up at the ruins from the ground, we thought that there was no way we would get up to the top. They were SO high and the steps were SO steep. Our guide said, "Okay you have 45 minutes, go play!" Lemme tell you...climbing to the top was a WORKOUT. I felt like I was back in Jennifer's boot camp class at the YMCA! But it was way worth it. This view was spectacular. We didn't want to go back down! (And we knew it was going to be just as painful going down as it was going up...) Not only was this view amazing, but the actual structure resembled a castle with many rooms and nooks back inside of it. Our guide walked us through the passages and pointed out where the Leaders and Noble Mayans would reside, as well as the "conference rooms." 

Wanted to give a shoutout to one of my Math Professors, Dr. Slaten! In my History of Mathematics class (yes, I took that, and I loved it!), she taught us about the origins of numbers in various cultures, the Mayan numeric system being one of them. Throughout the ruins and other structures, I could recognize Mayan numbers all over the place!! I was probably a little too fascinated! Our guide was also impressed on my knowledge of the number system ;)