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Sugarcane emits the sweet smell of success that envelops Orange Walk District. But the grand Maya temples, primal jungles, and exotic birds lure the vacationers. Welcomed warmly by locals, visitors enjoy the Mexican influence here, which flavors everything from tortilla bakeries to mission churches.
 Populated mainly by descendants of mestizos - the Spanish-Maya refugees who fled the 19th-century Caste Wars of Yucatán - Orange Walk Town is home to 15,000. An hour north of Belize City, it hugs the New River, an ancient Maya trading route.
In the 19th century, mahogany yielded to sugarcane as the new backbone of Belizean agriculture. Now cane cutters in Orange Walk, the nation's breadbasket, do much of the country's hardest work. Tower Hill refinery grinds out 200 million pounds of sugar each year, and cane trucks lumber like overloaded pachyderms, dropping sticks along the road. A new bypass east of town relieves that traffic.
Things to See and Do | Dining | Accommodations
THINGS TO SEE AND DO
Explore Orange Walk Town before launching a wilderness adventure. At the Banquitas House of Culture, follow the town's evolution over centuries, and attend cultural presentations at the nearby amphitheater. Visit La Inmaculada Catholic Church, which priests consecrated at the stroke of midnight, December 31, 1899, to ring in the 1900s.
Find a rainbow of fruits and vegetables at the central market, every day except Sunday and holidays, from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. Chabelo's fruit and vegetable center, near the fire station, also offers a variety.
Godoy's Orchid Garden displays beautiful black orchids - the national flowers of Belize - among its 250 species of orchids and bromeliads.
The jewel of Orange Walk would have to be Lamanai - city of 718 structures, once home to 50,000 Maya, inhabited from 1500 BC to the early 1700s, and the only Maya city still occupied when Europeans arrived. The most impressive structure at Lamanai, which means submerged crocodile, dates to 100 BC.
Hikers with stamina can climb the 112-foot tower - taller than modern Belizean buildings - to enjoy panoramic views of the lagoon. Although most buildings still hide under centuries of growth, excavations reveal how major temples evolved over centuries, layer by layer. Glyphs of mysterious events and masks of powerful rulers inspire amateur archaeologists to play Indiana Jones. A compact museum displays artifacts, including the ornately carved Stela 9, an AD 625 stone carving of Lord Smoking Shell. Open daily 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., admission is US$5.
Just north of Lamanai languish the remains of two 17th-century churches, intended by Spanish missionaries to convert local heathens. Unimpressed, the Maya destroyed the buildings. To the south lie the ruins of a short-lived 19th-century sugar mill.
 To reach Lamanai, visitors cruise 90 minutes on a boat tour down picturesque New River. En route, Mennonites in straw hats wave from the village of Shipyard. Cranes under billowing smokestacks load barges at the sugar refinery. Dug out of guanacaste trees, dories transport locals on fishing expeditions.
Tour guides point to manatees gliding in the river, bats posing as tree bark, crocodiles lurking under the surface, termites making nests from mud, iguanas sunning themselves on branches, and howler monkeys playing like children in the trees.
Teeming with exotic birds, the river has sun grebes, roseate spoonbills, black collared hawks, purple gallinules, tiger herons, nightjars, Yucatán jays, and anhingas, also called snake birds for the way they swim. Green-eyed cormorants stare ghoulishly at intruders. Limpkins, gray-necked woodrails, and snail-kites flock here as well. One five-foot jabiru stork - best spotted from November to April - has lived for years in a ceiba tree near the mouth of New River Lagoon.
One pyramid peeks over the trees to announce the end of the river journey and beginning of the archaeological adventure 3,000 years back in time. Explorers rarely see the elusive jaguars around them, but may hear them roar. Ask tour guides about nocturnal wildlife and crocodile-spotting safaris.
Orange Walk District contains three of the oldest sites in the ancient Maya world: Colha, Cuello, and Pulltrouser Swamp. Archaeologists once considered the unexcavated Cuello - on property of a rum distillery west of Orange Walk Town - as the oldest Maya site, circa 2000 BC. But further investigation at Colha, southeast of town, dates that site to 3400 BC. In the northern tip of the district, irrigation canals at Pulltrouser Swamp suggest sophisticated farming by the ancient ones.
The must-see site of Altun Ha, just south of the district, offers panoramic views of the countryside from atop its 60-foot Temple of the Sun God. Open daily 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., admission is US$5.
See the village of Shipyard, south of Orange Walk Town, where Annabaptist Mennonites eschew modern machinery and conveniences, and villagers still speak Neder Deutsch (Low German). Farther west, the more progressive Mennonite community of Blue Creek prospers with modern equipment.
East of Orange Walk, clear waters await eager swimmers at Honey Camp Lagoon, fringed with coconut palms and sunny beaches. Tour Laguna de'On (Mayan for pear), an archaeological site.
Over 375 bird species live near Lama-nai, more than anywhere else in the country. Folks at Lamanai Outpost Lodge have spotted the rare long-tailed hermit hummingbird, Yucatán nightjar, and Yucatán poorwill. At Chan Chich Lodge, birders glimpse the beautiful blue-crowned motmot, emerald toucanet, and brilliantly colored ocellated turkey. South of the district, bird watchers may think they have died and flown to heaven at Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary, home to migrating birds during dry season. Open daily 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., admission is US$4.
The rustic jungle resorts of Lamanai Outpost, Chan Chich, and La Milpa Field Station offer wildlife, botanical, and archaeological expeditions. Maruba Resort Jungle Spa, in Maskall Village outside the district, makes a home for howler monkeys, spider monkeys, antelopes, and native birds.
All five of Belize's wild felines - jaguars, jaguarundis, margays, ocelots, and pumas - prowl the Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area, owned by the non-profit Programme for Belize. The organization's Hill Bank and La Milpa field stations demonstrate conservation principles. Deep in the forest, La Milpa archaeological site, third largest in the country, made headlines in 1996, when a male skeleton with a jeweled necklace was unearthed from a Maya tomb.
Near the Guatemalan border, built into the unexcavated Maya city of Chan Chich, Chan Chich Lodge hosts Belize's densest concentration of wild cats, and features nine miles of marked trails.
Things to See and Do | Dining | Accommodations
DINING
Restaurants offer variety befitting the cultural mix here. Breakfast features eggs with longaniza (spicy pork). Typical Creole "cow foot" soup simmers with potatoes, carrots, and garlic. Other delights include salpicon (roast meat or pork) and escabeche (broth with chicken, onions, garlic, and corn tortillas). Try such Maya dishes as panades (corn patty with minced fish, beans, or ground beef) or salbutes (minced chicken with lettuce, tomatoes, and hot sauce, atop a corn patty). Find plenty of Mexican burritos, fajitas, and tacos.
Start the day with breakfast at Juanita's. Later, try Baker's, Come N Dine, San Francisco, or Marvias for local cuisine with fresh vegetables. The relatively formal La Hacienda serves good steaks. The Diner, open seasonally, features gourmet cuisine. Admire the antiques at El Establo. Victor's Inn & Foodery specializes in Maya cuisine. Try Lee's for Chinese food.
Meet friends at Lamanai Riverside Retreat, walking distance from the town square. Its terrace bar overlooks the river and makes an exciting michelada, a Mexican drink based on dark beer, with lime juice, black pepper, hot pepper sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and coarse salt. Whew!
Night spots that feature big-screen TVs include Hi 5 Sports Bar with billiards, and Acuarios Sports Bar with music from the oldies to the latest.
Things to See and Do | Dining | Accommodations
ACCOMMODATIONS
Comfortable rooms suit any budget from US$15 up. Hotels with air-conditioning and cable TV go to US$79.
In town, stay at Lamanai Riverside Retreat, with a handful of rooms in a prime location on a wide clearing along New River, or D*Victoria Hotel, with tropical palms and a swimming pool. Other spots include the St. Christopher Hotel on the river, the new Hotel de la Fuente, and the Orchid Palm Hotel, a new place on Northern Highway.
The true allure of Orange Walk lies deep in its wilderness, where visitors can stay in comfort. Chan Chich Lodge, a remote oasis of luxury built into an ancient Maya city, sits amid a 250,000-acre reserve. Lamanai Outpost Lodge, an impossibly perfect tropical resort, abuts the eponymous archaeological site. Maruba Resort Jungle Spa plies guests with indulgent spa treatments. Some of these wondrous lodges fetch up to US$500 a night.
Programme for Belize, whose two western field stations include a solar-powered dorm for eco-adventurers in the Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area, practices green hospitality. All-inclusive rates go from US$100 to $140.
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