Semena Santa: "Andrea, I'm just not sure how long you want to look at a bunch of rocks for."

When planning for this trip I asked numerous people for advice.  Their advice included: spend a day and a half in Tikal, wear long pants, lots of bug spray and comfortable shoes.  Upon suggesting a day and a half to the daddio he responded with "Andrea, I'm just not sure how long you want to look at a bunch of rocks for."  So that was it, it was going to be one day.  And I was determined I was going to spend the entire day there . . .

Temple 1 from behind.

(When looking at the ruins in my pictures try to imagine them painted bright vibrant colors as that is how they were when the empire ruled.  They take on a whole new immensity! It's almost unbelievable.)

Temple 2.

I did however take some of the other advice:  comfortable shoes and bug spray.  I skipped the one on the pants as it was 42C the day before (and ended up hitting 44C + humidity that day) and I wasn't going to wear pants and risk overheating.  The day began at 4:30 am as we awaited our shuttle outside the hotel.  It was already hot at 4:30 am so choosing shorts over pants was definately a wise decision.

The Daddio and I at the Great Plaza.

Daddio!

The shuttle ride was fine except for the uninformed passengers who thought their ticket included the 150Q admission to the park, but it actually only included the ride and the tour guide.  Being the good Canadians that we are Ian and I ended up lending 2 Norweigan girls 200Q.  It remains to be seen whether the money will be returned or not. (They actually came to our hotel later that day and paid us back, I was actually shocked.  I thought for sure we would never see that 200Q again.)

Daddio again . . .

Giant face carved in one of the ruins.

The tour was really awesome and included discussions of halucinogens and the end of the world in 2012.  The park is getting ready for another Y2K craze.  Apparently at the millenium the park was insane, people could barely walk it was so packed.  I will make sure not to return during this time.  Talk about fear of crowds!

From the top of Temple 2: Big-I filming the vastness of the park.

(To the left are many sacrifice alters where jaguar skins allow with food and humans were left for the gods.  Here is where the drugs come into play the people did not know they were about to be sacrificed as they were given halucinogens and paralytics before the sacrifice.  False fact:  In the movie Apocalypto they show sacrifices from the top of the temples, this was never the case sacrifices were only made on the sacrificial alters.)

The stairs up Temple 2.  We thought they were pretty scary . . . until we climbed temple 5.

 

The tour was great but the day was very very hot!  So after the four and a half hour tour we decided it was enought and caught the first shuttle back to our air conditioned hotel.  I think the choice to do one day over two was wise because I am pretty sure I will not be able to walk tomorrow.  (I was actually sore for 2 days afterwards.)

The view of of the Plaza from Temple 5.

The stairs up Temple 5 . . . it was pretty much like climbing a ladder 50 m in the air . . . man was my heart beating! (It's actually starting to race a little thinking about it!)

Temple 5 . . . thank god I don't have a fear of heights otherwise I am sure I would have recurring nightmares of this Temple.

 

All in all I loved Peten. The lake was wonderful, Flores is an awesome town, and Tikal was absolutely amazing.  I will definately try and return some day as I am sure there are many things we missed only spending two days here.

The view from Temple 4 . . . the tallest of the Temples, it stands 60 m and is only partially uncovered.  All you can really see is jungle coming every way around this Temple except you can see the top sticking out from the trees from the other temples it is pretty amazing.

The Daddio and Ian on top of Temple 4.  (The climb up this one wasn't quite as scary as the others so the men were able to do it!)

Looking over the edge of Temple 4 . . . you can't see the ground!

Temple 4 from the base . . . you can see they are still working on this pyramid.  Our tour guide said this was the pyramid from the Star Wars Movies or Star Trek or some star movie I have never seen.

Off to Belize tomorrow.  Sharks here I come!

I heard a lot about the howler monkeys before coming and to watch out for them because they steal.  Sadly we didn't see too many monkeys but here was one having a little lunch.

This Toucan was actually on of the coolest parts of the trip.  The other groups tour guide actually heard this Toucan while sitting on the bench in the park and jumped up and was like come guys a flying banana and started running this way and that way listing to the flying bananas call and scoped it out in a tree across the park and let us use his binoculars to find it . . . he also took this photo through his binoculars!  It was so amazing to see someone do that!

One last fact:  Maya actually means "I don't understand you" . . . It was what the people at the Mayan Yucatan said to the Spanish when they arrived!

Semena Santa: Flores

Day 1: Flores

You would think riding a bus all night would be tiring and would have left me wanting a rest, but nope!  I wanted breakfast, a shower (I needed to wash the bus off of me), a coffee and to start my day.

Dad had already arranged a boat ride for us for that day.  150Q for 3 hours on a boat around the lake not a bad deal.  (We later tried to book a boat ride around the Caye Caulker island in Belize, they wanted $150US and it would only take an hour and a half.)

Big-I, P.I.A.C., and Daddio on our boat ride around Lake Peten.

The first stop on our boat ride was an island which contained a zoo, or perhaps a Zoo Island.  Besides zoo's being so sad, this one was pretty cool because we were able to see alot of the native wildlife fairly up close.

The "wild boars" and Mo the Maccaw:  I am not sure how wild the boars really were as we were right in the pen with them.  Mo was also loose but his wings were clipped, he was really awesome though he climbed all the way down the cage with his beak to come and say hi to me!

Crocodile!

A very angry Puma!

The Jaguar and the man who will meet his death one day by either the Jaguar or the Puma.  He was throwing stuff at them trying to get them to move around.  Seriously dude, leave them alone its +42C plus humidity!

Spider Monkey: I want one!

The ride continued to a place where the lake was so perfectly blue you could have sworn it was the Caribean and not a fresh water lake.  It was here that we swam.  The lake was the absolute perfect temperature I could have swam in it all day.

Kara and I.

.  

The Schelers.

The lake was almost perfect except it had  somewhat of an odd bottom.  At first it was so rocky you couldn't stant and then we hit a bottom that felt somewhat like walking in a mixture of mushed kiwi and cornstarch.  I am not sure that description makes sense but it was the first thing that came to mind.  This lake also contains Crocodiles.  Our boat guide Carlos told us: "4 metres . . . but no problem, don't hurt humans.  I let my little kids swim in here all the time!"  Finishing our tour of the lake we returned to Flores for some lunch and a siesta.  Unfortunately, I do not siesta very well.  So I am sitting on my hotel balcony listening to my Sirius (who made the long trip from NB in Ians backpack) and writing this blog.

 

Flores Island from the boat.

Sunset view from our hotel balcony.

Tomorrow, Tikal.  The most amazing site in the Mayan world.

Semena Santa: The Departure

THE DEPARTURE

We had prepurchased bus tickets for a 9:00 pm departure and overnight bus ride to Santa Elena.

We were told it would be a non-stop bus on a luxury busline.  Unfortunately that was not the case.  As we waited in the bus depot in Zone 1 (the area we were told never to go alone and especially not to go at night).  The bus depot was a little scary, mostly grungy.  But what place in Guate City isn't grungy, so overall not so bad.  The bus seemed fine at first, not the Linea Dorada Luxury Bus I had hoped for but it would do.  Besides being colder than sitting in a snowbank in the middle of January and having the person in front of me reclined so far onto my lap I could pick lice off of his head if I wanted to, it had airconditioning and the seats reclined.

At 4:30 am our comfortable-ish ride was rudely interrupted.  We pulled ocer on the side of the highway and people started to get off.  At first we ignored this and kept sleeping, but once we realised the bus was near empty I figures maybe I should check outside and see what was going on.  I get outside and thankfully met a man in my disoriented sleep state that informed me I was to get on the other bus that was in front of our bus on the highway.  I had a mild freak out ran into the bus grabbed my bag and Kara and we ran to the other bus which was unfortunately pretty much full.  Leaving Kara sitting with a girl who's ass was on her lap and me sitting with a boy who listened to loud enough techno that it hurt my eardrums.

The rest of the ride was pretty miserable as the bus stopped every 10 minutes for the remaining 2.5 hours of our ride.  There was no airconditioning and the seats didn't recline and the seats were so dirty I was scared to put my head back in fear of what may move into my hair!

Finally arriving in Santa Elena was very relieving, as I was 5 minutes away from getting off that bus and walking the remainder of the way.  Upon arriving we were greeted by our cab driver who seemed okay until we told him our hotel hame and he thought perhaps we would like a ride to Tikal instead.

"No, No Senor.  Flores.  Hotel Peten. Seulemente!"

He never found the hotel, asking every person he saw where it was.  I finally say something familiar witting on the corner of the sidewalk having a cigarette.  I am pretty sure I was out of the cab before he stopped.  Throwing money at him an running to something familiar from home.  My daddio!

Semena Santa: Let the vacation begin!

I've been ready for this break since my first week here.

Leaving at 6:00 am and getting home at 5:00 pm takes its toll on a person after 3 months of doing it.

So here is the plan:
-1 week
-2 bus rides
-1 ferrie ride
-a plane ride back to Guate
-and 2 countries!

Friday night I get off the phone with my daddio who has already arrived in Flores with Ian and have booked our trip to Tikal 4:30 am Sunday and and a 5:00 am departure for Belize on Monday morning.  (At this point I haven't even left Guate City and my next 3 days are already planned!)

Guess I should probably get myself to Flores, ASAP.

"I want to get away . . . "

I started this blog a few weeks ago and figured I should perhaps finish it.

"We need to get away."

That is how the whole thing started.  After 2 months in this country and onlyonce leaving the city for Antigua it was due time to put the school behing us and leave the city if even only for the day and night.  After some quick consideration we decided Monterrico was where we would go.

The venture began on Friday night with Jimena and I, and 2 chicken buses!  I had lost my chicken bus virginity and it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.  We were able to get on buses that had seats available, so I could sit stare out the window and not let my fear of crowds take over.  (I actually even took the chicken bus 20 blocks all by myself!) These rides resulted in our booking of a 6:00 am shuttle to Antigua followed by a 8:00 am shuttle from Antigua to Monterrico.

Saturday morning started way to early!  Unfortunately I needed to leave my house around the same time I normally wake up for school, and after 5 days straight of 5:30 am - 5:10 am is not an easy task.  1 extra snooze and I was rushing trying to pack my bag as I had been to lazy to do it the night before.  Satisfied I had enough for my day/night away we began our 20 block speedwalk through the earlymorning streets of Zone 9.  Which was surprisingly busy for pre-6:00 am on a Saturday (I am not actually sure when some of these people sleep).  We hop on our shuttle to Antigua and arrive 40 minutes later.  Leaving a little over an hour before our next shuttle.  Just enought time for a Guatemalan breakfast, a couple of cups of coffee, and some pictures in central park.

Jimena and I in front of the fountain in Central Park.  (Notice the jeans and bunnyhug.)

Forgetting that Monterrico would not be part of the land of eternal spring it never occurred to that jeans might be a bad idea.  And that they were, by the time we arrived in Monterrico in our non airconditioned shuttle bus I felt as though my skin was melting and needed to change immediately!  A quick change in one of the nastiest bathrooms I have ever stepped into without the influence of alcohol and we were on our way to the beach!

The air was different!  We were able to breath for an entire day without the constant fear of losing our lungs and braincells inhaling the black smoke of the chicken buses and the pollution of the city.

Kara braving the dangerous Monterrico waters.  The undertow was insane, definately would let any little ones in these waters on their own.

The black sand was amazingly hot!  You had to run to the beach in order to keep your feet from burning off.

We sat on the beach as long as we could bear it before the calls of pinacolada were so loud I could no longer tune them out. We proceeded to where the pinacoladas were and spent the next few hours sipping (or guzzling) pinacoladas in some fabulous hammock chairs.

YUMMY!

Kara sipping her pinacolada!

Jimena looking lovely in the Monterrico heat!

Pinacolada, Pinacolada, and Mojito!

After the drinking, came the lunch.  And I was at the ocean so I was not scared to try the seafood, so I shrimp it would be! Unfortunately when they arrived they were a little bit scary to look at, as they were whole shrimp: tail, shell, legs, head and eyes!

To my disapointment all of the effort required to consume these shrimp was slightly more difficult than I had hoped and in doing so I removed all of the garlic flavor and was left staring at a plate of legs and eyes!

We returned to our hammock chairs for the remainder of our day at the beach.

[I am going to sidetrack for a moment for something a little horrifying!

4 lifeguards!  Not one of them with their eyes on the water. "A very dangerous beach where people drown all the time" I was told.  And not one of the lifeguards was watching the water.  If I could speak better spanish, or if I thought they would understand me I would have torn them a new one!

We left Monterrico and returned to Antigua for the evening.  It was nice to spend an evening outside: drinking coffee, eating dinner and all with Jimena not having to carry her pepper spray in one hand and beating stick in the other. 

The church in Antigua at night. So pretty!

The fountain in Central Park.

We were thirsty!

Leaving Antigua the next day was hard.  However, the ride home was an adventure or as our spanish tutor calls it an "extreme sport".  The chicken bus from Antigua is pretty entertaining.  Being on the isle seat was a little bit of a struggle as when the roller coaster began my body decided it was going to leave its seat and join the man across the aisle . . . and then 3 seconds later we took another curve in the suped up school bus and I was cuddling with Jimena like a child trying not to go to the dentist.  You couldn't have stuck a dime between us we were so close together . . and 2 seconds later I was sharing the seat with the man across the aisle again.  This continued for the remaining 40 minute ride to the city.

All in all, an excellent and well deserved break from our hectic Guate life.