Tikal ... Mayan Ruins

Friday morning we caught an early morning bus to Guatemala City and then a flight from Guat City to Flores which is in the northern part of Guatemala. Flores is just a jumping off point for the incredible Tikal, one of the most important Mayan settlements with a population estimated at 100,000 that lasted over 1500 years (700BC until ~900AD).

What sets Tikal apart from other sites is that it surrounded by a steamy jungle with howler monkeys, spider monkeys, toucans, coatimundi, and the huge tarantula-like ceiba tree.
http://www.belizezoo.org/zoo/zoo/mammals/coa/coa1.html Ceiba tree and some coatimundis looking for food.



There are 5 major temples that have been uncovered and their tops extend well above the canopy. What I found to be the most exciting part (besides the animals) was that only 20% of the structures have been unearthed and as we walked through the jungle, there were enormous tree covered mounds that were clearly more structures. I wanted to badly to just take a shovel and start digging!

One of the mounds ... or another unearthed temple.

We were allowed to climb two of the temples (Temple II and Temple IV) and we were able to see the tops of the other temples above the canopy.

On the ride home, there were 30 people in our van! Honestly... these people sure know how to pack a vehicle full. There were about 7 jump seats that fold down and two people standing in the "doorway!"

Chichicastenango, Guatemala

Day 3 we got up early again to head to the markets in Chichicastenango. This is Guatemala's most famous market and it was incredible. The indigenous people travel overnight with their crafts and food on an A frame on their backs only to have their "booths" set up by the morning.

The cultural experience could not be beat as the Guatemalans were wearing the traditional Mayan clothing and spoke a combination of Spanish and Mayan dialects. The center of the market is reserved for the everyday needs of the Guatemalans (food, toiletries) and the outer edges of the market offer more of the touristy things. I bought a fabulous patchwork blanket (and had to haul around all 10 lbs of it for the rest of the trip!) and a few other really special items. The bartering was fun and I think I finally got the hang of it by the end of the day!
Santo Tomas Church still combines many of the Mayan traditions (i.e. sacrificing chickens) those of the Catholic faith.

Apparently Sarah was a tiger in another life because this mask fits her too well... even her eyes line up!
Back to Antigua we go... we couldn't get enough of Hotel Don Ismael :)

Panajachel, Guatemala

Lake Atitlan and surrounding volcanos.
The morning departure was 7AM as we were headed to Panajachel (about 2 hours west of Antigua). Panajachel is nestled in the Guatemalan highlands and is surrounded by three volcanoes (Toliman, Atitlan, and San Pedro) and Lake Atitlan. From Pana, we hopped on a boat and visited the indigenous villages on Lake Atitlan.

This was the first time we got ripped off because when we bought our tickets for the boats, we purchased them from some guys that greeted us just before we got to the docks. They wanted $50 US each to take us to 3 islands and Sarah and I definitely didn't have that much money. We changed the route to a less traveled one and got the price down to $25 per person (which was still WAY more than we wanted to spend). We ended up with a private boat and our own personal driver... but we later found out that price should be $8.00 US per person... nice... stupid tourists! ;) We were practically the ONLY tourists in the villages we visited which was awesome because we were able to see the indigenous people performing their daily activities. The women on these islands are famous for their typical Mayan dress and beautiful hand-woven materials. I had to buy a couple of them because they were so pretty!

For just a minute I thought we were gonna be in trouble because the boat guy pulled up to this random spot on the lake and told us that it was a "hot spot" in the water and we should get out and feel it. We didn't have on our swimsuits but we figured we might as well and jumped in with all of our clothes on! Just then, the driver turned the engine of the boat back on and started driving away from us... then he picked up my purse ... we were just like "crap we're about to get our stuff stolen and get left here in the middle of this huge lake..." but it turns out he was just moving it so that it would get wet when got back in the boat. Phew!

Volcan Pacaya and Flowing Lava

We didn't take long to get started on the adventures as we headed up Volcan Pacaya on Day 2 of our trip in Guatemala. Antigua is surrounded by volcanos which can be climbed at your leisure. Volcan Pacaya is however, the most active, and has been known to errupt when climbers are near the crater!

The shuttle left at 5:30 AM and took about 1.5 hours to get to the volcano. We drove past a few itty-bitty "towns" on our way up the volcano (I'd be scared to live there!) and then walked about 3km before we saw any lava. Apparently we had the perfect weather because the lingering clouds enhanced the red color of the lava! The first bit of black volcanic rock that we saw was 4 days old and had moved quite a distance from it's origin. The rock was warm but not on fire anymore.
Once we got to the top, you could hear nothing but the loud crack and pop of the burning lava. We were could get as close as we wanted (much to the guide's dislike) and some people were even stupid enough to climb on the "cooled" parts of the lava!
Our dinner that night was interesting because we tried Jamaica juice (made from the Jamaica flower and tasted like cranberry juice) and a few local dishes.

"Jenna, cats don't eat bread!" -Sarah about the starving cat that pounced my PBJ.

Glad it Worked out... Arriving in Guatemala

Jenna and Sarah being silly on the deck at Hotel Ismael after our arrival in Antigua.

As I'm sure you'll figure out as you read the following logs, Sarah and I did not "Plan" this trip... in fact, we basically bought tickets and didn't talk much more about it. It was so "un-planned" that I had no idea what time Sarah's flight from NY arrived in the Guatemala airport... nor did I know what we would do if we didn't meet up at the airport (neither of us had cell phones with us!).

The trip started off on a good note as I only waited about 45 minutes before she arrived and we immediately hopped on a shuttle to Antigua, Guatemala.

We chose Hotel de La Casa de Don Ismael from the guide book and were pleasantly suprised to see how clean and adorable it was. There was a center courtyard with tropical plants and an upstairs deck with a view of the city. We shared a simple room with a bathroom for about $8.00 US each per night! Sweet. The owner of the hostel was meticulous... there were candles placed along the stairwell so we could get to our room and as soon as we turned our light off they blew the candles out... and literally every time he heard the toilet flush, he came up the stairs and turned the last bit of toilet paper on the roll into an origami creation! haha (It was kinda weird though when it happened at like midnight!)

Some of the plants in our courtyard anyone know what the one on the left is called?

Antigua is incredible as it is considered one of the world's best preserved colonial cities. The architecture, bright colored buildings, and cobblestone streets were picture perfect. The Guatemalans are so friendly and eager to be helpful. The men were extremely respectful towards women as I can't recall even one instance where a man did more than just glance at the two white girls walking by.

My only complaint? The roads are repetive and not well marked ... so when you consider who was traveling, you understand that is was easy for us to get disoriented!

I Promise!

Man we have been sooo busy and there's virtually no places to access internet for long periods of time. I might just wait until I get back to the states to update because I want to put up pictures with the stories!

This trip is awesome.

Guatemala
Antigua
Volcan Pacaya
Panajachel
Chichicastenango
Lago de Atitlan
Tikal/Flores

Belize
Placencia
Tobacco Caye
Caye Caulker

Mexico
Merida
Mexico City

South Padre Island

I love South Padre... I never realized what a nice beach it really is! I have spent more time out there this summer than I think I've spent in the past 4 years of combined! Diving last weekend was alright despite the fact that we dove at an oil rig... so much for the serenity of the quiet water! There was a constant hum under the water which I found to be quite annoying. There were some fish that I hadn't seen, but nothing spectacular. The coolest thing I did see was a couple of pretty big barracudas swimming up above me.

Last night we all went to Tequila Sunset to catch up and it was a blast. Ran into some people we knew ... went for a late night black water swim in the ocean... and finally hit the sack.

I have to say that I've concluded that I have two severe fears 1.) Darkness (i.e. sharks underwater, caves, etc) and 2.) heights. I am so embarrassed that I get so scared of sharks despite that I'm not nervous at all when I'm SCUBA diving. Hmm... I guess my suggestion of swimming in the ocean late at night backfired when both George and Justin wanted to swim out to the 3rd sandbar! I went along only because i was too afraid to go back alone but when George started saying that we might have missed the 3rd sandbar and that the water was about 9 feet deep... I flipped out! I swam back to shore as fast as I could and dragged myself up onto the beach to wait for them to return.

Maybe I need to get this fear fixeD? Any suggestions?

Today was a BBQ at the beach and I was pretty pumped because Heidi joined us finally! We layed out and played in the ocean for hours and I have a sunburn that hurts to prove it!




Justin and George playing soccer.










Tomorrow I leave for Guatemala, I better get to laundry and packing!

Chevy: Like a Rock...

Yes, I now believe those commercials... in fact, I think the producers of the commercials could have used our film to make a commercial! Let me explain... apparently we took a wrong turn somewhere on the way to the 14000 ft hike and ended up on this jeep path. Well being that my brother drives a big, fat, heavy, Chevy 2 wheel drive truck with a camper on the back... that jeep track wasn't made for us.

The boys read the sign that said "Only narrow, lifted, 4x4 trucks allowed past this point... very steep decline," they just kept going! The first decline was so steep that from my position in the front, the hood didn't come out in my pictures! The problem wasn't the steepness however, it was the fact that the trail was about 2 feet wider than our truck and the left side was a huge cliff into a valley with a river. Nice.


This was one of the "safer" areas! That's the edge just off to the right... the left was a mountain of rocks.






Well, in order to get over the boulders jutting out of the road, and get down the decline, the boys had to carry huge rocks to the trail and place them just so they went under the tires so the truck wouldn't bottom out. This was hard work and I couldn't carry the rocks because they were too heavy!

Well about the time we finished this decline, some hikers told me how stupid we were and how dangerous this road is ... how many people die trying to drive it every year... awesome. I was so scared that we were doing this that I walked behind the truck! Hell if I'm falling over the cliff's edge! :)

After about 3 hours of "building the road" and having only 3 wheels on the ground at one time, we made it through. Plus I had some time to take some pictures along the way. We were about 2 hours from Crested Butte and we got back just in time to have some dinner at the Pita Palace.

So after meeting up with a bunch of locals, we found out just how dangerous that road really is and just how lucky we were to make it in the vehicle we were driving. Apparently there are a bunch of wrecked cars at the bottom along the banks of the river from cars falling over the edge! Yikes!!




Brett, me, and Baby at a waterfall.




I guess the number 1 thing I learned was that 1.) chevy's are great trucks and 2.) my brother and I have VERY different views of scary and dangerous. Very Different!

Crested Butte, CO

Brett, his friend, and I were planning to hike a 14,000 ft peak just near Crested Butte so we drove 3+ hours to the quaint resort town. Now this place is awesome. I could definitely see myself living here for a while (except that it's tiny!). Everyone was riding around on cruiser bikes (bicycles that is) with 70s style frames... they were unlocked on bike racks... and people left their house doors wide open. Everyone knew everyone.

At at party that night, I realized that there is so much more emphasis on the environment and efficiency in Colorado. There seemed to be more "organic" foods than not and the market is growing for those things. The girls seem to all be very fit and into outside activities. The guys are all into cycling and running... I was so inspired to get back on my bike again! Wait, maybe a mountain bike this time?

Crested Butte is nestled in between huge mountains, so the view was spectacular! We stayed in a hotel the first night and then camped out in a friend's yard for the following 2 nights. Well we didn't quite make it to the hike that day because of a change of plans...

Dove Creek, CO

So I just got back from my week trip to Colorado to see my brother and it was fabulous. Brett and I spent some quality time together and didn't feel the need to strangle one another by the end of the trip... bonus!

So here's a quick run down...

After my 9 hour day at the airport, Brett picked me up in Durango and we walked around the little town which was adorable. We ate dinner at Skinny's, a local mex food restaurant. Apparently I am not a true Texan anymore because the green chile soup was definitely spicy! "The roof, the roof, the roof was on fire!" hehe

After driving a couple of hours we arrived in Dove Creek where Brett is helping out on a friend's property. Our tents were already all set up complete with a great hammock in the middle!
I still had yet to ask about any sort of showering facility because I was pretty sure, based on the fact that my flashlight was the only electricity, that there was no water.



The next day, I got the tour of the property and Brett got to use his geography knowledge to explain how all the land formations were created. There was so much sandstone covered in beautiful colors of lichen.

Baby (Brett's dog) is really enjoying herself catching all kinds of little rodents running around. We saw plenty of Mule Deer bounding around the property as well. How cute :)