From Lake Atitlan, it was a straight shot to Peten, Guatemala`s Northernmost district and home of Tikal. Traveling between Guatemala City and Tikal requires a 10 hour bus ride (!!) and so, inorder to take advantage of time- and save on hotels- many travelers take an overnight bus, leaving at 9pm and arriving at 6 or 7am. After taking both the ¨economic¨and ¨luxury¨ lines I can say... you don`t sleep much in either... but it saves a couple of days of travel!
Super comfy overnight bus from Guatemala city to Tikal
Again, plans changed, but always for the best! Arriving in Flores at 6am, I made a straight shot to the Tikal park. (Until 3 months ago) the park had a deal where you enter after 3pm and your ticket lets you in again the following day to explore and watch the sunrise. After arriving to find out I would not only have to pay for a ticket for each day I wanted to see the ruins, but I would need to pay an extra $20 to enter the park early for the sunrise, I got creative! I found a great hotel with a campsite right outside the ruins and for $10 ¨camped¨ at the park. After a little asking around, I found out that there were trails outside of the ruins that you could hike for free, so I decided to head out solo (only because I was on ¨park grounds.¨) I found a great, all beit rickety, tree fort look out and a crocodile pond- cheque! That night, I had the luck of meeting up with a pair from Canada and a gal from France, with whom we bartered a sunrise tour for $12 each the next morning- double Cheque!
My campsite at the Jaguar Inn inside Tikal park :)
Mist rolling in before sunrise in Tikal
Climbing through the jungle to get to the ruins
After sleeping through a crazy thunderstorm, we arrived at the guard´s station at 4:30am and we were at the top of the temple by 5:00am. It turned out to be cloudy and the sun never officially ¨rose,¨ but the early entrance was still worth it to have the park to ourselves (yes, just the four of us!!!) and hear the AMAZING cries of howler monkies echoing for what had to have been miles. Around 6am the monkies decided to come check us out and the 160ft temple we climbed was surrounded! When we finally made our way down, we were in for a surprise... the night´s storms literally closed off sections of the trail! Since we were the first on the scene, we decided to forge through before the clean up crews and tours.
The Grand Plaza
The ruins were awesome! One of the things that sets Tikal apart from other ruins is that it is literally in the jungle. (It takes 30 min to walk in and out!) Because of its setting, the wildlife was incredible- monkeys, parakeets, macaws, toucans, snakes! :P
After Tikal, the plan was to head to Mexico, but after consulting the map (and my pocketbook), Belize was closer and cheaper... Belize it was! In three and half hours I was across the boarder and in my hotel! For $15 a night, I found a great little cabaña in the woods, with onsite kitchen, restaurant, butterfly museum, disc golf course, hiking trails, and natural medicine garden=SWEET! I spent the next 3 days, hiking, visiting more ruins, and finally getting to that drawing I had been planning to do all trip :) It was the perfect way to relax and unwind after a whirlwind trip! I did learn one veeeeery important lesson in Belize- always check after they stamp your passport... After a ¨misunderstanding,¨(in ENGLISH) the immigration official stamped my passport for 1 day... and I then had to spend the day traveling to Belmopan and pay an ¨extension fine¨of $25- thank God Belize is a tiny country and traveling is relatively fast!!- Lesson learned!
My sweet little cabin in the woods in San Jose Succotz, Belize
Swimming in the river :)
A Belizian sunset
The final leg of my trip was back to the Southwest part of the country to visit AMDV`s sister site, Amigas del Sol (Friends of the Sun). While it was a quick visit, it was great to connect and exchange ideas. The women in Guatemala have years of experience in natural medicine, and I had a chance to learn a lot from them. We exchanged recipes and commited to looking for funds to create a formal exchange between the Honduras and Guatemala projects. This will hopefully be one of my final projects to complete with the Association and I couldn`t be more excited!
Guatemalan health promoter Petrona displaying Lemon grass- used to treat fever
Honduras volunteers past and present united!
For more photos of the trip, check out: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=116429006352388993425&target=ALBUM&id=5605858287057395313&authkey=Gv1sRgCKPRmtGy5_D-KA&feat=email
and for those who have asked, here are more Antigua and Lake Atitlan photos :) https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=116429006352388993425&target=ALBUM&id=5601579126130233121&authkey=Gv1sRgCO3srfPh9Y-NfQ&feat=email
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