Travel, travel, travel

Well, as it turns out, health care is super cheap down here ($4 for a lab test and $15ish for a doctor's visit) but medicine is suuuper expensive. 4 cipro for Q140=more than $3/pill and 2 anti-parasitics for Q150. If it weren't for the high cost of the meds, I wouldn't send in my insurance forms because it would cost almost as much to send the mail! Felt better almost instantly after taking the meds and was ready for some work and traveling.

*

I was in great shape and I got to do some more work with the groomer at Huellas here in Antigua: this work consisted of blow drying and picking at about 50 ticks off of one giant yellow lab and blowing fleas off of another. Needless to say, I was pretty itchy all day.
~~~

Sadly, Honey was having complications that landed her in the ER the day before she was due to fly out for a Guatemalan getaway. Making the best of the situation, Lauren and I went unaccompanied on the trip doing out best to take pictures of everything so Honey could feel like she were there. We started with a luxurious night at the Westin Camino Real in Guatemala City.

*

After exploring the mall and food joints, we went back to the hotel to live the ritzy life for a night.

We even went as far as to consume a strawberry smoothie at the pool and...we charged it to the room!

*

We especially enjoyed the 'heavenly' dual shower head and we spread out in the giant cloud-like beds to watch the movie channel and fall asleep in the cool air conditioned room.

~~~
Reluctant to leave the hotel at 5:00AM, we were excited to start our whirlwind tour of the ancient ruins at Tikal. Much to Lauren's dismay, we hopped on a puddle-jumper plane for the half hour flight to Flores International Airport.

*

In Flores, we met up with our tour guide who shuttled our group into the buses headed for The Tikal Inn where we got checked in and immediately headed off for a 4 hour tour of the Tikal ruins.

Having known nearly nothing about Mayan history, I gained a lot of knowledge about the constructions and lifestyles of the ancient Mayans who inhabited Tikal from around 600B.C. to 800A.D. The restored ruins of Tikal were once the home to religious temples, pyramids, and acropoli where noblemen lived. Much of Tikal still lays buried and eroded but universities and other organizations are slowly working to uncover and restore the ancient ruins. Climbing up a 70m ruin, Temple IV, was quite exhausting and we were all ready for lunch.

After lunch, we had a relaxing afternoon in the pool followed by a silent, starry night when all of the generators are turned off and all you can hear are the cicadas, birds, and monkeys.

*

On Sunday, I again awoke in the wee hours of the morning to see the sunrise and go on the 'mananero tour' where we would see spider monkeys, howler monkeys, purple parrots, toucans, a raccoon-like creature, a guinea pig-like creature, and some native plants that are used for food, textiles, and traditional healing. The guide even told me of a leaf that is supposed to help dissolve kidney stones when it's boiled into a tea.

We also saw an all-spice tree which smells incredible and made a really great syrup for the pancakes we ate for breakfast afterwards. Although the morning was cloudy, the view from atop Temple IV (yes, climbed the tallest temple in Tikal a second time) in the morning was breath-taking as the mist slowly rose from the top of the canopy.

*

We also learned about a game of life or death (in the most literal sense) where, depending on the celebration, either the winner or the loser would be sacrificed to the gods or to hell, respectively. This game was sometimes played on the mini-month of the Mayan calendar (after 18 months of 20 days, they would have an extra month of 5 days to finish off the 365 days in a year) when they would go to neighboring villages, capture a ruler and bring him back to 'play with him' for a few days then sacrifice him. Contrary to popular belief, the residents of Tikal only performed human sacrifices on 'special occasions' like the beginning of the rainy season. While we were on the subject of life and death, I tried to get some insider knowledge on the end of the Mayan calendar (12/12/2012) but the guide had no solid answers other than to say that it's the end of the long count of 5125 years (8/11/3114-12/12/2012) and that the Great Cycle should start over.

*

Also, when we entered on Sunday, we were not permitted to enter the main plaza because the President of Guatemala flew in on his helicopter to visit the historical Mayan village for the International Day of the World's Indigenous People and to partake in some Mayan rituals (http://www.elperiodico.com.gt/es/20090810/pais/109924/...the Mayan tour guide belives that Colom's expressed interest in Mayan shamanism is a purely political move since he was not raised Mayan and only 'practices' when it's conveneint).

(notice the prez's helicopter)

~~~
After the quick weekend trip to Tikal, Lauren and I spent Monday and Tuesday in Spanish classes and planning our trips for the rest of the week. Since I was planning on Honey's trip, I had already 'taken the week off' so Lauren and I decided we wanted to travel to Monterrico and Panajachel.
~~~
We headed off to Monterrico early on Wednesday morning and tried to convert to relaxed beach mode. However, in the midst of planning, I went to get an ear piercing which requires almost an hour's worth of maintenance each day and will keep me out of the ocean and pools for a couple of months. It was Lauren's first time ever to the Pacific and she was quite surprised to learn about the strength of the waves and the undertow. Also, it was a black sand beach making it nearly impossible to walk on the sand without burning the soles of your feet. Thus, we spent most of our time lazing in the hammocks and Adirondack chairs of our hotel, Johnny's Place.

Since it is impossible for me to 'chill and do nothing', I spent most of my time falling asleep while studying genetics. Laying in a hammock trying to attain the same nearly comatose state as everyone else at Johnny's I realized that people love to relax at the beach because it makes them feel free. On the contrary, I felt oddly restrained by the freedom, like it was inhibiting me from doing something productive, like I wasn't being useful.

*

There's never a shortage of food or dogs in this country for a animal loving vegetarian!

*

Monterrico is also known for it's sea turtle reserve (sea turtle=tortuga or parlama) that takes in and hatches the turtle eggs then releases the tortugitas to the sea after 5 days of hand-feeding fish. Since turtle eggs are a delicacy in Guatemala, they used to be hunted by humans who would sell them to the cities for Q30/dozen...each turtle can lay up to 12 dozen twice a year. There is now a law stating that all gathered eggs need to be taken to the hatchery which has helped the decline in the turtle population. However, the eggs are also sought out by hungry dogs and birds so these tours help to save the eggs before they get eaten or sold.

Immediately when we got off the bus, we were approached by men telling us about the reserve and offering turtle tours in the afternoon. Throughout the morning, we were approached by men over and over again until we went for a walk and booked the trip at the 'eco-tourism office'.

Still not actually sure who was fake and who was actually certified since they all had 'identification' and only one was obviously falsified. The tour was supposed to offer us a 3 hour walk on the beach in search of turtles laying eggs.at which time we would be able to take pictures and catch the eggs to take to the hatchery. We also bought into the morning tour through the mangroves to see birds and iguanas and the sunrise.

*

Unfortunately, I have no pictures to show of the night time turtle walk because we saw zero turtles. I did enjoy a nice three hour conversation with the guide in Spanish though. (He sold us the tour by saying that he could speak some English for Lauren...he didn't speak ANY.) But, he was raised in Monterrico and has experience as a fisherman, construction worker, farmer, and now a tour guide who likes to 'help teach the tourists Spanish' (his excuse for not being willing to speak in English with Lauren...not the only time we heard this one). Also learned that the turtles usually come in around 1/2 hour before the moon rises (around 10PM) but if they don't come in, that means that they will wait on the other side of the waves until around 1 or 2 AM (the case on our tour night). We walked up and down the beach 4 times for a total of 3 hours and about 5km in the heavy night. We saw lots of cangrejos (crabs) and had a really beautiful view of the stars.

*

Heading back to our room we realized that the heat of the day did not break with the sun and we asked for air in our room. Paying an extra $10, a man plugged in the unit and we cranked it down for the night...unfortunately the rooves are just thatched palms which aren't exactly attached to the walls so most of cool air escaped before cooling the musty room (one great step toward advancing global warming, I know).

*

We got up at 5A to meet for our morning tour. On the way to the office to meet, we encountered a pack of dogs blocking the road that...are just a little more intimidating in the middle of the night...so we walked around on the beach instead of the main road.

The sunrise was really colorful as it came up over the forest.

The morning tour was in a 'lancha' through a stagnant river/lagoon/swamp filled with mangrove trees and aquatic plants.

*We were a little nervous to see this man (and others) scooping water out of his boat.*

We saw a few herons and the guide (again using the excuse that he wanted to 'teach us Spanish') explained the uses for the different kinds of mangrove trees. The boat ride was incredible even though we didn't see any iguanas or tropical birds. We did however see gigantic spiders...see if you can find him...

*

We tried to relax more and eat breakfast (it's hard to want to eat when you're so hot...). We were downing the licuados with fruit, juices, ginger, and mint. We were pretty excited to catch the bus back to Antigua and waited at the stop for a couple of hours hoping that the bus would come with air conditioning (it came but did not have air conditioning). The ride home was enjoyable talking to other travelers and anticipating the cool Antigua night.

*

Then..we got back on Thursday night just in time to meet Rory and his friends, Jackie (left) and Sofia (right), from the city. Rory is heading home to Ireland tomorrow after a 7 month volunteering position as CasaSito's water project coordinator. We are all really sad to see him go but we had a great time last night.

*

Lauren and I went this morning to plan one final travel adventure before we get back to the real volunteering business next week. We're going to Lago Atitlan for the weekend and will hopefully meet up with Cible, a friend we met in Tikal who just finished her residency and is hanging out in Guatemala taking Spanish classes, volunteering at clinics, and traveling before heading out to the real working world.