Ceibal with a scent of sage

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I forgot to mention from my previous blog that it is an 8 pound piece of cheese that people chase down a steep hill in Gloustechire as part of an age old tradition. Also, I updated some photos from Ceibal and Antigua. I wanted to mention that Ceibal was awesome. It was very adventurous because we had to arrange a private guide, arrival to and from the site and a pick up to Coban before leaving Flores. When we arrived the road comes to a river which separates two towns and a large ferry/barge is required to get to the other side. We boareded a small boat which took us up river for about one hour through the dense jungle and upon arriving to the Ceibal Ruins we were one of two small groups at the site. There were many mosquitos fly around us in hoards as we ascended the rough, rocky trail to the complex. No worries because we were Deet protected and the stuff is quite effective. We enjoyed walking under the jungle canopy to the observatory which was where people would be sacraficed to the God of Rain. We also learned about some interpretation of the stela which I have posted photos of. If you look closely to the "Man of many words" you will see a face with a long toungue protruding from its mouth. On the toungue you will see it lined with round figures(notice my careful choice of words). These figures represented the many languages he could speak. Pretty cool! We also saw many other stela each represented either a God or King. One had the symbols that represented the name of each surrouning city including Tikal and one that has yet to be discovered. Many of the ruins are overgrown with trees and they look like large hills, but there are really temples beneath. We also got to see a Tarantulla(check spelling) cross our path which was really exciting! We walked to the central complex were some Mayan descendants were burning sage which really added to the atmosphere and in addition there were Howler Monkeys Howling from the trees. Ceibal was well worth the trip. The boat ride back was pleasant and the wait for our pick up was a little scary because we were the only gringos around and our bus was two hours late. But, we made it out alive and without malaria from the mosquitos. The bus ride to Coban which was our stop over on our way to Guatemala City and then Antigua was rough as we sped up the mountain and around the winding roads but the city was cool. We stayed one night and left for Antigua the next day. On our way we watched "The Terminal" starring Tom Hanks subtitled in Spanish. American movies are very popular here. Ok thats all that happened.
Good night,
Chad

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