Rio Dulce and Tikal

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Here is an update of the last two weeks, copied from some emails, since I havent had any time to post...

After a 12 hour day of shuttles (in which Bryan got motion sickness and threw up numerious times into a plastic bag while sittting next to me, GROSS) and a bus ride with no a/c we arrived at Rio Dulce. We got here last night and stayed in a bungalo on the lake in the jungle (the jungle goes straight to the lake) So we were basically in a swamp. I keep expecting a snake from Anaconda to jump out of the water and attack me! It was not my idea of fun. No hot water. And I couldn´t wash my face because there was a HUGE spider above the sink in the girls bathroom. I guess this is the first of many experiences with ¨roughing it¨ I have currently not showered for a couple days (gross). We are now in town and about to go try a different place to stay for tonight (still bungalos, but hopefully not in a swamp). So humid here!

So after leaving the horrible swamp we moved down the river a little ways to Tortugal and now its a week later and we are still here! It's been impossible to get ourselves to pack up and leave this place. It's right on the river and has a dock you can swim out to, a descent happy hour, and we are staying in a very comfortable bungalo. We love it so much we havent been able to get ourselves to leave. One day while here we took a trip out to el Bocaron and Finca Parariso. The bartender here, Elder, takes groups up in his van. The first stop was Bocaron. It was once a cave and the top fell in leaving a river with tall canyon walls and small caves. A local paddles everyone upstream in a canoe and if you want (which we did) you can get out of the canoe and continue to swim upstream until it gets too hard against the current. Then you float over rapids and swim back to the beginning. After this we went to Finca Paraiso (agua caliente)...the most AMAZING waterfall. The water at the bottom which you swim in is very cold, but the waterfall is super hot from being heated by lava. It is the craziest feeling. You can go behind it and it feels like you are in a sauna. There is also warm clay to rub on your arms/face/body that makes your skin really soft. So we all sat around looking like the guys from Blue Man Group. Other than that trip we have just been kayaking, swimming, tanning, eating, drinking, and making friends.

So we finally got motivated and managed to tear ourselves away from Rio Dulce. It was hard to say goodbye to the people at La Tortugal because they became almost like family since we stayed there almost 2 weeks! But we finally said goodbye to Jodi (coolest lady EVER), Sanders (Bryans 65 year old new best friend), Russell (the guy who runs the place), Elder (bartender), and many more. We are now staying in Flores. We arrived here last night and basically just went to bed after hanging out in hammocks on the roof of our hostel which overlooks the water. We got up at 4 am (soooooo early, esp since I could NOT sleep AT ALL...so freakin hot!) and got a shuttle to Tikal. Tikal was AMAZING. The ruins are unbelievable. (check out pictures on Myspace). We left there around 12 when it got unbearably hot. Now were back in Flores, waiting for Happy Hour to start. 😊

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