Playing proper tourists in Yaxcha

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Ashley reprimanded me because I forgot to say how, the night before last, the ground failed to rise up to meet his foot and he fell out of a restaurant. This scared me a lot but, fortunately, he did not hurt himself.

We didn´t do much yesterday. We watched Central American fishes in their natural environment. There are lots of some kind of livebearer here, reminded us of the Amica. Also, some cichlides which we think are Nicaraguans. Not sure though. They are yellow but darker beneath. Some others also seen but not identified. Guarding fry. Acting very similar to the way the Central American cichlids act in our tanks.

Today we went to Yaxcha. It´s a hard place to get to independently - the last 11 Km being down an unmade road where buses do not travel. So we went to Martsan agency (Highly recommended) and booked a tour. This was expensive but included a very comfortable, air conditioned vehicle, site entry, a friendly, knowledgeable, English speaking and very interesting guide and a rather good three course lunch!

Yaxcha itself is impressive. I suppose you could think of it as a mini-Tikal and it was, indeed, a dependency of Tikal for much of its existence. It paid tribute. It rebelled. Later, revenge was taken. So not much is left of what you might describe as written history (although, of course, the history would be written in stone, on stellae, and much of the limestone has weathered away).

I found out which birds make the warbling noise. We learned what the trogon sounds like (though we didn´t see it). We also heard howler monkeys.


Back to Yaxcha. It overlooks two lakes so the scenery is spectacular. And we did climb all the structures that were fit to climb. It wasn´t as hot today as it has been. Jungle was lovely, as always.

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Comments

[chucktx]

thanks!!
it is really great to follow y'all on your excursions!!! great pics also. sorry to hear about Ashley.....heal soon!!! chuck