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Published: November 25th 2010
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Julie says...
Our adventure to the jungle temple was delayed by illness. First of all, the ride out to the small village we were to depart from, Carmelita, was supposed to be only 2.5 hours. We left at 5:45 AM. BUT the bus that brought us there... put it this way: at one point, while the guys were banging around on the engine, I asked Alex, "what are they doing?" to which he replied, "It probably has something to do with this bus being a rotten piece of shit." It could only go about 25 mph, and after about half an hour, it blew a tire. Moments after the tire was changed, the engine blew up. Not sure what happened exactly but it took them about an hour to fix it. Not to mention, the exhaust pipe was routed into the cabin of the bus and then covered so everyone started getting sick, nauseous, and lightheaded.
Then, we got stuck in a muddy road going uphill. Everyone had to get out and pull on a tug rope to get it going. I didn't see Alex and finally found him puking in the woods and looking really sick. We got
back on the bus, then had to get off again and pull it up on the next two hills. Alex by this time is just sick as a dog, which we attributed to the fumes and bumpy road. We got there a full 3 hours after we were supposed to and Alex just collapsed on the ground while everyone else ate some lunch. It was apparent that he was sick with something that wasnt just fumes and motion sickness.
We waited an hour and he was feeling worse not better, so I packed all our stuff off of the mules and arranged a trip back to Flores, in the same exact piece of shit bus that brought us there. Then, not only did the bus break down 6 times, but it went even slower than the previous ride.
AND halfway through the hellish hot bus ride, I looked up and saw two pickup trucks full of guys with huge machine guns and rifles. Maybe 15 or 20 guys, I freaked out for a moment thinking we were dead meat, that they were banditos! Then I noticed they had uniforms and they were actually police. They stopped the bus,
made everyone get off the bus without our stuff. Alex laid down on the ground just in front of the bus. Six guys with guns searched the bus systematically until one of them found a secret compartment under the drivers seat. Someone let out a long low whistle, and one of the police starting snapping pictures frantically. Oh man! I thought the bus driver was going to get executed for drug smuggling right in front of us! The police pulled out two big black plastic trash bags
wrapped in tape.
Guess what they found? Two game birds, maybe geese, wrapped in the bags! We were in a nature preserve and I guess the government is cracking down on poachers, and our bus driver was a poacher. Or was transporting poached animals, not sure which. The bus driver had a long conversation with the police and we finally hit the road again. Slowly.
We got back around 8pm and I ran out to get Alex some Gatorade and bananas. He had a mild fever. By the time I got back I realized, that I also had a fever. Too tired to even bath after that hellish day on
the road, we just passed out in bed, dirt and all, and slept for about 12 hours.
So we have been resting, and reading and recovering.
But today we hired a canoe and paddled out to this tiny island in the lake that had a sign that said MUSEO. Alex was intrigued and we had no idea what it was, so we investigated. It was a museum of Mayan artifacts that was about the size of a dining room and crammed full. The guy who gave us the tour, Luis, looked sort of like Milton from Office Space, if Milton was Guatemalan. He was clearly very excited to give us a tour, in his own very understated way. He knew about every single piece. At one point he very casually handed me something and mentioned'This piece was 500 years old when Jesus was born'. I was so terrifed to handle this tiny clay statue, a little appalled at his casual handling of such old things.
Then Luis pulled out an ocarina which he said was from the classical period of the Mayans, and plaed a little tune on it for us. Wow.
Luis also showed us
his (grandmothers?) mother´s functioning Victrola, an old machine used to give patients shock treatments, and ....a Tesla coil! Alex and I were extremely excited and also curious about how all those things came to reside on a tiny island museum in the middle of the lake. Honestly, that museum might be the highlight of the Flores trip so far.
Tommorow we are going to try to go into the jungle again, though not to the same spot and NOT on the same bus. We are hiking to the temple of El Zotz (The Bats) and we should end up in Tikal on the morning of the 3rd day. Then we are going to stay in Tikal for one day, and then head back to Flores. Wish us luck!
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