Monkeys and Coatimundis and sunsets, oh my!

---

---

saludos desde mexico,

I´m sitting in Tulum at 9 pm, my shirt is sticky, but the breeze feels great. Tulum is about halfway between the Guatemala border and Cancun, and is right on the Caribbean. The water is a dreamy light blue, the beaches a blinding white, and the coconut palms and cabañas line the beach for miles. There are plenty of tourists, though it doesn´t feel overwhelming.

I arrived here yesterday, after two long busrides which started at 5:30 in Flores (near Tikal). It continued through the strange country of Belize which reminded me at times of Oakland, at times the southern US. There were plenty of blacks and latinos, sporting american shirts, wearing their hats tilted to the side. Meanwhile the houses were all up on stilts and you wouldn´t be surprised if a crocodile happened to walk across the road. After another many hours, and a record 16 tacos, I arrived here at night, and found some nice italians to bunk with. Today I spent the day doing absolutely nothing, except getting a bit burnt.

I apologize for not having written any sooner. The past few weeks have flown past. Much of the time I found myself too tired to write, or lacking inspiration, but mostly, just lacking access to the internet. So now to catch up a bit.

After my wonderful week in Xela, I returned to Antigua, where I met up with David, the Sacramenteño, and we hung out for a few days, stayed at an avocado farm above Antigua, with a wonderful view of the volcanos, some nice hikes, great Guacamole, and best of all some very tasty wheat-less food.

I must say, however, that I didn´t enjoy these days much, because I was in a bit of a funk. I couldn´t decide what to do next, whether to head south or go north. Tough decisions, huh? After such a wonderful, inspiring week in Xela, I was bound to have a low. I missed hanging out with the Italians who were already down in Nicaragua. I also wanted to go to that beautiful, forbidden island up north. Any guesses where I might be talking about? Puerto Rico of course 😉

Obviously I decided to head north, and I couldn´t be happier with the decision. I went first to a place called Semuc Champey (a place that means sacred waters in Kekchi, the local language. Despite the rain, and muggy weather, I had a fabulous time. Went swimming and wading through a cave, tubing in the river, jumped off a 10 meter bridge, hiked a bit through the tropical cloudlike forest, and finally swam in the magical turquoise pools of Semuc.

Then i went up the hill, stayed in another town called Lanquin, and stayed in a great hostel el retiro. Again I went to another huge cave, got to watch and dodge thousands of bats escaping their cave in the evening. The insides of the cave were exquisite, and if I had time, I would´ve loved to have sat and drawn the carved out walls. Again I went tubing, ate some more great food (this time with a bit of wheat, but how could i pass up lasagne). But the best part were the great people I met, Mark from canada, and a great swedish couple. we played cards, had great conversations about life and about nothing.

With these new found friends, I went to Tikal for a couple of days. We camped just outside of tikal in hammocks, where I got eaten alive by the mosquitos. Still itching like crazy, which goes well with my new sunburn. But the park was just mindblowing. Towering temples, monkeys galore, parrots, toucans flying overhead, and a wierd animal called a coatimundi, raccoon like, kinda. To top it off I saw probably the third best sunset of my life (the first was in le cinque terre with my mom, the second in the amazon). I watched from the top of a temple, with about 100 others, as the orange red sun set over the forests, leaving a beautiful pinky, purple, orange pallatte.

The only thing that topped this was the sunset the next morning, again from another temple. I´ll put pics on soon, but they won´t compare to the real thing.

OK, now that leaves me with the present situation. I plan on staying a few days on the beach, being lazy and then off to... puerto rico. 😊

hope everyone is well, talk to you soon. Cuidense!
miguelito

ps: I also saw a crocodile in Tikal, very cool.

---