Advertisement
Published: April 24th 2008
Edit Blog Post
What a week it was last week! I'm still recovering...
Last Thursday was mi compleanos (my birthday!) It was a really great birthday. At school, the kids surprised me a card that they drew and all signed and little chocolates. It was so sweet! And they all came up and gave me kisses and hugs and wished me happy birthday. At the end of the school day, one of the administrators pulled me away from doing administrative tasks for them to "help the kids with an activity". It turns out that they had planned a surprise party for me! I really was surprised! There were two cakes and a banner that said "Felix Cumpleanos Elizabeth" Then they all sang happy birthday in espanol! It was so amazing. The school has such little resources, I was really honored that they took the trouble to plan this out for me. It was very touching. Of course I also took the opportunity to finally take some pictures with the kids! We had a great little party.
When I returned home, we had lunch and then it was pinata time! Two young hombres came to our homebase to show us how to make
Francisco and I
He's so adorable! I love everyday when he kisses me on the cheek hello. pinatas! It's actually a really long process. Of course it's faster when they do it! We had to cover the metal frame with newspaper and glue and shape it around the frame. Then we had to glue the frilly papers on top of that. I helped make Barney! After we were done making our pinatas, we got to hit another one with candy inside. I was blindfolded and spun around and then I had my whack at it! After Winnie the Pooh's guts were spilled, they brought out a beautiful cake and sang happy birthday. Unexpectedly, when they were done, firecrackers went off! It was quite a celebration! At night, we went out to dinner in the nice area of the city called Zona Viva and danced the night away. It was a really great birthday! Guatemalans really know how to celebrate!
Friday after school, we boarded a bus to head to Flores. It was an overnight bus for 9 hours! It was freezing cold the whole time and I even got rained on through the ceiling (though it was the "delux" bus). We arrived in one piece, though very tired, in Flores at about 5:45am. We then proceeded
to wonder around aimlessly looking for somewhere to stay that was open! We never did find the hostel, so we settled on a small hotel for 50Q a night (about $7). It was just a room with plywood walls and a double bed, but it worked! Flores was hot and sticky even at 6am. By midday it was horribly hot! So we decided to hire a boat around the lake. Our very kind boat driver took around the lake for two hours, with stops at a local zoo on one of the neighboring islands and a mirador (viewing point) with a beautiful view of the whole lake and surrounding islands. It was really nice. Then we stopped at another hotel for lunch and got to use their pool for free! That night we spent relaxing and fending off mosquitos (I lost the battle).
On Saturday we got picked up bright and early at 7am to travel to Tikal. Tikal was the largest Mayan settlement. The ruins are now in a jungle, but when the Mayans lived there, it was a flourishing city of hundreds of thousands of people with elaborate buildings and paved streets. It was an amazing civilization
that just vanished and no one knows the reason. We had an amazing guide for our journey, who it turns out had been sitting next to me on the shuttle on the way there and talking to me in Spanish when he spoke perfect English all along! He was very knowledgeable about Mayan culture and the flora and fauna of the jungle. He could even read some of the Mayan inscriptions and had helped decipher others on an archaeological expedition (the one where they predicted that 2012 will be the end of the current era). He had been a guide in Tikal for 37 years and it showed! He was a very interesting person and really made me think about the mode of life for the Mayans versus our materialist culture today, and about our relationship with nature. As we passed certain plants, he would point out that this one could be used to cure a snake bite and that one to cure malaria. I was in awe of his knowledge of the jungle. Especially his ability to spot the animals! We never would have seen them without him. We even got to see monkeys! But the reason we came
to Tikal was to see the famous ruins. Our first view of Temple IV was almost overwhelming. It was just amazing to see this huge stone structure slowly appear out of the jungle, parts of it still encased in trees and overgrowth, waiting to be uncovered by archaeologists. We ascended to the top via a large wooden staircase and faced a surreal view of the other pyramids peaking out of the top of the jungle. It seemed more like something out of a movie, than reality. I can honestly say I've never seen anything like it. We continued our hike up to Temple V and "the lost world." Climbing Temple V was one of the scariest things I've ever experienced....or should I saying descending it! The "staircase" was basically a giant ladder straight up to the top of the pyramid. Coming down, I had to face backwards all the way down. With my fear of heights, I was just trying to concentrate on the rung in front of me and not look down! When I finally got to the bottom, my heart was still racing for several minutes. I made it and conquered a fear along the way! We continued
on to more ruins with two more pyramids that were built for a husband and wife; as the pyramids are at points exactly east and west, as the sun progresses throughout the day, they "wave" hello to each through their shadows. It's an interesting phenomenon. The most surprising part of Tikal is how much is left to be discovered! They estimate that 80% is still buried under the ground waiting to be discovered. So when I come back when I'm older (when, not if) I will be able to see new parts that were uncovered. After a day of amazing sites and a 5 hour trek through the jungle, we rode back to Flores, still finding it hard to believe what we had seen.
After another sweltering hot 8 hour bus ride, we were back home in Guate, exhausted and ready to start another week!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.107s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 7; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0747s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Rebecca
non-member comment
Birthdays!
Amaaazing birthday celebrations! Happy belated, love!! I'm glad to see that you're enjoying yourself and experiencing the wealth of culture down there. xx