Rio Mopan Lodge Peten

... wonder this world is.

El Retiro

George and I arrived in Lanquin on a wet Tuesday in August, the rainy season is now in full force and afternoon/ evening (or morning for that matter) showers (read heavy bone drenching downpours) are not uncommon. We had been told that our preferred accommodation for the night (El Retiro) was fully booked, but that didn't stop intrepid and tenacious explorers like us from trying to get a couple of beds or hammocks ...

... and then sat in a suana for and hour, i was sweating so bad.
i still got asked out for coffee, so i guess the guatemala boys are into that! ahhh hha.

i think i forgot to mention about how i went hiking in the jungle the other day. Rudy and Jose (the guides) tried to pull out a trantuala(sp?) from a hole, but failed. their lucky too because i probably would have flipped ...

... ways for modern conveniences. Since the journey from Palenque to Flores is long, the tour spends a night with a Lacandon family. Even though it was part of the tour I was expecting a bit of culture, unfortunately I was let down, except for this odd little man, who claimed in was the local shaman and wanted to show us his house. Hmmm, that sounds interesting. Only a few of us were standing around when he approached ...

... was lost in their own thoughts and the conversation was minimal as we left the small town and headed out into morning mist.

As the bus, laden with well-fed westerners and their backpacks, struggled up a hill, we entered the jungle. The anticipation was heightened by yellow warning signs at the side of the road. The first showed the shape of a rattle-snake, the second the unmistakable outline of a jaguar, while the third ...

... same day as well.... you gotta get to where your going some way or another. Right? Finally we arrived to Sayache, where after wasting the morning crammed in a van (which I am starting to get way too much experience in from Alaska anyhow), we wasted the second half waiting around for another couple of toursits to help us split the 40 dollar boat rideit was going to cost us to arrive at the river accessed ruins... luckily later that afternoon, I saw two westerners and mad ...

... professional were Alberto and Wilson. It stuck me odd that a guy named Wilson didn't Hablo Inglés? Nonetheless we proceeded through our safety briefing and the intuitive instruction on how to use our one leather glove as a brake, what? Instruction: Once the pulley is attached to the zip line place exposed hand on the strap that is attached to the pulley and harness. 2. Lean your body back and left legs, keeping your legs horizontal with the ground. 3. Place ...

... I said launched, because the runway is east to west and when you look west down the runway it pitches up right at the end, like a ramp. Also, from where we took off, it didn't seem like we had enough runway to get airborne. I guess that is why the runway pitches up. The flight to Santa Elena/ Flores airport was for the most part easy and uneventful. We skirted above most of the low lying clouds and below the high clouds. The port side of the plane had ...

... I am near them. This is often rather scary as our Jaguar has only a thin chicken-wire fence separating her teeth from my ****. However, I try to visit her 3 times a day to say hello and make stupid-little-cat-noises that I think will make her like me. All that usually happens is she gets so ****** off and angry she almost throws herself through the fence to eat me. I think we are 'getting there'. My main job is actually to work with ...

The bus that we plan to catch to Flores leaves at 10:00AM. The nurses want to buy us breakfast before we part ways (They're sort of doing the reverse lap of Guatemala. They started in Mexico City and are travelling South to Antiqua. Flores is North). We get up early for breakfast (8:00AM). They're taking the Chicken Bus In my opinion, at around $3.50 for a hellish 12 hour ride on ...

... of laughs. Met some of them again in Antigua. It mostly rained the two days we were there. Not a big horseman but took the dullest horse back ride I ever remember. Some went tubing and wish I had. Once more we got stuck in the mud plus the lights drained the battery. So we were very late leaving. Had to arrange for a tractor tow and recharge the battery.