Deet... the perfume of the jungle

  Flores, Guatemala
Thursday, January 4, 2007

Hello again!
I am writing this time from the middle of the Peten jungle.  Isn't technology amazing-- i think the connection here is faster than in Chicago?
I left Antigua at 4:00am on Tuesday morning for a bus to Guate City, then another bus on to Puerto Barrios.  You then have to take a very fun 30 minute boat ride from there to Livingston.  Livingston is right at the mouth of the Rio Dulce and the Caribbean.   It was one of those really fun boat rides where your stomach flips at every wave... you couldn't have smacked the smile off my face!  
Livingston is a cool place with a really interesting mix of cultures.  You have the Garifuna people who settled there after being released from slavery and the Mayan/Ladino culture.  So, people there are speaking Garifuna, Spanish, Mayan indigenous languages and English.  It is a bizarre place to say the least.   The local specialty is tapado which is a really yummy seafood soup with a big old fish hanging off the side of the bowl.  Normally, I would say fish heads in my soup would not be appetizing, but I have to say it was quite good!

Tapado- traditional soup in Livingston

 I stayed a little outside of town in a really cool hotel/hostel.  I had my own little hut which got very scary after it was dark and the rains (and wind) began.  I am not sure what all the animals were outside of my wall, but I definitely heard barking, mooing, crowing, snorting, pecking, squawking and more.  I got little to no sleep and still wonder what was circling my hut all night?  The winds were howling through most of the night and I was sure that the thatched roof was going to blow right off.
The next morning I took a 2 hour boat tour down the Rio Dulce, a really beautiful (and hot) ride.  Upon arriving in Rio Dulce and taking one look at the chicken bus that literally had people hanging out the window just to get air (did I mention I'm in the jungle and it's about 100 degrees?), I hooked up with some other travelers heading the same way and we harassed this guy with a minivan until he agreed to drive the 8 of us to Flores for 100Q each.  I KNOW it was stupid, but we made it so much faster and aren't you proud of my bargaining skills?
4 of us decided to stay in Tikal by the ruins instead of staying in Flores.  We arranged for a sunrise tour, so the guide actually came and knocked on our door at 4:45am to wake us up!  It was an amazing experience.  We climbed to the top of Temple IV just in time to hear the jungle wake up... I will never forget the sounds.  It went from complete silence to loud jungle noise in minutes.  First, the howler monkeys, then the toucans and other birds.  One of those experiences you don't forget. 

Tikal

Then we spent the morning walking around the ruins.  Even saw monkeys... so cute, one even posed for us!

Monkey posing in Tikal

I really love it up here, but it has to be said that the heat and the relentless mosquitoes are a little hard to deal with.  I've made a slight change in plans as I've decided to spend my last couple of nights in Guate back down at Lake Atitlan.  So, tonight I'm taking the all night bus (10 hours) back to Guate City and the head for the Lake for a little R&R before returning to life in Chicago.
The connection is slow, but I will try to post some fun pics tomorrow.
I can't believe this trip is coming to a close!

Amigas in Flores after Tikal

see you soon,
love sara