Last Day in Guatemala
Castillo on Rio Dulce/Lake Izabal
For more pictures from the trip, click here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2082178&id=21202445&l=0de01d9fa6
It´s my last day in Guatemala and I´m back from my trip! Be warned - this will probably be a rather long post, so come back to it if you don´t have time to read it.
I woke up dark and early (4:30am) on Saturday morning to start the tour. There were 3 other people - a woman from Austria and her 2 kids, a girl who was 15 and a boy who was 12. She didn´t speak any Spanish and spoke limited English, and her kids mostly just spoke German. So, generally I´d be the one translating from Spanish to simple English, and then she´d translate for her kids into German.
We started off in Puerto Barrios and took a boat ride from there to Lívingston. I still don´t quite know what to think of Lívingston. It seems like they smoke a LOT of pot there. Once we got to the hotel, the Austrians changed into their bathing suits (I didn´t bring mine) and we went to the beach. I kind of felt like I had to go since they had no idea what was going on, but I´m never one to say no to a beach. I was starving and we got lunch ... though that was an experience. "Leisurely" does not even describe it. I was sitting for 45 minutes before I got a menu, it took another 30 to take our order, another 35 to get drinks, and 25 after that to get our food. Then I parked myself in a hammock on the bay and read for a few hours. There are most definitely worse things to do with my time.
Lívingston has a Garífuna culture that´s a mix of Guatemalan with a whole ton of Caribbean influences, and I would have been more likely to go explore that a bit if I wasn´t by myself. They´re supposed to have good nightlife and whatever, but I didn´t do anything other than find something to eat for dinner.
We left from the dock at the hotel for our cruise down Río Dulce. That was gorgeous. There are pictures on Facebook. We met our driver in Río Dulce and went from there to Tikal.
Tikal was amazing. I spent much of the 3-day trip cursing the damn thief who stole my good camera and iPod, as I would have used both copiously during this time. Particularly in Tikal - all the wildlife I was supposed to see in Costa Rica (and didn´t) I saw in abundance in Tikal. Gorgeous butterflies, spider monkeys, howler monkeys, toucans, woodpeckers, other birds I don´t know the names of, wild rainbow-colored turkeys, and other things we do not have in zoos and that I don´t remember the names of. I would have gotten much better monkey pictures with that camera!! And coati pictures! And more temple pictures! Damn that thief. Yesterday morning I woke up at 3:40am to do the sunrise tour and see the jungle wake up. That was cool. I wandered my way through the dark jungle using my phone as a flashlight, then we went up a whole ton of steps to get to the top of the tallest temple to watch the dawn. We probably got there around 4:45, then the howler monkeys started going at 5. That was ... loud. They don´t tell you that the jungle is loud. Then I held a huge tarantula (pictures of that on the link above on Facebook). Then ... I climbed a huge pyramid/temple. I didn´t really have a fear of heights till I got to the top. The stairs were really steep and more of a ladder than actual stairs, and once you got to the top, there wasn´t anything to keep you from plummeting to your death. So I was rather apprehensive and scared to death to climb back down. But once you go up, there´s only 1 way down without dying, so I had to climb down.
That´s all I remember at the moment of the trip.
Since it´s my last day here, I figured I´d write about things I´ll miss, things I won´t miss, and what I´m looking forward to:
Things I´ll Miss:
- The kids
- Wiliam and Lolita
- The margarita with yerbabuena and mint at Frida´s - I only had it once, but it made an impression
- Everything´s incredibly cheap
- Mayan hot chocolate
- Walking EVERYWHERE
- Most volunteers/Interns
- Constantly speaking Spanish
- all the colors
- Doña Luisa´s banana bread
- Rainbow Cafe´s banoffee pie
- Ruins and Rainforests
- Amazing pineapple on a regular basis
- Monkeys and beautiful birds
Things I Won´t Miss:
- Trying not to fall on cobblestones on a daily basis
- Constant exhaust from chicken buses
- Having to pay for Internet
- Terrible postal service
- MOSQUITOES
- Having to buy drinking water
- Never knowing what reactions my body will have to everything
- Never having a full voice
- Always having to wear hardcore bug spray
- Constantly having to divide by 8 to figure out how much things cost in US dollars
Things I´m Looking Forward To:
- Finishing my MA/MSW
- Family and friends
- Having my own apartment
- Constant use of the computer/internet
- Being able to find everything in 1 place
- New books to read
- Being able to watch movies/TV (though I won´t have cable in CO)
- Internship with Prax(us)
- The Rocky Mountains
- Being able to ewat what I want when I want it
- Confidence in the postal system
- Free, drinkable water!!
- Jeans
- Being able to wear something other than the same 3 pants and 6 shirts
- BOOKSTORES
- Knowing how to work my phone
That´s about it ... see you in the US!