The ruin of an ancient land

Entonces, this past week was spent traveling from Pana to Flores. In Flores, we stayed in a hostel for a night and rented bikes to take around the little island and to the neighboring city. Never could you appreciate the breeze from riding a bike as I did, lol. Then we splashed around in the crystal blue lake, watching the sunset before Sasha ran into a water snake and swam as fast as she could to get away. The little kids giggled and said it was harmless, then showing us another snake along the marsh, dead but of the same kind as Sasha had seen. The next day included more swimming, a boat ride to a mirador that overlooked the lake and the little island, and then off to Tikal! On that day, we picked up our fourth "Colocha" for the third time in our trip. I don't remember if I explained this, but some people have been naming us "Las Tres Colochas" for our curly hair, though Sasha has waves more than curls. And when you travel in a group and meet those cool cats traveling alone, you take them along with you for your next adventure. Colocha Uno was Hannah, who joined us in Monterrico after meeting us at the mountain school. Colocha Dos was Abby, who we met in Monterrico and then traveled with to San Lucas and Reu for the permaculture project. For our trip to Tikal, we traveled with Stephen, a german guy we had met at the hostel in Flores. Ok, more of a Colocho than a colocha, but he did have curly hair!

We arrived at Tikal in the late afternoon, still determined to see something that day. Despite the fact that the park closed at 6, we stayed till dark and bribed the guards to let us watch the sunset from Temple 4, the tallest of the temples. We were then escorted back through the jungle, amongst only the sounds of lively creatures and the light from the full moon beside the Temple of Jaguar.
The next morning was an early one, waking up at 4:30 to have the guards sneak us in to watch the sunrise from Temple 5. The fog hung close to the tropical trees and seeping through the ruins we could see in the distance. The howler monkeys began their morning choir, adding goosebumps to the whole experience. These temples were built aligned to the rising and setting of the sun, as the Mayan compass was with the east as red with the power of the sun and the west as black for the sun heading to the underworld.
In our sleepy stupor, Eilsa and I went back to the hotel for breakfast. We only had two or so hours left to explore before our bus would take us on our way to the Belizean border. Elisa truly wanted a guide to answer all of our questions, and somehow we found the guide of all guides, Francisco Esteban, who had worked at the park for 60 or so years. Francisco told us a bit of the history while leading us through the jungle. All the while, his senses were open and perked up to the slightest sounds. The ears and nose of Francisco led us to a family of Howler monkeys, some spider monkeys, a tucan, a baby croc, leaf cutter ants (that farm fungi!), and a furry creature that's a relative of the raccoon. No jaguars, sorry! Our guide also showed us the meaning of Tikal by clapping his hands in front of one of the temples, the sound traveling to the top and bouncing back to us. The city had been designed with these acoustics to represent the gods response from the tops of the temples. They were incredibly knowledgeable people, able to build amazing structures and farm in unison with the environment all with their technology. Researchers only have guesses to why this great ancient city was abandoned, including Spanish invasion, weather changes, soil fertility, and other speculations. Francisco mentioned how the Vatican still holds some of the sacred Mayan texts and won't let archeologists view them. There is something about the year 2012 in the texts as well. There was so much more described, I'll have to write about this later.

And so, two days ago we crossed the border into Belize, saying goodbye to Guatemala after 6 weeks of incredible journey. I'll return to Guat for a week after I part with the girls and before I head to Costa Rica to see my uncle and sister.
Belize is quite a different place with more of a Caribbean feel to it. The people here speak Spanish, English and Creole. I hope I don't lose my Spanish while I'm here since everyone has been speaking English to us! We've been staying at an ecolodge type place with a butterfly sanctuary, composting toilets, and little wood cabins.
Yesterday was spent on a trek to a magical cave! We swam through the clear blue water in the cave and scrambled along the sandstone, limestone, slate rocks till we reached Mayan artifacts among the sparkling stalactites and stalagmites. This cave was seen as the underworld to the Mayans and they performed sacrifices and rituals here to release evil spirits. Broken pottery and calcified bones were sealed into the floor once a pool of minerals and mountain water. I felt like I was on some Disney ride, it was so unreal! I kind of didn't want to leave, the water was so wonderful to swim in and the ceilings were covered in natural crystal chandeliers. Actun Tunichnil Muchnal, the name of the cave, is said to be one of the most interesting caves in Central America and was featured in a national geographic special. The guides work to keep people from stealing or touching the artifacts and crystal structures in hopes to preserve the cave. It was truly an experience.

Tomorrow we leave for the Caribbean coast. We have a little over a week left with each other. I really have no perception of time here and now it is almost over! I'm sure Elisa and Sasha will write some more in the next week.
Hope all is well at home! Love and miss you all!
-Ari