Oh, and...

Tikal

Tikal...said to be the ruin experience. As in, if you only have time for one, do Tikal. From what I´ve seen, I´d have to agree. It was pretty awesome. I showed up around noon yesterday and set off to the campground to rent a hammock. I strung it up (well, the campground guy strung it up) in the farthest back structure, in the corner. There were a few other people who had rented tents, but it was pretty quiet.

If you buy your entrance ticket after 3pm, you get admission for that afternoon (until the park closes at 6) and again for the whole next day. I walked around a bit, then decided to take a nap. Woke up later than I had wanted, so I rushed to eat a quick lunch (packed myself quite the picnic) and ran into the park. As I was walking in, the tourists were exiting en masse. The sun was setting, and the park is huge (16 sq km), so I was somewhat sprinting towards to back to climb the highest pyramid and watch the sunset. On the way I saw a sign for El Mundo Perdido, and decided to head there instead on a vague memory that someone told me it was a good place to watch the sunset. While back there, a group of ladies and their guide asked me to take their picture. The guide confirmed that Mundo Perdido was the best place to catch the sunset, and the 360 degree view from the top of the roped off puramid was the place to be (do not climb signs are just suggestions in Tikal?). I ended up walking around with them for a little since I was still early, and then headed up the pyramid at 5. It was beautiful. And I was the only person up there until after the sun had already set, then some guy came up and started meditating. But it was perfect, and I did some yoga (sun salutations...seemed appropriate) and just listened to the jungle for a while.

After sunset, it got dark quick. The park was already closed, and pretty empty. I ruined all that relaxing I had done during the sunset getting really freaked out, somewhat lost, and pretty certain that a jaguar was going to crush me at any minute. I eventually ran into a family headed out and tagged onto their group for the rest of the walk out. I headed over the the hotel that the ladies were staying at to get a recommendation for a guide for the next day. The group leader, Janet, let me take a (hot!!!!) shower in her room, and I even got to use a real towel. Fancy. Then I joined them for dinner, and they had gotten an extra voucher from the hotel, so I got free dinner and some company, too. Perfect! Clean and stuffed, I headed back over to hammock it out in the jungle. Sleeping out there wasn´t too bad, except it was a bit cold without a blanket and I was woken up by a troop of howler monkeys that made their way through the jungle behind me, and again by what I think was a jaguar. Luckily, I didn´t get eaten.

Nearly everyone that stays the night in the park joins up with one of the sunrise tours, bribes the entrance guards with Q50 (about $7), and goes in the park at 4am (it opens at 6). I was no exception. Unfortunately, it was very misty, and we couldn´t even see the sunrise. It was nice being in there so early, though. We did a little guided tour afterwards and I don´t think I saw another person the whole time. I wandered around the park until 1030, and after 6 more hours in the park I was Tikaled out. Went over to say goodbye and thank you to the ladies, and ended up going for a swim (in my clothes) in the pool. Not a bad way to spend a day in the ruins. Not bad at all.

Templo del Jaguar

A few of the ladies, in their natural habitat

Templo del Jaguar again, let me (speck sitting on steps) provide scale. Not the biggest pyramid, either.

Sunset view

Paths between ruins

These little guys were everywhere, cute little relatives of raccoons

Cayó - The last of Belize

We spent the day in San Ignacio wandering around the town and hanging out at the local Maya ruin, Cahal Pech. We spend a few hours just chilling in the main plaza of the ruin, watching tour groups come through, napping, and chatting. Very nice and relaxing way to visit a ruin.

Sadly, Irene and Trenton and I parted ways this morning. Irene is flying out from Cancun on the 31st, and still wanted to get in a tour to Tikal between now and then. Trenton is going to drop Irene off, then return to work on his land for a few weeks. I headed to Flores, Guatemala. I´m hanging out here today, and will go to Tikal tomorrow afternoon. If you show up after 3pm, you get a ticket for the next day, and admission for the afternoon. My plan is to show up around 3 tomorrow, wander the site in the early evening hours after all the tourists have left, rent a hammock and camp out at the site, then head back in again early morning. Then it´s back to Flores. Should be a good time, I´m excited.

Welcome to the Jungle - Belize Part II

I left Caye Caulker the next day with Trenton and Irene and took a ferry across to Belize City on the mainland. Belize City is a pretty rough place, and there´s nothing to do there anyway, so we left immediately. Trenton is a joint owner of some land in the jungle about 30 miles south of Belmopan (the capital). They are planning on turning it into a hostel or lodge of sorts (Hummingbird Haven), but it´s still under construction. The hurricane that hit around Thanksgiving knocked down a bunch of their trees and set back construction for a few weeks. The only people living out there are a guy named Michael and a Belizian named Jaime. We made it out there around noon, and spent the day wandering around the creek in back and playing with machetes. It was a relaxing and fun way to spend a day.

We ended up not going into the jungle...we weren´t really experienced enough to deal with the snakes and jaguars (seriously...the jaguar had made a couple attempts at the guard dog recently) without a guide, so we contented ourselves with looking at it across the creek. The stars were awesome at night, and we spent a good bit of time playing around with long exposure pictures and my headlamp.

We left the next day for Cayó in western Belize. Michael ended up driving us out there since he was headed there to do some work for a friend.

A Nontraditional Christmas - Belize Part I

After leaving Valladolid, I made a bee line for Belize. A 6 hour bus ride to Chetumal, MX and a couple hour ferry ride brought me to Caye Caulker, Belize. It was a tiny little island (2 streets, more or less) and rather exorbitant tourist prices. I met a couple of Californians on the ferry ride over, and also was meeting up with a German friend I had met in Valladolid. I got in Christmas Eve, and went to the cat sanctuary where I was renting a bed in a cabana. This lady on the island started saving cats that people tried to get rid of (some had been tied up in a plastic bag and put in the ocean to die), and ended up with a ton of them. I don´t know exactly how many cats she has, but I don´t think 30 is an unreasonable guess. They mostly hung out in their catteries (I didn´t know such a thing existed), but came out to play for a couple hours a day. The cabana was basic but cheap, and the owner was very nice, so it worked out.

Christmas day, Irene and Trenton (the Californians), Johannes (German) and I went on a full day snorkeling trip to the nearby barrier reef (second largest in the world, behing Australia´s Great Barrier Reef). It was really cool, we saw just about everything I would have wanted to see on a diving trip (left my certification at home, doh!) save a whale shark. ...Which I wouldn´t have seen on a diving trip anyway. Nurse sharks, lots of rays, which the guide would pick up and hold so we could pet them, some pretty decent sized fish, sea turtles... Not a bad way to spend Christmas. Although I did miss Amy Grant Christmas music and dinner with the family :-).

We spent the next day just wandering around the island. Caught a local soccer match between Caye Caulker and a neighboring island San Pedro. The locals provided plenty of people watching entertainment. They were pretty much all rastafarian/creole, and I think living on such a tiny island had made more than one of them crazy.

Johannes, Trenton, Irene, Me

Nurse shark in the Caribbean

There were swings everywhere, even at bars.

No loitering at the souvenir shop...

Green Turtle

Sunset on the way back from snorkeling

Cenotes

Cenotes are sinkholes with exposed rocky edges that contain groundwater. The Maya used them as wells, the Mexicans use them as tourist attractions. They are quite beautiful, though. They come in two varieties: above ground, and in caves. I went to a couple in cave cenotes today that were awesome. The hostel suggested I rent a bike for P$15/ hour, or take a colectivo (P$20), or catch a cab (P$50) to cover the 7km between here and there. In the spirit of cheap traveling, I chose to walk. Stupid. 7km is pretty far, especially when it´s along a freeway and you are getting honked at by every Mexican who drives by. Yes, I am white. I´m aware. An hour and a little later, I finally arrived. Luckily I had stopped at a grocery store and picked up some lunch (donut), the thought of which really pulled me through those last couple km.

The first cenote (Dzitnup) was the more popular of the two, and a little more devoped. The only natural light comes in through a small hole in the ceiling. I caught it at just the right time of day when the light comes in directly and illuminates the water. The water was a bit nippy, but there were some fish in there and it was a nice little swim.

The second cenote (Samulá, conveniently located right across the street) was equally beautiful, in a different manner. Unfortunately I didn´t catch a more explanatory picture, but the things you see stretching down from the hole in the ceiling there are the roots of a tree. The tree is precariously perched very near the hole, but it is never wanting for water.On the way back I had resolved to pay the P$50 (which is less than $5. . .) for the taxi. I had gone for a run this morning and surprisingly that donut and some fruit was not enough food to support another 7km walk. Luckily, I happened to walk out at the same time as some hard bargaining Mexican ladies who talked the cabby down to P$20 per person. They were pushing hard for P$15, but in the end that 40 cents wasn´t worth waiting around for.

Now, off to get some tacos. Tomorrow I leave for Caye Caulker, Belize. The journey will be a messy mix of busses and boats, but I´m trying my best to get to a beach for Christmas. If I can´t have family, at least I will have a tan.

Dzitnup

DzitnupDzitnup

Samulá

Day one: two ruins

Today I conquered two ruins. One a modern world wonder (although I don´t know that I would give it that title) and another somewhat lonely site.

I landed yesterday in Cancun on time, and headed immediately for the bus station where I bought a ticket to Valladolid. Valladolid is a somewhat small city, but still the third largest in the state. It´s pretty central to most of the attractions, so I´m basing here for a little and seeing what there is to see. Last night I met a couple from England (actually Argentina and Australia) who were heading to Chichen Itza in the morning. We made plans to go together.

Chichen Itza was cool, but just like I had heard, it was somewhat crowded and impersonal. At least we got there early enough (around 10am), because at 12 the tour busses started rolling in. And oh, were there tour busses. I think the only thing that outnumbered the tour busses were the number of hawker stands lining every path between every building. Ah, well. As to be expected at a site like that. I did learn something interesting, though. In the traditional Mayan ball game where you try to hit the rubber ball through the hoops on the wall using only knees, hips, and elbows...it´s the captain of the winning team who got to be sacrificed. Winning is losing, apparently.

Look natural...

After Chichen Itza we headed back to Valladolid. We didn´t get the early start we had hoped for, so we got back around 230 and didn´t finish lunch until 3. One ruin left. Two hours until closing. 28 km away. Doable? Why not. So we headed off to Ek´ Balam. We got there with a little over an hour. It was a small site, and you could climb the ruins (which was a lot more fun than Chichen) so we scrambled around and had a good time. There weren´t many people there, maybe because it´s a smaller site, or maybe because it was an hour until closing. Either way, it was a good time. The site had more of a jungley/Indiana Jones feel, which was fun.

Central America: Redux

My hair is cut too short, my hiking boots are set out, and my pack is packed. This can only mean one thing: trip time. I'm doing 3.5 weeks in Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala. Mom isn't too happy about the Mexico segment of this trip, but I promised to do my best not to get abducted and ransomed.

Flight leaves tomorrow morning at 640am, DTW-CUN. Here we go...