hangin in a dirty port town ...

man, the longer i'm here the harder it gets to stay updated on this blog.  here goes ...

we (laura, jaylene, and i) spent the last week, after lanquin, on a 1 kilometer diameter island called flores, on lago petèn itza, attached to the mainland by a small landbridge.  the lake is about the size of lake leelanau in the middle of a jungle.  total island feel, everything is slow paced and you see the same people over and over again (not difficult considering it takes 20 minutes to walk the entire perimeter).  we were in flores to see tikal, the most famous mayan ruins in guatemala, but had to stay a few extra days because jaylene had a skype interview with some people waaaaaaay up in the north of canada and needed to be sure she had a solid internet connection.  so we spent a lot of time at the same restaurant because it had cheap food and suuuper cheap beer (3 brahva extras for 15Q, or about $1.75).  we brought that place a lot of business (really the food had nothing to do with it, although the burritos were quite satisfying).  on the second day we took a lancha (small public boat) 15 minutes across the lake to a zoo, and saw crocodiles, a macaw, tucans, an ocelot, some other wild spotted cat, and some odd rodent like mammals.  they also had some bitchin waterslides through the jungle, which were not turned on, which was devastating for a one sarah regina wright.

halfway through the week we headed to tikal, waking up at 3:45 am in hopes of entering the park before sunrise to hear the birds and howler monkeys awakening.  unfortunately, the shuttles were operating on guatemalan time as usual, and we arrived at the ruins well after sunrise.  the park was quite amazing ... huge temples and ancient structures sprinkled throughout true jungles.  we saw some bizarre animals, including one like a giant hamster with hooves like a goat.  we also saw squirrel monkeys and heard howler monkeys screaming (growling? roaring?) in the distance.  a truly remarkable sound.  we were able to climb many of the temples, and from temple IV, where we made delicious veggie sammiches, could see the entirety of tikal. 

the day after jaylene's interview we jumped on a bus and took off for rio dulce.  this place is incredible; i feel more at home here than any other place in guatemala.  it reminds me a loooot of the florida keys.  the streets are alive with market activity and the bustle of a busy guatemalan town, and the shores of the river are lined with weathered sailboats and fishing rigs.  neil, you would looooove this place.  i wish you were here to see it. the people are a mix of guatemalans and wrinkled, weather beaten north americans straight off the water.  today laura and i took a shuttle to the cascadas of finca el paraìso.  the BEST day.  a hot, hot water sulfurous river poors 20 feet over rock into a clear blue pool of cold water, perfect for swimming and relaxing for hours.  as laura said, it was our first truly hot shower in guatemala.  i think this is the most wonderful place i have experienced in this country so far.  we swam for hours, then headed back to town, hungry and perfectly satisfied. 

we are staying at a rickety hostel literally on the water (one of the dorms is a dock) called hotel backpackers.  the proceeds from the hotel go to the home for abandoned children that is connected to the hostel, and many of the former residents are employees here.  dinner was incredible, on the dock with lake/river wind threatening to blow away the toppings from our pizzas.  i kind of want to stay here forever. 

right now we are the look out for someone sailing/boating to utila, honduras, from here sometime in the next few days.  laura and i are getting on the marine radio to make the announcement at 7:30 am tomorrow, when there is something of a forum for local boaters.  if we arent able to hitch a ride, we'll pay a lancha to take us up to livingston, a carribean garìfuna town at the mouth of the rio dulce, take a ferry from livingston to puerto barrios, jump on a bus from their to la ceiba honduras, and take a ferry to the island of utila for a week of diving on carribean reefs.  yea! 

over and out, mis amigos ..