A Broad Abroad

Tikal, originally uploaded by peggydaly.

one last tikal photo, originally uploaded by peggydaly.

With a week to kill before my return to Antigua for Semana Santa, I headed off to Flores, a launching spot for Tikal. I paid $30 for the combination shuttle from Antigua to Guat City and first class bus to Flores. Let me tell you, that bus station in guat city was seriously dodgy, but I made it safely onto the bus and downed a xanex for the 9 hour overnight bus. I actually got some sleep!

I arrived in flores at around 5:30 am and found a nice room with a great lake view for $10 at Hotel Tayazal. Flores is in a lovely setting on an island in the middle of a clear lake, attached to Santa Elena by a short causeway. One can probably walk around the island in a ½ hour. There are lots of hotels and restaurants and boat tours around the lake are available, but otherwise there is not much to do. I found myself rethinking my tentative plan to return to Flores to relax a few days after visiting Tikal.

With a call I made reservations at the Tikal Inn for 2 nights. There are 3 hotels just outside the park entrance and I’d heard this one is nice with a good pool – so I prepared for another slurge – $70 per night including breakfast and dinner. After a quiet evening in flores I took a late morning shuttle to Tikal and settled into the inn. At the pool I ran into two girls I’d met on the shuttle to guat city – Jen from SF and Sharien from Sweden (J&S hereafter). I bought my ticket into the park after 3pm because this way it is good for the next day as well. That evening we walked into the park and watched the sunset. They don’t rush you out at 6 pm when the park closes.

Thankfully the new Tikal Administrators did not follow thru on their plans to end sunrise tours (the last was to be the morning before I arrived!) and I signed up at the info kiosk outside the park entrance thanks to info from J&S. Caesar, who owns Caesar’s Travel in Flores, was instrumental in keeping the sunrise tours going and these tours can be arranged via his agency in Flores (cut out the middle man) or he can be found most afternoons at the info kiosk in tikal after he has completed his morning tours. It’s the best 100Q I’ve spent (about $13). If you are staying at the park it is less expensive to arrange it this way and walk out to the kiosk at 4:45 am rather than arranging thru your hotel.

One thing I have consistently heard about Tikal is how hot and steamy it is. I totally lucked out with weather and it was mild and dry. Actually refreshing! When I walked out of the hotel at 4:30am the milky way was blazing in the sky (there is no power in/near the park until 6am)!! I have also read many accounts by those who did the sunrise tour could not see the sun or the ruins because of fog, so I was doubly fortunate! I cannot put into words how incredible the experience was…..the sun rising over temples that emerge from the jungle as the animals come to life at dawn. howler monkeys and parrots create music to accompany a vision that no special effects could aspire to duplicate. I felt so fortunate to be there that I was moved to tears. I wish my photos could have captured a fraction of the beauty.

The guides do a pretty good job of keeping everyone quiet for the experience but if you go please be respectful of your neighbor and zip it for an hour or so. Even whispers can be heard! After the sun rises the tour part begins and is over by about 9 am. After that I did some exploring on my own then returned to the hotel to spend the sunniest hours of the day in the pool ☺.

I enjoyed the Tikal Inn for the most part but they have these bizarre rules that they take a bit too far. I won’t even bother going into it here but if anyone plans to go and wants to know more let me know. Overall it was clean and well-run with a crystal clear pool. I spent 2 nights and thought that amount of time was perfect. It allowed me to spend a little extra time bird watching, which is amazing in the area.

While there I decided to accompany J&S to rio dulce and onto Livingston on the carib coast before heading back to Antigua on Tuesday, when they planned to return as well. This gives me a chance to see more than I’d planned and not have to kill time in flores.

San Marcos, Atitlan, Guat., originally uploaded by peggydaly.

Traditional dress near Atitlan

At Spanish school my teacher Rebecca would break up our lessons with “conversations”.  It helped get my ear tuned to Spanish verbs.  Rebecca was telling me about semana santa in san pedro which includes a laundry list of processions, religious ceremonies and special foods.  Then it’s my turn.  What is easter like in the USA?  I said people attend Sunday mass/services (yeah, and….) and have an easter meal (which is….) which is ham and…..ham and…..whatever else one might want.

Let me tell you, that seemed like an underwhelming account of easter in the US, so grasping for straws I decided to attempt a description of the easter bunny – in really bad Spanish.  He’s a make-believe cangrejo – oops, no not a crab – a canejo and he hides colored eggs for kids to find.  Some eggs are real and painted and others are plastic with treats inside them.  Yes, children believe he is real.  I’m not sure how much sense this made but I realized that even if I did a pretty good job of communicating, it is a pretty strange ritual.  A giant rabbit hiding eggs?  Why not a giant chicken?  I’m sure I learned this somewhere but I don’t remember.

Random Observation

Apparently people in latin America consider ice cream appropriate for all-day consumption.  It is not at all uncommon to see children with ice cream cones for breakfast.  But it’s probably not any worse than a bowl of count chocula, huh?

I decided to stay at a hotel I’d checked out on my first visit to Antigua:  Casa Santa Lucia #3.  It’s just north of La Iglesia de la Merced and rooms on the 2nd floor have a view of the volcanos and the top ½ of the church.  They are about ½ way into a nice remodel, but the rooms I stayed in had not been started.  It’s a solid, colonial hotel (big windows, thick walls and heavy wood furniture) with powerful, hot showers.  All the rooms really need is a little patchwork, a nice paint job and new mattresses.   I’m not certain if the latter is part of the remodel.  But for $25 I get a nice room with private bath.  I opted out of Posada Asjemenou because with several clubs around it, I knew it would be noisy on the weekend.

Turns out there is a large Lenten procession Sunday, making leaving Antigua for Flores that evening nearly impossible.  I could either leave today or wait one more day.  I opted to stay and see the procession and leave Monday evening on the overnight, first-class bus to Flores.  This will be $30 rather than about $170 to fly.  Not sure when or how I will get back to Antigua.  I may take one more diversion before returning for Semana Santa on the 18th.  once again I am having a nice time in Antigua.

Last night I went to red’s bar to exchange some books and had a nice, long conversation with a Guatemalan writer who was in town from Puerto Barrios to hear jazz at el Sitio.  By the time he’d had 4 beers to my one glass of wine I decided to bid him adieu.  He asked if I believed that he’d published 3 books (he told me where I could buy them) and I said I had no reason not to but I wanted to say “well, you sure drink like a writer”  ☺.

Monterrico, Guatemala, originally uploaded by peggydaly.

the low-light made this one blurry but i liked the way it turned out anyway.

…..than most people do all day – including almost getting attacked by a pack of dogs.  It was about 8am when I walked back to dos mundos after my tour.  I may have done more BEFORE 8 am, but I did little afterwards.  I’d had my adventure for the day.  The rest could be spent lounging by and in the pool and digging further into “the bonfire of the vanities”.  Oh, and having crisp white wine and ceviche.  I’ll leave the dog’s life to the dogs.

I did make my way back to town in late afternoon to arrange my shuttle back to Antigua.  I think 2 nights was enough in monterrico, considering I arrived at noon the first day and the shuttle did not leave until 1 on my last.  The hotel must plan for this because checkout time is not until 1.  I ended up happy with the excursion overall and will now spend the weekend in Antigua where I’ll make some arrangements for flores and tikal.

Monterrico, Guatemala, originally uploaded by peggydaly.

in the mangroves

when I wake up at 5, dress, and start walking toward the beach I realize it’s PITCH black, except for the stars. I return to the bungalow to get my head lamp, a little nervous about my walk now. headlamp installed, I head out down the beach. A few minutes later something I didn’t anticipate happened: I am surrounded by barking and growling dogs. Mostly what I see is their eyes reflected in my headlamp but I can certainly hear them and there must be about 6 or 7 of them. They have come down from 1 or 2 of the fancy houses on the beach. a scary pack of barking, snarling, floating eyes!!! i’m thinking of jack london stories.

The beach in monterrico is deep, but as one gets close to the water the sand banks down rather steeply to where the surf pounds. I am walking just above where the sand slopes to the surf– as far away from the houses as possible without having to walk in the uncertain area where the surf breaks. Especially uncertain when you can’t see the waves coming in! This time of year the surf is rough. I stop, thinking about what to do. I can go back and forget about the tour or if I can get about 10 more yards down the beach I may be past their “zone of protection”.

I notice as my head swivels around to see how many dogs there are, they back away from my headlamp beam, so with my heart pounding I walk slowly forward, swiveling my head towards any barking that gets within about 6 feet. The barking gets more frenzied for a moment then slowly starts to lessen. I made it! I’m shaking my head, not congratulating myself (well a little) but mostly thinking I’d been pretty stupid. So mom and dad, I’m alive and won’t do anything that stupid again.

I find my guide and off we walk towards the mangrove canals. NOW the horizon starts to brighten – literally and figuratively. The mangroves are teeming with birdlife and we quietly set off into the canals. Mangrove are such am important part of many eco-systems. They provide habitat for so many species of fish, crab, bird and reptiles. But sadly, in many places they are seen as a barrier to more beachfront and removed. The land will start to erode away and the losses compound. This was one of the first steps down the path of destruction for new Orleans.

We drag the boat onshore a ways up and walk thru mangroves and thru some fields to a lagoon. During the rainy season this is all covered in about 5 feet of water. I would love to see it then – my guide tells me there are flocks of flamingos (btw – I can now get the gist of most tours in Spanish). On the way back to where we embarked the sun is up a bit more and the reflection off the perfectly still water is amazing. I only had my point-and-shoot but I thought it did a respectable job capturing the moment. I have more pics if you want to click over to flickr.