Life in the Jungle

Today was amazing, I still cant believe what I saw.  We went to the ruins this morning from 9 AM until 2 PM.  We saw every ruin and climbed everything we could.  The views were amazing and the architecture was unforgettable.  It was something I will never forget.  The park was huge and the view from Temple 4 was amazing.  We walked the whole park without stopping.  We got Ben to get over his fear of heights by climbing a 7 story ladder to the top of Temple 5.  At the beginning of the day it was raining but it broke 15 minutes in and never started back up.  We also had a special visitor in our pool, a crocodile.  He has been in there all day.  We even got attacked by killer ants. Our feet were bitten but the sores have since then resided.  We walked down to the crocodile pond but nothing showed up.  We did some shopping in the area and had dinner.  The food here is very good which was unexpected coming from the reviews we saw.  

Back to Guatemala City

We all woke up to a wonderful storm still encompassing the country.  Fears of mudslides along the highway on the coast forced us to take the three-hour trip from Xela to Guatemala City early rather than at 3 am.  We went to the Agua del Pueblo at 9 am and learned more about the operations there.  We also watched the ceremony for the new director. Amanda Aceto presented a check to the group and  a photo is posted below. We had lunch at the hotel consisting of burgers or fajitas and then continued onto Guatemala City at 3 pm.  It was a 5 hour trip.  We stopped at a steak house along the way.  Upon arrival to the city we got to a new hotel.  We had trouble getting the van through the garage and had to all sit in the back to put weight on the rear tires.  A picture is posted below.  We stayed there the night and woke up to breakfast.  We headed to the market for some last minute shopping and are now at the airport boarding the plane.  Everyone except a few of us will be heading back to the United States.  A group of four will be heading to the Mayan ruins in Tikal and the city of Flores until Sunday.  The blog will still be continued until we return.

Good Morning Mariachi!

Today the group was woken up at 7:30 AM by firecrackers and a mariachi band in celebration of Ben Schwartz’s and Becca Raymond’s 20^th birthdays. After cake and breakfast, we took a tour of the towns surrounding Xela and visited a small artifacts museum near the Laguna de Chicabal. Due to a tropical storm in the region, we were unable to visit the lake itself.  We ended up visiting a museum dedicated to the Mayan ceremony of the lake.  On the way back to Xela, we stopped at the market and picked up some fruit which are indigenous to Guatemala. We went to Albamar for lunch and some fun on the slides. Before dinner, the group went to the artisans market to peruse a variety of handmade goods.  We had dinner and are all taking it easy on our last night here.  The pictures below are of the Mariachi wakening, Bruce Clemens riding the slide and of the group at Andre's house.

With help from Taylor DiNicola, Keira Duffy, and Ben Schwartz.