Deja vu all over again, we are back in Antigua after a whirlwind weekend in Tikal. It was quite an experience. It was wonderful to fly over most of Guatemala and imagine all the hours on a bus we weren´t riding on.
We arrived early in the morning and took a taxi up to El Remate where we met Don David, the owner of Hotel Don David. He is extremely old and extremely nice and it was a good introduction to northern Guat. We hitchhiked to Tikal and spent the rest of the day in the ruins. They are not much older than Don David. But prettier.
We hiked all over and up and down and there were monkeys and spiders and crocodiles and butterflies the size of small airplanes. On the hitchhike back we rode in the back of a pickup with a Guatemalan who had moved to LA to be a lawyer, crazy. So we all told stories all the way home while bugs went up our noses and the night air cooled off considerably to a chilly 68F.
The next day we caught the chicken bus back to Tikal and stayed at the Jaguar Inn. Each bed has a jaguar skin comforter on it and they have a trained jaguar that takes you to your room. Well, that isn´t quite true but I had high hopes. Their coffee was good though and the showers were hot. We kicked down mucho dinero (that means a lot of money Philip) for a guide this morning and he took us on a super private jungle trek at 5am to see the sunrise. We wore traditional Mayan skirts and I sacrificed several millipedes on the hike in. The sunrise was incredible from atop Temple IV and as soon as the sky light up howler monkeys began screaming back and forth and it sounded like King Kong times a lot of monkeys. It was loud but we weren´t scared.
After sunrise we learned more about the ruins and traditions and global positioning and the solar system and eating plants and harvesting allspice and it was all very amazing touristy fun stuff. Then we caught the bus back to the airport and here we are in an internet cafe in Antigua listening to¨American Band¨on the radio and getting ready for dinner. Tomorrow we are off to Honduras at 3am on the super First Class Hedman Alas bus and I can´t wait to see what the movie is.
Hope all ya´ll are safe and sound as a pound,
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