Guate! Guate!

Greetings everyone from Guatemala! Yes, we finally made it and we are safe. There is much to talk about, it´s hard to know where to start. The above picture was taken while hiking through the jungle at Tikal, the largest Mayan complex ever built. It´s in Northern Guatemala in the state of Peten. Max has been a good sport. It was a 9 hour bus ride from Guatemala City to get up there, and although we were on a ¨first-class¨ bus, the air-conditioner was blowing out hot air and with all the sharp turns we were making at high speeds, the ride was quite nauseating. We made about 10 stops on our ¨directo¨ (non-stop) bus.

The ruins were sweet. Sarah´s only complaint was that this tour guide did not tell us anything about the ruins or people themselves. I was satisfied, however. I think Sarah was expecting to get the same quality of tours that she got from her professors in the study abroad program in Jerusalem. Max´s favorite part of touring the jungle was sitting on his Mom´s shoulders for the first time and realizing her hair was long enough that he could grab it and stick it in his mouth.

Also in Tikal we went on a canopy tour. We were kind of nervous about taking Max at high velocities through the trees, but we decided it would be a good experience for him. He is our little ¨travel baby¨ afterall. He liked chewing on the harnesses as we loaded up, but he screamed his heart out the whole time after we started on the zip line course, speeding from platform to platform above the jungle trees. We kind of regretted the decision to take him. Oh well.

We also toured Lake Atitlan, which is rumored among some scholars to be the Waters of Mormon. We almost got ripped off by a guy that wanted to take us around the lake for 400 quetzales ($50), but we soon found the public boat tour company that charged us only 180 quetzales. In the picture you can see some of the volcanoes that surround the lake and give it a very mystic feel. In fact, many of the Mayan locals believe it has healing powers and they come here to bathe. We visited three little villages along the lake. At the last village, San Antonio de Palopo, we found some Mayan ladies that were more interested in Max than in selling us there little woven bracelets. They held Max and let him participate in the weaving. They were terrified when showed them Max´s trick, standing up in my palm as I hold him up as a trophy.

We have lots more to say, but we´ll save it for the next post.