Guatemala is.... TREMENDOUS! (in the words of Caesar, my tour guide)

Monday marked the beginning of my 2-week Easter break from school. Easter is a pretty big occasion here so all the schools take off the week before and after Easter which means more time for me to see new places around here. My roommates, Nikki (a teacher at Hummingbird), and I decided there would be no better place to start our break than Guatemala... I can't even tell you how excited I was about this trip! A.) I would get another stamp on my passport and B.) Why not go since we are so close???

The more we researched Guatemala, the more we realized how amazing the country was and also discovered we would need weeks to really take in all that Guatemala had to offer. We decided on getting just a little taste by going to Flores (a little island surrounded by a lake) and taking a day trip to Tikal (the largest Maya Site in Central America) from there. After a 2 hour bus ride from Belize City we arrived at the boarder and went through the process of crossing the boarder.

We then traveled about 2 hours to the little town of Santa Elana and then crossed the bridge to get to Flores. I saw some familiar places in Santa Elana: Burger King, Pizza Hut, and Payless. Never did I expect to see these places in Guatemala.

These little golf cart-looking vehicles are the taxis in this area of Guatemala.... they were everywhere!!!

Flores is the sweetest little town that I've ever seen. The town is lined with cobblestone roads, colorful row houses, and quaint shops and restaurants. Plus, the streets and sidewalks were free of trash and potholes which is VERY different from Belize. The people and government take pride in making a good name for Guatemala so they keep their land clean and offer lots of security with armed guards on nearly every corner to ensure the safety of the residents and tourists alike. I was also fascinated by the opportunity to think back to my days of Spanish class in 9th and 10th grade to really try to become part of the culture. The people of Flores were extremely patient and helpful with my mangled Spanish and over-exaggerated hand signs. Nikki is fluent in Spanish so she was able to translate for us at most times, but I got a chance to try it myself in the shops and restaurants. I was amazed at how quickly I began remembering various phrases and how effectively I was able to decipher what was being said to me in Spanish. I've decided I would love the opportunity to spend a longer period of time in a Spanish-speaking country in order to immerse myself in the language and culture.

Our Hotel

Walking up the hill to the center of town where they have a church, park, and basketball court. This area is set at the highest point of the island and is a meeting point of various streets that lead up to it.

The Catholic Church

View from the top!

I was surprised to the vast amounts of palm leaves that lined the streets and were posted around people's houses. Easter is a very important time in this part of the country and there are many ceremonies, parades, processions, and crucifixion re-enactments performed during the week leading up to Easter.

We woke up before dawn to leave on a bus to Tikal at 4:30am. Apparently this is supposed to be the best time to go to the site, so we jumped on the bus with about 10 other sleepy-faced tourists and a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed guide who was ready to go! After the hour long ride to Tikal, we stepped out to a very crisp, cool morning at the site, which thankfully warmed up sooner rather than later. (I was wearing my usual shorts, tank-top, and sandals with no jacket as usual.) The sire is roughly 222 sq. miles with 10 sq. miles of excavated ruins. Basically, it's HUGE compared to anything we've seen! I have to say that it was an amazing experience to see so many different temples in one area and have the chance to climb to the top of several of them to look out over the jungle and see other temples peaking out above the trees. Breath-taking is the only way to describe it, and the pictures I took do it no justice whatsoever. 

 

The first temple we climbed was done so by a series of steps leading to the peak on the temple. Let's just say that this was only the start to a busy day of climbing!

We took a little rest at the top to enjoy the view!

We met our guide at the bottom of the ruin and discovered that he had found something crawling around that we had yet to encounter during our 3 months... a tarantula! He was holding it and I decided to be brave (or crazy) and hold it myself. My mom is probably freaking out about this as she's reading it... sorry mom!

That's it crawling around on my hands... it really wasn't as bad as you would think!

 

 

This was the second one we climbed!

Rachel and I braved the giant ladder and climbed to top of this one! Jessica and Nikki took a rest at the bottom.

Yay! We made it!

This was the view... well worth the climb!

This tree was HUGE!

After a long day of walking, climbing, and taking pictures, we returned to Flores and walked around the town. There were so many neat shops to look in and we grabbed a bite to eat too. I absolutely loved my experience in Guatemala and can't wait to one day return and see more of this beautiful country!