Palenque to Tulum to Isla Mujeres to Tarpon Springs

Did we think the overnight bus trip would be exhausting? It was! But we lived through it and suffered the minimal neck pain. We were, however, happy to untwist ourselves and slide out of the seat in Tulum. Back to Tulum. When we were here last month, it was pouring! This time the weather was very pleasant, and we enjoyed seeing the town again. We caught a taxi and made our way to the Tulum Playa area, found a hotel that was not expensive but very cute, and enjoyed a dinner by the Caribbean Sea. What a beautiful color! It brings out words like beautiful, stunning, amazingly blue, much like the Mediterranean does. It is different, however, in that the brilliant blues exist as round spots where the bottom is coral sand. These measure anywhere from a few feet in circumference to thousands of feet across. They pop out of the darker azure sea like giant balls on a Christmas tree--sparkling and brilliantly glittery.
The next day we just rested from the bus trip and planned the next full day. Tulum would be the last Mayan ruins we planned to see, and so we set out at 7 am to take it in. It was exquisitely set on a bluff above the Caribbean Sea and powdery sand to the east and on all other sides was encompassed in a very well cared for garden setting with lots of palm trees, green grass and bougainvilla. The structures were impressive but not as well preserved as any of the ruins we had already seen even though Tulum is not as old as any of them. I would guess that the wind and sea have battered the buildings for hundreds of years being in the location they are. But we enjoyed the morning just strolling around and taking it all in.
This morning we left Tulum and bussed our way to Isla Mujeres, island of many tourists and fantastic water. Tomorrow well go snorkeling, swimming, exploring the island, and then on Friday we head for Florida.
We certainly enjoyed everything about this trip, were surprised at every turn, and look forward to returning some day. First, however, we have to click off some other places of interest. Will let you know when and where.

Palenque, Mexico

The five hour ride by bus to Palenque was intriguing mostly because of the swift changes in the geography and vegetation. Out of San Cristobal, we immediately began a climb over what was to be 2 major mountain passes and a switch from dry to lush vegetation. Poinsettias gave way to elephant ears and bromeliads, pines to deciduous, and all covered with huge vines, their long stems extending down by the hundreds to the ground. Finally we dropped down to the other side of the mountains to lowland jungle and a change in smell. It became both musty and sweet as we found ourselves surrounded by heat and humidity in the rainiest place in Mexico. Luckily, we had bright sun.
We went first to our hotel and turned on the air conditioning. Then we took a swim in the pool to cool off a little more. As we sat there, cooling off, I saw, out of the corner of my eye, a little flicker in the grass. I looked again and discovered fireflies! I hadnt seen fireflies in years, and it was fun to see them more clearly as the sky darkened. They were everywhere right above the grass. We sat and watched them sparkle for half an hour and then our stomachs reminded us we had not eaten much since breakfast. After dinner we got to bed early so we could be ready for a full day at Palenque.
We got up to bird sounds again. This is one of the nicest aspects of being in the jungle or anywhere, for that matter, where birds are plentiful. By 8 am we were at the road looking for a colectiva (a public minibus that will pick you up if you stand alongside the road) to pass by. We were in luck! We climbed aboard with people who worked at the ruins and got there just as things were opening up.
After buying our ticket, 51 pesos (about $4.50) we walked to the first site. It was probably the most famous in the whole ruins Los Cruses de las Inscripciones. The structure itself approximately 90 feet tall with very wide steps the entire way up, and connected to 2 other buildings, the tomb of the red queen, Pakal´s mother´s burial site, and still another tomb site of one of his sons. All three together made quite an impression of strength and power for this Mayan ruler. Another building finished the quadrangle of structures. Amazingly enough, except for Las Inscripciones, all other structures were open to being climbed. So, we climbed them all. We scampered to the top of the one called The Acropolis del Sur and just stopped to rest, listen to the jungle, and smell the fragrances around us. Shortly, we were joined by hoards of tourists, all of them French! From that point, we walked downhill to the rest of the structures, both excavated and unexcavated, and took various side trails to see some falls called the Queen´s Bath. We were pretty tired by the time we finished, but we still wanted to see the museum.
The beautifully executed museum was one of the best if not the best we had seen. Even though the buildings still had many highly distinguishable bas-reliefs, the best of them, along with many statues or stelae, had been removed to the museum. And most of them retained their very ancient paint of reds and blues. What vivid colors were still visible! The most spectacular item, however, was the sarcophagus of the ruler Pakal. It was stunning! Huge and highly carved with the story of his life in symbols. Pretty impressive.
By now we were about ready to drop and happily found a colectivo to take us back to our hotel where we sat around the pool, had dinner, and waited until 8:30 pm for our overnight bus to take us to Tulum. We weren´t looking forward to that, for sure. If we had had the choice, we certainly would not have chosen it. But, there were no other buses going east, and we had to get there to fly out of Mexico in 5 days. So, we climbed aboard, looking forward to disembarking some 11 hours later.

San Cristobal las Casas

It´s really quite difficult to leave San Cristobal because of the wonderful time this beautiful city showed us. We have been here only four days, but we have enjoyed so much it has to offer. The architecture is very beautiful with the vivid colors many Central American cities have, and the central square is very picturesque with trees, shrubs and flowers around a two story band shell. The main floor is a round restaurant, and the band floor is above it. Every night a marimba band plays and people dance.
The natural surroundings are also spectacular. We took a boat ride down the Rio Grijalva into the Canyon del Sumidero and every turn showed us a new and steeper vista. The walls of the canyon grew as we slipped by them and turned into the steepest in Mexico (if I understood the Spanish speaking guide correctly).
The culture of this area is largely Mayan. We went to Museo de Medicina Maya and learned about the herbs and animals they use to heal illnesses. This was fascinating, and they were very eager to share their traditions. I was amazed to see the different parts of squirrels, hummingbirds, spiders, and snakes that they used to dispel fear, anger, envy or greed. They had a garden filled with medicinal herbs that they picked, dried and dispensed to anyone who wanted to buy them. The most intriguing part of the museum, however, was the rituals associated with childbirth. From the way the baby is born to the chicken´s egg the midwife touches the baby with to protect him from evil spirits, to the way the placenta is buried in the floor of their house, all of it was spellbinding. Originally, they used posh, a sugar cane liquor, as a curative for various illnesses and spells, but it has been replaced in many areas by Pepsi or Coca Cola, and now those soft drinks can be found in almost every ceremony. Today we visited a nearby village called Chemula to see their church. It looked like many other Catholic churches we´ve seen, but when we stepped inside, my eyes widened at the sight. There were 1000´s of candles everywhere, on the floor, on tables, on windowsills, in designs or straight lines. People sat on pine needles that were strewn on the floor and prayed aloud. It sounded more like chanting or talking to God. In two cases, the families were healing someone by passing chickens over the candles or the people and then killing the chickens by breaking their necks. It really was incredible. And last night we were to a sort of Mayan opera/ballet which told the story of a Palenque leader and his encounters with animals and strangers of another tribe. The dancing, singing and costuming was magnificent! No photos allowed, of course, but I wanted to and had to think twice about getting kicked out of the theater.
Tomorrow we take the bus to Palenque. I´m excited to see this amazing ruins. We´re still trying to decide if we will also take the time to see Agua Azul. We´ve heard so much about these gorgeous cascades of water. Stay tuned. We´ll have to make a decision soon.

Lake Atitlan

The road from Antigua to Panajachel on Lake Atitlan was supposed to be pretty straightforward, and it really did start out that way. We went through Chimaltenango on the way and looked very carefully for the hospital Bob Basta, a friend and neighbor, helped to build right after the huge earthquake buried the city in 1969. The city was already sprawling and although we didnt see the hospital, one of the other passengers told us that she had volunteered there and it was thriving! But fairly soon after we left the city behind, we took a shortcut through the mountains on a road that resembled a Forest Service road. It was the road of 1000 curves (ok, maybe just 500) but got us to our destination in record time.
We pulled into the town of Pana and drove down the market street, where on both sides of us people were out in droves with their wares. After finding our hotel and washing up, we set out to see the town. It is a picturesque little village on the edge of a huge lake which was formed when what must have been a monstrous volcano erupted. We ate at the Sunset Cafe and, indeed, enjoyed very much the beautiful sunset with strands of white clouds backed by red which appeared at the edges. Its a good thing we did because it has been the only sunset visible during our stay. Every other afternoon, the clouds have rolled in.
Our second day here we awoke to beautiful bird sounds and a sunrise that started at the top of the 3 volcanoes that surround the lake and worked its way down. We took an early boat to another village on the lake with Lucas, the captain, who docked and waited 3 hours for us to return. We had a wonderful breakfast on the terrace of the Bambu Hotel among flowers and hummingbirds, but its always a bit of a reality check when the people at the next table have 2 armed guards with them. In fact, we have seen plenty of sawed off shotguns which have become almost commonplace, although they unnerved us at first. Most of them are tourist police, hopefully to protect visitors, or at the entrance to banks or fancy hotels. We had a quick tour of the village of Santiago de Atitlan in a tuktuk, basically a motorcycle with an enclosed cab. Fortuately, everybody goes pretty slowly and has an amazing ability to avoid collisions with pedestrians as well as other vehicles. The Guatemalans are pretty skilled drivers.
The next day we took another boat, this one a public boat that was less expensive, and visited another village across the lake. Our bench partner was from Buenos Aires, so we had to talk about that city and our travels to Mendoza and Bariloche last year. He has an antique shop in the old town center which we will find on our trip to Argentina some day. This little town San Pedro is known for its hippies and weed smokers, but we stayed clear of any of that! It was a very pleasant place, however, and we enjoyed just strolling around and having lunch. On the way back to Pana we were deluged with spray from the waves which often come up in the afternoon. We knew that, but we were too busy downing our second glass of fresh orange juice to notice. The boat stayed close to shore though because it called at every little dock for passengers to Pana. We enjoyed just bumping along, seeing some beautiful homes built alongside the lake and above it on outcroppings of the hillsides. It reminded us of Lake Chelan, although the water did not have the beautiful blue color.
Today we went to the famous market at Chichicastenango which is supposed to be the biggest in Central America. It was interesting and fun to walk around and see the strange fruits and vegs and to admire the handiwork and textiles that surrounded us. So many colors!
Tomorrow were off to San Cristobal, Mexico where well stay for 4 days. It has a good market, too, weve heard so Terry will have to be patient for a little longer.
Youll notice I havent used any apostrophes, and thats because I cant find the key!

Antigua

Looking out over the valley toward the volcano in the morning was some beautiful sight! We sat on the roof of our hotel Lazos Fuertes and enjoyed the sun several mornings while watching the buses and trucks below us bring their fruits and vegetables to the market which is about 2 blocks from us. So much horn blowing!! It´s a very lively place!
This ancient colonial town was once the capital of this whole area which took in Guatemala, Honduras and part of Mexico. The Spaniard conquerors wanted a reminder of home, so their architecture is very Spanish. The buildings are painted beautiful colors with mostly white trim and lots of wrought iron over the windows, on balconies, and around entire areas which are like our yards, but inside high walls. In fact, most of the homes are very plain on the front, but once the doors are opened, the inside pops out at you like a surprise gift. There can be masses of flowers and grass in the center, surrounded by rooms of the house. Of course, there is poverty here, too, although we haven´t seen much of it here in Antigua. The churches are mostly painted beautiful hues of yellow and melon with white trim, unless they have been practially demolished by the earthquakes. Many of them are in the process of being rebuilt and are interesting to wander around.
One day we went to a coffee plantation which was extremely interesting. Besides having a well planned area of how coffee is produced, they also had several museums dedicated to the Maya. Our favorite was a museum of musical instruments which included several dioramas of their festivals and religious rituals. Of course, they had free coffee tastings at the end of your tour, and the coffee here is world-reknowned. We were free to wander and were able to take in as much of the process as we wanted, so we spent several hours there, ambling from the shade grown coffee with red berries ready for picking, to the drying coffee beans being hand raked by several Guatemalan men. The fragrance was overwhelming!
Our favorite restaurant Inglesia Santo Domingo had been an old convent now turned into an upscale, romantic hotel (way too expensive) with park-like grounds complete with parrots in trees! We could enjoy the food, however, and walking among the beautiful flowers and water features brought us to another museum area of the old, crumbling church. There was also a candle factory that originally produced about 700 hand dipped candles per day just for the hotel, but they had added a gift store for the public, so we went in to see the production process and ended up in a purchase, of course!
So many things to see here that we could stay longer, but we hear that Lake Atitlan is the most beautiful area in Guatemala, so we must move along. Hasta luego!

Coban, Feb. 7, 2009

The sky looks a little brighter, but maybe it´s wishful thinking on our part. After all, we are in an area of cloud forest, so we should expect misty weather. We traveled here yesterday, fretful that we would end up alongside the road, baggage in hand, hoping for a ride from some kind person. Thankfully, that was not the case, and we limped into town on our minibus. As the driver pulled into the garage, I could see a sign of relief on his face. He had been driving the last 5 hours with a burned out clutch that made a grinding noise every time he shifted, and because of the many speed bumps in the villages, he was constantly shifting. A couple of times he had to stop in the road and turn the motor off altogether, then start it back up and proceed. We crossed on a ferry at Sayaxche, and it took about 6 cars, powered by an unusual setup for a ferry. The driver sat in a round kind of boat that was attached to the side of the ferry which swiveled as he ran the outboard motor according to the direction he wanted to go.
When we reached the other side, our driver stopped and had 7 people transfer to another bus to lighten the load on ours. I guess he thought it would help with the mechanical problem. I´m not sure it did as it took an extra hour and a half to travel to Coban.
Along the way, the countryside became rolling hills with cattle ranches, and palm trees dotted the landscape. We also saw pine tree plantations underplanted with corn. We passed through many Mayan villages and saw ladies dressed in native garb of bright skirts and camisole tops covered with lacy square shaped blouses. There were lots of dogs around, and we fed a few of them from the window leftovers of our lunch. The hills gradually became low mountains, and the road turned twisty and steeper. There were many corn fields on the steep hillsides with banana trees at the bottom. There were also several coffee plantations along the way, providing Coban with some of the world´s finest coffee, begun by German immigrants in 1880´s. They also grow a large share of the world´s cardamon and export 90% to Saudi Arabia and other middle eastern countries where they mix it with their coffee. That actually employs more people than do the coffee plantations.
This afternoon, after walking around the market with vividly colored fruits, vegetables, and flowers, we traveled a short distance out of town to Vivero Verapaz, an orchid nursery with many thousands of species. We enjoyed seeing monja blanca, the white nun orchid which is Guatemala´s national flower. There were also hundreds of species of miniature orchids that had flowers almost too small to see. I spotted a magnifying glass in the pocket of Juan, our guide. We were sorry to have missed the national orchid show which is held here in Dec.
We are staying in a 400 year old former mansion which has atmosphere but no heat. We survived the first night with an extra blanket. There are antiques everywhere along the inside courtyard which is planted with tropical flowers and trees. The restaurant Casa de Aruña which we keep going back to is a feast for the eyes. It also has a center courtyard covered with orchids and tropical plants. It´s painted a beautiful Mayan red, the same color that covered the ancient pyramids which we visited in Tikal. The food is delicious, and the inside part of the dining room has a fireplace to take the chill off the damp mountain air, which gives a truly cozy feel.
It seems to be getting brighter outside, so we think we should look around more of the town before going to dinner. Tomorrow we´re off to Antigua, the old colonial capital, which is about a 4 hour drive, assuming the bus doesn´t develop any problems!

Tikal, Guatemala--Feb. 5, 2009

After a six hour water taxi and bus ride from Caye Caulker, Belize to Flores, Guatemala, we set ourselves down in Casona de la Isla which is a small island in the middle of a very large lake called Peten Itza. What a darling town! It reminds us of many Italian towns we´ve visited with small, steep streets and colorful buildings (mostly hotels and restaurants) clutching the shoreline. They´re all piled on top of each other, it seems, and have balconies with pots of shrubs and lovely places to sit and watch the lake while dining.
Yesterday we climbed aboard our collectivo (mini bus) and headed off for one of the most spectacular Mayan pyramid ruins. We arrived and immediately our guide Carlos led the 4 of us into the UNESCO world heritage site and began what was to be five hours of climbing, hiking, tripping over big tree roots, and making our way through the jungle surrounding the site. At first, I didn´t see any structures, but after climbing a very rough path, I could glimpse through the trees the first temple. What a magnificent sight! It rose through the jungle like some prehistoric monster with huge steps down the center and enormous blocks of stone going up 200 feet high. Then we learned we were to climb it! Luckily, there was a scaffolding up the side of it so we didn´t have to climb the very narrow and steep stone stairs. The view was breathtaking! We could see about 30 miles out over the jungle and were awed by the other pyramids sticking up past the tree canopy. To shorten the description of this place, there are hundreds of structures here; we saw approximately 50 of them, each one as majestic as the next. Of course, it didn´t take too long for us to feel our legs and knees begging for a break. So, we returned the the Jungle Lodge for lunch at 3 pm and a rest. Later that afternoon, we spotted many birds--oscellated turkeys, oropendula birds with yellow tails and marroon bodies, and bright green parrots. But, I didn´t get to see a toucan. Bummer.
This morning we awoke at 4:15 for a sunrise tour. Hiking in the dark through the jungle was quite the experience, enhanced by periodic glimpses of stunning stars through leafy boughs of kapok, gumbolimbo, teak, sapadillo (gum) and cedar trees, among others. I even spotted a falling star which fell in the direction our path was taking us. When we came to a clearing, the sky opened with millions of twinkling diamonds. The remoteness of the site allowed them to shine even more brightly than is visible in most places we´ve been. Even our lodge turned off the electricity at night. At that point, our guide Antonio informed us that we were going to climb the 200 foot pyramid called temple 4. Since we had climbed it yesterday, we felt confident that we could make it once again, but doing it in the dark was a little unnerving. We had flashlights, of course, but once we got to the top, we turned them off and sat in the dark, waiting for the first light.
We waited for about 30 minutes on top of this pyramid, facing east, before we could see a faint blush in the sky. (The pyramids are oriented toward the North Star, so one of the staircases in each pyramid faces east). At this point, we heard the first bird chirping and the brighter the sky grew, the more birds joined in, at the end resulting in a cacophony of squawks and tweets that was piercing. Added to it, the howler monkeys began their daily growling competition. It was amazing to experience that chorus of sound that seemed to awake the entire jungle. After about an hour in an increasing cooler breeze, we climbed down and saw the entire ruins again. However, this time, when we arrived at temple 5 which rises so steeply that it seems nearly vertical. We hadn´t planned to climb it because we were pretty tired, but we decided that we´d better do it now if we thought we ever would want to. So, up we went. The view was still another amazing sight that we won´t ever forget. After about 4 hours, we returned to the lodge, ate breakfast, and collapsed in bed.
The Jungle Lodge was built in a clearing at the entrance to Tikal, with seemingly endless miles of trees, vines, roots, rocks, and lots of wild orchids and bromeliads among many other plants. The small cabins, which are painted red like the pyramids were thousands of years ago, are placed along a rocky cobblestone path in a small clearing. It has a main lodge in which is located the reception area and restaurant and is run by solar and generator power. It´s a very peaceful setting, and we were sad to leave such a beautiful and tranquil place. But, it´s off to Coban tomorrow and our new residence Hostal de Doña Victoria.
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