Belize trip-Part II
Although I had tried to lose the roommate by the end of my stay on the island--since I didn't want to commit either homicide or suicide (oh, i was told that muder is only worth 7 years in Belize, so it might have been worth it after all...)--that was pretty much unsuccessful, and he managed to tag along on my trip inland. Thankfully, he was planning on changing his flight to an earlier date, so I kept hoping for earlier rather than later. Anyway, three hours on a re-painted school-bus (i dont know why they bothered with the paint) and we rolled into San Ignacio, from where i planned to go check out some waterfalls, caves and whatever other hikes.
Wandering around town, it was about a half an hour walk to a Cahal Pech (aka the place of ticks)--the pictures from which will be forthcoming, once i figure out how to knock some life into my camera. While climbing up some steps of leftover mayan temples/royal living quarters or whatnot to take in the pretty views (ok, so i'm not an archaeology buff, sue me), a couple of tourists and I were approached by this local-looking older guy who just started telling us about the ruin (who knew that this was the new way of doing the guided tours?) which weirded the daylights out of the couple who proceeded to retreat faster than you can remember what the name of the ruin was.
The next day I signed up for a tour of the Actun Tunichil Muknal (everyone just says ATM) tour. This was supposed to be one of the more newly discovered caves in the region, full of mayan artifacts that were left untouched, including all sorts of pottery and human sacrificial remains. Contrary to what I normally do, I decided to go with a larger group just to dilute the anger that had been building up towards my roommate (I was seriously consi
dering how much harm I could do with a bottle opener at this point). That actually ended up being a pretty good idea--the group had a great dynamic and by the time we made it to the entrance of the cave through the three river crossings, everyone was almost as chatty as me. or maybe i just couldnt shut up for the 17 of us and so it seemed that way. or it could've been all the termites we ate on the way (eeeew, no YOU try it!! tastes like carrots... doesn't really smell like chicken) . So next time a place I live in gets assaulted by the buggers, I won't need no stinkin' Orkin man! I'll just make a meal of the suckers!!
What can I say, the cave was absolutely amazing. You swim in before you can start wading (rock... ow, ROCK!!!) past all sorts of spectacular stalactites, stalagmites, sparkly curtainy formations (don't touch the sparkly--according to the guides, the skin oils interfere with growing formations: they were explaining it by the hydrophilic/hydrophobic theory) and generally spectacular rock arrangements. Again, the pictures are coming, I hope. The second part of the trip is on dry surface and that is where all the artifacts are--tons of pots (broken, to release the spirit of the pot), strangely arranged skeletons (apparently Maya used to cut up their captives and leave them for sacrifice, and in the furthest part of the tour a normally arranged girl skeleton. The guide was saying that the number of artifacts and human remains increased towards the decline of the civilization--kind of appeasement for the gods. You come out of the cave 5-6 hours later and discover that the sun is setting, and I just wanted to go stay in the cave for longer. No worries, I figured there'll be some caving involved during my wilderness med class, that was coming up.
I wanted to go around the area exploring the next day, but found out that the taxis were charging exorbitant fees, and I was too much of a scaredy cat to race the belizean drivers, so renting was out. I was left with what seemed like a good idea at the time--a tour that would go around to most of the areas that seemed like fun--some waterfalls some pretty woods etc. Turned out instead that it was a "van-tour"... there was at most 10-15 minutes of walking involved at a time. The guide was pretty un-sociable (he even ate by himself, even though the group was only 5 people) and would just kind of drop us at a place, and tell us we need to go when it was time to go to the next place. Maybe if I brought a big batch of sangria with me this would've gone over better. Otherwise, it felt quite a bit like being dropped at overlooks on the highway: here, scenic overlook... I guess, a good resting up though, since the day after I ended up going over to Tikal, in Guatemala. Oh and this was the day I finally said see ya never to the roommate, as my tourmates from ATM looked on and laughed (apparently I was not the only one with the impression that he was completely whack!)
There are day trips that go from San Ignacio to Tikal which, considering the trip there is at least 3 hours, seems like a sin. I decided to hop the tour there, then stay the night and come back the next day, then head down to Belmopan for the class. I was actually very happy I did that. Although the guide did not contribute much, other than the chronology of the site, I would've wondered if I'd missed out on something had I just gone in by myself, plus the ride there was SO much shorter as I was going to find out on the way back! Anyway, Tikal is this amazingly huge city mostly covered over by the jungle and only partially excavated, something resulting in a very surreal experience. During the day it tends to be more crowded and is HOT HOT HOT while you climb up all the temples you're allowed to (the closed off one of the temples after two people fell from it-eeeeek). The tour group left after lunch (don't get the ham sandwiches!! no i'm serious! everybody chowed down tons of food which was much needed after all that climbing, and then the ham sandwiches came out: people got two slices of white bread with a slice of ham in the middle. on a little desert plate), and I went over to the place where you can rent-a-hammock with a mosquito net for the night, plopped down my stuff and took a nap. I woke up to sudden commotion in at least three languages going on all around me (I was the only one in the hammocks when I landed there)--apparently the bus from Flores, Guatemala (nearest big city) just got in.
I ended up hooking up with two Netherlanders (hee hee) and an American who were all traveling together for a while, to go and see the sunset. Since they got into the site after 3pm, they could also go in in the am and see the sunrise the next day. When we got to the top of the pyramid (which is supposedly the best site to see the sunset from since you can see all the other ruins around and the jungle and tons of birds and monkeys etc, there was a filming crew there, filming an interview with this little old guy dressed up in traditional indian garb. I don't know who that guy thought he was talking to, but he talked on FOR-EVER and EVER for every single question. And we all had to sit there quietly and not move anywhere in view of the camera-which was of course everywhere the best views were. So aside from getting more murderous thoughts into my head about tossing people and equipment off the top of the temple (after all, I wasn't in Belize anymore, and it was no longer 7 years, who knows what it is in Guatemala) I had a great time. The views were spectacular; parrots were flying everywhere; pictures are still stuck in my camera. We considered going over to the next temple to hang out without the camera crew, but we would've missed the sunset.
So the moment the sun set, we hiked over to the taller temple to try and catch the sunset again. Nevermind that on the way there we got yelled at by the guard that it was 6pm and everyone should be leaving the park. Nevermind that it was seriously getting darker and there's no lighting in the park. Anyway, we get to this temple and go to check out the side under construction (which, I'm cringing at even now--this is Guatemala we're talking about. If anything happens we're screwed) on the other side than the one I saw during the day, and lo and behold there's a great little platform to watch the sky there. And then the darkness starts setting over the jungle and I start thinking that I probably should head out since my vision kind of sucks in the dark, and I don't really want to have a twisted ankle for the class; plus there's not that much else to see. But the two 22-year olds think it's a spectacular idea to watch for complete darkness settle. Fine, I'd go by myself, but having unfortunately read the LP version where stuff happens to tourists in remote areas, and where jaguars appear out of the middle of the jungle etc. etc. I'm freaked out. Also, I dont have the map of the site. Finally, after both me and the other girl (also my age) have been freaking out for a while, the boys decided to grace us with their presence (we'd gone down the stairs before, not wanting to break our necks on the steps without a flashlight). Unfortunately on the way back a) we only had one flashlight and b) the guy that thought he knew the place and we followed led us someplace weird and we ended up wandering around for a while getting progressively hungrier and hungrier in my case. I was ready to eat the jaguar if he decided to show up, never mind how i'd catch it. Of course at this point it's completely dark, but thankfully the paths are white sand, so we can follow ok whithout a light. I keep trying to avoid anything dark on the road, since who knows if it's a snake or whatnot (did i mention my vision is fuzzy at night?). And finally, when we are almost out, we notice a row of moving lights (must be the guards, who'll totally kick us out if they find us in the park after dark, we think!). So the most logical thing for us to do, of course is to get off the white road where we'll be obviously seen, and walk across the "lawn". Unfortunatley the lawn turns out to have one humongous rock in the middle that two of us hit and go head over hills over (rock! ..... OH F@*%^!!!! ROOOOCK!!!)... only to find out that the row of moving lights are in fact the little lights along the road to the next-door hotel. Yeah. Thankfully we made it back before electricity cut out at 9 and even managed to get some grub out of the kitchen staff.
Wandering around town, it was about a half an hour walk to a Cahal Pech (aka the place of ticks)--the pictures from which will be forthcoming, once i figure out how to knock some life into my camera. While climbing up some steps of leftover mayan temples/royal living quarters or whatnot to take in the pretty views (ok, so i'm not an archaeology buff, sue me), a couple of tourists and I were approached by this local-looking older guy who just started telling us about the ruin (who knew that this was the new way of doing the guided tours?) which weirded the daylights out of the couple who proceeded to retreat faster than you can remember what the name of the ruin was.
The next day I signed up for a tour of the Actun Tunichil Muknal (everyone just says ATM) tour. This was supposed to be one of the more newly discovered caves in the region, full of mayan artifacts that were left untouched, including all sorts of pottery and human sacrificial remains. Contrary to what I normally do, I decided to go with a larger group just to dilute the anger that had been building up towards my roommate (I was seriously consi
dering how much harm I could do with a bottle opener at this point). That actually ended up being a pretty good idea--the group had a great dynamic and by the time we made it to the entrance of the cave through the three river crossings, everyone was almost as chatty as me. or maybe i just couldnt shut up for the 17 of us and so it seemed that way. or it could've been all the termites we ate on the way (eeeew, no YOU try it!! tastes like carrots... doesn't really smell like chicken) . So next time a place I live in gets assaulted by the buggers, I won't need no stinkin' Orkin man! I'll just make a meal of the suckers!!What can I say, the cave was absolutely amazing. You swim in before you can start wading (rock... ow, ROCK!!!) past all sorts of spectacular stalactites, stalagmites, sparkly curtainy formations (don't touch the sparkly--according to the guides, the skin oils interfere with growing formations: they were explaining it by the hydrophilic/hydrophobic theory) and generally spectacular rock arrangements. Again, the pictures are coming, I hope. The second part of the trip is on dry surface and that is where all the artifacts are--tons of pots (broken, to release the spirit of the pot), strangely arranged skeletons (apparently Maya used to cut up their captives and leave them for sacrifice, and in the furthest part of the tour a normally arranged girl skeleton. The guide was saying that the number of artifacts and human remains increased towards the decline of the civilization--kind of appeasement for the gods. You come out of the cave 5-6 hours later and discover that the sun is setting, and I just wanted to go stay in the cave for longer. No worries, I figured there'll be some caving involved during my wilderness med class, that was coming up.
I wanted to go around the area exploring the next day, but found out that the taxis were charging exorbitant fees, and I was too much of a scaredy cat to race the belizean drivers, so renting was out. I was left with what seemed like a good idea at the time--a tour that would go around to most of the areas that seemed like fun--some waterfalls some pretty woods etc. Turned out instead that it was a "van-tour"... there was at most 10-15 minutes of walking involved at a time. The guide was pretty un-sociable (he even ate by himself, even though the group was only 5 people) and would just kind of drop us at a place, and tell us we need to go when it was time to go to the next place. Maybe if I brought a big batch of sangria with me this would've gone over better. Otherwise, it felt quite a bit like being dropped at overlooks on the highway: here, scenic overlook... I guess, a good resting up though, since the day after I ended up going over to Tikal, in Guatemala. Oh and this was the day I finally said see ya never to the roommate, as my tourmates from ATM looked on and laughed (apparently I was not the only one with the impression that he was completely whack!)
There are day trips that go from San Ignacio to Tikal which, considering the trip there is at least 3 hours, seems like a sin. I decided to hop the tour there, then stay the night and come back the next day, then head down to Belmopan for the class. I was actually very happy I did that. Although the guide did not contribute much, other than the chronology of the site, I would've wondered if I'd missed out on something had I just gone in by myself, plus the ride there was SO much shorter as I was going to find out on the way back! Anyway, Tikal is this amazingly huge city mostly covered over by the jungle and only partially excavated, something resulting in a very surreal experience. During the day it tends to be more crowded and is HOT HOT HOT while you climb up all the temples you're allowed to (the closed off one of the temples after two people fell from it-eeeeek). The tour group left after lunch (don't get the ham sandwiches!! no i'm serious! everybody chowed down tons of food which was much needed after all that climbing, and then the ham sandwiches came out: people got two slices of white bread with a slice of ham in the middle. on a little desert plate), and I went over to the place where you can rent-a-hammock with a mosquito net for the night, plopped down my stuff and took a nap. I woke up to sudden commotion in at least three languages going on all around me (I was the only one in the hammocks when I landed there)--apparently the bus from Flores, Guatemala (nearest big city) just got in.
I ended up hooking up with two Netherlanders (hee hee) and an American who were all traveling together for a while, to go and see the sunset. Since they got into the site after 3pm, they could also go in in the am and see the sunrise the next day. When we got to the top of the pyramid (which is supposedly the best site to see the sunset from since you can see all the other ruins around and the jungle and tons of birds and monkeys etc, there was a filming crew there, filming an interview with this little old guy dressed up in traditional indian garb. I don't know who that guy thought he was talking to, but he talked on FOR-EVER and EVER for every single question. And we all had to sit there quietly and not move anywhere in view of the camera-which was of course everywhere the best views were. So aside from getting more murderous thoughts into my head about tossing people and equipment off the top of the temple (after all, I wasn't in Belize anymore, and it was no longer 7 years, who knows what it is in Guatemala) I had a great time. The views were spectacular; parrots were flying everywhere; pictures are still stuck in my camera. We considered going over to the next temple to hang out without the camera crew, but we would've missed the sunset.
So the moment the sun set, we hiked over to the taller temple to try and catch the sunset again. Nevermind that on the way there we got yelled at by the guard that it was 6pm and everyone should be leaving the park. Nevermind that it was seriously getting darker and there's no lighting in the park. Anyway, we get to this temple and go to check out the side under construction (which, I'm cringing at even now--this is Guatemala we're talking about. If anything happens we're screwed) on the other side than the one I saw during the day, and lo and behold there's a great little platform to watch the sky there. And then the darkness starts setting over the jungle and I start thinking that I probably should head out since my vision kind of sucks in the dark, and I don't really want to have a twisted ankle for the class; plus there's not that much else to see. But the two 22-year olds think it's a spectacular idea to watch for complete darkness settle. Fine, I'd go by myself, but having unfortunately read the LP version where stuff happens to tourists in remote areas, and where jaguars appear out of the middle of the jungle etc. etc. I'm freaked out. Also, I dont have the map of the site. Finally, after both me and the other girl (also my age) have been freaking out for a while, the boys decided to grace us with their presence (we'd gone down the stairs before, not wanting to break our necks on the steps without a flashlight). Unfortunately on the way back a) we only had one flashlight and b) the guy that thought he knew the place and we followed led us someplace weird and we ended up wandering around for a while getting progressively hungrier and hungrier in my case. I was ready to eat the jaguar if he decided to show up, never mind how i'd catch it. Of course at this point it's completely dark, but thankfully the paths are white sand, so we can follow ok whithout a light. I keep trying to avoid anything dark on the road, since who knows if it's a snake or whatnot (did i mention my vision is fuzzy at night?). And finally, when we are almost out, we notice a row of moving lights (must be the guards, who'll totally kick us out if they find us in the park after dark, we think!). So the most logical thing for us to do, of course is to get off the white road where we'll be obviously seen, and walk across the "lawn". Unfortunatley the lawn turns out to have one humongous rock in the middle that two of us hit and go head over hills over (rock! ..... OH F@*%^!!!! ROOOOCK!!!)... only to find out that the row of moving lights are in fact the little lights along the road to the next-door hotel. Yeah. Thankfully we made it back before electricity cut out at 9 and even managed to get some grub out of the kitchen staff.
posted by Irene @ 8:45 AM
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