Saturday, September 26, 2009

Regards from Antigua

Hello All,

We have settled in nicely in Antigua, Guatemala. We arrived here nearly four days ago and are having a hard time leaving. It is a rich colonial town, in the highlands of Guatemala. Beyond the numerous cafe´s, restaurants, bookshops, and jewelry shops around the town, the Highland location lends itself to cool days and chilly nights...a welcome relief from the overwhelming heat of the rest of Central America. This is probably the most touristy town of Guatemala, but we can see why. There is also a movie theater here that we have been to a couple times now. It is free entry, but then you order either food or drinks to watch the movie. It makes for a cheap movie when all you are drinking is coffee and hot chocolate.

While in Antigua, we took a tour of a nearby volcano called, Pacaya. It is a very active volcano. After about a 3 kilometer hike through Highland forest, we arrived about midway up the cinder slope of the volcano. A couple hundred meters above us we could see lava oozing from the side of the cone. Our guide led us first over 10 year old lava, and then two week old lava, and finally to one to two day old lava. Walking over the newer lava was tricky as it was more prone to breaking and emanated serious heat. When cracked, the rock lava was steamy white on the inside. There were several moments of discussion between the guides as to which way was best to traverse. We just stood there watching them kick pieces of dried lava, watch the steam come out, and then look at each other and shrug their shoulders. To say we were completely confident in their expeditionary skills might be an exaggeration, but we had no other choice, so we trekked on after them. They led us up to the lava flow, where we stood five to ten feet from the lava as it made a path down the volcano. We snapped pictures while others roasted marshmallows in the lava. It was quite and experience and one we are pretty sure you could only have in the liabilityless Central America.

Before coming to Antigua and following our last post, we had journeyed through western Belize and northern Guatemala. In the Belizean town of San Ignacio, we took a tour of the ATM cave. The cave has been left as a natural museum of sorts, with untouched Mayan artifacts still resting in their original places. The cave was used by the Mayans for sacrifices. We had to swim into the cave and then wade through water chest deep at points to get back to the sacrificial chamber. In this huge chamber, the Mayans did all sorts of offerings. In the front of the chamber, there are hundreds of pots scattered throughout. As we made our way deeper into the chamber, the Mayans began sacrificing more. Eventually we came upon human sacrifices. We saw piles of human bones, skull and all, lying in the original place where they were sacrificed. In the furthest back room of the chamber, there is a full skeleton lying on her back, arms and legs splayed out. It was startling how intact the skeleton was, from fingers to toes. As you considered what had happened here over a thousand years ago, it made you feel somewhat uneasy...but then again it was pretty cool, in a morbid way.

We then crossed the Guatemalan border and stayed in a small town called El Remate. Here, we splurged for an air conditioned room with an attached bathroom. We were living the high life. From here we caught a shuttle up to Tikal, the largest Mayan city. The numerous temples and structures were incredible. Set deep in the tropical jungle, it took sometimes 20 minutes to walk between temples. The paths wound through some of the densest jungle we have ever seen. To imagine creating a city here was incredible. But then we were told that when Tikal was a thriving city, they used the trees to burn and make mortar from the ash. Consequently, there were no trees in the city grounds, they had all been cleared. You can see from our pictures that now, over a thousand years later, the trees are back and it is hard to imagine deforesting the entire jungle with only stone tools. But all in all, Tikal was incredible.

From El Remate, we went south to Semuc Champey. It is a National Park, created around limestone pools. It was higher in the mountains that Tikal, so was somewhat cooler. The pools were a beautiful turquoise and blue. We spent a day swimming in these, and then the next day we spent jumping off a 10 meter bridge into the river as well as swinging from a rope swing into the cool water. This ended emphatically when Britsy kicked a log mid swing unfortunately injuring her foot. But now we can kind of laugh about it...or at least I can.

Tomorrow we will bus up to the largest market in Guatemala, called Chichicastenango. We will spend a day there, and then go to Lake Atitlan. Here, we are planning on going paragliding. The lake is beautiful, surrounded by towering volcanoes. It should be a great place to fly around.

We have enjoyed hearing from everyone, so please let us know how you are doing. We trust you are all enjoying fall as much as we are missing it. The seasonless climate does have some drawbacks...although I doubt we will be complaining in January.

Regards,

Graham and Britsy

2 comments:

  1. Hey Brits!

    I miss you so so much! It is so nice to live vicariously through you and see all these neat things you are seeing :-) Thanks for the pics of the lizard-o on snapfishes. That were quite neat. I hope you guys are being all kinds of safe, but are having just such a good time. You could still dye your hair. Just a thought :-) I'm worrying about you just like a mom, but looks like you guys are taking good care. Stay safe :-) Be good :-)

    er

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  2. Graham!

    I think you're neat too! Have fun and stay safe!

    er

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