bit by bit i catch up with the blog. i should write a novel. except it wouldnt sell.

Well, needless to say, the previous trekking had left us pretty beat. On Thursday we woke up and had a leisurely morning, leaving for Guatemala City at around 11. We arrived early evening to a grey, busy, dirty city. It was a bit of a culture shock  after having been up in the gorgeous mountains with teeny towns every 20 miles. We shacked up at the Hotel Colonial, an old colonial house converted into a Hotel, in the zone 1 area of town. The area was a little suspect, and our guide book strongly advised against staying there. After a quick regrouping at the hotel, we headed out to try to find dinner, Jon equipped with a pocketknife, and me trying to look as un touristy as possible. Maybe we were overly suspicious, but the dark rainy streets with all of the shops shut with metal grate and lock didn’t help to prove the guidebook wrong. We ended up finally catching a taxi to a Guatemalan restaurant that was recommended for its typical food. It was a fun meal with live music, and Jon tried Kak Ik, which is basically veggie soup with a quartered turkey in it. Literally, they just chopped the turkey in four parts and shoved a fourth in there. I could still see its liver. And maybe some arteries. But Jon enjoyed it. At the end, they gave us a ceramic turkey whistle as a souvenir. After waiting for a taxi to show up for about half an hour (by this time it was pouring, and I think all the taxi drivers had gone home to bed..) what we think was one of the waiters friends showed up in a beat up car to take us back. It was a very confusing situation, and were still not sure if it was a real taxi or not, but we paid the guy and got up to our nice dry room.

 

Friday we planned to go to Copan, thinking that Guatemala City, being the capital, should be the hub for busses. Unfortunately, after our concierge made several calls, we discovered that only one bus heads to Copan, at 5 am, and it is $65. Tired by the confusing city and all the previous travel, we decided to give up on Copan for the time being, and head to Antigua to relax. We paid a taxi driver to get us there asap, and 40 minutes later, we were in gorgeous colonial Antigua. I left Jon with the luggage in the central square and went off to find a cheap hotel, to no avail. However, when I got back to tell him the news, he had befriended a guy from the tourist office who was telling him about a homestay Spanish lesson deal that housed, fed, and taught you for a week for $165. Given that the cheapest hotel I could find was $65 for a double, this sounded intriguing. So, that is how we ended up doing a week long homestay in Antigua, with Jose, Karla, their three kids who are 15,12 and 7 years old, and their three dogs. The lodging is minimal, Frommers would probably place it in the one star category, but its pretty fun to be part of a family. They are very nice and easy to talk to, and Jon is taking 4 hours of Spanish every morning. We also made it to Antigua at the same time as Kitawna, one of my friends from field school in Belize. So, its been nice to go out with her too, and on Sunday we all went to the Chichicastenango market, the biggest market in all of Guatemala, which is a couple hours away from Antigua. It was fun to have someone to go on a shopping spree, and I think we did pretty well. Antigua is also home to some of the best restaurants in the world. Our first day we found a great spot called Saberico, which is housed in a huge overgrown garden, full of all of the herbs that they use in the food. AND they make wine mixed drinks! It was heaven! Yesterday we also had dinner with John, a family friend of Jons parents, and his partner Jaime. They invited us over to their house, which John designed himself, and we had wine and cheese (yaaaaay) while watching the sun set on the volcano. Then they took us to a fabulous pizza place right next to some of the cathedral ruins of Antigua. Due to the location between about 5 different volcanoes, Antigua has had some pretty serious earthquakes, mostly during the late 1800´s to early 1900´s. The old Antiguans, who were very fond of building large churches, seemed to be oblivious to the fact that if your church fell down in the first earthquake, and you built an identical one, it may fall down again. The city is littered with abandoned churches that are now just arches and facades toppled over on themselves. So, this is home for the rest of the week, and I am enjoying it. It is a gorgeous area, great people, great food, lots to wander and look around at. Friday we plan to attempt to see Copan, but well see how that goes, given the coup and other turmoil….. I really hope so though!!

 

So, we successfully made it to Copan. We decided to splurge on a tour package since we only had limited time until Katie arrived Monday, and wanted to make sure everything went smoothly. Saturday morning we were picked up at 4 am, to make the loooong drive to Copan. We arrived at our hotel, had an hour or so to relax, and then met our tour guide at noon. He was incredibly knowledgeable. He knew about history from all over the world, and made comparisons between Mayan and other cultures that I had never thought to put in the same category. Copan itself was really interesting as well, mostly for its stelae and other carved buildings, because the artists put faces on everything. There were kings faces, old man faces, faces that looked like they belonged on cartoons… it was impressive. We spent the night in Copan Ruinas, the town next to the ruins, and ate at a fun little restaurant called ViaVia that served thai food. The next day we took the morning to see the museum, which Jon loved, and then caught our ride back at noon, getting into Guatemala City around 7pm. This time we stayed by the airport, leaving the dirty, uninviting center behind. Our hotel was more like a hostel, a house by the airport in a really nice gated community. They had huge warm comforters so Jon and I just buckled down after some Subway from the airport, and watched a movie, ready to get up early for Katies 6 am arrival.

 

Katie got in with no problem (we were tracking her flights online the whole way through). Jon and I had found a great deal on a cab, and were ready to sweep her off to calm Antigua. However, once we got in the cab, we realized that the guy who offered us a deal was not actually a cab driver, but a porter, who had nothing to do with the taxi service. Jon had already given him a tip for helping us when we found out the price of the taxis to Antigua was double what we wanted to pay. Unfortunately we realized this after the cab had already left the airport, so Jon argued adamantly with the driver for half an hour as we drove, and the driver argued back that it wasn´t his fault. Eventually the arguing turned to chatting and we were all friends again. Then the taxi broke down. We were about half way to Antigua, it had started to rain, and no other transport was in sight. The poor driver fiddled with the engine for a while but it was obvious we weren´t going anywhere. Luckily within 20 minutes, another taxi drove by and we were pawned off to make the rest of our trip into Antigua. When we finally made it, the first thing we did was head to our favorite coffee shop, drop our bags, and have a big breakfast with some very strong coffee. All this and not even 8 am yet. Katie and I took the responsibility of finding a hotel (and getting Katie a tour of the town too!) while Jon watched the bags. After a few iffy places, and some that were overly luxurious for our budgets, we found the one. It was the place Kitawna had stayed the week before, an old colonial house turned hotel. The manager showed us the room he had available, a huge dark wood paneled room with… A LOFT. There were two beds and a few pieces of Victorian furniture and a tv on the first level, then on one side of the room a ladder led up to a second little level with two more beds. We loved it. At first the price started out at $110, but when I told the guy we were looking for something more along the lines of $35, he lowered it to $40 and we were sold. We took the afternoon to savor the place and to gear up for… Volcan Pacaya!!!!

 

At 2pm, we boarded our minibus to the volcano along with 5 other tourists from various countries, but all with about the same travel stories we had (a bit disheartening, I felt so unique but turns out everyone sees the same things…). We were a bit worried, because the evening seemed to be getting cloudy and we thought this might block our view. We couldn’t see much on the drive up, and for the first mile or so of the hike, the few lookout points we passed were useless. By the third mile, though, the volcano, with its black pumice slope had the clouds as a background, and the view to the entire valley had cleared in time for the late evening light. The slope up was steep and crumbly, made up at first of big chunks of volcanic rock that wobbled unsteadily, then becoming little gravelly bits that slid out from under you as you tried to make your way up. It was tiring to say the least, and we were all getting pretty annoyed with our guide, who, fit and ready from doing this tour twice a day every day was bouncing up and down the mountain with ease. When we finally made it to our destination, which was not the very top, but a  level area about 500m down, huge bursts of heat would come shooting out of clumps of rocks and you could tell lava was nearby. All of a sudden the guide pointed down, and right under our feet between the rocks that we thought were safe, lava was flowing without a care in the world. A bit further and we got to the main lava flow, a river about 5 feet across streaming down the mountain. I tried to get close, but it was so hot that the metal chain on my necklace started burning me and I had to back up. One of our group mates had brought a Barbie to sacrifice, and we watched how quickly it burst into flame once it touched the jello-like lava. It was really incredible to be up there, and I think Katie even stopped hating us for making her do it on 4 hours of sleep. Getting back down was an adventure as well. The gravel that seemed so hard to get up was impossible to climb down without falling every half step. Katie and I got into a giggling fit after we made it 3 steps in 2 minutes. Eventually we developed a technique that alternated sliding on your butt and using your feet as skis to shuffle through. Got pretty good in the end! When we got to the bottom and began our hike back through the forest, the sun had completely gone down and the lava river was glowing brightly, suspiciously quite a bit larger than it had been when we were up there 20 minutes before and with chunks of lava rolling down the hill. But we were at a safe distance. We sleepily dragged the 3 miles back, barely making it to the vans, and once we were home, managed to get some pizza in us before passing out completely. And we slept like rocks.

 

Tuesday we woke up at a leisurely pace, having booked our ride to Lake Atitlan so that we didn´t leave until 12 30. We had a delicious bagel breakfast (Antigua isn´t very incredibly exotic), and even had a couple hours to show Katie some of the ruins around town. We went to Santo Domingo, a huge old abbey turned museum/5 star hotel. The hotel part is beautiful with gorgeous colonial rooms and macaws placed strategically throughout the gardens. The museums consist of going through the ruined half of the abbey, which has several crypts still filled with bones, an archaeology museum, a candlework museum, an art museum, and a medicine museum. It was pretty fun, especially the crypts. Around 11, we went back to pack and watch some tv before our ride. The ride that was supposed to be a simple 2 and a half hour drive similar to our drive to Chichicastenango with Kitawna the week before. However, when we got in the van it was obvious by the seats with springs hanging out (and some not even connected to the floor ) that this was not going to be a luxurious ride. Our driver then proceeded to take us down one of the bumpiest windiest roads I have ever been on. We had to grip our seats to make sure we didn’t seriously injure eachother on the curves, and sleeping was out of the question unless you wanted a concussion. When we finally reached Panajachel, the main hub of Lake Atitlan, we stumbled out of the van in front of 5 star hotel, and decided to treat ourselves to a 5 star snack. It was a good idea, the place had one of the best views of the lake, the service was perfect, and they even let us leave our bags there for half an hour after we were done to go look for a more affordable hotel (which we found). Again, having 3 people made the hotel situation so much nicer. We got a huge sunny room with tv, hot shower, a pool, a view, 3 beds for $10 each. We all took a moment to enjoy it, document it in photos, then spruce ourselves up to go out and watch the sun set on the lake. The lake really is as amazing as people describe it. The volcanoes around it and the way the light hits it made it seem magical. We ended our night with some amazing Italian food, and watched some tv to end the day.

 

 

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up to day 12 of jon and my trip through some of central america

Ok, lots of ground covered in 5 days!!!  I successfully met Jon in Chetumal on Sunday night, the next morning we went for a walk around the town, which is a little sparse but has a great sea wall that faces the inlet that led to the river that goes ALLLL the way up to Blue Creek, where I was working, and is the reason Blue Creek river trade thrived. After breakfast we headed to the bus station to hop on our ride to Belize City. It was a somewhat long ride, about 3 hours or so, but Belize is really a pretty country. We drove through Corozal and Orange Walk, places I would have wanted to show Jon if we had had a car, but otherwise are too small to stop at, lug our backpacks through, and then leave again. We got to Belize City around 5, and rushed to get to the water taxi to try to make it to Caye Caulker. Our taxi driver Hubert was the nicest man and tried like hell to get us to the last taxi at 5 30, but unfortunately we missed it. He helped us find a cheeeeeap place for the night though, which was great since Belize is SO freaking expensive. Our room was about the lowest we would go, but pretty funny given the situation. We found a cute little mouse in the trashcan, and I tried to befriend it until it made a freakishly high jump that almost reached my face. We dumped him out the window. Once settled we went to explore the city. Belize City isn’t pretty. It’s a little bit like New Orleans, with lots of waterways and houses on stilts, and at sunset it was nice. During daylight hours though, its quite dirty, and you kind of felt like you were always about to be mugged. That might be a bit of over suspicion on our part though, because everyone we met was very nice. We found a great place for dinner; Marlin’s a local restaurant on the river. We had chicken rice and beans and some Belikin beer, and headed home.  A couple European travelers had checked in too, and we chatted with them. Also it turns out the owner was a mayanist so I talked with her about a Mayan community center project she was starting.

 

Next day, Tuesday morning, we woke up at 7 to get an early start, headed back to Marlin´s for breakfast, and then realized our clocks were set to the wrong time, and it was really 6 am. Yuck. We sleepily waited on a stoop, and finally had an amazing breakfast of fry jacks, which are really good biscuits, with eggs and bacon and headed out to try the water taxi thing again. Success! We were on our way through turquoise waters and mini tropical islands to caye caulker. Getting an early start made the day we spent there last forever. The island is teeny, about 2 miles long and 4 blocks wide. Who knows how it hasn’t sunk yet. We found a cute hotel, dumped our stuff, and found a bike rental. In case you don’t know, im not the best bike rider, especially not on one too big…. However, I finally got the hang of it with minimal personal injury and no damage to others, and we biked the length of the island. It was so fun! Afterwards we stopped for a swim, in which I proceeded to cut both feet on coral, and with the threat of barracudas in the water, I sat out and took cool pictures of Jon in the water. The sea was clear beyond belief, and had those huge conch shells and starfish that you see in stores and don’t think really exist just littered everywhere on the ocean floor. We ended the day with grilled shrimp and beer watching the sunset…. fabulous.

 

Wednesday we woke up, ran the length of the island, jumped in the water and then grabbed some breakfast. We were out waiting for our water taxi about 10 15, and then realized that it left at ten. So, we problem solved, giving our ticket to someone else to use a different time and just grabbed a different taxi. Made it to Belize City, and onto the bus to San Ignacio by noon. On the bus we had our first brush with trouble (not really). Some guy came up and pretended to be the money collection guy. Little shady but we were frazzled and gave him money. As he walked away it sort of clicked, and Jon ran after the guy and grabbed our money back. Close call. Made it to san Ignacio, and found out that all tours to Caracol, the ruins I really wanted to see, were about 75 bucks per person. BOOOO. After much debate, we decided to skip it. We spent the night, having an AMAZING dinner at a Sri Lankan restaurant, and a nice relaxed morning before heading out of expensive Belize.

 

Thursday we made it across the border to Guatemala. So far it has been incredible. We took a shared van from the border, and thanks to our taxi driver’s recommendation took the front seats, and thus avoided being packed in with about 439857 other people. The ride was a bit long, but finally we made it to Flores. We LOVE IT. Flores is in the middle of lake Peten Itza, a little island about 10 blocks by 4 blocks, with a church in the middle covering the old Mayan center, which wasn’t conquered until the 1600s. The lake is pristine, with small mountains surrounding it, and the town is SO nice and quaint. We meant to only stay a night before we headed to Tikal, but we love our hotel so much, and love this area so much, we decided to take a rest day. Woke up at 10 today for the first time in weeks. SO WORTH IT!!  We plan to go on a lake tour that takes you by boat to a couple small ruins around the lake, and then head out tomorrow to spend two days in Tikal. This trip is going amazingly. Also, ran into our Belize City Europeans! Ha!

 

Saturday we made our trip to Tikal. Our van got us there at 9 30 or so. We made a reservation at a hotel the day before, but the price was so steep and the hotel didn’t even have private bathrooms so we ended up deciding to camp. The Tikal camping area is right by the jungle, with palapas where you  can set up a tent or rent hammocks with mosquito nets. We chose the latter, to my excitement. By the time we were finished getting settled, it was only 10 so we headed into the park, paying a guide for the first 3 hours. The guide was nice  and took us through all the main spots. Temple 4 was one of the best, the highest temple that you can see all the roofcombs of the other temples from. Temple 5 was so steep that the wooden steps going up the side of it were more like a 50 m ladder. The park really is amazing though, it barely had any people in it, and it went on forever. The buildings are so complete, too, especially in the main plaza. There were two story buildings with several rooms, porches, arches, windows!!! We had been walking for a while by that time so we went back and took a hammock nap. Then, at 4 we planned to go back in, then watch the sun set. However right as we were getting ready it started pouring. It was kind of fun to watch it from within our palapa, and the thunder was louder than ive ever heard. It dwindled around 5, and the park closes at 6, so we went in through the sprinkling. The lighting was so cool. The sunset lit up the roofcombs on all the temples, and the almost empty plaza from earlier in the day was now completely empty. We pretty much had the whole park to ourselves. We ended the sunset by climbing to the top of temple 4 again, and sneaking around the backside where they were doing some construction to get the best view. On our way out it was just light enough to see in the jungle, and fireflies lit up every once in a while. Perfect. We took showers in the dark since the campground had no electricity, then had a quick dinner and went to bed. In the morning we woke up, ate a really good breakfast, and went to go see the museums. Wow, the stuff they found in there! Amazing ceramic figurines, whole intricate bowls, and the art was so pretty!! Then we caught the early bus back to try to make it in time to get to Coban today. But, we missed it, so were back in Flores again. We picked the cheapest hotel, are hot, gross, and the room has kind of a funny smell…. Hopefully tomorrow well get to coban easily, and into the cooler mountains of Guatemala. Hopefully…..

 

Monday we headed out early in the morning to the bus station. We had planned on taking a cheap chicken bus, but the minibus vans were more common, and we caught one right away. However, it was not very direct. It dropped us in Sayaxche, and we caught another minibus to where we had to cross the river by boat, and then from there catch a new minibus to finally reach coban. On this last bus we didn’t get the front seat, and were PACKED like sardines into the back. Right as we were about to leave, two more backpackers showed up. It looked like there was no possible way they could fit, but the driver is very adamant about getting his moneys worth out of a vanload, and in they went. When enough people had slowly gotten off at various stops and we could talk to them, we found out they were both named anna from denmark, on one of those ridiculous 6 week holidays that Europeans get every year. They told us about a place named Semuc Champey, supposedly the most gorgeous place in Guatemala, which was their destination today. We said goodbye to them in Coban, and went to find a hotel. However our guidebook, written for rich middle aged tourists with much higher expectations than us, had the cheapest place listed at $30. Nope. Tired after 7 hours of travel, grumpy, confused, we tried to flag a taxi to take us somewhere cheaper, and most unusually got blown off. Suddenly this guy in a bright yellow car behind us signaled us over and told us to get in, hed help us out. We quickly shoved our stuff in his car, and hopped in before the light changed. We told him our dilemma and he happily offered to take us to a cheap place. Right away he got on his phone, calling friends with hotels asking their rates and seeing if they had room. As we were driving, Jon and I thought about it, and asked the guy if there was any way there were any busses left to Semuc Champey that day. He spun the car around and said maybe if we hurry we would catch the last. We made it just in time, preparing ourselves for a final 3 hour drive until we could relax. The guy made sure the drivers would take us to a cheap hostel, and even argued with them for charging us tourist rates. When we asked if we could pay him he shrugged it off and told us to have a good trip, giving us his card. ANGEL!! Then, the lady at the minibus station who made meals was the nicest person in the world. She made us a quick meal making sure we had enough tortillas, and trundled us onto the van. It turned our whole tiring day around. We got to Lanquin, the city before the park of Semuc Champey, around 7. Our drivers put us in the back of someones pickup, and paid them to drive us to Semuc. (we think they were just too lazy to make the trip themselves). The ride was on the bumpiest road ever, but Jon and I stood up and were exhilarated by the cool air, mist, and mountains that surrounded us. After about half an hour, we made it to Posada Las Marias, a cheap hostel close to the park entrance. The owner Jonny had the kitchen make us some food quick before it closed, while jon and I took showers (ooooh man, I smelled). So, 12 hours later, we made it. Needless to say, we passed out shortly thereafter.

 

Tuesday we woke up when we woke up. Luckily that happened to be in time to sign up for the cave tour that the hostel did. They owned part of the river and an extensive 11 km cave system, and boasted a candlelit adventure tour. There was another couple from California and Massachusets, Pat and Christy, and two girls from Holland, Stenia and Reanna who went as well. I was expecting the usual touristy cave tour, you pretend its an adventure but really youre about two feet from the exit at all times. Our guide though, seemed to not be the touristy type. He was more of the I have been doing this for 20 years, I don’t care if youre weak you follow me and do what I say type. We began by entering the cave and immediately being in 3 feet of cold water. The two girls from Holland and I also happened to be barefoot, as flipflops tend to float away, so we left them at the entrance. I think I just shut off the part of my brain the wonders what could possibly be in the water, or on the walls, or in the ceiling, because I was unusually calm. As we got deeper in, he gave us all candles.  Shortly thereafter, he told us “Now you swim!”  Man of few words. So we all awkwardly half paddled trying to keep the candle up and the bat water out of our mouths. Next followed clambering awkwardly over weird formations, climbing up decaying ladders held together by twine, and shimmying feet first through teeny cave tubes. All of this brought us to an underwater waterfall. Here our guide chose to speak again. “You have two options. You can climb the ladder, here, or use this rope to scale the waterfall.” He barely finished when Jon (who, need I say, was enjoying this all immensely) was up on that rope. Of course if Jon did it, I have to do it too. Luckily all that bucket towing of the past month made my upper body strength amazing. So, I blew out my candle, stuck it in my mouth, and with gushing water smacking my in the face, made it up the little 10 foot fall. Upon removing the candle from my mouth, I found quite a bit of wax in my teeth, and the candle almost bit in half. Oops. Onward we went, to a spot where you could dive from the cave wall into the (murky and possibly shallow) water. Jon did it, I did not. Our guide was the last to jump, and then surprised us all by popping out of a cave tube behind us with the creepiest smile on his face. It only got creepier when a minute later, he grabbed all our candles and blew them out before we knew what was what. “Now we are going to enjoy the darkness of the cave”. While still trying to traverse quite a distance. When we got to what was our stopping point, he told us the cave went on a whole 11 km further, but you would need food to keep going, and that he had done it many times starting at the age of 10 with his grandfather. Then he told us we had to sit in silence for ten minutes to really feel the dark. I really felt the cold. I am pretty sure we all suspected that the guy had left us, or was going to scare us, or had hit his head and we were screwed, but finally his headlamp flickered on, and we started to head out. At this point though, I was freezing, and not feeling quite as adventurous. Unfortunately the guide still was, and the trip out included squeezing into another cave tube full of gushing water again hitting you in the face, and sliding into the unknown while the guide yelled about remembering to grab your candle!!! Finally, finally, we got out, and had a leisurely inner tubing experience down the river back to our hostel. Jon, the guide, Pat and Christy made a detour to jump off a bridge. I was happy to just float. The afternoon we spent with our group exploring Semuc Champey, which is a natural oddity (I think that’s what the guidebook said.. sounds like an insult) where a raging river disappears under a bridge of land, into a huge cave. On top of the bridge, these pristine blue pools appear from a spring, and you can swim in them with the river raging beneath you  under the earth. Very cool. We ended the day with wine, dinner, and discussion.

 

Wednesday the plan was to head to Coban and to Copan. Worst travel day ever. We got to Lanquin, and were awaiting a mini bus. The stupid drivers didn’t bother to tell us they weren’t leaving for 2 hours and let us just sit in the hot hot van while they bummed around town doing various errands. When they finally did leave they packed the van full, then bummed around for another 45 hot hot minutes. Right as we were about to leave, more backpackers. They shoved them in, and we were off. Shortly after we left, the backpacker next to Jon, apparently part of Peace Corps, found out his grandmother had died via a message on his cell phone. The rest of the 2 hours were spent awkwardly listening to him calling everyone to figure out how to get home. As we got close to Coban, and they began collecting money, it became obvious they charged white people more. More awkwardness as the Peace Corps people yelled at the drivers and the drivers threatened to throw them out. Finally finally finally, we got to Coban. We had no chance of making it to Copan, so we checked into the hotel we had seen earlier. It is so cool, an old nunnery with dark rooms and thick wood floors and a gorgeous courtyard with a view of the misty mountains. And it s COLD! Woo! With hot water to counteract. Oh, so nice. A pizza place was right next door, so we showered, ate, and retired to snuggle under warm blankets and watch our tv. Tra la la. Today we are going to Guatemala City to get to Copan tomorrow. Hopefully our travel day is a little more forgiving. Oh, did I mention this has all been sans ipod? Pray for us. 

Post Script

Soup and pie night was delicious, cherry pie even!!! Today I got dropped off in Orange Walk and was lucky enough to immediately catch a bus to Chetumal. I also got a really nice taxi driver once there, and made my way to the Principe hotel. While not quite what the pictures portrayed, its good enough, and I have been watching tv and surfing the web since. just took a hot shower, and am now about to emerge after 5 hours of hoteldom to find some food and then... DRUMROLL PLEASE.... get jon! woo! so, this leg of the adventure is now fully CLOSED. 

last day

Well, finished up the week and dawn and I closed up our site yesterday. We took out our second body, and apparently part of a third, as we found when we reassembled the body and had three femurs. We think it is probably the mass amount of decayed bone where the tarp had let in the rain. Oh well. We spent all of yesterday digging deeper and deeper. What we thought was another body under a huge rock ended up just being our lady´s feet. We dug and dug and dug, and finally concluded that there was nothing else in there, at least not in the near vicinity. Next door though, in the room where I uncovered the plaster floor, they had dug through and found four successive plaster floors under the main one. The plaster even curved up on the last one making a kind of dome. It was very curious, but it being the second to last day, it was decided to cover it all up so no looters would come and leave it for the  next group. Those people are going to have it so easy, im kind of jealous. Our shultun was also abandoned, at least for this session, with not more than the trough found. I spent the day today washing our artifacts and trying to put together some of the sherds I found in my massive ceramic cache. It was like doing a huge jigsaw puzzle but worse. I got about 10 different pieces to fit together after 2 hours, then I quit. Also helped dawn assemble and disassemble the bodies again. The wet bones kind of reeked, but it was fun. We used the sheet from the infirmary to lay out the bones, and it got covered in bone dust. So, word to the wise, don´t get sick while youre here. Tonight we are joining the Mennonites for a soup and pie potluck. I´m all packed up and ready to go, absolutely cannot wait to meet up with jon tomorrow. Im glad im getting to chetumal before him. I will hopefully be able to de-campify myself by the time he arrives. The end. 

june 17th

oh, we uncovered her and she was beautiful. ill have to get some pictures up in the next couple of days. she was in great preservation, with every single vertibrae, all her teeth (and notched too! another sign of eliteness!) it was amazing getting her out. i have decided vertibrae are my favoite part because they all fit together so perfectly, just like a little puzzle. dawn, the expert reassembled her in the lab, and has decided she is 19-29 years of age, good health except for the healed wound on her head. i have a fantasy that she is me a thousand years ago, since she is about my height. so, we got this body out, but while we were finding all her bones in place, we realized there were some doubles. and a huge honking foot that didnt match a nice petite female. aka two bodies. the second we left and focused on her. today i was supposed to take out number two, but it poured all night, and when we left to the field in the morning the first sign of failure was that the vans got stuck about a mile and a half from the entrance to our half mile trek through the jungle. optimistically we decided to go on, hoping it would clear. we finally got to our sight, mud caked and soaked, only to find that all the tarps were weighted down with about a foot of water, and most were leaking. we frantically tried to fix everything, and the san filipeans even built me a shelter to try to get the second body out, but the rain was too hard and we just had to cover everything and hope for a better day tomorrow. meanwhile, we all showed up back at camp, bedraggled, and grumpy. we dried off, did a bit of lab work, and had lunch. after lunch, a couple people had to go to orange walk (second biggest town in belize, an hour away) to renew passports, so we made a mini trip of it. it poured the whole time we were there, and walking around the town i soaked another set of clothes, but i really liked it. weirdly enough the town is largely chinese, with most of the stores being like china town clothes and knicknack shops. i bought a shirt and a skirt for a couple bucks, then wandered and figured out where im supposed to catch the bus to meet jon on sunday. also, i found a cheap pair of galoshes, pretty sure those will highly improve my mood for the next few rainy days. we made it back fairly well, though the rivers are quickly rising, and the limestone roads became so slick that at one point we made a 360 spin out. it stopped raining around dinnertime, and hopefully tomorrow will be clear enough to at least get a couple things done. oh, and jason left this morning back to the states... so. only 3 workdays left!!!

Monday

well, the excitement from saturday has kind of dwindled. Sunday we went to Chan Chich, a site about an hour and a half away with a very nice lodge in it. The site is only semi excavated and not restored, so there are just these huge 50 foot tall grassy mounds everywhere that you know are big uncovered temples. The lodge itself was heaven as well. Amazing food, luxurious relaxation areas, a pool, a HOT SHOWER with free shampoo conditioner and soap. and wine with lunch!! so, sunday went well. However, rainy season really began around sunday evening. it rained while we were in the pool, and the cloud cover still hasnt really left. its funny what the rain does, i opened my clothes chest and 5 frogs hopped out. the termite swarms are back too and they have left their wings EVERYWHERE. It also means that we cant excavate the bones at our site unless it stops raining. Luckily yesterday it did stop raining for about 4 hours, so we got some work done finding the a leg bone, arm bone, scapula, ankle and big toe in addition to the skull. Another group at our site also uncovered an almost perfect shultun, a round hole in the ground leading to an underground chamber. all this would be a fabulous start to a last week, but our group leader appears to have gotten kidney stones. he is leaving tomorrow to get to a hospital in the states. im not sure what will happen, but hopefully our site doesnt close. oh, and hopefully he gets better.