On our first day of vacation, Kylee and I decided to buy an new bracelet in every town we went to. It was a fun little thing to shop for and we were getting quite a collection. The girls (and boys) around here have them all up their arms so we have some catching up to do! Little did we know that we would both end up keeping these bracelets on for months after we got home. Neither of us could bear to take them off. This is the beginning of our collection:
The first boat out of Livingston was scheduled to leave at 9:30 and if it went straight to Rio Dulce, it would only take an hour and a half. BUT, these are tour boats and they stop in several places so it takes almost 3 hours instead. If you want a fast boat you have to hire a private one and we're not doing that so sadly, the earliest we can get to Rio Dulce 12:30pm. Ugh. We are trying to get all the way to Tikal today.
The day started out great, it rained before we left our cabin and then we had breakfast and it was beautiful. This is where we had breakfast:
We had our usual...me fruit and yogurt and Kylee banana pancakes. Yum. Kylee had a pretty bad sunburn,
at least it LOOKED like aloe vera... After we smeared it all over her sunburn, it turned yellow and started REEKing. By the time the boat got there, we had it all washed off but it still smelled a little. It was funny. The boat was packed but we both really like boat rides so we settled in for the long haul. Along the river there were houses like this:
With boats like this:
Of course there were the usual shacks as well...
Our first stop was a little mayan village in the jungle. With some time to kill, we started off on a trail to some waterfalls. The trail was so cool we felt like we were in the middle of the jungle book. The Mayans are living pretty primitively here, they have no utilities whatsoever and they get everything they need from the river.
While we were on the trail, it started pouring. We took cover under some trees and figured we'd better try heading back to the boat. We didn't want to get left behind! When we got back to the boat it was soaked. WE were soaked. The guys in charge of the boat were rushing around in this torrential downpour trying to get all the luggage covered. We were watching them and feeling pretty grateful that they were fast, and good at their job. It was still raining as we re-boarded the boats. They gave us some plastic to cover up with but by then it was pointless.
I took out the rain poncho I had been carrying the whole trip, just so I could feel good about needing it. It was awesome.
By the time we got to Rio Dulce, we were soaked, the sun was out and it was HOT!! This is what people do at the docks...
This bridge is huge. It's pretty impressive. We were hoping we could bungee jump off this bridge, but when we asked about it they said that they stopped doing it a couple of years ago when there was an accident. (I was using "we" pretty loosely in that sentence...) Kylee was VERY disappointed.
You'd think we would have dried out on the boat ride but no, the humidity was so high that our sweat just added to the wetness. The bus stop was about 1/2 mile uphill from the boat dock so we took our suitcases and started walking. A guy told us to follow him for a shuttle so we did and we did a complete circle right back to the dock we started at. Urgh. Then he told us it would be $150 or more for a private shuttle to Tikal. See ya. Still burning stinking hot. Another guy said $100 to Flores. We were tempted, but no.
At the bus stop a bus pulled up FULL of guatemalans. It was beyond packed, 4-5 people on a seat and standing room only. Nope, not gonna do it. We were told a "first class bus" would be there in 45 minutes so we started talking to one of the shuttle guys. He said he had one at 3:00 with room in it. We saw our friends from the truck ride at the bus station so we thought we'd share a shuttle but no, the shuttle guy now wanted $100 per person to do that (I know, what the heck?!) I ran back from the shuttle place and Kylee said we just missed the first class bus and our friends got on it. Double-double UGH. I was dripping, literally dripping sweat and I had just ran up and down the dock (uphill) twice. SO mad I missed the bus that I lost it. Kylee was a good sport, she went down the dock to get another shuttle but they kept increasing the price so we decided to wait for the next bus at 3:00. I realize that at this point I should have just given them the money but I am STUBBORN...the bus was only 60Q apiece. That's less than $10! And they go to the same place! So, we blew some time and cooled off at an internet cafe. At about 2:00 we decided to get some lunch. I told Kylee to make sure the bus was still coming at 3:00 so she went up to check and it was THERE! Sitting there, about to LEAVE! Talk about panic... But we made it. Thank heavens. The bus was half empty and we had the whole back to ourselves. WAY more comfy than a shuttle and 1/5 of the price. woo hoo!
When we got to Flores, we were still and hour and a half from Tikal, our destination for the night. We were dropped off almost alone, at dusk, in a strange city with strange men standing around in groups. There were no shuttles so we had to pay $40 for a cab. A scary cab so scary that he had to tie the trunk shut and my door didn't even open. I couldn't escape if I had to!. 20 minutes into the ride it was getting dark and we were doing the one thing our travel books said never to do...drive at night with a stranger! We were scared. But, an hour later we were safe at our hotel. And our room had a bathroom! With a shower! and hot water! it's a miracle!
We love it to death and we both shower before we head to the hotel restaurant for dinner. Most expensive meal yet, and we don't even care. In Livingston we ate dinner for 20Q, and typically we can have an expensive meal for around 100Q but here our dinner was 300Q! Kylee had cheese ravioli and I had peppercorn steak that looked weird, but was pretty good. Tomorrow we tour Tikal bright and early! Can't wait.
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