Greetings from Nicaragua! Since our last post we have been supa busy. From Coban we took a looong shuttle ride, an unexpected boat ride across a flooded city, and one more shuttle before arriving in the city of Flores on the coast of lake Peten Itza. We almost immediatley crashed for the night in a funky, hip hostal. In the morning we took a nice little boat ride across the lake and arrived in the sleepy town of San Andres. Here, we were reminded of what sunshine feels like! After weeks and weeks of rain it was GLORIOUS! To compliment the sunshine was the most beautiful, crystal clear lake that many of us had ever swam in. In San Andres, we were once again assigned homestay families and attending language school at a small escuela. Through the school coordinator, (a really kind hombre named Ernesto) we were able to engage in a number of community service projects. First, we spent the day at a rural indigenous community working with the teenagers there to plant trees and clean up around town. Before heading home to San Andres on the back of a pick up truck, (our favorite way to travel) we were able to get a few games of basketball and soccer in with all our new buddies. A day later we piled in to the back of an ambulance and headed to a memorial site for a 1996 plane crash that killed a 105 people including the Guatemalan ambassador to Venezuela. Here we swept the ground clean and helped to prepare cement while simultaneuosly helping to keep the mosquito population thriving. We spent the rest of the week focusing our energy around San Andres, learning natural medicinal techniques and folklores from the older generations of the community. By the weekend we were all deeply in love with this place, but it was time to move on…
Hello Tikal. 7:30 am, we all pile in to another shuttle behind our fearless driver Jaime and our extremley kowledgeable guide Eddy. Tikal was mindblowing. The combination of jungle views, prehistoric sounding howler monkeys and the magnificent Mayan temples was unforgetable. After a long hot day of climbing countless stairs we were all convinced the Mayans were nothing short of an amazing people. From there it was goodbye to Eddy and back in the shuttle on route for dinner and another swim on a different side of our favorite lake. Dinner was delicious and so were we…
… When we arrived at Yaxha that night just in time to feed the most vicious swarms of mosquitos on this planet. Some of us chose to hike up and spend the night atop one of the pyramids, while others tried to brave the mosquitos on our concrete floor. No one got much sleep. The next morning our howler monkey alarm clocks went off at five sharp. After a fruity breakfast we explored the equally beautiful, but much less touristy, ruins of Yaxha.
Back in the shuttle, back to San Andres. One more relaxing day of swimming, mask making with a few of the local kids and catching up with sleep was topped off by a group dinner at Resturante Benjamin. Before hitting the pillow that night we shared sad farewells with our host families and prepared for the exit out of our big hearted, tiny peopled country of Guatemala. Feliz Viaje Carpe Diem.
Mucho amor,
Elena y Jacobo
photos: Callie