almost to Tikal

I´m loving the travelling life, buses, restaurants, adventure around every corner. We left the town of Rio Dulce and took a gorgeous lancha, or boat ride, down the river, through canyons and waterfalls and lots of pretty birds. Then in Rio Dulce we stayed in this crazy ecolodge that you can only get to by boat. It´s built pretty much in the jungle, all the walkways are on wooden stilts above the swamps. You can rent huge jungle huts there, complete with kitchens and hammocks, that looked like it would be a blast with a big group, but of course Kelly and I took the budget option and got two beds and a shared bathroom on the other side of the compound. But there were trails through the woods, including one of those Jungle Walks, bridges suspended across the jungle!! It was huge and scary and so beautiful. I´m not sure when I¨ll get to upload pictures, since internet here is slower and more expensive than back in Ocotepeque, but trust me, it was gorgeous.

We had planned to do some more local stuff that day on the advice of people from the hotel, but it was pouring rain so instead we got on a bus to head all the way up to Flores, the big town near the Tikal ruins. For some reason this was the worst bus yet. It was crowded, so we had to stand for the first hour or so. And, in this part of Guatemala they´re very concerned about some kind of mosquito, so we went through two separate checkpoints where the police made everyone get off the bus as they checked for illicit fruits. Not only did that take forever, but they confiscated our lunch of two apples :(

When we got to Flores yesterday we had missed the last bus to Tikal (some taxi drivers generously offered to take us there at outrageous prices, so we passed) so we stayed the night here in Flores. It´s much more of a tourist destination than anything we´ve seen so far, with lots of expensive tour options for people who can´t figure out how to take a bus to Tikal on their own! But we found a place to chill and watch a movie last night (The Interpreter, in English!) and I ate a yummy vegetable tofu dinner, and slept soundly for a good ten hours!!

Today we had a huge breakfast and are hanging out in town until the 2pm bus to Tikal. We plan to stay in a little hotel just outside the ruins where you can rent a hammock (and a mosquito net and a locker) for a mere $5, so we´re pretty psyched about that. The plan is to enter Tikal after 3pm today, at which point our ticket is stamped as valid for today AND tomorrow, giving us a few extra hours for free! And we´ve been told by other travellers that you can get up super early in the morning and pay the guards to get in before the gates officially open at 6am to see the sun rise over the ruins. Can´t wait for that!

I´m considering paying to get my laundry done here - my 2 skirts and 2 pairs of pants are all officially dirty, and I´m not staying in any one place long enough to wash by hand and air dry, so I´m thinking the $3 will be worth it to not look like a completely haggard traveller.

And I´m still not sure what´s happening after the next few weeks ... I have ideas for things to do in Guatemala until the 27th or so (the biggest mercado, or market, happens on Sundays in Chichi, so I definitely want to go there to do some Christmas shopping!), but then I´m not sure. I still don´t have confirmation from the Peace Corps on the January departure date, and I don´t want to buy plane tickets home before then. I thought that flying from San Jose, Costa Rica, was the cheapest way back, but I´ve been told that Cancun, especially since the hurricane, is now really cheap, so there´s a chance I may get to see part of Southern Mexico too if I fly out that way!! Lots to think about ... busy busy busy ... and so much fun!!