I'm a bad person

For not posting, that is.

Chris and I ended up staying in San Andres for 3 weeks. Towards the end of each week we just couldn't pull ourselves away, even from that damn rooster. Poor Chris didn't get one night of sleep more than 4 hours because of him. All of the locals kept encouraging him to buy the the rooster from his owner and then make a nice soup out of him. Chris just couldn't bring himself to do it. However, now we are fairly comfortable with speaking Spanish and we've made life-long friends with the family with whom we stayed.

Highlights:

-We visited Tikal, the ancient Mayan ruins in Northern Guatemala, about 2 hours away from San Andres. For those who don't know, we're talking about the Rebel base from Star Wars. It was very cool, many limestone temples and pyramids and Maya ball fields. All with a little Disneyland thrown in. For example, we hiked a pyramid with the group of students with whom we came to watch a tranquil sunset. About 10 minutes after we reached the top, 2 groups of 20 high-schoolers came climbing up and proceeded to talk through the whole thing. Loudly. Oh well. The five of us spent the night in hammocks, in the actual park, with millions of stars, fireflies, and the sounds of howler-monkeys. We made up for the noisy sunset and woke up at 4am and paid a guard to let us into the ruins before the park opened and climbed up one of the temples, which we had all to ourselves! There's nothing quite like sitting on a 60 meter-high Maya temple, watching spider monkeys and oscillating turkeys as the sun rises.

-We left San Andres on Saturday the 23rd and headed to the beautiful Rio Dulce (Sweet River) in NE Guatemala and stayed in a tranquil neighboring town right next to el Castillo de San Felipe, a castle built in the 1500's. This area of Guatemala is much more tropical. Caught a boat from Rio Dulce to Livingston, this was quite a memorable adventure. The driver of our 10-person speedboat wasn't more than 13, and boy did he haul ass on the river! We caught some serious air. Transportation in Guatemala, be it bus or boat, is not for the faint-hearted. The boat stopped several times, once for a pit stop where we all drank from coconuts, and once to explore some amazing caves near a hot springs.

Chris and I are now in Livingston, Guatemala, a port town only accessable by boat. It is by far the most culturally diverse place we have ever seen. There is a large population of Spanish-speaking Latinos, a large population of Qeq'chi Maya people, a large population of Garifuna, who are black Caribs who speak a mixture of English and Creole with Jamaican accents and who are famed for their music, and a decent-sized population of ex-pats from all around the world. And the food here is amazing, lots of seafood and caribbean-influenced cuisine.

Unfortunately I've been experiencing what we think is some minor heat stroke for the last 3 days with a fever, chills, and body aches starting each late afternoon. It's hot here. Really, really hot. Taking 4 cold showers a day doesn't even help. However, I'm in Central America, having the time of my life.

Tomorrow we're headed to Quirigua, Guatemala, an archeological site with incripted stelae. Then, Honduras, here we come!

P.S. pictures soon. this computer doesn't have a USB outlet.