3 amigos

Daniel said today that we've taken some risks..leaving jobs etc... but that we would never get this time again.  He is so right. He said this as Henry buried his face in my shoulder on our way home from dinner tonight.

There are so many moments to take in when you really have the time to sit back and enjoy them. For example, tonight after dinner I took off Henrys clothes, prior to getting him into his pajamas. He walked over to the mirror, with only a diaper on. I watched him watch himself. He really looked at himself in the mirror for the first time. He touched his head, then his stomach, his ear and he just stood and looked. He said his name to himself a few times.  After awhile I said ok Henry lets change your diaper. He waved at himself in the mirror and said bye. It was really amazing to watch.

So we are now in Tikal. When I last wrote we were in Coban. We kind of hung out there and waited out a day of rain, did laundry and regrouped. From Coban we took a 2 hour shuttle bus ride to Lanquin. A very small town in the middle of no where, made famous because of some caves and natural pools in close proximity. Its certainly a stop off on the back packers circuit. We stayed at a place called El Retiro. It sat on the side of a river, had thatched roofed bungalows and did a great family style dinner buffet. We had a great time. The caves featured thousands, some say millions, of bats that fly out at sunset. We stood at the entrance of the cave at sunset with candles and flashlights and watched as they swarmed over head and out of the cave. It was pretty incredible. Henry and I then opted out of exploring the rest of the cave, while Daniel and guide did a little exploring.

El Retiro, Typical Bungalow at the Hotel

Henry playing with some boys on the street outside our hotel. He is quite the popular kid in town.

The next day we hoped a transport bus from our hotel to the pools. Again Henry and I opted out of the first part of the tour , thank god! It was waterfall and caves combined. Those that went were freezing, it sounded very scary and featured large spiders and black holes in which you were supposed to jump. No thanks! Henry is the perfect excuse! We then wandered over to the natural pools, called Semuc Champney. They were beautiful, turquoise cascades of water that dribbled down the side of a lush mountain side. It was really amazing. Henry and Daniel got in together, threw rocks and had a blast. Henry cried when it was time to come out despite shivering and purple lips.

Daniel and Henry play in the pools of Semuc Champney

From Lanquin we spent a very long day -about 8 hours on a bus- getting to Flores. Flores is a stop of point that people use to get to Tikal. Its about 1.5 hour ride from Flores to Tikal. Tikal are some very famous Mayan ruins in northern Guatemala. Most people stay in Flores and go back and forth to see Tikal. With Henry we decided not to make the trip back and forth but rather to stay in the park. There are 3 hotels in the park, we're staying at the Tikal Inn.  After a leasurely morning of re-grouping we grabbed a taxi out here. We had lunch and hit the park.

Our Bungalow at the Tikal Inn

What is so crazy about Tikal is that these ruins are in the middle of the jungle and built around 600 AD. Its the setting, at the time so remote and so unimaginable as to how they transported the building materials. We say monkeys, tucans, several white nose coati - which is a cross between a racoon and a posum. We also saw some birds that look like a cross between a turkey and a peacock. Henry, of course, is in heaven with all the monkeys. He keeps pointing up to the trees and saying more, more.

Grand Plaza at Tikal

Monkeys, Monkeys everywhere!

View from atop one of the ruins. Here you can see that the ruins are truly deep in the Jungle

So we're here thru Sunday night. We decided to just take our time. Henry can take his afternoon naps, we can hang by the pool and see the park at our leasure. On Monday we'll head back to Flores and spend the night there. We'll do a little b-day celebrating there with some yummy food and fly out the next moring to Guatemala City. From Guatemala City we'll fly to San Salvedore- and begin the next leg of our adventure.

Some tid bits - Many of you are asking for photos. I dont have a clue how to get pictures from our camera on to these random computers and then onto this blog. Its all spanish and I am barely getting by with this keyboard. So, I promise pictures will come when we get home.

As we drove out to Tikal today, from Flores, in a taxi- Henry was in his carseat. Let me back up and let you in on the whole carseat saga.  We bought a used, infant carseat prior to coming on our trip. I didn't want to risk not having one on long car rides when we were in a private car. The seat is supposed to be a rear facing infant car seat for babies up to 22 pounds. Clearly Henry is now a little big for this seat - which shows when you put him in it. He looks giant and it looks tiny. This seat can be used without the base, and just a seat belt- which is what we are doing.  Its the lightest weight one there is. So far today was only the second time we've used it. The first time was when we got picked up from the airport in Guatemala City, upon arriving in the country. We keep lugging the damn thing around wondering if we should ditch it. Anyway, the whole thing got me thinking about all the differences between our country and so many others. Here the roads are so bad, with so many speed bumps that you could never get going fast enough for there to be a real problem. Also, travel by car here is such a different thing. There is never enough room for a carseat in the car- there are too many people crammed in. I mean the other day we took a local bus to see a church, it was a 12 seater and there were 24 people jammed in. Carseat?! - Are you kidding me. We would have gotten thrown out. It just totally struck me today that what seems so big and important some places is nothing in other places. Now, I will say when its just us in a private car or taxi I am glad weve had it - all two times that is.  There is no picking up locals every 5 minutes so you actually do get moving along above 15 miles per hour.

Alright, off to bed.