One last update

Home safe and sound - hot shower and a real towel, comfortable bed with a real pillow and my wonderful husband, living the good life.

Our 3 flights yesterday (Flores to Guatemala City to Houston to Portland) were all a bit rocky (in part compliments of Hurricane Dean) but all the connections went very well and we landed safely in Portland 5 minutes ahead of schedule.

Here's one last picture and a note on good trip karma and being prepared. In the photo are Sylvia and René, our seat mate for the Houston-Portland flight. René sat down beside us very upset having lost a crown at boarding time at the beginning of her trip. I happened to have an emergency kit for replacing a crown or filling (I think I paid about $5 for it at Bi-mart 4 years ago and have packed it on every trip since just in case) and it worked! After a few minutes to figure it out, mix it up and use it and an hour to set, René was good to go, at least until she can get to a dentist for a more permanent fix. We enjoyed getting to know her during the flight. What an upbeat way to end a trip!

Happy trails all!
Stacey

Final Installment - Flores

Last time to blog for this trip, as we plan to leave our hotel around 6 am tomorrow and will be heading from one airport to another (Flores to Guatemala City to Houston to Portland) until (hopefully) 8:22 pm tomorrow night.

Flores is a nice little town and we've enjoyed strolling around, buying the hard cookies we consider to be our survival food on the road, going for a swim in the pool and a soak in the hot tub (tepid tub, actually), and enjoying a nice dinner on the terrace of our hotel overlooking the lake.

The first picture is the ultra mini van we rode in from Tikal to Flores, sort of a tall Volks Beetle we shared with the driver (who drank Listerine?!) and 2 couples from Spain who were special ed teachers - very interesting.

The other photos are of our hotel from the street, the view from our balcony of the pool and lake, and from the pool to our balcony (top right).

Thanks for following our travels! We've had an interesting, memorable trip and are grateful to be heading home tomorrow.

HAPPY TRAILS!!!
Stacey

Tikal!

I´ve chosen 5 photos of Tikal. We spent 5 or 6 hours getting there and it felt great to hike around. Yesterday afternoon and early evening we enjoyed the spider monkeys. I was lucky enough to see several bedding down for the night when I climbed Temple 4 and took the first photo high up on the stairs on my way up.

The 2nd one was taken of Temple 1 from Temple 2, a fairly easy climb now. Four years ago no one was allowed to climb that one but they´ve built new stairs.

Right before the sun set the storm clouds were rolling in and the lighting was amazing! Picture #3 is of the North Acropolis taken from the Grand Plaza.

It POURED all night long and was still pouring when we got up to head back into the ruins. We stomped around Mundo Perdido (Lost World) and enjoyed the beautiful, wet jungle. Unfortunately, the birds and howler monkeys and coatis we enjoyed so much in the morning 4 years ago stayed tucked away to avoid the rain. I climbed Temple 5. I´m not usually afraid of heights but it was wet and windy up there and it got my adrenaline going! Absolutely incredibly beautiful, though. The 4th photo was taken of the jungle canopy with other ruins poking through and the 5th taken over the edge of Sylvia down below (the blue dot).

I´ll blog one more time, either later today or after we get home. We fly from Flores to Guatemala City tomorrow morning, then on to Houston and Portland. We´re hoping that Hurricane Dean (who graced us with unusual rains at Tikal) won´t prevent our timely arrival in Houston so we can make our connecting flight.

Happy trails!
Stacey

Rio Dulce and Livingston

Hi, all -
Our wonderful trip is winding down and we are really missing home and loved ones and are ready to return. We haven{t had decent internet access for a few days so I am going to try to post 2 or 3 pages in one sitting.

This 1st set is of Rio Dulce and Livingston on the Caribbean coast. The top photo is the view from my hammock on the balcony of our room at Bruno´s in Rio Dulce. It´s a little dark but you might be able to make out my feet in the hammock to the right.

The next is a classic - Sylvia with a big smile because she found diet coke (Coca Light here) in bottles - a daily goal often requiring a lot of stomping around, peering into dark coolers, and asking in Spanish.

The 3rd photo is a woman and her son on the river trip to Livingston. We stopped at a hot springs and I hiked with a guide to a nearby cave, very cool.

The 4th photo is also on the Rio Dulce, fishermen hauling in nets.

The 5th is my topado in Livingston - a classic Garifuna meal. It was a soup made with coconut milk and bananas and a variety of seafood including shrimp and crab still in the shells and a whole small fish, complete with teeth and eyes. I covered the fish´s head with a piece of banana and enjoyed the rest.

The last photo is just a simple, classic market scene - pineapples and sugar cane against a bright colored building.
Happy trails!
Stacey

Last Post from San Pedro la Laguna

Syl and I are tying up loose ends this afternoon. We had class in the morning instead of 2:oo to 6:oo but will head back to school at 7:oo for a special dinner. We´ll leave bright and early (or early, at least!) on a bus to Guatemala City where we´ll take a taxi to another bus to Rio Dulce, near the Caribbean coast to the NE. Our longest day of bus travel but through some interesting countryside.

The first photo is the sunrise from the upstairs windows at my house - another beautiful sunny day.

The next photo Sylvia took during our salsa lessons last night. Maybe I can convince Mike to take up salsa dancing? It´s really fun.

The last 3 photos are from the school: a big frog in the grass, Sylvia and I with our teachers, Luis and Lorenzo (Luis´dog Bongo in the foreground), and the teachers of the Cooperativa school in the lovely garden.

We have no idea what internet access might be like for the rest of the trip but we´ll email when we can.

Happy trails!

Stacey

Sylvia and I visited Santiago Atitlan this morning, a half hour boat ride from San Pedro. It was a gorgeous, sunny day and we enjoyed sitting on the top of the boat and snapping pictures as we plugged along.

I picked 6 photos from Santiago Atitlan, too tired to decide which one to cut out.

At the top is a picture of the town as our boat pulled in.

Next is a photo of me with the man we paid a few bucks to to show us the location of Maximom (see below), the plaza, and the best shopping areas. I´m getting used to feeling like a giant.

Next is Maximon, the saint of tobacco and alcohol, revered in several towns in Guatemala including Santiago. I had to pay a total of nearly $2 to visit and take one picture. He had "friends" who seemed to be enjoying the cigarettes and alcohol that had been left as gifts. In the background is a glass case with a life-sized Jesus. This was one of the strangest things I´ve seen in my travels.

The 4th photo is a crowd watching a group of traditionally dressed school kids singing. Santiago is a very traditional town where many of the men and nearly all women wear traditional dress. The huipiles (women´s blouses) were absolutely gorgeous (not the foreground of the photo).

The 5th photo is a group of workers pouring a 2nd story cement slab. Hard work and not one of them paused for a second the whole time we watched, just like clockwork. The guy in the red shirt was tossing down buckets one after another that were filled with cement and hauled up the ladder.

The last photo is a detail of the square of fabric I bought today covered with embroidered phoenix birds.

Happy trails!
Stacey