Day 21- Free Day on the Mainland = Trip to GUATEMALA!

Before I get started about today, I just want to add some really cool details about the ATM tour that I forgot to mention. We were 600 feet below the surface of the earth for the majority of the tour and I think we traveled around two miles into the cave. That is all!

So today was our one free day to do whatever we wanted on the mainland of Belize. All week, I have been struggling to decide what to do. I kept going back and forth between doing the cave tubing and zip lining package in Belize or taking a trip to Guatemala to see the Tikal Mayan Ruins and visit the city of Flores. I really wanted to go to Guatemala, but I really, really wanted to go zip lining and cave tubing. On Tuesday night, I heard that the Guatemala trip added zip lining to the agenda so I started leaning more toward Guatemala. Last night, it came down to it; I had to decide and pay the guy if I wanted to go to Guatemala. I finally decided that I would and I am so, so, so glad that I did!

Annie, Maria, Katie, and Kelli met Max (the owner of Maximum Adventure Tours) on Monday. They went into Maximum Adventures that day to ask about prices for a Guatemala trip. He ended up being a really nice guy and took them to some ancient ruins just outside of San Ignacio for free! They had a great time, and he promised them that if they got a big group to go, he could give us a nice price for the trip. Like I said before, the trip started with just the Tikal tour and Flores, but when many of us were on the fence because we wanted to go zip lining or cave tubing, he added in zip lining. After that, fourteen of us signed up to go.

We had to be at Maximum Adventures this morning at 6:50a.m. We all met Max and then got on the nicest van I'd seen in San Ignacio. It was air-conditioned, clean, and big. Julia, Lisa, Erika, and I all had two seats to ourselves. We thought we were going to be sitting pretty like that all day, but when we approached the border (15 minutes later--San Ignacio is very close to the border of Guatemala) Max told us we would be crossing the border on foot and would not see this van until the end of the day.

We crossed the border in no time. There was no customs or security, and we were the only one's in line. We exchanged our money quickly from guys just hanging out outside of the checkpoint. Julia and Maria lucked out and ended up getting way more than they were suppose to, while I, unfortunately, got the correct amount. It took less than 30 minutes for all 15 of us to cross the border into Guatemala. I was so excited to get another stamp on my passport!

Once we crossed the border, we got into a much smaller, red van. It was a 16 passenger van, so we had just enough seats for all of us and not a lot of room for much else. We started driving down the main highway through some pretty poor towns. The first thing I noticed was that there were animals everywhere! Horses, cows, pigs, dogs, cats, chickens, and turkeys, just roaming around the side of the road and in town. Some of them were tied to things, but most of them weren't. I can't tell you how many random animals we passed chowing down on the grass on the side of the highway! The second thing I noticed is that everything was in Spanish! Me, being the American that I am, didn't even think about the fact that Spanish is the national language in Guatemala, not English like Belize. I got a little worried there for a minute about how I would communicate with people, so I started trying to read all of the signs that we passed. I was actually quite impressed with how much Spanish I remembered from my one course in college and two courses in high school. The third thing I noticed about Guatemala was that there were Pepsi signs everywhere (instead of Coke like in Belize) and Belikin Beer had been replaced with Gallo Beer. It was actually kind of funny because just yesterday I was thinking to myself that I had never drank so much Coke before in my life, and that is because Belize is a Coke country. I got so excited to finally have a Pepsi! I also knew that I had to try Gallo Beer before I left Guatemala. 

We drove for a bit, through another town and past a lot of farmland, and then stopped at a little shop for snacks, a bathroom break, and a photo op in front of Lake Peten Itza. Lake Peten Itza is the second largest lake in all of Guatemala and the city of Flores (which we would be visiting later) lies on an island near its southern shore.

Me in front of Lake Peten Itza

Butterfly on my finger at Lake Peten Itza

Climbing back into our big, red van

We drove about 30 minutes more, and then stopped at a gift shop for cookies and coffee (Max includes these in the price of the trip). The cookie was an "El Ramon" and was made from the bread-nut (native  to this area) and the coffee was STRONG. I was feeling a head buzz before I was finished with my first cup. By the time I finished my second, I was raring to go!

We got back in the van and drove to Canopy Tours to go zip lining. We went there first to beat the crowds. I had never been zip lining before so I didn't know what to expect. We were the only customers there, so as soon as we walked up, they started putting us in harnesses. I didn't really have time to get nervous! After we all go suited up, we climbed up the ladder to the first platform. Up there, one of the guides gave us a brief rundown for how to zip line. (Luckily one of the guides spoke English!) It seemed easy enough as we watched him zoom down the line, so I stepped up first to go after him. (Our group ended up splitting into two groups, with two guides each. One would go first, to help you at the next platform, and one would go last to help everyone onto the line.) 

Me, upside down!

At first, I was slightly hesitant to trust my weight on the cable but before I knew it, I was whizzing down the line screaming with excitement! When I stood back up on the first platform, my legs were trembling--what a rush! After everyone in my group made it to the platform, we started down the next line, just like the first. One guide went first, and as he went, he shouted, "Try some tricks! You can flip upside down!" And that's what he did. He let go of the cable with his hands and leaned back facing us, as he flew down the line in a handstand position. My group and I decided that we needed to do one more line normally, before attempting that trick, so we did that. The next one, we were going to flip upside down. (Side note: The guides at this place were so nice! They used my camera to take pictures of all of us!) I went first. I started down the line, got about 15 feet away from the starting platform and let go of the line. I flipped backwards, started screaming  and waving to everyone still on the platform. It was so much fun!!!!!

Me, Annie, and Julia stoked about our tricks!

Solo Superman!

At the next platform, Max was on the ground below us. He started shouting up to us to try the superman trick. When our guide came over, Max shouted, "She wants to try the superman!" So the guide took my harness off, and then put it back on me but backwards this time. The clip was on my back instead of my front...I was going to go down face first and fly like superman! The first time, the guide went behind me to stop me when I got to the platform. He tried to take a video, but he accidentally turned the camera off instead of pushing the shoot button. So at the next line, we tried again. He ended up getting a really cool video from behind me of us going down the line! The next line I did the superman by myself! He went down first, to stop me, and I flew down the line by myself. It was awesome!!! I don't remember exactly how many more lines we did, but the last line was the most fun. It was a shorter line, with a sag in the middle that swooped close to the ground. Our guide went down first. Then Kelsey. When she got about 5 feet off of the platform, the guide at the bottom started bouncing the line! She went up and down and up and down! It looked like so much fun! And it was! It was my favorite ride of the day.

The view of the jungle from one of the platforms

Us with our awesome guides!

When it was all said and done, we couldn't believe that we just did that! A few people who had been zip lining before (even the Kelli and Taylor who went in Belize) said that they were never allowed to do tricks like that! And a few of them also commented on how sketchy this place was! We didn't wear helmets and there was no rail around any of the platforms! But hey, we all survived!

We left zip lining and drove over to the Tikal Mayan Ruins. It was extremely hot, but I was excited to see more ruins. Tikal is HUGE! Way bigger than Caracol, and much older. The whole park was massive and we walked all over it. We visited all five temples, saw the plazas, and the stelas. What really amazes me is that only 3% of Tikal has been excavated. The rest still remains underground. So that means that this site is waaaaaaaaaaayyyy bigger than even what we saw. We climbed all the way to the top of the two tallest temples and had a nice look at all the others.

Our guide, Luigi was great. He was very knowledgeable and told us great stuff about Tikal's inhabitants. Another thing that made him great was that he completely disregarded the rules of the park and took us through short cuts and had us climb up hills that we weren't suppose to, to get better views.

Luigi leading us up a path where the sign reads NO CLIMBING!

I also noticed a completely different vibe at Tikal that at Caracol. At Caracol, the ruins were highly respected and the park went to great lengths to take good care of them. For example, there were no trash cans around the ruins because you were suppose to take everything with you as you left. They practiced "Leave No Trace". Tikal was much more touristy, for a lack of better words. There was trash on the trails, they built cantinas to sell drinks and stuff in between the sites, and tons of visitors had scratched their names into the ruins (some just by scraping off moss, others by actually scraping into the rock). I was actually appalled by the disrespect of the ruins and how poorly the park was taken care of. Don't get me wrong, I had a good time seeing all of the ruins, but I didn't like all those things at all. 

Tikal had some spectacular views and neat wildlife.  

Erika, Julia, Lisa, Me, and Max on Temple IV (the highest) with Temples I, II, and III behind us.

Kelli and I infront of Temple V

A nice view of Temple III (or IV)

Stela

Oscillated Turkey (or Rainbow Turkey)

"Mayan Rat" or Gibnut 

Toucan!

At one point, this random guy came up to us with a scorpion in his hand. We all took a close look and he told us that he squeezed the venom out so it was no longer poisonous. I don't know how much I believe that, but Kelli let him put it on her head!

















After Tikal, we had lunch and then drove down to Flores. We only had two hours in Flores, which was beautiful, but we all spent our time shopping. Everything was so cheap! I spent ALL of my Guatemalan money (which was only $75 U.S.) and I came home with three bags full! It was the most intense shopping spree of my life! It was blistering hot out, everyone spoke Spanish, the prices were in Guatemalan so I had to do conversions in my head to figure out how much it was in American, and I only had two hours! I was running around and bargaining with people like I'd never bargained before! And I got some really great deals on stuff for me and presents!

The lake surrounding Flores

Walking down the streets of Flores

What another wonderful adventure! The whole way home we laughed, listened to the Guatemalan radio, and watched a crazy lightning storm! We made it back over the border around 8 and back to Rosa's around 9. I can't thank Max enough for taking us. This was truly an incredible experience. I never dreamed I'd end up in Guatemala while on this trip! We all had a great time and I'd love to go back!