Arrived in Panama

Well after the day of travel and getting into Panama city at 2:30 am we are here and a bit tired.  Our hostel for today is a bit shady but all we needed was a bed.  We will go explore the oldest Pacific city in the Americas today and hope to make the night bus to the mountains.  More and better posts to come.

Indian Curry, Moscow Mules, Pretty Lights and Football Jesus

Memorial Weekend Sunday night is currently being spent making Indian curry, Moscow mules, while listening to Pretty Lights and starring at football Jesus.  As this being one of my first attempts at making curry the ginger, coconut, curry and veggies mingled nicely.  With summer taking hold I am a firm believer in the Moscow Mule.  A 1950's drink of Vodka, ginger beer and lime, it is a crisp, clean, refreshing summer cocktail.  As for Pretty Lights, an electronic based artist with free downloads on the website, has a great low key vibe perfect for some background music.  Jesus, he plays football.

Italy Photos

Here is a rough edit of some stills from Italy.

 Statue in the Vatican

St. Peter's Basilica

 Arch of Constantine

 Arch of Constantine

Side street in Roma, perfect evening light

Busted moped and the wash in Siena

Another Church Siena

 Shallow DoF on Chain

Venice

Venice

Venice carnival

 Night boat in Venice

Venice carnival

Venice carnival

Venice carnival

Venice carnival

Venice carnival

Venice

Venice 

Back from the Trips

Well I have been back for a few weeks now and had some time to work on files.  So you get to see a few.

El Paredon Surf House one of the 

greatest places to relax in Guatemala

Flores, where these dugouts are 

used to bring kids to school

Tikal's seven temples

El Paredon sunset

Tikal Temple III

Antigua child

El Paredon fishing is a family event

Amanda and I swinging with the sunset

Flores tuk tuk 

More photos, time lapses, and video to come.

The Beach and more

Please excuse the grammar my checker hasn't read it.

On our way back from Flores I need to go to the bathroom on the bus.  So I ran to the back during a stop.  As I looked around I realized that I couldn't find the lock for the door.  After little caring I decided just to go, at that same time the bag patter entered the bus.  He patted down many bags before he opened the bathroom door to see me whizzing away.  I turn, a little confused to see a man with a gun staring back.  Quickly, I grab the door shutting it hard.  Back to work.  Door swings open, this time to a large local woman.  I close again this time hanging on to the handle with one hand.  Finish up and back to try and sleep.  We arrive in Antigua and await our charoit to the beach.

We are picked up by a local driver in an old van.  Our hosts at the house were also in the van with Diego (the Dog)  The dog begins through the corridor of volcanos to a place lesser known.  While most tourist in Guatemala head to Montireccio for their beach experience, we choose El Paredon.  On the journey we bounce around in the back of van like popcorn in a microwave.  Clearly, we are off the normal roads, judging by the cattle that has stopped our van.  Shortly after we get moving we bounce through farm field and tin houses.  We arrive at the house around 4 and we are greeted by 3 more dogs and a few humans.  After chatting a bit we grab a Gallo and head to the lonely hammocks overlooking the surf and sun.  After a beautiful sunset we are summoned to dinner poolside.  Three tables are setup for family style dinner.  A shrimp salad was served first with a spicy mayo and greens.  Yummy.  Next was lasagne and finished with a rice pudding.  We lounge around for a little while and decided to check in for the night.  We climb the ladder to our chamber, where a double bed awaits with bug net hanging above.  The sound of the ocean rushes in from our open air window, lulling us to bed.

Diego 

Woke up Sat morning and saw a glimpse of the sunrising, and then went back to sleep.  We then came down from our bunglow and grabbed coffee and breakfast.  Sitting under our bunglow watching the surf was amazing.  I order the tipico dish, which was black beans with basil, queso, tortillas, eggs, and tomatos.  Amanda had pancakes with honey, yogurt, fresh watermelon and papaya.  We then went for a walk down the beach and watched the waves.  From there we decided surf was in store for today.  The waves were a few feet overhead with the outside crashing hard.  I grabbed board and rashy.  Amanda decided to play in the sand while I attemped to kill myself.  After alot of paddling and not much progress with the foamy I snag a few rides.  Next, it's time for Amanda's debut.  She paddles out through some heavy whitewater and gets to a good spot and start to scream turn around.  After some trying the board turns around and with a little push and paddling the board slides down the wave all the way to the shore.  I can see the ear to ear grim from the middle of the Pacific.  The rest of the day is spent playing in the waves.  We clean up before sunset and grab a beer.  Sunset and Gallo, this is becoming a normal thing.   Family style supper finished with a chocalate, caramel, and vanilla dessert.  We decided the night isn't over till we battle over a few games of Mastermind.  Bedtime, we tuck the netting around the mattress and flip the switch.  A noise comes from above.  Amanda asks "what is that?"  I respond "nothing" damn well knowing it was a bat.  Surf sounds in our sleep.

Day is spent on hammocks till we aredriven back to Antigua.  We decided that we are going to celebrate Valetine's day Eve at Bistror Cinq.  This french restarant is rated one of the highest in Antigua.  Amanda finds the place due to her expert memory and we grab some wine to start the night over.  In short time we order a filet migon for me and seared tuna for Amanda.  Both rock our world's.  We finish this meal up with a creme brulee.  Back to the hostel and out the door to the airport in the morning.

Early morning Tikal

We woke up at 5:30,after killing some big bugs before bed, with the sound of crickets filling the woods.  By 6 we were entering the jungle, and as we approached the plaza, the light sprinkled through the trees. The fog was thick and air was moist.  We sat down to take in the new world, and the howler monkeys started up howling.  If you haven't heard a howler monkey, it sounds strangely like something out of Jurassic Park, a raptor or some kind of dinosaur.  The howlers were singing from all sides; the sounds echoing between temples creating an eerie, mind bending experience.  Next came the birds that joined the chorus.  A quick exploration of the North Acropolis  followed by many other temples, and then we were off, just the two of us, to discover some new trails.  We stumbled upon the Plaza of the Seven temples.  Here a family of spider monkeys greeted us as they swung through the trees. We witnessed one spidermonkey brawl, and watched the tiniest, tinniest spidermonkey cling to its mother. As the spidermonkeys bounded from one tree to the next, some extremely loud, possibly extremely angry birds squawked through the trees. Despite the birds, the area had a very fun, jovial vibe.  It seems the happiness of this area carried through the millienums.

Plaza of the Lost World

After Tikal we cruised to Flores where we grabbed a bite to eat and beverages from Villa del Chef, a nice little place with a small patio overlooking the lake. A huge burrito, nachos for 3, and 6 Cuba Libres for $22... I can handle that.  A little tipsy on rum, we walked to the boardwalk which goes all the way around the island until we found a seat for sunset.  We sat and watched the town come out to join us.  I always love when people line the beaches or mountains to watch the sunset.  This happened twice already, with the volcano being one, sitting on the top of Temple IV in Tikal the other.  Night bus time then the surf camp.

Bandito country and Tikal

Our night bus adventure through bandito country began with our shuttle to Guatemala City... nothing like weaving through hundreds of vehicles at 80 miles an hour with no seatbelts! Luckily we made it safely to the bus station. After Josh helped the other shuttle passengers get their lugguge down, we headed inside and got our tickets. As soon as we sat down, a bus driver came up to us. "Flores?" he asked. "Si" He explained to us, from what we could understand, that we couldn't bring our bags on board and had to check them. We took out what we wanted on board and then checked our bags. But we soon found that that wasn't such a great idea: there were TWO buses to Flores, and the bus driver who hadn't looked at our tickets, had just checked our bags on the wrong bus, the one that was leaving a half hour earlier. After a difficult conversation made up of Spanglish and hand signaling, we were allowed to pick out our bags. Josh jumped into the bowels of the bus, recovered our bags, and, phew... crisis averted.

We arrived at Flores right before sunrise.  I was a little disoreinted when I got off the bus. Probably from the sleeping pills.  I didn't believe it when we were told we were already in Flores. We watched the sun rise from over the lake and jungle, a truly beautiful sight.  The fog gave dimension to the multiple layers of forest and mountain. From the shore we could see mothers and fathers paddling their children to school.  Others were fishing for the day's food.  We soon found ourselves taking in the beauty of the lake and sunrise from a little cafe called Cool Beans.  We each had a Mocha, which was about par for what I have had in Central America.  I then had an omelet with cheese and ham, hashbrowns, and toast. A little local hot sauce and I was off.  Amanda had a bowl of fresh fruits, yogurt, and graola(Which was also good). With the food and view it was paradise indeed.

After a fight with a rooster for our food (a cock fight, if you will) and chatting with a German fellow, we decided to figure out the trek to Tikal.  After a short walk and conversation we found ourselves a shuttle to Tikal and back, plus the trip back to Antigua.

We then boarded our shuttle to Tikal. On the way we got a history lesson on the site and of the Mayan people who called it home.   Our guide Chino gave us an overwhelming amount of information on Mayan history; it was too much to take it all in, but we couldn't help but be striken by how passionate he was about the history of his Mayan ancestors.

We got our room at Jungle Lodge room c-6.  A small room with a bed and shelving for clothes, nothing great for the price but the scenery and wildlife makes up for it... and finally, hot showers!

Around three o'clock we headed down to the ticket booth to get our tickets for the park. We had to wait until 3:30 because tickets bought after 3:30 were good for the next morning as well. As soon as we had our tickets inhand, we traveled down the dirt path, heading deeper and deeper into the rainforest. We trekked immediately towards the Grand Plaza and Temples I and II. The first glimpse of Temple 1 seemed surreal. Once upon a time, it was just a picture, and finally it was right in front of us.

We walked around the Grand Plaza, taking plenty of photos and video. Luckily, there weren't many other tourists  (or guards...no guards), so we practically had the place to ourselves. After climbing around the North Acropolis, we ascended Temple II which gave us a stunning view of the entire plaza.

Our next stop was to the Grandaddy of all the temples: Temple IV. We hiked past Temple III.  

More to come....