Hi Everyone! Welcome to another installment of �What are those crazy kids doing now in Guatemala?!?!� And now, what we�re doing now: Last Wednesday our classes went on a field trip together. We took about 80 kids between the ages of 9 and 16 to an ecological park, which was a park that had a creek, lots of picnic tables, a soccer field, a big slide, hiking trails, big trampolines, and some animals roaming around. We all had a blast! This was a big treat for the kids because they usually don�t get experiences like this. The majority of the kids spent all day playing in the river, but they also walked up the trail that follows the creek, played on the slide, and generally ran around wild. When we brought out the camera, all the kids kept posing and wanting their pictures taken . . . we took about 200 pictures!!! By the end of the day, they�d successfully thrown Alyssa�s teacher in the creek against her will and were soaked and chilled to the bone�most of them went back in with their dry clothes just to savor every second in the water. It was great to see the big smiles on the faces just lying in the river. Here�s a sample of the pictures:
Pat�s 3rd grade classroom before we left
Laying in the river
Alyssa�s class and teacher, all soaked!
Playing on the slide
Getting thrown in
Well, it is official, Pat had amoebas. (Unofficially, Alyssa probably had them too because we eat the same food and had the same symptoms, but her test came back negative.) On Thursday we went to the local laboratory to get our stool analyzed for amoebas and parasites. Yes, that�s right we had to poop in a cup, which is not an easy task and definitely a humbling experience! The details are too gory for this G-rated website, but it makes for a great story if you want to ask. ;-)
Also, a 4th-year medical student who is volunteering with us gave a talk about diarrhea and Dengue fever. We all listened intently because most of us have had diarrhea since we got here (Ah, the stories we could tell�Grandma Walker, we�ve followed in your footsteps :-) We came away with lots of good tips to avoid diarrhea and what to do when you do get it, plus we pretty much confirmed that we had Dengue fever when we got sick about a month ago.
This past week our biggest news to report is our trip to Tikal. For those not familiar with Tikal, they are Mayan ruins that were mainly built between 550AD and 900AD. It was one of the main centers of commerce with between 50,000 and 100,000 people living there. By somewhere around 1000AD it was completely abandoned, possibly because there had been a severe famine, accompanied with overpopulation and war with neighboring peoples. In 1881 the ruins were re-discovered, with even the largest temples almost completely covered in dirt, trees, and shrubs, and they are still uncovering ruins today.
So here�s how the trip went: Friday morning the 10 of us left Antigua taking the family van. Our uncle was the driver, and the passengers were our mom, aunt, brother Diego, cousin Hugo, Jason (our new housemate), his friend Laura, Nadia (a fellow volunteer from Germany), and us. It was about a 10 hour car ride, which was not uneventful. It was a bit shocking when the pickup in front of us (which had about 8 cows in the bed) lost its right rear tires! They went rolling off in different directions while the pickup came to a quick stop and nearly rolled. And then later we passed a car broken down on the side of the road that was being jacked up with some logs. Half way there we stopped at a town called Rio Dulce and took this picture:
In Rio Dulce
We traveled Guatemalan style: We stayed in a hotel room about 30 minutes away from Tikal that was complete with a bed and mosquito net. . . and nothing else! But the nice part was that the hotel was right on a lake and there were horses roaming around without fences:
The awesome view
At night there were fireflies, and our brother Diego caught one and gave it to Alyssa. This made her very happy and she held it for the next 30 minutes or so (a lifelong dream fulfilled!).
So then on Saturday we spent the entire day at Tikal, getting up at 4:00AM, arriving at 5:30AM (thinking we could see the sunrise from a temple but finding out that they are closed until 6:00AM so we missed the sunrise) and leaving at 6:30PM (after watching the sunset from a temple). It was so amazing! We walked around to most of the ruins, and climbed all the ones that we could (some are off limits in order to preserve them). The size of the temples and the large number was incredible. You are walking around in a jungle, but you know that 1000 years ago it was a huge city. Lots of structures have been uncovered, but you see many mounds of dirt, and you know that underneath there is a stone temple or building that has yet to be dug out. By the end of the day we were dead tired because we had been walking all day and climbed 10 or 12 very large temples with very large, steep steps (Why would such short people make such big steps?!). There are 5 or 6 that go higher than the trees, and the view is awesome from the top. Some temples had wooden stairs/ladders that you had to climb up in order to help preserve the stone steps of the temples (unfortunately we don�t think they were built with preserving the tourists in mind; they didn�t make you feel too safe). Here�s a short collection of photos:
Atop one of the smaller ruins
The early morning view from Temple IV
Pat on Temple II
Temple I (that�s us standing at the bottom!)
Us and Temple I again
Temple V (what the top looked like before it was dug out!)
Temple V now!
Looking down the ladder on Temple V (Alyssa thought she was going to die)
Waiting for sunset on the Mundo Perdido Temple
Sunset
We saw tons of interesting animals on our walk in the jungle: spider monkeys, howler monkeys, bats, tarantulas, pizote, crocodiles, butterflies, frogs, and toucans to name a few. The howler monkeys were especially cool . . . we heard some fiercely loud howling and went to go investigate, and discovered 4 or 5 small monkeys making a ridiculously large amount of noise. Alyssa thought they were a pack of jaguars! Remind us to show you the video when we get back! And now the interesting animal photos:
We think Timon and Pumba ate these in The Lion King
The super-highway of very large ants!
This butterfly was nice enough to pose for us
Spider-Monkey
It is called Pizote in Spanish, but don�t know what it is in English. Can anyone help?!?!
A rear view of the Pizote if that helps you identify it ;-)
Tarantula (Alyssa thought she was going to die!)
On the way back home we took a short trip to Flores. It is an old, tiny town built on an island in the middle of a lake. It was a Mayan city even before the Spanish arrived and conquered it. We didn�t spend much time there, but got a boat ride around the tropical island and got this picture:
Flores
And after all the events on the car ride to Tikal, we were a bit more ready with the camera for the ride home. This is a favorite:
About 20 people in the back of a pickup cruising down the highway, including one guy standing on the tailgate! (Alyssa thought they were going to die!)
The week has been similar to past few at the project; today we taught our first adult English class to all our friends on the staff. We taught them opposites; tall-short, young-old etc. They especially liked �dumb-smart� and �your mom�(at their request of course!)�.we think we�re going to have a good time with them. Plus Pat is now teaching both the kindergarten and first graders English, so he�s been busier. We�re getting ready for a week long vacation in a week and a half; the plan is to go to Livingston, Belize and Honduras (read: long bus rides ahead). Yay!
