To the Jungle we go

Food. For a week we cooked our own at IMAP. Beans, rice, bananas, mangos, locally grown vegetables (real local like 10 steps away) – usual things we find in the US and also a perennial veggie called chaya. It is harvested by cutting the stalk and it regrows from that stalk. Salt, lime and other citrus we picked from the property, hot sauce made by one of the local women who cook at IMAP when they have groups, and to pull it all together, fresh handmade tortillas everyday by Andrea. At lunch we would all break work and put all our food on the table to share with everyone. There were some things the guys brought that I couldn’t identify but was wonderful. I asked what was in some of the dishes but my language skills didn’t quite stand up to the task. I made a dish of stewed chicken in tomatoes, roasted red peppers, onions, and some tasty hot chili powder I bought one day at a HUGE packed market. One of the fellows said he thought it would be better with coca-cola in it. I just smiled and said “well, I will try that next time”. He also said pineapple would work too (a more likely addition on my part).

We took the boat from IMAP back to Panajachel and stayed with a new friend Rebecca. She has been living in Guat. for 15 years on the IMAP project and other community outreach and health issues. She suggested we go to a local eatery they frequent. Her description was accurate. “Go down this road past all the tourist restaurants and look for a smoking grill out on the street – just down that ally is the place to sit and eat from the grill” And it was some grill! For 15 Quetzales (about 2 US dollars) a plate we had grilled chicken or beef, grilled young fresh onions, grilled fresh tortillas, beans, fried plantain and of course the ubiquitous hot sauce from the table. The homey local atmosphere added much to the experience. During the day there is no grill and it is simply an alley, by night a hopping joint.

The market scene I just mentioned was intense. Bigger than we could get around and so packed it was hard to see where we were. Most of the people were selling dry beans, rice, corn meals, fruit (we have tried just about every fruit we have come across – most delicious, some curious), veggies (many we did not know) – and most people sell it by weight using the classic hand held scale with metal weights on one side to balance the product on the other. One woman could not find the metal weight she wanted for some chicken I was buying and calibrated with a handful of chicken heads. There were many kinds of meat to buy, some looked like small animals that I think was squirrel – we were not so adventurous in the meat tasting as with the fruit.

I will not go into too many details about the long and overnight bus ride to Tikal outside of the detour road that had us driving through a river, the screaming baby, and a bus driver that seemed to think he had to get there ahead of time. We slept well the following night.

We are in the jungle now in the national park of Tikal, one of the largest of the Mayan cities. We awoke this morning to the sounds of Howler monkeys and Aurupendulas (large loud birds). Yesterday, after we arrived in the afternoon, we went into the park and met a couple who told us about an amazing guide they hired the day before. We took the tour today with that guide starting at 6:30 a.m. and ending around 12:30. It was one of the best guided tours I have ever been on! He grew up in the park and has been leading tours for many years. He was extremely knowledgeable about the mayan ruins and the history as well as the local plants, animals and birds. We saw things we would have missed on our own for sure. 

Our departure date of today is being put off till tomorrow – it is just so amazing here. Forest and Jono are right now watching sunset on temple IV. The top stands above the jungle canopy and you can see for miles as well as some of the other temples peering over the green tops. From there, yesterday, we saw falcons and large parrots. We have seen spider monkeys regularly and today our guide called to a sleeping band of howler monkeys and we heard a hearty response. Not too long after we saw a troop of howlers moving and feeding in the trees in one of the more open clearings within the temple grounds.

Violacious Trogons, keel billed toucans, ant birds (that follow the army ants and eat the insects that the army ants stir up), and a few species of large parrots are just some of the long list of birds we have seen since being here. The more we look, the more we find.

We are learning a few things from the general travel experience too. Like:

-you can go without a shower for longer than you think you can

-Always – Always carry some toilet paper in your pocket (as many bathroom have none!)

-Local people are generally friendlier that the tourists

-Remember that Guatemala time is three times as long as regular time. Everything happens at a much slower pace. Whenever we try to rush it makes us really crazy.

-Plans change

-Sometimes the road is not open

-People here can bend the truth a little to make a good story (or a sale)

-American culture is crazy – but maybe we knew that already.

- Never bring anything with you on a trip that you cant leave behind - like a favorite sweater that I will not need but won’t give away.

-And dirty socks need not be washed – circular file!