| August 2004 |
|
| We lived in Antigua for
summer school, from June-August. As soon as summer school
ended, we did a road trip across
Guatemala from Antigua to the Atlantic Ocean. We traveled by
shuttle bus, Class A bus, Chicken Bus, and launcha (river boat).
Along the way, we visited Tikal, Rio Dulce,
and Livingston. |
 |
|
| Tikal: Maya
ruins in the Rainforest
|
 |
This is Temple II, in the
Grand Plaza. The Central Acropolis is in the background. The
size and grandeur of the monuments are stunning and no photographs
can capture the effect of these structures. |
| This is Temple I, in the
Grand Plaza. Stand in the silence and you can almost hear the past
around you. We will be doing alot of reasearch on the Maya. |
 |
 |
The North Acropolis in
the Grand Plaza. Temple I to the right. All our
photos of Tikal have this postcard quality, as if the landscape were
frozen in time. There were plenty of people around, but they
don't show up well in the photos. Very metaphysical. |
| The Central Acropolis in
the Grand Plaza. This was such an amazing place, we can't
really find words to tell you about it. The scale is huge;
people are incidental here. |
 |
 |
Temple IV, the most
dramatic and the farthest of the temples, surrounded by rainforest. |
| Luc on the way up Temple
IV. The wooden ladders seemed more difficult and harder to climb than
the real stone steps. |
 |
 |
The view from the top of
Temple IV, looking over the rainforest canopy toward the Grand Plaza |
| Luc and George at the top
of Temple IV, trying to orient themselves with a map of the ruins.
Tikal is a huge site, over 6 square miles of ruins, some excavated,
but most still mounds covered with rainforest foliage. |
 |
 |
The field archeologists
are discussing how to proceed with this skeleton found on an altar stone |
| A structure not yet
excavated. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of these shapes all over the
countryside. Once you have seen the excavated sites all the
overgrown mounds are suddenly obvious. The time it took for these
structures to be covered is hard to fathom. The size of the trees is
amazing. |
 |
 |
Stele and altar
stone. These were commonly found together. |
| Leaf cutter ants on the
rainforest trail. We had to come back to get this picture. The
battery went dead and we needed some lunch as well. |
 |
 |
We saw toucans and spider
monkeys and vultures and leaf cutter ants. |
|
| Rio Dulce:
River Hurricane Hole that empties into the Atlantic Ocean |
| Rio Dulce, on the northeast coast of
Guatemala, is probably the nicest cruiser haven we've seen. What
more can you ask for? A good little town with lots of
services, good holding bottom in 12 to 20 ft of fresh water, good
access and transportation, and lots of different places to anchor or
tie up. And it's gorgeous! We envy the folks who will be here next hurricane
season. |
 |
 |
Rio Dulce empties into the Atlantic
Ocean at the small town of Livingston. A tiny
town with a few roads, a few shops, a few more restaurants, not much else. The
Tapado (a seafood stew with coriander and coconut milk) was worth the
trip down river. |
| George and Betsey on the
Rio Dulce Bridge, the longest bridge in Central America. The wind
was really blowing this day, and Bets is using George as a
windbreak. |
 |
 |
George in the gardens at
Mario's Marina, on the Rio Dulce. We stopped here to look for
a used dinghy. |
| Luc is attending to
Elvis, who lives at Mario's Marina. Elvis likes attention, and
also likes leaning, all 150 lbs of him. |
 |
 |
High style along the Rio
Dulce, heading toward Livingston |
| We liked this one also.
Note the railings and screens. |
 |
 |
Captain Alessandro Cruz,
river captain on the Rio Dulce. |
| A stop at the hot springs
along the Rio Dulce. You can see the steam rising from the
river. |
 |
 |
George is trying to keep
his favorite Crowley hat from blowing away in the river winds. We
are almost at Livingston, the mouth of the Rio Dulce, in the
Atlantic Ocean. |
| Livingston, at the mouth of Rio Dulce and the
Atlantic Ocean |
| Main Street, Livingston,
looking out toward Rio Dulce. Livingston is an interesting mix
of Black Guatemalans who speak Spanish as well at their traditional
Garifuna, Black Guatemalans who speak the musical English of
Belize, Latinos who speak Spanish and some English, and tourists who
speak all kinds of languages. We noticed that none of these
folks mix much. |
 |
 |
Main Street, looking
toward town. This is a typical Central American town, with a
slight Caribbean flavor to it. |
| George, resting in a
hammock on our 18th wedding anniversary. He looks pretty content,
yes? |
 |
 |
Luc looks pretty happy,
also. These hammocks were really very cool and comfortable |
| We saw this in the bow of
a launcha. Common Caribbean sentiment. |
 |
