tikal !!

Hello world!! We're back from YAV retreat/ visa renewal in Tikal and Belize! It was an amazing trip, and such a blessing to be able to recharge and relax for a week. A huge thanks to my supporters for making it possible!!





So I'll start with the full report on Tikal...
We took a 9hour charter bus from Guate to Flores in the very northern part of Guatemala (which included only 1 road-side pullover to see why there was smoke and a distinct burning rubber smell... No answer found. It also entailed watching only the last 15min of Big Daddy approx. 3 times, and the disc menu on The Pacifier for about 20 mins straight) Once we arrived in Flores, we stayed the night, and then bright and early, took a 1hour shuttle to Tikal- The ancient Mayan ruins that were constructed/ inhabitted between 800BC and 900AD.



The whole park is 16km x 16km, so we definitely got our walking in-- we saw a LOT of the temples, and climbed many of them which were many many meters high (using less-than-safe ladders... turns out i'm kind of afraid of shakey ladders.) It's in the middle of the jungle (read: malaria mosquitos), so we saw two different types of monkeys, many exotic birds, and a bunch of other animals! It's unknown why the town was abandoned, but I'm guessing that people got tired of climbing so many stairs in their huge headdresses. Or the jaguars ate them.

After a very long day exploring with our tour guide, we had a huge late lunch and headed back to the town of Flores for a dinner of street food buffet. Mmmm.

All in all, I'm so glad that we could go -- it's such a huge part of Guatemala's past and I'm really glad I could experience it-- thanks so much supporters! :)