12 March, 2001

We stopped by Bruce's to say goodbye. Turns out he offered us coffee and fresh-sqeezed orange juice and we hung out talking for the rest of the morning. As it was noon by the time we wrapped things up, Bruce offered to let us stay on his property, have a shower, snorkel, and come up for dinner. We decided not to pass that up. We beach combed for an hour, picking up pumice stone and natural sponges washed up by the last hurricane, and regretting the devastation wreaked on the conch population by local fishermen. We read in the shade, snacking on Nutella, wafer cookies and peanut butter; Bb spent some time on the beach in the sun and Steve went for a sunset snorkel.

We chatted with Bruce and made him a simple dinner. Around 11 p.m., Bb looked at her watch and realized why she was yawning.

As we were checking in, Beebee saw a flyer for Domino's pizza. Now, we stay away from Mickey Domino's, Burger King and the occasional Wendy's we see down here, but pizza is pizza, and even though we wouldn't touch the stuff in the states, Domino's makes a pizza like we expect it to taste. Beebee had dinner pegged.

We walked around town, then went back to the hotel in the early evening, as Steve was experiencing some rather painful accelerated intestinal transit. He even laid down in bed, which isn't like him. Not too long after, he said he felt cold. This was in a hotel room with a fan only and about an 80 degree night outside. Hmm. Then he actually started shivering. Not a good sign.

We hurriedly consulted our travel med book and it sounded like he might have malaria. We were a little worried. It was definitely possible that he was bit in Xcalak by a carrying mosquito and Bruce had recounted to us that just last year a local there died of malaria.

First things first, Beebee went in search of a farmacia and a thermometer -- the one that came with our super duper medical kit didn't work. She found a good digital one at the first pharmacy she came to. Upon taking Steve's temp, we realized he definitely had something nasty. It climbed from 37.5 to 39 in about 15 minutes. That's about 101 to 102. Oh, and he had cramps in his abdomen and sore joints. As much as we didn't like it, all of the above symptoms are very typical of malaria.

Beebee walked hurriedly to the front desk and asked if the desk person knew where a clinic was. She pointed out a 24-hour clinic just down the road. Steve was a champion and even went up to the desk himself to make sure Bb had heard the directions (in Spanish) correctly.

We found the place and learned there would be about a 30-minute wait to see a doctor. Half hour, Ha! we thought. We asked if he could just get a blood test for malaria without seeing a doctor and they said yes, so that's what we did. For $5 U.S. Holy cow. Since the test would take about an hour and a half to process, we figured we might as well wait and see a doctor too.

We really did wait half an hour and Steve said the doctor was really friendly and professional. Turns out Steve had parasites and bacteria and all sorts of nasty things in his colon. Doc prescribed him an anti-parasite med and an antibiotic. The doctors visit? $15 U.S. The US medical establishment could learn a lot from this little episode- if we had been in the states we would have had to go to the emergency room where we would doubtlessly have waited a few hours- a fever hardly takes precedent over just about anything else that someone comes in with. Then of course we would have paid a good $10 or so, just in an insurance co-pay. For major open-heart surgery, we would still feel more comfortable with a US physician (though we heard a story of a guy down here who had it done and the total hospital bill was only $6,000) but for basic medical care, the Mexican system, so far, seems better to us, or at least more accessible. Now, if you're a Maya, or you only make 50 pesos a day, the system still doesn't work for you.

The meds however, were a bit expensive, so we're going to look into filing a claim with our travelers' insurance. The total for the doctor's visit and the medication was around $60 U.S. All in all, we felt really lucky.

We got back to the hotel, and although Steve wasn't feeling like eating a thing, (at least his fever was coming down) Bb still wanted her pizza. After trying in vain to order it over the phone, she went back to the room hungry and mad at herself for not speaking Spanish better. Steve, being the sweetheart and champion he is, crawled out of bed and dragged his sweaty and sore body up to the front desk to order her a pizza.

By the time it arrived, Steve was definitely interested in eating some, but doctor's orders were no fat, no dairy. That rules out pizza. And boy, maybe we've just been away from the states for too long, but this was a tasty pizza. Not Round Table by any means, but delicious and American tasting.

In the mixed-bag style which seems to govern our lives, we also found out that one of Steve's very closest friends is getting married in August. Congratulations, Elisa and Justin! So for all of you people who have asked us, "When are you coming home?" The answer is: some time before August 17.

Who needs a washing machine when you've got feet and a Rubbermaid tub?	Chetumal's central park. We liked this town, but it was no great shakes.

In the evening we finally managed to get a hold of Steve's mom on the telephone to let her know we've been thinking of her. She is so brave- despite burns on her face, severely bruised chest, whiplash and bruises and twists and bumps all over the place she was still very chipper and optimistic about her recovery. Steve is feeling some guilt about not being there to help, but he realizes that there really isn't very much he could do, since if we were back in the states he would probably be stuck in an office somewhere and unable to see her much anyway. Still, there are just some times when being away from loved ones really stinks.

While the basic biology of the two places is the same, Belize looks almost nothing like southern Mexico. It took us a while to really be able to say how it is different, but we think that the two outstanding features are that the Belizians actually landscape their yards and gardens and maintain well groomed lawns, whereas most Mexicans just have a few scraggly bushes and trees on the dirt around their homes, and there is far less trash on the roadside in Belize. The first difference is probably attributable to the fact that Belize was a British colony, not an oft-neglected Spanish one, the second is undoubtedly due to the fact that there are signs all over the roadside which threaten a $1,000 fine for littering (US $500) and also signs offering $1,000 for information leading to the conviction of litterers! Talk about incentivizing a population!

The only real stop we made in Belize, other than to ask directions, was at a little Chinese restaurant for lunch. We had no idea how much we missed authentic chinese food made by chinese people! The food was excellent, but we saw for the first time how Belize really is a much more expensive country than Mexico. For two people to eat a large lunch and enjoy two ice cold stouts (heaven!) was a little over $10 US. In Mexico a similar meal (though there is no stout in Mexico) would have been closer to US $6. It was worth it.

We continued on through beautiful green countryside and rivers, enjoying lovely weather the whole way. We did have a bit of a scare when Steve pulled over to take a picture of a lovely grassy hillside with palm trees along the fence, to illustrate the whole landscaping thing. For some reason there was a two-foot diameter hole, about two feet deep in the ground on the grassy shoulder. Of course Steve managed to hit it while we were backing up to head back onto the road. Thunk! "Um, what was that?"

After jumping out to take a look we realized that the right front tire was touching nothing but air and that we were resting on the springs and axle. Not such a good thing. A little nervous, we put Sandy into 4-low, locked the air locker for extra traction, and popped right out of the hole as if it weren't even there. Whew! Times like this we are glad to be in a Landcruiser and not some wimpy independent front suspension car, um, SUV.

At the Belize/Guatemala border we had to drink the two coconuts that we had been carrying around, they wouldn't let them into Guatemala, but that's ok, they made for a great refreshment. Other than that, the crossing was quite simple and fairly efficient. We paid $8.50 Belize ($4.25 US) to fumigate Sandy then we paid $20 Belize dollars each ($10 US each) for a departure tax and since we had stayed less than 24 hours we didn't have to pay any additional fees. After a a very cursory glance at the contents of the vehicle, the customs official waved us through the gate and we were in Guatemala.

Once in Guatemala we proceeded to get our passports stamped (Q10 each, though it is supposed to be free it isn't really worth arguing- it could take a long, long time to convince them that you aren't really going to cave in and give them the $1.50) then we had to pay Q35 (about $5 US) to get the temporary importation permit for Sandy and we were on our way towards Tikal. The drive was easy and pretty. We arrived in Tikal around 5 p.m., paid our entry fee of US $15 for the two of us and drove on into the park.

Within five minutes we had already heard howler monkeys and not more than a minute after that we pulled over to watch as at least 35 Coatis crossed the street then wandered back out into the street to eat the fruit that had fallen off of one of the trees. We were enthralled. It took a lot of persuasion on Steve's part to finally get Beebee to move on from the cute and furry little critters, but Steve really wanted to see sunset from inside the ruins, so off we went.

Sunset was spectacular. We climbed up onto Temple II and from there we could see the tops of various other ruined temples as well as beautiful birds and trees as the colorful sun slipped below the horizon. As we were eating dinner in the dark by Sandy in the campground we met and chatted with Peter and Nick, a father and son team from South Africa who are cycling through the Mexico, Belize and Guatemala for eight weeks or so. Steve really enjoyed chatting with them both about off-road vehicles (Peter's got a D110, which would be Steve's favorite vehicle if it were a Landcruiser) and internet stuff (Nick studied journalism in college and is a budding web designer).

A La Ceiba (say-ba) tree from below. It's the national tree of Guatemala.	Coatis. These little creatures are so cute! They make little happy grunts and soft squeaks while they eat.	Sunset on Temple I in Tikal. Truly awesome. These temples are so much taller than others we've seen.	Landscaping in Belize. Notice the nicely planted palms lining the property and the mown grass.	A wild turkey. The feathers are just gorgeous. We thought he'd be the only one, but we've seen them all over Tikal.

17 March, 2001

We had planned to get up at 4:30 a.m. so we could be sitting on a temple for sunrise, but when the alarm went off we looked outside, realized it was still very very dark, and foolishly went back to sleep until five. After spending a groggy half hour getting ready for the day, we hiked into the ruin area as the sun rose. We went ahead and hiked up to temple four (a few hundred feet off the ground) and were somewhat relieved to discover that the foggy morning meant that none of the two dozen people up there had seen the sunrise either, and we got an extra half hour of sleep!

When some yokel broke out his wooden flute and started playing what we are sure he thought was serene mood music, we decided to take off to somewhere less crowded and bereft of annoying flute players. As we walked over to the Grand Pyramid we enjoyed seeing a few parrots and some ant catchers, but the real birding started when we climbed up on the pyramid and found ourselves looking down on two plazas dotted with huge trees that must be a hundred years old if not more. The powers that be at Tikal have really done an excellent job of uncovering the ruins yet leaving a profusion of beautiful native trees. It seems that most ruins we've seen are clearcut and the only thing left amongst the ruins is grass. Well, looking down on the canopy of a giant Ceiba or Guanacaste or Mahogany with Toucans and Amazon Parrots hopping and flying about is… magical.

We were happy to be alone up there for a while, until people seemed to realize that from the pyramid the views were spectacular. Eventually Peter and Nick made it up as well and we all enjoyed some more parrots, some more toucans, some of what Steve thinks were masked Tityras and possibly a juvenile Crested Eagle or Harpy Eagle, either of which would be a rare find and something to be very very excited about except that Steve didn't realize it until later when he consulted the bird book and now he really really wishes he had known then so that he could have spent some more time staring at it. Funny how when you tell someone that something is "rare" they suddenly prize it all the more. Hummingbirds, Oropendulas and LYBs (little yellow birds) round out our list of birds seen from the pyramid.

After climbing down off of the pyramid Steve heard a bird call that he knew was a very cool bird, but couldn't remember which it was. Beebee's quick eyes found it: a Violaceous Trogon was perched right above us on a relatively low branch. This little beauty (about eight inches tall, the size of an Oriole but a totally different shape) has a canary yellow chest, black and white banded tail feathers, a violet-blue head and its back is an indescribable color of blue-green which Beebee says is "shimmering blue-teal-midnight-aqua with emerald highlights". We were content to sit under the tree watching it for quite some time as it hopped off its perch to catch snacks then returned and called a pretty downslurred kwew, kwew, kwew…

Not very far away, but a bit later in the day, we stood under another tree and watched three spider monkeys foraging, then leaping through the trees to look for food elsewhere. Coatis, an agouti, squirrels, a profusion of beautiful bugs, beetles and flies, lizards and some more ground birds… OH! and ruins too. Steve has been looking forward to taking Jocelyn to Tikal for quite some time now and was very happy that it seems to have exceeded her expectations.

Giant, lush plants everywhere	Too-friendly Coati made a grab at Bb's cookie	Fuzzy parrot photo through binoculars	Steve on Temple IV, with ruins rising out of the jungle	Huge stone face, about 2m/yds tall!

As the heat started climbing (is was over 90 degrees at 10 a.m.) and the strange red-spotted gringo monkeys started swarming, we decided to head back to the car for some rest and relaxation. Along the way we both figured that since we had such an excellent sunset last night, and had seen so much this morning, we could save the cost of another day of admission to the park and hit the road for Cobán.

After a quick bite to eat at a lakeside restaurant in Flores (a very pretty little island town in the middle of the immense Lago Petén) we headed off down what was to be a three hour drive on a very hot but high-quality dirt road (with a funny little ferry crossing that you could almost drive across) with fantastic green hills climbing up into limestone mountains to arrive at a little town called Raxruhá which is best described as rough and sort of scrawny- a bit like a dirty child, likeable enough in its simplicity, but lacking an awful lot in presentability. We paid 20 Quetzales (under $3) to tent in the parking lot of one of the two hotels and after a wonderfully cool shower got a good night's sleep despite the pounding rock and roll music booming from the square just a block or two away. (Thanks for the earplugs, Dougles.) All in all it may have been one of the best days we've had in months.

Steve chats with kids in the "parking lot" of our "Hotel"	This wasn't the only toilet in the hotel, but it was the most interesting!	A typical little hamlet in the Eastern Highlands of Guatemala	The beautiful, dusty road from Raxruhá to Cobán

We pulled into Cobán nice and early and were a little surprised at the number of gringos walking around despite the fact that our guidebook and our eyes didn't really indicate that there is much to do there. Since we were starving, we decided to mull over the situation over some breakfast at a little place on the plaza that had excellent coffee and food, but horrible service. One of our lasting impressions of Guatemala will continue to be universally bad food-service outside of major tourist destinations, and even inside of some tourist destinations. Too bad, really, as it tends to detract from an otherwise pleasant impression of a place.

The best thing about breakfast was meeting up with Christian, a young man from Germany. After chatting with him briefly, we borrowed his guidebook to see what there is to do around Cobán, since we had nearly all day left. Well, it turned out that there are some purportedly wonderful caves about 60 Km (1.6 Km=1 mile) out of town, and a really pretty, natural limestone bridge at Semuc Champay. Christian was planning to grab a bus out that direction, so we offered him a ride with us instead, much to his delight. The 61 Km drive took about an hour and a half, some of that time was certainly due to stopping and backing up to let trucks and busses pass us. We finally got to the caves near the town of Lanquín and decided to push on to the limestone bridge and come back to the caves on the way out, thinking that it makes more sense to swim at midday before it cools off. Onward we went down a road that the guidebook suggests is for 4wd vehicles only.

Well, we did use 4wd once or twice, but hardly needed it. Mostly we just needed the low gearing as several parts of the road were extremely steep. All in all, that 10 Km section of road, complete with rickety old suspension bridge, took us about half of an hour. Slow going. When we saw the limestone bridge, however, we realized it had been well worth the drive. The 300 meter (roughly 300 yards) bridge actually looks more like a series of brilliant green limestone pools that cascade into one another. If you hike up it a little ways you can see where most of the river rages under the bridge, and downstream you can see where it waterfalls out from underneath the bridge again. Despite the gray, rainy day it was a spectacular setting and a wonderful place to take a refreshing dip.

The lower pools of Semuc Champay	Christian and Beebee	Steve and Beebee in one of the upper pools

Invigorated by the cool water we decided to head on out and see the caves as well. Unfortunately, by the time we got back to the caves, around 4:15, they were already closed for the night. We were disappointed, but it turned out to be a good thing as the drive back to Cobán took longer than we expected and we arrived after dark. We hate to drive after dark, especially on mountain roads on a Sunday when taxi and bus drivers are infamously drunk, but we made it back to town with no problems.

Christian, who was elated to have spent one day doing what would have taken two days to do on busses, was happy to show us to the hotel he had spent the night in and assured us that it had parking, so on we went. Here began what has been the worst hotel interaction we've ever had in any country. So as not to detract too much from an otherwise wonderful day, we'll quickly summarize that the guy at the hotel was a real jerk. In the course of an hour he lied to us about the availability of rooms, lied to us about Christian not being in his room when we came back later to pick him up for dinner, and left us standing out in front of the gate, in the rain, when we came back a second time to see if Christian was there. We've got no idea what happened in that guy's head- but it is with great enthusiasm that we strongly recommend to anyone who finds themselves in Cobán: Don't stay at the La Paz hotel.

After finally hooking up with Christian (despite the lying hotel guy), the three of us went out and had a great time eating from street vendors and drinking a few beers. We got rained on, talked with some local children, and ended up back at our wonderful hotel, The Monja Blanca for a nightcap and great conversation. Too bad Christian was headed north and we were headed south, we would have enjoyed traveling with him for a few days more.

Woke up late and spent the better part of the day washing and mosquito-proofing our clothes with permithrin and updating the web site. If you find yourself in Antigua and need to wash your clothes, we recommend Lavanderia "Lily", it is #12 on 1a. Calle Poniente and they were wonderful to honor our request to wash our sheets, but not to dry them until we had a chance to treat them.

We enjoyed a late lunch at Travel Menu -- excellent soup and salad, decent wine -- and ate a dinner of beans and rice and fresh veggies from the market in our room. We read, relaxed and planned where to go next.

We got up early to pack and get on the road, but had some trouble getting online- our favorite place was closed. As 1 p.m. approached, we decided to stay another night but had to find a new hotel as Santa Lucia was full.

We were fortunate and found a great place just down the street: Hotel Los Nazarenos. The owner normally charges Q150 per night, but after chatting with him a while Steve talked him down quite a bit to something we could better afford. We are happy here, it's definitely nicer than Santa Lucia.

We got up early and ate breakfast at Fernando's Kaffe. Great coffee and one of the few places to get a coffee drink. The owner was very friendly, hard not to be as there are only about four tables, but that made it hard to get away. We did, and managed to leave town at a decent hour. While it was a bit out of the way, we really enjoyed another visit to Antigua- it was almost like going home, at least we have been there enough times that we didn't have to orient ourselves and all that.