More exciting ruins!

 September 2, 2023

We have to leave our beautiful island!  The boat carries us back to the mainland where Gregorio meets us and loads our luggage in the van, then we have breakfast in the outdoor dining area of Karlitas on the Rio Dulce.

Our back deck!

Everyone has their one cabin.

The lobby with the hammock of death!

Where we are on Lake Izabal, the largest Guatemalan lake,

See why I call it that??!!

Ginger is such a swinger!

All fueled us we begin the long drive to our next amazing ruin.  We pass so many tiny villages and notice that there are palm trees and and corn and banana trees and the local rubber trees everywhere.  The vegetation is so tall and green and varied! 

Then it's breakfast at Karlita's where we took the boat yesterday.

The resident parrot!

Scenes along the road:

Tuktuks are a main means of transportation

And trucks with people standing in the back

The houses are all so colorful!

The Catholic church as to be taller than the rest.

Typical architecture

Leather goods, especially saddles, for the cattle ranchers.  Many brahman cows!

Like these guys way off the road

Such pretty mirrors

There's always interesting stuff at convenience stores.

Finally, a decent picture of the flag!

Clever to use boxes instead of shelves

Down the road to lunch at El Portal de Yazha, which happens to be the name of the ruins to which we're going!

Tamarind juice and a vegetable puree soup

Juan is relaxing and watching the game while we finish up!

Count on Ginger to capture the moment.

Poor scrawny chicken!

Chicken fajitias

And what amazing ruins they are, located in a National Park and surrounded by the jungle that had once covered them.  Of course there are still many, many more buildings, temples, and homes yet to be uncovered.

We spend about two hours crawling over and up so many structures that were build before the birth of Christ.  And Juan explains all the meanings of the stellas and the symbolism behind the layers of the pyramids.  

In many cases the original is protected and a replica is on display in the original spot.

This smooth-barked tree gives us the pepper for tabasco sauce.

A strangler fig eating a mahogany tree

You can see the previous structure inside this one.

Juan says this is a medicinal plant, good for intestinal distress.

We see a fox running along one of the layers!  And we see (and hear!) howler monkeys and spider monkeys! 

The churches are all such vivid colors!  Blues, purples, yellows, greens!

Back to the van and we head for our luxurious hotel, Villas de Guatemala. It's been a long day and after our suitcases are dropped off at our rooms, everyone heads to dinner. Tomorrow we head to Tikal, one of the crown jewels of Mayan sites.