Around the World with Marsha & Joel

In an isolated pocket of rainforest lies the small archeological site of Quirigua with some of the finest carvings in the entire Mayan world. Only Copan (where we’re going later today) can match the incredible Stelae, altars and zoomorphs.

Entering the Great Plaza with the nine protected stelae. Amazing carvings, hieroglyphs and Mayan number systems.

A great example. King 18 rabbits. The site, however, is very quiet. Only a couple of other tourist groups. Travel is way down in Guatemala (as it is in many other places in the world). The country desperately needs injections of tourist money to assure further excavation, study, and preservation. Make your plans now.

The tallest of the stelae. About 25 feet and 65 tons of fine-grained sandstone. Fortunately it has hardened with age or it would never remain in this state.

The bizarre alter-like zoomorphs are carved with interlacing animal and human figures.

We climbed up to overlook the acropolis, ball courts and religious and residential structures. Back onto the bus to head for our border crossing into Honduras to see the beautifully preserved site of Copan. We cross easily at a special point where visitors are only going to Copan and returning.

This is what the archeologists found. Just mounds. Under were the beautiful pyramids and temples. Getting them unearthed, however, is not easy. Tearing out the trees and roots caused much damage, so a new technique was developed to leave the roots in place while excavating.

Scarlet macaws at a feeding station. They are prolific, kind of like ruins pigeons.

Copan ruins is enormous! We hitch a ride on an open truck just to get to the well-excavated middle…about a 10 minute ride.

The signature of the king; 18 rabbits. Note the Mayan number system above showing three horizontal lines. each line represents the number five. the three dots above the line represent the number three. Put them all together and you have 18. See, you can now count in Mayan.

Near the ball court is the famous hieroglyphic stairway, an astonishing monument…the whole side of the temple. 2200 glyph blocks form the carved sequence. From about 710 AD, early archeologists botched putting it together after an earthquake. Modern computer technology was necessary to get it back together in it’s proper sequence.

A view of the reconstruction.

Rubble from earthquakes and age still sits jumbled on the jungle floor, including wonderful carvings like these. Wonder if they will ever find their original places?

After a long climb…this spectacular sight. It’s everywhere you look. The more you climb, the more you uncover.

Supposed to be frightening something away I guess. We did get a little scared turning this corner.

Marsha thought she found a throne in the shade of this hollow tree. It was a “throne”…a Mayan potty.

Plants something like Birds-of-paradise found this paradise.

The Mayans had a pretty good sense of humor too…evidenced by this dancing jaguar. It was in a private courtyard just outside the king’s residence where he could be entertained by dancers and singers.

Quite a place, quite an experience burned in our memories.

Tomorrow we leave the ruins of the Mayan highlands and ride back to see the panorama of Guatemala City and continue to Lake Atitlan, one of the most beautiful bodies of water in the world.

We start off early in the morning to cruise the spectacular Rio Dulce (Sweet River)…a 48 km round trip on a high-speed power boat that takes us to Livingston and back through a series of gorges cut through the jungle with hundreds of exotic birds along the way.

A quick stop first at Castillo de San Felipe, a kind of miniature medieval castle. It was used to protect against British pirates who raided supplies and harassed mule trains. The Spanish were furious at them  and built the mini-fort.

We stopped to drop off our bags at the quirky Catamaran hotel. Yes, Marsha is pointing at our actual cabin on stilts in the river. We never slept better.

A common view along the river. Jungle, gorges, birds and fishermen using nets and hand lines to pull in some amazing catches. We tried to buy a 10 lb. bass to bring back for the chef to cook for dinner. The fisherman was off to get a better price.

Some typical Mayan architecture along the sweet river. Rich foreigners reside along local poverty, but the laws never allow the land owned to the rich to be fully theirs. Certain circumstances allow the locals to reclaim property.

Entering the jungle gorges.

Finally the town of Livingston at the mouth of the Atlantic ocean. An amazing town of mixed blood and mixed sensibilities. Once a hippie haven (can still smell the ganja) that’s a conglomeration of Maya, Spanish, Black Islanders, Indians, etc. A bit like a jungle paradise NYC?

Pure Mayan faces, happy with life.

A rasta bar, selling a little of everything, liquid and beyond.

Color everywhere.

Local lunch stop. Great. Conch “steak” in garlic special. Was in heaven.

Local braiding after lunch. They only wanted to get hold of Marsha’s beautiful locks. She did not succumb.

Back to our cabin…Charlie, for a beautiful sleep. Tomorrow the Mayan site of Quirigua and it’s carved Stelae, and off to Honduras and Copan.

Entering the National Park of Tikal, this is one of the first sights you see. The city was inhabited from 600 BC to 869 AD. It reached it’s peak between 690 and 850 AD.

Some of the cutting edge architecture of one of the Great Plazas at the heart of the ancient city. The complex is overwhelming, covering hundreds of square miles (only some of which fully excavated. The grassy hill in front is one of the many un-excavated sites.

After a long climb, Marsha looks over the main acropolis where you can almost see the Mayan marketplace, meeting places and ceremonial edifices. The weather has been totally incredible. The overcast has kept the heat down so clambering over the site is very comfortable. Can’t imagine doing this in the usual 100+ degrees this time of year.

Time for a quick rest and some contemplation. Really enjoying.

No, not a peacock, but amazingly colorful local wild turkeys.

Scaffolding left on one of the main temples. But, continuing work still in question. We climbed to the top for an amazing view of the entire complex. Mostly see jungle with the tops of temples and pyramids peaking up through the foliage.

Where we were looking from. Look carefully and you can see the people on the upper terrace. Some of the climbs are a bit scary. Almost no guard rails on vertical drops to the jungle floor. Some cases of vertigo in our group, but everyon forges ahead.

After a long day of jungle exploration we cajole our guide to stop in the beautiful lake-side town of Flores. Amazing colors up and down the cobblestone streets. Lots of quaint bars and restaurants. We stop to take advantage of happy hour at a nice little restaurant…for the tiniest caipharinas ever. But a good time had by all.

We spot a small church on our way back. It was Saturday and they were cleaning up from the day’s communal weddings. Locals do this to save big bucks. Only problem is that sometimes different brides accidentally leave with different grooms. Only kidding. Tomorrow off the the Rio Dulce; the Sweet River.