6.19

Note:

Woo, did I get busy! I'm updating these last few days SUPER late, as I have time. I want to finish out the last week and remain true to my commitment; better late than never, right? So for Thursday....

Emily

Florencia

San Vincente 

Today is a movie day, very easy. Just like last Thursday, anyone who isn't watching is in physical therapy. Emily and I entertain ourselves, after chatting with a few of the staff, by making door-hanger templates that the women will color tomorrow. I've been wanting to do some sort of project with them, because coloring in coloring books for two hours is boring for ME and I can't imagine going to do it every single Tuesday for the rest of my life. After the movie, we talk to Alicia for a while, then Florencia asks for something to remember me by. I take a picture with her, and tell her I will print it out & bring it to her in the morning.

Ixchel Museo

The group is going to the Popoh Vuh Museum today, so Hallie and I opt to go to the Ixchel textile museum instead. The museum shows the way the fabrics are made & the difference between each region's patterns and dress. Pictures are forbidden, but I sneak a few anyway. It's much of the same information that we got from the woman in San Antonio, but the creepy mannequins are interesting. There's a wall with some traditional headdress guides, so we try those out. I wish I could have gotten more pictures, there were some beautiful pieces hanging all around. We meet up with the group as they are finishing crafting their clay pottery. Tomorrow is my last day, and as much as I want to go home, I'm feeling a little sad to leave.

6.18

San Vincente 
Emily and I get to work and we are informed that there is a Group here, today. The ladies are upstairs praying, so we join them for the rosary before wheeling them down to the community room. Around 40 high schoolers, boys and girls, show up a few moments later. They have nail polish, a guitar, snacks and games. This is by far the best, most interactive group I've seen here. They stay for two hours talking with the women, and making sure each of them has some individualized attention. I couldn't be happier. Florencia is much better today - whatever the doctor gave her must have worked. She is wheeling herself around flirting with all the young boys and making the girls paint her nails. This makes my heart swell. The change from yesterday to today is very dramatic, and it's nice to see that she isn't in pain anymore. When the group is finished, they help us take everyone back to their rooms to get ready for lunch. A few of the kids want pictures with Emily and I, because they've never talked to Americans before!! It's time to go before I know it.

The group is going to San Antonio Aguas Calientes to learn about weaving today, so Hallie and I opt out, having done that last Wednesday. I spend the day relaxing and trying to catch up on this blog (not too successfully). We eat a quiet dinner with Don Pablo, the guard. He doesn't speak any English, so we have a fun time trying to communicate stories back and forth, and he's full of jokes. I'm not sure if it's my Spanish that has improved since being here, or just my confidence. Regardless, I find I'm understanding more when people talk to me than I ever have before. I'm sad that I don't have a longer opportunity to practice!

6.17

San Vincente
This morning, we wake up and head to work, as usual. Tuesday's activity is arts & crafts, but it doesn't start until 9, so we have half an hour to kill. Emily and I head to Florencia's room to say good morning, but something is wrong. Her door is closed. I knock, and open it. She is still in bed, but awake. I go over to her and she's crying and shivering. I wrap my arms around the small woman as she cries into my hair, telling me she's so cold and her head hurts so bad that she can't get out of bed. She keeps saying she doesn't want to die. My heart is breaking. I run to get the doctor, who promises he will be in, in a moment. Emily and I sit with Florencia and talk to her, holding her hands. She starts asking me questions that she knows the answer to - something that really worries me, because she's usually so sharp. I try to convince her to drink some water, but she says she can't or she will throw up. She says she hasn't been eating either. The doctor eventually comes in to take her blood pressure. He spends only two minutes with her before giving her a pain pill for her head, and promising her more later. She drinks some water with the pill, so that's good. At this point, I'm somewhat outraged. Here is this poor, frail woman who is in so much pain that she can't get into her wheelchair and out into the hallway to call for help. Nobody even bothered to check on her, until Emily and I arrived. I tell the doctor that she isn't acting like herself and is forgetting things, but he blows me off and basically tells me "she's old." I convince Florencia to try to sleep and promise I will be back to check on her later. It's all I can do not to cry.

We leave her and go to help with the activity, both moods soured for the day. Two hours pass, and I go to check on her. She's already up in her wheelchair and chatting with a friend. She says her head still hurts a little, but no more than yesterday. I make her promise to eat something during lunch. I'm glad that the pills helped, but I am still worried about her. It's time to go.

Afternoon
Today, our activity is a history lesson about Guatemala. We watch a movie that chronicles the civil war, detailing some pretty gory avenues the soldiers took when killing off the Mayan people. The movie calls it "genocide," but I have heard from others here that it was not genocide, because the villagers were not being targeted for being Mayan, only for being potential or assumed allies of the geurillas. It's an interesting film, but I am miles away, today, and very exhausted. After the activity is over, we all decide to go see a movie in Zona 14 - I am not the only one feeling glum today. We split off into different groups, and I see Maleficent (or as it's called here, Malifica) with Hallie, Emily, Shatianna, Tyler, and Stephen. Stephen and Tyler are a father-son pair from Austin, TX. Shati lived in Dallas for the past year, and Emily is also from Austin. I feel at home with their accents, and the movie cheers me up. After we all return to the Home Base, the evening is spent reflecting on our volunteer positions and how we each are feeling. It's nice to have a support system.

6.16

San Vincente
Today is Emily's first day at work, with me. She's obviously a little nervous, like I was. We get dropped off and I show her around, introduce her to the staff and a few of the women. Mondays are my favorite, because it's exercise day. We get up and dance in front of the women and with them. Afterwards, we chat about the placement and life. It's a short day, but fun.

City Tour Round 2
Today, CCS is taking the group on the city tour. I decide to go, again, because Virginia is giving it instead of Juan Carlos, and I'm interested to hear a different side. The information is the same, but the day is different. Two weeks ago, it was raining and cloudy. Today, it is bright, sunny, and hot. We go through the cemetery, and get out to see the landfill, but something is very different. The smell is overpowering. The sun is cooking the trash, releasing a rotten perfume that makes me gag. There are flies everywhere, and we can plainly see all of the people sifting through the garbage deep in the ravine, running in and over it like ants. Seeing this in the sun is totally different than seeing it in the rain. We're far removed, looking down, and I can barely stand the stench. There are also vultures. Vultures EVERYWHERE. It's like Alfred Hitchcock's Birds, but with giant, horrible scavengers. They're lined up sitting on top of the pauper's graves, looking down hungrily at a skinny dog who is digging through the trash nearby. I have never seen so many vultures in my life. There are at least thirty. I wish I had brought my camera, but no such luck. Maybe I can snag a picture from somebody, later. Even after three weeks, it's still insane to think that this is how people live, here. This awful, stinky, contaminated trash is their lives. Some of the volunteers, this week, are in a school that is next door to the entrance to the dump - a new placement to me. They tell us that many of the kids have moms who go through the trash during the day and prostitute themselves at night - if they don't come to school, it is because Mom didn't come home and they have to look after their younger siblings. The rest of the tour is mostly the same, but I can't shake the image of vultures on gravestones.

Edit: photo of dog, dump & vultures!

6.15

Shuttle
The shuttle picks us up on time, as planned, at 8 am. Gustavo is physically there, and extremely apologetic. We hop in and make it to Chichi within a couple of hours. We're dropped off behind the Santo Tomas hotel and are told we will be picked up in front of the hotel at 2 - the driver even takes us around to show us where. Got it. We swing by the church to catch the end of a service, then shop for a while. The market here is the most popular, and largest, in Guatemala. I get everything I want, plus a little extra, and we're done. We have a little time to kill before the shuttle picks us up at two, so we eat lunch and hang out in the beautiful courtyard and bar at the Santo Tomas hotel.

Here We Go Again
We're standing in front of the Santo Tomas hotel, watching the minutes creep past 2:00, getting nervous. Shuttles keep coming and going, but none of them are our. I finally tell Hallie to wait in front, and take off running to the back. There's a ton more shuttles here, and I start asking questions until I do find OUR shuttle, on its way out. I make the driver stop, and my name is on his list, but Hallie's isn't. GREAT. I argue with him until he agrees to pick her up around front and call Gustavo, who confirms the reservation was supposed to be for two - "oops." We're mad, but we're on the shuttle. I watch the houses fly by, nestled in between crop fields up and down the mountain, and start to doze off. ... A couple of hours later, it is 4:30, and we are in Antigua being kicked off our shuttle. We're dropped at a different travel agent office, who is very, very apologetic. He tells us that the company I booked does this all the time, and that they don't explain to people that the shuttle is not a direct trip from Chihi to Guatemala City, it's to Antigua where we wait for the next shuttle, which won't be by until 7. This sucks. There is a sign in a restaurant, across the street from the offices that says, "Breathe, relax and enjoy," so I do. We walk around Antigua for a bit, but neither of us have any money, and it's nearly dark. We end up sitting at the travel agent offices, mooching the wifi until our shuttle finally comes. Once again, Hallie's name is not on the reservation, but this driver gives us no hassle. The should-be 45 minute trip back to Gua City takes more than two hours, because we have to drop off so many people. We are finally taken back to the hotel we were picked up from, dead last, where we hail a cab to go home. As luck would have it, we get the only taxi driver in Guatemala who can't figure out directions. I end up telling him how to get to the Home Base, and we finally arrive, exhausted. There's a whole crop of new people here to volunteer that we meet, but we go to sleep fairly early. It's been a long day, and I am now on my very last week in Guatemala.

6.14

The Shuttle (or lack-thereof)
5 a.m., another early morning. Face washed, hair in a ponytail, drag myself after Hallie into the taxi waiting for us half an hour later. We're dropped off at a hotel to wait for the shuttle service I've booked to take us to Panajachel. 6:30 a.m. comes and goes, there is no shuttle. I decide to call the guy who booked us from the hotel phone - Gustavo. He says he never received our payment. Uh-oh. We did pay, didn't we? Hallie swears she did. He says he'll arrange for an emergency cab to come get us, but it will cost us 600Q, then hangs up on me. Now I'm getting irritated. We manage to get the wifi password and pull up the paypal invoice, proving we paid. Hallie forwards it to Gustavo's e-mail. I call him back. "Ohh, I didn't know that was your payment."  ... Taxi gets there, and is prepaid, as promised. I decide to let it go, everyone makes mistakes, after all. The important thing is that we get to Panajachel, right? The taxi takes us to right outside of Antigua where we meet our original shuttle, then we're off. A few hours later, we are standing in front of our hotel, the Hotel de Porta del Lago. The view is beautiful. We grab a quick lunch, down a free, disgustingly sugary cocktail, and head to book the afternoon's activities.

Kayaking on Lake Atitlan
We book kayaking and ziplining through a company that works for the hotel. The prices are pretty cheap, and include transportation. We immediately set off to get our kayaks. We hop in the boat and attempt to paddle out onto the lake. Neither of us has ever done this before, oops. Do we paddle on the same side at the same time, or opposite sides? We succeed in making huge circles close to the shore for a while, but this gives us enough time to take some pretty pictures of the water and volcanoes before it starts to rain. We hand off our cameras to the rental place and then make wide circles into the center of the lake as it sprinkles. It occurs to me that I don't know what kind of monsters live in this lake. Certainly, it's too cold for crocodiles, but maybe some big, scary fish? I have PTSD-like flashbacks to Jaws and start to wonder if maybe a kayak was a bad choice, but ultimately we enjoy ourselves. The hour is over too soon, but then it is time for the zipline.

Ziplining
We take a teensy little taxi up the side of the mountain - I can hardly believe the thing can make it up. It's practically a Flintstones vehicle, but powered by a motor that belongs in an RC car. We get to the Nature Reserve, where the ziplining base is. Two guides gear us up, and we get a little practice run on a tiny line over to the side. After we have the basics down (thank goodness I speak Spanish!), we start hiking up. It's not brutal, at least, not compared to the other hikes I've done on this trip, but it's hot and sticky. There are scary rope-ladder bridges that we have to cross, although thankfully they have chain-link fence on the sides. Twenty or so minutes later, we're at our first line out of six. This. Is. Exhilarating. The view is beautiful as we fly over the trees from one platform to the other. On our last two lines, it begins to rain, the drops slapping me in the face as I whoosh through the air. This makes it even more awesome, because the line is slippery and we go a little faster. I fail to brake because of the water and end up turning parallel to the ground, knees braced as my feet slam into a tree & the guide yanks on the break ropes. The rain makes it cool and muddy. We slip and slide down to the final line and it's over way too fast, as always. Afterwards, we walk to a nearby restaurant & then back to the hotel. We shower (hot water AND water pressure!!!), then fall into our beds by 8:30, pooped!

6.13

Friday the 13th
Today, I am informed that I will NOT be going to work, because they want me to go to the doctor to see why I'm still sick with a sinus infection after the antibiotics they self-diagnosed me with, last week, didn't work (imagine that!). I bite my lip about asking to go to the doc last week when I first got sick, but no matter. Another girl, Hallie, caught what I have, so she ends up going to. They take us to a private ER because it's "faster." The ER is very nice, and they are over-accommodating, making us lay in hospital beds while we are wheeled around. A doctor takes some blood and comes back to tell me I have a sinus infection (I had no idea!). He prescribes some stronger antibiotics, an antihistamine, some unnecessary cough syrup, & something else unnecessary. When we go to the pharmacy, I only get the first two. Having bought international health insurance, as CCS required us to, we expect to be fully covered upon exit, but soon find out that is not the case. We have to pay upfront and then be reimbursed. It comes out to only $200 American, but that's still $200 I expected to have for the rest of the week (and my weekend trip to the lake). Lucky us, we won't get an email back about how to get reimbursed until Monday, since it is now the weekend. We get home in time for lunch. There's no activity planned for today, so I go shop for a Father's Day present, and then go to bed early. Tomorrow morning, Hallie and I will have to get up at 5 am to catch a cab to a hotel, where a shuttle will pick us up and take us to Panajachel.

6.12

San Vincente
Today was an easy day for work. The ladies watch a movie every Thursday, and those who aren't watching are either in line for baths or in physical therapy. I help move everyone to their places, then find a couple of women who are embroidering. I brought my stitching today, so I join them. We chat a little, and when the movie is over, I help move the women to their rooms and bring them cafe & pan.

National Palace
For our Spanish Lesson today, we try the National Palace again. This time it is open to the public. The whole palace is green, and the guide explains it's the natural color of the stone, no paint. Green was somebody's wife's favorite color, and you know wives ALWAYS get what they want. ;) The tour is short, but the palace is pretty. There are 350 offices in the palace, and they all ring different, open courtyards. We eye some gory murals of the Spaniards conquering the Mayans, but there are also beautiful stained glass windows depicting peace between the two. I guess you can make everyone happy, in a way. There is an art exhibit with some pretty pieces and a man playing Love Theme from The Godfather on the piano. Nice place, not much of a Spanish Lesson.

"Surprise"
We get back to the home base earlier than usual for our Surprise. The base decided to throw a birthday party for the summer birthday people. We have a piñata, tostadas & some butter cream cake. Mmmm. I eat two slices. It's been an uneventful, easy-going day. Just what the doctor ordered.

6.11

San Vincente
Last Wednesday, we had a group come to sing for the ladies, but there isn't one today. Instead, we do the arts and crafts day that we missed yesterday. I smuggle in the toilet paper for Alicia, but happily realize she already has a new roll. I hope she didn't steal it from someone else. Two women (in wheelchairs!) begin fighting over a bowl of crayons, each holding onto one side and pulling! I have to separate them like children. I go room to room and talk to a few women after this is over, then it is time to go. The further I get into this trip, the harder each day is. Though the women aren't sporting black eyes or split lips, it's obvious that most, if not all, hate it here. Some don't have families at all, and those that do often don't ever get visited. The most difficult thing to come to terms with is that I feel I'm not really making a difference here. The place is fully operational without volunteers, so our job is mostly to help build a connection and allow the inhabitants to feel loved, and heard. But, even then, I know that I am only here for three weeks, and that even if they remember me forever (which most won't), whatever shred of happiness I brought them for that time will go when I do. If there is any woman whose life I really changed by being here, then her heart will be broken when I leave. So, I listen to them, I show them pictures of my family, I hug them, hold their hands, and, sometimes, we just sit and look out of the window. In only another week and a half, I will be home with all my loved ones sharing pictures and souvenirs, and they will be here in the beds and wheelchairs that they will die in, and nothing will have changed.

Macadamia Nut Farm
It has been a hard week, not only for me, and our cultural activities today are a welcome break in the gloom. I now understand why CCS chooses to have volunteering in the morning and a schedule for the afternoon - today it was pouring down rain and the weather fit everyone's mood - sometimes we just need some cheering up. Today was perfect for that. We began with a very brief tour of the Val Halla Macadamia Nut Farm (as I said, it was pouring down rain). The nuts are sorted into different sizes - they make a point to not have "clones" as the woman puts it - some trees produce large nuts and some small. The tastes are supposedly even slightly different (though I couldn't tell the difference). The nuts are shelled with a simple machine engineered from a flat tire - something to help keep equipment costs low. After, we get to sample Macadamia Nut oil, chocolates and nuts. Delicious.

San Antonio
After the Macadamia Nut Farm, we head to a small village outside of Antigua to learn about how the Mayan villagers weave all the beautiful crafts we see & buy in the markets. The process is long, tedious & confusing. The woman who is leading the workshop tries to show Sharon & I can hardly follow along. After just the background is finished, the brocading & embroidery often takes more than 6 months to complete.

After the weaving lesson, we are informed we are going to have a traditional wedding. A bride, groom & parents-in-law are brought up from our group. In this village's tradition, the wife-to-be makes a shawl for the mother-in-law to be worn on the wedding day. The couple is married & purified with incense and flower petals. The family goes into the kitchen after the wedding, and the new daughter-in-law demonstrates her cooking skills by making tortillas and coffee. The family eats wedding bread with their coffee, and the mother-in-law gives the bride an apron that she made to show she approves of the union.

We all get to learn how to and make our own tortillas and even get to eat wedding bread with our coffee. Then, we have the option to buy from the 5 families of the village. I've been eyeing the beautiful aprons that the natives wear since I arrived, and am thrilled to find one with just enough embroidery to be gorgeous, but still plain enough to be useful in the kitchen. The Mayans make everything beautiful and durable. This has been a great end to a long day.

6.10

San Vincente de Paul

Today should have been arts and crafts day again – AKA coloring for two hours. I arrive at the institution and the women are, again, not in the chapel. I chat with Florencia, again, in her room, for half an hour. She starts to tell me again how much she hates it here. She tells me she's afraid of the night nurses and that she can't sleep, because it's dangerous. She tells me the other women are thieves and bad people. I'm not sure what to say. At 9, we are supposed to go to el comedor to set out the art supplies, but one of the staff, who is usually in charge of the activities for each day, asks me to help her with something else instead. We go downstairs to a different dining room where she's started hanging up balloons and streamers. She says it's one of the boss's birthdays tomorrow, and she wants me to help her decorate. We inflate balloons and hang streamers for two hours. When I go back upstairs, nobody has moved from their rooms. Because the nurse and I were downstairs setting up something else, nobody bothered to take the women out of their rooms to do anything. There is only an hour until lunch, and there will be no activity today. This is discouraging. I feel guilty and angry. I go to find Alicia to paint her nails, as I promised her I would, yesterday. I talk to her while I paint them and she looks out the window. She shows me her toilet paper roll, which is soaked and ruined. She dropped it in the bathroom and it's not time for her to receive a new one. This makes me want to cry. I resolve to smuggle her a roll, from home, in the morning (something very much against the rules). It's already time to leave, and I say my goodbyes. It hasn't been a very good day.

Afternoon

Our plans for after lunch are to visit the National Palace, which is where the President of Guatemala lives. We pile quickly pile into the van; it's pouring down rain. When we arrive, the guard tells our "Spanish Teacher" (Tuesdays and Thursdays are supposed to be "spanish lessons") that the Palace is closed, because of the rain. We ask to go to a textile museum that I read about in my guide book, the Teacher says ok and tells the driver. A few minutes later, disappointingly, we arrive at a different museum, which is inside the mall. The museum is called the Mira Flores and is about Mayan dwellings. Half of it is outdoors, meaning half of it is closed also. We briefly explore the inside, which is interesting. It includes some Mayan pottery and an example of one sort of Mayan burial - in the living room floor. After that brief tour (two rooms and a hallway), we're standing outside the museum, in the mall. The Spanish Teacher suggests we go to one of the markets, but I'm not really interested in shopping today. Hallie and I take a cab home from the mall while the high schooler's go check out the wares. I spend the evening relaxing after dinner and hoping that tomorrow will be much better.

6.9

San Vincente de Paul
Today was my first day alone at San Vincente de Paul. I feel a little more confident, because I know what the schedule for the week is going to be like. When I arrive, the women aren't in the chapel. One of the staff says they aren't going today, but we still have exercises at 9. I spend half an hour chatting with a lady named Florencia, who is in a wheelchair. She's very sweet and doesn't have any family. She says it is very lonely here, because the staff and other people are always running by the rooms, never stopping to say hello. We go to the exercise class and dance a lot today. I sit next to small Valentina, again, and she chatters quietly to me and to herself throughout the class. Everyone is in much better spirits than they were last week.

After the class, I visit with another woman who is in a wheelchair, Alicia, who can't speak. She can make noise, but not from words. However, she's excellent at miming and knows the sign language alphabet (unfortunately, I don't). I talk to her, ask her yes or no questions, tell her about my life, show her pictures. We sit together and look out the window. She had three children, but they all died. Her husband died too. I tell her I will bring nail polish to paint her nails tomorrow, which makes her happy. Today has been a good day.

Popol Vuh
After lunch, we are taken to the Popol Vuh Museum. It's a small place that details the Mayan civilization from pre-classic period to colonial. The tour guide is a well-meaning college student, but isn't able to go off her script much or answer questions. We aren't allowed to take pictures unless we pay 30Q per camera, so none of us do. We see some old pottery and teensy Jade figures and beads. The Mayans didn't have metal until after the Spanish arrived, so everything is crafted with other rocks. The details are amazing.

After the tour, we have a workshop downstairs and get to make some cute little Mayan pottery of our own out of clay. I dropped off my laundry at a laundería before the museum, so we pick it up on the way home. Tomorrow, we're supposed to see the National Palace, which is Guatemala's White House.

6.8

Tikal
Our taxi arrives at 4:15 am instead of 4:30 and is already honking. My teeth are only half brushed, and Hallie and I are walking around in a daze trying to get our shoes on the right feet. We hop in the cab and he takes us to the Hotel de Intercontinental Real where we will meet up with Ann and her daughters, then be picked up by our shuttle. We help ourselves to coffee and a scone in the lobby; this will have to suffice for breakfast. After the Woodwards come downstairs, our shuttle pulls up to take us to the airport. We are driven straight to the plane and don't go through security or anything. Daylight has just broken, and the volcanos are clear in the distance. As we watch, Volcan Fuego blows up a black puff of smoke to say goodbye. We get in the tiny plane and attempt to sleep for the hour long ride.

Howler Monkey

When we land, we find a man holding a sign with our names and others. A few of the people who flew with us turn out to be in our group, and the guide tells us we will be 11 in all, but still need to pick up 3 on the way. It takes an hour and a half for us to drive to Tikal from the airport after stopping for the 3 remaining tourists. We've all paid for a package that includes the guide, entrance fees and lunch. We enter the park and I'm already sweating. It is so humid. The closest I've been to this weather is Houston, and it doesn't even begin to compare. The air is thick and it's hot. Immediately I regret wearing jeans and cuff them. Tikal is in the jungle. There are giant bugs, boa constrictors, and worst: howler monkeys. I hate monkeys. They're mean AND smart, which makes a bad combination. Howler monkeys aren't big, but the noises they make are terrifying. Walking the paths, it feels like I am in Jurassic Park. The trees shake as the monkeys move through them, and deep roaring growls echo around us at a deafening volume. I half expect to see a T-Rex crashing through the ruins.

Aside from all the awful animals, Tikal is beautiful. It's lush and green, with the huge stone pyramids peeking out through the trees. Our guide grew up in the villages surrounding the ruins and is well versed in not only the archeological history of the site, but is also able to communicate the personal history of today's villagers, descended from the ancient people who built this city.

Wooden steps leading to one pyramid

Deadly Temple

covered temple

There are large hill-like mounds everywhere. The guide tells us that a huge portion of the park remains uncovered, and that every 20 years, they excavate a new temple. This is to preserve what they can while archaeological processes improve. The temples are breath-taking. Some we are still able to climb, others have a wooden staircase built around the back, for safety and to preserve the pyramids. Several pyramids can't be ascended at all, because they are too dangerous (and one pyramid even claimed three lives).

Temple with small alter in front

Me on top of above temple

We spend the day hiking, climbing and sweating while we learn about the Mayans. They were commercial people. Their cities were centers of trade, and while they occasionally went to war (as people do), conquering was not the Mayan way. While they did execute enemies and criminals, they were not sacrificed to the gods as previously thought. It was an enormous honor to be sacrificed, and there were special priests who trained all their lives to take that honor. There was a special ball game (like soccer) that the priests played. Whoever won the game got to be sacrificed. The bodies also weren't thrown from the tops of the pyramids, nor even were people ever killed on them, as we see in movies.

example of unrestored steps vs restored steps

me at the tippy top of a tall temple

We end up not eating lunch until after we finish the park, which is at 4 pm. With nearly 12 hours between meals, we're famished. We eat lunch at a restaurant deep in the trees, which sounds nice except for the horrible sand flies (they bite!!) that hovered all around us for the entire meal. Don't ever eat in the jungle, if you can help it.

At around 5, we are back in the van on the way to the airport. One of our group is staying in a Mayan village doing humanitarian work. He tells stories about how the women give birth standing up, holding on to a rope, and the midwives catch the babies.  Ann, Harbour & Willow have a flight back thirty minutes earlier than ours, so we say our goodbyes in the airport. They'll be going home tomorrow. After the flight, Hallie and I take a taxi to the Home Base and fall into bed. It's been a long day, and we have work tomorrow.