Mundo Maya

We couldn't wait. We were so excited. This past weekend, taking advantage of living in Central America was easy as we headed out to Mundo Maya, Maya World, in Guatemala.

Just West of Belize, Guatemala was easily reached. The 45 minute flight going there was uneventful. I will mention that we are getting used to taking small planes everywhere we go. We arrived at the Flores Airport in the late afternoon and headed to our hotel. Flores is made up of three towns in close proximity to each other, San Benidito, Santa Elena and Isla de Flores. We stayed in Santa Elena right at the foot of the path to the Island of Flores. Flores is located in the middle of Lake Peten. It is a small, safe and colourful Spanish town. It was amazing to us how we covered so little distance but the culture in Guatemala was so different from Belize.

A country with many problems, a 40 year long civil war that ended just 10 years ago and one of the origins of cocaine production, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised. The town was very safe with families and children playing into the night. I'm not comparing Flores to violent grip of Guatemala City, but coming from Belize City to a small town gave me a sense of ease.

Our first evening in Guatemala we headed across the lake to Flores for dinner. No cars were allowed to enter the island but we didn't give it much thought. As we walked around to get our bearings in the narrow winding streets we happened upon the Easter Processions. I automatically felt like I was on a travel show, as it's the only place I'd ever seen such a thing. Easter Processions take place on Good Friday, in the evening, during the hours it is thought that Jesus was tortured and killed. For hours and days locals prepare 'carpets' of intricate patterns and pictures using coloured saw dust on the streets. It is forbidden to walk on them. As the traditional Easter Passion Play of Jesus' last days comes to an end people from the town carry large Jesus floats all over town with a band in tow. Sporting there best wears it is a honour to help carry these floats. It's the equivalent of getting a Torah reading in synagogue on Rosh Hashanah. In places like Mexico the float will actually have a live person tied to a cross and in the Philippines the person on the cross will actually have stakes through their hands. In Flores, a small town, the floats had statues. No blood, but interesting none the less. As the procession slowly travels around town they destroy the 'carpets'. The procession takes hours. As the evening progressed the crowd grew. We were pleasantly surprised that we witnessed these processions. People travel to see them and we stumbled upon them by accident. We were more concerned with how we could keep Passover abroad not the local Easter traditions.

Our first full day in Guatemala we awoke early to join our group heading for Tikal. Tikal is one of the major sites of the Mayan Golden Age (6th Century B.C. to 10th Century A.D.). Nestled in the jungle of the Peten Province of Guatemala, Tikal was one of the commercial centres of Mayan civilization. It has huge ceremonial temples, pyramids and public squares or acropolises.

Our Spanglish group was from Mexico, Germany and Costa Rica. Everyone was really nice and we compared notes on living abroad with the German woman residing in San Jose, Costa Rica. We spent the day together with our guide, Franklin, exploring Tikal. It was very busy, but magical. Since the many pyramids and temples are surrounded by jungle you don't realize you are about to come upon these huge structures until you are right in front of them. Massive temple ruins jump out of the trees right in front of you adding to the awe of the place. As we toured around on the original Mayan causways going from pyramids to temples the best was saved for last, the Grand Plaza.

The Grand Plaza is home to the Central and North Acropolises and Temples 1 and 2. The Temples were used for sacrifice and ceremony and the acropolises were used for living and working. The Mayan people sacrificed animals and humans regularly based on a calendar of equinoxes and solstices. They viewed death as something worth aiming for and many who headed towards the chopping block were volunteers. It was considered a good deed. To make it easier, to deal with the torture before the eventual beheading, sacrificial volunteers were given special herbs to change their state of consciousness. They were basically really stoned. To this day some Mayans still practice animal sacrifice at the Grand Plaza at Tikal. If you manage to be in the area on an equinox or solstice it is supposed to be worth the visit to view the ritual.

By the end of our tour we felt like we had a full day. Climbing temples and pyramids in sweltering heat can suck the energy right out of you. We had such a good time we arranged to meet with our tour guide, Franklin, the next morning for a private tour. We headed into town for dinner and in typical fashion I hurt my knee. For anyone who doesn't know my history as a total klutz I have been alternating bashing up my knees. I've managed to bleed in New Zealand, San Pedro, Belize and now Guatemala. It just wouldn't have been a complete trip without hurting myself.

Sunday morning, we awoke early again for another packed day of adventure. Franklin picked us up and we headed back towards Tikal for a zipline canopy tour in the jungle. We flew through over one kilometer of ziplines in the trees. We loved it. Franklin then took us to Yaxha, pronounced Yah-shaw. The Mayan city was made popular by the show Survivor Guatemala. We didn't see any of the show's sets but we learnt a lot about what we were really intersted in, the Mayans. Franklin was the perfect person to have with us. He studied archeology during his undergraduate degree in university. He actually spent three months working to restore one of the Mayan pyramids in Yaxha. He was a fountain of information on Mayan civilizations and it was great to have him to ourselves for the day. Not just to ask questions about the Mayans but to learn more about Guatemala and the culture. Franklin is a fourth year medical student now and was easy for us to relate to. We gained a lot of knowledge from him. Yaxha's temples were not as grand as Tikals, but the entire park was calm, quiet and immacualately maintained. We had a great day.

Our last day in Guatemala was spent hanging out in Flores, purchasing souvenirs and drinking cold limonada con soda by the lake. The lemonade slushy became a fast favourite. Michael's Spanish improved greatly as the weekend went on and I was even able to kinda deal with waiters by the end. By spending the long weekend in Guatemala, I realized how much further Belize needs develop. Being in Belize and talking to Belizeans I would never have known how much more developed Guatemala is compared to Belize. I do have to admit that living somewhere is always different from vacationing there. Reality doesn't have time to set in one weekend.

Either way, I loved Guatemala's favourite national beer, Gallo. At first I was just excited to see my brother's girlfriend, Kathleen's last name everywhere, but I appreciated it more when I realized Gallo translates as 'rooster' or as the Spanish-English dictionary says 'cock'. I liked taking a little petty cab to the airport. After Thailand, I didn't know we would get to ride one again. We were the only passengers on our flight back to Belize. Our tiny plane held just us and our pilot. We had a 360 degree view in the air. I loved the whole weekend. Guatemala and the rest of Central America isn't on most North American's lists of place to go, but I highly recommend it. After seeing just a small town I'm eager to see more.



The Pics to Prove It

Mother Mary and others make into the Easter Procession.

Mayan themed carpet.

Procession continues into the night with a growing crowd.

Michael, being Michael.

The sacred Ceibal tree.

'Don't Go Down' Michael!

Temples 1 and 2 poke out of the jungle when viewing from Temple 4.

Michael in the old pottery studio.

Michael entering the Grand Palaza at Tikal.

Fun in the Central Acropolis.

Dinner at La Luna in Flores.

Flying through ther Guatemalan jungle.

Michael shows off his bicep no matter where he is.

Michael and Franklin overlooking Lake Peten at Yaxha.

Michael picking out and trying on traditional Guatemalan masks.

Our petty cab to the airport.

The little plane that took us back to Belize.