trekking through mayan rainforests

Honduras is still a mess and is getting worse. Zelaya is in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa and now the embassy is under siege by Michelletti’s forces using toxic gases. The supermarkets are out of food and the situation looks grim. We’re trying to figure out if El Salvador will be a safe way to go around Honduras and get to Nicaragua. If anyone has any advice, we’d love to hear it.
We left Coban and headed to Sayaxche along the Rio de la Pasion. Sayaxche is slightly larger than Bridgewater, but has bars. It reminds Stew of Iquitos, Peru but given the scale, is more like Iquititos. There was nothing to do in the town and we arrived a little to late to get to any of the ruins nearby, which are the only reason to be there. We walked around, got our stove ready with kerosene, purchased food, and got bored. We couldn’t stand the reggaeton blasting from the building next to our hostel so we went out to walk around the town again. This time, we stopped to get a beer in hopes of delaying until the reggaeton stopped and it was late enough to go to bed. This proved fortuitous, as you will later find out.
We returned to the hotel and watched A cut Above with the owner. When it was finally 9 p.m. we went to bed. Tori’s bed had bugs in it, so she ditched and we slept in a twin. Oh college.
At 6 a.m., we got out of bed and on the road. Everyone in the town kept on giving us bad directions on how to get to Ceibal, famous Mayan ruins, and we got pretty frustrated. It is not much of a tourist town, so there are no established means to get to the various ruins. Thus, you have to find someone willing to take you and they will then try to take all of your money. Fortunately, a man we had met the day before was kind enough to convince a bus driver to give us the standard rate to a small town a couple miles down the road and somewhere between Sayaxche and Ceibal.
Side note: the nice guy who helped us is also kind of a jerk. He believes the U.S. requires a military leader to be the arbiter of the world, and thus he loved Bush and hates Obama. It is difficult to stomach this guy being the nice one. Tori was more of a diplomat than Stew, who pretended he didn’t understand Spanish. Thank God Tori is so nice.
We jumped out of the bus and started our 5 mile hike to Ceibal along a dirt path with a bunch of rocks and giant puddles. Also, monsters. We saw many toads and lizards, a trillion mosquitos, two tarantulas, and a snake.
Sidenote: Stew does not like spiders.
Here are three things that ought not be endangered *colon*
Manatees, jaguars, Honduran democracy
Here are three things that ought to be endangered *colon*
Mosquitos, spiders, and howler monkeys.
Now back to our proper punctuation. After a pretty sweaty hike through the hot and humid rainforest, we arrived at a very basic compound by the ruins. About 10 guards live there and maintain the ruins while they wait to be fully excavated. Guatemala does not have the money to excavate them, so some Japonese are going to do it. About 1 % is excavated now, or two buildings. We got to see all of the covered buildings, many carved stones, much of the jungle, and the spectacular views from the top of the Mayan market.
One finds an interesting conflict with regard to the excavation of Ceibal. First, the local communities do not want it protected. They want to use the land for agriculture because they are impoverished. More land means more food and better living conditions. So, they attack the stellae *carved rocks* with their machetes in an attempt to destroy the historic beauty and prevent any further excavation. Paradoxically, now that several years have gone by since the excavations, local communities are recreating Mayan sacrifices with chickens whenever agriculture suffers. If you sacrifice a chicken for rain and rain comes five days later, it appears to have worked. Every body wins. Unless you count chickens. They always lose in Latin America. Second, the preservation of ancient cultures is important to many for its academic value. The longer we wait to excavate, the more deteriorated the ruins become. Once these are gone, they cannot be replaced. Thirdly, the environmentalist perspective. In order to excavate the ruins requires destroying the jungle around and on top of the ruins. Central America and the world in general do not need any more jungles destroyed, as they too are difficult to replace and important for the sustainment of our environment. Oxygen and biodiversity rule. Jaguars prefer this option. Finally, Guatemala does not have the finances for it and requires international academic communities to provide the money for the excavation and preservation. However, the Japonese insist on taking all of the artifacts, thus depriving the Guatemalans of their cultural heritage and some of the benefits of excavation.
After our exciting tour by Manuel, we returned to the main site where we set up our tent. We were exhausted and mosquito bitten, so we took a nap. We later woke, made dinner, and went back to sleep. At 645. 12 hours later, we awoke again and hiked out.
Today we took a bus to Flores, a beautiful island near Tikal. We will visit the ruins of Tikal tomorrow. Word. We love history and Mayan ruins. Tonight we have a romantic date planned on the lakeside to watch the sunset over the water and eat fancy food at one of the many nice restaurants in the area.
We uploaded pictures on facebook because the computer has a scandisk drive. You’ll have to check Stew’s profile to see them because our blog loads pictures really slowly. Sorry.
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