CHAPTER 18. CENTRAL AMERICA & YUCATAN CONT.

It is a good Pan Am flight to Guatemala City with juice, cheese and ham stuffed rolls, donut, and coffee on the plane. We arrive at the Posada Belen and have coffee with the owner then rest until the 1 pm lunch. In the afternoon we go to the tourist bureau to finalize our Tikal trip. Dinner at the posada is very good and with pleasant company at the table; 2 nurses from Switzerland, a man from Guymas, a couple from New Jersey, and a chemistry student. What a difference from a hotel! We pack for Tikal and go to bed early.

Up at 5:15 and dress and close suitcases; a taxi is waiting for us in the dark at 5:50 and arrival at the airport is at 6:00. We get boarding passes then have breakfast before it hits us that we left the camera in the posada! We are able to call the posada, and a boy brings our camera to the airport just before boarding begins. Whew!

There are mostly clouds over the jungle but we can see the Tikal ruins just before we land on the airstrip. We check into the Jungle Lodge, then catch the first bus to the ruins, getting off too soon and walking up to the beautiful Plaza Mayor. The temples have been restored very nicely but there are still many covered with jungle. After much looking around we walk most of the way back to the Lodge for lunch. This afternoon we nap and look at the museum which has many artifacts from the ruins. We thought the jungle would be hot and muggy, but this one is cool and muggy. The rooms at the Lodge are individual cabins, some occupied by bird watchers; an elderly couple say they first saw the almost extinct bird of Atitlan in ‘27.

Breakfast at the Lodge is interesting; there is a peace corps couple who run a fishery in Honduras; other young people, some with British accents; many are camping and traveling by bus. We walk up to the ruins for another look, and walk back to the lodge, seeing deer, a very brightly colored turkey, and birds. After a good lunch we rest until our DC3, 30 passenger plane arrives at 2:30 to take us back to Guatemala City, flying not much above rugged mountain terrain. Our taxi driver isn’t there to pick us up, so we take a collectivo bus to town and walk to the Posada Belen. We are very tired but a shower and a good supper get us in shape for a good nights rest.

Glenn isn’t feeling well this morning, so we cancel a trip to Copan and go to the Ritz Continental for a Miami Herald and stay there for an hour reading it in comfort. Back at the posada we rest and sleep a lot but don’t miss any of the good meals.

It is warmer today as we have a late breakfast and walk to the post office, then take a bus to the Anthropological Museum. There are good models of Mayan sites, including Tikal, much pottery, and some good stelae. We visit the Art Museum, and then walk to the “tourist” market where we buy several things. Back at the posada we nap, pay our bill, eat a good supper, and repack for a morning flight to Merida.