Friday, December 5, 2008

Flores

On Tuesday I traveled from Santiago Atitlan to Guatemala City and then up to Flores. The first part of the trip was much easier than expected as I was able to share a shuttle straight from Santiago to the airport instead of first taking a boat and then a bus. It got me to the airport in only about 3 hours rather than the 5 or 6 it would have taken otherwise, but then I had 5 hours in the airport. FYI, there is NOTHING to do or to see in this airport. For the first 2 hours I happily sat in the wonderfully clean food court and eventually enjoyed a Subway sandwich. All of this without any insects to speak of! Eventually I went to the terminal, listened to several Fresh Air podcasts and wandered in and out of ridiculous stores (crystal, ties, watches, makeup etc). After sitting at the gate for an hour or so I began pacing. Soon the caged-animal-like pacing turned into discreet dancing as I had switched to music by that time. I successfully fought the urge to break into a full run up and down the terminal. I don´t know why the caged bird sings because quite frankly I wanted to scream. But, finally I got on the plane which landed in Flores less than an hour later.

Flores is a cute little town on an island in the middle of a lake. I have eaten delicious food (lots of fruit and veggies, not to mention amazing french fries) and visited the Mayan ruins of Tikal. The ruins were spectacular and we had a good guide, but I have to admit that I was even more impressed by the monkeys and birds and strange large rodents that we saw. I will post some pictures later.

Yesterday I went to a small museum on another tiny island in the middle of this lake. Basically it is just the house of a family who loves all-things-radio. History, technology, broadcasting etc. Our guide through the museum knew very little about any of the objects and it was almost funny to hear him holding forth on ´ancient´objects that he clearly had no idea about. However, after the museum part we went into the radio broadcasting studio and talked to the older woman and her son who still live there. There was a broadcast going on, but they both took time to talk to us about the equipment they had in the museum and about radio in general.

I´m about to get on a bus to San Ignacio, Belize where I´ll meet Chris and Laura and Chad. HOORAY! Hopefully next post will contain some pictures :)

5 comments:

Bonnie said...

I hope you all have fun in Belize!

Unknown said...

Hi Rebecca! You are going to have the best time in Belize - keep us updated! Gabe and I had fun reliving our trip when we got together with Chris, Laura, and Chad. love, pri

Gary Ohama said...

Hola!
Hello Rebecca,
It sounds like you are doing wonderfully down there, and having a good time. I'm glad the food is going to be such a joy. Looking forward to the photos.
Love ya,
Gary

Unknown said...

Hmmm... French fries sound good. I bet you guys are having a great time in Belize right now!

Gary Ohama said...

Hi Rebecca,
I just heard a great program that you may be interested in. It is Parker Palmer on Repossessing Virtue in Economic Crisis, Morality, and Meaning. He talks about the power of the depressions in life, and life vs death focus. He mentions the medical profession seeking human spirituality in its training/education and refers to Naomi Remen. It is on speakingofaith.org.
Take care,
Gary