Eldon and Dawn Hurst's Travels: January

January 1 through 7

OK. So I am the worse blogger in the world but I have been very busy. In my spare time :) I crochet hats and blankets for newborns. We have a group of missionaries here who are doing humanitarian work and one of the things they do is take packets to the new mothers at the hospitals. The packet consists of a blanket, a hat, a onesie, and a few other little things. Without these packets most babies would go home wrapped in newspaper.

Some of the hats I am crocheting.

But back to our travels. The first two weeks of January were temple closure time so we went traveling. President had been traveling the week before with his family who had come to visit so was very tired and since he was our transportation for the week we did not leave until Tuesday. Since Prices had their family down for a visit only Winkfields went with us and we headed for Rio Dulce. We stopped at Quirigua as Winkfields had not been anywhere in Guatemala yet. The Mayan stelae are very impressive there. Banana fields are all around Quirigua.

Stela in Quirigua

Jaguar head with man's head in the mouth. Use your imagination.

They have to keep straightening this one. Apparently most of these were on the ground to start with.

Eldon standing by a stela

There were lots of Stelae.

Door into a living space

Information about the Acropolis

Jungle all around.

Some locations of ruins in Guatemala

When we reached Rio Dulce we went to our hotel,Vina del Lago. We have stayed there before and it is very nice. Eldon and I took Winkfields down to the San Felipe Castle which they enjoyed. It is called a castle but is really a fort that was built to repel invasions. The doorways in some places are very low and Ken can attest to the hardness of the rock. He got knock down pretty hard, cut his scalp and sprained his thumb not to mention other scrapes and the bruising of his dignity.

Wagon Wheels and Anchors displayed at the fort.

Canons are strategically placed to be fired in all direction.

The date stamp on this canon is 1796

We returned to our hotel after a little walk and had dinner.

Looking up at our hotel from the lake.

Beautiful flowers all around the hotel

View of the Lake from the Hotel

Dinner at the hotel

President and Eldon went and hired a boat to take us to Livingston the next morning. We ate at 7 am and were on our way at 8. The driver took us past the Castle and slowed for pictures, took us past Bird Island and the Water lilies and the Mangroves.

San Felipe Castle from the Lake

And we are off to Livingston

Bird Island

All the gang inside a cave

President coming out of the cave

Water Lilies

Flowers growing in the trees.

The guide plucked a pod off a tree and gently began peeling it back.

Very carefully continued peeling.

And handed me this.

Doing wash in the mangroves

The guide plucked a flower from the water and wove it into a crown

And placed it on my head

Canoes paddled out to our launch and the guide let the women and children try to sell us things they had made.

They were adorable.

An old boat covered in pelicans

Standing next to the Caribbean.

Lunch

We returned to the hotel for a good nights rest and then we took the Winkfields to Tikal the next day. Normans had just been there the week before and preferred to hang around the hotel and rest.
Tikal hadn't changed much from the last time we were there.

Jaguar temple in the main plaza

Wild turkeys roam the entire complex

Top of temple IV

Looking out over the jungle from the top of temple IV. The Jaguar temple is at the center of the picture poking above the trees as are the tops of other temples.

Winkfields on top of temple IV

Descending the stairs of temple IV

After reaching temple IV and climbing it we decided to take a different road back to the front gate. We came across structures we did not see the first time we were there as well as a troop of monkeys up in the tops of the trees. There were not any other tourists on this trail as it was somewhat off the normal route. We enjoyed the monkeys until a very loud lady and her friends came along. We whispered that there were monkeys in the trees and she looked up and yelled "Oh look guys. Monkeys!" The monkeys immediately scattered and we continued on out of the area.

Eldon in front of a ruin we had not seen before.

Standing by an old ceiba tree.

Monkeys in the trees. They are the dark spots.

A Relief Map of part of Tikal

We all headed back towards Rio Dulce and since it was getting late we found a hotel about an hour and a half out of Rio Dulce. It was at Poptun and called Finca Ixobel. What a delightful place. It is a working farm. We had our own little bungalows. They provide camping space, an hospidaje and tree houses. There was horseback riding, caving and hiking. We did not have time for those fun things though as President was waiting for us in Rio Dulce.

Macaw at the hotel

Our room complete with mosquito netting although there were not many mosquitoes while we were there.

Eldon enjoying the hammock on the porch of our cabin.

Our cabin.

Front entry to the hotel.

We picked up the Normans and went to a hot water waterfall on the north side of the lake. It isn't well marked so we had to hunt for it. The idea had been to go for a dip but it was way overcrowded so we took pictures and headed for home.