Cave Tubing

This is us, our awesome group that we traveled Guatemala with. Left - Right : Tim Shurtz (BYU student), Dave Hadlock (tour guide), Alora (her name's from Willow, and she was scared of everything, didn't want to do the tubing because she thought she'd get dysentery, I asked her how much water she thought she was going to drink), Araina (artist, her husband bought her this trip for Mothers Day), Steve Shurtz (Tims Dad), Jane (Steve's wife), Me, Jared, Ryan (tour guide), Sel (Guatemalan Driver)

So we're about to go Cave Tubing. Notice the awesome Miners Lamps on our heads. Totally dark in those caves, kind of creepy but awesome.
We had to hike a good 45 mins to the start of the river, well, where we jumped in anyway. Here's a few things we saw on our hike.

This is a termites nest. They lit it on fire because some other bug had infested it and was causing problems.

We passed a few caves on our way, and walked through a few that had bats. Alora was freaking out because she was just sure they were vampire bats, cracked me up. They were so cute and tiny, and just regular fruit bats, not a big deal.

At the start of the hike we had to cross the river. That water was so freezing cold, and the rocks were slippery. I was grateful for the rope to keep my balance. After our 45 min hike though we were all very grateful for the cold water.

No actual pictures of the tubing, I just didn't want to ruin my camera.

So at the top of the hike there was a 15 ft jump into the water to then get into your tube. You could either do that or slide down on your butt to get in. I slid down first then realized the jump wasn't that big and got back out and jumped instead. Jared of course just jumped from the start.

The caves were amazing, I think we were on the river for almost 2 hours. The water moved so slow in parts you had to paddle just to keep moving. My arms were SUPER sore the next day.

At the end of the ride we got to cliff jump and swing on the rope into the water. So fun. This is Jared about to jump.

Here's what it looks like from where he's jumping from.

You can just make out the yellow rope. Climb to HUGE rock an swing out. We both did it a million times. So fun. Sometimes it's good not to have kids with you. :) That being said, I can't wait for the kids to get big enough that we can do this stuff with them.

Tikal

Flores

Here's the entrance to Flores. We actually stayed in a hotel across the river then had to walk across this huge bridge to get to the island of Flores. Notice the rooster heads on the Arch. That's the symbol of Gallo, pretty much the Bud Light of Guatemala. They have so much money and they donate it everywhere, which is kind of cool but kind of weird too.
I think these cobble stone streets were worse than the ones in Reu.

Aren't these houses so pretty. It would never be boring to walk these streets, always beautiful things to look at.

So if you can't afford barbwire to top your fences, just glue down some broken bottles. And I tell ya, if I saw this on a fence I think that'd be the last one I'd be trying to scale.

So I'm petitioning Jared to paint our house this color. :) Inside or out, I don't mind.

I know we have these flowers here, but these just seemed that much bigger.

This is a little island of the island of Flores. All around Flores these boat drivers were trying to convince us to take a ride. Those boats, though, did not look too safe. So we just took shots from the shore.

I've always loved sunsets, especially when the clouds are rolling in.

Here's our Hotel from the Flores side.

Yaxha

I think the leaves on this plant were at least 4 ft across. It's just amazing how well plants flourish in this kind of environment.Howler Monkeys everywhere. I actually took this shot from the top of one of the Temples. There were about 4 camped out at the top of this canopy.

If you didn't know what made this noise it would really freak you out to be in the jungle. This is the sound of a Howler Monkey.

A little rain goes a long way in the Jungle. It was downright pouring. It stopped later on which was too bad because then it was just really hot and muggy. Pretty sad when you wish for the down pour to come back.

We only had one poncho, so Jared borrowed the umbrella from the actually prepared 60 year old woman in our tour group, Araina.

We hiked to the top of this Temple. I know, it's just a hill with stairs. But remember what I said before, they only excavate then they have the money to preserve, so this Temple was only excavated on the top. Lots of stairs though.

So these dangling things are actually bird nests. I don't remember the name of the bird but it's eggs kept getting stolen by magpies. So it figured out how to build up and around it's nest. It's hollow at the top and it has to dive in to take care of it's eggs. The Magpies can still get into the nest, but they can't carry the eggs out. Kind of ingenious. Watch the cool video and listen to the neat sound it makes.

There I am in the pink, about half way up.

This Temple complex is 3 Temples. We're standing on the one pictured above and these are the 2 next to it.
They are just downright HUGE, and look totally fake, but they were amazing. I never knew you could actually see places like this.

At the top of Temple 216, after the rain stopped.

Temple 216. You had to hike some stairs on the side to get to the top of this one.

A Stella set at the base of the Temple. If you could read this it would tell you who the Temple belonged to.

I found this quartz sticking out of the rock on the trail we were following. We asked the guide about it and he went off about how the Mayans used to use the quartz as a form of power. Then he gave examples of today, like in watches and things. How the power that comes from quartz helps things run properly. Jared actually uses quartz in his Schlumberger tools, it helps them determine the pressure down the holes they are drilling.

This is a Peanut Head Moth. It's about 6 inches long. This is a type of Cicada called Devils Horse. On it's head it has 2 handle type antenna, then when it flies you see the red under wing behind it that looks like a trail of fire. And so you know those are the guides hands, not Jared's.

After our wonderful hike in the humidity we went to the restaurant for lunch. I just thought this sign was pretty.

Right next to the restaurant was a home with kids running everywhere, one of which was naked and just running around in shoes (I love naked bubbas, it was so funny). Anyhow, this little baby Toucan was on their front porch. So cute.

Our first course of the day was soup. I loved the cup/bowls, it kept the soup hot and, I think, made it taste that much better.

They have the best drinks in Guatemala. This is Cantaloupe Juice, SOOOO yummy! Kind of a cantaloupe slush, really refreshing in the heat.

The restaurant had no walls and was open except for the roof which was a thatched cone, totally cool. But this shot is of the floor. Horizontal slices of tree trunks, super neat.