At five o'clock, my alarm woke us up for a day at the ruins. The idea was to get there nice and early so that we could beat the heat, the crowds and have a better chance at seeing monkeys.
The bus picked us up at for thirty and we attempted to sleep in upright position on the way there, but failed. I was so tired, but very excited to see the ruins. The sun was just coming up and I was happy to have such an early start.
We dealt with purchasing tickets and all that good stuff, and headed down the jungle footpath for about ten minutes, before the scenery opened up and I could see the peak of a temple in the distance. So much bigger than Copán!
Best part too, was the fact that there was barely anyone in the park which was great for photos! We did our share of self timer photos and video and moved from temple to temple. Unlike Copán, we were able to climb some of the temple staircases and get a great view of the yard area below.
As we approached the back of the park, we came up to the tallest temple we could climb. We climbed up what seemed like three thousand wooden stairs, to the top of the temple. Most obviously to preserve the ruins, we had to walk the wooden stairs, which was cool though because it popped us out above the tree tops. A couple other people were already to the top and enjoying the view, so we snapped a few pics, climbed the remaining stone steps, and took a seat in aww. For as far as we could see, green trees, like giant broccoli tops, covered the land with a couple Mayan temples peeking through in the near distance. The view was absolutely beautiful and was enough to make each and every one of us silent as we took it all in. Everyone except Georgia, that is. The goofball sat next to me and lowered her voice to sound like Mufasa and quoted, "Simba, everything the light touches...is our kingdom." Before laughing, which is what I really wanted to do, I quickly replied, in Simba's voice of course, "But what about that shadowy place?" In just as deep of a voice as before, Georgia replies, "You must never go there Simba!" We then broke out in laughter over the fact that at eighteen and twenty three years old, we were able to not only find a prime moment for quoting The Lion King, but also that we executed it PERFECTLY! Haha. It's not everyday you get to sit atop a Mayan ruin and quote a Disney film.
After a few laughs and about a half hour or so of soaking in the view, we climbed down and hit the snack shack for a quick treat. We grabbed a small bag of Doritos and a bottled water and chilled at the picnic tables for a few. We chatted a bit with an older Mexican man selling the concessions that wasn't completely aware of the fact that his really short mustache looked a LOT like Hitler.
From the snack pavilion, we worked our way through the rest of the park, admiring the huge structures. I wondered how with no technology, they were able to build what they did.
At the end of our park walk through, we hit up a little lunch place quickly before we had to get on the bus. We met back up with Lee and Paul afterwards and piled into the vans to go back to the hostel. It took everything in us to stay awake on the ride home. Between an early start, the walking, climbing and the sun, we were worn out like kids after a day at the zoo.
When we got back to the hostel around 1:00, we all went our separate ways and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. I plopped down on a hammock on the rooftop and used the wifi. I was able to blog a bit and talk to my family members through Skype. I paid a bit for some Skype credit, and was able to talk to some people on their phones. It was so nice to hear my family's voices on the other side without breaking up due to a bad Internet connection. The six dollars I spent in phone calls was worth every penny as it entertained me for quite a few hours.
At sunset, Georgia, Niki and I made our way out to find some pizza. When Niki and I had gone to the ATM earlier, we had scoped out a place on the water with reasonable pizza prices so that's where we headed. The sun had just sunk below the horizon, leaving the sky a beautiful orange and pink shade. Traveling musicians gathered just outside the restaurant half wall and played music together while we ate our pizza and drank our fresh fruit smoothies.
As we were finishing our dinner, Lee and Paul walked up and decided to get some ice cream with us at the place next door. With our cones in hand, we took a seat on the curb and listened to the live street music. The breeze was still warm, every restaurant had their Christmas lights on for the nightlife and we tapped our feet to the awesome music playing near us. These are the fun and laid back nights I miss from summer.
Once we got back to the hostel, we sat around and discussed everyone's game plan for the next day. We were all getting on an early bus to leave Flores to head to Belize! Lee and Paul had signed up for a different bus company, but Georgia decided to come with Niki and I. It was fun having another travel buddy with us and Lee and Paul trusted that she'd be in good hands!
Niki went to bed to read, Lee and Paul went to their rooms and Georgia and I hit the rooftop for a little longer. She was Skyping her friends back in Australia which was fun to watch and listen to. The Australian accent is so fun to listen to for me and they feel the same as mine! Georgia's sister, who's still in highschool, ran the phone around to her friends to show Georgia off at lunchtime. It was crazy because they are on the other side of the world and it was already lunchtime, while we were thinking about bed. After their Skype session, I watched Georgia do some video editing of her trip. She's been putting together these cool little three minute videos of her traveling and was to the part of her trip where Niki and I came in. I liked watching someone else have the same interest as me and watching how she goes about editing.
With a belly full of food and early morning plans, we moved to the bunk room to retire. Georgia and I laid in our bunks for a little while while I worked on my blog and she worked on her laptop more. I set my alarm for an early wake up, turned on the fan to move some air around the dorm room and next thing I knew, I was out!
Photos:
1) Me in front of the main temple
2) Panoramic from the top of temple
3) Me atop the temple
4) Sunset from our hostel roof top
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