flores, tikal, lanquin, semuc champey

the ruins of tikal are a sight like no other. i was expecting the big stone structure while i walked through the huge park, and was totally taken aback. imagine the people who discovered these lost buildings while hacking their way to the jungle, and how surprised they were...
the view from temple 4, the highest temple there, was breathtaking. green jungle, everywhere. with just the tops of the other temples peeking through the treetops. and the cry of the howler monkeys sounding just like you think dinosaurs sounded.
my hostel, los amigos, was in flores. a very nice place, lovely garden and hammocks. parrots and cats and dogs. it was hot in flroes, but it would rain and cool everything down. i liked walking in the rain and touching the water that was coming off of the buildings; it was almost boiling from being on the tin roofs that had been heated all day in the sun.
next stop was lanquin. the 7 hour ride was hell: 15 people crammed in a smallish van. windy roads as we went through the mountains. once in lanquin i checked into el retiro, a very nice hostel on the river. the restaurant and bar had a dinner buffet, and happy hour directly after, which led to revelry and dancing on the rafters above the bar.
semuc champey is about a half hour drive from lanquin. once there, me and some of my new friends followed our tour guide, otto, into a cave with nothing but our bathing suits and tennis shoes on, armed with a single candle each. there was some walking, some one armed swimming, as we held the candle above the water. climbing ropes through waterfalls, jumping off huge rocks into the water, sliding through ridiculously small flumes, all through what looked like the set for the movie 'the goonies' (which no one on the tour with me had ever heard of). when a candle went out, everyone was quick to help re-light it. it was like some sort of wildly dangerous team building exercise.
after the caves it was back outside to the river. we jumped out of a huge swing into the water, then took tubes down the river. to the bridge. OH the bridge! when otto showed us how to jump from it, everyone kinda stood around looking at each other as if to say "no, i insist, YOU go first". i ended up doing it first, before i lost my nerve. i fell for what felt like half a minute before hitting the water. my heart: pounding.
by the time we got out of the water, i realized that all this jumping off of things had aggravated my back injury. pretty badly, actually. when the others went up to hike el mirador, i headed straight to the pools and found a conveniently located board to lay on. then a nice swim through the natural pools that all joined together until it started to rain.
after all this excitement, i decided to take it easy the next day, at the hostel. there was the most amazing sauna, so for hours i alternated sweating profusley and jumping in the freezing river. good for the body, good for the soul.
i swear to you, i have pictures, it's just extemely difficult to have the time to dump them on a computer to upload them. i promise, pictures soon.
also, on the bad news front: my phone was stolen. which means no writing the blog from the buses (which was so much better!). it also means no ipod. no translator. no currency converter. none of these things that make travel so much easier. i am truly upset but trying my best not to dwell on it as i am having such a beautiful time. don't cry for me.
now in san pedro, on lake atitlan. more about this beautiful place later, amigos. pura vida!