This last weekend, we went as a group to Tikal! :) We flew in a small plane to Tikal and went straight from the airport to the park. We walked through the jungle and it was so hot and humid! We saw a bird similar to the quetzal (the national bird), lots of monkeys and some other unidentified birds. In addition, a few people from the group saw a huge tarantula. They showed me later, and I freaked out just from looking at the picture!
The temples were so large and grand! It´s incredible that they have been there for so long! We were able to climb a few of the pyramids, and the view was really amazing! We felt like we were in a movie looking down from them. In fact, they filmed part of one of the Star Wars movies there. (Don´t ask me which one, because I´m not a Star Wars fan). The site includes pyramids, palaces, residences, stone monuments, sacrificial sites (still used today by the Maya) and 7 courts for playing the Mesoamerican ballgame. By late afternoon on Friday, we arrived at our hotel, Gringo Perdido) which means ¨lost white person¨, haha. Our hotel was really nothing like a hotel at all. It was more like a bungalo, with a large open-air dining area, hammocks and a lake with 2 docks for hanging out and swimming! :) We had some great bonding time as a group and even though it rained, we all enjoyed the sun a lot! We played games, read, swam, rode in kayaks, slept and relaxed. It was a great weekend for all of us! We even got to hear a few stories from Profe and Ester (our amazing leaders) about how they met and got engaged. :) Good times!
We arrived back in Guatemala City at around 7pm on Sunday and went home with our host families. Yesterday I got my midterm exam back with good results, and today we have been celebrating Valentines Day! :) Each of our Spanish classes made a Valentine to share with the group. It was a contest, so some people sang, wrote poems and had actions to go along with their Valentines cards. We also (as a group) exchanged names and gave each other little gifts. Feliz dia del Cariño!! :)
Oh,and to clarify, the title "vegetarian crocodiles" relates to the lake by the hotel we stayed at...they told us that there were vegetarian crocodiles in the lake. Haha!
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