Tikal - Day 5 Arrival & Night Tour

Today, Tikal!! I got up early to catch my flight from Caye Caulker to Belize City - in typical island fashion there was a lot of mumbling and calling of folks on a radio before my (already purchased) reservation was "confirmed." No worries though, I got on the plane and said goodbye to Caye Caulker - I had both sadness and excitement in my heart as a I transitioned from one part of my journey to the next.

I arrived in Belize City and when I made my way to the ticketing counter for my connecting flight to Flores, Guatemala (gateway to Tikal) I must say I sensed something amiss. There was no one there. After a few moments, an airport security guy went in the back to let the agent know there was a customer. The agent came out and asked where I was going - I said "Flores" and the stunned look which then took over his face was less than heartening let me tell you. It turns out that all flights between Belize and Guatemala had been suspended indefinitely due to some sort of issue between the transportation authorities of the respective governments. Apparently they had "tried" to notify me, though I never received anything. Ah, the joy of travel in (often) unstable Central America!

I felt the frustration rise...and then I realized - hey I'm not gonna get anywhere displaying a typical American "entitlement" attitude (you'll see further rants on this soon), so I took a deep breath, and simply asked what could be done. The agent went in the back and got what I assume to be the manager, Joe. I love Joe. Joe displayed all the aspects of customer service that many US companies claim to promote. For one thing, he didn't blame me for something that was clearly out of my hands. He then asked what he could do for me (novel!). When I told him I cared about two things: getting reimbursed, and getting to Flores, wait for it...he listened! Joe called the different buses that run from Belize City and Flores, gave me the schedule, contacted the airline administration to process my reimbursement and helped me get a taxi to central Belize City to catch the bus. And the whole time he was doing it, he kept me updated with each step. Joe deserves a freakin' medal, as far as I'm concerned.

So a 45 minute flight turned into a 7 hour bus trip to Guatemala. I had no idea what to expect but was thankful I got an early start so I'd at least get to Tikal before dark. I was also thankful that I (with the help of some sage advice) decided to stay the night in Tikal so would have the next day as well to explore the park.

The first part of the bus ride (to Flores) actually turned out great. It was on a HUGE tour bus with only 5 other people - 4 of which were Germans who were either asleep or chatting to each other in German. And all along the way I got to observe the passing villages and jungle of Belize - much of which I would revisit in my upcoming "adventure week".

The 2 hour minivan ride from Flores to Tikal proved to be a little more interesting :-). As I got on the "collectivo" - a shared minivan - there was a comment made by an American woman wondering how many more stops there were going to have to make. This was my clue for what was to come. As we made our way through the countryside, she began to complain about how long it was taking, wondering when the park would close, yada yada. All this time I was squished next to an Australian backpacking couple keeping my mouth shut in hopes that she'd think I was German or something and didn't understand English. No such luck. The next time we stopped (collectivos stop all the time, that's how it works) she pretty much went ballistic on the guy who owned the van. Once she had made her huge fuss and the van was covered in an uncomfortable silence I decided to "come out" as American and try to calm her, mostly in an effort to remove the horrified looks on the faces of the other passengers.

Because I do so much research before a trip, I kinda knew what was at Tikal, the layout, the "must sees" etc. - so I politely tried to console the woman, pointing out that she would still have 2 hours in the park, more than enough time to take her family straight to the top of Temple 4 and watch the sunset, a guaranteed mind-blowing Tikal experience. Once I started talking to her, she calmed down and honestly almost started crying - it was really that she didn't plan enough time and felt like she failed her family - and then promptly took it out on the people around her. By the time she and her family got to Tikal and left the van, they were in good spirits - and I actually saw them as they were coming out, beaming, excited, and the woman thanked me profusely for my recommendation, they had had their moment in Tikal. Ah, a good deed done for the day.

Just a note about this, cause I encounter it so much when I travel - in my experience, the more I expect things to happen the way they do in the US - the more I'm disappointed, frustrated and irritated by the travel experience itself. The more I "let go" of my expectations, the more fun I have and the greater the opportunity is for more genuine experiences in the local culture. This is something I remind myself of often - breathe, relax, smile...it's amazing how much it helps, and how many people smile back.

After my arrival in Tikal, the owner of the van - Luis - apologized for the unpleasant American, to which I replied - "hey man, no worries, I live there!" Luis then commenced in reeling me in to his various tours of Tikal - one of which I purchased right away - the dawn tour, the other I was more hesitant. Luis suggested I go on a very special tour, just myself and a guard, after the park closes as it was nearly a full moon and the park would be beautiful and full of life. After some negotiating on price, I decided to do it knowing full well this wasn't above board, no matter what I told myself.

I have had various feelings around this - sometimes feeling guilty for supporting "black market" tourism, but the more I think about it, the more I realize it was fairly harmless (to the park anyway). It's not as though we went anywhere the public couldn't go - we just went after hours. And let me tell you, it was spectacular. In terms of wildlife, I saw grey foxes, a tarantula, an army (literally) of leaf-cutter ants, about 15 crododiles, and a spider monkey (who threw rocks at me - seriously!). And more than that, I got to meet an incredibly friendly man named Victor, who has a wife, four kids and knows everything about Tikal - and no English! It's actually amazing how much my Spanish came back to me after all these years, I actually think I managed to understand most of what was said.

I did have times where I was asking myself - "what am I doing here? in the middle of Guatemala, with an armed (yes, he had a rifle) guard, in pitch darkness, with no one else around?" And the adrenaline rush I got when we had to jump into the jungle as a jeep passed us (and my final confirmation that this was indeed illegal), was worth every penny. A great adventure to say the least! And I will never forget sitting on top of Temple 5, watching the moon break through the clouds, with the whole jungle before me. Pure magic. The Mayans knew what they were doing here - more than the architectural achievement (which is huge), they created an incredibly spiritual place - a place of magic and wonder, a place where humans could touch the heavens.

After my tour I took a long swim in a gorgeous rock swimming pool, and slept more soundly than I have in a long time.

Quick Update

Well, it is proving to be much more difficult than I expected to get online with enough time and energy to update the blog - I am taking lots of notes though, and will update either this weekend in Belize City, or upon my return, so stay tuned!

Suffice it to say, Tikal was amazing and magical - the journey there and back frustrating and interesting - and my time so far with my Adventure Week crew has been exciting, fun and seriously adventurous! I head out to the private island early tomorrow morning for more ocean activities, including Kayak surfing - can't wait!

I am off now for my first real attempt at white water kayaking!

I hope all are doing well, and I send lots of love to everyone.

Randy

Caye Caulker - Day 4 Happy Thanksgiving!

So with my trip to the Blue Hole canceled, I decided to go with Rick and Sandy on a sailboating and snorkeling excursion - it proved to be just what the doctor ordered - relaxing, fun, a nice lazy day in the sun and the water.

On a side note - I've done incredibly well with the weather - many of you know I was a little nervous about the heat and sun, but through diligent sunblock application and amazing high-tech clothing (seriously, these clothes ROCK) - I haven't burned once! It has been quite empowering for me. There are times when I see people tanned and able to walk around without their shirt, etc. where I get twinges of jealousy - but they're fleeting. For perhaps the first time in my life, I truly love the person I am, inside and out - that feels incredible to me after a lifetime of wishing I was different physically and often feeling like there was something "wrong" with me because I didn't tan. I'm just the way I'm supposed to be (as we all are by the way).

Okay, back to the snorkeling - we saw lots of rays (spotted eagle and stingrays), barracuda (one that I actually found first!!), and lots of reef fish. My favorite are these long slender silver ones with a yellow stripe and a long pointy bluish nose, they were all around my mask, so cool!

After the snorkeling, a quick lunch of deep fried lobster (!) and off to the cyber cafe to catch up on the blog. And now that that is done, I'm off to pack for my early flight in the morning to Guatemala and Tikal.

It's hard to believe I'm already leaving Caye Caulker. I will truly miss it - even with the difficulties, it is the first time I've truly loved a tropical experience, and this tiny island will forever hold a special place in my heart.

I won't have Internet access in Tikal, so it might be a couple days before you hear from me, but know you're all with my as I travel and see beautiful things.

Much love to everyone, and have the Happiest of Thanksgivings!

Caye Caulker - Day 3

Today would prove to test all my strengths - mental, physical, emotional, take me to the limit and ultimately return me to the ground a different person.

I started today diving again - though when I got to the dive shop at 9am, there was no gas for the boats (ah, the joys of the tropics) - after lots of jabbing about Iraq from the locals, we rescheduled for noon. In the meantime I hung out for the first time in a hammock by the pool reading my book, the island was definitely soaking in.

When noon arrived we headed out to our dive sites and started our first dive. Everything started just fine, I got down no problem, in fact so quickly I had to wait for what seemed like forever for everyone else, a good 5 minutes at least (which matters when you're at 70 ft). Anyway, all along I was checking my gauges, and as usual I was the first to hit half air - I signaled the divemaster and he turned us around for the return trip. I kept checking my gauges and after a while got concerned as it kept saying "1000 psi" - and then it started getting difficult to breathe out of the regulator so I tapped hard on the gauge and it dropped to 200psi!! For those of you who may not know - this is well under what you should have to surface...needless to say I was terrified. I signaled to my Divemaster (my buddy, as usual was too busy with his friends to notice) - and surfaced as slow as I could - all the while it was getting harder and harder to breathe. I tried to safety stop and after a minute (it should be three) - I got a mouth full of water as there was literally no air left. I made the decision to go to the surface and got back to the boat safely. However, I was completely wiped out - scared as hell and literally couldn't talk to anyone for like 20 minutes. I must say, as is typical with a lot of dive outfits - there wasn't much said, or support given other than - well it's good you're up here telling the story. Anyway, I decided I needed to take care of myself - and during the surface interval, I went snorkeling and made peace with the ocean and calmed down tremendously. Enough so that I decided to do my second dive (I know, crazy huh?).

My second dive was fairly uneventful other than my weight belt coming off at the bottom - miraculously the dive master saw where my weight fell and we got it sorted out. Again, ran out of air faster than everyone else and had to surface before them - this time it was a hella long swim to the boat as it was a drift dive - but at least I didn't run out of air :-).

Through these experiences I've realized some things. One - if I need more weight I will demand it. Part of the reason I was wasting all my air was that it was such a struggle to stay down, next time I will be more assertive. Secondly - the buddy you have is just critical. I will do everything I can to dive with people I know and trust, or at least convey the importance of the buddy to me when one is assigned. Finally, I am proud of the way I handled things...I did everything right even though I was scared and did panic a bit. I kept my head enough to be as safe as possible and because of that, I look forward to many more dives in the future. However, I decided not to do the Blue Hole - I just didn't feel comfortable enough. I'm really happy I did that, it felt good to take care of myself, even if I was a bit disappointed. The biggest effect of all this was that I felt humbled. I'm still a beginning diver, no matter what I *want* to be - and that is perfectly ok. A good lesson for me.

That evening I had dinner with my now increasingly good buddies Rick and Sandy - we met up with an Australian cardiologist named Karen whom they met earlier in their travels for drinks and dinner. It was lovely - and felt great to be around people after a day of feeling very alone.

While today was really tough - I think it will ultimately prove to be one of the most important of the trip - though with so much still ahead, who knows?!

Caye Caulker - Day 2

My first real day in Belize. And my first diving experience in tropical waters. I was pretty excited and a little nervous as I made it down the one major (unpaved, no cars) street on Caye Caulker to the dive shop.

Needless to say, it was an interesting day diving - I had a lot of trouble getting down on my first dive, but after a lot of struggle, and what seemed like begging for additional weight - I did make it down. And on my first dive we saw not just one, but three Spotted Eagle Rays!! Just gorgeous, floating like giant spaceships through the water. See the attached photo for a glimpse. The dives today were through coral canyons, really interesting topography - small walls of coral with gulleys running between them kind of looking like roads.

I didn't see quite as much on my second dive - though a grouper befriended me and stayed next to me almost the entire dive - a lovely underwater welcome. In addition to the diving, I met some lovely people - Rick and Sandy who would become my pals for the remainder of my time in Caye Caulker, and Francesca my dive buddy from Italy - who warmed up eventually to the fact that I'm American, tehe.

After the diving and cleanup, it was off to find food. Caye Caulker is heaving with seafood - snapper, conch and lobster in particular. I have quite honestly been pretty surprised at the quality. Sure it's unhealthy, but darn tasty after being in the water and sun all day. I ate at the nicest restaurant on the Caye called Habaneros...wow was it good, seriously good. And spicy, living up to its name. All washed down with Belikin beer, by now my good friend on the island :-). After a lovely dinner I got to bed early to prepare for my dives the next day - and what a day that would prove to be.

Caye Caulker - Day 1 (Arrival)

Well I have arrived in Belize! Today was pretty much an entire day of traveling, but it went off without a hitch.

It's cloudy and drizzly, but very warm, perfect weather to trudge your gear to your hotel in. I already feel slower...a good thing. After checking in to a remarkably nice place (pre air-conditioned!), my first stop was the Dive Shop to confirm I'm on their radar for tomorrow. Not only did I get the scoop on where to be - I also found out where the "in" place was tonight - apparently there's a holiday of sorts and there will be dancing and craziness until 3am. Needless to say I think I'll pass tonight, I want to be in tip-top shape for my first dives tomorrow in Hol Chan Preserve. I have however already sampled the local beer (Belikin) and food (tonight was BBQ shrimp, beans & rice and garlic bread, hoorah!). The beer rocks, I may have to have another...or three.

I'll keep this one short, mainly checking out the Internet setup - looks like they have one fancy computer with a media card reader, so be on the lookout for photos soon!

Randy

The Adventure Begins on November 19th

I can't believe it's almost here. It has been TOO long since I've been out of the country, experienced somewhere new, pushed myself outside my ordinary world. I'm so ready...every time I walk past the growing pile of gear for my trip I get a rush of excitement.

I leave for Belize on Monday, November 19th at 6am. From that point on, I'll be sharing my adventures in diving, caving, kayaking, rafting and Mayan ruin exploration here - so stay tuned (or not, I realize the travels of others are not always THAT interesting, so I won't be offended if you don't hang on my every word....much).

Enjoy and feel free to comment away.

Much love and warm wishes to everyone.

Randy