Central America Adventure Peace be the Journey

Yay, crossing borders is interesting! Our taxi driver in Belize that was taking us to the border crossing warned us, ¨People in Guatemala are crazy! They put black beans on everything!¨ So of course we were very concerned.  We where lucky to catch the last collectivo (shared van) heading to Flores three hours away from the Belize border. We crossed into Flores, which is a very small island in the middle of Lake Peten, during the night but the full moon would have you thinking otherwise, as it was so bright it seemed as though it was daytime. Although there was a lunar eclipse that night, and it was the night of the winter solstice, we still fell asleep early due to a full day of caving and traveling.  Nonetheless, we were able to wake up early the next morning for a day trip to Tikal on the Mayan New Year which falls on the winter solstice. Guatemala has the largest indigenous population out of all the Central American countries.  The Mayans gathered at Tikal on December 21st to make offerings to ensure that everything would go well the next year and to celebrate their heritage.  We were able to witness an authentic Mayan ceremony, filled with song and dance, that included different tribes from all over Guatemala. Plus, we got to explore all the ruins and see more spider and howler monkeys. The highlight of the Tikal ruins is Temple IV, which towers above the jungle canopy giving you an unobstructed view of the jungle and several other temples.