Guate and back

In a nutshell, I survived 2 and a half weeks with Mom and Dad, they survived Honduras, Guatemala and a little hitchhiking (out of necessity, of course). Bello's worms appear to be gone, he's gaining weight and growing rapidly and has plenty of new toys (thanks Mom and Traci)!

The first few days my parents were here were hectic due to work related activities. Yes, sometimes, I really do work. After one night with Mom and Dad, I had to leave them alone in Talanga for 2 nights while I ventured south for a program training. It was supposed to be one night but we didn't get back to Tegus in time to catch the last bus back to Talanga. Therefore, I caught the San Luis, Comayagua bus at 6:00 am and my baseball team joined me as we passed the school. We easily won our first game against Charlie's team but I have to give him credit for pulling his team together himself and rounding up more than enough kids during coffee-picking season to field a team. We realized just how quickly a one hour game goes. We played a little longer and still only completed 2 innings and a few at bats. I was very proud of my kids. Only one person was hit with a pitch and my girls rocked (including a solid double, not bad for a first at bat)! After the baseball game, we met Emily and Kyler for lunch in Santa Rosa de Copán before heading to the Mayan Ruins.

We eventually made it to Antigua, Guatemala, then to Flores and Tikal (more Mayan ruins). Guatemala was beautiful but significantly more expensive than Honduras. Granted, we spent our time in rather touristy areas, that never helps prices. It was interesting seeing the Mayan ruins in Copán and Tikal so close together. The Tikal ruins are massive structures hidden by jungle while the Copán ruins have been more thoroughly cleared but you can see significantly more detail in the carvings and hieroglyphics. We woke at 4:00am for a day-break hike in Tikal. It sounds better than it turned out. You are only permitted in the park before 8:00am if you have a guide. We were told the group would be 10-15 people, in reality it was closer to 50. Also unfortunate, the cloud cover was so thick that it prevented any visible sunrise. From our perch at the top of Temple 4 you could see the tops of other temples rising above the jungle. We also saw macaws in Copán, toucans and other birds as well as both spider and howler monkeys in Tikal. We eventually made it back to Talanga to visit the cloud forest of La Tigra and Valle de Angeles. We got plenty of exercise walking and hiking to balance out the long bus rides. I am sure my parents are home resting from their vacation before resuming work on the house.

Sorry for the lack of details but I thought you would all prefer pictures. Here are a few... [Talanga; Carla vs. San Luis; Copán Ruina (4); Macaws at Copán Ruinas; Chichicastanengo, Guatemala; Snow cone cart in Flores, Guate; Tikal Ruins (3); Mom and I in La Tigra]