Belize/Guatemala Day 7

We woke up at 7:30 a.m. and headed for the border. There were 2 young couples, a family of 4, a girl from Manchester, UK and the 3 of us. We got to the border after a 15 minute ride in a van and we out processed from Belize and walked to the Guatemala border where we got in another van and they stamped our passports the driver walked over to the border patrol, sight unseen.

As we drove down an extremely bumpy rode (off-roading in a van) the guide told us a little about Guatemala. Apparently, it is up to the parents whether the students go to school or not. Only about 30% of the children actually go to school and hardly anyone speaks English, contrary to the way it is in Belize. In Belize, everyone has to go to school and during their school years they learn fluent English.

It took us about 2.5 hours to get to Tikal with a stop along the way. We all opted to do a zipline tour at the entrance of Tikal. They suited us up with harnesses and pulleys and we were off! I had an absolute blast on it but Melody had a meltdown after the first zipline. However, she was a real trooper and made it through so I was really proud of her! I honestly don't know how she did it but it was awesome. As we went through the various platforms in the trees I played a game with one of the guides. He spoke no English whatsoever but we had fun anyway. I was able to land perfectly on every platform without spinning or breaking too soon. He asked if it was my first time on a zipline and I said yes and he said "your a professional"! haha

When we were done with the zipline we headed for a restaurant that was under a make shift shack and had an excellent lunch of chicken and rice. Off to Tikal!

We drove into Tikal and did a 4 hour tour around the park. It was really pretty amazing to think that Mayan's built each limestone block by hand as well as the mortar. I was very impressed with the architecture and the bits of culture I came to understand because of the guide. He was very knowledgable on the subject so we had an overload of information.

After the tour we were supposed to stay at the Jungle Inn at Tikal. They misplaced our reservation and by the time they found it we had already decided we wanted to go back so we could sleep in and go cave tubbing the next day.

Dinner and many beers followed :)

"You call those pants?". Underage drinking. "Can I go to your party?-Tom". Lovely, just lovely (British accent).

From Ellius day - "My nephew and sister nursed from my mother at the same time!" (Older sisters so mom was having kids at the same time as the sister)