Day 4

We visited the site of Iximche on our way to the airport today. The ruins are really crumbled here. They had to leave the trees in the top of the buildings to help hold them together.

We then hoped in these "puddle jumpers" to fly to Flores, Peten. We basically traveled today!

Day 5

Today we are in Tikal, Peten, Guatemala. We were able to explore the ruins at the site of Tikal. The first thing we saw was a crocodile. I had some pretzels in my purse. I threw them into the water and the little fishes would nibble on them. The crocodile would then come up and eat the fish. It was really cool to see.

This tree was humungous!! It reminded Chad of the tree of life!

This is Chad at the base of the same tree.

The first ruins we saw where of Temple 1 and Temple 2. We were not allowed on Temple 1 at all but we had fun climbing on the surrounding ruins.

Temple 2.

There was a guide who was calling these howler monkeys.

This is a site where they sift through the dirt as they are excavating the different ruins.

Chad and I are on top of Temple 4 in this picture. This is where Star Wars filmed that scene. You can see Temples 1 and 2 in the background. Temple 4 is the tallest pryamid on the Tikal site.

We were told on our drive that these "white rats" are very good to eat.

That evening we enjoyed the beautiful sunset.

Day 6

We started out the day going to explore the site of Yaxha. These ruins were cool. We could actually climb on the ruins. We couldn't resist this picture. Everywhere we went there was the military there to help keep the sites, tourists, and artifacts safe. I told Chad he should have knelt down with his hands behind his head for this photo.

Watch out for monkey poop! Glad I wasn't holding onto the railing!

We were told at this last area we only had time to climb one pyramid. Chad chose this one and I chose a different one. Chad was the only one in our group to climb this one. He was pretty proud of himself.

I had one of the people who climbed with me take my picture, so it would be documented since Chad was on the other pyramid.

Chad then decided to hurry down the other pyramid and climb the one I was on. He pretty much ran up the pyramid. He was the only one in our group to climb 2 of the 3 pyramids.

Our guide told us there were thousands of ruins yet to be excavated in the area. As we flew back to Guatemala City in the afternoon, Chad took this photo from the plane. I think the mounds are a little too uniform not to be ruins. What do you think?

We arrived and will spend the remainder of our trip in La Antigua, Guatemala.

Day 7

We started out the day going to different places around La Antigua, Guatemala. It was really fun and interesting to see the town. The first place we stopped was a weaving co-op. I liked seeing all of the different patterns and styles that come from the different villages in the area.

This lady showed us how they wrap and then carry their babies using one of these cloth's.

This is called a back lomb. It takes 2 days to set up and approx. 40 days to finish the table runner.

Then we went to an old convent. It is no longer used but it is in the process of being restored. That was really neat to see. The inner grounds outside the nuns rooms.

Heading into the cluster of rooms. There is a big circle in the middle to congregate in.

We then went to a jade museum. All of the art in there was made out of jade. If it wasn't an original then there would be a photo of the real art behind the replica.

We couldn't help ourselves when we saw this piece. We ended up purchasing it. It is a about Lehi's dream. It has the maya symbol on the back that means "and it came to pass" along with a few verses of the dream. It was so stunning and drew us in.

This is where they polish and make the jade into different pieces of jewlery or art.

Guatemalan's do not care about getting close to vehicles while driving. It amazed me how much skill our driver, Oscar, had.

We had lunch at a hotel and this was our entertainment. I loved hearing the marimba!

We then had some dancers come out and dance to the marimba music.

All Maverik empolyee's and their guests were taken to the hill of the cross to play a team building game. Everyone had an "aquaduct" We had to get a golfball from one end to another. Once you had the ball you couldn't move your feet.

The ball had to end up in the bowl. First team to get 2 balls in the bowl won.

We had the rest of the afternoon to relax.

Day 8

We really packed our day full today. We decided to do the last 2 excursions today so we could rest all day tomorrow. We started out with a bike ride in the morning. The paperwork said it was for beginner riders and was fairly easy. Well 17 miles/28 kilometers later we found out otherwise. The only problem with the ride was the long steep hill was last on our ride. There were 6 of us that went on the ride. Ann and Josh, Chad's sister. Don and Kristi, and Chad and I. We are all smiling in this photo because it is at the beginning! The streets in Antigua are cobblestone so that wasn't very fun riding bikes on, very bumpy.

Chad and I in front of a cool looking church. Our guide Ricardo is texting while we are busy being tourists!

Across from the church above is a community wash tub. All the ladies in the village do their laundry here so they can have a nice conversation/catch up on all the local gossip while doing laundry! It really made me grateful for all of the modern conveniences that we have!

About half way through the ride we stopped at a Macadamia Nut farm. It was really cool to see how they process the nuts.

The nuts sit here for approx. 20 days. The nut will rattle inside the shell when it is ready to be cracked. If they crack it too early the whole nut will not come out of the shell.

This is how they separate the nuts into the different sizes so there machine can crack the nuts open

The most photographed toilet in Guatemala was at the farm.

Chad was then given a facial massage using macadamia oil. He loved it.

After our bike ride we went right over to Filidefia to ride their zip lines. It was such a blast. A lot safer than the last lines! We didn't have to brake ourselves and it was super fun!! There are no pictures of Chad on this on though. He had the camera the whole time.

All lined up and ready to ride!!

I didn't make it all the way across on this line. The wind was blowing really hard. Actually only the guys made it all the way to the end. The girls had to flip around and pull ourselves hand over hand to the end.

Ann would have made it if the stopper hadn't stopped her. She hit the rope and it slowed her down way too much. Luckily she didn't have far to pull.

All done. There were armed guards everywhere. We definitely felt safe while we were there.

We were all really exhausted and slept really well!! Needless to say from the cobblestone streets to the 17 miles we all were a little sore the next day!