Fleeing the Country

"some people walk in the rain; others just get wet"  -unknown-

Kate and Bren woke up on their last day in Belize and went to the farmers market.  It was a banana morning, they had banana chocolate chip muffins, banana bread, banana chips, and just straight bananas.  They also enjoyed a fresh banana free breakfast burrito.  They packed their bags and hopped in a taxi that took them to the border.

They paid the exit fee, exchanged money, dodged fake entry fees, and avoided expensive taxies.  Bren and Kate squished inside a minibus for their first (but not last) time en route to El Ramete.  However they had to get dropped of on the side of the road at a junction two miles from their destination.  Luckily a taxi pulled up as they exited the minibus.

These young adults had a plan to see Tikal from El Remate but what they did not plan for was the lack of an ATM in the town.  After booking their trip to Tikal and two nights at the hostel they counted their money and realized they may have enough but they would not be able to eat for two days.  Could they survive on four granola bars and a half bottle of fermented honey?  The strong and capable adventurers decided they could easily do this but thought it would be awful.  So they canceled their trip and the second night in the hostel and cried a little.  They thought they would take a break from all that thinking and heartbreak and relax in the hammocks with their books.  Three minutes later...LIGHTBULB! They realized it was only one in the afternoon and they could easily catch a minibus to Santa Elena.  They took out some Quetzales and hit up the Maxi Bodega (grocery store) for some snacks and a bottle of new honey.  Bren and Kate waited at the bus stop never expecting what came next.  The minibus pulled up after a long wait, it seemed full, very full.  They stood at the door looking in and started thinking they would have to wait again.  But after a little bit of rearranging the bus boy said, "come on in".  Kate found a spot wedged under a seat with a little kid kicking her in the back.  Bren was a little more fortunate, he stood hunched over on one leg by the door leaning on one arm trying not to fall on the old lady in front of him.  They looked around and counted a total of 30 people and their luggage/groceries/birthday presents/piñatas in the minibus, which was probably a little smaller than a 15 passenger van. Upon their return they rebooked their room and trip.

5:00 am cockadoodle doo, cockadoodle DOO!
5:15 am  Beep beep, beep, beep beep.
5:30 am The minibus arrives (with no other passengers)
6:30 am arrive at Tikal
6:32 am The driver informs Kate and Bren that they only have until 2 pm to be back in the minibus
6:36 am Kate and Bren are the first people (FACT!) to enter the park

After attempting to interpret two not to scale maps Kate and Bren set off to the Grand Plaza.  It was a misty morning and as they approached the plaza two giant temples protruded from the fog.  Dissapointed that they could not climb the temples they scurried up another large structure to eat breakfast and enjoy the magnificent view.  After eating tortillas, honey, and minibananas they found a scary, steep, not trustworthy staircase leading to the top of one of the "unclimbable" temples.  So of course they climbed it.  Then they picked an arbitrary second destination and started walking along a trail to find Temple V.  The trails were marked in minutes but Bren and Kate made record time everywhere they went in an attempt to see everything at the site of Tikal.  They thought it was going to be easy to see everything in seven hours (based off of the other Mayan ruins they visited) they even brought books.  WRONG! big mistake.  This park was huge, they power walked for 6 hours covering between 15-18 miles only missing a few small structures.  Temple V was a massive and more a impressive temple when compared to the Grand Plaza according to the expert opinions of Kate and Bren.  Moving on past many other ruins and wild turkeys, (Happy Thanksgiving) they arrived at Temple IV, the tallest temple in Meso America.  It stretched to a towering 70 meters (229.658793 feet, for all you North Americans) and provided a panoramic view of the entire site of Tikal.  They were able to see many temples poking out above the canopy of the jungle.  Kate and Bren took all the small trails that tours did not lead down to try and satisfy the initiative No Temple Left Behind.  Blah blah blah, temples, bats, monkeys, lunch, gatorade, temples, doritos, Mayan ruins, stairs, white nosed coatis, sweat, look out point, no look out point, grey fox, and revisit some favorite temples.  Tikal done.  Bren and Kate were both thankful not to have been on a slow and boring four hour tour.

1:55 pm get on the minibus

Off to Flores,
Bren and Kate