So we are officially back in the
states. However because of a few internet issues we weren't able to
make our final posts while we were in Belize.
Ok, where did I leave off last
time....Tara and Millie came. They are Crystal's cousins. Poor
Maine had to live in a house with 4 woman! Thankfully he survived.
The first few days they were here we
took them out for papusas,
Caught some frogs in the ditch in-front
of our house,
Got some Shilling water at the market,
(If I haven't said before, shilling
water comes in a plastic bag which you bite and then suck the water
out of. Probably not the most sanitary, but on a hot day in the
ministry a cold shilling water is really nice. And it only cost a
shilling. $.25 BZ)
then we went in the ministry and met a
cow,
and got some “ideals” at a little
store.
(Ideals are like otter pops...except
better)
We took Tara and Millie walking pretty
far the first couple days of preaching. Their poor feet were so
blistered. By this time the rest of our feet was/is hard and
calloused. I seriously need to get a pumas stone. Anyhow, all of us
needed a break after that, except maybe Crystal. :)
We took Tara with us to Spanish
Lookout. Always one of my favorite places to preach. We went to my
and Lauren's study/ies with Tomasa and Rosita. The kids were sick :(
so we got through the studies much more quickly then usual. While we
were waiting for Maine and Tony to get back from their study Tomasa
and Rosita started working on the little baskets they make to sell.
Tomasa
Rosita
I have explained this before I think,
but they are sisters. They are Mayan and they moved up here from way
southern Belize (where most Mayans live), with their brother and his
two children, whom you've seen in pics before. They are all deaf.
And such a nice family. I will really miss them.
Tara got a couple of the baskets they
had made, and the next week when I went back Millie and I got the
very baskets they are working on in the pics above. But more on that
later...
Spanish Lookout was great as usual, and
we were happy to not be walking all day.
Later that week our neighbor and
landlord (she is also in our congregation) came over with lunch! She
is such a good cook and wanted to make sure that we all had real
Belizian food while we were here. I don't remember what this was
called, but it had plantains and fish and what YUMMY!
Yep that's a fish head.
Ana and her daughter Ana Marie are
sitting by Crystal who is at the head of the table.
TIKAL
We got up at 5:30 in the morning to go
catch a cab to the Guatemalan border. Once we got through that, we
waited for a friend of ours that lives in Melchor to meet us to help
us find where to catch the bus to Tikal. We had to walk quite a ways
through Melchor. This is a Guatemalan bus.
As we were riding along they of course
stopped along the way to pic up for passengers. The “bus” had 14
seats. By they time we reached out stop there were 26 passengers
including ourselves!
We had to wait to catch another bus to
Tikal from the crossroads. The next one wasn't so crowed. When we
got to Tikal we found some people selling tamales. Yum!
Then we found a tour guide. His name
is Hector. He was very informative. He's been working there for 14
years. Of course I have a really bad memory, so all the interesting
facts he told us have completely left my brain. Sigh :(...But here
are some pics...
Howler Monkey!!!!
Tallest Temple in Tikal
We climbed all the way up...well as far as they allow people go. It was high believe me! Here are some views from the top. You could see
all of Tikal, which is severl square miles in size. Fun Fact: The view from up
here was the first shown in the show Survivor- Guatemala. Or so our guide told us.
This is actually one of the ball courst
the Mayans would play a game in. It was an extreme honor to play in
the tournament. The players were only allowed to use their elbows knees and heads to touch the ball (which was a wrapped human head) ...and it ended
in someone being sacrificed. Originally it was the winning team
cause being sacrificed was considered an honor. But eventually
politics started to change and the looser got sacrificed.
After you walk through the ball court
you see...
Tourist Tree. Why is it called that
you ask? Because it turns red in the sun and then peals! HAHA
Tucan! National bird of Belize...to
bad we only saw one in Guatemala.
Weren't allowed to climb this one.
CENTRAL PLAZA
Probably the most famous part of Tikal.
And for good reason it was awesome. Temple 1 was built by Lord
Chocolate. He was like 6ft tall which was giant to those people. Of
course he was considered to be part god as all the rulers were. They
think the ruling class was so tall because they were the only ones to
eat meat. It should be noted that the entire area of Tikal was off
limits to any of the common people except for the few that may have
worked there as servants.
Tikal at one time was under the control
of other Mayan cities such as Corazol. However when Lord Chocolate
came into power that all changed. He freed Tikal and built it up as
a formidable empire. He built Temple 1 for himself, and Temple 2 for
his wife. And on the spring equinox the shadow of his Temple
stretches across the lawn and climbs the steps of Temple 2 until it
matched up perfectly with the shape. Cool huh?
Anyhow, here are the pics...
Temple 1
Burial Places and Tombs.
Where the Royal Family lived
That was the last stop on the tour. So
we walked back and said good-bye to Hector. On the way back we
learned that Hector and his wife are studying the Bible with
Jehovah's Witnesses. Small world.
We caught the last bus leaving Tikal
which dropped us off at the cross roads. We waited there for a long
time as bus after bus passed. All of them were already crowed. Finally a
bus stopped. It was packed. However is was the last bus to Melchor,
so in or should I say on we climbed...
Yep Maine rode on top. Only for a
little while, then it started to rain so they had him and the other
guys climb inside. He did have to hang out the side door for awhile.
And they had me sit up by the driver with two other people. That
last bus had a total of 34 people at one point. 30 inside and 4 on
top. We all couldn't stop laughing. And I'm pretty sure the other
people were laughing at us.
Thankfully we made it back to the
border and Melchor in plenty of time. And had lots of great
memories! :)
This post had gotten to long so I will
have to pic up where I left off in a couple days.
I almost forgot! We also saw allot of these little guys. They are cousins of the raccoon called Caodi Mundi. Cute huh!
For more pictures click here.
-Becky
I almost forgot! We also saw allot of these little guys. They are cousins of the raccoon called Caodi Mundi. Cute huh!
For more pictures click here.
-Becky
bathroom for rent???
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking maybe it has something to do with the people that sell you the toilet paper...like maybe you rent the bathroom for the right to do that...or it could just be completely random.
DeleteWelcome back! :D
ReplyDelete