Descanso (break)

Well it is with a bitter sweet taste that our week off has drawn to an end. Our initial plan was to go to Honduras and learn to dive, however Hurricane Felix put a damper on that plan (no pun intended). We instead decided to stick around Guatemala and see some of the areas we had not yet visited.

Our first few days were spent in Flores which is a cute little island town not far from the famous Tikal ruins. The town itself was a pleasant surprise with lots of cute restaurants on the water, beautiful views, and cobble streets with ice cream parlors and cafe´s on every corner. Our reason for staying there was to do our last (I hope) tour of Mayan ruins in Central America. The Tikal ruins are some of the biggest and most unearthed Mayan ruins and definitely the most impressive. We opted for a 3:30am tour which included sitting on the top of the tallest ruin to watch the sunrise. Although we were all exhausted, the sound of the jungle waking up and the view of the sun climbing over the ruins was breathtaking. The rest of the morning was spent walking though and learning about the ruins, and the local flora and fauna.

Tikal in the early morning...


The next part of our trip, (although less appealing) was a much needed flying visit to Guatemala city to extend our Visas for another couple of months. The city is a bit of a dump, so we got out of there as quickly as possible and headed back to Rio Dulce as we only had a few more days to relax before duty called back at Casa Guatemala.

The last few days were by far the most relaxing and best of our week off. A friend of ours recommended a little getaway not far from the orphanage that was run by a British and Polish couple. The place was built a few years ago, and consists of a few small bungalows just off the river, in the middle of the jungle where nothing but solitude and relaxation awaits. Our days were filled with good food, laughter, reading, siestas and one particularly special afternoon at a private waterfall only an hour kayak away.

We return to the orphanage tonight relaxed and ready to start our next 21 day stint.

Here´s a slideshow of our week off


If you can´t see the above gallery, check out the link here - Break Pics