Over Thanksgiving, Jeff and I flew to Guatemala with Ryan and Laurie to visit Fred and Nancy for the week. We took a red eye flight, so we got in to Guatemala City at 7:00 am. Fred and Nancy were there to pick us up, and they looked so tall compared to all the Guatemalans.
We spent Saturday driving around and seeing some of the sights close by. We stopped by a market where flowers are sold and then ended up at the shopping mall in the city. It was a great contrast between old world (no money) and new (lots of money and Americanization).
Sunday, we went to church in the branch Fred and Nancy attend. Jeff translated for us as much as he could, but there wasn't much any of the rest of us understood. We went into the primary and gave the kids the bracelets and bookmarks our kids had made for them. They were so cute and sweet, and couldn't believe that Fred and Nancy have 34 grandchildren!
My eyes were closed in all the pics. Dang.
After church, we stopped by a roadside pineapple stand for a little pina.
Then we went to the temple to meet the Gardner's. They have been serving in the temple for 3 months, and it was fun to see them again. It was beautiful weather most of the time we were there, and I couldn't get over how temperate their "winter" is.
We went back to the apartment and changed our clothes, then went to Kaminaljuyu, a very old ruin right in the city. We saw some Mayan rituals going on, but nothing crazy. No chickens being sacrificed or anything.
Selfie with the city behind me
We went to the cemetery and the huge city dump. I need to get some pics of that off of the camera. It was incredibly disgusting.
Monday morning, we woke up early to catch a 7am flight to Flores. The plane was delayed for an hour because of fog, but eventually we made it there. We met our tour guide, Pablo, and he drove us the hour it took to get to Tikal. He was with us all day, giving us the grand tour of Tikal. And it was grand!
First off, the park is huge. Way bigger than any of the other ruins we saw in Mexico. It took about 30 minutes to walk from one end to the other. There are at least 5 temples that are named, and many others in some state of restoration. There is also a huge courtyard and other buildings as well.
Many Mormons, including Fred, are convinced that this is a Book of Mormon city. It's the right time period (600 BC-900 AD) and definitely the right climate if you're going to be running around in a loin cloth, but I'm not 100% convinced. Maybe if we had had an LDS tour guide to convince me, it may have made a difference. As it was, I enjoyed it for the beauty and peace I felt there.
The jungle surrounding the temples is impressive and provide a lot of shade (something Chichen Itza is sorely lacking).
This pic of Laurie looked fake to me, like she's standing in front of a backdrop.
Jeff got some good shots (yet to be edited)
Walking through the jungle, swinging like Tarzan
Of all the places we saw in Guatemala, this was my favorite. It is so unique and impressive and beautiful.
Scene from Temple IV. They told us that this was the shot used in the first Star Wars movie.
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At the end of the day,we drove back to Flores and took a plane back to Guatemala City. We were all exhausted, but it was so worthwhile.
