I was a monkey for day, swinging through the forest, screaming out my monkey call.

Well, we have arrived and remained intact here in Guatemala (the country that I secretly dreaded coming to... or not so secretly). So far, so great! We drove here yesterday with a tour group from Belize. We arrived at a place just outside of the famous ruins of Tikal and went zip lining through the canopy of the rain forest!

I was shaking like a leaf, wondering as I climbed one step higher, ¨what the hell am I doing?¨ I am not a fan of heights and here I am leaving my life in the hands of a 17 year old kid who is securing my harness and hooking me up to a wire.

¨Ready?¨he says with a Spanish accent. I am sweating, seriously, sweating. Hands literally shaking. Eyes like saucers, looking into his, searching for reassurance. He just stared back into mine, probably enjoying my fear, cause he´s so fearless with it. He goes down the line legs spread and upside down!

Trying to put my weight all onto the harness, but to scared to. Thoughts going through my mind= Point your feet, keep legs together. Left hand on harness. Right hand on wire, behind my head, only to be used as a guide and breaks when he tells me to break. Lean back. Go.

Wow! We did that about 10 times from platform to platform throughout the jungle. It was very amazing and as usual, I was so scared to do it and in the end happy that I did it and I have no regrets.

Then we saw the ruins of Tikal, which were great. Ancient buildings of the Mayans. We also saw toucans, parrots, spider monkeys and howler monkeys ,which we heard from atop this huge temple. Sitting up there with the wind blowing at us, cooling us down from the hot day. High above the canopy, an airial view of the whole jungle, mountains in the distance and temples sprinkled all throughout the mass greenery, poking their heads up to enjoy the view. The howler monkey´s groans reaching the skies. They groaned and called out to each other cause it was about to rain and they, like us, don´t always like the rain.

Then Dan and I and 3 other girls came here to Flores, our guide dropped us off and didn´t leave until we were comfortable in our hotels. The 5 of us went for dinner together and again for lunch today, enjoying each others company.

It´s been a safe and nice time here so far. Today Dan and I enjoyed a swim in the lake that surrounds Flores, as it is an island. Warm and refreshing. A group of Mayan ladies stopped by the lake, most likely on their way home from church, and they stripped down to their undies and had a swim too. Ohh laa laa!

I can´t post pictures, as I haven´t found a computer that accomodates my memory card yet and I can´t hook up an usb cable to my camera. I will post some as soon as I can.

xoxoxo
Amie