Tikal National Park

We visited Tikal National Park, famous Mayan ruins, while in the Peten. It was fascinating, especially as it is located in a tropical forest.


A photo of the Grand Plaza taken from the top of one of the monuments.

Smaller buildings and engraved stones (protected from the elements by thatched roofs)

The really cool thing about these huge monuments is that you can climb most of them.

These are the steep steps leading up to the monument pictured above. The tallest of the monuments is 65 meters high - and there are no guard rails at the top!

Alisha and Emily resting at the top after the steep climb.

View of the rainforest from the top of the tallest monument. You can see several others poking above the forest canopy. The park is huge, 576 square kilometers. We spent six hours in the park and only visited the most impressive of the ruins.

Nick is holding a tarantula that someone found in the forest.

We saw some wildlife in the park, including this coatimundi who seemed to be looking for a hand-out. In addition to coatimundis, we saw several monkeys, lots of colorful turkeys (yes, wild turkeys live in the jungle), and some tropical birds.

Climbing one of monuments.

One of the huge trees in the rainforest.

Our Vacation

Our family was on vacation from Nov. 14 - 19. We took a trip to northern Guatemala, to the region known as the Peten, approximately an eight hour drive from our house. We had a wonderful time. It was interesting to see a different part of the country. It was very warm and tropical, much different from the mountainous region where we live.


We stayed in the town of Flores. This is our hotel. It was very nice - not fancy, but clean, and it had air-conditioning! One of our two rooms had a balcony overlooking the street, so I asked the girls to come out and pose for the photo.

The town of Flores is actually an island in Lake Peten-Itza, connected to the mainland (the town of Santa Elena) by a short bridge. One morning we traveled across the lake by boat and climbed a "mirador" (overlook) to take this photo of Flores.

We took a lancha (boat) across the lake to visit the town of San Jose Peten and stopped at the mirador mentioned above.

Carlos, our lancha driver, lived by the overlook, so we had a chance to meet his family. His one-year-old son, Antonio, was in this wooden playpen. Tony climbed in to say hello.

Maria posing under a coconut tree. We bought a coconut from Carlos's mother and drank the milk. Yuck, warm coconut milk!

Birthday Party at Rosa

Yesterday afternoon we traveled across the city to Rosa de Amor. Sheryl and I planned a birthday party for all of the children at the orphanage. We wanted to make each one of them feel special, so we celebrated everyone's birthday.


First, we handed out the gifts. We had a few stressful moments when we realized that there were ten new children and we were a few gifts short. Charlie saved the day by running to the store and purchasing a few extra things.

Kati was delighted with her present.

Nelson, Fernando, and Ingrid opening their gifts.

Then we sang "Happy Birthday" in English and Spanish, blew out the candles, and ate cake! Thankfully, there was enough - just barely.

And, of course, no birthday party is complete without a pinata. The children loved it! Although, I was slightly concerned someone was going to be hurt in the stampede for candy!

More Day of the Dead

Here are some more photos from the Day of the Dead festival.


There were flowers everywhere, mostly marigolds.

All of the graves were decorated with fresh flowers.

One of the six or seven huge kites assembled on the grounds.

And of course, there was food! Lots of vendors had things to sell; some things we could identify, some we couldn't. This gal was talking on her cell phone while stirring her concoction. We played it safe and took a packed lunch. The only thing we bought was cotton candy for Maria and Tony.

We found this popcorn machine quite interesting, complete with generator.

Day of the Dead

Sunday, November 1st, was the Day of the Dead in Guatemala. We drove to the town of Santiago Sacatepequez with the other ORI families to observe the festivities. The fiesta took place in the town's cemetery.


The Day of the Dead is a holiday to honor deceased relatives. Traditionally, kites were thought to be a way to communicate with the dead. Today the holiday has become a huge kite festival. Folks make large 10 or 15 foot kites of bamboo and tissue paper and attempt to fly them. Unfortunately, there was very little wind, so we only saw one kite in the air.

There were also huge, elaborately decorated kites of bamboo and tissue paper, 60 feet tall. They assembled these kites on site. They were not intended to fly, but were tied to poles sunk into the ground.

The kites were absolutely gorgeous! And it was fascinating to watch the teams assembling them.

All of the graves and mausoleums were decorated with flowers. The children claimed this spot to watch the festivities.

This trio of musicians was playing in the cemetery.

Two New Pets

Charlie, Tony, and I visited a market in the city on Saturday. We noticed a vendor with two cages of iguanas for sale. Of course, we were fascinated and stopped to take a look. Well, the price was right, so we bought two! Charlie headed over to the warehouse Saturday afternoon and built a lovely, wooden iguana cage. And since they eat fruits and vegetables, I already had iguana food on hand.


Charlie wanted the biggest one. He cost us Q 50 (about $6). The kids named him Spike. For the most part, he is tame, but can have moods when he thrashes around. We've also discovered that he can run really fast!

Tony cried and cried for "the little one". Since it only cost Q20 ($2.50) we bought him, too. Tony named his pet Fire Dragon Thunder Lizard. He is very tame and doesn't seem to mind being handled.

Another shot of Tony and his "thunder lizard".

Stitches for Nick

This afternoon Nick sustained an injury while playing soccer on the street in front of our house. He mashed his face into the blacktop and received a nasty gash above his left eye.


Thankfully, Denny Freed, our faithful nurse practitioner, was on hand to administer first-aid. As you can see, there were also plenty of spectators.

The "emergency room" was the Freed's dining room. Nick simply lay on the table.

Denny gave Nick four stitches.

Gabby (Randy and Tina's daughter) and Maria were playing dress-up this afternoon.

One morning during school Tony was "reading" to his dinosaurs. He does love dinosaurs!