It has been a long week, in lots of ways. As if to remind me that Belize is, in fact, not quite perfect, I suffered the indignity of, in a rather pervy petty crime, having my underwear stolen. And my beloved, loyal, long-suffering pack, which has seen the world with me from Kosovo to Kho Phan Ngan, Istanbul to Invercargill, was also victim in this thievery most foul - it suffered the indignity of having its zip bust. We made a sorry pair for approximately 5 minutes, until we realised it was actually hilarious: some crafty thief will have found themselves mightily short-changed, with a bunch of stuff that will simply fit no-one in this region. Take that, underwear thieves!
I became reacquainted with a long-forgotten phenomenon: the Travelling BFF. Y'know the folks you meet on the road and bond with because ohmygodi'mreadingthatbooktoo and ohitotallyrecommendxriverinyrandompartofzcountry and ohialsothinkawellusedcommaissexy and who therefore become your new best friend for approximately 24 hours (let's be honest, usually involving beer) before you each move off in different directions never to be heard from again. I made a TBFF the other night, and it was awesome. (And whatever, well-used commas are sexy.)
I've been listening to a lot of country music. This is agriculture country, and there are more cows/cowboys/cowboy boots/cowboy hats than you can swing a lasso at. We have headed progressively West. West through the lush jungle on a chicken bus with the ever-present reggae blasting and tiny Caribbean children, still growing into their teeth, dancing in the aisles. West to San Ignacio, Belize, a tiny farming community where we galloped Western-style on horseback through Belizean jungle to swim in a secluded waterfall. Further West into Guatemala, to stay on the beautiful island of Flores where the sunset was one of the most spectacular I have seen in all my years, and to visit the ancient Mayan temples at Tikal, a place that I can't do justice to with words.
And now I find myself on the beautiful Rio Dulce, Guatemala. We are, as our hosts never fail to remind us, in the jungle. Our bungalow sits over the river, and has open walls - we sleep with a breeze off the river that carries the low hum of the jungle and nearby Garifuna drums. Last night before bed we had to kill 3 progressively larger spiders (the ultimate, I'm told, about palm-sized.) I elected to stay in bed rather than witness the great spider-slaying of 2011, and was glad with my decision when my room-mate discovered a casual scorpion hangin out in the corner of our room. It's fair to say jungle life is interesting. Never a dull moment.
And now, onwards. Onwards to the highlands and more adventures.
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