Adventures

CB is seriously deep in the bilge replacing engine mounts, and I am catching up on blog posts…so here we go with our trip to Tikal. Since it was soooooo cool and we had many amazing photos from here I will dedicate a whole post to this place. Although many have seen these exact same photos from other friends/family that have traveled to Tikal, we will continue to be those people showing off our not so interesting photos of our vacation :-)

A short history is that Tikal was mentioned in many Spanish conquistadors journals, but no one ever knew what they were describing. It was not until the mid 1800’s that explorers located what we now know as Tikal and started studying the areas. Due to the remoteness of the area, not much happened in Tikal other than very lengthy and strenuous expeditions to the region to begin understanding and unearthing the ruins. Not until the mid 1900’s did Tikal start becoming what we see today. This was largely due to the airstrip being built that allowed easy access to the area. For more info. on Tikal go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikal. This park is now a national park and also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This was our first time seeing monkeys and exotic jungle birds….so pardon all the sort-of out of focus pictures of trees with blurry animals in them. But in a nutshell, this is Tikal. It was a very mind blowing experience.

We got to the park late in the day due to the 5 chicken bus mode of transport. But this turned out to be good. This way we bought a pass that was good for the evening and also the next day. There are 3 or 4 lodges in the park that offer package deals for room, food and tour. We chose to take the early sunrise tour that leaves the hotel at 4 am. This tour hikes out to the temple of the serpent head, or Temple #4.

The north Acropolis and Great area featuring the famous Temple #1 on the left and temple #2 on the right.

Temple # 1 again…lots of photos of this temple

You can no longer climb temple #1, but the opposite side has a wooden stair case built around temple #2 with a viewing platform. This is a rare thing to have this photo with no people in it. Usually you can’t even see the grass. Benefits to travelling during rainy season.

The great area was reconstructed by archeologists to give a feel of how the upper class Mayans lived.

Monos! I think this is a howler monkey. They may be little…but the noise they make sounds like a 600# gorilla.

These ruins are where the middle class lived…the po’ folk lived on the outskirts in huts that are long gone.

More middle class housing.

This dude had a big ol’ box of Fruit Loops in his talons right before I snapped this shot.

I give you the Jackelope of Tikal…some sort of chicken rooster thing with a little vulture mixed in?

The next morning we woke up at 0 dark thirty and headed out into the park with a guide. The idea is that as the jungle wakes up you sit on the top of Temple #4 and watch the sun rise over the canopy….sometimes…during rainy season it is foggy and no sun appears…but it was still cool as hell!

5 am view of Temple #4 that we would soon be climbing. If this looks familiar it is because it was the backdrop in The Empire Strikes Back when the Millenium Falcon flew over the moons of Endor.

We bought this cool little carving from a kid in Belize. We decided to bring it to the temple with us to get some good Mayan vibes in it before putting it in the boat.

This temple just pops straight up out of the jungle while hiking. It is currently being stabilized after earthquake damage, they hope to have it open again soon.

There were so many pictures to choose from. I literally took hundreds. I hope these give you all just a taste of how amazing this place was. If you ever get a chance to go to Tikal, don’t miss it.

The obligatory Temple selfie….

I have a new nemesis.

I used to have a lot of them. Alarm clocks, hangovers, well meaning but annoying managers (Sorry, to any ex-managers reading this), the Ballard bridge…..the list goes on.

My current nemesis is a small crab. No bigger than a Chicken McNugget (the round one) only not as thick. Actually, I don’t know if it is one single, insanely tenacious crab or a series of crabs that are networked together and have some sort of crab jihad against me and my knot meter.

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::Definition::
Knot Meter: Small, ridiculously delicate paddle wheel that spins as water rushes past it as the boat moves though the water. The RPMs of the paddle wheel are then transferred to a chart plotter to let us know how fast we are moving through the water. Crabs or no crabs, they never really work very well or for very long. Which explains why they are so expensive.
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The fact that it is not working is not really a big deal, since we also get our speed from the GPS. But the GPS gives us speed over the ground, which is usually different than our speed through the water. In other words, it doesn’t really fuckin matter. But it’s there, and I want it to work. And it would work if not for these pesky freedom hating crabs.

The problem is the small hole that the knot meter is mounted in is almost exactly the same size and shape as a thin Chicken McNugget (the round one). Which unfortunately is also the same size as this goddamn crab(s).

At each anchorage, one of us will dive overboard and swim under the boat to free up the knot meter. Each time a little crab will scurry out of the Nugget hole (scaring the shit out me). I try to smash it, but it is to fast. It will then disappear. I never see it again. Each time I think, “HA, that got it”, and go about the rest of my day. And each time we haul up the anchor to go to the next place the knot meter is not working because the crab has crawled back in the hole and jammed up the knot meter.

I do get a little pleasure imagining the little bastard pinned down in the little Nugget hole by one of the paddle wheels. But it’s fleeting….

Maybe i’m over thinking this. Maybe these little crabs are just stupid and have no idea about me or anything outside their little world. They may just see the Nugget hole and think, “Hole. I fit. Eat stuff”

Anyway, we are in Panama. Should be in Panama City in about a week. Will have some internet then and will post some pictures. Hopefully one of a dead crab…and maybe one of some Chicken McNuggets. I’m sorta craving them now.

Where are we? What the hell have we been up to?

As it turns out….alot! This is mostly a picture post.

Spent a month or so surfing and hanging out in Nicaragua. Mostly in San Juan del Sur.

Yeah, these places actually exist. Our boat is furthest one to the left.

We spent a few days in a couple remote out of the anchorages too. And as we are known to do, we found a great bar to hangout in after some jungle hiking.

After leaving San Juan del Sur, Nicaruagua. We headed into Costa Rica. Our first stop was Bahia Selena to do some kiteboarding. Correction…..try to do some kiteboarding. It’s tricky buisness, but we are slowly getting the hang of it.

We also did some more jungle hiking. And as I”m sure you all would agree, one never swims in jungle pools without beer and a machete.

Our buddy Danno was coming down to visit and we still had not clear into the country so we decided to bust a move down to Playa del Coco to get official and pick up Danno.

Before that though we made a few stops along the way. One was to catch up with some cruising friends that were anchored in an achorage on the way to Cocos. I wrote a blog post about it a few weeks ago.

We also stopped and did a little more exploring at an anchorage called Huevos.

I love sea caves!

Danno got here the day before Thanksgiving. Eric and Ali, showed up 5 days later. So the boat was a little crowded, but not too bad. We had an absolute blast with Eric, Ali and Danno all here. Alot of just hanging out doing nothing. Some poor attempts at fishing. A little scuba diving and hiking to awesome waterfalls.

Bad ass rent-a-cars

Little known fact. Danno is a hobby botanist. He was able to, without any doubt, tell us that the plant he is eating in the picture below was….and I quote “Definitely NOT fucking sugar cane”.

Why he thought a giant weed growing in a ditch would be sugar cane I cannot tell you. He’s the botanist, not I.

We also violated every single rule mentioned in the rental agreement. How we got that car up that 4wd rode to the top of the volcano is anyone’s guess.

After dan left and we had the car for one more day so we decided to make the most of it so we went and did some zip lining. FUN AS HELL!

I could not decide which zip lining pic to put up. They are all cool, but this one sums them all up.

GO Tawn!!

Fancy dinner with Tawn and Ali after zip lining.

And Eric.

We spent Ali’s b-day in a little cove and had a beach bonfire for Ali, then headed to Tamarindo.

Rented some ATV and rode them a beach. That too was fun as hell.

After Eric and Ali left me and Tawn hungout in Tamarindo for a few more days and did some surfing. Tawn bought a new (to her) surfboard.

Now we each have one and don’t have to share!!

We’ve been bouncing down the coast stopping different places and hiking, surfing, chasing water falls….whatever.

And on one occasion, there was no surf, so we took turns towing each other and friends behind the dinghy on my surfboard.

I have no witty way to end this post……feels awkward.

Oh I know! How ’bout some sweet ATV beach action?