Ruined

Finca Ixobel, Poptun, Guatemala - Mary -We have been trying to maintain our Sundays as rest days and try to find local churches to attend. We went to a Spanish language service in Belize where the speaker was very clear and we could pick out a few words, then make our own interpretation of what they were preaching about. We tried again in El Remate. We didnt understand a word. I would call it more of a reflection time than learning time! It is interesting thought to see how other cultures worship.
After a couple of relaxing days in El Remate, we made the trip to the Tikal mayan ruins. They are an impressive series of temples and buildings. Some of them are being renewed and others are still being unearthed. To unearth the buildings, the vegetation is cut with machetes and the dirt is carefully removed. All the stones and their positions are marked on a blueprint for future reference. I can easily see how archaeologists can spend a lifetime working on one site. In addition to the ruins we sighted monkeys, hummingbirds, several kinds of butterflies and a woodpecker that looked exactly like Woody the Woodpecker. We also encountered about 20 pizotes. We came around a corner on a jungle path face to face with these small raccoon sized creatures with long snouts and monkey tails. It is a bit unnerving seeing all these little animals, not being sure how they will react. It turns out they were harmless. Whew!