Pictures from Tikal
Monday, July 9th, 2007Just some pictures from Tikal area. Press on the pictures to enlarge them. (more…)
Archive for the 'Guatemala' Category
Piramids In The Jungle
Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007The Maya city of Tikal flourished for about a millenia: the earliest findings date back to around 200b.c.e., but the most impressive piramids date to the 7th and 8th century, to the time of kings that bore names like “Jaguar Paw”, “Curle Nose”, or “Lord Cacao”. The site, at its peak a city whose population is estimated at some 40,000 people, was abandoned towards the end of the first millenia, at the decline of the so-called “Maya Classic Period”. It remained unknown, deep in the Peten reainforest, for almost a thousand years. The jungle was slowly taking over, until it was accidentally rediscovered at the late 19th century, its piramids peaking above the forest canopies.
Jungle Outskirts
Monday, July 2nd, 2007Coban, that we visited two days ago, is a nice city at the middle of a rural area, full of plantations, corn fields, and green vegetation. The small villages of Lanquin and Semuc-Champey, to which we dedicated yesterday, are some 56 k¨m from Coban, which makes them at the very outskirts of the jungle itself.
Some Pics from Guatemalian Markets
Monday, July 2nd, 2007Just some more pictures from Guatemala markets, and one bonus. Note the colourful clothes - clicking on the images should enlarge them, so you can get a better view.
Orchids, Cofee, and Maya Heritage
Sunday, July 1st, 2007The frog, being a creature that lives both in aquatic environment and on dry land, was considered in Mayan mythology a simbol of feminine fertility. Makes sense, when you think of it. However, I only discovered it yesterday, on our visit to the small yet beautiful Maya museum in Coban.
Chickens and More
Friday, June 29th, 2007The previous post was written while we were waiting on the bus station on Panajachel to the chicken bus that took us to Chicicastenango. This post describes further events that happened while we were waiting, the adventurous bus rides we took, the market at Chichi, an interesting dinner with Umberta and her boyfriend, and a few other things. Elina asked to write these descriptions from her point of view, so here it is.
Changing Lake Atitlan
Wednesday, June 27th, 2007The big explosion, geologists claim, happened some 85,000 years ago. The immense pressure from a magma pit through the mountain-top away, created the huge volcanic caldera which is now the over 300 deep lake Atitlan. Later, secondary pipes formed additional volcanoes, which now spot the caldera’s rim. Further more, the tectonic movement took the area away from the magma pit, and the volcanoes died, leaving the amazing landscape of lake Atitlan’s surroundings.
Lava on Pacaya
Wednesday, June 27th, 2007Just a nice movie I took on the Pacaya volcano. From where we are now I can´t see if it uploaded properly - I hope it did.
Marcos the Mistical
Tuesday, June 26th, 2007Ula, a Polish girl we met in San Marcos, spent a full hour yesterday sitting and watching the rain, thinking about life. She did it next to the hotel manager, who watched her and probably thought about her money. This is typical to San Marcos, as we found out on the single day we stayed there.
Cholas Everywhere
Monday, June 25th, 2007By now, we developed this insight: the nice, beautiful, thin, Guatemalian girls grow up to be these short, wide, with ridiculous behinds, barrels. Let´s call them cholas, or better in Hebrew: Havitush. As it is so widespread, we developed this theory: can it be connected to the fact that all of them walk with huge, heavy, baskets on their heads?
