Ixcan continued!

The family who owned the hotel invited Lucie and I to all the things that they were doing during the week..It was super sweet of them and we couldn't thank them enough. The folks were Carmen and Cesar, and while they have 5 kids 3 of them left the day after the lake to go to Coban where they live together and go to school. David and Diana the two youngest still live in Ixcan as do Carmens parents, and they were all around every day. Carmen's mom was really sweet and smart, wanting to learn English as I wansted to learn spanish...if I asked he how to say somethign in spanish she would want to know the english translation as well... She had made tamales....some mixture of cornflower and a green leafy plant at the lake...or heated them up there i think, and I asked her if she could teach me and she did!!! Here are some pics of that....when made they are wrapped in banana or other nig green leaf and then put in a pot with some water and steemed..... Looks like I will be doing it at home with tin foil...if you happen to have a banana tree (plant!!) in your yard let me know!


So that was one adventure and another was a couple trips to the river. The importance of these trips must not be underestimated as the humidity was so high that there were actually fish swimming by in the air! I thinkI took more showers there in one day then I did on my whole trip!!! It was also the first time there wasnt this electic heater hooked up to the shower head, so not only was I able to not worry about getting shocked in the shower there was actually cold water! No idea why in some other places they give you hot showers!!!! In freaking Guatemala!!! Who wants a hot shower!?!?!¿¿!¿!¿ (don't those upside down question marks make this authentic?!?!?!¿!¿¿!)Just down the river big trucks were hauling out gravel, I think it majorly reshaped the river in the area, but hey...the water was nice and wet! On the way I saw something I found quite a amusing at another river we passed that was much smaller...a car wash!!! people drove their vehicles right into the water and washed them!!! Interesting idea....
The next great adventure, which took alot of convincing to get me to go to was the Jalipero....aka Rodeo!!! When I foudn out it was only bull riding and not lassoing the babies I desided to go.... Got to see everything atleast once! And it was lots of fun....The bulls were quite wild and impressive.... The dude in the dress is a rodeo clown, there were a few dressed less feminanly but what they did to the animals made me a little sick....at one point they had a bull on the ground holding him down and pulled out his toungue and one guy held it in his own mouth! They were also yanking the tail like crazy and while I assume that would hurt I am no Bull anatomist.... If anyone knows what the huge weird camel hump some of them have between their shoulders, please let me know!

In the town and all over there are guys making snowcones on adapted bycicles.... here's one example, they grind a huge block of ice infront of you, then add syrop to it...mmmmmm....
The maeket was also really neat! The internet connection is awesome hear, hence all the pictures!!! here is more of the market...



As the family took care of us so well on the last night I was there (and supposedly Lucie's too but I left before she did and it is entirely possible she is still there so it may not have been her last night, we both planned on leaving every day for each day we were there but we just couldnt.... anyways on the last night....) we deicded to thank them with dinner and a cake... I wipped up a peanut sauce and a curry and lucie delved into the world of chocolate! Here is the kitchen! There is a fire under the flat thing on the right and the smoke kinda just comes out the other end!

You can see Carmen and Cesar and Lucie and Diana here, and they really liked the peanut sauce...the curry was not as pleasing for the kids and that is when i remembered how long it took for the taste to grow on me! But the gramma liked it the next day when she tried it! That made me really happy!

Somehow during this time I met another organism that I really didnt like.... It made me lose lots of liquid form places where there should be no liquid exiting! And poor Lucie..... As I mentioned before the walls between the room and bathroom gave no sound barrier and atleast the first time as it was the middle of the night I didnt have the tv blaring! But by the end I said I have one mother in Canada and now I have 2 in Guatemala! Carmen and Lucie were both really sweet to me, Carmen giving recipes and Lucie getting the food for me.... Papaya smoothies and garlic and lemon juice...(not at the same time!) I was very well taken care of and eased back into solid food with BBQ'd Plantane, which aparently was the right thing as I am much better now! So there is one more experience I got to have while at the hotel.... for the record I am 99.9% sure the bug came from something I had at the fair!

So with much heartache and a surprise goodbye gift from Carmen I was off again on my own! It took most of a day to reach Flores...the absolute best part was when I reached the fork in the road where I rejoined the asfalt!!! What a moment to remember! I had come form the south and turned left there, and now I headed north! The ride here was crazy as usual and for the first time there were actually live chickens in the microbus! and a puking kid who I got to sit next too....but boy did I jump for the first open seat! I tink I was almost sick again but managed ok.... sorry if that is way to much onfo on bodily functions in this post but I wasnt to give a realy feel for the place!!!

Now I am waiting for trip to El Mirador, some ruins you can only get to on foot with a 2 day hike.... Tomorrow I am off to Tikal, aparently some of the craziest ruins in the whole mayan world... they will only be topped by El Mirador in 10 years, as most of it is stillunder Jungle!

Adios!