Saturday, January 09, 2010
Guatemala Vacation - 2009
After the mission trip Ginny and Larry stayed a second week in Guatemala as tourists.
We took a boat trip down the Rio Dulce to the Caribbean ocean and the town of Livingston settled by Africans.
Yachts from the U.S. east coast enter the river to vacation.
The Caribbean beach at Livingston.
A parrot - Mark from our mission team took this photo.
Carrying a load to market in Chichicastenango.
Up a rugged mountain road requiring four wheel drive was Semuc Champey a river that emerged as a massive spring and then disappears again. It reminded us of a tropical Havasu Canyon.
The turquoise green pools were inviting.
Cool water on a hot day.
A long drive to the north end of the country brought us to the Mayan Ruins of Tikal. This spot was where the jungle scenes in the Star Wars movie "The Return of the Jedi" was filmed.
The photos do not show the size as well as one's eye. It was built during the time of the Roman empire. Satellite radar that penetrates the jungle shows that the entire jungle was cleared and had irrigation canals and defined fields. An estimated 100,000 people lived in the city. It was undiscovered until the late 1800's when the U. of Pennsylvania began excavating and is still only 20% complete. Even these temples that soared above the jungle had to be excavated. Dirt and debris covered them over the centuries and the jungle took back the farms.
Ginny does not seem afraid of heights. We are about 200 feet above the jungle floor. No handrail.
From this perch we looked down on a spider monkey in the treetops.
And looked across at the top of a temple. The vultures flying start to give the eye a perspective of the vast size. This tower appears in the left center of the panorama above. The photo is taken from the right most tower in the panorama above.
Wild turkeys.
Ginny at the steps of a temple.
The central plaza at Tikal.
Larry made this photo from three photos merged in a panorama on an earlier trip to Guatemala. Larry recently got the software to do the panorama. Lake Atitlan ranks with Tikal and Semuc Champey as the three most beautiful spots in the country.
We took a boat trip down the Rio Dulce to the Caribbean ocean and the town of Livingston settled by Africans.
Yachts from the U.S. east coast enter the river to vacation.
The Caribbean beach at Livingston.
A parrot - Mark from our mission team took this photo.
Carrying a load to market in Chichicastenango.
Up a rugged mountain road requiring four wheel drive was Semuc Champey a river that emerged as a massive spring and then disappears again. It reminded us of a tropical Havasu Canyon.
The turquoise green pools were inviting.
Cool water on a hot day.
A long drive to the north end of the country brought us to the Mayan Ruins of Tikal. This spot was where the jungle scenes in the Star Wars movie "The Return of the Jedi" was filmed.
The photos do not show the size as well as one's eye. It was built during the time of the Roman empire. Satellite radar that penetrates the jungle shows that the entire jungle was cleared and had irrigation canals and defined fields. An estimated 100,000 people lived in the city. It was undiscovered until the late 1800's when the U. of Pennsylvania began excavating and is still only 20% complete. Even these temples that soared above the jungle had to be excavated. Dirt and debris covered them over the centuries and the jungle took back the farms.
Ginny does not seem afraid of heights. We are about 200 feet above the jungle floor. No handrail.
From this perch we looked down on a spider monkey in the treetops.
And looked across at the top of a temple. The vultures flying start to give the eye a perspective of the vast size. This tower appears in the left center of the panorama above. The photo is taken from the right most tower in the panorama above.
Wild turkeys.
Ginny at the steps of a temple.
The central plaza at Tikal.
Larry made this photo from three photos merged in a panorama on an earlier trip to Guatemala. Larry recently got the software to do the panorama. Lake Atitlan ranks with Tikal and Semuc Champey as the three most beautiful spots in the country.
# posted by Ginny Hjalmarson @ 6:43 PM 
