Do you see those temples and buildings in the distance? They're older than Jesus. That's really old. And that's really impressive. We just had our YAV retreat in Tikal and Belize and it was....
AMAZING!
Let's see... we had the amazingness of hanging out with some of my closest friends for a week among Mayan ruins....
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| This is us sacrificing Tina... |
Then the grandiose city itself...
It was an amazing place; really impressive and really nice to have a guide to teach us all about the history and how crazy cool it all is!
(ps... the buildings are so old that they were DISCOVERED because they had the jungle built over them!)
(pps... we saw MONKEYS!)
This is all about Rastifarianism... I think I may be an eternal rastifarian...I just lack the dreads, alcohol, drugs, and complete carefreeness.
Belize = Gorgeous!
if there's anything that could make me miss Gig Harbor, it's living on an island for 3 days in the middle of the Caribean.
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| Picture YAVs here. |
Then... we rented bikes and biked all around the island for two days... that made me miss Walla Walla and our late night bike rides to Iceburg for milkshakes.
This is the best day ever... in photo form.
This is Tina with two local girls on the dock. They were SO EXCITED about showing us around their home and yard. We got to see big tarpine, starfish, and where they lived. It was a really good reminder that even though we were in "paradise" there is still poverty... but in the midst of poverty, there is still pride and happiness. I like reminders like that.
And then... we went and joined Ras Creek on his boat pictured here.
If pictures could say 1000 words, consider the adventure told, but let me give it to you mathematically as well:
Ras Creek (aka large Rastifarian Man) + 5 YAVs + 2 Europeans + a US local and his girlfriend + holding sting rays + a fresh caught fish + 2 carrots + 2 platanos + a sketchy grill = a lot of stories that need to be told face to face.
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| Ras fishing for our lunch. |
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| Me lacking faith in Ras' fishing and therefore making some (killer) guacamole |
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| Ras is "all natural" and he's friends with the birds! They just chilled on the boat for a while |
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| He's also "friends" with sting rays and let us be "friends" too... that thought was a bit daunting. |
World's most ingenious/sketchiest grill ever. This is lunch/dinner/snack (meals are fluid when you're on Ras Creek's boat for 9 hours). The grill comes out and can rotate to match the wind with the needs of the coconut (that is the wood). It's really impressive... but when it's propped up on top, I definitely feared that it would fall.
We'll have storytime later :)
All in all... it was amazing, refreshing, and I feel like a new person being able to have a break from the chaos here in Guatemala (I got to speak English, open the fridge, not carry my money in my bra, and was able to express my feelings!). I now feel like I can be here (legally because we renewed our visas and physically and emotionally) for another 6 months and surthrive. Thank you to all our sponsors for making that possible!
(once picasa likes me, I'll have a bunch of pictures up for you to see! www.picasaweb.google.com/curleske)
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