Caitlin Swail: Tikal National Park

Today we woke up in Morales, ate breakfast in Rio Dulce, lunch in Poptun, and dinner in Tikal. It’s been a long day and it feels like ages ago since we waved goodbye to our student buddies as we pulled away from El Centro Educativo Bilingue Del Monte.

Up this morning at 7am after another “Hootenany” with the most-talented Tony and a few of his friends last night. Saying goodbye to the students on our way out was emotional for many of us who had grown attached to our Guatemalan buddies in the short time we spent with them. Meeting my 16 year old buds, Ryan and Louis, was certainly one of the most memorable experiences of my trip thus far. I found that spending time with the students highlighted our human similarities much more than our cultural differences.

We were soon back on our faithful tour bus and off to Nanajuanna Resort (this is the company our bus driver Marcos works for). We enjoyed breakfast in the sun on the dock of the Nanajuanna yacht club and handed in our bags for some much needed laundry service. The only damper on the day was the five hour drive ahead of us and that a few of our group have been affected by some travelling bugs. We’ve been pumping them both full of the various remedies we’ve all brought along and they will hopefully be fresh as daisies when in the morning.

Our next few hours on the bus took us away from Rio Dulce and into the province of Peten, which is more rural, tropical, and densely forested.  Karla’s fantastic playlist and the passing scenery occupied us on our journey to the next stop, an arts and crafts shop and workshop in the town of Poptun.

We pulled into an ordinary looking building on the side of the highway to meet Almer and his family. Almer is a woodworker who is active in promoting ethical logging practices in Guatemala. He agreed to give us a tour of his shop and explain the sustainable forestry industry in Guatemala and some of the issues surrounding it. Beneath the upstairs gallery was an industrious and productive wood-working shop strewn with tools and projects. He showed us some gorgeous pieces, including an impressive table he was building out of the rare and beautiful Rosewood. There were a few men working in the shop and it opened onto a lush backyard with chickens poking around. Almer’s son, only 10 years old, came running down to the shop to eagerly demonstrate his carving skills to us.

Almer’s wife Veronica served us a deliciously simple lunch of chicken soup with vegetables and fresh herbs. We relaxed with some cold drinks, played with the cats, dogs, and chicks that wandered around the patio, and browsed the gallery. There were many beautiful pieces and Almer’s sons acted as very successful little salesmen while his young daughter charmed us all from the centre of the room in her custom made wooden chair. As the bus pulled away I felt a real fondness for this family and the simple elegance of their home and business and admired the ethicality of their practices. In typical friendly Guatemalan fashion, they’ve invited us to stop through tomorrow afternoon.

A few more hours on the bus and some unflattering yet hilarious napping photos later we arrived at our destination of Tikal. This has been the most anticipated activity of the trip for many of us and we were all anxious to get here. As we drove into the park the jungle was thick and dense on either side of us and it came complete with rainforest humidity and jaguar-crossing signs. I’ve never been anywhere that has felt so wild and untouched before and I feel very privileged to visit places like this as they become fewer and farther between on the planet.

After a lovely dinner in the hotel restaurant we’re all tucking into our dewy beds to rest up for the 5am hike to the Tikal Mayan ruins. We’ve all done the mandatory creepy-crawly checks under our beds and are looking forward to the morning!

Goodnight, don’t let the bed bugs (snakes, spiders, scorpions etc…) bite!

Caitlyn Swail is a third year Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies student.