Tikal jungle times six

Haaahd workin' leafcutter ants, the original farmers of the forest.

Sensitivo?

A little more toucan for you!

Tikal jungle times five

Nice bedunkadunk

Just your average, run of the mill local turkey.

Toucan!

Hungry toucan!

Tikal jungle part four

Muy sensitivo!

It's important to be rooted in life.

Any botanists out there care to let us know if this is a fern?

Possible fern photo numero dos!

Tikal jungle times two

Tikal jungle times one

Z in her element

This is the gumbo-limbo tree - good for skin ailments such as poison ivy, poison oak. Also helps with dancing and N'awlins stews.

Tikal Tour Guide

Little Caesar Moran and our own Jeff at the end of the tour. Highly entertaining with an American accent to boot, Caesar grew up in LA after his mother emigrated to the US because his father was killed in the civil war. Insights and humor abounded, can't recommend him highly enough.

Tikal times three

View from temple 5

Z attempting to do a little shimmy near the edge in her fancy new duds.

You can't hide from the Z

She's got her eye on you. Jeff's view from Temple 5

Tikal times 2

The view from the top of temple 4.

Grrrrrr.

Utterly, unbelievably dangerous steps, the kind that actually can't be conceived of in the US due to the litigation that might occur from even contemplating the construction of slippery, wooden, nearly upright steps. The right steps are for going up, the left for going down. One of the more viceral experiences I've had in the last few years. Increadibly peaceful at the top. No railing up there either.

Tikal times 1

Face!

Z above the acropolis

What Z sees.

What Z also sees. Little foggy, not hot.

Tikal!

A visit to any national park isn't complete without letting you know what you can't do.

No scratching!

No hurting!

And, of course, no plant wrestling. Again, feel free to pet or talk with the plants, but under NO circumstances are you to body slam, atomic drop, Tiger driver or double knee gutbuster the flora of Tikal.

Goodbye Ziggy

Shot at 7:32 AM, prior to our 15 hour trip to Tikal. Note Caroline's extremely friendly demeanor early in the morning and Jeff's stylin' hair and Hellboy T-shirt picked up at the local used clothing market, fondly known as the pacha.

It's jade time!

Zephir and Francisco, a master jade maker who hunts for jade in the mountains of Guatemala with little but a burro in tow, keeps a beautiful garden and likes to water his jade more than his flowers. Here he's showing Zephir how to avoid cutting off her fingertips.

If everything goes according to plan Zephir will be makin' jade this afternoon.

Yes, that's a jade jaguar.

Ziggy, our Canadian-Jewish-German friend, weighing his options with this huge piece of jade.

Flowers of San Juan

Set in the foothills above Antigua and boasting a nunnery of some fame, San Juan also hosts a number of fantastic artisanal shops and some beautiful flowers.

You can find the pods from these on sale at the market here in Antigua - more photos available upon request for identification purposes.

Grenadia flowers, relatives of the passionfruit.

They call these the camerones flores, or shrimp flowers.