The Adventure

Last Friday morning at 6:30 a.m. We left Guatemala City en route to Belize City on assignment to meet with our attorneys there and with new law firms in an effort to resolve legal problems in Belize. We drove down El Martí and Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán Highway, the winding highway to the Atlantic, as it descends from the highlands plateau on which Guatemala City sits to Lake Izabal, the largest lake in Guatemala.  On the far side of the Lake, we turned north through Rio Dulce on our way to the Petén and Flores, a small, historic town on an island in the middle of Lake Petén Itza.  The drive was long and tiring, as drives in Guate are prone to be, but what an interesting trip.  We passed through so many Guatemalan cities, towns' and villages.  There was never more than a few miles between settlements.  We winded along the Rio Grande or Rio Motagua most of the way to Izabal, and for the first time we saw large agricultural projects and even large tractors.  These were obviously large operations of agribusiness, not the little hand tended plots of the Maya we had seen on our trip to Atitlán in the highlands.  In the long road into the Petén, we had to be in constant look-out for túmulos, big speed bumps across the highway as you approached each little village.  They are such big bumps that if you hit one unexpectedly at too much velocity, you can do serious damage to your car.  After about 9.5 hours of driving, we arrived in Flores.  It is a beautiful little island city with cobblestone streets and traditional buildings.  It was a place where the Maya held out against the Conquistadors.  The lake, Petén Itza, is karstic, as are the other 20 or more lakes across the Petén, and its level varies in about a 20 year cycle.  It is high now and the north and east sides of Flores are flooded.  Flores is a tourist town that caters to the waves of tourists from all over the world that come to see Tikal, the famous Mayan Ruins a little north of Flores.  We stayed in a tiny little room in the Casona de la Isla with a view of the lake.  Flores was a lively little town at night.

On Saturday morning,  we drove to Tikal.  As we entered the park, we hired a Mayan guide who speaks English to show us the ruins.  His name is Josue Castillo.  He grew up in a small Mayan village near Rio Dulce, speaking his traditional Mayan dialect at home, learning Spanish in school. He had to leave his home as a teenager, because he wanted an education.  The government only provides six years of education for the children, and after that the family has to pay for schooling for their children.  The poor families can´t afford that, and it is rare for the poor children to get more education.  They are expected to work and the help the family survive.  Josue left and worked his way to an education, even learning English and becoming a tour guide.

Tikal is an amazing Mayan Ruin site.  Sitting atop Temple 5, the tallest building in the Mayan world, you look north across the Petén, across the heart of the Mayan empire.  It is an impressive sight.  The ruins are layered across the centuries being built over the structures of earlier times.  The oldest ruins of the Lost World date to 600 B.C.  The size of the site is astounding, and only a small part has been excavated.  We will post some pictures of the ruins when we get a chance.

The next day, on Sunday, November 15, we attended a regional conference for Guatemala with the Petén Stake, the newest stake in Guatemala, created just a couple of weeks ago.  They have a beautiful stake center, and the Saints there were impressive.  Elder Bednar was the presiding authority at the conference.  Afterwards we drove to Belize.  The border crossing is an experience in itself and took us an hour to get through the whole process, including the fumigation of our car.  On the Belizean side of the border, everything changes--the language is English, the tradition is British, the houses have yards, the cattle are Angus and Hereford rather than Brahma.  It was amazing how much things changed when crossing that border.  That afternoon we had torrential rains and the highway (that is really an exaggeration for this rough, pot-holed road), which follows a large river, Rio Mopán an later the Belize River, was flooded in many places.  We made crossings of these flooded areas, sometimes with water nearly up to the doors.  It was a dangerous and difficult drive into Belmopan, the capital city of Belize.  From there the highway is really good on over to Belize City.  We had our hotel, the Raddison, entered into Waze, the GPS navigation system people use here, but it took us to our hotel in a circuitous route through the worst parts of Belize City.  It was dark by then, an we felt a little disconcerted trying to find our hotel.  But finally we arrived, safe and sound, after this drive which can only be described as an adventure.  We are grateful for the Lord's protecting hand!