Day 3 – Travel Day and Quirigua Archeological site

It is 7:00am and we are already on the road to our next hotel, way too early, but we have a long drive ahead of us and with one sightseeing and a lunch stop along the way.  Our destination this evening is near Flores where we will stay for two nights.  As we are driving out of the City we pass the US Embassy.

As we mentioned yesterday, guards armed with shotguns are prevalent at almost every business.  Here is one at a gas station.  We can only surmise that they are here because of the amount of cash that is transacted throughout the day.

Check this out, mind you we are still in Guatemala City, a city of 4 million people, and this guy is herding his goats through the streets.  Not something, you would expect to see in the city.

We are out of the city and can see that there is quite a bit of smoke covering the landscape.  This valley does not have much smoke but earlier before we reached this waterway, there was quite a bit.  We have seen a number of small fires in the distance, but they do not seem to be of any concern to people.

We have to stop on the road because of construction further up the road.  Here are a number of women plying wares to the stranded vehicles.  I don’t think anyone from the bus bought anything.

Back on the road, we pass where they are enlarging the roadway and come to where they are crushing rocks on site; from big rocks, to smaller rocks, to gravel.  Quite an operation.  We understand that they are working on the road construction 24 hours a day.  They should be finished after we come back.

Our tour guide, Oscar, is telling us about jade and how it was used by the Mayans in the 600 ad era.  He passed around his personal piece of a (registered) jade jaguar he found at a private site.

It is interesting; we are in an area where there are cactus which have white tips.  Oscar said that because of the white tops, the locals call this a grandfather cactus.

You can clearly see one of the columns of smoke from a fire in the distance.  As I mentioned we have passed a number of these all contributing to the hazy appearance of the background.

We stopped at a hotel, since it is about time for a 20-minute potty stop and while I was waiting, I was able to see and get a picture of this bird.  Don’t quote me, but I think this may be a Bananaquit or a Great Kiskadee. 

There were many flowers in the garden at this hotel and one of the more unusual ones I saw was this one.  I like the way the flower starts down then turns upwards towards the sunshine.  

A little over an hour after our break, we come to our first tour stop.  We have arrived at Quirigua, ancient Mayan archeological site.  As we enter and wait for our guide, I see these unusual flowers.

We begin heading down this path to the structures and see some amazingly tall trees.  Some of these trees reach over 200 feet.

Along the way, the guide points out a cocoa tree that during our walk down the path.  Here is a cluster of the cocoa fruit. 

This is one of the stones, named Estela C which represents K’ak’ Tiliw Chan Yopaat and is dated at 9.17.5.0.0 6 Ajaw 13 K’ayab, putting it at 29 December 775AD.  The date is actually written on one of the sides of the obelisk and tells a story of the person this stone is for.

Near this stone tower is a carved altar stone.  The label indicates it is named Zoomorfo B and is dated at 9.14.1.0.0 12 Ajaw 8 Pax which puts it at 2 December 780 AD.

One of my goals during each trip is to get a picture of some sort of reptile or lizard.  Well as you can see, to my excitement, I found a lizard. 

Here is another carved stone obelisk, this one named Estela D and has the date 9.16.15.0.0 7 Ajaw 8 Pop which places it at 19 February 766 AD.

One of the tallest of the stones is named Estela F and has the date 9.16.10.0.0 1 Ajaw 3 Sip that begins the story for the person depicted in the stone. 

Here are the glyphs that tell the date and story of Estela F.  Each glyph starting at the top left, moving right, then down left, showing the date since the beginning of the Mayan creation.  Then, after the date begins the description of the event for which the stone was carved.

A close-up of Estela J, which has the date 12 April 756 AD.  Notice all of the detail in the stone carving.

This is the backside of Estela K and I can see how space alien theorists would think that this is a man in a space suit.  Interesting carving though.  This stone has the date 21 July 805 AD.

As we move from stone monument to another, we are able to look down the long grassy area to the acropolis in the far back.  We are heading that way and anticipate a great view looking back this way.

Reaching the acropolis, we turn to see how far ahead of the others in our group Carmen and I are.  Not so far ahead, and the stone steps have remarkably held up very well as Carmen and I make our way to the top without much trouble.

We reach the top of the stairs and turn to look back.  Imagine looking out   this same way in the year 675 AD.  Of course, the trees would have been smaller and more hustle and bustle going on.  The people way in the background are part of our tour group and it looks like we are a lot further ahead than I thought we were.

Here is a look at the ball field.  The ball game between the Maya was a game and an important ritual in their religion.  The ball represented the sun and the course it made across the sky as well as the battle between good and evil.

Just for good measure, here is a panoramic view of the ball field.  To give perspective, the steps to the left and right are where I am standing.

Looking across the field, we get a closer look at the far end of the ball field from our position on top of the acropolis. 

We can see a view of Carmen as I am looking through one of the “windows” in the building on top of the acropolis. 

One of the few birds I have seen that is different from the ones we normally see.  I do not know what the name of this bird is, so if someone finds out let me know so I can add it here.

We are leaving the top of the acropolis by a different route and Carmen stops and asks if this is a lizard or a snake.  It's a lizard!  Sure enough, I get to see my second lizard of the trip.  I didn’t even expect to see one, let alone two.  Now it is difficult to tell from the photo, but the lizard body is about 10 inches long and the tail is another 15-18 inches making the total length of the lizard about 2-feet.  Amazing!!

Having taken the high steps down from the acropolis, we begin to make our way to the exit and see this bird land in the shadows.  I quickly take a picture, which is why it did not come out so good, but the bird looked like it had freckles on its breast feathers.  I think it is a Wood Thrush. 

We visit one last stone-carved obelisk on our way out of Quirigua.  This one like some others is tall. 

I hear a bird up in the tree near me and finally find it.  I was able to take only one picture before it flew off.  It looks to have a tuft of feathers on the head, but it might be my imagination getting the better of me. 

Near the exit, I was also able to hear and find this bird.  It has a yellow breast, white top of its head and black eye band, probably a Great Kiskadee.  As I said earlier, if you know the name of the bird, please let me know.

We have left Quirigua and the stone obelisks behind and on the road to Rio Dulce where we will have lunch.  There appears to be less smoke in the air and occasionally there is a break in the vegetation along the side of the road to get a picture.  You can see some of the many Brahman steer that we have seen on our ride this morning.

About another hour and a half drive later, we stop for lunch at a resort on lake El Golfete in Rio Dulce.  The restaurant is over the lake water, our table overlooks the lake, and we enjoy the scenery while we eat.

Besides the fish, turtles, and ducks swimming in the waters around the restaurant, I also see these orchids.  Very nice!

The weather has mostly cleared, now that the day is almost gone and we approach our hotel, and during another short break in the trees lining the road we were able to get this picture of a field with the mountains in the background.

Here is a little fixer-upper you could get for cheap, with a nice field in front and mountains in the back yard.  The sun is setting fast and it is getting to dark to take pictures, so we’ll see you tomorrow morning from our hotel on the shores of Petenchel Laguna.