Easter in Guatemala!

Because yesterday was Easter and Belizeans are predominantly Catholic, almost everything was closed except for the tourist attractions.  It was also our last day in San Ignacio, which is very close to the Guatemalan border, so we decided to spend the day there.  We woke up in the morning and took a bus to the border.  Guatemala doesn’t use the same currency in Belize so we had to exchange our money and then wait in line for a while to pay a fee to leave the country.  Once we paid the fee, we had to go through immigration and get our passports stamped.  This whole process took a lot longer than anticipated because it was Easter.  Once we got our passports stamped, our tour guide, Hugo, took all of our passports and did the final step (whatever that may have been) so we could enter into Guatemala!  Hugo loaded us into a big van and we were off!

We drove for about an hour and a half until we reached the place where we were going zip-lining.  The native language in Guatemala is Spanish and many of the people don’t speak English so it was fun to be able to use Spanish/play charades with everyone.  The guy who put my harness on me was pretty pleased when he found out I could speak Spanish so he made sure that I was in his zip-lining group so I could translate if necessary.  Once we all had our harnesses on, we climbed ladders to get to the top of the course.  They explained how to zip line and took cameras from us so they could take pictures as we were coming into each platform.  Then it was time to get to it!  There were eight lines in total, some were longer than others and some just went through trees and others went over the road.  After I did the first line, the guy who was there to catch me (a.k.a. make sure I didn’t slam into the tree) asked if I was going to “superwoman”.  It took me a few seconds to understand what he was talking about, and then I said no, and then he eventually convinced me.  Normally when you zip line you are upright in a seated position, but when you “superman”, you take off your harness and put it on backwards so you are clipping to the line from your back and you go hands first… just like how superman flies.  The first time I did it, he was attached to the line as well to break for me and to make sure I didn’t hit the tree at the end.  It ended up being way more fun than the normal seated position and eventually everyone in our group did it.  On the second to last line, we got to “superman” by ourselves.  To stop on the zipline, you just pull down on the line so the guys running it were able to stop us by pulling down on the line over the platform.  On the last line, they told me there was a “sorpresita” (a little surprise) and then they laughed.  This made me nervous.  I got about half way down the line when the guy at the end started yanking on the line to make me go up and down while I was going forward.  My initial reaction was to start yelling that this was not fun, but it was so close to the platform that it wasn’t too bad.  If I had been bounced up and down for longer it may or may not have ended in vomit.  Zip lining was a lot of fun and I ended up with some good pictures/videos that the guides took!

After we went zip-lining, we got back in the van and drove just over an hour to the island of Flores.  There is now a bridge connecting Flores to the mainland, but the Guatemalans still consider it to be an island because it didn’t have a bridge for many years.  Flores is very small and quaint.  The buildings are all painted bright colors and it mostly has shops and restaurants.  It is definitely a go-to spot for tourists.  We spent a few hours there and then loaded back in the van to head back to Belize.

We got back to Belize later than anticipated.  Also, not only was it Easter, but it was also Molly (another girl on the trip)’s birthday!  We had made reservations the night before at a restaurant so we got off the bus and took Molly to the restaurant without her realizing that it was for her birthday.  After we yelled surprise, she caught on pretty quickly.  Dinner was delicious and it was a very successful Easter!

This morning we woke up early to catch the first bus out of San Ignacio back to Belize City so we could catch the ferry to San Pedro.  The bus ride wasn’t as terrible as it had been previously and we ended up getting back to San Pedro around 10ish.  We got back to our hotel and were given the same room that we were in previously.  Interestingly enough, I walked into my room and where my mattress had once been was now only a few pieces of wood. 

Kelsey and I spent the majority of the beach and I am happy to report that when we got back to our room, I had a mattress!  It’s nice to be back here and to be able to have everything unpacked until we leave in just under two weeks.  We’re spending the rest of this week doing community service around the island and then we head back to North Carolina for graduation a week from Saturday.  It’s crazy how fast the time has passed!