I am still conflicted about this trip. In retrospect there were many wonders, not the least of which was traveling with my favorite companion, being silly, and seeing the world without telephones, computers, televisions and such. Of all the marvels, I think the birds and beasts of Tikal stand out most for me. I still haven't gotten a bird book so I can read about them and show them to my mother and to Sarah and Don, but I looked some of them up on the net today. Of the mot mot, I have to say, I only got a very shady look at it and after seeing it's amazing tail in a photo, I wish I had seen more. Montezuma's Oropendula was so prolific, it was just commonplace, but always startling and it's voice was lovely. The Violaceous Trogon...a small, colorful bird with a huge name, was a real treat since they don't seem to be very common. And the keel billed Toucan still makes me think of Fruit Loops. I never thought I would see so many wonderful birds outside of a zoo...
As for the rest? Guatemala is an enigma to me. Parts of it were lovely and charming, but it was hard to get next to, hard to travel, and I've had some hard traveling before this. I just prefer Asia. There is something more welcoming, less tense, more like a soft embrace when I wander through those countries. Guatemala was hard in the way rocks in your shoes are hard, or the way a cold hard cement bench is hard. But the textiles dazzled my eyes and the mountains around Todos Santos were a moonscape with the giant agaves blooming indiscriminately on a landscape so bleak and dry. So I'm glad I got to see it all, of course. And I know that travel, any travel, is a privilege. I never take it for granted, and I hope I will get to do it again...maybe not to Guatemala, but somewhere. I'm certainly ready to go any time.
