Utila and Tikal

Time for a quick one, and it's Clayton here. Scuba diving was quite the rush. You must understand that I've had a general fear of water ever since I can remeber, and it has manifested itself in a phobia of sharks. I'll toot my own horn and say that I'm proud of myself for doing it. Definitely one thing I have learned, in part from this trip, is that you can pretty much do anything you set your mind to. It's an empowering feeling. Anyway, more about diving, once you become comfortable, it is an incredibly relaxing activity. Floating weightless, you marvel at the ability to breathe underwater, all the while observing every color and shape of sea creature imaginable, under you beside you and overhead. The best way I can think of to describe what we saw is to liken it to a Discovery channel program. Just one more thing on the list of recommendations. Today we saw the Mayan ruins of Tikal, in northern Guatemala. We had been told the site was on par with Machu Picchu, so I guess my expectations were set a little too high. That said, it is still a remarkable place. Only 20% excavated, much of it remains covered by the jungle. In comparison to the Inca ruins of the 15th century, Tikal dates back to somewhere around 800BC, which I thought was quite impressive. Apparently, within the last five years, they have discovered a new Mayan site that is four times the size of Tikal (Tikal was thought to have been the capital of the Mayan civilization). A five day hike from here, it made us wish we had more time. Always short on time so I will end here. Piet should have some pictures up. And we should mention that the last entry gave us a lot of problems. We ended up deleting the first two postings, which means we may have deleted any comments made, just in case you were wondering. See most of you soon!