Last weekend I woke up early Saturday morning and helped out as a community member in picking up trash around town. I ran into some friends and it turned out to be a great morning. Once that was done however, I went home to shower and hang out and managed not to leave my house for the rest of the day. Instead, I made beans and cleaned up a bit. I've learned to love lazy weekends.
The thing about lazy weekends however is that it simply won't bode well on my psyche to sit around at home for two days. Sunday, I woke up, made breakfast and tea and then gathered a few things - bottle of water, camera - and headed off for a walk. I ended up here of course, a great destination for an otherwise uneventful day. 6 miles walking and a view like this was just what I needed.
Xunantunich is maybe a 3 mile walk from my house including a steep climb all the way to the entrance of the site and then an extra distance to get to the top of the tallest peak, featured in this picture. From up there the whole Cayo region looks tiny. Guatemala looks ridiculously close. Trails and roads I never knew existed pop up from amongst the trees and smoke clouds rise from various fires scattered around. I made my trek in the silence that frequently envelopes me. Living alone, sometimes working alone and having so much time for solitary adventures, sometimes I find that I'll make it a whole day without saying more than "dias" or "tardes" to people. Sometimes that makes me sad but mostly it makes the conversations I do have more meaningful. I look upon Benque from the peak of El Castillo at Xunantunich and release a contented sigh, absorbing the beauty around me. Never in my three or four treks up here have I managed to have the peak to myself. One day I will sit up there and feel the bliss of silence from the peak of an ancient Mayan temple. This particular time there were two men, tourists from the midwestern US. They were respectful of their surroundings at least and one guy commented with a twinge of awe that he would never get used to seeing something like this, even if it was in his backyard. In my mind, I thought, yeah right.. you'd get over it. But then thinking on that, maybe he wouldn't. I haven't yet. And after living in Alaska for eight years I never really got over the magnificence of the Mendenhall Glacier or the soaring bald eagles.
From my perch upon the temple I also saw ominous clouds rolling our way. As the drops starting to fall, I descended carefully from the stones which I sat upon. Slippery stones that high up is not where I want to be when an unpredictable rain storm showers all around. Once descended I looked for a covered area but found none. I was concerned about my bag getting too wet with a camera inside so I was fidgeting with it when I realized I had an umbrella. I was already soaked but pulled out the umbrella and traipsed around the woods then, protected from the downpour by the trees. I stood real still next to the base of a next temple and near a tree, and by chance caught sight of a huge iguana checking out a hole in the ground. We stood around checking each other out for a while. I got bored first and wandered off farther. Eventually I trekked downhill and home.While descending though, I walked past a herd of these critters. I'm glad we had a fence between us and there was only curiosity rather than animosity. Those horns could hurt!
I've been blessed to live in amazing destinations and my current town is no exception. I'm thankful for the Mayan temples, for the farms and pastures of this western Cayo district, for my proximity to Guatemala and the delicious beer they produce and the cheap things I can buy there. I'm grateful to be in Central America and to have such an experience in life. For this is a pretty special life indeed...
[And.. CUT. Sappy stanza of gratitude done.]
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