Day 14 - Ixpanpajul and Rio Dulce, and Day 15- Kayaking and Harry Potter

After our long day at Tikal (we walked non-stop from 10am until 6pm when they kicked us out of the park...), we slept in just a little. When I got up, I decided to go read a little in the hammock outside our room. This is what I found:

We left Tikal and head to a private park called Ixpanpajul. They have horse back riding, suspension bridges over the canopy of the rainforest, and ziplining. We, of course, chose ziplining. The guide gave us explicit direction on how to do it correctly, and how to slow down as we went from platform to platform. I even translated the directions into English for a couple of Dutch women who were in our group. Then, of course, I proceeded to practically break my nose as I went at full speed into the guided waiting for me at the next platform. Ouch. Then second time, I slowed down so much that I had to go hand-over-hand to pull myself to the next platform. I did finally get it the third time. Much fun!

After our canopy experience, we headed to Rio Dulce to stay for the night. Unfortunately, the camera died, so we don't have pictures... But we stayed at a hotel called Tortugal, where our room was a ranchito with a thatched roof, no windows, no doors - au natural... Which would have been great, except for the massive rain storm that hit that night. I was worried that our beds would be soaked. But they weren't! Well-designed building: http://www.tortugal.com/lodging/ranchito.html So, we made it through the night, dry and rested.

The hotel had a swimming dock out in the river, which we enjoyed to the fullest. We also did a little kayaking. Well, Sergio and I did a little kayaking, but our kayak kept filling with water. David and Regis did A LOT of kayaking, so much that we were worried they wouldn't make it back in time to get back to Guate to see... HARRY POTTER!!!

But they did get back in time, and we drove back to the city. We took showers, ate dinner, and went to the movies. I checked Harry Potter off my to-do list, and we all fell fast asleep when we got home from such a full day of fun.