Frights, left right and centre

On the 9th September the border into Guatamala was crossed and we headed off to Tikal National Park. Some argue this is the most impressive ancient Mayan site in the world. This is the view from atop temple 4, the eagled eyed sci fi fans will recognise this as a scene from Star Wars. It was also the location of Endor the Forrest Moon. On Sat Night I climbed temple 4 to watch the full moon and see the moonlight light up the temples. The following morning I arose at 4am (yes I got up at that time) to climb temple 4 again, this time to see the sunrise. Alas due to low cloud there was no sunrise but I did get to listen to the jungle awakening. The noises were very eerie, as if giant beasts lived there but thankfully they don´t. Did see some racoon type animals up close and saw the monkeys swinging through the treetops. Not content with climbing temple 4 twice, temples 1 and 2 and the temple of the lost world I approached temple 5. This has only recently been excavated and is only open at weekends due to the archeologists still working on it during the week. Didn´t look too steep from the front but it is unsafe to climb so they have built open wooden steps up it, around the corner. From below they looked liked normal steps. Pretty soon it became apparant that they were ridiculously steep and extremely scary. They were practically vertical. After willing myself to the top I inched very slowly along the narrow ledge at the top. The view was impressive but I then had to descend. Almost scared myself to death during the descent. I went down backwards as if I was on a ladder and I went very very slowly. This is temple 1 - the easy small one!

Felt very pleased with myself none the less and was with a proud heart I arrived at the next camp site. This was a lovely place to relax, watch the world go by from the hammock house and enjoy the homemade banana bread. Why wasn´t I content with his? Feeling very brave I signed up to go river tubing (exactly as it sounds - float down the river is a giant inner tube). The poster said not for wimps - that should have warned me. The first hour was very relaxing, bobbing along even though we did go down a couple of minor rapids. The second part is where it got adventurous (bloody scary). The last two nights had seen extreme thunderstorms and as a result the river was not only high but incredibly fast. We were warned that people come back with bumps and bruises. The rocks were extremely sharp and ragged and the current beyond strong. As you have probably guessed, I was the one who came out of the tube and flung headfirst through two rapids (was wearing a safety helmet). It made temple 5 look like a picnic. After being severly battered I had to climb back into the tube to continue the course to the end. The boys had to lift me in and out of the truck to get me home, as my bruises my this point had swollen so much I was unable to move. Bruised and battered but not broken I returned to the hammock. Thats two scary things done in less than a week. Think I will take it easy for the forseeable future!