Autobus para Copan?

I finished all my lab work (what needed to be done in Belize since I could not export the artifacts) on Wednesday. Very exciting. On Thursday morning Willa, Margaret and I took a boat to Guatemala and then got on a bus to a city near the border of Honduras. When we got off the bus at 4 pm we had likely missed the last bus to the border town of El Florido before the Honduran border closed at 6 pm. It was a stressful situation, but kind of hilarious in retrospect. We got off the bus and I was yelling at all the bus and microbus (kind of like a VW bus or a large passenger van) "necesito bus or microbus para El Florid" and got all sorts of contradictory information. In reality, it might have been accurate, I just couldn't understand what was going on. Finally we got on a microbus that was supposed to go to El Florido. It was so packed the sliding door didn't close and people were hanging out the side of the vehicle. After about an hour on this bus an employee told us we needed to get off and switch micro buses. I had no idea what was going on or if we would even make it to the Honduran border before it closed. Luckily we made there with ten minutos to spare at 5:50 pm (we found out once we got there that it actually stays open to pedestrian crossing until 7:00 so I did not need to stress as much as I did). When we pulled into Copan Ruinas, the town next to the Maya site Copan and saw Matt at Cafe ViaVia waiting for us I was so happy. This whole traveling in Guatemala and Honduras with no espanol is tricky. If I come back I totally need to relearn the language.

Copan was amazing. I'm so glad I finished my lab work so I could do this traveling.

Almost Done

I finished my fieldwork on Saturday - yippee! I worked my ass off all week and it was a rush on Saturday to get it all complete, but we did it. The next few days I will spend doing lab work. Most of the artifacts cannot be exported so I have to go through and analyze and photograph them here. This is good because it means I cannot procrastinate, but it also means I'm on a tight schedule.

Once Thursday rolls around three of us, Willa, Margaret, and I are hoping on fairies (couldn't resist spelling it that way) and buses and heading down through Guatemala in to Honduras to visit the Maya site Copan and meet up with Matt. I am looking forward to finishing my lab work and having some unrushed leisure travel time. Everything is so cheap down here too. I really want to come back and explore Latin America more. Everyone I talk to says the highlands of Guatemala around Antigua on the western side is amazingly beautiful and one of their favorite spots to visit. Antigua is a Spanish colonial with an interesting cultural scene. The surrounding area sports Maya sites, active volcanoes you can visit and waterfalls and lakes. So if anyone wants to travel around with me for a couple weeks in the future just let me know.

Homecoming

Wow, when I was in the airport in Belize City yesterday I kind of felt like I was coming home. The sweltering humidity made it all the more special. When I was in the states, I had a "grocery list" of goods to bring back. It included lots of granola bar-type things, dried fruit, EmergenC, an mp3 player and a CD player and scotch. I was Santa Claus for the day and people were so excited to get their presents.

Rachael's (and Matt's) wedding was a great time. It was a short trip for me, but I got to see some steller peeps who always brighten my day and make me feel so loved. Javers also came out for the weekend. We hung out on the beach one morning and I protected him from the sharks. Then we ate some kick-ass calamari.

Here's a shot from the reception I think y'all might enjoy.

By the way...

I completely forgot to mention the craziest part of my snorkeling experience. For the first 5 minutes I had some psychological issues with having my face under water and still being able to breathe. I was really focusing on breathing and I started to drift into a shallow part of the reef. I scrambled to push myself away and in the process grabed right onto a spikey sea urchin. When I told the guide about it later she told me I would have to pee on my finger to stop the pain and kill the bacteria and whatever else peeing on yourself is supposed to do. Definitely the grossest part of my day. Right after that I had to eat lunch too.

I've got to scoot so I can catch my puddle jumper plane to Belize City where I'll get a flight to the states for Rachael's wedding.

Back to work

Today we came back from Placencia. I have had some ongoing sinus issues so I went to the hospital/clinic in Punta Gorda and got some antibiotics and decongestants. It's so hot and humid here the decongestant pills had ruptured, but it was all free so I can't complain.

Now for a few more photos before I run out of time.




Hot and tired Amelia in our house.




Inside a Maya house. This is Pedro's daughter's home. She is a friend of Keith's, my advisor. We visited Pedro's family a few weeks ago for some traditional chicken stew (caldo) and fresh corn torillas.

Pedro in front of his corn stash. I don't know if I've said this already, but I have never eaten so much corn in so many different ways in my life. These people sure know how to utilize the corn.



The house we live in.





The truck we take to work every day. Today we rode it back from Placencia and we all got pelted with some tropical rain.

Snorkling

Today I went snorkling for the first time (if you don't count the Freeman city pool). We took a boat ride to an small island (maybe 5 acres) and snorkled in the morning, had lunch, then went out once more in the afternoon. Apparently the second largest coral reef lies off the coast of Belize. It was like swimming in an aquarium. I saw all kinds of beautiful fish, lobster, spotted eagle rays and interesting coral.

Me in my snorkel gear.




This is the island we snorkeled off.

Vacay

I am in Placencia right now, at the beach. This is our "vacation" time and the few days of no work are much needed. Today I rented a bike and rode up and down the south end of the penninsula a couple times. Tine, it totally reminded me of our bike experience last summer in Florida. This time there was no massive rainstorm with lightning too close for comfort. However, I did have a piece of key lime pie when it was over.

I found a human burial in the structure I am excavating. You don't get those in the States with NAGPRA and all so it was a great experience for me. There was a pot in the burial and we found some teeth and cranial fragments sticking out of the top so we think the body in the burial was decapitated (pre or post mortem?) and his/her head was put in the bowl. We extracted the bowl and next week Willa and I will work on it in the lab to see if the skull really is in there. Next week I am going to test some other structures in the settlement group to get an idea what their function was.

More photos, but I can't do captions right now

Me next to a large carved rock at an archaeological site -- Nimli Punit

Willa and a guy who hitches a ride with us often.
Tortilla throwing contest.

Photos 2nd Attempt

This is the view from the corn field (milpa) where I work. There is a cave in the white cliff in the picture that I hiked to one day.








Here is most of our group getting a tour of Uxbenka.









One of the local Maya who works at the site.

Photos

Here's a few shots from Belize ...

Grrrrr, this isn't working right now. I'll try again Sunday or Monday.