4 Mar--Flores--SantaElena-Zoo

Thurs, 4 Mar early morning i had to pee ... our bathroom door was locked, so i had to go outside to the bathroom in the kitchen. upon returning, in the dark, without my contacts lense, and half asleep, i missed the 2 steps to the house and went flying through the night, landing in a heap and hitting my head on the house. ...class act! ......upon investigation, i saw the flesh around my left big toe was torn away from th nail ... and the toes on my right foot hurt as well. nice injury to have the day before leaving for Guatemala and spending 2 days on my feet touring the Tikal Maya civilization site!!!!! i was really disgusted with myself. i cleaned my toe up the best i could, elevated it, put ice on both feet and tried to go back to bed... unsuccessfully. it was almost time to get up anyway. i hobbled around and got my stuff packed and was ready to leave by 7am. we left most of our 'stuff' in our room at Chaa Creek, so we could travel light, just a backpack. we got a ride with Luciano again out to the main road; and immediately got picked up by a taxi that took us to the Belize border town of Benque. walked out of Belize and into Guatemala, where we got into a mini-bus and headed south 2 hr to Flores. Actually the bus stop is in Santa Elena, so we got a taxi into Flores .... remember that in Caye Caulker all the taxis are golf carts ... well down here in Guatemala ... they have their own variation .... they were so cute ! Flores is on an island ... just across the bridge from Santa Elena ... we were told that Santa Elena would be cheaper but less safe ... we chose to stay in Flores. our cab driver took us to his sister's place to see if we wanted to stay there .... at 30quetzales each per night (US$4) ...we thought it was a pretty good deal ... back to cold showers again ... view from our balcony overall, Guatemala is WAY cheaper than Belize ! Flores is very pretty with lots of pretty colored buildings .... there were not many people there. we wondered how they were making a living ... we wanted to go to the Petencito Zoo. i guess you can get there by taxi, but a better-funner way is by boat. we got a ride in this cute little boat with a guy who waited for us while we toured the zoo... once at the 'zoo' we walked across this bridge t and saw our first Tucan, the Belize Country Bird an ocelot, also native to Belize and the Margays ..... the most nocturnal cat of Belize ... which is probably why they were both sleeping when we saw them, ..... just like our domestic cats sleep ! it is the most accomplished climber of all its fellow cats. ... it has specially adapted claws and ankle joints which can move through 180 degrees, enabling it to move with almost monkey like ease amongst the tree tops. Its agility is demonstrated by the apparent ease at which the cat can scamper down the trunks of trees head first and run upside down beneath branches. they have noticeably bigger eyes and rounded ears .... and .... what we REALLY came to see .... the Jaguar !!!!!!! i have video of the Jaguar on You Tube ... go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TSOI5RMydg the Jaguar is WAY larger than i thought it was going to be ! Magnificent creature. of course, Eddi and i were sad that he was in a 'zoo' .... but we won't go into a debate over that now. it was wonderful to be able to see him. there is a lot of mystery and superstition about the jaguar. the Maya peoples just called him Baalum, 'King', ...and it's likeness is carved in stone on many monuments in the ruins. their numbers have declined to only a few hundred. the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary in southern Belize is the only designated jaguar preserve in the world. we were hungry and stopped at El Tucan for some nachos .. they were very good, ... i used the 'food' setting on my camera to take this picture and we really liked the green walls and the masks ... i also want to mention that the rum and cokes here are 10quetzales = US$1.33 .... now that is a dangerous situation ! :) streets of Flores this little parrot was sitting outside the restaurant ... you see a lot of them flying in flocks around Chaa Creek ... i didn't realize until i took my shoes off at the end of the day that my toes didn't look so good, ... i wonder if they are broken ? Walking around the uneven stones and roads at Tikal will be slow going tomorrow .....