Doors

 

One of my very favorite subjects to photograph is doors.  On this trip, 2 of our hotels featured fabulous wooden doors, and several of the towns we visited had a variety of them, too. Each door has it's own story to tell.   Below are just a few of my favorites. 

For good measure, here is a lovely window.

Getting Around

On this trip we used a variety of vehicles and boats to get aground.  Most were for the tourists, but a few were what the natives used on a daily basis.

Here is our tourist bus.  When we located to a new place, all of the luggage was piled on top and securely tied down.

Where do old school buses go to die?  Central America, of course!  We were told that our buses only have about a 7 year life span, and then they are shipped south to be reconditioned, painted and used as city buses.  The are called "Chicken Buses".  Most of then are very colorful, and each has a woman's name on the front and back.  Here is the bus we rode in Antiqua, Guatemala.

Here is another.

Another was Norma.

Lake Atitlan is fairly large, deep, and has several towns located around its shoreline.  This is the boat that took us on a 1 hour ride to San Juan La Laguna across from where our hotel was located. 

Tuk-tuks were a very popular and cheap way to get around for the locals.  These were near the dock after we got off of the boat, and we rode them to our next destination.  Fun!

Our next stop around the lake was Santiago La Laguna.  This was my first time riding in the back of a pick up truck!  It saved us a long walk up a steep hill in town.

There was a plane involved, too, as we had one internal flight within Guatemala.  Then into Belize where we changed buses.  

I will do a post on our last site in Belize separately, but to get there, we had to take a motor boat on the New River. 

Just for comic relief, here is the armed guard that tailed our bus on the trip from Copan to Antiqua. We were having a rest stop at a convenience store.  He was very serious about his job.

Finally, and armed man guarding a fish store in Guatemala City.

All in all, we used 8 different transportation vehicles, stayed at 7 different hotels, and walked a lot.  I got laid over in Miami on my way home, so I count my hotels at 8.  Wow!  (And I am not counting the vehicle that picked us up at the airport in the beginning, and the one that took us back at the end.) 

Easter

Because all of the countries that I visited on my trip are mostly Roman Catholic, Easter is a big deal.  Even though we were a few weeks out, all sorts of activities were in full swing.  That included decorations, parades and ceremonies.  For whatever reason, purple is on display everywhere, hung on buildings and in the garments of the paraders!  Below are some photos. 

The Realm of the Jaguar

 

A few days ago I returned from a fabulous trip to the Maya lands of Honduras, Guatemala and Belize.  This was the first time that I had visited the very southern border of that realm, and the idea was to put together my understanding and experience with the Mayas as a whole.  The trip did not disappoint!  In addition to going to many minor sacred sites, our group visited Copan in Honduras, Tikal in Guatemala, and Lamamai in Belize.  I call this the realm of the Jaguar, as Jaguar was their number one guide and protector. 

I always travel with my small crystal skull “The Traveler” when going to important spiritual locations.  From the moment I got him many years ago, he told me that this was his role, to receive the energy of the location and transmit that to the rest of my skulls upon returning home.   To do this, I place him on a stone of a temple or altar for a few minutes to soak up the energy.  In quite a few places this has had to be done surreptitiously as touching is a no no.   So far in my travels, I was able to do this in all cases, even at Machu Picchu! 

Jaguar is also my number one guide and protector.  She came to me spontaneously years ago, even before I started my shamanic training.  In 1999, I was having a required reading/healing session with the leader of a group that I was involved with.  The energy didn’t feel right, as she was pushing some kind of not so nice energy onto me.  All of a sudden, in my inner eye, a black jaguar appeared.  Intuitively, I knew that this was a protector energy there to counteract what she was doing.  It wasn’t until I started my shamanic training the next year that I fully realized what had happened. 

Our first major site visit was to Copan in Honduras.  As these posts are not meant to be a travelogue, I will be mainly describing my experiences at the important places.   You can do your own research to find out more. 

First, The Traveler got energized on an altar with carvings depicting the 16 rulers of Copan that sits in front of Structure 16. 

This temple was built on top of a pre existing temple called the Rosalila.  Very significant and important.

Here is a reconstructed Rosalila that is in the Copan museum. 

Next over to the East Court, which was called the Plaza of the Jaguars.  Note the dancing Jaguar below!

As I was walking along a wall on the edge of this plaza, imagine my surprise upon finding an original but beat up sculpture of a jaguar.  Its head was missing, and I was told that the whole thing had been moved to that location from somewhere else at the site.  This is the next location where The Traveler was energized.  Note the carving of the patterns on the jaguar’s body! 

A few days later when our group drove across the border to Antiqua, Guatemala, I had a chance to find out what my Mayan birth sign is.  No coincidence here, as it is I’x, pronounced “eesh”, which means Jaguar!   This is the sign of life force, the Mayan priest, Guardian of the Mayan altars, women and the earth.  It is a female energy of astuteness, daring, intelligence and strong natural forces, to name a few.  I’ll take that!  I did end up buying some jewelry pieces with that glyph on them. 

Our next major stop was at Tikal.  This was one of the most important Mayan sites, and is home to several towering temples, the tallest at 210’.  Temple I is aptly named The Temple of the Giant Jaguar.  This is where The Traveler got energized next. 

We didn’t have a lot of time to explore Tikal, so I won’t go into its history.  We did climb up a multi level staircase to the top of Temple IV to get this fabulous view. 

A few days later we crossed the border into Belize.  I detected a shift in vibration immediately!  I liked that.  Belize is a former British colony, and they speak English there.  It actually reminded me of Jamaica. 

Our last major stop was at Lamanai.  I had never heard of that Mayan complex before, but it was well worth visiting.  It is also one of the longest continually inhabited Mayan sites, dating back to 1500 BC.  It is on the cruise ship list of excursions from the Caribbean coast, so we made sure that we got there well before the cruise people arrived. 

I will go into Lamanai more in a later post, as we were there on Spring Equinox day.  Of course, the local Temple of the Jaguar was the first one that we saw.

 

The Traveler got energized there.  Here he is sitting in the nostril of the jaguar. 

This trip involved lots of cultural and experiential activities.  I am not sure I will write about those, but will certainly share my photos.  Enjoy.