SailingKnitter

The big activity here at Mario's Marina last week (for us summer campers) was a 1/2-day trip to a local site of Mayan ruins called Quirigua. This small site is off the beaten track of the modern world and not visited much by tourists, but it is less than an hour away from the marina here.

Quirigua is known for it's stelae which are intricately carved stone pillars. Of all the Mayan ruins in Central America, these are supposed to be the best preserved. From what you can see in the pictures, there is still a lot of detail easily viewed. I really liked the feather motifs running down the corners of some of the stelae.

After the Mayans abandoned this area and drifted off into other areas, the jungle grew up over all of their building projects. It was eerie to walk around the site and imagine that over a thousand years ago this place was bustling with activity.

Today, the jungle has been cleared just enough for us to view these artifacts and surrounds the site, but just barely. Right beyond the boundaries of the park are large banana plantations. This is where YOUR bananas come from if you buy Del Monte brand.

It was hot and humid with the threat of rain which is what it is everyday here in the lowlands of Guatemala during the summer months. But we trudged through the sodden grass and even explored out into the muddy and buggy jungle to see more.

These are the "steps" (?) leading up to the major building area. We had a hard time climbing them as they were so tall. Wait a minute here...the local Mayan indians are quite short statured. These must have been (are still are) a tough climb. Oh look! Jonesy is wearing some of the socks that I knit for him. See? He really does wear his "all-season wool" socks when we venture out.

The largest structure was the Acropolis which is all made of large stone blocks. We could see where excavations were still being conducted here so perhaps there will be more treasures to see in the future. No big temples here. We'll have to travel to other sites to see those. But the artwork is beautiful at Quirigua.









So, we're doing fine. We both had our routine dental checkup & cleanings ($25 each) by an english-speaking dentist. Then, Jonesy had a small filling repaired (another $25). I had my annual mammogram ($35) which was done on a walk-in basis and I had the films in my hands with the radiologist's report of good news in 2 days. Life is good.