Marco-YOLO

Today, I found the School construction site empty so decided to join the Canadians in the Ecological Park. I spent around 4 hours today clearing a new walking path through the jungle with a machete and cutting bad branches off of banana trees. On the one hand, it was very peaceful and serene and I saw lots of butterflies, humming birds and colorful lizards. On the other hand, there were tons of other not so cuddly bugs all over the place and on me. Sometimes, I´d take a swing at a tree with my machete and a centipede would fall on my arm. I had already seen scorpions, tarantulas and massive iguanas around. Additionally, I was told rattlesnakes and at least one large alligator also lived near where we were working so I was very cautious given how much brush cover was available for them to hide behind and under. I have to say, slicing through the jungle with a machete feels very satisfying.

The cops in Livingston were freed with the government offering talks to the revolting farmers so that crisis is over. I was able to borrow one of the American highschooler´s camera for a few hours before they left and was able to snap pictures of the house where I live and the town of San Andres. I´m going to have a lot of young new Facebook friends once they get back to the States and start adding me. I have to say working with them and joking around with them all those days made me feel younger and I really enjoyed their company.

Last night, the father and eldest brother in my local family returned home for a few days. I spent a good hour talking to Oscar (the dad) over dinner. He told me about his work in Yaxha, digging out and restoring Mayan ruins and doing restoration of artifacts. I´m happy to say I can now conduct long conversations covering a broad subject base in Spanish, albeit with tons of grammatical mistakes and very basic and at times lacking vocabulary.

I saw Mormon missionaries in San Andres a few days back. They are one dedicated faith when it comes to spreading their word, to the point where its really quite ridiculous. I ran into one of them today. No surprise he was from Utah.

I have decided to leave San Andres Tuesday morning and spend the whole day in Tikal. After sunset, I will return to Flores for the night and will fly to Guatemala City Wednesday morning.