Caracol...
On Friday I went with a group to Caracol. Caracol is an archeological site that we visited to see and learn about the Mayan Structures that date back to the A.D. time period. Part of the tour included climbing the structures as tall as 173 feet! For everyone that knows me this was a big challenge due to my fear of heights. Climbing steps all the way up 173 feet in the air without any harness or safety net is terrifying until you reach the top and see the beautiful view for miles and miles. A cool fact we learned was that you can see Guatemala from the top of the structure. I really enjoyed the history aspect of the trip. Our tour guide took us to different Mayan Structures and explained to us what it would have been. The structures mainly consisted of plaza's, temples, palaces, and a ball court. A ball court is where they would play a ball game. One theory is that the game consisted of two players and they could only touch the ball with their arm or leg. The ball could not be hit using the hand without breaking it. Once again this is just a theory, they don't know for sure how the game was exactly played. On our way back to our hotel our tour guide took us by Big Rock Falls. While at the waterfall some of us took a daring 15 foot jump off the rocks and into the water. After our jump we were having a great time swimming around and then out of no where the strong current took me for a bumpy ride down the rocks. I ended up with several bruises and a broke toe but I thankfully walked away with with nothing worse and a great experience and story to tell.
A.T.M. Tour...
A.T.M. stands for Actun Tunichil Muknal. This tour was absolutely amazing. On this tour we went a little over a mile in a cave to learn about Mayan ceremonies, see skeletal remains, and pottery that was left behind in the cave. What's really awesome is that all of the things left behind are in their original place, they only removed minimal remains from the cave to use for dating the pottery and preserving a few items. To get to the remains we had to take a hike through the jungle, swim through water, maneuver and squeeze through rocks, and finally once again I found myself conquering my fear of heights and climbing rocks to get to various parts of the cave. For this tour I don't have any pictures because they ask us not to take anything in the caves as a way to respect and preserve the historical remains so that future generations can come and learn just as we did.
Guatemala and my roomies birthday...
Easter Sunday was special for two reasons. One it was my roommate Molly's birthday and two we took an awesome day trip to Guatemala! To celebrate Molly's birthday we showered the room in balloons and surprised her with both a lunch and dinner celebration (and of course some yummy dessert!). While in Guatemala we went to Tikal and spent the first part of the day zip lining (yet another heights challenge for me, but totally worth it). The course consisted of 8 zip lines through the Guatemalan jungle. Swinging through the trees at a pretty fast rate made me feel like Tarzan and Jane. It was a blast! After zip lining our tour guide drove us to Flores. In Flores we had lunch and spent the evening shopping. Flores is a beautiful little town, decorated with colorful buildings and stone streets. Once we finished eating lunch, we had limited time for shopping and we were all running around crazy trying to find great deals and unique buys without being late for our bus! After shopping we made it back just in time to hop on the bus and cross the border before it closed at 6! The rushing was a little stressful, but hey what would life be without a little edge? The rest of the evening we spent celebrating the last few hours of Molly's birthday at a cute little restaurant by the name of Fuego. 
Lauren I absolutely love the pictures! I am so glad you had an awesome time but I am ready to see you girlfriend!!! Love you to pieces!
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