UAXACTUN MAYA SITE

I woke up feeling stronger and happy to be at La Mansione de Pajaro Serpiente heading out for a day of ruins hopping with Roxy.   Here is the view of Lake Peten Itza from my pillow.

This is the room where I stayed; Roxy was below and friends Rosie and Jesse at the back of the same unit.

We planned our day over breakfast and then took a tour of the beautiful property Nancy, Roxy's mother, has created over the last 15 years.

 The property got its name from a legend brought to mind by this enormous strangler fig, its host long gone.

 There are 2 beautiful pools, this 1 for guests

and this 1 for Nancy's beloved dogs.

Orchids

 1 of Roxy's many gifts is fishing taratulas out of their holes using bits of greenery.

She knows where the jaguars hang out and we could smell their scent as we drove by their favored haunts.

 A wild coati by the road

 and 2 little girls that Roxy raised and returned to the wild, though they still come back for treats. She said if they look thin she takes them on long walks - they hunt more confidently with her along.

Our plan was to head through Tikal enroute to Uaxactun; fans of Tikal will recognize the canopy of this huge ceiba tree.

 An unexcavated temple

 Scars left by the machetes of chicleros, obtaining chicle which is used to make gum.

 Cool, strange insect; I don't know the names of most of the bugs, butterflies, and lizards but that doesn't mean I didn't love seeing them and snapping a few portraits.

 Another gift granted to those of us lucky enough to explore Maya sites with Roxy - she can read and interpret the glyphs.

 Mmmm - a fragrant allspice leaf! I can still smell it when I look at this photo.

 Further proof I was there:

 Bat

 Half grown ladybugs

 Ball court

Note the rounded corners.

This forest friend

was hiding a bright red secret.

 I'm especially fond of teeny tiny camouflaged friends.

 The temple walls were bright red all those centuries ago; you can see traces of it below. 

A shard of obsidian likely knapped from a spear head.

Cedar seed (if memory serves)

 Hummingbird nest

 The village of Uaxactun

Pumpkins seeds drying in the sun

 This horse had small trails of blood leading from a spot between it's left eye and ear - Roxy said the sign of a vampire bat feast.

It was outside this shed where women were sorting and packaging jade leaves for export to florist shops.

We headed back through Tikal to connect Rosie and Jesse with a 4pm shuttle to Flores; they'll spend the night their and fly to GUA and home in the morning. iFeliz viaje!