I was amused watching half the grads sleep on a speeding boat. Ah, to be young. We land at Bomba. A quick smoke, and we load onto the bus. We sit in the back (don't all the cool kids?) with Daniel & Josh, which gives us all a chance to talk. Leo and Josh talk a bit about the differences of growing up where they do. They each have some misconceptions about the other, so it was a pretty interesting conversation. Trees and farms roll past out the open bus windows. The hot breeze felt great. We get to the next landing (quick smoke) and they had put out some watermelon for us before loading into the next boat. Before we know it, we can see the top of the temple thru the trees. We're here.

We walk up the path to the picnic tables. Right away, Daniel says he sees spider monkeys, and takes off calling "come on!" We boogie further up the path and see the treetops swaying with motion. We chase the motion until we finally see them. I'd only ever seen a spider monkey once - at banana bank ranch in 1993, and it was on a collar & leash - so this was exciting for me. Daniel said they don't see them very often and it was a treat. Cool. Almost immediately after, we hear howlers and go looking for them too. Much easier to see, but exhilarating just the same, as our boys had never seen howlers, and Bruce and I were hoping to see them again. We watch several climb around, even a cute baby.

But we were supposed to be eating lunch, so we return to the tables, where Josh & the ranger guy were setting up buffet style. Homemade stew chicken, rice n beans, tortillas chips, sweet plantins, and slaw. I have to say: IT WAS THE BEST STEW CHICKEN N FIXINS EVER!! Really good!! We inhaled the food, eating every last drop. My thin-as-a-rail-eats-nothing-but crap son even asked Josh if he could have seconds!!

I wander over to a bird of paradise flower to try out my macro camera setting. Daniel comes up quietly behind me and says "Don't take that picture. There is a viper that feeds on hummingbirds. They hide in the brush below the flower waiting for a bird, then strike." I say ok, and slowly back away from the flower.

We do the ruin thing. It is really hot, yet really cool. We see more howlers. Lamanai has several structures unearthed. Stellae, glyphs and carvings. We were running out of water, I was really hot by the time we got to the climbing temple. It was very tall and steep. Now, I'm no ruin wimp - I've climbed 4 temples before - but for the first time ever, I deemed I was way too hot to do it this time. Bruce & Leo went up, Steve and I stayed behind. Afterward, Bruce secretly told me it really was way too hot, and he thought I did the right thing by not going up. Of course Josh, very entertaining at 16, said "hey, watch this!" and ran barefoot all the way down the temple as fast as he could, which was pretty damn fast. A testosterone charged grad student had to match him, and he did the same thing, but in FLIP-FLOPS! We all cheered and gave them a round of applause.

http://www.pbase.com/sweetjane/image/103225103

Everybody seemed to have a good time. Vine climbing followed, Tarzan-style. At the last temple, there was a wide grassy field (like a football field), and they broke out in an impromptu Frisbee toss. At times like that, I kind of miss my 20's.

It was time to head back to the boat. Everyone was tired and chatty, as they passed the rum punches around. Back to the bus. Daniel pointed out to me that another well-known tour group that had lunched with us at the same time, had shown up after we did, had left the site long before we did. Yes, I noted that our tour was almost an hour longer. Interesting to know.

oh! since Daniel is a wildlife expert, i asked him about that odd fish we saw. he thought for a moment, and told us it was and electric ray, and said it packs a wallop. (he was right):

http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/872/55003605.JPG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_ray

We hauled up to the room, exhausted. Showers all around. I get a text from Tacogirl saying she is at Pedro's with Wade and Dutch, but all I can think about is food and bed. I thanked her and said to say hi, ate, and went to bed.

Can I keep saying 'another great day!'?