Tikal Engulfed

I really like the way the jungle has completely reclaimed this ancient Mayan pyramid at Tikal in Guatemala.

Placencia, Belize, Formerly Undiscovered Tropical Paradise

The old Turtle Inn was a rustic, laid back little string of palm roofed huts on the beach in Placencia, Belize. When I visited in 1999 the first dirt road had just reached the isolated fishing village that sits at the tip of a lush, sandy peninsula separating a tranquil lagoon from the beautiful blue-green Caribbean Sea. Placencia was remote, peaceful and had no streets, just wooden sidewalks through the sand. It was in the process of being discovered and developed though, and walking along the beach revealed rickety wooden scaffolding rising occasionally from sandy lots where I suppose hotels may have grown. The Turtle Inn and it's palms were leveled by Hurricane Iris a couple of years after these photos were taken and a new upscale Turtle Inn owned by Francis Ford Coppola now exists on the same spot.

Back here in cold, snowy, New England, on winter days like today I think back to that hammock in the shade of the palms on the warm, sunny beach in Placencia and smile. Hammock photo by Kara.

Tikal, Guatemala

Looking somewhat as it must have to those who rediscovered it, an ancient stone pyramid appears to grow out of the jungle at the ancient "Mayan Metropolis" of Tikal in the hinterlands of Guatemala.