Mixed jungle photos

A couple of coatamundi playing in the lawn by our hotel. They seem to come out in early morning and early evening. See how raccoon-y they are?

 The ceiba tree! Juan says the fuzzy things near the top are bromeliads, which act as "sunscreen" for the branches when its own leaves fall off. Juan says the termites are getting to this ceiba tree, so its time is short. Fun fact: dry. fallen leaves smell the same in the jungle as they do at home! I was surprised to notice that.

 Towards the bottom of a younger ceiba tree - the thorns protect the tree as it grows:

I think this is a rattan - after the spiny layer is peeled off, it's made into furniture!

 See any Ewoks? Rumor has it that part of Return of the Jedi was filmed here.

 I think a Stormtrooper ran into that fallen tree over there...

 These little bees are called "damsels". They are stingless, harmless, and were considered sacred by the Mayans. To be surrounded by damsels was a sign of good fortune, and their honey was prized.

The damsels' little honeycombs sit on a window ledge at the Tikal Inn. There is a poster above the combs explaining what damsels are, and asking guests not to harm them:

 Found some flowering ginger plants on the hotel grounds:

 This is the hotel's "laundry room".

 And the hotel's electric wiring, laid over tree roots:

 I have no idea what these friuts are, but they looked cool. I put my hand in the picture so you could see how big they are:

 There were lots of gorgeous hibiscus (or jamaica) bushes and flowers all over in Guatemala. Mmmmm, jamaica...

 Some more fruits I found when wandering by myself. I have no idea what these are either:

 I loved the colors on this plant! Again, no idea what it is, but it's cool:

 One more random fruit - this is the one that looks like a little brown mango from the outside. While we were on our sunset tour, Juan told us what all the fruits were, and there was one that looked like a tangerine on the outside, and like a white pomegranate on the inside. Juan said that one was safe to eat, so I got my free jungle snack after all, but not only do I have no idea what it's called, I didn't even take a picture of the darn thing before I chomped it up...

 Did I mention that on the first night at the Tikal Inn, we saw the sidewalk moving, in a very Indiana Jones-y sort of way? The moving floor turned out to be about a billion leafcutter ants, carrying shreds of mango tree leaves back to their anthill. So the hotel had a mango tree, but the darned ants ate all the flowers, so there isn't any fruit now. This time, they tried to stop them from getting to all the leaves by wrapping the tree in plastic. The poor li'l ants left their leaf shreds inside the plastic and gave up. Here, Sandy checks out the pile of green leaf-cuts left behind:

 Up close - that's a lot of wasted ant work!

 Juan showed us several leafcutter ant trails through the jungle. He says they never go back to pick up abandoned shreds; they'll just cut new ones. He showed us a couple of places where something must have startled the ants. "Drop everything and RUN!" he said, in an ant voice. And then the little scattered pieces go to waste. "Poor little ants", he said. We like this guy!

 I love doorways into the jungle! This one is from the Plaza of the Lost World, where the shaman types who communicated with dark spirits (via the use of hallucinogenic drugs) spent their time. We also visited the Palace of the Bats, where one lonely bat hung from the ceiling in late afternoon. Something awesome about several of the structures, including the bat palace: some of the wood used to support the stone and stucco (yes, the Mayans invented stucco) is the original wood! That's some old trees!

We saw lots of toucans flying around, but not many sat still enough for good photos:

 This is the original view used in Return of the Jedi - from the top of Pyramid IV. The smog is from farmers slash/burning their fields to plant new crops. Juan says it gets much worse before it gets better, and sometimes the sky glows yellow.