Dear Fronteras,

I'm sorry I was so harsh.  I was just really mad at you for not being Livingston.

Love,
Maya

I should say that the river itself is BEAUTIFUL!  The boat ride from Livingston to Fronteras was awesome.  And once I got over being frustrated, I went to Sundog Cafe and enjoyed a delicious lunch with a whole bunch of foreigners.  This was my view (and my Indonesian style avocado shake with chocolate):

And then I took off and went to Flores, Petén.  I took a cab to the hostel my friend recommended.  They said they only had a hammock available.  I was too lazy to go look elsewhere, so I took the hammock.  The first person I encountered upon walking into the hostel was my friend, Panda, who lived with me at Casa Argentina in Xela.  Craziness.  The hostel is very cool, but it's a big party hostel.  It was full of really drunk Australians and other partying gringo-esque types.  I wasn't really feeling the party vibe, so I went to explore Flores.

It's a cute little town.  Not a ton to do.  I met a 22-year-old, Columbian tattoo artist.  I ate some tacos.  Then I went back to the hostel to go to bed.  After 2 hours in my hammock, I woke up to use the bathroom.  Half of my mouth was swollen and tingly and I was finding it a bit hard to breathe.  I figured I had 2 choices: I could pop a benadryl and go back to sleep in the super uncomfortable hammock that was probably causing this allergic reaction somehow, or I could go to the emergency room.  I opted for the latter, and took my second free ambulance ride to a Guatemalan hospital.  There I got filled up with good drugs and oxygen and got a great night's sleep in a bed.  Worked out very nicely.  Here's me and my swollen face in the hospital.  It got quite a bit worse after this, but I don't have any pictures:

So the hospital stay threw off my schedule a little, but I decided to go to Tikal anyhow.  I went back to the hostel for my backpack and a delicious breakfast (which I forgot to photograph), and set off.  On the way to Tikal, we passed through the tiny town of El Remate.  It's all peaceful and on a beautiful lake, and I thought, 'this seems so much lovelier than the party hostel in Flores.'  So that's where I am right now.  From Tikal I came back to El Remate and checked into Hostal Sak Luk, which Lonely Planet describes as a "little slice of hippie heaven," with "huts, dorms and hammocks in adobe constructions scattered around a lush hillside," and a good restaurant.  Plus you can see the beautiful lake.  It's way cool.  And there happens to be a guy living there right now who spent one day in Xela a while back, and on his one day in Xela bought one of my sandwiches.  We've been hanging out and cooking together.

But right...Tikal.  Tikal is cool.  It's in the jungle.  There were jaguar crossing signs on the road in.  You thought deer were scary...

The ruins were very neat.  There was lots of walking.  I don't have much to say about it, honestly.  I recommend checking it out if you're ever in the area.  I think Isaac would have a blast climbing trees and vines and pyramids and looking at monkeys and stuff.

Today I was thinking about checking out another jungle park thing or going swimming or something, but it's been rainy all morning.  I'm ok with it though.  We cooked breakfast, relaxed, played with kitties.  Now I'm spending some time on the interwebs.  If the sun ever comes out, I'm already in my bathing suit and ready to  go!  Trying to decide if I'm going to spend another night here...or in Flores...or what.  I'm really sad that I only have 6 days left in Guatemala, but it will be nice to be reunited with family and friends stateside.  

Talk to you soon.