9-7-2015 Xunantunich with Gabby

Monday morning we headed out for San Ignacio.  We arrived around lunch time and checked into the Midas Resort.

This cute iguana greeted us as we walked to our rooms.

I (Cara) had unknowingly booked us the "spare rooms" with shared bathrooms using a discount hotel site.  To my pleasant
surprise, Midas Resort upgraded us (at no cost) to private rooms in one of their round buildings.  I knew I liked this place!

My room (and Eric's room since he arrived later that day) - Gabby's room had only two beds.

The grounds are beautiful there.

The view right outside our door

The pool - the bar is to the right (just outside the picture).

Gabby and I grabbed lunch at Hode's Place, just around the corner from our hotel, before heading off to Xunantunich.

Cara's salad and garnaches

The first view of the Castillo as you round the corner

Xunantunich is an awe-inspiring place!

It's a lot of stairs to the top of the Castillo.

No problem for us!

The view from about halfway up El Castillo - the bright white building has been excavated since my last visit a few months
ago.  The buildings on either side of it have also had some work done.

Western frieze on El Castillo

This area (west of El Castillo, about halfway up) was under blue tarps being excavated when I was here in June.

It's nice to see the results of the excavations.

The view as you make your way to the back side to continue to the top

Gabby on the back staircase leading to the top

Views from the top of El Castillo...

Looking toward Guatemala

Eastern frieze on El Castillo

New excavations

Me doing the tree pose in front of El Castillo (on top of another Mayan structure)

We found an iguana climbing up one of the newly excavated structures.  Can you see him approaching the top in the middle?

On the walk back to the car this guy let me take his picture.

Crossing the river on the hand-cranked ferry

It's a very short but interesting ride.

I stayed in the car, but all passengers (Gabby) had to get out.  You can just see her in my sideview mirror.

Eric flew back from the States that day, and he got into San Ignacio a little before we headed back from Xunantunich.

We all cleaned up at the hotel then headed to dinner Ko-Ox Han-Nah (which means "Let's Go Eat").  It's an awesome
restaurant run by the people that deliver meat and cheese to us, and we always go there when we're in San Ignacio.
These are lamb ribs that Eric and Gabby split.

Side salad

Cara's delicious vegetable soup with coconut milk broth and homemade corn tortillas

Some kind of chicken curry maybe (I can't remember exactly) - Eric and Gabby split that as well.