Yesterday was a day on the river. No bumpy roads. We started up river to see tortillas being made in the next village. On the way, we got waylaid. Actually, as photographers, we always get waylaid, whether by van or boat. It’s something we’re always joking about, as we say we’ll be in a certain location for, let’s say, two hours, and it stretches to three or four. Nothing’s new! We’re photographers, after all.

When we came in by boat last week to the Lodge, we saw several large iguana, many orange in color with wonderful combs along their backs. They love tender shoots, but often, those branches don’t support them, so they go PLOP into the river, swim ashore, and scuttle back up. We were hoping that our participants would get to see some of these magnificent creatures.

Alex, the owner of the boat and our guide for the day, pointed out a magnificent one that was very cooperative when the boat came in close…

We started out heading to Lubaatun Archeological Reserve. It was amazing to wander around in a location that has been here for well over a thousand years. The site is vast. We wandered around, listening to Antonio (our guide, and now friend, for those new to this blog) and marveling at the stone work in the ruins, especially one unusual temple with rounded corners.

I went through a narrow passage between two ruins and came upon this long set of tall steps. It was quite impressive.

We headed up in to the hills to a small village to see the old way of making pottery — by hand without wheel or coil — simply taking a hunk of clay and forming it into a pot. Andrea, our hostess, learned this method from her grandmother shortly before she died. Her grandmother also showed her where to gather the clay on the river bank that was good so that the pots wouldn't crack when they were fired…

Ahhh, CHOCOLATE! We went to one of the family-owned cacao farms. Juan and his wife, Abelina, have taken the farm over from Juan’s family. It is strictly organic, and Juan took us through some of the fields and pointed out how they have done sustainable farming, using natural “enemies” to work for them. It was fascinating. They have around 1,500 trees in addition to oranges, papayas, wild vanilla, allspice, and a host of other plants…