La Ruta Maya

The day after our jungle adventure at the ruins, we returned to go look for the Templo Olvidado (the forgotten temple), which we found but with help from a guide.... its a beautiful, excavated temple about 2km into the jungle, and on our way we saw other, unexcavated temples, more howler monkeys, tehons, and many birds. We explored the parts we left out the previous day, and returned for a relaxing evening before our departure into Guatemala.
We woke up at 5am yesterday for our 10 hour trip to Flores, an island on Lake Peten near the Mayan Capitol of Tikal. In our research on our trip, we read that there were no fees for entering or exiting Guatemala, but also read that either the tour guide or the imigration officials tried to rip you off anyways. Its only 5 dollars but to us, we thought about the principal and wanting to be educated travcelers, we were not going to give in, practicing the night before how we would fight for our free entry.
As the bus full of travelers hopped off the bus (we didnt mention this free entry thing to anyone else, but some knew about it) we were first in line to get our passports stamped, and being friendly at first with the immigration officials, asking them how they were, hopefully enjoying their day.. blah blah blah. Then they asked us for the 50 pesos or 5 dollars, or 40 quetzales for entrance into the country. And in response i said ´´no soy un mamon, gue!´´( I ain´t no sucker, man) and he said everyone has to pay it, so then I asked if he would give us a reciept ( as others instructed would work to not have to pay) but then he still suggested yes, i will give you one. So my finasl attempt to not have to pay this illegal fee was suggesting that to enter guatemala was free, and the second that I said I had spoken with my embassy, they started to be on our side. (this is what you should do if any cop tries to get a bribe from you, especially at checkpoints with illegal fees and what not.. but it is very difficult to report them, you need their name, badge number, and vehicle number.. without that you are screwed.) They quieted in their tone and told us to come back at the end of the line, and as long as we didnt tell anyone else, then they would give us our passports back (which were already stamped and ready to go before we started discussing the fee)... we had read stories about this situation of somebody arguing about it, still paying, and not getting their passport stamped, and having trouble leaving the country. We are all legit, free entrance into guatemala (as it should be), and still friends with the imigration folks!! haha. Everyone else paid, and even after we left, we didnt want to construe any jealousy, so we just kept it to ourself. Everyone else paid the illegal fee (even the ones who knew it was illegal, because their spanish wasnt good enough to reason with them), and the officials went home with fat pockets.
On our trip, talking to the tour guide, who spoke english with an awesome accent, he told us that 3 years ago he worked for Survivor (the original reality show) as a translator when they came to other Guatemalan ruins.
So with our strategized seat placement on the bus (closest to the door) we were the first ones in line at the ATM, which ran out of money before our busload raped it of its cash... and the first ones to this economic hotel, getting the nicest room with a view for a budget price (about 12.50 USD a night). Needless to say, we felt pretty confident in ourselves as travelers and gave our selves props (in private).
Last night, after getting here we just relaxed, adjusted and had a good nights rest. And today we took a kayak out on the lake, circling a different, smaller island, and got a decent upper body workout in the process. I just had a delicous lunch, and this afternoon we will anti-mosquito a bunch of our stuff. Tomorrow or the next day will be set aside for the ruins at Tikal, then its off to Belize. I am already loving Guatemala.. the people are in no rush to get anything done, very nice, and the difference in food is slight but impressive... almost every plate, they will bring you fried bananas on the side, and tamales are wrapped in banana leaf rather than corn husk, not to mention some new slang words and a slightly different accent than mexico. We will surely return to this country, probably doing a lake tour checking out the big one near the carribean coast, and of course down south to Lago Atitlan. Traveling is great fun, get on the bandwagon.