Jun. 25th, 2008 06:17 pm
Scary treehouse
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clocketpatchSo, I did many interesting and scary things in Belize, but the scariest thing I have ever done. Ever. Was to climb this extremely sketchy treehouse at Tikal (which is in Guatemala if you want to get technical).
We paid to get into Tikal, but before we went to see the temples Colin wanted to see crocodiles at this little lake thingy on the map. So we're like *fine*. 'Cause really? who goes to see crocs at Tikal? We pass a guide on the way down and he says that if we're going out there we should check out the treehouse and get a bit of a preview of th coolness we'll see when we actually go looking at the site. We're like: cool!
And off we go. There were no crocodiles in the lake.
Then we go to see the treehouse. Well, the path is a bit over-grown and kind of sketchy, and there's this crooked, broken walkway over a swampy bit. Not altogether encouraging. Then we get to another bridge, over a pond, except this one ends half-way into the water.
Just a little bit sketchy.
But we press on, jumping from broken plank to plank and balancing on tree roots. The path picks up again on the other side, except there are giant puddles everywhere. It's over-grown, and in every place you need a branch to hold there is a conveniently placed give-and-take tree. Give-and-takes are these spindly little trees with three inch thorns all over their trunks. They look like a palm tree that's mated with a porcupine.
Anyway, moving on we finally get to the tree house:
Yes, that is a branch going through the stairs near the top (those stairs were also tilted a good 30 degrees to the right when you climbed them. Safe). And, on top of that, there were termites everywhere.
Again; safe.
Scariest thing I've done in my life, but worth it.
And off we go. There were no crocodiles in the lake.
Then we go to see the treehouse. Well, the path is a bit over-grown and kind of sketchy, and there's this crooked, broken walkway over a swampy bit. Not altogether encouraging. Then we get to another bridge, over a pond, except this one ends half-way into the water.
Just a little bit sketchy.
But we press on, jumping from broken plank to plank and balancing on tree roots. The path picks up again on the other side, except there are giant puddles everywhere. It's over-grown, and in every place you need a branch to hold there is a conveniently placed give-and-take tree. Give-and-takes are these spindly little trees with three inch thorns all over their trunks. They look like a palm tree that's mated with a porcupine.
Anyway, moving on we finally get to the tree house:
Yes, that is a branch going through the stairs near the top (those stairs were also tilted a good 30 degrees to the right when you climbed them. Safe). And, on top of that, there were termites everywhere.
Again; safe.
Scariest thing I've done in my life, but worth it.
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