This is a tarantula being held by our guide in Tikal, Guatemala. Want to hold one? Our guide explained that because he is not afraid, the tarantula would not pick up the vibration of fear and consequently wouldn’t bite him. None of us took the opportunity to hold a very large tarantula.

Why not? All of us knew that we would be afraid and the tarantula would sense it. It’s simply impossible to hide fear at a vibrational level.

All of us have fear in an area of our life. We can try to ignore it, hide it, or bluff our way through it. However, what if we just acknowledged it and addressed it? I ask myself the simple question: What are you really afraid of Jan? Then I wait to hear what comes up for me. It can be quite fascinating. Once you know the fear, then you can work through it. By pretending it’s not there, you actually cause more problems for yourself.

Ask yourself that question when you find yourself resisting something, stuck or afraid. I doubt if you will be hanging out with super-sized tarantulas anytime soon but the principle holds true in every area of our lives.

The little house I am currently staying in on the Rio Dulce

It seems like a lifetime ago that I was sitting in my place on Lake Atitlan making arrangements for Brenda and Adrian´s trip to Guatemala in February. Now they´re gone and I´m wrapping up the last couple of weeks in Central America.

One of the places I reserved was on the Rio Dulce (literally Sweet River) at a place called Hotel Tortugal. With thatched roofs and a real jungle feeling, we decided it was a bargain at $50 a night for an adorable little house in a romantic setting for Brenda and Adrian and reasonable for a bungalow at $40 a night for me.

However, when we arrived last Friday, the romantic little house was very cute but my bungalow was dark, small and wasn´t at all conducive to getting any work done this week. So off I went to speak with the owner about what we could do. Thankfully, she understood completely, especially when she heard I was working on my next book and would be spending lots of time in my place writing.

Once I made it clear to her what was important to me (light, space, privacy and a place to work), she took me to this little house behind where Brenda and Adrian were staying. Very private, located at the top of the hill overlooking the river with jungle all around, Brenda and I were pretty impressed by the size and amenities the little house had. Lovely livingroom furniture, a wrap-around balcony with tables, chairs and plenty of places to work, a full kitchen and a large bedroom all added up to a nice house.

I was thinking, “yikes, if the little bungalow is $40, Brenda and Adrian´s is $50, this place must be $150 a night.” I was calculating in my mind how much I would be willing to pay to have the place which coincidentally had just been vacated that day after a month´s occupancy. Fortuitous or what?

So of course my only comment was, “how much for the week?” She stopped and said, “we normally only rent it out for the month and to people we know and trust but I´ll rent it to you for the week for….$200.” I heard Brenda almost gasp behind me and I quickly said, “it´s a deal. Can you get a cleaner in here this afternoon so I can move in? It will be worth a nice tip if she can do it?” Needless to say, I was moving in before the cleaning lady was locking up the door.

Don´t ask me how she did the math on this one, but what Brenda has noticed repeatedly throughout our journey together is that I know when to shut up in negotiations. I never speak first and I always allow the other person to put out the first offer. Amazingly, it is often better than what I was willing to pay.

So how do you get what you want? First of all, be clear on what you want. Secondly, expect to get what you want OR better. I had told Brenda and Adrian several times on the trip that I couldn´t wait to see what my surprise at the Rio Dulce was going to be. The beauty of Antigua had completely taken me by surprise – I wasn´t expecting it to be so pretty. The weather in Tikal was a complete surprise to all of us as we donned jackets and sweaters instead of sweating profusely. The only thing left was my surprise in Rio Dulce. I expected it to be good but this was an amazing surprise!

Thirdly, learn to keep quiet. Maybe it´s all those years of training as a Jehovah´s Witness going from door to door, I don´t know. But I do know that as much as I can talk, I can also shut up when it´s in my highest and best interest to do so. Negotiations is definitely one of those times and I have repeatedly found that silence and patience are two valuable tools to get what you want.

The owner is thrilled because I´m happy, she´s already rented out my bungalow and she has an extra $200 this week renting the house. Now if she could only talk to the cockroaches that like this place as much as I do….then I´d be even happier.

Part of the Grand Plaza

Tikal, the world of the Mayans was our destination on Wednesday afternoon. A 45 minute road trip from Antigua to Guatemala City was followed by a 70 minute flight to Flores in the jungle. After the worst landing of our small 48 seater plane, we were shocked to be hit with cold winds as we left the plane.

We had expected hot and humid but soon found out that a storm had hit the area that afternoon, hence the terrific turbulence landing and the unexpected cold weather. The 75 minute trip out to Tikal National Park was on a very dark highway littered with fallen leaves, branches and even a tree ¾ of the way across the road.

We arrived tired and cold but excited to see this amazing archaeological site of the Mayan civilization. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, right now 13 temples and palaces are being restored. There are literally thousands of temples at this site. Some of the best archaeologists in the world have worked at the Tikal site.

We walked for 9 hours yesterday over miles of ground including climbing a few temples – one 14 stories high. Brenda, Adrian and I hired a fabulous guide for the morning and Francisco was a wealth of knowledge about the Mayans, plants, trees, animals, natural medicine and just about anything else we asked. At the end of over 4 hours with us, our heads were aching with all the knowledge he had imparted and our legs were already sore. But after a brief lunch break, we headed back out for another 5 hours of exploring on our own.

Like everything we have experienced in Guatemala, there were very few rules or restrictions as to what we could do in the park which made the experience even more incredible.

Despite the unseasonably cold temperatures (it had been 38 degrees Celsius the morning of the evening we arrived and yesterday as we toured it was 15 degrees Celsius) it was actually perfect for what we wanted to do, which was spend a full-on day walking and climbing temples. We also saw toucan birds, incredible parrots, a host of other birds, monkeys, and the fourth largest rodent in the world. It was amazing. After the coldest night ever, we left this morning for Rio Dulce where we arrived to fabulous blue skies and wonderfully warm weather.

Tomorrow we are off to explore the sites on the river and Livingston which is on the Caribbean side of Guatemala. We´ve hired a private boat and captain for the day which is starting at 7:30 tomorrow morning.

I just had to share at least a couple of amazing photos from yesterday´s trip to Tikal with you. I expect tomorrow will be spectacular as well.

Another amazing day yesterday in Antigua. After a leisurely breakfast at our beautiful B&B, we headed through parts of the city we hadn´t yet discovered. We hit the market – the biggest market any of us have ever seen in our travels. It was like a maze and once we got into the bowels of it, we walked for what seemed like ages to see the light of day again. Everything from pottery, baskets, underwear, and pirated DVDs to an immense variety of food was on offer.

We then visited an incredible ruin that was destroyed by several earthquakes, the latest one in 1976. The remains of the convent and church had a remarkable energy about it and Brenda and I both felt it very strongly.

You can´t turn a corner in Antigua without running into a ruin, all of them caused by earthquakes. Just yesterday we were woken up by a tremblor at about 5:00 a.m. and experienced another strong one at 9:30 while having breakfast. With Antigua being surrounded by 4 volcanoes, the seismic activity is strong and we sure felt it yesterday.

The number of ruins, cobblestone streets and all of the courtyards everywhere give the city a very European feel while maintaining the Guatemalan characteristics that we love – great prices, beautiful people, wonderful weather, amazing food and incredible shopping.

Brenda had told me before she came that she wouldn´t be doing any shopping as her and Adrian have done a lot of traveling and what more could she need from Guatemala! Well right about now, if they buy any more, they´ll be buying another suitcase! The shopping is truly irresistible. Beautiful, beautiful goods at bargain prices. I now have enough scarves to last me a couple of lifetimes!

After another delicious lunch, Adrian went back to our B&B for a rest while Brenda and I scoured the city looking for a place for me to return to after my sailing trip to Belize. I will have 2 ½ more days in the city before flying to Seattle. That weekend however, there is a big festival here in Antigua (which I didn´t know about) and finding a place has been a bit challenging.

Last night we headed to a restaurant just down the street where we had dinner and watched a short show that featured the beautiful traditional Mayan costumes. We have seen a costume like this for sale for over $1000 US and that doesn´t include the mask which is another several hundred dollars. It was another great evening.

This afternoon we have a taxi arranged to take us to Guatemala City where we fly out this evening to Flores. We have accommodation right in the park at Tikal which is full of ancient Mayan ruins. Will be a highlight of the trip, I am sure.

The most beautiful church in Antigua

Saturday, Brenda, Adrian and I went ziplining just outside of Panajachel. They had never been before and it was a great time. The weather was perfect and we did 8 fabulous ziplines across the jungle. We fed bananas to the monkeys and a small racoon-looking creature that is apparently endangered in Central America. It was an amazing day!

Sunday, I spent much of the afternoon with Senor Pablo and his family in San Pablo. I took along a French-Canadian couple who wanted to help out the family and community but wanted to meet them first. It was an “eye-opening” experience to see the reality of life on the lake for the Mayan people.

That afternoon we learned that the next morning at 6:00 the teachers were protesting low wages and insufficient educational materials for the students. Therefore, it was decided that we would leave at 4:00 a.m. to avoid any blockages on the Pan American highway. Although it was not fun getting up at 3:30 in the morning, we decided that it was worth the trouble because getting stuck on the highway for hours or even days was worse.

Consequently, we arrived in Antigua at 6:30 in the morning and thankfully the beautiful bed and breakfast we had rented was gracious enough to feed us an unexpected breakfast and take care of us. We spent the day yesterday touring on foot Antigua. All of us have fallen in love with this amazing city. Now deemed an UNESCO heritage city because of the incredible monuments from the 15th and 16th century, Antigua is being restored.

We had wonderful food, pecan pie for $1.00, cappucino coffees for $1.00 and lunch at the most exquisite hotel set in an old convent. The bed and breakfast we are at was an old convent from the 16th century and is absolutely exquisite. It has been the most fabulous 24 hours already here and we are looking forward to another wonderful day and a half before we fly to Tikal to see the ruins.

Each of us had privately been wondering if the people in the “big city” would be as gracious and lovely as we had experienced at the lake. We had nothing to worry about as they have been just as beautiful to deal with. We´ll see how it is as we head to the hot climate on the coast and experience a whole new perspective of Guatemala.