Cumpleaños feliz

I am 40. Say it loud and say it proud. I am 40.

And what a day it was. Up at 4.30 after very little sleep to a fantastic yoga session beginning under stars in the dark and moving through the dawn into the daylight as all the birds and creatures of the forest came awake. The sun arrived to shine and the lake glittered.

The floor of our cabana was covered with an array of cards that made me squeal with surprise and I have to thank you all for forethought, love and a spoon... nice one K&J! It is, I have to say, a very superior class of spoon and David Mellor has done a great job in getting it to be a real pleasure to use - perfecto for the pineapple brekky.


Georgia's birthday breakfast with cards and pressies

Thanks also ... well you know who you are and what for.



We went to Tikal. You are bound to see increasing numbers of photos on Bill´s Flickr of Tikal. Set in dense jungle, this Mayan site has a great mix of reconstructed, part excavated and still green, draped and jungle covered pyramid like constructions which speak of a culture declaring brute power. The approach road boasts a menagerie´s worth of yellow beware of the XXXX crossing signs: snakes, deer, jaguars, coatis, you name it...



I was treated to lunch in the Jungle Lodge, the poshest restaurant on site, a flawless environment of white damask and large white plates on top of other large white plates. Good stuff and a very different way of ´doing a site´from our usual Milk Every Second approach that sees lunch as for wimps and our duty to be knocking on the door before it opens and then be last to leave.



Since our landlady´s son-in-law is currently excavating onsite Bill´s going back for a day to do some real Indiana Jonesa type stuff, where the diggers´tunnels themselves resemble a network of catacombs and that´s before you get to the archaeology!

We were back in time for a sunset swim in the lake, which is ever various and ever beautiful, and I crashed while bill ran around like a runny thing getting my party dinner ready. What a great opportunity to have a celebration with the people we´re going to be sharing the next few weeks with. There was even a cake -- thanks Anne! I don´t think they could fit on the right number of candles but we came near to burning the terrace down nonetheless.


Eva and Carolyne (vols), Mimi (our host), Anne (project leader)and the birthday girl

I felt very cherished all day.