Technically, I did sleep in the jungle.  Admittedly, I was in a couple of pretty nice ‘bungalow’ hotels.

Tikal Inn, Tikal National Park

The Tikal Inn (above) was a fun, convenient place to stay  and to start other excursions – it’s literally inside Tikal National Park.  It looks good in just the right light.  But the electricity, hot water, and internet typically only worked intermittently – maybe 8 hours a day in total. 

Las Lagunas Boutique Hotel – Flores, Guatemala

The place with the cabins sticking out onto the star-lit lake was (unexpectedly) super-swanky.  My nephew was with me – he was thrilled that he had a full-size Jacuzzi on his screened porch overhanging (and overlooking) the lake.  I was thrilled that it was so dark and remote you could see roughly a zillion stars.  When I woke UP in the jungle, it was usually pretty foggy.

At both places, you could hear howler monkeys all night long.  I got pictures of a couple in the daylight (including this ‘baby’).

Oh!  Camera friends:  The starry-night pictures of the cabin on the lake were at f4, 30 seconds, and ISO 3200 (or at least they should have been).  The D800E on a tripod (with both ISO noise reduction and Long-exposure noise reduction working – somehow), 16-35mm lens.  I just got lucky that the dim lights around the cabins were a decent balance for the stars (I didn’t light them at all, as I had to with the Tikal temples a few nights later).  The poolside shot was just ISO 400, about 2 seconds, f5, 16mm — there was enough light there to use the meter, so it was easy.