Hi all! Apologies for the lack of updates for a few days, but like always we haven’t had much time to take time out to catch up on things. Which is fine, as we have so much to do, but I know some of you out there like the updates, and I like to write them, so I will catch up on a bunch now.

I have to get back to my last proper post though. I left it hanging that I had the change to eat something a little odd. Well, Deiber said our restaurant for that night had a new animal on the menu that I had not eaten, so I thought I had better try it. And what was it? Armadillo!

Most folk on the tour thought I was a bit odd, but I had to know what it was like. And how was it? Well, let me just say that I know why Armadillo is not on menus around the world. It was not particularly tasty, and just all bone. Oh well. Live and learn.

Today (being the day this post is really about) was another travel day. Not too long, but it involved leaving Guatemala and heading into Belize, which was super exciting. I really dug Guatemala. Everywhere had a good feel to it and I got to do some amazing things, but we were about to head into new adventures so onward ho!

After about 2 hours we arrived at the border. The border crossing at Belize was much longer than usual due to the time of year. Still not epic airport times, but it took us about 45 minutes to get the group across.

From there it was a quick 10 minute taxi ride to our new locale of San Ignacio. It was interesting being in Belize for a few reasons. First was that English was now the primary language. I had to keep stopping myself from using my meager Spanish! Second, US Dollars are accepted absolutely everywhere, with a flat exchange rate of 2 BLZ = 1 USD. You could pay for anything in USD and just get Belize dollars in change which was super handy. Finally, the Carribean influence was evident from the get go.

Our hotel in San Ignacio was very cool. Overlooking the town, we had quaint huts, complete with our own hammocks. A lovely welcome to a new country if every there was one.

Alas, San Ignacio was nothing much to speak of. The town didn’t have much to offer, however there was some small Mayan ruins nearby, so while Kate enjoyed the hammock, I decided to check them out.

Cahal Pech was a tiny ruins site, but really fun. There were a number of smallish pyramids and buildings, but with this site you could explore and walk on them all to your hearts content.

This made it really fun to climb up on everything and check it all out. Definitely worth the hour or so to explore.

That night we were given a talk by one of the local tour companies on what we could do tomorrow. The main reason to come to San Ignaico is to go cave exploring, so after the briefing I locked myself into spending a whole day exploring the most difficult cave, while Kate settled for some cave tubing. It was quite late by the time we were done there, so it was some hotel restaurant food and off to bed for the big day ahead.

Happy New Year everyone!
Apologies for the lack of posts over the past few days. In this time we have left Guatemala and arrived in Belize, explored the depths of Crystal Cave (and I mean the DEPTHS) and now found ourselves on the beautiful Caribbean island of Caye Culker for the next few days.
Will update the blog in a day or two, but until then, happy 2014!

Today was a super exciting day. We were going to Tikal!

Tikal was one of the main things we wanted to see on this trip. Along with Chichen Itza, it is regarded as one of the main sites of Mayan ruins. So to enjoy this to the max, it was another early morning, with a 6:30am start to head to the site.

The plan was to get there, smash down some breakfast and then beat the crowds to explore the huge site. Our guide was Miguel, and he was to show us around the site for the next 3-4 hours.

Tikal is set in the jungle, much like the ruins at Palenque in Mexico. If you remember that entry, that day was wet. VERY wet. We were worried last night in Flores as the rain bucketed down. Oh man, I thought… not again. But thankfully the Sun Gods were being friendly and we had a slightly overcast and humid, but rain free day.

While the main pyramid of Chichen Itza is a tough one to beat, the site of Tikal struck me as much more impressive. It seemed much more expansive, with many more pyramids that we could climb.

But it was also the jungle setting that really made it. Miguel and Deiber would always be pointing out wildlife, whether it be birds, local raccoon type creatures, and even Spider Monkeys. I know huh? Wandering around ancient Mayan ruins with Spider Monkeys overhead. Pretty incredible.

For the next 4 hours Miguel led us through the ruins, giving us time here and there to wander ourselves and take snaps. It seemed that on every path a new ruin or pyramid would pop up and take you by surprise. And to think that they know there is still a WHOLE lot more for them to uncover. the scaffolding on some of the ruins suggested they are still working their way through and will be for a long time to come.

We eventually reached the largest pyramid, Temple IV which stands 70 metres high. We climbed to the top and OH MAN. We were above the treetops, staring at jungle as far as the eye could see. All that broke it up was the odd temple poking its top above the trees, accompanied by the sound of nearby Howler Monkeys. It was absolutely spectacular… another there can be no photos to do it justice moment. It was possibly the most breathtaking moment of the trip so far.

What was even more exciting about being at the top of Temple IV? They shot some of Return of the Jedi there! As soon as I was up there I knew it as jungle footage of Endor. Miguel had told us that a lot of Endor was filmed in the surrounding jungle, but this was super obvious. I need to watch Return of the Jedi again super quick.

We then continued to wander, soaking it all up.

We could have stayed all day, but a handful of us had something else to do. Zip Lining! There was a nearby Canopy Zip Line, so while most decided to have some lunch (lame), Kate, myself, Deiber, and two others headed up the trees to fly through the jungle.

What followed was about 8 zip lines, so we could soar from tree to tree and see the jungle from a new perspective. This was a different zip lining experience that we had done in the past. To say it was a bit less “professional” is not being fair, but it certainly was a little more relaxed in how we moved about, taking photos from high up, and what we did on the zip lines.

On a couple of lines we had the chance to do the Superman, which was rotating the harness around so you you were hooked on at your back and could fly through the air. It was too cool… flying like Superman through a Mayan rainforest. I tell you… life is not too bad.

All buzzed up from our zip lining adventure, we raved to those unadventurous folk who didn’t join us, and headed back to Flores. Given the town is so small, Kate and I just relaxed by the lake, reading and blogging.

I have enjoyed the lake action and a beautiful sunset, as I type this, and am salivating at the prospect of what I might be able to eat for dinner. I could tell you but nah… I will keep it for the next post.

 

When I left you in the last post both Kate and I were not feeling too well. Sure I was buzzed on Chicken Buses, but my stomach was a bit tender and Kate was in an even worse place.

Thankfully, the next morning we were feeling on the up. Not 100% but A LOT better. Which was lucky, as this was a BIG travel day. By big, not as in what we were going to see, but BIG as in how far we had to travel.

So because of this, and that we had to get through Guatemala City, our day started at the ungodly hour of 5am. Quite the shock for all of us, but especially those just starting the tour. So bleary eyed, we boarded and started our trip to Flores.

Flores was an exciting destination, as it super close to the Myan ruins of Tikal,  one of our main reasons for this trip. But until you get that post later, there is not much to report about this day. It was about 12 hours of travel.

There are some random observations though…

1. Guatemala has way less speed humps than Mexico (but still has its fair share)

2. The country feels very different to Mexico, in terms of countryside, people and food.

3. It seems as though the guy above is desperate to become the new prime minister. Apparently he is in opposition, but this billboard is EVERYWHERE. No, really… EVERYWHERE.

4. Podcasts are the best for long travels days (as are Louis CK sets)

At dusk we ended up in Flores. Flores is a small island in a huge lake Peten Itza. The township is very small, such that our 5 minute orientation tour covered half the island.

It also seemed as if Gallo Beer sponsor the island, with their ubiquitous Rooster logo everywhere, even on the christmas decorations.

I joined the group dinner, while Kate took the opportunity to get some more rest for another big day tomorrow… this time exploring more ruins.

Today was another day in Antigua, and was a strange one in the context of the tour. First of all, as I mentioned in my last post, the tour had ended for quite a few. That meant there were only 6 of us that were continuing on together.

Since this was the case, and that another 9 were joining us for the second leg tonight, we had the day free to do what we liked. Yesterday we had packed it with so much that we intended to just chill and relax… which was lucky as being Christmas Day there was not as much action about.

So after a very lazy start we thought about what to do. unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your view) Kate and I decided to take this opportunity to be feeling a bit unwell, or in Kate’s case, a lot unwell. I guess things (the fast pace, the food, the drinks, the lack of sleep) had to catch up with us, but it hit us hard. One of our tour partners had the same thing the night before and it wasn’t pleasant, however we just had to ride it out. For Kate, it wasn’t much fun.

We did try to get out and about for a bit. I had one thing I knew I needed to see… the Chicken Bus Depot! I was super excited to go and see them so Kate was an absolute trooper and came for a wander with me.

It was a glorious yard full of gorgeous buses. I love that fact they do their public transport here with style.

If you are going to have a bus, why not have the most awesome bus you have ever seen?

With that we wandered back to our hotel to just doze off and recover. At 6pm I got to meet our new group, which from the get go felt completely different. Quite a different make up in terms of nationalities and ages meant that we were in for something different for the second half of our trip.

Declining our first group dinner due to the fragile state of my stomach, we chilled out in the room. But then it was BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

We had found out earlier that Central America love their fireworks but boy howdy do they ever. It was probably amped up for Christmas, but it was nice to sit on the terrace of the hotel and soak up our last time in beautiful Antigua.