We are now safely back in Guatemala in a small market town in the highlands, Chichicastenago. We are at around 2000m above sea level meaning that temperatures plumet once the sun dies, leaving us both wrapped in thermals under several rugs at night! The market has just finished which was a very lively affair, full of interesting smells, some good (food stalls lining the center), some bad (dried fish). Adding to the atmosphere was the sweet smell of insence burned around the church steps and drifting throught the market, a mayan turned catholic performed for several gods. Our journey here was [View Full Entry]

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From Flores we had a gruelling 8 hour trip to cross the Guatemalan border into Mexico and to Palenque, a small town with some mayan ruins that had been recommended. The journey, requiring a small lancha (boat) trip across the a river into Mexico, seemed to never end, and on top of that we had the feeling that "non-official" charges were being extracted from us, disheartening but I guess thats life out here, you live and learn! We arrived in Palenque and quickly headed out of the town into El Pachan, a small group of hostals/camping areas on the way to [View Full Entry]

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Ran out of time yesterday so will fill you in on the last 24! We were planning to go to a reserve in El Remate yesterday and camp there the night but we got talking to a local who said it's pretty dodgy and there have been cases of muggings and assault as it is pretty isolated. We headed there just for the day instead and felt quite disappointed at the entrance as prices had doubled and the "beach" was pretty grotty with a dead-looking horse on it! So we changed our plans and decided we would head to Flores across [View Full Entry]

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Hi, Got to Belize City late night and met some pretty crazy people, including Prince Charles Paris III who sounded like one of the most educated people I have ever met (not too mention one of the most insane). The hostel we stayed at was right over the river and the people were really friendly, in fact everyone in Belize is! It is an absolutely fantastic city and beautiful in a very different way. We left that moring and headed for a place called Placencia via a very strange city called Dangriga. We finally reached the little fishing village after dark [View Full Entry]

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Without hanging around we left Cancun after a good nights rest and a cheap feast at a food stall. We got our first bus of the trip to Tulum, a sleepy town near the coast with fantastic beaches and a some pretty mayan ruins set on top of cliffs over the sea, very spectacular. We stayed in a little beach hut with nothing other than a bed with mosquito net in and spent most of our time here walking, to ruins, along the beach, to the shop etc., as it was cheaper than a taxi (although much hotter and longer). We [View Full Entry]

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Travel Plans (Rough Dates) MEXICO 17th - 25th November BELIZE 25th - 31st November GUATEMALA 31st November - 07th December HONDURAS 7th - 14th December NICARAGUA 14th - 21st December COSTA RICA 21st - 29th December VENEZUELA 29th December - 15th January BRAZIL 15th January - 1st March PARAGUAY 1st - 20th March Paraguay ARGENTINA 20th March - 7th April CHILE 7th April - 15th May BOLIVIA 15th May - 3rd June PERU 3rd - 23th June EQUADOR 23rd June - 31st J [View Full Entry]

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