Ruins visited: Teotihuacan, Monte Alban, Palenque, Uxmal, Chichen Itza, Tulum, Tikal and Copan Favourite ruins: Teotihuacan, Palenque, Uxmal, Tulum and Copan Favourite towns: Oaxaca, San Cristobal, Merida [View Full Entry]

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Today we left Honduras for Guatemala where we finish the tour in Antigua. Antigua is touted as the prettiest town in Central America. It looks like many of the colonial towns I have visited throughout Mexico. But I will give it top points of its Artisan Markets. My God, I went crazy. Lots of embroideries for family and friends. The baby clothes, especially, are adorable. [View Full Entry]

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This morning we visited the famous Copan Ruins. The weather was perfect for touring the ruins and the guide was excellent. The carvings and structures were very impressive. It's my last ruin for a few weeks. As much as I've enjoyed them, I'm looking forward to a break. [View Full Entry]

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A long day.... We left Rio Dulce in the morning and drove to the Honduran border. Before crossing into Honduras we visited Quirigua, known for having some of the tallest statues in the Mayan world. Border crossing formalities took longer than expected and we didn't get to Copan until late afternoon. It's a pretty town, obviously aimed at enticing tourists to the neighbouring Copal ruins. In the evening a group of us took a truck an hour into the mountains to the natural springs. Trying to find a balance between scalding hot water and freezing cold water was tricky but the [View Full Entry]

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This morning we took a boat to the town of Livingstone, home of the Garifuna people. The town has Caribbean influences and the people are friendly. The heat and humidity is killing me so I'm spending my spare time swimming and sipping cocktails. I can't stop eating icecream. [View Full Entry]

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Today we visited Tikal, a massive Mayan ruin in the middle of dense jungle. I finally saw a Howler Monkey in the flesh after hearing their scary sounds at other ruins. I've been warned that I will be waking up to their noise when I'm in Puerto Lempira. Apparently Spielberg used their howls for the dinasours in Jurassic Park. After Tikal, we drove to Rio Dulce and caught a boat to our hotel located on a small island. Our bungalow sits over the water. Heaven! [View Full Entry]

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We left Belize for Guatemala this morning. We got to Flores after lunch. It's an island in the middle of Lake Peten Itza with not much to do. Our hotel has a pool so most of us stayed as close as possible to it because the lake looks a bit suspect to swim in. [View Full Entry]

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Today we went tubing and it was awesome. Three hours floating along a river, through pitch black caves and fast rapids. I'm exhausted and have a huge bruise on my bum from when the tour leader said 'raise your bum' so I pushed it down. [View Full Entry]

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We left Caye Caulker today for San Ignacio. Our hotel is in the middle of nowhere but thankfully it has a pool. In this humidity, it's a necessity. We visited Belize Zoo which is more like an animal sanctuary for animals who can't go back into the wild. The national animal of Belize is the 'Baird Tapir' (or 'Mountain Cow' as the Belizians call them), and one of the strangest things I've ever seen. They're endangered now but at one stage people used to keep them as pets. [View Full Entry]

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Another free day in Caye Caulker. I spent a few hours in San Pedro, a neighbouring island 30 minutes away. The afternoon was spent drinking at a local bar. The local guys are like Cuban guys -- sleazy as hell. I thought the shaved head would work like it had in Mexico -- although now I'm thinking Mexican men are just more respectful -- but if anything it made the guys more outspoken. One particular man who took an interest looked like bad news with a huge scar down his belly. I managed to escape his advances and ignored him the [View Full Entry]

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