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Published: April 20th 2009
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SO its been a week now since we met our tour group in Playa del Carmen, and alrady we have travelled down the east coast of Mexico, seen Belize, and now we are in Guatemala. Its been so amazing so far. Everyone in our group is really nice. There are 12 of us and the group leader, who is from Guatemala..nice guy. There are 5 from Oz, 1 from NZ; 1 from Wales, 1 from Switzerland, 1 from Brighton, and then me and Adam.
Playa del Carmen was lovely, we were a bit dissappointed we only had one night there, but we still enjoyed it. The place is a buzzing little town witha great nightlife...i preferred it here to Cancun, although the beaches in Cancun were much nicer! We had a wander around all the streets, then when we met our group we all went out for a few drinks amongst the busy streets. It was a fun night!
The next day we headed down the coast, only an hour drive by bus to Tulum, Mexico. This place was amazing!! Tulum is famous for the Mayan ruins which still remain there. WE had a quick visit there taking lots
of pictures, but it was too hot to fully take it all in! The place we stayed here was by far the best so far!! We each had a cabana right on the beach..made of wooden sticks and a small sheet on the inside of the wall facing the sea to protect everything in the hut getting soaked form the spray of the sea!! It was so so nice here. There was only electricity from 7pm til 11pm every night, and that was it. It was like being in scouts again only a million times better!!! There were beds/mattresses on the beach and also swinging beds on the beach sheltered from the sun. The bar has swings for chairs (this seems to be very popular here in central america), and there was a chillout area of sofas facing the sea. very nice place. there was nothing around to do or anywhere to go so we all just sat around at night having a few drinks and getting to know each other..then looking up at the millions of stars in the back sky...incredible! This was also home to loads and loads of massive iguanas that just wander around during the day.
The accom in Tulum..AMAZING!
Right on the Caribbean coast.. Im so used to seeing them now, they dont scare me...well once they dont come near me that is!!!
SO after 2 nights is paradise, we took a 12 our journey by coach, taxi, chicken bus (old school buses from USA) and ferry, across the Mexican border entering Belize and settling on the island of Caye Caulker. WOW! this place was amazing aswell. English is the first language here, but the country is so so different from Mexico even though it borders it. The people look Jamaican, speak like Jamaicans, and act like Jamaicans...it was such a fun place. The island we stayed on had no cars, only little golf buggies and bikes to get around. The roads were all sand..no concrete!! the water around was all so tropical looking, the shops and restaraunts were all tiny little huts, but so colourful..just so so picturesque. Here we went snorkeling in the second biggest barrier reef in the world. My god was i scared. we took a boat out to the reef which took about an hour, then made three sepreate stops for snorkeling to see different things. the first stop was the easiest one to ease us in. I
was so so petrified but eventually i got in, not letting go of adams hand while we snorkeled around. As soon as we saw a mssive ray swim underneath us, i though..screw this i cant dot it, but i calmed down and continued on. We got back to the boat and drove for a bit til we got to our second stop where all the sharks lived...my god i was even more scared here. The fish around the boat were huge, and the sharks were just scaey...not massive sharks but still sharks!!! I got in eventually being the last one to get off the boat and the tour guides took us on a guided snorkel through the reef. We saw absolutely millions of different colourful fish, 1 shark, some ray, and a massive sting ray! it was just amazing. so so glad i did it. By the time we reached the third snorkeleing area i had seen enough and swallowed enough sea water so i sat back and watched. There were more sharks at this place so i wasnt too keen on getting in again! Adam did and loved it! The rest of the journey back to the island we
were fed unlimilted amounts of the local rum punch. The rum in belize is absolutely AWFUL!!! it tastes like something gone off...really really bad, so most of us steered well clear of that!
There was a buzzing atmosphere on the island, only 1 bar where everyone went at night which closed at 12 then everyone went to the one club which stayed open til 3am. We went out both nights we had here, and had great craic! Really enjoyed this island, it was so different and really had the Carribean feel to it. ALl the locals had dreadlocks, and wore the jamaican hats...funny!
We took over 200 pics here so cant put them all up, but the place was gorgeous. The locals would always call out at you if you were walking too fast..their motto was 'Go Slow', and they never wear shoes!! great place.
Next stop was a town inland in Belize called San Ignacio. This is the second biggest city in Belize but was about the same size as Rathfarnham village!!! There wasnt alot to do here. We just took it easy and had a wander down by the river where the lads decided to jump in
from the cliffs at the edge. We had a night here on our 2nd night here, which was in the only busy bar in touch. Again we had a great night out here!! lots of fun, lots of stories, lots of photos once again!!! 😊
Then we left San Ignacio yesterday morning and crossed the border of Belize to Guatemala where we then travelled by bus for 2 hours to our current destination of Flores. This is a tine island in the middle of a massive lake connected to the mainland by a bridge. We walked around yesterday, watched the sunset over the lake, had a swim in the lake then all went out for dinner last night. Didnt do much our first night here..the beers are only 1dollar here so the lads had a few! Yesterday we did a trip to Tikal, one of the biggest Mayan Ruin sites in Central America. Was really cool! We saw loads of mildlife..some spider monkeys and the rest just tropical birds that i cant remember the name of! The ruins were amazing. We climbed to the top of some of the temples (like pyramids) and the views were incredible...just forests and
trees for miles in all directions...was really nice- Last night we all just chilled on the hammocks on the roof terrace with a few drinks. Up now and ready to leave here for our next destination.... Rio Dulce, Guatemala....
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