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Published: November 26th 2007
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Hey kids
Its been a few days since the last blog, so settle yourselves down with a nice cup of coffee cos this one might be quite long. Also, I've got loads of different stuff to write about, so apologies if this reads like a school trip report!
First, a couple of facts about Guatemala.
1) The currency is called the Quetzal
2) This is named after the national bird of the same name.
I think this is a great idea - who's up for helping me lobby to get the name of the pound changed to the Pigeon?
Anyway.
Dawn at Tikal was pretty amazing as we'd anticipated. Getting up at 4.20 was a bit of a culture shock, but by the time we'd got our boots on and made it to meet our guide (he was called Hector and he rocked) we'd just about woken up. We trekked from the entrance to Temple IV, the highest temple on site (i think!) in the pitch black, luckily not getting breakfasted on by jaguars on the way. From the top of the temple you get a view east across the canopy of the forest. Unfortunately
the sun didn't make its most impressive appearance that day, and it was more of a gentle dawning than a sunrise as there was a lot of mist, but still, sitting on top of a pyramid listening to birdcall, insects and monkeys waking up for the day was an amazing experience. I don't know how many of you have heard howler monkeys but its the weirdest, least organic sounding noise - I found it really hard to believe it came from an animal. Its hard to describe, but imagine metal scraping against metal in a large echoey room and you're almost there!
After dawn we toured the rest of the pyramids and did some animal and bird spotting. We saw spider monkeys, orange breasted falcons, parrots, toucans, wild turkeys and probably some other things i've forgotten. Oh and Temple IV was apparently used as the rebel base at the end of Star Wars. Anyhoo it was wicked and we finished it off with a swim in our hotel pool (only the second hotel pool we've had so we had to make a lot of use of it!) and breakfast before catching the shuttle to Flores.
Flores is a
Temple of the Jaguar at Tikal
An amazing sight! We got a bit lost in the jungle without a map, and managed to miss all the minor ruins on the way. Then suddenly we turned a corner and this thing was looming at us, like a large looming walrus. gorgeous little town on an island in the middle of a lake. Although its used as a jumping off point for tourists for Tikal and other places in the area it didn't feel particularly touristy, and the locals were all super friendly. We only stayed for a night but i would have been happy to sit by the lake with a book for a few days.
Next stop was Lanquin, a tiny town in the middle of the mountains in north central Guatemala. Time for some gushing - I think the scenery here is the most beautiful I have seen anywhere - lush green mountains covered in coffee and cocoa plants, with cardamom growing wild. If you ever get the chance to drive from Coban to Lanquin I thoroughly recommend it!
We met a few people on the bus journey so we all headed to a hostel called El Retiro, a collection of gorgeous cabanas by the river, in a valley surrounded by mountains. There was a bar and restaurant which was all a bit freshers week, but it was cool to have en masse meals and we got into the spirit by knocking back a fair bit
From another angle
No less impressive of rum! The first night we got a cabana which was really lovely, the second night we had to move into an attic room with no door which was also quite nice but meant that we were joined in bed by one of the El Retiro cats, which decided my pillow was as good a place as any to spend the night. Luckily it was very cute but i got a bit of a shock when it first jumped up.
Anyway the highlight of our stay in Lanquin was the cave trip. We thought this would just be a brief walk/splash through a cave, but it turned out to involve swimming holding candles above our heads, climbing up and along rocks and waterfalls, sliding down waterfalls, and jumping off high rocks into pools (although i confess I chickened out of that bit! Si got to go first which must have been pretty scary) - anyway, it was wicked. We then got to go tubing down the river (sit in an inner tube, get in front of a rapid, and float down) which i absolutely loved and want to have another go at.
Then came the option of jumping
Thick jungle at Tikal
Thicker than a McThickshake off a massive bridge into the river and off a big swing, Si had got into the jumping frame of mind by then and did both (i was terrified on his behalf when he climbed over the side of the bridge), but it all went off swimmingly except apparently it made his arse hurt when he hit the water! Some photos to follow of these escapades anyway. The next part of this trip was Semuc Champey, pool terraces with a waterfall flowing underneath them. I'd been really looking forward to this but it was a bit of a write off as it absolutely pissed it down, and poor Si had taken a big chunk out of his toe on the sharp rocks so we couldn't do the hike to the top which is apparently incredible. So I'm definintely coming back here in the summer one day!
We're currently in Antigua in the south of the country. Its a beautiful old colonial town with cobbled streets with a large volcano looming over it. Its famous for its Spanish schools, and we've booked into one for a week starting next Monday. Its going to be weird having to get up in
the morning and concentrate on stuff!
So I've just got one more thing to write about now, which is the hike we did up Volcan Pacaya yesterday. I wasn't really sure what to expect, except that I'd heard it was quite hard going coming down and to hire a walking stick from one of the kids at the bottom! When we got to the top and I heard a couple of people ahead talking about lava, it was pretty exciting as I wasn't really sure about whether we'd get to see any - so when we rounded a corner and saw it it was incredible...sunset, huge mountain, fire pouring down the side of it. Volcanoes are my new favourite thing. We then had a trek across the lava field (i was very glad of my walking stick! lava rocks are SHARP) right to the bottom of the flow. We sat there for a bit and watched chunks of flaming rock fall off. It was just mind blowing, I can't even describe it so I'm really hoping some of the photos are good!
Anyway - we've got to go check out of our hotel now so I will leave
it there!
hope you kids are all well
lots of love nat xxx
Antigua
Volcano
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