Guacamole Rocks

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Okay we all know it is Guatemala but garry insisted on calling it Guacamole.
Maybe they need to charge more for beer & rum.

We started Guatemala in Tikal. One of the Largest pre columban Mayan sites.
Beautiful and steep temples & pyramids in the middle of a rain forest.
We spent a good day walking around this rather large and impressive site &
hopefully got a couple of good photos to show.
We hope that Siyaj Chan K'awil Chak Ich'aak doesn't mind Garry borrowing his
old throne for a photo.

To visit Tikal we based ourselves out of Flores. This is a beautiful old town on an
island in the middle of the biggest lake in Guatemala. Fantastic place.
Whilst there we managed to get a local gentleman named Miguel to take us for a tour
on the lake in his boat. He took us to a good swimming location, a great "mirador" (lookout)
up on a hill, sung us a mayan song and recited some mayan poetry. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon on Miguel's boat drinking beers.

From here we made our way to Semuc Champey. A fantastic little town known by travellers
for bat caves and waterfalls. We are grateful to Dr Phil who got us discounts every where we went(one of our travelling companions with perfect french, german, spanish, english, latin, sanskrit & I forget the others!!). Basically we got a package deal which involved accommodation, meals, climbing through caves (candles included), river tubing, waiting at the entry to a mayan cave for 1000's of bats to leave for the night, jumping off 7m waterfalls (carol wimped out, went for the 3m leap, such a girl) and spending a day trekking/swimming around stepped turqoise pools. We also found that Guatemala has one of the finest beers in central america (That's Gallo for any budding travellers).

From here we got a minibus to San Pedro on Lake Atitlan. We managed to get a fantastic and cheap apartment with views onto the lake. We had an amazing fews days not doing very much, but we
did manage to get carols birthday in. With our German and Danish travelling friends we had a
beautiful french meal and severly cheap Vodka Y Naranja for the rest of the evening. Wow, Carols 25th was so much fun we all can't wait for her 26th. :-).

After San pedro we were off to Antigua. It's a very beutiful and very religious town. It was great to be there for some of Semana Santa, flowers in the street & fantastic processions.
We also got ourselves on a tour of a local Volcano, hoping to poke some Lava with a stick.
We are rather dissappointed (but still alive) to report that there was seismec activity on the day that caused the ground to open around the lookouts. So NO drouyn, daniel & matt, we do not have the cool photos you guys got. It still was an amazing tour though, active volcanoes erurpting through the clouds in the distance. A set of photos you would be hard pressed getting back home.

As another mention, you all may have noticed the rather luscious beard that Garry is starting to grow.
In the words of Peter Griffin

Look at that Grizzly Adams, huh? Look at how confident he is, how majestic. I'm gonna grow a beard.
It's time I joined the ranks of great men with beards. Why do you think Jesus Christ was so popular? 'Cause a' all them magic tricks?

Drouyn you are what we aspire to. Emer & Bazza your input would be appreciated as to whether or not Garry needs to/should remove/trim his majestic mane. It is your wedding after after all.

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Photos

Carol at Tikal
above the trees

Stepped Pools
Semuc Champey

Comments

[Sharon]

Beautiful scenery
Carol you look absolutely fabulous...so skinny. not too sure about the beard on Gary... Great pictures. Make me want to go there now... especially to Belize.