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Published: January 4th 2013
Tikal
Tikal at first light on top of temple 4, waiting for the othe temples and monuments to come into sight which didn;t happen due to the forest mist!It,s been just over a week since our last blog so i thought i´d catch up before my seive of a memory starts draining!!! Shelly is on a PC next to me trying to organise some accomodation for the Honduran Bay Islands for Christmas, easier said than done!!!
So we left the Florida Keys on a happy note after filling our faces with Key Lime Pie at the famous Mrs Mac´s Kitchen diner in Key largo before driving off the Keys and to Miami. As we got within 15 miles of downtown Miami we hit the traffic that we´,d been warned about and played stop/go for about an hour till we got into town. After the lack of our research on the Keys and our expectation of miles of sand we decided to head straight for South Beach in Miami Beach, a rather upmarket part of town. Miami Beach is kind of an island connected by a bridge at the north and south end. We realised after a couple of enquiries for a room that we were going to pay through the nose for somewhere to stay after discovering that some art festival was on that weekend , at least
Tikal
the rainforest canopy $120, and that was a hostel!! However with our well honed bargain hunting skills in full flow we found a, shall we say ´rustic´ hotel, The Bellamar, for $60 a night, clean sheets but not so clean carpets, nuff said..!!! We paid for two nights and headed straight for the beach. 28 degrees, blue skies and relatively warm sea compared to the much colder Gulf of Mexico waters. Miami had a nice, quite relaxed feel even though it was party central and pretentious central too with tons of wildlife including chiuahuas dressed in clothes hanging out of prams and Gucci handbags, every super car you can think of and more fake boobs, trout pouts and stretched faces than ten Harley Streets put together! All that said, a great place for people watching, with a lovely clean beach! On the saturday we headed out for a few beers and ended up in an Irish Pub to watch the Pacqiaou V Marquez fight which was a great night and even better result, i´m sure Ricky Hatton had the same thoughts too!!!! We packed up on the Sunday after a few hours on the beach and headed for a hotel next to the
airport to give us an easier time of dropping the car off and catching our flight to mexico on Monday.
We got an early night after emptying the car and filling our rucksacks up ready for the next 3 1/2 months of yomping with our bags on our backs!!! We dropped the car off with no problems and got checked in for our short flight across the Gulf. 1hour 40 min later we were in Mexico, 29 degrees and very humid. We got on a local bus and headed for Hotel Soberanis in downtown Cancun. The room smelled a bit Musty to say the least but within 6 blocks of the bus station it was ok. We headed out to explore cancun which was very busy and smoky, with buses and taxis belching clouds of smoke everywhere. We found Macardo 28, a central flea market with all the expected tat and a few traditional Mexican restaurants, where i had some very tasty Fajitas del Poyo and Shelly had tacos del Res y dos Coronas para bebidas. We were making plans to get a bus to the beaches the next day, about a half hour journey, when a huge storm
Tikal
Wild Turkey came sweeping in from the west and dumped what seemed like a foot of water for the rest of the night, resulting in us wading, knee deep back to the hotel later that night. It was much the same the next day so the beach day was a right off so instead we had another wander around the markets and ate more Mexican with me eating a little too much Chilli sauce with my nachos and paying for it later on. We had booked a night bus to Belize so found ourselves kicking stones for a few hours till the departure at 10. We splashed out on a ´luxury´coach with reclining seats and a very smelly toilet and settled in for the 10ish hour journey. 6 hours and a dozen cat naps later we reached the Belize border which was a pretty straight forward, including a legit departure tax and a very un-legit arrival tax on the Belize side, $1.25 each, bargain! We arrived in Belize city, very blurry eyed and hazy but as we´d helped a german girl out by lending her money for the Mexico departure tax she returned the favour by getting us a lift with her
Tikal
one of the Altars where the offerings to the god were made. friend to the Marine Terminal where we we´d decided to go to get a boat taxi to Caye Caulker for a couple of days, one of the many small islands off the Belize coast where the Coral Reefs are supposed to be fantastic. We were quite glad of the lift as Belize city seemed to be very rough and supposedly at one point had the highest murder rate in Central America. We were treated to a quick tour of the city and the many no-go areas for gringos from the safety of a 4x4! We said our goodbyes and got booked on a boat and within an hour was heading out zig-zagging between the various Cayes to Caulker. We found nice little guesthouse for a couple of nights and set out to explore the island, 1/2 mile across and 5 miles long. The island had a nice vibe but as of so many places in this day and age it was spoilt, fly tipping and rubbish everywhere, such a pity for what is a lovely island. There was only one small beach on the island with most of the shallow waters full of sea grass and a maximum of 10
Tikal
A spider Monkey somewhere in the canopy. feet deep until the reef wall about 1/2 mile off shore where it dropped off into the depths. We had a little swim but i decided to save the diving till christmas and hopefully the Honduran Bay islands where the reefs and marine life are spectacular. One of the up sides of the island is the lobsters which are pretty much part of the staple diet of the Belizians....Thats what i´m talking about, roughly 7 quid for a huge lobster tail, and grilled with a garlic sauce, orgasmic!!!!!!
We left Caye Caulker on the 15th after booking our onward travel. We decided to get out of Belize and head for Guatamala as we were keen to see some of the reknowned Mayan ruins and lower prices as Belize was generally quite expensive. We got to the Guatamalan border in a few hours and on to Guatamala City where we had a half hour wait for a transfer to Flores. Guatamala city was a very busy, run down, polluted city with the highlight being the central bus terminal to get us out of there. We got to Flores in a couple of hours, a small island on Lake Peten Itza
Tikal
one of the three smaller pyramids alligned to the possition of the sun on the various equinoxes. in the northern Petan district of Guatamala which is one of the stop off places for people wanting to visit Tikal, possibly the best Mayan city ruins in Cental! The countryside was stunning, Lush green rainforest all around with mountains surrounding the lake. We found Los Amigos hostel at 4pm ish and booked 2 nights alomg with a sunrise trip out to Tikal the next morning which was a 2.30 am start for the 2 hour journey and 1 hour hike to get to the ruins before sunrise....OUCH! We got an earlyish night which was pointless as neither of us slept more than 3 hours. So equiped with pack up, head torches and hiking boots weset of. We arrived at 5 am in pitch darkness with our guide and another 5 people and after a short breifing headed onto the trail to Tikal. The city dates back to 9000 BC which is when the first settlement is dated upto 899 AD when the city was deserted. We got our first glimpse from torch light of one of the temples and as we walked we saw more and more ruins. We were initially heading for temple 4, the highest in the
city at 68 metres above the rainforrest canopy to climb to the top and wait for the sun to rise. In total silence we sat for 1.5 hours as the forrest slowly became visible but was dissapointed to realise there was a thick fog and we could see non of the other temples dotted around in the 1 square mile centre of the city, and even more dissapointing was the total lack of the ´morning chorus´ of birds and monkeys that i was expecting to hear, echoing out across the forrest as the sun slowly rose!!!! The next four hours really did make up for it though as our excellent guide Boris showed us round the various temples, stellas, monuments, sacrificial areas, whilst explaining about the positioning of the various buildings to allign with positions of the stars and sun on the summer, spring and winter equinoxes!!! A city that doubles as a calendar if you like!!!! Amazing. Then as the mist lifted we headed back up temple 4 to be treated to the haunting chorus of the different groups of Howler monkeys calling to each other across the canopy, along with the Spider monkeys, Toucans, wild Turkeys and loads
of wonderfully colourful birds and sounds the 6 hours we were there were really magical!
After a 10 day break from blogging i'm back on.....Its 2pm New Years Day on Utila which is a little island off the east coast of Honduras....so a Happy New Year to all family and friends, much love to you all. Shelly is back at the Hostel at Paradise Divers where i'm doing my PADI Resue Diver course with free accomodation thrown in, i think she's reading in a hammock within dashing distance of the toilet, Deli Belly, i will say no more............
After Flores in Guatamala, we decided to head to Antigua, Guatamala. It was southwest of Flores and an 8 hour bus ride up into the mountains through farming communities of the Mayans, most of the people wearing traditional dress. Antigua is surrounded by volcanoes, one of them active. It was the capital of the country until a huge earthquake flattened the city on 29th July 1773, the city had already been partially rebuilt twice before from two other earthquakes over the previous 100 years but they finally gave up as the city was left a total ruin from the one
Tikal
Temple 3 from the forest floor. in 1773. We spent the day roaming the streets and exploring the Churches, Convent, Town Hall and various other buildings that had been left as they were after the quake. The next day we booked on a trip to the active volcano, Pacaya, we booked the sunset one which involved setting of at 2.30 pm with walking boots abd a torch! We wound our way up through villages and finally all got out where the road ended and the track started to be greeted by a load of young farmers sons with their horses offering 'taxis' up 4kms to the summit. A couple of girls took the offer working out at about 3.30p each way. We got marching on foot. 2 hours later we were as far as we could get as there had been a mini errupion a few days before and we had to stay 1/2 km away from the crater. we took a few branches from low down the mountain and found a place where a little ledge revealed red hot rock that instantly lit the firewood and roasted the marshmallows the guide had brought. We headed back down just before sunset and watched it dip behind
Tikal
King Chocolate's Temple, named, as the cocoa bean was the currency during his reign. The stone circle was the main place for animal sacrifice to the gods the hills and reveal a clear starry night and all the distant lights of a town in the valley. We got an early night after a long trek and to be ready for the bus the next day to Panajachel. A village on the shores of Lago De Atitlan. We found a cheap clean posado, small b&b and headed out. It was quite touristy here but also very rural. we spent the day in Panajachel and the next day decided to get a water taxi to Santiago across the lake, a very non touristy area which had a farmers market in full flow as we arrived. After a few hours exploring we jumped back on a taxi to San Pedro a bit of a hippyhangout/party place and had a couple of hours there before getting the last taxi back at 5. We booked on a bus and decided to head straight into Honduras and to Copan where the second most spectacular Myan ruins are, not as vast as Tikal but it had alot more hyroglyphs and intricate sculptures and we got to go deep inside one of the temples througth a maze of small tunnels, very ''Indiana Jones'. Also as
Tikal
The Grand Plaza housing many walkways, houses monuments, some covered by huts to protect from the elements. we entered Copan ruins we were greeted by the screeches of a community of Scarlet Macaws long before we saw them! there were a couple of dozen at least all in the trees chilling out or squabbling! Such beautiful colours and very clever and noisy!!!!! We left Copan town and headed for La Ceiba where you catch the ferry to the Bay Islands and Utila which is where qwe are now. So far i've had four amazing dives including a 40 metre wreck dive, lots of Moray eels, giant lobsters and every type of coral and tropical fish you can imagine. There are Whale Sharks around here this time of year but aparently spotted more off Roatan which is an island 50 miles north. so I 've got a few more practical dives to complete my resue Diver course and we've decided to head for Nicaragua and travel down south to San Juan Del Sur we're we've booked a three week home stay with a family while we are going to a Spanish Language school, so we should be able to get by abit better after that, ready for south America.
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Carol & Charlie Walters
non-member comment
So overwhelmed!