Blogs from Flores, Petén Region, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 13

The flyer from Mundo Maya sounded confident and filled with opportunity for activities from regional cooking to canoeing round the lake. I signed up for a week's worth, 20 hours schooling and a week with a family in San Jose. My new 'Mum' was Mirtala, she showed me around the family home. It consisted of two concrete and breeze block buildings. The first being the main home, had two 'bedrooms' soçectioned off by drapes. The main room had a table with a lacy cloth and six formal chairs, a short bench, a wardrobe, a table for kitchen utensils, a disconnected stove and a tall unit to house the TV, CD and DVD player. Everything was covered in lacey doilies and decorated with various knick-knacks made at school, received for mothers day or as congratulations for passing ... read more

Hi everyone! I am writing from Flores, Guatemala, where it is raining! Luckily this has been a VERY unusual occurrence while I have been travelling through North and Central America. Since I last wrote, I have seen many stunning parts of Mexico with my Intrepid group, travelled through Belize, including two days on Caye Caulker island where there are no cars and you can pad down the sandy streets in your bare feet, and have now arrived in Guatemala which on first impressions is a beautiful and friendly country. The group I am travelling with is loads of fun and we have done so many interesting things. We have hiked in the jungle, bombed through the Sumidera Canyon in a speed boat, visited several Mayan ruins including the famous Chichen Itza, snorkelled on the world´s second ... read more

As the days count down and we face the ultimate reality that at some point we will have to return to lands where the word ´sunny´ is mearly a concept. We are determined to make the most of every little hour that remains. With that in mind we planned a wild rollercoaster week skirting through Belize (hence the title - I thought it was funny and don´t care what anyone else says) and north Guatamala. From cave to coral, Monkey to Mayan this whistlestop tour would be just long enough to stratch the surface of two Central American Republics we are happy to admit we knew little to nothing about. Oh except that we used to ´own´ Belize, but then where didn´t we. What we expected from Belize was delivered in spades. Glorious vistas, amazing wildlife ... read more

Hi, Got to Belize City late night and met some pretty crazy people, including Prince Charles Paris III who sounded like one of the most educated people I have ever met (not too mention one of the most insane). The hostel we stayed at was right over the river and the people were really friendly, in fact everyone in Belize is! It is an absolutely fantastic city and beautiful in a very different way. We left that moring and headed for a place called Placencia via a very strange city called Dangriga. We finally reached the little fishing village after dark and were looking forward to some sleep followed by a lazy day on the beach. However, it rained torrentially the following day! The foolowing day (Sunday) we were up by 5am and jumped on a ... read more

Tikal, It’s been so long since I’ve been to Tikal and Flores in Guatemala. I think a part of me was intimidated to write about such an experience. It was probably my favorite place because of its Maya history. I imagine then how life would be for the Mayan people that lived in the middle of the jungle. Imagine to be surrounded by wilderness, hearing animal sounds all around you. I recall hearing a lot of birds and howler monkeys that are seriously loud and they will be the first thing that you hear in the morning. I guess you can get use to that kind of lifestyle, it’s just so different from the way we live now that it just mind boggling to me. Tikal was a large and prestigious kingdom in the classic period ... read more