Chisek and Major Adventures in Cancuen

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We decided no jungle on Sunday due to the level of bites we were both suffering. This disappointed Carlos the boatman. We headed to Raxruja (2.5 hours on the microbus) but didn't like the hotel recommended by the guides. We really have found both Lonely Planet and Rough Guide to be of limited usefulness. OK Lonely Planet is a bit out of date, but we have the latest edition of Rough Guide and... for instance, the recommended restaurant in Chisec was a male-only beer drinking establishment (which we discovered after we had sat down). Ah well...

We booked into the hotel (forgotten what it's called) which was fine The AC was good, but noisy. The fan didn't work and I got a shock from the electric shower. It was also highly insecure (couldn't close the windows securely) and everyone left reception. Which was a bit scary. However, we booked in three nights. We wandered round town and there didn't seem to be much there. Though, as ever, it was interesting. The whole place was pretty much shut (it was Sunday night) but we went to the Comedor over the road from the hotel - yes it's kind of a local truck stop restaurant - where we ate carene plata and pollo rollo with beans, tortillas (more than we could eat) and crema for no money to speak of. We then got some beer from a tienda and headed back to poolside to drink it.

Monday 10th was a major, major adventure. We decided to head for Cancuen. We jumped onto a packed microbus outside our hotel. It was standing room only and the driver was crazy - constantly being harassed by kids in the front seat and playing loud oonce music all the way. After a while we got to sit down but the driving was still fairly scary. We got off the bus in Raxruja and were briely stumped. We were shown the road to the ruins but there did not appear to be a bus. We knew it was about 12 Km but we started to walk anyway and were soon picked up by what looked like a carful of locals but was actually functioning as a shared taxi service (I was given change when I paid at the end of the ride). They were playing a CD very, very loudly and it skipped on the unmade road. Local music, or maybe Mexical with loud whoops and whistles.... Was a bit worried about how we would get back as 12Km is a long walk in the heat and there are hills. Not very worried though as there is always a way!

We arrived at Union and walked the wrong way - went back to the sign saying there was an archeological site nearby and attempted to commission the lancha. Were understood but there was some problem with the lancha (probably the Capitan was asleep or busy elsewhere). A very helpful young man offered to conduct us to the site on foot. He said it would take 20 - 30 minutes. After precisely half an hour's pleasant walk though fields (probably not as pretty as the boat but still very interesting) we came to the river. Our guide charged us half what the lancha would have cost. It did take him a while to get the attention of the site guard who paddled us across the river to the site. He showed us into the visitor centre where he seemed quite glad that we didn't want a receipt for our site entry fee. He then guided us around the extremely well marked interpretive trail - which has information in English (rare for Guatemala).

What did we see? We saw lizards and parrots and huge spider webs. We also saw what was probably a trogon (Ashley saw it better than I did). We were there over midday which is not the best time for seeing wildlife but it took us a while to get to the site even though we started early.

The site has been heavily looted and suffered greatly during the civil war. The reconstruction is locally done (by local workers, trained by archeologists from both Guatemalan and USA universities) and is sensitive. Care has been taken to preserve the archeology and the rainforest and to bring benefit to the local population. I think it would make an excellent day trip (with a bit of organisation) so counted us lucky to have seen it as we did. Though it's notable than none of the places we were in for about a week are actually listed as regions on this blog. Like I said, we were the only tourists in town!!!

We spent 50 Qs on some obligatory hand carved hardwood souveneirs. We saw an old, old ceibal tree. We both like those trees.

Walked back to Union seeing more parrots and a bird very like a kestrel. Got some liquids. It took us some while to work out that we needed to walk up a hill to the next junction to catch the 'bus'. This turned out to be pickup. We have no problem with riding in the back of the pick up. This took us to Raxruja. From Raxruja we got the microbus back to Chisek with the maddest dolmus driver yet. Bends? Hills? Blind overtaking? No problem! Fortunately we had seats and space enough to bounce around when we hit the speedbumps.

That night a whole load of Guatemalans arrived at the hotel, so we were entertained by their antics with the waterslides and dinosaurs (yes, the hotel had waterslides and dinosaurs in the garden) whilst we drank our after dinner beers, then we went to bed....

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