Guatemala, Belize and Mexico

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Nurse sharks synchronised swimming to UB40, Belize

Howler monkeys waking up in the Jungle, Tikal

We arrived in Antigua, Guatemala, at night, in the rain, to a dark, empty house; mortar bombs and what we thought was machine gun fire kept neil from sleeping, but Hayley managed to nod off! It was the night before the local elections, and Guatemala is known to be politically unstable (notably one genocidal dictator in the 80´s) so we were feeling quite sketchy the next morning. However, we discovered that mortars and fire crackers where what we heard, and are actually used by the Guatemalans to celebrate, any time, any place, for any reason! Anyway, we met our family, Chochi (mum), Alvaro (dad), a son Paul (14 - who would play his one techno record, "dance with the devil," at volumes which made bits of our ceiling flake off onto the bed) and three beautiful daughters (Lisa 12, Paula 11, and Belen 9). We also lived with an American girl called Whitney, for a month; who then travelled with us through Guate´ and Belize, and who basically became an honorary member of our relationship - we were very sad to see her go! School was great. We studied español for a month and now manage to wangle our way through most situations confidently with spañglish.
Whilst in Antigua we took part in ´Antorcha´ part of the celebrations for Dia de la Independencia, which involved driving everyone about 20km out of the city (in the rain as it happened), and then, giving the person at the front a burning torch, everyone runs back - it was much more fun than it sounds. People at various villages on the way turn out with buckets, hoses and water bombs, to throw at the runners, and they seemed to especially like soaking the gringos! We also took a weekend trip to Lago de Atitlan and stayed in the small town San Marcos. the lake was beautiful and we snorkeled off ´the rocks´(like Menorca!) Here we found a retreat called ´Las Pyramides´where you can take a ´Lunar course´ involving yoga and meditation sessions and a daily metaphysical and existential discussion group ( with a herbal sauna on Sundays!) The course starts on the full moon of each month, and lasts for a full lunar cycle, the last week of which is total silence and fasting! We took some yoga and meditation classes - and might go back to do the course in January! (Hayley was thinking maybe Steph and Kelli might like to come and do it too?!)
Back in Antigua we visited an Organic, Cooperatively run macadamia plantation, we (Hayley) haggled at the market (a lot!!) and generally had lots of fun. Antigua is a beautiful colonial town, and most houses are over 500 years old! The architecture was amazing but the ubiquitous damp was not!
Having finished our course, the three of us travelled to the Rio Dulce (east Guatemala) and stayed in an amazing place built on stilts and walkways over the jungle fringed river, with amazing food, free kayaking, a swimming platform (we swam in the river lots) and an American weirdo conspiracy theorist called "Ray" (he wont tell anyone his real name!!) Who advised Whitney to invest all her money in silver and gold due to the imminent collapse of the entire US economy - he also warned her not to let the authorities "chip her" when the time comes!! We took a trip to Livingstone on the Caribbean coast, saw some captive crocs (in the local playground!) and had a coco loco (where they slice off the top of a coconut and add lots of rum, sugar and a straw), but we left sharpish as it was a bit of a dive.
We then got a bloody long bus ride to Tikal, in the jungle (or "tropical rain forest"as were were told by our guide Luis) in Peten. It was absolutely fantastic! We did a "Sunrise Tour", which involved getting up at 4am, after we had slept in hammocks, with sub-standard mosquito nets. Whitney woke up with a massive hairy, jumping spider in front of her face - nice. We then climbed Temple IV in the dark (the highest at 67meters) and waited for the jungle to wake up. First the insects, then the tree frogs, then the sun stirs followed by a horrific roaring sound which makes you think that something prehistoric is eating something else, but it is actually howler monkeys!! (listen to the video). Pockets of sounds emanated out of the dense jungle, with the peaks of Mayan temples peering through the canopy - it was an awesome experience. Throughout the day we explored the site and saw loads of wildlife including toucans, parrots, spider monkeys, and raccoon type things.

From there we crossed the border to Belize, spent a very funny night in San Ignacio with 3 guys travelling with an International gay and lesbian divers association, and from there to Caye Caulker (via Belize City) an island that meets with the stereotype of a quintessential paradise! White sand , coconut palms, tropical waters, (no one bothers to wear shoes or watches) and beach cafes serving whole garlic lobster, mash, coconut rice, garlic bread, chocolate cake and 3 rum+cokes for 4 pounds fifty (sorry, no pound signs on these keyboards!). There are only 1200 permanent inhabitants, so everyone knows everyone, and will say hi even if they have no idea who you are. The only traffic on the roads is quiet golf carts and fixed gear bikes, the only road kill was crabs; the island´s motto is "go slow", and everybody does! We spent Neil´s Bday there and dived the Blue Hole (with lots of sharks), click on this link to see it as we cant use the picture on the blog:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/galleries/belize/photo2.html

We then headed to Mexico, we travelled from Chetumal (a Mexican Bognor Regis) to San Cristobal de las Casas (another colonial mountain town, which the Zapatista movement made a strong hold in the 90´s, against government, and military repression of the indigenous farmers.) From there to Oaxaca, where we saw the beginnings of the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebrations, including a judged competition of ´offering altars´ and ´burial sand carpets´in the streets! We visited the Tule tree (see photo!) and tried a Temazcal steam bath, an ancient Mayan rebirthing ritual where you sit naked in a adobe igloo and throw herbally infused water onto hot coals to create a steam room, but first you have to have your aura and body cleansed; this is done by whirling ´Copal´ incense around you and then hitting you with a bunch of mint. On exiting, according to the Mayan beliefs, we were reborn (not to mention being absolved of all our sins!!). From Oaxaca we caught a bus to Mexico City, which was routinely searched by Mexican officials, and which dropped us freezing in the capital! Due to most of south west Mexico being mountainous, we have pretty much been in trousers and fleeces since we left Chetumal, the locals were wearing goat skins and shawls made out of llama wool! Mexico City was much more interesting (and safe) than we expected. We stayed in the historic centre, which had lots more old colonial buildings including, according to our guide, the first mint, printing press, and the largest cathedral in Latin America. It was on this tour that we met a lovely couple (Dani + Leajo) from St Thomas´Hospital London, who we became very attached to! We visited the Anthropology museum (Which although great, has put Hayley at her museum quota!), and played Metro Rugby (the metro is like the London underground, with double the amount of people at rush hour; people just scrum on to the trains without letting anyone off!)
In Coyoacan, a district of Mexico city, we visited Frida Kahlo´s and Leon Trotsky´s houses, which were interesting in a novelty kind of way. On the night of the 1st we visited the Xochimilco cemeteries to see how the Mexicans celebrate the Dia de los Muertos. They have an amazingly healthy attitude towards death (which in some way must make up for their attitude towards gringos), the cemeteries were full of people selling food, balloons and gifts for the dead, mariachi bands played around family tombs and boys played football under the giant PA pumping out various types of music, including heavy metal! It was a great experience, however it felt a little awkward to be there, with lots of family groups gathered around graves (where they stay all night to keep the dead company), especially in the children's area, where eerily cheery balloons, toys and sweets are left by families.

On our final day we visited the witches market, but declined to buy any skulls, stuffed monkeys or coyote´s teeth, and headed back for a punt down the canal that is the only remaining part of the lake that Mexico city was built on; stopping to admire the Isla de las Muñecas - a group of decapitated, deformed dolls, teddies, barbies, etc (just like Hayley's room when she was 15!!) which are apparently an offering made by a local man for a little girl who drowned in the river.
We are now in Quito (Ecuador), having survived our landing at one of the worlds "High Risk" airports, and we are still cold as ever, as we are high up in the Andes (2800m). Hayley flies to the Galapagos on Wednesday until new year, whereas neil heads up to Otavalo to start organic farming, the next blogs will have a much more personal tone!
Keep the emails and comments coming..we love getting them H+N.x

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Photos

Coco locos in Livingstone, Carribean coast of Guat
(Neil and Whitney)

Comments

[sue smith]

Fantastic blog - well done
Love the blog and all the pics. You can imagine what Felix thought of the Day of the Dead pics - told him it was like our Halloween and he seemed quite happy!