Mexico, Belize and Guatemala

Central America Caribbean
September 8th 2006

Published: September 9th 2006

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Ambre

Mexico City

Ongoing protests....

To those of you that have contacted Richard or I requesting a new journal entry...HERE! OK! IIT TOOK ME FOREVER BUT DON´T YOU GO WORRYING ABOUT THAT!!!!

And so we reach the last leg of our trip. Richard doesn´t like me saying that or starting any sentences with the words "when I get home...". So I won't!

MEXICO CITY
I was a little scared of Mexico City as every time we mentioned it to someone they´d do that sucking through the teeth thing and then tut and shake their heads before saying "You must be so careful, Mexcico City is a dangerous place.."¨etc. etc. We arrived at a much nicer than scummy LA airport and found everybody to be very helpful. Tourist Info at the airport kindly arranged a hotel for us for $30 per night. A splurge for a few days but was lovely to not have to share a room with 10 other people for a change! We were staying very close to the Zocalo, the centre of the city and were therefore amoungst the current political protests.

The protesters carried banners and blocked a road, demanding a recount of all votes in the disputed 2

Mexico City

Me writing in my other journal....the one you don´t get to read!

July poll.
The left-wing candidate rejected the tribunal's decision to recount only 9% of votes. "The Mexican people do not want only part of the truth," he said.
His supporters' sit-ins have paralysed the capital.
Official election results gave victory to the conservative Felipe Calderon by half a percentage point.
A spokesman for the coalition backing Mr Lopez Obrador said the civil disobedience would intensify.
They have blockaded key streets in Mexico City for the last week, costing the city an estimated US$23m (£12m) a day as traffic jams choke the city centre.
Results from the July election showed that Mr Lopez Obrador lost to Felipe Calderon by less than 0.6 of a percentage point - or about 240,000 votes out of a total electorate of 41 million.
The tribunal has until 6 September to make its final ruling on the winner.

We spent our days sightseeing and using our very basic Spanish to order food, book buses, and generally get around with no problems. We kept ourselves safe but never once felt in any danger. The people of Mexico have enough going on at the moment to bother mugging tourists! Besides, unlike in SE Asia we don´t stand

Real chics!

I saw these on a bus from Mexico city.....yes they really are real and they really are those colours...

out so much, especially with our tans!

Richard is king of directions and getting around and seems to memorise his street names. I on the hand tend to get lost a lot and got to practise asking directions in Spanish alot! It is really nice that the shop fronts are all the same colours and even the Burger Kings and Seven Eleven shops have the same brown and gold font but it does make all the streets look exactly alike!

OAXACA (prounounced "Wahaka")
A very pretty little town with rustic buildings and stunning courtyards. We stayed again in the centre close to the Zocalo in a youth hostel (more room sharing and bunk beds).

When we visited the Zocalo, normally a pretty square with fountains and trees and surrounded by quaint cafe´s we were surprised to see blue tarps providing cover for what appeared to be people living in the square. Also the walls were covered in graffitti. We came across a poster explaining in English what was going on. It would seem that every year the teachers protest to the government to try and get a better schooling system (uniforms and free school dinners and books

Oaxaca

Just one of the very many beautiful churches in Central America.

and pencils etc.). This year things got out of hand and when the petition was ignore teachers and their families made a settlement around theZocalo to protest. 14th June 2006 at 4am whilst the settlement were sleeping (just 4 weeks before we arrived) a helicopter flew over and dropped tear gas and men with guns desended. The settlement tried to fight back with rocks and anything they could find but in trying to protect their families a few men women and children were killed. It is reported that a fake ambulance came and took away the bodies. The settlement are angrier than ever and show no signs of leaving the Zocalo. A waiter we spoke to said he understands their plight but they are ruining businessess here as many places had to close for over a week until it was safe to open and tourists will not continue to come when the Zocalo is such a mess and people are concerned for their safety.

San Cristobal
Another very picturesque town that is much cooler and therefore no mosquito´s for a few days which was really enjoyable. For somewhere that has a rainy season I can´t understand why they would

Oaxaca

Yet more protests....this is where many teachers and their families are sleeping still.

make their paths out of shiney stone that becomes a skating rink the second it gets wet. I slipped a lot and got very wet feet in the rivers that flow down the streets when the rain comes!

Belize City
We got a bus that took us over the border and into Belize City. When you think of a city you generally think of high rise builings and a lot of concrete. Belize City is a small dusty town with wooden shacks as buildings. Everybody speaks in English (in Jamaican accents) or Creol. Very Jamaican feel all over here with the local dish being chicken rice and beans. There isn´t much in Belize City and we were told to be careful. In fact, when we stepped off the bus and said ¨no thanks¨to the offered taxi we were told ¨you´d best watch some man don´t do you sumtin!¨.....real friendly, thanks mate. They don´t really cater for tourists (doubt many stay more than one night) and the ¨tourist section¨is down some dodgy looking streets and we discovered the reccommended bars in that section only open when the large cruise ships come to town.....we didn´t feel safe walking there in daylight

Belize and the only thing worth visiting for. The zoo

Miaow! That is one good looking cat!

let alone night time! We were staying in a dorm above a very nice Jamaican family who were so laid back I wouldn´t be surprised if they slip into a coman every now and then. Took about 5 minutes to say one sentence. Very nice and made lovely cinnamon and raisen toast for breakfast!

The second day in Belize City we went to Belize Zoo. The only thing worth coming to Belize City for in our opinion. Took about 45 minutes on the local bus. We got to see Jaguars and spider monkeys and some very bizare looking creatures! It didn´t feel much like a zoo as the enclosures were amoungst natural woodland and the enclosures were a decent size. The animals seemed happy enough. Poor Richard got bitten within 2 seconds of entering the park. Insects seem to like him far more than me and hunt him down. Even ants seem to crawl onto him just to sink their teeth in!

Placencia
We decided to visit the coat to get some sea and sun in and after a very bumpy dusty journey arrived at a pretty little wooden town that boasted the Guiness World Recorded narrowest street

Belize city zoo

Monkey!

in the world which we had just outside our door. Unfortunately the sea didn´t look very clean so we spent our days sunbathing and showering when we got to hot. I don´t know what it was that was washing up but it didn´t look very healthy. We stayed here for 4 days whilst we tried to recover from upset stomaches!

Flores
More buses, over the boarder and into Flores although they tried to get us to get out across the bridge from Flores in the pouring rain but we did the ¨no comprende, no hablo Espanol´ until they drove us into Flores as promised. Flores is a beautiful little place that sits in the middle of a lake. Steppng out of the door is like being hit in the face with a hot wet flannel!
We came across a little hostel called ¨los Amigos¨where we didn´t stay but liked to go to for the helpful information, hammocks, red wine and the great food that took forever to arrive but was well worth the wait. We booked our tour to Tikal from here also.

Tikal (or Tik’al, according to the more current orthography) is the largest of the ancient

Belize City Zoo

Really wish I could remember the name of this thing...was soooo cute!

ruined cities of the Maya civilization. It is located in the El Petén department of Guatemala at 17°13′19″N, 89°37′22″W. Now part of Guatemala's Tikal National Park, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a popular tourist spot.

The ruins lay on lowland rainforest. Conspicuous trees at the Tikal park include gigantic ceiba (Ceiba pentandra) the sacred tree of the Maya; tropical cedar (Cedrela odorata), and mahogany (Swietenia). Regarding the fauna, agouti, spider monkeys, howler monkeys, ocellated turkeys, guans, toucans, green parrots and leaf-cutting ants can be seen there regularly. Jaguars and coatis are said to roam in the park.

The ruins are laid out over a huge distance and arein alignment with the star formation of the big dipper....how cool is that!

We were collected from our hotel at 3.30am and made the 30km ride by minibus with our tour group and tourguide ¨ceasar¨who was a very charasmatic individual!
Onc in the park we set off with tourches in silence and climbed very rickety wooden ladders to the top of the tallest ruin pyramid where we sat in silence and awaitied the sun to rise. Due to the clouds we couldn´t see a great deal but

Belize City Zoo

Look carefully in the middle of the photo...see her?

as the sky lightened he silence began to dissapear with eerie howls of the howler monkeys and the growls and roars of large wild cats. It was amazing. Like sitting on top of the world and listening to it come alive for the first time.
I tried to get video clips of the sounds but there was an extremeley irritating Israeli guy who kept rustling crisp packets every time anyone tried to get a sound clip. His friends fell asleep and started snoring and then he proceeded to go through every picture on his digital camera with an annoying ´beep!´ as each picture came up on screen. Richard took to throwing small pebbels atthis neck so he kept slapping himself thinking he was being bitten. tee hee. I tried to take photo´s of the sun coming through the clouds but stupid Israeli guy would stretch and put his hands in front of my camera. moron.

We climbed many ruins that day and saw some amazing views. It was very hot and by the time we got back to the hostel we were exhausted but couldn´t go to sleep as we had checked out as had to get a bus

Belize City Zoo

The Tapir....seriously odd looking creature.

that evening to Guatemala City. Luckily the people at Los Amigos are very nice and allowed us to store our things in the owners bedroom, use the showers and chill in the hammocks for the day. Imagine our frustration when we arrived at the bus station for our 10pm 1st class bus to see a crappy bus. We were told that ´this is the first class bus´ but when I asked the driver of the still standing 1st class bus what was wrong he said ´esta roto!´. The bus had broken down and they were refusuing refunds as had a rubbish bus people could go in instead. Luckily for us they had double booked our seats and we go our money back, stayed in Flores for two more days and got a small private minibus to Coban.

Coban
Our minibus took us directly to a hostel which looked lovely. We got a deal where we get two nights free in the shared dorm if we book to goto Semuc Champey (waterfalls and pools and caves). We met some really nice people including a Israeli girl named Dana who had me laughing with her stories of getting locked into a

Flores

We had some impressive views from the balcony here.

toilet on a bus whilst everyone was asleep and couldn´t get out for 2 hours and then locking herself in a hostel toilet cubicle at 2am and getting stuck under the door trying to get out!
We had another early start the next morning and set off for Semuc Champey.

There are huge pools of aqua pools of water that all run into each other. We climbed several hundred feet up a bloody mountain for a picture of the pools. It was hard work but worth it. I was sweating like Gary glitter in Toys R us! Got to go down to those pools after and have a swim though so we recovered quickly. After our packed lunch and more swimming we set off for the caves and were given lit candels that we had to swim with! The caves that were fillled with water and had to swim whilst holding a candle up to light the way. I´m not very keen on enclosed spaces but conquered my fear that day as at one point had to lead the way with 15 people following me through a waterfall, up a ladder with water crashing over it to the top

Flores

The bird behind me pecked me in the head about 2 seconds after this photo was taken...you can see him thinking about it can´t you!

of the waterfall (inside a bloody cave in the dark), candel had gone out and had to feel my way along the rope and pull myself along a narrow ledge whilst water gushed past me and over a steep drop! Oh and I got my butt wedged in between two rocks whilst trying to squeeze through a hole......was great though. The really skinny people were freezing. Richard had gone blue. We were supposed to the tube down the river but when we came out of the cave the lovely sunshine had given way to a huge thunderstorm. Me and the girls in the picture Natalie and Daniella) were keen to go anyway but everyone had had enough of being wet and cold so we went home. Richard didnt like the caves. I had the best time EVER! Indiana eat your heart out!

Quetzaltenango (aka Xela - pronounced Shaylar)
This is were we have been for the past 4 weeks studying Spanish Monday to Friday. We started at the same school but I didn´t like my teacher so moved school. I like my new teacher, her name is Dulce which is Spanish for ¨Sweet¨. Bless! We are rather bored of

Flores, Tikal mayan ruins

Steep climb but worth it for the views! You can see more ruins in the distance behind us.

the routine and wonder if we areactually learning anything but we are perservering and have rented an apartment for a month. The first couple of weeks was all study and on the one occasion we decided to eat out Richard had a lovely chile con carne....and spent 7 hours being extremely ill with food poisoning! I felt rather helpless just bring water to his little slumped form on the bathrom floor. He attempted to come to bed several times but eventually sloped off to the spare bedroom. He recovered quickly and I am pleased to report that he is back to full health.....and we only cook at home.

Xela is a very pretty place and many cake shops called ¨Xela Pan¨ and also many icecream shops.....they sure do like their pies and icecream here! We met many nice people here including Patrick from Australia who took to calling our daily visits to Xela Pan ¨Xela shame¨. I have gained more than a few pounds but hey, It´s cold, i´m bored of studying, i´m not being active....what´s a girl to do?

One weekend we decided to get out and Richard came to my school on Friday night as the

Flores, Tikal mayan ruins

The best picture I´ve taken thus far?

teachers all cook for the sudents and then we went out with people for a couple of dinks but were home by 10pm as had horse riding the next day which brings us to my being unable to move, sit, walk or even lay properly at the moment! There were just four of us riding (me and Rich and 2 ladies from my school) and O MY GOD i´m sure riding never used to kill me before! You don´t wear hats here (unless a cowboy hat of course) and when I saw the horses I spotted one that was kicking at the ground and bucking and looking rather fed up and thought ¨please don´t give me the mental horse, please don´t give me the mental horse´´....i got the mental horse and she kept trying to go in a different direction and attempting to buck me off. nice. Richard had the best looking horse called Valentino.
I thought that as we had no hats we´d walk the horses but soon broke into a trot and the seats were so hard! After a while I got into it and my horse decided to obey me more and I found that if you

Flores, Tikal mayan ruins

Yes, it´s another ruin.

cantar you don´t get bounced so much so I went full pelt whenever possible and just prayed I wouldn´t get thrown off and down the side of a mountain! On the way back (5 hours of pain) my horse and Richard became a little competetive and wouldn´t allow the other to go in front so just kept speeding up to outrun each other. I discovered that my horse was a fairly new mummy and so was unhappy to be going out without the baby (hence being bucky and stroppy at the beginning) and very keen to return once she realized we were heading back (hence the speedy gonazales return). We all had sore bottoms and I couldn´t properly for dinner.

Woke up the next morning with pulled muscles on my butt and bruises in places that shoud never be bruised, pulled muscles down my back. Woe is me. But Richard´s fine so that´s good isn´t it.....sigh.

Whilst in Xela I went with my school to meet with some mothers and their daughters who had travelled several hours to meet with us in the hope that their daughters can recieve sponsor to attend school. Women in Guatemala are not

Coban

On ou way to Semuc Champey with Natalia and Daniella.

seen as anything more than objects to abuse and to clean and cook for the men. Therefore, the girls often do not get sent to school as education is seen as a waste of time and costs the families money. Sometimes a girl will get to go for a year or two until she has more siblings and the parents can no longer afford to send them so pull them out and send them to work instead. Sakribal Spanish School (my school) was starting a new project, with the help of a visiting team of Americans, whereby people can sponsor a child to allow them to attend school and give them a chance at a different life. The mothers were very emotional as they described their lived and said they wanted more for their daughters but could not afford the education fees and to fed the family at the same time. When I said I would be honoured to sponsor a child a mother cried, hugged me and her daugher motioned for me to bend down and kissed me and said ¨gracias, muchas gracias¨, she was 6 years old. It was all rather emotional. I pay USD100 and a little

Guatemala, Semuc Champey

Semuc Champey pool where we had a lovely swim!

girl gets to go to school for an entire year. I will recieve correspondence from the child and copies of report cards to show her prgress. The mothers have to visit the Spanish School once a month with prove of their childs attendance to recieve their monthly payment. A good cause. If anybody is interested in joining this project please let me know and I will make the arrangements.

The other place I visited was a shelter for battered wives and teir children. Their are only wo in the whole of Guatemala and being beaten by your husband or boyfriend is, i´m told, common practice. I played with the children in the ¨secret location¨of the selter in thier playroom (a cold concrete bare room with bunkbeds for the parents and children) and most were very loving and wanted constant hugs whilst others were distant or agressive to anyone that came near. The project receieves donations of bread from Xela Pan and milk contributions from my langage school.

Tomorrow we leave Xela for Antigua and the start of the week long celebrations for Independence Day on 15th Sept.

I hope you enjoy the entry because it took me