Semuc Champey to Copan

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Disclaimer:
Due to the terrible way this website works we are unable to rotate photos so apologies for those that are sideways or upside down!

We went from Antigua to El Zonte in El Salvador, a beautiful little fishing village on the coast. There our surfing lessons began, we both managed to stand up a few times but Marshall had more success than Heloise. Our hotel was lovely with a pool and parrots and amazing fresh seafood, Marsh ate a whole fish! The surfing was great fun, but we were very tired when we got back to Antigua a couple of days later.
Now it was time to go north, we headed out of Antigua up to Semuc Champey, turquoise pools in the jungle. As we were trekking through we heard howler monkeys and then we saw the (slightly muddy) turquoise pools of Semuc Champey. Heloise went for a swim and cooled off from the very hot sun.
The next day we headed up to Flores in a packed mini van, and it was a welcome site 7 hours later, a lovely little town on a lake. We had a quiet day watching the England match and exploring Flores. The next morning we got up before sunrise to go to Tikal, one of the biggest Ancient Mayan sites. With Alice and Steve (a couple from England) we spent all morning exploring these amazing temples. The tallest was a bit too high for Heloise, but the others braved the climb. As the mist lifted the ancient structures were revealed in all their glory. We also saw lots of wildlife including a family of howler monkeys! These sights were one of the highlights of our trip.

After that it was goodbye to Guatemala and hello to sunny Belize. It was nice to speak english for a while and we headed to laid back Caye Caulker, up among Belize's coral reefs. With beautiful clear water and palm trees Belize was more or less a tropical paradise. We snorkeled and saw sea turtles, sharks, a stingray, and lots of colourful fish and coral. The only downside was Heloise got very sunburned on her back, ouch! The day after we headed down country to Placencia on Belize's southern tip. Just in time too because the next day Tropical Storm Alex hit the cayes (although it was just a lot of rain and wind when it arrived). It was the weekend of Lobsterfest which is the start of the lobster season, and party time in Placencia. After the storm cleared we headed out to listen to the bands, but not have lobster unfortunately as Marsh was still recovering from a stomach bug. We met some fellow tourists and sat on a very fancy fishing boat enjoying the festivities, we even got a ride around the harbour. Another day we headed up Monkey River which goes inland into the jungle. We saw more monkeys (but didn't manage any photos, sorry) and crocodiles and iguanas. We even saw some manatees on the way back.

After that it was off to Honduras on the bumpiest boat ride ever. We treated ourselves to a lovely air-conditioned coach all the way to Copan in the north. We stayed in Copan Ruinas which was a quaint and cool mountain town. We headed to the mayan ruins there, not as big as Tikal but still very impressive, and featuring a staircase depicting the longest mayan hieroglyphic in existence! The next day we took a tuktuk to Macaw Mountain, a nearby sanctuary for tropical birds that have been abandoned or mistreated. We saw lots of macaws as well as parrots, toucans, owls and even a toad. We also enjoyed the delicious local coffee.

Then we came to the end of our Central American adventure, and we headed back to LA before flying down to a wintery but beautiful New Zealand, where our next entry will come from! Stay tuned.

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