Day 21 - 26

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Finally getting to update my blog due to a 5 hour flight delay in Lima. Ok, its been such a hectic month that I'm miles behind so you luck out and I'm gonna make it as short as possible! In summary I've laughed a lot every day - we have a good few comedians on this trip! - and have never had a moments boredom. This is what I've been getting up to:

In San Ignacio I went to a place called Barton Creek - it was such a cool spot. In the middle of nowhere in the jungle and sooo relaxed. We took a canoe trip into this huge cave which took about an hour. It was amazing and we heard all about the Mayan sacrifices that took place in the caves. A bit too gruesomely at times! - lets just say male body part and a sting ray! A bit freaky when we turned out our torches too!

Took my virgin tubing trip the following morning - was good fun but definitely could have done with more rapids in my opinion! Though got to see some cool iguanas along the way. Definitely something I'm going to try again en route around the world!

From there we moved onto out final country on the trip - Guatemala. We started in a town called Flores which is an island in the middle of a lake. Its a great little town, and we found a cool hostel there to hang out in where we bumped into a few people we've come across before and a few newbee's. Looking forward to hanging out in more hostels when I´m travelling solo.

The main attraction is of course Tikal. We got up at 4.30am in order to get there before the rest of the tourists. Getting up wasn't too bad, but the electricity keeps going in Flores so getting ready in the dark was a difficulty! I think Tikal its one of the best sites we've seen to be honest - though I'm sure you must be thinking how many more sets of ruins can I go to see! We climbed up some of the ruins and had fabulous views over the jungle. We even got to hear and see some Howler monkeys - they sound scary than they are.

Sunset sailing was the plan for the evening but it lashed rain and in any event we wanted to take part in the Festival of Fire for the 7th of December. The purpose of the ceremony is to purge evil spirits which basically involves wrapping fireworks around a life size devil which we had bought and watching it go boom - great entertainment! Needless to say some of the guys from the hostel were keen to get involved in lighting lots of fireworks!

Next stop Rio Dulce. The place we stayed was really nice - you had to get a boat there so nobody is pushing all sorts of merchandise on you 24/7! Again we're staying in huts but they're a bit on the fancier side this time - 2 storey bamboo huts! Luxury! Myself, Imko, Claire and Emily were feeling the most energetic and canoed out to a nearby castle - Emilys first castle given they're not too common in Australia! There wasn't many places to go that evening but a few bottles of rum had been purchased in advance and a big party ensued in our 2 storey hut. Hilarious night / morning!

Up early the following morning to go on a boat trip to Livingstone. There were a certain few people struggling (you know who you are) but I didn't destroy the good Irish name unlike some of the English and Germans in the group! The boat trip was great with some fabulous scenery along the way. Highlight of the day was the hot springs though. They were natural volcanic springs and there were points of the waterfall that you couldn't even stand as it was too hot - it was gorgeous. Needless to say there was no craziness that night. A few episodes of sex and the city (TV!) and it was bed early for everyone! (Except for a cockroach incident during the night - ugghh!)

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