Tarantula alert!

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Hi everyone
Aren't you impressed that my, shall we call it 'tendency to cut it fine' (Yvonne!), has made me master of the upgrade (twice now). I'd like to pretend I had it all arranged for Luke's birthday but that would be a bit disingenuous since he's the one who's been trying to curb this tendency for years!
Not so easy to get online these days as we are truly remote. We've just spent 3 nights in the heart of the rainforest - 7 miles down a dirt track with waterfalls cascading over the road. The lodge is built on an escarpment overlooking white water rapids. Truly eco, far from the grid, just hydro and solar powered and most of the (delicious) food grown on-site. Morning activity was spot the tarantulas which grew bigger by the day - usually came in with the fruit from the orange grove nestling in the basket. First day we took two canoes and a Mayan guide and explored downriver, this took us over several rapids, Luke & Toby spun around on one and managed to lose their paddle which eventually floated back to us down the river. Jakey plans to set his film of this to the Ennio Morricone's soundtrack from The Mission. No need for a soundtrack back at the Lodge where bulfrogs, toucans, howler monkeys and cicadas created a nightly cacophany. We hiked the jungle (haven't sweated so much since Taman Negara 25 yrs ago), swam and tubed the rapids, explored caves, encountered bats & snakes. A beautiful place and the best jungle experience possible but we all got so damp, nothing dried out and the pages of our books were getting mouldy so we're now and few miles upriver staying at a cattle ranch. Weird first night when we were sitting down for dinner and one of our fellow diners was led away from the table in handcuffs by plain clothes Belizean police acting on orders from th FBI. He was a 'delightful' American who, according to the ranch had been with them for a year helping out as a ranchero. I've offered the boys services as cowboys in his stead.
Saw fabulous Mayan ruins last night in the low evening light and plan to go to Guatemala to see Tikal tomorrow.
Peter - we're getting your messages! Hope everyone's well and having good hols too.
Love to everyone.

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