Guatemala

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Guatemala: Insane volcanos, cave spelunking, Mayan ruins and awesome trekking.


Bus journey from hell

The first bus journey of Guatemala was terrible! We've not minded the local chicken buses too much, but this one was shit! Firstly, It was the hottest bus in the world - normally they drive so fast you get a breeze through the little windows, but I think this bus must have had something wrong with it, as the driver was going painfully slow, not only tripling the length of the journey but making it hoooot. I'd be lulling in and out of sleep (due to the heat) and be woken up by the local sales people jumping on and not only screaming out what they were selling (fruit, shaved ice, toiletries, whatever), but also poking me when I was pretending to be asleep to avoid them! They were out of hand!

One particularly memorable little guy was a brought a small portable music player on board and started singing/wailing next to me. And to make the journey even longer we came across a road accident, where a truck had toppled over (ironically next to a sign saying 'dangerous corner'), so we had to wait another couple hours for that to be moved. Most locals got off and started walking (not a good sign), but we were stranded! Then the bus didn't even take us all the way, so we had to jump on another bus!



Antigua - Stunning UNESCO world heritage site.

Antigua (pronounced Anteegwa) is a stunning little city. Surrounded by volcanos, its full of preserved colonial Spanish architecture and cobble roads. It's a lot more touristy than other cities we've been to, and we saw an older crowd and a lot of families. It's like the Venice of Guatemala, heavily focussed around its tourists.

We stayed at El hostel, pretty, small and really comfortable and clean. It attracted a hipster crowd that we laughed at (so judgemental), and the free breakfast was delicious.

Antiguas volcanos

The three major volcanos surrounding the city are Agua (dominates the skyline as its closest to Antigua, it looks huge); Acatenango (they're all over 3,000m but at just under 4,000m this is the highest) and Fuego (the most active). We could see Fuego smoking from the city - there's a great rooftop bar which has the best view. Fuegos last major eruption was 1974, so it's due another!


Active volcano camping!

After visiting a few tour operators and doing some research, we decided to go volcano trekking with hostel Tropicana. They offered a popular 2-day overnight trek up Acatenango with close views of Fuego shooting off. Loads of other people offered the same deal, but Tropicanas looked like it had the best view from base camp - so we chose them.

Day One

We met at 7am for a free breakkie inclusive of the tour, we were actually really greedy and had the free breakfast at the hostel, then the tour one! Then we all bailed into a minivan for the Journey to the start point.

We were a group of 15: An American guy - first impressions we thought he was a douche, but he turned out to be quite funny and harmless. He gave up corporate life to blow glass, interesting guy; Then there were a couple of French Canadian guys; a posh English couple who appeared to be in a new relationship (not that I was ear wigging of course!); an American geek who spent the trek following a Canadian girl around like a puppy; an annoying Israeli girl who would say things like "the trek is easy peasy", even though she paid extra to have a horse carry her bags up for her! (Not as bad as an American we saw though, he got carried up by the horse even though his mates are walking. Poor horse.; Then there was an Irish/Northern English couple who were good fun to trek with, they shared their bottle of red wine and we shared our crappy local rum!

Packed up like the mules

We all had heavy backpacks (apart from the Israeli), containing all our meals for the day, clothing (including cold weather stuff as it's literally freezing at the top), plus 4ltrs of water. The start of the trek was hard, really steep and quite gravelly. We'd read about it in travel blogs though so we were expecting it. We all had wooden sticks to help us up, apart from the Israeli girl who had proper hiking sticks.

All the excuses

It was a long 4-5 hours trek to Basecamp, I was puffing! The American started off going full pelt to be at the front, but had to keep stopping to collapse and breathe. All the excuses were coming out "I'm not used to altitude", "I twisted my ankle a couple weeks ago", I shouldn't have had all those cigarettes"! We walked through cloud forest which was pretty, getting noticeably colder as we got higher. We kept hearing what we thought was thunder, turns out it was the volcano!

We made good time to Basecamp, despite the struggles, and I was really impressed with how close we were to Fuego, the view couldn't have been better!

Set-up camp

While the guides set about making a campfire, we sat around and watched Fuego in action. I couldn't believe how active it was, every 20/30mins letting out a puff of smoke, sometimes just a little, other times it looked like the kind of big mushroom cloud you see on pics of nuclear explosions. Occasionally cloud would move across and it was a white out - We were sitting above clouds so It's not surprising. It was also really loud, constantly rumbling. I couldn't keep my eyes off it, got way too many pics! Looking across the horizon there were 2 other volcanos in the distance that looked pretty speccy too, especially during sunset when the sky glowed pink.

Fuego's evening performance

For dinner the guides cooked up some spaghetti and garlic bread which went down well. Then the marshmallows came out to toast on the fire. Perfect!

As it got dark the action amped up as we could now see not only smoke, but lava exploding out of Fuego and running down the side. It felt like I was in a doco, very surreal. There was also a lot of lightning, and with Fuegos rumbles it made it even more dramatic - the best entertainment in Guatemala!

It was 4 to a tent, the irish/English couple asked if we'd be tent buddies. Bit strange being shoulder to shoulder with people you've just met...! I had possibly the worst nights sleep of my life, probably a combination of having a paper thin roll mat, freezing temperatures, knowing we were getting up at 3.45am and the small issue of a very large volcano roaring to the side of me! Fuego was super loud - At times I wondered whether the guides would start screaming to evacuate!

Day Two

3.45am and the guides were rallying us all for sunrise. It was even colder this morning than last night. We had only a couple hundred metres to climb to the summit but we'd heard it takes a while as it's quite steep and rocky. A few minutes in and I was red hot from the climb! I had to strip off my ski jacket and leave it behind (big mistake). When we got to the top I obviously got freezing again, max had made the same mistake but he also forgot his gloves, so he felt his fingers were going to drop off. I think I was feeling the altitude now as I had a headache I couldn't get rid of.

Sunrise spectacular

The view over the land was spectacular, clearly seeing where the town was below, with views to volcanos further away as well as the magnificent Fuego. There were other groups up there too, one of their guides said that he'd been up here 8 times and never seen such clear sky's. Turns out we were really lucky.

It was sad to see a cross in memory of 6 trekkers who had all died of hypothermia there in January this year. And further along was another cross for a 20-year old guy but I'm not sure of the story.

I soon forgot the cold when I saw a good few dogs bounding along, a bit odd seeing dogs on a volcano! One was a huskie and getting all the attention.

Sliding down a volcano is fun!

We stayed up there maybe 30mins then went back to Basecamp, it was a bit of a scramble coming down, with so much volcanic grit at times it felt like sliding down snow powder. At camp we had breakfast - pot noodle! I'm a fan normally but the water wasn't hot enough so it was a bit doughy!
We packed up the tents then it was a quick 2 hour walk down, a lot easier than going up and twice the speed, but quite hard on the old knees.

We were back at the hostel in Antigua by 1pm. We booked to stay at Tropicana (who we booked the tour through) as we got a discount. It's a pretty grubby place though, our room hasn't even been cleaned, there was an old sock under my bed, yuk.

Maccas treats

I attempted to get rid of the headache by downing 2ltrs of water and having a 2hr snooze. I woke up groggy and famished and all I could think about was having a Big Mac! So we treated ourselves to a Big Mac meal and Mcflurry. The maccas here is like fine-dining, the restaurant has a really pretty outdoor garden restaurant with a water fountain! I felt guilty eating it but enjoyed every minute!

That evening we went for a mooch and had a mango juice on the roof terrace of sky bar, a great little spot overlooking the city with stunning views of the volcanos. It was great to see Acatenango knowing we'd climbed it, and fuego was still smoking away.

Camping next to the most active volcanos in Guatemala is one of the best things I've ever done! (Which is surprising as all my top experiences have been animal-related!).



25/08 - Xela: Trekking in the highlands!

Our next destination was Xela, where we were to do a 3-day trek to Lake Aititlan (starting tomorrow). The trek is a great way of seeing Guatemalan countryside, where you get to walk through coffee plantations, farms, rainforest and river crossings. We'd also get to stay with local families. We could have got the bus to Lake Atitlan but this sounded more fun!

Lake Atitlan is Mayan meaning 'at the waters edge where the rainbow gets its colours'. It is a huge volcanic crater (18km at its longest point) and the deepest lake in Central America (max depth 340m). Apparently the volcano that caused it blew ash as far as Florida! It's circled by Mayan villages, steep hillside and pointy volcanos.

There was a pre-trek meeting at 6pm the night before so we emailed to ask if it was ok if we were late. That was fine which meant we could have a lie in til 7.30 then spent the morning taking more snaps in the city.

The best way to Xela was by shuttle so we gringo'd it up in a minivan. On the way we picked up another backpacker and we were another 40mins along on when there was some confusion - the driver had forgotten someone! F knows how he'd forget, it's not a hard job, but annoyingly it made our journey a lot longer.

We totally missed the pre trek meeting and arrived about 7.30pm after farting about trying to find the place. At the entrance We had to hammer on a big metal door til a local lady answered, who then pointed Us towards some stairs. The trekking office (quetzeltrekkers) was out the back of the ladies casa (guesthouse). A bizarre place.

Pre trek briefing

Guide Allison gave us a quick overview of what to expect on the trek, and gave us stuff to pack. I borrowed a big rucksack, rollmat, sleeping bag and water shoes (for the river crossings). All of the communal stuff was divided up between the group too, I was given the hot drinks kit (tea/coffee/hot choc/milk powder and sugar).

All the guides are western volunteers, and all profits go to local schools. Our other guide was Grace (kiwi), both were lovely and really keen trekkers.

It was getting late now and we had yet to find our hostel, not fun in the dark and rain. We found a battered old taxi (all the taxis were like this) and spent ages trying to find it, seems addresses mean nothing here as it didn't help our driver. We arrived at Casa Kiwi and I was happy to be greeted by a friendly irish guy who couldn't do more to help. Full of chat and useful information. He also gave us a free drinks voucher for a local restaurant, we were really hungry so we just went with his advice. Esquina is a great little restaurant, and the portions generous and really tasty, plus a delicious local beer (Cabro).


26/08 - Trek Day 1: 20km

I Had a solid nights sleep at comfy Casa kiwi, even though it was a few hours cut short! We were up at 5.15am to pack up our stuff and walked to Quetzeltrekkers (a lot easier than trying to find a taxi).

Meeting the trekking group

We were given a good breakfast of scrambled eggs and potato with a bit of fruit while meeting our fellow trekkers. If you were to ask Max which nationalities he disliked the most when travelling, he'd say Israelis, then French, then American. What did we have? We had 4 Israelis fresh out of army; 3 Americans (2 of which were lesbians - max only realised half way through, then kept staring); 2 belgiums (serious and quiet, One had an awful quetzel tattoo) and 1 Austrian who was a serious hiker and very competitive. Turns out we were lucky though, everyone was lovely, especially the Israelis (who were well aware of their bad travel reputation and spent the whole time trying to change opinion!)

By 7am our bellies were full and backpacks bulging and we were set to hit the road. My bag felt huge, I couldn't imagine carrying it all up and down mountains for the next 3 days, but was surprised how quickly I got used to it.

Countryside

We Walked to the bus stop then got the local bus to a village an hour away. The trek started with a hard morning uphill out of Xela valley. We walked through Coffee plantations, corn fields, banana tree fields and up and down lush, green mountains. Our highest point was over 3,000m. We continually passed locals carrying fireWood strapped to their body, usually accompanied by a mule. The Climate changed by the hour. It would go from Harsh sunlight to sudden downpours. It would be Misty and cold then the sun would come out and we'd be stripping off. Luckily we had giant ponchos so everything stayed dry.

Max is the best at jokes

Food on the trek was top notch. We had home made trail mix on one of the stops in the morning, and an Amazing lunch of guacamole and salad nachos. During lunch the guide Allison mentioned jokes, then pointed to Max and said that he was good at them. Max looked at her blankly then realised and shot a glance over at me...When signing up for the trek online there was a question asking if there was anything I felt the guides should know. As I filled out Max's part I put "I'm the best at telling jokes". I'd totally forgotten, and also that I'd put "Maxine", they must have been expecting a girl!

Max should have thanked me really as it opened up a stage for him to tell his jokes, and once he started he kept going, loving the attention! I do wonders for his street cred.

Comedy gold

One of my highlights from day one was seeing one of the girls fall into a corn field! It was comedy gold, if it had been filmed it would go viral! Her backpack was mahoosive as she was carrying stuff for her friend who had a bad shoulder, (maybe it affected her balance). She was walking along then really slowly tipped sideways then literally tumble turned down a little ditch into the corn! I had to hold in a laugh until her friends had established that she wasn't hurt, then everyone lol'd a lot!

Santa Catarina

We arrived at the homestay in Santa Catarina at 4pm, the local host had a great setup. She'd been the stopover for the trek for 8 years and had obviously done well out of them. we were to sleep in a big wooden structure on stilts above her garden. She'd rolled out thin mattresses among 3 different rooms where we'd camp out.

Local experiences - the temazcal

Before dinner everyone had time to shower and put on clean dry clothes, but not before trying out a local tradition - the temazcal. A temazcal is an old Mayan sauna that people still use today. They look like a big brick pizza oven. inside is a coal fire and 3 buckets, one with hot water, one cold, and one for mixing it to your desired temperature. Our host had her own private one (because she's rich in the village now), but we used the public one. We were taken to the back of someone's house where the tazumal was. I had to get my kit off on a slippery mud slope, out in the open apart from a grubby bed sheet pulled across between 2 walls. Then I climbed inside and sat on a small wooden bench, trying not to think about how many sweaty bums had been here before. It's a tiny space and you have to duck your head (tall people would have to lie down!). Id Brought shampoo and conditioner and had a good wash, max pouring a bucket over me then me to him. Weird experience!

Walking around the village it was like a ghost town, and anyone we saw would stare at us and make me feel like we must look strange to them. For dinner we had Pasta bolognsise that set me up for a great nights sleep. I'd managed to claim 2 mattresses as no one was using it, so I was toasty.


27/08 Trek Day 2: 20km

By 7am We were up out the door and sat ready for Breakfast at a local comedore. We were brought Tortillas, an omelette then a pancake and fruit. Tortillas come with every meal here and are a way of filling up, I don't really like the ones here but I found they're better doused in syrup! Here I also had the Wateryist coffee ever, it was bad.

Record hill

We had another tough mornings walk that got the heart rate pumping, before we arrived at the bottom of 'record hill'.
Record hill is a steep 800m incline. They told us that if we wanted we could be timed getting to the top. The Record is 9mins. I wasn't feeling too enthused about it but figured it would get me up quicker. I could tell that Max was a little concerned about it as he had some good competition (and obviously he wanted to win being so so competitive!). He was the first to go and got up in 12 mins, I knew he'd done well when I saw his face coming up! I did it in 15mins, it felt like an hour - it just kept going on and on. It was so steep by calves were screaming the whole way, and my legs were still sore from the volcano trek 2 days before!

Icecream village

After trekking another hour we came to our next stop, 'Ice cream village'. This was just a village that had a little shop selling ice cream! Maybe it was a novelty, it did seem out of place having such a luxury in a very poor area.

Being ice cream fiends Max and I had 2! For lunch we had leftovers then we had about an hour of river crossings. By now my feet were getting quite sore with blisters forming, so the cold water was heaven. The rest of the afternoon was heavy rain then so it was a case of keeping the head down and ploughing on. The day ended with 'the cornfield of death', named because it's one big slug uphill at the end of an already exhausting day.

Xiprian

That night we Stayed at Don Pedro's in a village called Xiprian. Don, an old local man, had a big hut for us to use as a dinner and sleeping room. He'd got a fire going and we all sat round drying off our feet, we were all soaked through but warmed up quick. The guides gave us all a number and we took turns to shower, very organised!

While waiting my turn I took a walk with the camera to get some pics. The guides had explained that this was actually a rich village by their standards, as some local men had been working abroad and sending money back. It was obvious as most had proper windows with glass. They clearly like their bling as some had reflective glass.

Dinner was Chicken refried beans and Salad. Then after grub we sat around the fire and Made Guatemalan versions of the American smorgs- toasted marshmallows with choc biscuit as a sandwich. The evening was spent by working out riddles, playing cards and playing a game called 'werewolfs', a funny game that involves bluffing a lot. I was terrible.


28/08 Trek Day 3: 8km

Sleeping last night was like a slumber party, everyone lined the sides of the room. I slept ok, but definitely wasn't ready for the alarm going off at 3am! We didnt need to be up til 3.30, so I was annoyed that they obviously wanted to snooze. Everyone was ready to start walking 3.45am. The plan was to walk to the mirador (a viewing point) in the village to watch sunrise.

Sunrise

Quetzeltrekkers's used to camp at the mirador and roll out of bed for sunrise, until they had a mugging. Since then they've always stayed at Don Pedros and had a police escort. The 2 police just hung at the back and we took them hot tea and coffee while they waited around with us.

We all got our sleeping bags out and got comfy, staying warm while we waited for the sunrise. It didn't disappoint. The volcanos in the distance looked beautiful and we had an awesome view of Lake Atitlan which is where we were heading.

We spent a couple hours there then continued trekking. My legs felt better today than they had the whole time, strange. Lunch was in the cloud forests and from then a lot of downhill towards the lake. As the path opened up we had a fantastic view of the lake, what a way to arrive! The Lake is huge, and looks quite magical.

Lake Atitlan

We arrived at San Juan, one of the many villages dotted around the lake. They're big on coffee here so we had a well deserved coffee at one of their local roasters. The coffee was ok, but what was better was taking my trainers off! Then we were picked up by a truck where we all bundled into the back and got thrown around for the next 10 minutes as we were transported like cattle to San Pedro. Great fun!

Final stop of the trek

San Pedro was our final stop of the trek. Here we had our final meal together, but in a little restaurant on the waters edge rather than rustling up leftovers from yesterday's dinner! The restaurant had a platform to jump off into the lake - so refreshing. Here we waited for our bags to be dropped off from Xela. We had loads of stuff that we didn't want to carry on our backs for 3 days so it was great that we could do this.

Had a couple of end of trek beers then checked into our hostel, Santa Fe. San Pedro is really touristy, but we found that off the Main Street there were some lovely leafy Bali-esque streets. Later we met with our favourite Israelis and the Belgium boys for dinner.


29/08 Exploring Lake Atitlan

Surprisingly there is said to be high crime on the roads between villages, and tourists are advised to travel between them by boat. So this morning we took a boat across the lake to San Marcos, a small village that we heard was the prettiest. It's tiny, with a pretty street leading from the dock to the main road, but other than that there was nothing there. It had a very different feel to San Pedro, very hippy and full of weirdo ex pats and alternative travellers. We saw the kind of backpacker you want to punch, and stopped to watch him in action. He was barefoot in baggy traveller pants and talking to a local woman, he closed his eyes and looked like he was praying before kissing her on the forehead. While his eyes were closed the woman was laughing and looking at her mate, provably wondering what the hell he was! On the way back to the boat we bumped into Andy and Liza from the volcano trek and had a catchup.

Better late than never!

There were loads of little Spanish schools in San Pedro so we thought we'd get a little 3 hr lesson in. The teacher spoke entirely in Spanish to us and was surprised when we understood her. I had to explain that it didn't mean I could speak back but that after so long we'd got better at working out what people are saying through picking out certain words and interpreting their body language! It felt like we were back at school, I quite enjoyed it although struggled with the grammar.



30/08 Travel day to Semuc Champey

Next stop - Semuc Champey, a highlight on the gringo trail.

It was a 12+hr bus journey in a minivan, with the driver stopping along the way to make errands, as they do. We arrived in the town of Lanquin at 6.15pm, and dropped us at a central meeting place where loads of touts were waiting. I opened the minivan door to them all shouting 'what hostel?' They were all there to pick up gringos since every hostel had a free shuttle pickup. In low season I think this would be important as there is more competition between hostels.

The shuttles were pickup trucks, where backpackers were bundled in the back and told to hold on. The distance to our place was only 2km, but took well over an hour due to dodgy holey roads. At one point we stopped to wait for a couple of other backpackers who were staying at the same place, while we were waiting I met a couple of local strays. As it was dark I didn't see that one had obviously been rolling in something, and I got covered in a smelly fish poo smell.

We stayed at Greengos, recommended by the Israelis, seems they all stay at Israeli influenced/owned hostels which was obvious when we saw falafel on the menu. Our room was basic with thin wooden walls and flooring and a large window looking out to the jungle. The hostel had a few dogs that hung about, a pitball with half ears, a fluffy Maltese looking thing and a couple of typical strays (that they'd rescued).

Semuc Champey pools

There was the option of doing a tour but we decided to do it on our own so that we were not restricted with how long we spent at each place. We headed to the mirador first thing, a half hour steepish walk up a hill to a lookout over the famous Semuc Champey pools.

It's a natural 300m limestone bridge with a river flowing below it. On the surface is a series of incredible stepped turquoise pools. It's surrounded by dense jungle. It's beautiful to see, and must make the front page of a few travel mags.

We were lucky that at that time in the morning it wasn't yet full of tourists. The pools are stunning, they look exactly like the photos, with amazing blue green colours that look like they've been photoshopped.

Awesome cave spelunking adventure!

We then headed to the Kan Ba caves, we hadn't researched them much but knew it involved getting wet- our fav kind of cave.

What we got was way better than expected and a highlight of the trip. There were 7 of us plus the guide, who gave us all a candle to light-old school. No helmets, torches or safety briefing here! Then straight away we were wading through waist deep water holding our candle above water. Before long we were swimming while still keeping our only light source alive (in bathers and trainers). There were a couple of French guys who couldn't manage to keep their candle alive, either dropping it or splashing too much. Luckily the guide was always at hand to light them from the 3 he was expertly clasping, the wick dangerously close to his hand.

Getting around a cave is not as simple as it seems...

There was a metal ladder we had to climb which had a little gushing 10ft waterfall to the side of it, felt a bit hairy going up that! Then there was a pool at the end before we turned back where we were invited to jump in to. To do so involved climbing up a few rocks and aiming for the right spot to jump into, while being careful not to hit your head on the overhanging rock!

Cave injury!

At one point we had to climb a couple of rocks and I slipped, it wasn't a big slip but I sliced my shin down the rock which hurt like hell, my shins have taken a battering this trip, whether it's slipping off a diveboat ladder or walking into an underwater rock! It hurt so much I felt sick but pretended it didn't hurt, it was only when I got back that I saw I'd gouged a layer of skin off. Ouchy.

Cave surprise

Another surprise came towards the end of the tour when he lined us up at some rocks that had a narrow gap between them. I couldn't see what it was we were supposed to be doing, and it was loud with the gushing water in the cave (and dark). I just saw the guys in front of me disappearing! I thought maybe it was a natural slide or something. When it was my turn the guide pointed to where I should position my hands and feet and I realised that I was about to drop down a hole! The spooky thing was I couldn't see where I was dropping so i felt like I was going blind! The gap was awkward, I just hoped I didn't crack my head, I'm sure he could only do this exit with people of a certain size! I dropped down the hole and got a mouth full of water, it actually wasn't very far but everyone at the end looked a bit taken aback! It was an awesome little cave adventure!

Tallest swing I've ever seen

Near to the cave opening there was a cool swing on the rivers edge, the tallest swing id ever seen, with a proper metal frame. It looked fun so I had a go. standing on the launch platform and letting go I was shocked at how much speed built up so quick and squeeled like a pig getting fed. It was so fast it made my tummy turn. Got some good slow mo of us.

Wild swimming at Semuc

After lunch we headed back to semuc champey pools for a swim. It's stunning here, so much so that there were plenty of ad hoc photo shoots going on, mainly girls lying around posing like celebrities with their boyfriends behind the camera. I'm Pleased we got our good pics done before the crowds.

We started at the top of the pools and made our way down, with each layer we'd jump in or slide down. We'd seen some people sliding down a natural slide (rock) into a pool and had a go. I watched max go and it looked painful, stupidly I thought It would be different for me and followed him. It was so painful, my left butt cheek took the brunt and was throbbing for a while after!


31/08 Travel day to Flores

Flores is the base many people use to visit the famous Mayan ruins, Tikal. It took a Full day to get to Flores, with a 4.30am start and not arriving until 6pm.

Flores is a tiny island on a lake accessible by one road. We stayed at Hotel aurora, a local place where we lucked out with a big room with views of the lake, it's always a gamble. We walked through the town that evening and stopped at a great area on the waters edge with a few stalls selling tortillas, empanadas and cakes! Say how many tortillas and then choose your toppings. For pittance we enjoyed a plate of those then I had a fat slice of cake and felt sick, max went back for a second round of tortillas!


01/09 Day at Tikal

Ahh it's September! Aready got the fear that travelling is coming to and end soon!

Today was the reason we came to Flores, to visit the famous Tikal Mayan ruins, a World Heritage UNESCO site. It's the largest of the Mayan cities of the "Classic era" over 1000 years ago. (Dates back to 400BC).

What makes this site unique is that it's located within thick jungle, it's like a scene from Indiana Jones, and I had the theme tune in my head all day! What I also loved is that you can climb most of the buildings and got some incredible views from the top of the other temples poking out of the jungle canopy. I did wonder how much damage it was causing though...

Guided tour - well worth it

For not much more we got a guide to take us around Tikal, we'll worth it to learn about the history and pick up some good facts. If we were on our own I don't think we'd approeviate it so much.

Tikal apparently means 'the place of echos' and the guide demonstrated by clapping in front of a temple. A weird, chirp like echo sound echoed over the building.

Tikal wildlife

Not only were the ruins really impressive but I enjoyed the wildlife too. Because we got there for when the park opened (4.30am start to be at the gates for 6am), the jungle was waking up when we arrived. So we saw plenty of howler monkeys, some of them far bigger than what I'd seen before. They were also incredibly noisy. The guide made a monkey sound and they all kicked off! The nose of the howler was used as the sound of the T-Rex in Jurassic park - such a scary sound and so, so loud! He also spotted a tarantula which he picked up, freaking out all the whities who immediately associate tarantulas with death!

Tarantula anyone?

He invited us to hold it and assured us it Was safe. I couldn't understand how it didn't bite, the guide said that they're nocturnal...that doesn't explain why it doesn't bite?!
I held it anyway which filled me with mixed emotions, my immediate thought was "this is wrong" and "does my travel insurance cover this", then "this creature is awesome!".

We also saw the coati which we'd seen a lot of in Costa Rica, and spider monkeys. There's jaguars and anteaters too but we would never see them. He also pointed out various interesting trees and plants that had medicinal properties. He would often give us a lead from a plant and tell us to sniff it and guess what it was. I liked the one that acts as a natura mozzie repellent, smelling of citronella, much needed in Tikal with the amount of evil mozzies.

Tikal is vast, with much of it yet to be excavated (only 30% has been uncovered). The guide would point out a hill to the side of the jungle path and it was a ruin covered in jungle-never would have known otherwise. He said alsrjoyghbthey get plenty of money from tourism that they run out (the money 'disappears' to the government). we ended up spending the whole day there, even after the tour we kept on exploring for ourselves.

By the end of the day we were a sweaty hot tired mess and ready for an early night!


02/09 Border crossing to Belize

We had a painless journey to Belize with a cruisey border crossing. Most of the whities were heading straight to the island of Caye Caulker, but there was a cave we wanted to visit on the other side of the border so we were dropped in a town called San Ignacio, where our Belizean adventures were to begin!

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