Mex, Belize, and Guatemala


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North America » Mexico
June 1st 2009
Published: June 15th 2009
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Mex BZ and Guat


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Puerto Vallarta
Mexico
Mar. 3 - Guanajuato
Cool colonial town. Estacion Esperanza - hostel and popular hangout. Man outside plays guitar and sings, "The times they are a-changing". Fun nights and foosball at Barfly. Loud dogfights in the middle of the night. Strange mummy exhibit at museo momia. Bonfire on hill overlooking town. Couple hikes up to La Bufa for great views. Spanish school at Falcon for a week. Another oven gas explosion at the hostel gives a girl burnt eyebrows. Made killer guacomole. Birthday celebration and pinata beating below Santo Cafe. The Grill - too "fresa". Sunday BBQ and smooth mezcal shots at Fusilado.

Mar 16 - Yucatan
5am bus to DF, flight to Cancun, bus and ferry to arrive on Isla Mujers by early afternoon -touristy. Walked down the beautiful east coast. Headed west to Piste along with an ultra tan Italian who had 13 tatoos and a big pink suitcase. Chichen Itza night show - after 15 minutes the rain came and cleared out 70%!o(MISSING)f the tourists. More ruins in Uxmal populated with many iguanas. Hotel room in Valladolid was the size of a large shoebox. Bus to Coba ruins where I climbed the 40 meter pyramid for
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Cactus Grill last night in Mexixo
a great view of the surrounding jungle. Back to the coast - Tulum. Many hours on white sand beach and in turquoise Carribean ocean. Came down with a 24 hour stomach flu along with many other backpackers that stayed at Weary Traveler hostel. Refreshing swims in nearby cenotes. Dutch girl made delicious French toast. Last night in Mexico at a border town with some Kiwis and English. We transformed Cactus Grill from a dead empty restaurant into a party - "The boss is no here", and the staff joined in too.

Belize
Mar 27 - Caye Caulker
Bussed along empty highway, caught a boat to this beautiful island. Rasta Vibe, laid back, Creole. Swimming at the split and listening to reggae from the Lazy Lizard. Sailing trip with Black Hawk. Big Steve rolls up on a bike and points us to his boat. Great snorkeling at the reef. Party at Bellas then to Oceanside for bad karaoke, but a good time. Marlings Guesthouse 2 on the beach - hammocks hanging from coconut trees. Have heard, "hey buddy, I got the good stuff, what you need", too many times already. Walk to southern end of island - trail back leads
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Sailing off Caye Caulker
me to mud swamps. Local tells me story about when Tupac came to Caye Caulker. Ferry back with a giant Christian group from Bend, Oregon.

Mar 31 - Cayo
"Ice Cold Seaweed" is really good. Take my first chicken bus (old American School bus) on the way to San Ignacio. Hot and humid. Nearly all the locals say hello as they pass by. Went to Branch Mouth to cool off in the river. Many iguanas. Went to Barton Creek Outpost. Jungle, mennonites (similar to Amish), bugs, no power or phone lines, orange groves. Canoed up Barton Creek Cave led by 15 year old Canadian that can speak fluent Creole since he was raised here. He has a lively pet spider monkey. Run into a young mennonite boy in wet clothes with no shoes carrying a giant decapitated iguana he killed by the creek. He's on his way to sell it to a neighbor for $4. The mennonites are hardworking, strict, simple, religious, entrepreneurial, family oriented. We visit the neighbor, a really interesting white medicine woman of sorts. The dead iguana from earlier was our dinner. "Dr. Quinn" was treating an Austrian traveler that had caught Leishmaniasis on her foot
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Party at Bellas Caye Caulker
and it looked terrible. Thought she needed proper treatment at a hospital. Crossed a deadly coral snake on the road then Edwyn took a machete to it. Spent the nights sleeping in a hammock. "Pretennonites" sneak over for a swim, cocktail, and movie. Hike up through the jungle to 7 Mile Village. Come across another deadly snake in the road. Long bearded American quasi-mennonite blabbers about all his conspiracy theories. Bought the best loaf of bread I've ever had from the pretennonites. Austrian girl's foot was healing up nicely. Chess games with a good looking Swede. Jungle hike along creek to a beautiful isolated 600ft waterfall. "Oh my God, look at your back" I heard when we went swimming. Had caught a bay sore on my back, but Dr. Quinn was able to kill it off over a few days of treatment. BBQ chicken birthday dinner for Dr. Quinn. Full moon rising. Find the English couple I'd met in Mexico along with other new arrivals sitting by a campfire. When out of mixer climb an orange tree. Stories of the Gringo Tribe. Spades. Aussie backpacker gets overworked to earn her accomodation and meals. Easter party at Outpost. I offer to
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Caye Caulker
deal the poker game in exchange for a free night. "No, I'd rather you played instead", the owner says. I win the tourney. We meet the loud american... aka The Dude, who plays a lot of air guitar and can't shut up.

Apr 13 - Belize Coast
Hitch ride on highway to Belize City. Junkies, prostitutes, scam artists - not a nice place. Everyone wants to talk then ask for money. Time to trim the goatee I think as I hear for the 5th time, "Hey, Jesus..." To Dangriga and took a boat to Tobacco Caye. Stayed at a place called Paradise which seems redundant since the tiny island itself could be called paradise. Coconut trees outnumber people 20 to 1. Excellent view of stars from dock since theres no light pollution. Beautiful 5:30 sunrise. Paradise can get boring though when its this small. Off to Hopkins - Garifuna culture, salty food, drumming. Next stop Placencia - touristy and overrated. Rough ride along dirt highway to Punta Gorda before taking wet boatride to Guatemala.

Guatemal
Apr 20 - East Guatemala and a week in Belize
Take boat "tour" from Livingston west to Rio Dulce. Once again Lonely Planet
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Campfire at Barton Creek
exaggerates and disappoints. Stay on lake at Casa Perico. We go canoeing, but sink into the shallow muddy waters. Improve our technique and make it to the floating dock for some swimming. Daytrip with Finns to Finca Paraiso and the amazing hot waterfalls. Guy working there tells me about cave we can hike upriver to. After the great hike we enter the cool dark cave with one headlamp for the three of us. Reach the loud waterfall inside after 100 meters of swimming. Head north to Finca Ixobel - one of the best places I've stayed at while traveling. Run into the English couple for a third time when they arrived 20 minutes after me. Birthday party for Canadian girl at the bar. Win some beers playing chess. Fire dancing and hoola hooping at the bar. We hike to Cueva del Rio - bats fly overhead as we swim and walk through this awesome cave, take leap of faith from ledge into water below. Swine Flu hits the news. Annual fair in Poptun - parade in the streets. Another birthday girl gets thrown in the pond. In town, the fire dancers perform their spectacular Show de Fuego. Carnival. Giant ferris
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Barton Creek
wheel hits speeds that would be illegal in the states. More partying at the Finca bar as lightening illuminates the sky. "Vote for Pedro" shirts. Aussie gives us an accoustic performance with his guitar. Minibus to Flores blows a tire on the highway. Lose six weeks of photos from virus that got on memory stick. Head to El Remate - swim in the lake. Go to border - immigration workers wearing face masks to protect against swine flu. Enter Belize and reach San Ignacio where I find the place the English couple is housesitting. House powered only by a loud pain-in-the-ass generator that blows a cloud of black smoke around anyone that starts it up. Meet the mennonite neighbors that live down the road at Cool "M"'s Farm. Up at 6am to milk cows with them. See the small crocodile in their pond. Ruins at Xunantunich. We help mennonites herd their cows to the other farm. We see four pickups with young Spanish Lookout mennonites in the backs. All being somewhat ugly it was clear that too many generations in a closed community and inbreeding was screwing up their genes. A sad part of their culture. Swine Flu levels off
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Tobacco Caye
- time to go to Mexico. Long couple days bussing back across Guatemala in hot crowded collectivos on bumpy dirt roads with one breakdown.

Mexico
May 9 - Chiapas and Pacific Coast
Get to Palenque and stay in the jungle at El Panchon. Go to the ruins a couple days after they were reopened to the public - very few tourists here due to the swine flu scare. We swim below the spectacular Agua Azul waterfalls during a heavy rain. Great live music at Don Mucho's. San Cristobal - cold and rainy, many locals wearing masks and hardly any travelers at all. 9 tacos for $2. Checked out the nearby village San Juan Chaumel which has an unusual church with a floor of pine needles and rituals being performed by shamans. Being forced into spanish is the best way to learn. Boat tour of Canyon Sumidero. Long day and night catching buses to get to Zipolite at 5:30am where I slept a couple hours on the beach. Move to cabana when I wake up. Mostly empty here. Move to Mazunte - much nicer. Great little beach - stayed at Posada del Arquitecto on top of a hill. Hiked along
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Tobacco Caye
the cliffside. Boat trip - we see turtles and a lot of dolphins swimming beside us. Plenty of aloe vera growing here to take care of sunburn. To Puerto Escondido where we had a huge thunderstorm and flash flooding. One bolt is so powerful it feels like it hits the building. Aussie guy comes in soaking wet telling us he needs a beer after he just helped save 2 fishing boats in trouble. After a long couple days of bussing I reached Puerto Vallarta - meet my friends. We go to Sayulida for some surfing. Late night tacos, cornrows, Medussa Bar, El Tigre. Party with a bachelerette group. Clevland gets eliminated. Back to the pad south of PV. Daily swim from beach to beach. Hike up to waterfall in Mismaloya. Bolero. Loving the pool and beach at the condo. Party with some Guadalajarans. The guys fly back to Cali and I fly to Tapachula ready to return to Guatemala.



Additional photos below
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Chicken Bus Hopkins
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Poptun market
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Give a dog a bone - Poptun


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