The Queen is back on the money

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Hello! Andrew is too drunk to contribute and he is swirling on an office chair with an orange and vodka in his hand and he also has a whole pineapple on his lap. We are in a strange bar / internet / TV lounge / chess club in San Ignacio.

Jan 14th 06
We were up at 4:30am to catch a 5am bus to the Tikal ruins, one of the largest and most famous ruin sites in Cent. America. It is different from the other ruin sites because it is in the jungle, and while you walk around the ruins you see lots of beautiful birds and hear howler monkeys.

The main word to describe Tikal is BIG - the temples are BIG, there are LOTS of them (over 4000 structures), and they are spread out over a massive area in the jungle (we walked over 10kms). We climbed to the top of three temples that each had a special staircase (closer to a ladder) and to the top of another temple where we actually climbed the original ??? year old staircase. The latter was really scary and steep and very much "at your own risk" from a legal perspective. The views, particularly from temple IV and the structure in the Perdido Mundo area were just breathtaking, with panoramic, 360deg views of uncleared jungle as far as the horizon, with the roof combs of the various temples poking up high above the canopy. A lot of the structures haven't been uncovered yet and it's odd as you are walking through flat area and all of a sudden a massive "hill" is to your side, covered in vines and trees of course. They think it will take another hundred years to uncover it all.

To access Tikal we were staying in Flores where they were having some kind of massive festival. They kept letting off firecrackers at all times of the day and night which is surprisingly unamusing when you have a head cold and you got up at 4:30am.

Jan 15th
Travelled across the border to Belize - yay! - Andrew says he was never so proud to be part of the Commonwealth as we passed through our first class border with air conditioning and flushing toilets! God Save the Queen!

Oh god Andrew is so drunk, he just got up and told me to watch the pineapple.

We are staying near San Ignacio at an eco-lodge called The Trek Stop, which is so peaceful and relaxing, I love it. You don't flush the shared toilets, you throw sawdust down instead. It was so cold last night (yes, even by Melbourne standards - you could see your breath) and I made myself a little cocoon of blankets and slept like a baby. Andrew says to say he was less warm on the outside of the cocoon, to which I respond well you are the one who gave your sleeping bag insert away.

This day we took a hike up to another ruin site called Xunantunich. I was expecting a lame Tikal, but it was so beautiful in another way. We explored the Mayan palace or "Castillo" and admired the gorgeous views. A little boy was so impressed with the view when he climbed up he said to his mum "The Mayas had a good idea!" I thought yes, they did. We also got to hear the Caribbean accent which is pretty much like the Jamaican one. It is so cool. The little girl said to her brother, "Weh-uv to the pee-ah-pel, weh-uv" (wave).

At night I had a nice traditional dinner and the American guy running the place let me hold his pet taranchula. We ate massive hot fudge sundaes.

Jan 16th 06
Today we did a hike up to some caves (Che Chem Ha) and went caving. It was absolutely incredible. In 1989, the guide who took us found this cave and it is now an archaeological site. It is above 15m high in most parts and is 239m long. In some parts we had to crawl. The guide has put ladders in and you can climb up into these crevices and there are beautifully intact Mayan pots, which haven't been moved since the cave was discovered. 7 of them are in a Belizean museum. It was an incredible experience. Many of the pots have been dated to 200BC.

It was a kind of special experience too because it's not a major tourist thing and it's just this one guy who does it and he is very passionate.

This afternoon we were running around madly booking stuff for the US. Finally we have a flight to Vegas, a hotel and 2 tours booked (Grand Canyon, and Bryce Canyon-Zion). We are staying at the Flamingo in Vegas, which is on the main strip and has THREE THOUSAND rooms! We were given the choice between a king bed or two queens and it has a big casino. I loved the guy who booked our room. "That's a great price don't you think?" he asked enthusiastically, and then explained the pool temperature while I was spending US$2/minute to call him.

Dinner - Indian Belizean - was great - but just don't ask for naan bread or the system will break down. The service was good - sorry but the Brits must have instilled something the Spanish didn't - and I actually left a tip because our order was SERVED WITHIN TWO HOURS, WHAT WE ASKED FOR, AND NOT SERVED WITH AN ATTITUDE PROBLEM for the first time in several countries. I was so overjoyed I left the waitress a thankyou note! Yay for Belize!

Additional notes - Andrew is cross with me for constantly attracting stray dogs and trying to slip them food. He says to say he has good reason because at one point we actually had a dog staying in our room who we named "Papi Crac" after a sign I saw.

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Comments

[Liv]

Sounds great
Tikal sounds great! I guess I have to go back to Guatemala one day. And Belize seems pretty good as well. Have a great time on the rest of the journey! Say hi to everyone! Greatings from x-group member in a VERY snowy Sweden