Things I forgot to mention at the time (i)

During all the excitement of the trip etc... there are a few reasonably interesting things that happened that I forgot to mention. Here is my chance to catch up.

• On our 45 minute march through the blackness of the jungle of Tikal to the temple for sunrise, we saw a huge spider. It was the size of a small dog. (O.K. about 8 inches across including legs). One of the girls in our group screamed very loudly. The spider ran away, very fightened.
  
• As we wandered over the border from Belize into Guatemala, there were a large number (about 30) of low-loader trucks lining the streets with US style (i.e. Jeeps and not Land-Rovers) army vehicles on board. None of them seemed to be tanks or cannons or anything - just people movers. The also had no military identification on them at all except the word 'Belize' written in white paint on the front of each. There were no army people in sight - it was all a bit strange really.
  
• Rather than bore you all with the current state of our insect bites, suffice it to say that the little bastards are pretty much everywhere - it is quite comforting to take Malaria pills each morning. A little less comforting is reading about the other things you can catch from such bites in the Death Book as we have come to call it. Trudi is forbidden from reading unvetted pages, lest she starts worrying too much.
  
• It appears that Trudi's best friend (I am only her best, straight, male friend - apparently) David; has been moonlighting in San Ignacio - taking all that confidential Sainsbury's knowledge and putting it to use in his own Superstore.
  
  

Guatemela Bound

We arrived at the bus station just as the 8am bus to the border was leaving, we were ushered on and found some seats, the short trip to the last town (Benque Viejo) was uneventful and we alighted into the arms of a throng of wating taxi drivers. We were whisked to the border (2 miles away) and deposited into the arms of waiting money changers. After paying out exit fees, we changed all our Belize dollars for Guatemalan Quetzales and left Belize into the arms of a throng of (Ok, two) taxi drivers.

After working out that we were actually in no-mans land, we got our entry stamps into Guatemala and continued haggling with the Taxi drivers (we had gone from 45 USD to 40USD by this point). Trudi wasn't keen on a taxi (most people wouldn't be if you look at them), so we decided to stop for a drink whilst consulting the guide book. The quote dropped to USD35 and then Q250 (about USD32). Meanwhile, we'd decide to walk across the bridge and try to get a minivan to Flores. We stopped a taxi, and for Q10 he said he'd take us to the town (uphill about a mile) to get a minivan. After about 200yds he spotted a minivan going the other way, asked if there was space and, before we could blink, our luggage was strapped to the roof and we were hurting towards Flores. He still charged us Q10 (but, very kindly told us that the fare for the minivan was Q30 - judging by what the others were paying - that was the tourist rate).

Our minivan driver dropped us (for USD9) outside a nice looking hotel that we'd spotted in the guide book and we went to the bar for a beer overlooking the lake.

Trudi did a bit of a scout around and decided we would stay there. We are here for 3 nights. The room looks out over the lake and the sunset views are astounding.

We decided that we needed one day for Tikal and one day for the town/relaxation/shopping/laundry. There are hundred of ways to 'do' Tikal from Flores and every third shop seems to offer tours. Eventually we decided that the sunrise trip (leaving the hotel at 3am) looked to be pretty astounding. Striking whilst the iron was hot, we booked for the following day (Tuesday). After booking flights to Guatemala city on Thursday We had an early night.

Caracol

Caracol was pretty interesting and the guide was knowledgable, as he had worked on some of the excavations himself. We learned a few things about Guatemala (from a Belizean)

• All Belizean Mayan ruins have been and are being looted from Guatemala
  
• Guatemala people are responsible for cutting down a certain type of palm, to make shampoo, the have cut all of them down in Guatemala, so now they are coming into Belize to steal them.
  
• Caracol had a war with Tikal and won (repeat a few times an hour)
  
• Tikal has been rebuilt, Caracol is in it`s original (i.e. as they found it) state.
  

Here is a picture of me in front of the main temple I am about to climb.

And here is the view of a smaller temple from the top

The really stunning views from the top were of 360 degrees of jungle canopy - all the way to the horizon - the view was quite spectacular, but a camera could not do it justice.

We returned in a different minivan, with different, marginally friendlier tourists, via their amazing looking resort at Five Sisters. As we descended into the valley of San Ignacio the heavens opened. We had an early night, ready for our trip to Guatemala.

Caracol Kings

Got up early to get breakfast at Annie's before our Caracol adventure. When we arrived, Trudi commented that something smelled nice, Annie quipped "That is because you are English and this is bacon". We had bacon in tortillas and a cup of tea.

David said that his rather sorry looking pickup truck was broken and so he had arranged alternative transport. Sure enough, at eight o'clock, a rather battered minivan arrived with "Caracol King" emblazoned across the top. David introduced us to David and we rattled off.

After an hour and a half of bone-shaking travel on sandy 'roads' (heaven only knows what happens to them when it rains) we arrived at a military checkpoint where there were policemen with guns and barracks for the British army. We stopped here awhile to allow all the vehicles (7 vans and two 4x4s) to congregate. Then we we led down another 'road' by a pickup with 4 armed men in it. We didn't demand too many details as to why that might be necessary, allowing ourselves to be told - it's for safety.

Meanwhile, the Caracol King minivan was becoming increasingly difficult for David to get into gear, after about 40 minutes, we go onto some paved road (wierd but true) and the police truck slowed in front of us on a steep hill, David had to change down and, with an almighty BANG, we were stopped. Everyone just passed us, no wanting to stop on the hill, I guess.

The police came back, as did one of the guides from another bus (who, we found out, owned Caracol King). After berating David for having the temerity to change gear on a hill, we were told to walk up the hill to the awaiting (much nicer) bus. Where we were sort-of welcomed by the tour group inside. They were from some wildlife society and I think were expecting to have no interlopers.

Tomb Raider

After a quiet morning in San Ignacio - we wandered up to the local Mayan site at Cahal Pech. Trudi did her Lara Croft impression - without the guns.

A wander back through a less nice part of town and a brief rest before attacking the internet.

Drinking is FUN - try this

On the bus

A fairly uneventful journey to Belize City (the boat captain's antics notwithstanding) and then a taxi to the bus station followed by a ride on a Belize bus.

The bus trip was resonably uneventful as we passed through some amazing scenery with our bus and another bus playing tag with each other (which seemed to involve some pretty serious swerving). We arrived in San Ignacio and checked into our new home. I don't think it gets 10/10 from the Trudi Tourist Board :-(.

And farewell

So, the sunset sail didn't happen, so we went to the split to watch sunset. I did alot of diving and swimming and we some some hermit crabs.

Goodbye Caye Caulker

Hello all

Just a quick update before be head off into the sunset (our last night here so we're making the most of it and going on a boat in a min.)

Last night in Caulker... so that's the holiday bit over - I'm told we're then on an adventure which as far as I can tell mean we have to stick to a budget (yuk!) and we can only drink 6 out of 7 days.
Off we go to San Ignacio on the bus tomorrow. We had to send some stuff home today as we're a bit overloaded - lucky I can't fit into most of my clothes so a few of them went back !! Oh yes and the proper diet begins tomorrow.......

We may not be able to get to internet cafe's as regularly as we like from now on - so if we don't post for a week or two - assume that we are having fun and not that anything dramatic has happened (but if it has, you have nice pictures of us to sed to the BBC now anyway :-))


TTFN xx

Mug Shots

Trudi	Paul

As I need a passport photo for my Scuba ticket, we took some nice pictures. If we make it onto the news (like joining the local guerrillas or something) these are the pictures that are to be sent to the BBC :-)

scuba and stuff

I'm not sure I'm really cut out for scuba diving. I seem to have worse problems than most with painful ears and then they stay full of water (or some other liquid) for days afterwards. The dives were O.K. but I wasn't 'blown away'. I think I'd either like a focus (something to do, other than just swimming around looking at stuff) or just to play around in the water enjoying the sensation of 3 dimensional movement. Oh well. And the jellyfish at the surface (which did look reasonably cute, for jellyfish) didn't help much either.

Dinner at Don Corleone's - which is trying to be a 'proper' restaurant - was O.K. But we were both knackered.

Tuesday morning brought more rain. We are still doing some planning. We bought cheap rain ponchos just in case we get caught out in the rain somewhere.

At the split

After our return from San Pedro, lazed about a bit and read books. Booked scuba trip to Spanish Bay for Monday. Then wandered up to the split for sunset, where we met Dennis. Evening meal was another tasty treat at Wish Willy's. This time I didn't get bitten to death.

A trip to the metropolis

We decided to have a day trip to San Pedro (on Ambergris Caye - La Isla Bonita of the Madonna song fame).

It was hot, busy and not very welcoming (all the beachfront places had signs saying 'guests only' or 'no visitors' or 'why don't you just .....' (o.k. I made the last one up).

Plus there were people pestering you to buy stuff.

We retreated back to the tranquility of Caye Caulker and took a well deserved nap.

School sports day ...

Caye Caulker style ...

Diverse tales (geddit?)

So, a quick catch up on the last few days ...

Wed

PADI dive day one, too rough for T. Who sat in the boat and got wet - twice.

Thu

PADI dive day two - P got very sunburned, but the bites are subsiding a bit. Stayed in room 6 - which was lovely.

Fri

PADI dive day three - all passed. Managed to stay up until 10pm! Stayed in room 2, right by the sea, also v. nice.

Sat

Yummy breakfast and the start of some planning. Looks like San Ignacio, then Flores, then Lago de Atitlan. A day of staying out of the sun for Paul.
Trudi made friends with a couple of iguanas.

Girlie Swot

So, a day of DVD watching in a shack built over the Carribean sea, I have been on harder courses :-)

In the evening we munched down on some local food which was excellent - even if the owner had a somewhat acquired taste of a sense of humour.

Another early night to wake up to ...

Pissing rain. No, really really hard rain. Warmish, but by the bucketful nonetheless.

Trudi momentarily forgot she wasn't in that fancy London and tried to flag down a black cab to take us the ten minutes up the beach to the Dive School. It turned out to be a golf buggy. Hey-ho.

After many hours hard work and cramming, both of us passed our theory tests. Which means we just have to avoid death over the next three days to get our tickets! (Trudi is concerned about the number of mentions of death in the Dive Manual - our instructor, Michelle, says that nobody's died yet on one of her courses. We don't want to buck the trend.)

We are now in the world's most expensive Internet cafe - but they do bring beer to you - so it's not a complete wash-out.

Double Dinner

After a scrummy meal at Wish Willy's, we headed for an early night. However it appears that there were two meals going on at the same time, whilst I was feasting on lobster, a few sand flies were feasting on my left leg. Ouch.

Scuba lessons start tomorrow with a day of watching DVD's. We were supposed to do some reading homework. Nuff said.

Hammock Tales

For the last few months, Trudi's mantra has been "When I get to Belize, I want to do nothing but lie in a hammock for two weeks". So it should have come as a bit of a surprise that almost exactly one hour after settling down for a nap, the words "I'm bored now, what are we going to do" came floating from the hammock direction.

Funnily enough, it wasn't as much of a suprise as it could have been :-)
So, we set off in search of diving schools, trips and snorkelling tours. After deciding to take our PADI open water certificates with Frenchie's (they do there first day in the water in something that doesn't, in Trudi's words, smell of poo) we then booked an afternoon snorkelling.

Snorkelling was great fun, we both had a go at the first stop and then Trudi decided to relax in the boat for the second and third stops.

We saw some pretty funky fish, including Barraccuda, Stingrays and a puffer fish (which blended amazingly well into the reef.

First Sunrise

Waking early in the morning, we went to the beach (a good 100yds from our room) to watch the sunrise. After a nice breakfast, back to the hotel for a nap. It's a hard life.

Caye Caulker Arrival

During our wait, Trudi went out and foraged for BBQ food - yummy. I was befriended by Roger, he helped carry bags and get us onto the (very crowded) water taxi. When we got to our hotel, he asked if we smoked. Trudi misheard him and replied "No, we are from London", which I chuckled at.

We checked into the lovely Seaside Cabanas and went out to see the sights (get a couple of beers). At the princely time of 4:30pm, we dragged ourselves into the room and a well deserved 13 hour sleep.