Afterthoughts

As usual with our blogs, here are a few conclusions.  If you aren't familiar with blogs, the top post is always the last.  To get to the first day of the trip, open the link to 'February'  on the right hand side and then choose the bottom of the list . 

John's favourites:

• Lake Atitlan.. is as relaxing and picturesque a place as it is made out to be, even if everyone knows about it.  There are still quiet niches on the shore where you can stay peacefully. 
• Best Hostels were: La Iguana Perdida on Lake Atitlan,  Tortugal on Rio Dulce and La Casa Rosada in Livingston.  The Casa Rosada had by far the best food of the trip.  These were not the cheapest of hostels,  we are talking £20 - £25 a night for a double room, (sometimes with shared bathroom) but they each have a unique and amazing vibe. Other hostels we stayed in were cheaper. 
• Travelling to the hardly visited Cancuen Ruins near Raxruha.  We had to use the local transport.  Standing in the back of a pickup on a dirt road, then a 40 minute motorboat ride up the Rio Pasion.  On this trip we rubbed shoulders with local Mayan villagers who were lovely, friendly people.  Some of them spoke Spanish, but many only spoke Q'eqchi.  (pronounced 'Kek chee'!)   
• Tulum in Mexico has great beaches, particularly nearest to the ruins, in spite of the thousands of tourists who must pour through the small town every month. 
• Conversations with locals and other travellers.

Unfavourites: 

• Tortillas.  These are probably the best, slightly scented, hand made tortillas in the world, but we just couldn't get to like them.  Give me a good paratha instead.  

Yvonne's favourites:

• The decaying beauty of the Spanish colonial buildings in Antigua
• Meeting Silvia in Guatemala City
• The stunning beauty of the mountains around lake Atitlan – buying the huipiles in San Juan
• The beauty of lake Atitlan
• Swimming in Semuc Champey and staying in Zephyr lodge near the ancient conquistador church of Lanquin
• Going upriver to Cancuen ruins.  Visiting Candelaria caves with Cesar
• Livingston and the Casa Rosada with the delicious seafood and friendly atmosphere
• Meeting the sailors at Tortugal
• Visiting Copan in Honduras
• Spending the day at Vinas del Lago hotel at the pool
• Snorkelling and drinking cocktails in Caye Caulker
• Tulum – the lovely ruins and the amazing beaches for swimming

Yvonne's unfavourites:

• The poor quality of the buses
• Losing 90 pounds at the atm in Chiquimula (did get it back)

• The food at Hotel Cancuen in Raxruha
  The journey from Raxruha to Livingston
  The weather in Coban – forced us to change plans – cut out time in Raxruha and go to Livingston instead

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Packing.. for those who asked..
John got his pack weight down to 8kg  before leaving the UK.  Three shirts. two t shirts, 2 prs light trousers, 1 pr shorts. Light fleece. swimming trunks. 2nd pair of shoes.  We used laundry services 3 times.
No laptop, just smartphone, kindle and compact camera.   Good charger with 4 usb outlets and appropriate cables. USA type plug adapters.  We bought some hold baggage allowance and took lightweight backpack over-bags which we used as our hold bags.  Flying back I was therefore able to include a special bottle of Zacapa rum wrapped inside the textiles that Yvonne had bought  ;)

As usual, we also took super light day packs.

I wore a money belt under my shirt .  My watch isn't expensive, but next time I will take an old scratched one that I have. Not for fear of it being stolen, but out of respect for some of the people we encountered on the local buses, etc.

Yvonne took a lightweight mosquito net. Not needed but we did use the 50% deet repellent a few times.
Took a water filter bottle which purifies dodgy tapwater.  Not needed as all hostels provided bottled water either free or v cheaply.   If we were going off the tourist trail more it might have been useful.

Yvonne took her compact camera and her iPad4 with an SD card reader to transfer the camera photos onto the iPad.   Also, her Logitech bluetooth keyboard for the iPad.

Took binoculars but only limited usefulness as we aren't serious birdwatchers and you can see most of the larger animals with the naked eye. Wouldn't take them again.

Rainwear.. We agonised over this.  We took ponchos in the end as we thought it would be hot and wet.  Ponchos provide a lot of ventilation if you don't mind the flapping about.   However, in the event, we hit the coldest February most could remember, which meant nice English Summer temperatures and the rain we did encounter, we were able to shelter from.   The ponchos stayed in their bags.

Footwear.  We always agonise over this as well.   Expecting rainforest wet, we took waterproof trainers. Not goretex type (too hot) but beach type ones that dry out in an hour and are mostly mesh.  We didn't need them as it was so cool.  Just wore sandally type things.

SOME MAYAN NOTES

WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED ABOUT THE MAYA

The ancient Maya were pretty warlike and fought between each other for supremacy.  They were ruled at times from headquarters in Mexico Teotihuacan, and orders and trade passed between there and Palenque and Calakmul, then on to Tikal and through various little sites like. Yaxha and Cancuen to Copan in Honduras - it is amazing to think how they traded across this great expanse of difficult terrain in those days - the rivers and the sea were vital in their trading as well as their paved pathways between the cities.

At one time the great leader of Copan was probably a heavy from one of the northern settlements.  Their culture is dominated by the need to pacify angry gods - whether it be the God of the earth for their crops, of the weather for their protection against hurricanes and of course the God of the volcano - the great Kukulkan- 

Everything was painted red -(made from cinnabar which is liquid Mercury and very toxic) red of the earth , volcanic lava and you can see how this would translate to the need for red blood - hence the role of the royal family to bleed themselves regularly by using the sacred stingray barb - spilling blood from the tongue for women and fingers, tongue, ear lobes and male genitals of course - as you do.  This was also a way of showing the subjects how brave the ruling class were and the priest and Royal elite kept the secrets of how the calendar worked from understanding the moon and stars - so they kept the natives ignorant and they blindly followed any mumbojumbo - predicting the next eclipse helped them to keep their subjects in awe of their power and communion With the gods of the natural world.

The blood from the blood letting was collected on tree bark and then burned and the smoke was offered up to pacify the Gods.  Hence I suppose names of kings such as Smoke Rabbit or Smoke Jaguar.  Not so clear is the rather cute name of 18 Rabbit!  

Only the elite could be sacrificed to the gods to pacify them and bring fertility to the soil and they went willingly to their deaths because they believed their personal sacrifice meant they did not go into the underworld and have to work their way up the levels but went straight to heaven - the opposite of the Christian idea of suicide being damned and unsanctified to wander in purgatory - the Mayan belief reminded us of the current jihadist idea of self sacrifice for riches in the hereafter.

When you died you were buried in your house and the family built a new house on top of the  of the old - so you live on top of layers of your old ancestors.  Every so many years it was custom to break all the old pots and make new ones or destroy old houses or temples and build new ones - which makes it harder to find out things through archeology.  They are finding monuments under or within monuments when they tunnel under these days.

The importance of the large ball courts to play the pelota game - the game was obviously very important as part of life and seemed to have substituted for battles in that the rivals would play the game and the winners got to be decapitated as an honour and route to heaven.

The Mayan calendars are important as there is an auspicious time to do everything and they seem to have listened to shamanic advisors who could very accurately read the calendars and predict the best time to plant the corn - though they can't have been all that good at it because they think places like Tikal failed due to overpopulation and lack of food for the population - deforestation to grow crops in the forest.  Roxy explained this as the fact the later Mayans of the Classic period kept the pre classic traditions up of doing things according to alignments with the sun and stars - but they had not had the knowledge passed on of why this was true (the power of knowledge kept a secret from the masses) and believed it as jumbo jumbo stuff - so when the crops failed a couple of times, they blamed the position of the alignments and moved the position of the temple arbitrarily which basically destroyed the mathematical accuracy of the buildings.  

The great Mayan calendar started at zero at something like 3416 when all the planets were in alignment with the sun.  This happened around 2012 and the gravity of this caused the earth to wobble enough to move the earth's axis 2 degrees or 9 metres which then upsets every calculation from the old system - so now the alignments on the temples no longer work.  Every 20 years they built a new temple and made stelae to show the plebs how good the rulers were - problem was the elite spent too many resources building temples and did not focus on the effect of deforestation caused by needing wood to burn the lime for the mortar and stucco plaster - so this impoverished the soil and led to poor crops and eventually starvation - leading to the plebs losing confidence in the leaders.  This led to one city fighting against another to steal their resources and ultimately led to cannibalism.  At one time one city attacked another - as in Cancuen and they beheaded all the elite and through them in the reservoir - thus ensuring no future claims to the throne.  It took many generations for the locals to get trust in each other - hence all the different languages and suspicion between the current tribes in Guatemala.  In the Rigoberta book you feel the suspicion of the Maya for any outsider and the need to keep safe the secrets of the community - this was further sealed during the civil war when nobody could trust anybody.

The Holy Books of the Maya: the myths were collected by a clever priest in Chichicastenango who realised that in order to bring the Maya into the Catholic Church, the church had to bring their own beliefs into the church with them - so the Popol Vuh and the Chilam Balam were Mayan collected stories which are revered today and versions of them have ended up in places like France and Germany and studied in detail.  For instance, one of the great writers of Guatemala - Miguel Angel Asturias - studied his own history in Guatemala City and in France and was greatly influenced in his writing by these creation myths as told by his own family members - which he used in his Nobel prize writings of Hombres de Maiz and El Presidente - which are rich in description and a mixture of reality and magic which was to become the magical realism of later writers like Marquez.  Asturias was Guatemalan ambassador in various countries including France.

Also I Rigoberta by Rigoberta Menchu gives a simple and clear account of Mayan life before and during the terrible civil war in which her parents and many of her family died fighting for the rights of the indigenous Maya.

Alcohol, hallucinogenic mushrooms and wild tobacco were used to commune with the gods.

Indigenous Mayans live by subsistence agriculture - growing maize, beans and chillies and squash in their little milpas or fields which were in the forest, in harmony with the natural world.

When you see the soil in the jungle around the sites you can see how thin the soil is and how you soon hit solid limestone - so careless deforestation would easily lead to ruining the land for future generations.

All packed and ready to go

We have jiggled our luggage around and seem to be within our kilos - in fact we have not  lost anything and gained only a few things so we should be ok.  It seems sad to be getting out the old fleeces again ready for home.  Arthur has been down for a swim in the surf and cycled up to town but the lazy ones amongst us have been chatting over a leisurely breakfast and having our final telling off from our motherly hostess Chelo who I thought was going to put Arthur up for public flogging when he pushed his bike too close to the breakfast table on his way to the beach - all hell broke loose and a lot of feathers had to be unruffled!  But, she does look after us well - calls us her little soles or corazones when she clucks around checking our welfare - which is a lot better than the cooking class lady last night who was a complete rip off for 70 dollars US a piece! - they only got onion and tomato salad, a couple of moles and a bit of cheese I think followed by a thimble full of mezcal and a dollop of rice pud!

John and I had the better deal last night although it started badly when we walked miles to the other end of town to the recommended fish restaurant to find it shut - then it poured down - but luckily we fell by chance into the place next door - another fish restaurant where we had tacos most of which were too hot for us, a nice fishy soup followed by ceviche or prawn salad and for mains John had fish fillet and I had delicious garlic prawns washed down with yet another piña colada.  About £8 each.  We got a taxi home and he didn't overcharge us - of course nobody would dare overcharge Chelo's guests because she will know their mothers and grandmothers and the mafia would sort them out!

Fortunately the sky is a little cloudy so we are not too uncomfortable putting our socks and trainers back on for the long journey home.  We have had to sleep with earplugs in here due to the huge double American style trucks racing past our rooms almost all day and night - but we were very well placed for the ruins of Tulum and the beautiful beach and only 1km from the town.

Last day of sunshine and beach

We had a hearty breakfast of fruit, cake and yoghurt followed by tortillas with chicken and home made mole - 35 ingredients and delicious.  Then we went to the beach on our fixies and swam in the lovely surf.  Glad we went early because the clouds have come in this afternoon.  We will walk into town for dinner while Moira and Arthur are doing their cooking.

Everyone feels a bit frazzled by the sun

EARLY BIRDS TO THE BEACH AND RUINS TODAY

LOVELY! Just ahead of all the crowds arriving.

ARRIVED SAFELY TULUM

We had to get up and be out of Caye Caulker by 6.30 this morning and caught the ferry to the next island called Ambergris Caye and the main town of San Pedro - this is much bigger and noisier.  Then we had to get off and go through immigration out of Belize and get our passports stamped and fill in bureaucracy then onward on a narrow fast launch with airline seats for 1 hour 45 minutes to Chetumal.  The boat sped along bashing down on the waves over very shallow lime green waves and we were entertained by a great black chap with a great sense of humour who did the health and safety talk in a very novel and entertaining way - got the message over but full of jolly japes - the best one for me was - if you end up in the water and meet a shark, you shout the password empanadillas and they will speed away because every shark knows the pasties around here are made with shark meat!  Then for the toilets - if you want to do number ones - we have a little room at the back - for number twos you wait 1 hour and 45 minutes and go on shore! Number 3s or vomit is out the window but not into the wind etc etc.

When we arrived in Chetumal we had to line up with our hand luggage to have it sniffed by the sniffer dogs while we stood in a line next to them - like an identification parade on the dock - then fill in loads of forms - then the armed police hid a can in our luggage and tested the dog to show us it could find the drugs can and he snarled and barked when he found it.  At last we got our luggage and paid our entry and exit visas (expensive) and then got a nice shuttle all the way to posada Los Mapaches just opposite the ruins in Tulum.  We then had our bags fumigated for bed bugs by our hostess Chelo who is like a strict Mum. I was half expecting her to check us for nits, next!  Apparently some mucky backpackers like us brought bedbugs with them once and she had to have the whole place fumigated so never again!   Lots of house rules but she runs a tight ship and is and is super helpful. We are living in a hobbit like tree house with free bikes to get down to the beach. The bikes come issued with head torches, bike locks and high viz jackets and, no doubt, a telling off if you don't wear them.

This is the upstairs

And this is the downstairs

This is our house from the outside

More pina coladas

Not forgetting the mariachis

and how is this for cool kids - our bikes are fixies, well, they have no brakes on the handle bars. American style, you back pedal to stop and they are absolute death traps! We are a danger to all!

We walked 1km to the town crossroads and 3 of us ate the house speciality of steak with guacamole and roasted cactus and chillies - very tasty - starters, pina coladas and corona beers followed by chocolate flan and coffee and all for around £12 each - I remember just the cocktail cost us £12 in Henley - so I am staying here!  And we were serenaded by Mariachis!  And I bought a hamichair - how will I get it home you may ask!

Up early tomorrow again to go to the ruins before the crowds come and maybe to a cenote or the beach - then Moira and Arthur are doing their cooking class in the evening!

Windy Caye Caulker

A real wind came up last night and a little rain that cooled the whole place down.  This was quite good since we had got quite burned on our backs yesterday.  We didn't need the air con last night and woke up to a still but grey day.  We took the opportunity to sleep in a bit and then walked right round the rest of the island, so that we have been everywhere.  We walked past the rich houses with private jetties and saw how the other half lives.  It was a nice walk in the mangroves on the beach with pandanas trees that reminded me of Vila and mum's Gauguin paintings

The airport is a simple single strip for small planes to land and you have to watch your head at the end of the runway

The international airport terminal was quite quaint

We wandered into the poorer workers' town and spotted this sweet animal family scene

I have never seen a chick riding on its mum's back before!

I think we have done Caye Caulker now and really feel that there is not a lot to keep you for more than a couple of days here - snorkelling good.

I think you could get more for your money if you stayed in Guatemala and from Puerto Barrios caught a boat out to the beaches of punto de Manabique- but on the other hand, this is a good hopping off point on our way back to Mexico.  Some people tonight told us the rest of Belize is more friendly than here where really there are too many tourists now and most come in for no more than a week of sunshine.

We leave here at 6.15 tomorrow morning on the fast ferry from Caye Caulker to Chetumal on the Mexican border.  From there we have to catch the ADO bus up the coast for about 250 miles to Tullum on the coast.  We have 2 nights here before we fly back from Cancun.  John and I will do some final ruin visiting and Moira and Arthur are doing a Mexican cooking course- I am taking Matt's advice and looking for a licuado de guayana which is a soursop and looks very much like an elongated custard Apple which in Spanish is called chirimoya.

It is sad to see the holiday coming to a close....

Snorkelling

We went on a half day tour of 3 different snorkelling areas with Carlos Junior on a nice speedboat.  Unfortunately Moira has her nasty eye infection still- but at least she has some fresh medicine from the chemist - so Moira came out for the boat ride today.  The sea breeze was beautiful out there about 5 minutes out from the beach.  We started on a fairly sparse bit of coral but if you stayed quietly for a while the fish came - and the coral was nice.

The second place was shallower and the area was full of tame Rays which Carlos fed with little fish and they swam around us and you could stroke them.

There were a few small nurse sharks in there but they had mostly been chased off by previous snorkel lers - but we did see one small one when we had got back in the boat.

Then we went to an area of sand for swimming or snorkelling on our own and we enjoyed the coral gardens and the medium sized fish.  Some lucky ones saw a massive parrot fish and a turtle, but not us - but we did see a scorpion fish, which is more rare.

Then we went on a lovely speedy trip around the island to see the rich people's houses and then the mangrove swamps where occasionally they get small crocs and it is a nursery generally for small fish.  

Carlos served us tots of local white coconut rum and fresh fruit to keep our energy up - yum!

Then Carlos took us to the mini blue hole which is a mini sink hole which opened up in a previous earthquake under the sea and is about 70 metres deep.  Then he took us to the entry to a very big undersea cave system to see the baby tarpons (about 3 foot long).  These are fished for sport here when they are fully grown but they were amazing even as babies and came up for fish - accompanied by the local Pelicans eager for a fish.  It cost about £23 each for a half day, not bad, we did all thoroughly enjoy the day and had very pleasant company to chat to with the lovely Carlos and his comical banter.

The baby Pelicans were cute too

We have just had drinks on our way home and I have cooled off in our pool - lovely! Out for more pina coladas in a minute!

ARRIVED IN PARADISE - CAYE CAULKER BELIZE

It was full moon last night and the howler monkeys passed our house every 2 hours all night - what a racket!  Then the bats in our roof flitted and chattered and shuffled so I couldn't sleep in case of falling bat guano... But eventually the dawn came and we had a cloud forest type mist to leave with.

The hotel was our most expensive yet - but we splashed out on 2 great boat trips with a guide, did the bees visit and downed a few bottles of the old tinto.  After all ..  it was an Ecolodge  which means no wifi, electricity only between 6 and 10pm etc. You pay extra for the privilege of being close to nature!

The hotel took us up to the crossroads off their unmade road at 8 am and we could not believe our luck when the bus arrived - amazing and even air con!  The border crossing went well and the trip through Belize was interesting and different - a lot more kempt - still the evangelical churches everywhere and of course everything in English now!  Got to the ferry port and had an hour before the boat and it was like being back in Brixton in London with all the Afro Caribbean banter - great holiday feeling and we had jerk chicken on the quay - delicious - baking hot and cloudless sky as we sped across the navy and turquoise sea for 45 minutes to Caye Caulker.  

It is truly a paradise of flat white beaches, sail boats and wooden cabanas- no cars - only bikes and few golf buggies - great vibe - we have a little cabana but air con in bedrooms and a hot shower and a pool!

We are two blocks from the beach - we walked down to swim in the warm sea- amazing then walked up to the spit at the end of the island where all the young and not so young uns congregate to drink cocktails to the sound of Bob Marley and drink cocktails - piña colada and mojitos was the order of the day - now we are clean and showered - our clothes back from the speedy laundry and we are ready to party - see you later!

The prices here are pretty steep - too many rich Americans around - but it is lovely - tomorrow will probably be snorkelling time...

This is our cabana and shared pool

This is the seafront Caye Caulker

This is a very happy boy with a pina colada

These are some happy mojitos to the sound of Bob Marley

This was us on the Caye caulker ferry

This was a very happy girl sharing another pina colada

Probably won't be writing much now the beach is here

Some pics Yaxha

Watching the sunset on temple 16

Rosco the friendly croc ate the owners' Labrador amongst other things and now his beagles have been taken by jaguar - not a place for Rufus I think

Our hobbit house complete with bats and encircled by howler monkeys.

The box is actually a home made hive for the tiny bees. They keep these little hives around their house so that the bees don't get attacked by bigger bees. 

We visited the family with tiny stingless bees that produce amazing honey as well as growing orchids on the trees

Arrived safely Yaxha

Sunday 21st FEBRUARY FROM EL REMATE TO YAXHA

We had a leisurely breakfast and drank in our final stories about the old days with Don David.  He told us about when he kept bees and when he found the killer bees on his piece of land and had to hide from them in the truck and leave the bulldozer running for hours wasting fuel until they managed to kill the bees.

The stay at El Remate cost us about £100 each for bed and full board.  John also bought us a bottle of Zacapa rum to sample.  We had the best car in Guatemala to take us driven by Bruno who lives in the village and told us about how Don David had had a pet jaguar and also a monkey in his day.  He told us of the clan of foreigners in the village - the crazy American, then Don David, then the Italian who runs the restaurant.  I learned about the pink blossom trees used as hedging - they use the flowers to make flor de cacao which they feed to the animals and use in cooking.

The trip to Yaxha was on a fairly good road to the Belizean border then we turned off down an unmade track and started to go down - once we saw a glimpse of temple 16, then we were driving along a vertiginous ridge, then down, down again until we came to the usual palapa and tree trunk structure that is the main communal area of El Sombrero Ecolodge.  There we met Gabriela who is a friend of Arthur's Italian friend and we sat and ate nachos and drank beer until her son Sebastian was ready to take us in the boat across the lake to the entrance to the ruins.  Gabriela's other son is in hospital having had a car accident whilst driving drunk and now has to have a back operation in Guatemala City hospital.

We were taken to our house which is a quaint hobbit like dwelling about 200 yards from the communal area overlooking the lake.  It has 2 storeys with a living room with retro stylish furniture and a stylish open kitchen and bathroom downstairs - the shower is cold of course and just a jet of water!  Upstairs is another open area with open viewing Windows over the lake and then there are 2 double rooms with rudimentary mosquito and bat protection on the roof - we saw a couple of bats roosting up there.

Sebastian. Took us on the boat to buy our entry tickets to the ruins then on the boat again to the entry point at the bottom of the ancient causeway.  We walked through the ruins which are very atmospheric - especially in late afternoon with the sound of howler monkeys and parrots echoing around us.  The site is like a miniature version of Tikal set on the lake - For me it is the most attractive, being less busy, smaller and set around the watery jungle scene.  We gradually walked towards the tallest temple 16 and met up with Roxy on the top and several others and had around 45 minutes to await the sunset.  Looking out over the canopy was magical and we were treated to a glimpse in her nest of the bat falcon and then a troupe of spider monkeys passing through - several males chasing a female.  We learned how the monkeys live on the Ramon tree seeds which are richer in protein and vitamins than any soya or maize - so I can see this will soon be what we will be eating.  John has ordered us some Ramon coffee to try - it is supposed to be an interesting drink.  We thought this might be the coffee we had seen in UK tv where the monkeys eat the coffee - poo it out and then it makes the best coffee in the world - but sadly it is not that one! And we were hoping to treat Matt and Simon to some of that!

After sunset we walked back through the ancient ruins in the dark with our head torches on and heard the raw sounds of the jungle at night - amazing.  Sebastian left us standing on the shore on a jetty and we waited in the blackness while he went round the bend to bring our boat - it was spooky in the dark trying to spot crocs (none) but we did see glow worms and were deafened by the parrots and the howler monkeys.  We sped across the glassy lake in the bright moonlight towards the tiny specs of light of our hotel.    It was an auspicious Mayan time because at sunset that night both the son and the moon were visible at opposite sides of the sky.  

Back at Ecolodge el Sombrero, we were fed a delicious home made dinner of pastas and aubergine and apple cake followed by home made allspice tea with home made honey - amazing flavour.  Sebastian's grandad (who is still living in Guatemala City and has all his marbles at 92) used to be the biggest honey producer in Guatemala.  It was a great evening - our French tour group from Don David's also were there for the dinner and night stay and were having a jolly time in the middle of the jungle....  All in all a magical day with interesting conversation with Sebastian about his youth in this area and his feelings about the current political situation.  He has been working for 2 years in the admin dept in a sweatshop making clothes in Guatemala City and has just given up his job.  He studied in Madrid and has travelled widely.  He is a good knowledgeable guide around the ruins.  He is the same age as Matt, Steph and Jo.

MONDAY 22ND FEBRUARY - HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK!

Today Sebastian is going to take us to see his bees and then will take us across the lake to the ruins of Topoxte on a little island in the lake later this afternoon.  I love the big old launch with its elegant lines and cruising across the lake in the day or night is a truly magical experience I will never forget -- but then the sunset from the temple top amongst the spider monkeys has to be for me the moment of the holiday so far. --- we are so lucky to be doing this.

We heard over breakfast this morning how Moira locked herself in her bedroom by mistake last night and nearly had to dangle out of the window to do the necessaries- luckily Arthur managed to rescue her with a bit of gymnastic jumping through windows and over stair wells- and John and I slept through it all... - it's never a dull moment here, indoors and out!

This morning John and I went down to the jetty and were treated to a sight of Rosco their local crocodile who turned up conveniently to be photographed before breakfast in front of his crocodile signpost!

Had a lovely breakfast of yoghurt, granola, fruit and local honey and coffee and now we are lazing about under the shade catching up on the blog before it trickles out of the other ear.  The scene is totally idyllic here - warm but comfortable swinging in a hammock in the shade.

More pics

                            

This is the spider John had to kill in our bathroom!

John took this from the viewpoint on temple 4 while Moira and I sat at the bottom - it was so hot!

This is our lakeside hotel: la Casa de Don David

Some pics

This is an ocellated turkey with it's funny beaded head markings and beautiful feathers

VISIT TO TIKAL

Moira went with the taxi to meet Arthur and he was early so we had dinner together.  We had to get up at 5.30 to take the 30km ride to the gates of Tikal to meet our guide.  It was just getting light when we arrived and the walk to the central plaza is quite a long windy affair in order to keep modern contamination from the site.  As we walked the sky was alive with birdsong and we met our guide Roxy who had just completed the sunrise tour with another group.  Despite that she enthusiastically took us round the various pyramids, also identifying the many birds - parrots, toucans, and my favourite - the displaying ocellated turkey.  We also saw a troupe of spider monkeys.  Roxy explained the development of the Mayan culture from pre-classic times through to the Spanish conquest.  She certainly knew her stuff and was also able to explain the creation stories of the Popol Vuh and put each of the ruins we have visited in their context.

The pyramids are huge towering structures above the canopy - basically designed to allow the elite to calculate time and work out the best time to plant corn for the rising population.

We also heard of the loss of understanding of the ruins by later generations and how this led to crop failure, starvation and abandonment of cities as well as the darker side of the conquest of rival cities and finally the open cannibalism of desperate warlike tribes who no longer could trust anyone.  Roxy had the theory that the early Maya realised the importance of knowledge and wisdom to understand how and why it works - but then subsequent generations misinterpreted the temples which were a means to read the seasons -eg solstices and equinoxes.  Finally they lost all knowledge of how the structures help them to plant seed at the right time and the people blame the elite for their hunger and eventually turn on their rulers and kill them.

We have spent the last two afternoons wandering around the hotel after a tasty lunch and John and I have swum in the lake twice, which was very refreshing - except that the receptionist tonight decided to tell us a few stories tonight of the sightings of crocodiles in our lake- which rather put us off!

We were going to go for a ride into Flores town today but couldn't be bothered because of the heat.  Tomorrow we head off not too far to Yaxha which is certainly on a crocodile lake, so we won't be swimming there.  We stay there for 2 nights before we leave Guatemala for Belize.  We are a little concerned that rumours circulate here which point to not such a nice experience in Yaxha as we have had in la Casa de Don david- mind you, John did have to fight a giant man eating spider in our shower last night

FIRST MORNING IN CASA DE DON DAVID

The birds were up this morning from about 5.30.  The garden is an Eden for them with feeding tables throughout.  John was up first and down at the water's edge watching the grebe, heron and many other birds feeding and displaying to each other.  The tour in last night from Exodus tour group were having breakfast early prior to their Tikal trip.  After breakfast of huevos rancheros the owner, Don David came and chatted to us about the history of the place.  He was here over the time of the civil war and had a few scary moments when soldiers turned up on his doorstep - but thankfully by that time he was known and respected and so they came to say 'just letting you know you are ok here and we have checked the area for guerrillas'- before that he had seen flyers saying to kill all gringos.  Of course during that time the tourism dropped to nothing.

Don David started in Florida with an alligator zoo and came to Iquitos Peru in search of an anaconda with $500 dollars in the 60s.  He never got the anaconda and his Spanish speaking guide proved not to be able to speak Spanish but went off partying.  He met an animal trader in Iquitos who said if you want to see monkeys etc go to Tikal - so he did and never looked back.  In those days Iquitos survived by flying out cages full of animals for zoos in old prop dc6 type planes.  He never did get the anaconda.

The climate here is perfect.  The birds are amazing as we sit and have breakfast.  There is a gentle breeze blowing over the lake.  A couple of local lads are driving their motorbikes along the lakeside.  The humming bird is drinking from the feeder just by my head and John is downstairs cleaning his teeth as always - maintaining standards as always!  Awaiting Arthur's arrival.

ARRIVED SAFELY IN CASA DE DON DAVID EL REMATE

We didn't sleep very well last night due to the heavy rain all night- but at least we rested and had a leisurely breakfast and paid our bill at Hotel Tortugal which was amazing value at just over £100 each for 5 days full board plus extras plus drinks plus laundry etc - what a place!

Our luxury coach of Linea Dorada was due out of Rio Dulce town at 9.30 and we were to be met by Carlos at the wharf - guess what?   He didn't show and all the chaps in the street said they had never heard of our mythical luxury bus - so after waiting in the dust and dirt and truck fumes for 45 mins we gave up and booked on the other bus called linea del Norte which had not been recommended, but they had lovely pictures on the walls of luxury buses - and they even put luggage tags on our luggage - luxury treatment!... Then the bus arrived!  Well, we thought our chicken bus was rough but this was the king of rough!  He tried to open the luggage doors underneath but they were just a rust bucket - and there was little room for our bags - in stuffing them in as best he could, he pulled our lovely luggage labels off - so that was that!

The bus driver was in a shirt and tie and black trousers - good!  The bus was three quarters full and we managed to squeeze ourselves into the raked seats with no knee room and no foot room due to the wheel arches!  The bus lurched off at an optimistic 20mph for about half a mile and then the driver slowed right down as a terrible noise started reverberating through the bus.  He pulled into one of the many pinchazo stops which means puncture and asked us all to get out for 10 minutes while they replaced the brake drum.  The locals were very efficient at getting the double wheels off, by means of compressed air and a large hammer.  The brake drum had completely disintegrated and John noted that they didn't bother with brake shoes but just ran on the bare metal!  They then hit it with a hammer to put a new one on - which John commented was the best way to crack a cast metal part!  Anyway the driver took off his tie and got his old dirty coat and baseball cap on and got under the wheels to fix the problem- so we set off again going a little faster for a mile or so- then we pulled in again near a house and his lady helper unscrewed the radiator cap inside our bus and filled the bus with hot steam. We then had to wait for it to cool down enough so that a team of people could run down the hill with buckets and and fill up the radiator.  Once it cooled we set off again for about 20 miles and then we had to pull in to drop off a sack of maize and take on more water.  Moira and I went to the ladies loos which did not have a flush of course but you had to come out after you had finished, take a bailer made out of a milk bottle and fill it from the 40 gallon drum in the corner to slosh out our own bowl.

Eventually, five hours or so later we actually arrived safely in Santa Elena Flores and were dropped in the bus station and herded to a shuttle bus where the man made us out an official looking ticket then plonked us on a bus that only drove round the corner to the market and parked - everyone got out and we were treated to a non stop visit from every street vendor in the market with delicious fruit, crisps, ice cream, fresh drinks, cakes - none of which we dared buy because of our hygiene worries in the market, and we were famished!  Eventually they dropped us at El Remate village and we walked down a little side road to a grey wooden building called La Casa De Don David.  We walked through that door into another world of fresh licuado overlooking a lush tropical garden overlooking the lake Peten Itza with the bird tables for the humming birds and the staff bustling about putting on a Mayan fire show for our entertainment.  So, yes we have arrived and our little cabanas downstairs are cute with 2 double and 1 single bed each.  Our washbasin is outside amongst the tropical flowers and there is a goo shower indoors.  We have been fed pretty well and met the usual consmopolitan group of interesting travellers.  In the morning we are looking forward to breakfast being served on the lakeside terrace by zip line powered by bike parts!  Fun.  A lazy day ahead tomorrow awaiting the arrival of Arthur, who has already had the day from hell on his first leg of journey to Cancun!

Internet is weak here so no pics for the moment - but we are all fine and still laughing!

LAST DAY IN TORTUGAL

We slept ok last night having gained control of the ceiling fan system in our room.  Nothing dries here in the humidity so we will be leaving tomorrow with some damp shoes etc.  John and I went kayaking this morning along the shore and enjoyed the bird life - saw the usual herons, pelicans, egrets and cormorants and on the boat stays a pair of lovely yellow chested fly catcher type birds with a lovely way of flying and looping to catch the insects.  We had our usual breakfast of egg, bacon and hash browns and then at 11s had a licuado de papaya that was delicious.  It is overcast again today and has drizzled and bit but is warm.  John has found out moorings here go for around 250 dollars a month usually allied to hotels who look after them as well as allowing you to use all their facilities - it seems a nice life and I can imagine Paul,and our dads loving the laid back life here - there are some extremely well travelled and enterprising people here who do not believe in putting on the slippers in front of the telly when they retire.  Quite a few have encircled the globe in their yachts.  The owner of this hotel was telling us today about the headaches involved in up keeping the pontoons and buildings with the teredo worm eating the pontoons and the termites eating the wood above ground.  She also told John that although you don't see much when you walk in the mangroves around our hotel, in fact it is full of nocturnal life like kinkajoos, sloths, turtles.

When we were talking to the American lady in Vinas del lago hotel yesterday she asked us if we had been to see the church in Esquipulas.  We had passed it coming back from Copan the other day and knew about the annual pilgrimage or romeria to see the black Christ - but we googled it and was amazed at just how big the event is - taking place during February and involving thousands from all over the world including Saint Teresa of Calcutta and Pope Paul and Butros Butros Gali who has just died who came to witness the signing of the peace accords after the terrible civil war here.

It is a huge basilica - pity the money was spent to help the poor here who are so faithful to their religions

For some reason a lot of motorbikes go on the pilgrimage!

We have just had our lunch of quesadillas de pollo y Aguacate - delicious! And the staff have just come up with a box of still lively mojarra fish of pink and grey scales probably for our special dinner tonight.

We have been washing our smalls or in some cases our bigs prior to leaving tomorrow and I will have to start behaving myself before we meet up with Arthur in Flores - for instance I won't be allowed to dry my knickers on the ceiling fan any more!

Tomorrow we leave at a sensible hour for a change - 9.30 on a so called luxury bus up to Lake Peten Itza and the town on the lake called Flores.  It has mixed reviews - some say it is a beautiful town - others say it is full of people trying to rip you off - we shall see...

We are now heading into Maya heartland where their civilisation really reached its heyday in Tikal and in numerous other settlements around - most of which have not even started to be investigated under the jungle undergrowth.

I hope we will have time to visit a few others as well as Tikal and Yaxha