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