Mexico!!
3 November 2006
Hola, cómo estás?
I flew into Cancun, Mexico where Vicky was waiting for me (who I travelled with in OZ and have managed to talk into extending her trip to come with me to central America!!). We head into Cancun for a night in a very dodgy hostel that didn't have doors. Over to Isla Mujeres to kill 2 days acclimatising to the extreme heat before we needed to be back in Cancun for our bull fighting show. We hired a golf buggy with some guys and explored the small island; we went to a turtle farm with some tiny babies, also tried to pick up a hitchhiker and spent the next 10 minutes trying to somehow fit him on the buggy!! Very quickly having to learn Spanish as its all everyone speaks here, also trying to throw in French and German as most travellers are from those locations...steep learning curve.
Back to Cancun where we went to the bullfighting show...glitzy event and neither Vicky or I had expected they would kill the bulls - it would have been so funny to see our faces when they did!! A padded and blindfolded horse goes into the arena and the bull would nearly knock the horse off its legs while the rider (picadore) stabbed the bull in the neck, thus weakening its strong neck muscles (causing it to lower its head so that the matador can do the last part). Gushes of blood, then the matador would tease the bull, and attempt to insert the sword between the cervical vertebra and into the bull's heart after which it would collapse to the ground after a good minute...another guy would immediately jump on it, stab its head to finish it off, and cut parts off as a trophy for the fighter...quite shocking but we came strangely transfixed by it as the 4, 5, 6th bull came out to its destiny. Not all grim though, one bull was voted to live as it was strong, so went off to produce lots of strong babies :-)
Deciding on an approximate travel route, we head west on a dodgy bus that picked up people en route so they could sell you weird things as we drove along. Quick stop in Chichen Itza, a temple, quite cool, then finally into Merida. Vicky and I had a random day when we went to Cuzama by bus, where a boy peddled us along on his modified push bike, then we went in a carriage along the old train lines pulled by a malnourished pony. We travelled for a few kilometres into the middle of nowhere and arrived at these Cenotes (sink holes), which were incredible pits into the ground half filled with water and the roof covered in stalactites (and bats). We swam in one and crawled down a steep ladder into the pit of another. Great day followed by more burritos, tacos and Corona (I love Mexico - we can eat them every day) then Salsa lessons at the hostel.
Next stop was in Campeche, which is a beautiful little town with cobbled streets and the most amazing centre where the cathedral and park are. We hired bikes to explore and nearly lost our lives many times trying to traverse the roads...not sure what the road rules are here or even if there are any!? It seems that every other person drives an old style beetle in Mexico with their favourite dance music blaring out.
Our first real experience of the language barrier when we get the times wrong on our bus ticket and have to buy another. We were slightly alarmed when the security guard was trying to ask us something, only presuming he wanted to search our bags for bombs or something and turned out he was just offering us a drink while we waited!! Two blondes travelling is certainly attracting attention with whistles and comments, but we're getting used to it and most people are really helpful and friendly.
Finally we caught our bus to Palenque, arriving before the sun had risen. Really great town and much more how we were expecting Mexico to be, with street stalls selling fruit and trinkets and lots of bustling activity. Increasingly in these towns there are guards with machine guns standing on the side of the street. We visited the ruins which were really amazing...over 200 buildings in the jungle, with only 5% that you can actually visit. It was so unbelievably hot, but we're getting used to permanently sweating! Completely different day the next day after the biggest thunderstorm overnight. It was wet, but seeing as we were visiting waterfalls it didn't seem to matter. One with a very rickety bridge and kids selling bananas...delicious little sweet ones (the bananas not the kids).
Great news from my eldest sister that she has just given birth to a baby girl, so that's fantastic!
Another early bus up and around the hills into San Cristobal at over 2100m above sea level and its so much colder here. Its a really wonderful town with rainbow coloured houses, balconies and cast iron decoration. The market stalls have an amazing array of traditional items including handcrafted Mayan clothes, bags and purses in amazing colours. We arrived just in time for the last day of a festival here and enjoyed a night of music and fairly painful flamenco dancing that had a modern contemporary style. The following day we went on a trip up the Sumidera Canyon by boat and saw loads of egrets, herons and pelicans perched on cacti on the steep rock faces.
Heading into Guatemala tonight, so I’ll report back from there!!
Adiós amigos!! Love Fi xxxxxx
Guatemala is great!!!!
10 November 2006
Hi all,
A long bus journey into Guatemala, easily over the border and onto a 'chicken bus' (old American school buses that they pack you in like chickens) which cost us about 2 quid for a 4 hour journey, bargain, its cheap here. They drove so fast around the cliff edge, with 4 or 5 people per seat it was definitely packed, and our bags perched on the roof - we were in fear each corner would throw it off! There were men getting on the bus with machetes, a guy with claws for hands and a gaggle of guys who found it sooo funny to be sitting next to the English girls. Fun experience.
We stopped in Quetzaltenango and went to the cemetery for 'Day of the Dead' (aka: All Saints Day), everyone in town was there to pay respect to the deceased. Huge family tombs and flowers everywhere, a really colourful event and an amazing market with incredible interesting foods and smells. Vicky and I went to some indigenous villages where a vegetable market was held - veges grown huge by the volcanic soil and the mists providing daily moisture. Weirdest experience yet, when we were taken to a village where they gave offerings to a plastic doll effigy that would send their message to the gods, they poured gin into its mouth and stuck a cigarette in its mouth, with a little kid sitting by it to flick the ciggy occasionally so the ash wouldn't fall on its clothes...totally bizarre and had to restrain from laughing. Everything is amazingly colourful, and hectic too, I had my first experience of running and jumping onto a moving bus!! Vicky and I decided to hike a volcano here, so we head up to a crater lake, seriously steep paths, almost lost, but worth the climb and sat and watched as the mist engulfed the area in minutes as it always does at midday.
A bit about the country...Guatemala, just larger than England, is the meeting place of 3 tectonic places and therefore has frequent earthquakes and 30 volcanos. Many of the roads are currently being dug out from recent landslides, there's one around every corner. The landscape is a patchwork of vegetable fields, and maize planted right up to the doorstep of houses, all leading up to the forest covered mountain ridges and volcanic peaks. All the places we've stayed in are above 2000 metres above sea level, so are quite cool and become mystical as the mists sweep in at midday. November is kite season due to the high winds so the skies are littered with kites that kids have handmade - a skill shown to them by their fathers. All women seem to have a baby in a sling on their backs - quite practical really.
We caught another chicken bus to Chichicastenango to be in time for the massive markets there that take place on Sundays and fill every street. Great market filled with rugs, foods, wooden carvings and everything under the sun. Loving all the fresh fruit and orange juice squeezed while you wait at street stalls. We stayed in a totally awful hostel, the worst on my whole trip, it was like a prison cell, and we were glad to leave.
Much warmer in Panajachel on Lago de Atilan, which is a massive crater lake surrounded by volcanos, a really beautiful place and quite touristy as a result. We went on a boat trip around the lake which stopped at 3 villages, really beautiful streets and so many adorable kids selling handmade things...Vicky and I ended up with 24 bracelets for 90 pence as we just couldn't say no!!
Antigua, which we adored as we fell into a Crepe shop that had Nutella. A wonderful town that has at least one church/ruin on each street and great to wander around. An old monastery has been converted into a very classy and nicely done hotel (about 70 quid a night and worth every penny!), with parrots perched in all the trees, water fountains, of course the ruins and the distant sound of opera music. All the banks and shops have security guards outside with shot guns which is quite a fright! One early morning, we hiked an active volcano which has been erupting nearly continuously since 1965, led by police security to prevent us from being robbed or assaulted, very dramatic. It was an incredible experience walking up towards the summit, with more and more solid black lava, as sharp as glass, and right next to a surging lava flow kicking out some serious heat!!
Off to Honduras tomorrow...
Let me know how you are all getting on...
Love Fi xxxxxxx
Honduras, Guatemala, then Belize…
20 November 2006
Up at crack of dawn to head into Honduras and over a very simple border crossing where they didn't even stamp our passports (shame because I’m getting quite a nice collection of stamps in my passport now!). We stayed the night in Copas Ruinas which was a tiny little town and visited the ruins there...quite similar to the other ruins we have seen, but in a rather nice setting in amongst the jungle. Very different type of country here - the Hondurans are fairer in skin colour than the Guatemalans and wear much more modern clothing, but the landscape seems very similar, with the usual concrete houses each with a few horses, several cows, 2 dogs, and 20 chickens.
Off up to the Caribbean coast and over on the ferry to Roatan. Very beautiful island where we spent the week and I did my Advanced scuba diving course. The diving was great and really fun to do some new skills like floating upside down through a hoop only using your lungs to adjust for buoyancy. The drift dive was amazing just floating past the coral and not having to swim as the current sweeps you along, and the night dive was a real experience, turning off the torch and seeing the bioluminescence around your hands (also a great display of lightning in the sky above). The island was really hot and tropical with lush sandy beaches and a wonderful setting of the wooden village and tropical plants and flowers around. There are a lot more afro-Caribbean people here giving the place a totally chilled out type of holiday destination. With a duty free shop nearby, we drank local rum costing US$2.95 per bottle and watched the amazing sunsets each evening. Life was very tough here as you can tell, but quite a needed break after so long on the road.
Back on to the mainland and a day travelling to get back over the border into Guatemala...only just making it to the border for the last shuttle in the day, as the bus we were on visited all the tiny pot holed villages along the way. We stayed the night in Puerto Barrios then caught a ferry over to Livingston (funny little place where all the ladies seem to want to braid your hair!) and another boat up to Rio Dulce where we caught a bus to Flores. We stayed in Flores for a few nights and visited the Tikal ruins, which covered such a huge area and have the tallest Mayan ruin in Guatemala which you could climb and it looked over the dense jungle canopy with all the Howler and Spider monkeys.
Off to Belize tomorrow...
Hope you're all well, love Fi xxxx
You better Belize it!
07 December 2006
Over the next border and into Belize, quite a small country; only about the size of Wales and quite similar to Guatemala except the first language here is English. Over the sea and on to Caye Caulker island, which is quite small (and even smaller since the hurricane in 1961 which split the island into 2!). Its chilled out. What a relief to speak English again and be able to chat with people, although in a totally Caribbean Rasta way so 'tree' is 'three' and 'arreeed' is like saying 'alright' aka good day. Funny funny. Its seriously hot but with a nice breeze as its mid winter here - strange kinda winter temperatures if you ask me! Vicky and I spent many days just relaxing and enjoying the sandy streets, fresh banana bread, BBQ'd lobster, Snapper and Barracuda, and all the fruit you can eat. We went on a sailing boat for a snorkelling day trip; which was totally amazing, with huge shoals of Mangrove Snappers, Blue Stripped Grunts, the guide picked up a Southern Sting Ray which felt amazing, and the star of the day for me were 2 huge Spotted Eagle Rays, incredibly graceful.
Vicky left me here to make her way back to England, which was very strange and sad after spending so long together in Central America. As soon as I was on my own, I wasn't; I met a fellow traveller - we went snorkelling and saw a Nurse shark underneath a boat and a Barracuda too so that was great, and by the evening I was cooking for 8 and drinking rum til 5 am, funny this travelling malarkey! I broke my flip flops which was a very significant moment as I really thought they were going to hold out til the end of the year after being through so much with me! The next few days were filled with hangovers and most of my time was spent snorkelling. The water is incredible and absolutely brimming with life...sting rays, nurse sharks, fish shoals, butterfly fish, the biggest hermit crab ever at over 30cm shell length!! And loads more. Many afternoons were spent watching the sun go down while fishing for our dinner or drinking cocktails or both. I decided to do the famous 'Blue Hole' dive; the almost perfectly circular Blue Hole is more than 305 meters across and some 123 meters deep. The hole is the opening to what was a dry cave system during the Ice Age. When the ice melted and the sea level rose, the caves were flooded and now the hole is an amazing dive with 10m tall stalactites in a cave in the side at 45m, huge groupers at over a metre long and 9 huge grey reef sharks circling us, it was amazing. The trip took us to an island for lunch where we saw nesting boobies and Frigate birds, and also 2 more incredible dives...and I finally saw a turtle!!
Great island and hard to leave as the people are all really nice and we have a good laugh, although managed to get quite a few of them to follow me to San Ignacio (eastern Belize)...a worldly group consisting of USA, Holland, Switzerland, Malaysia and me from the UK of course. It was really nice but strange to be off the island and back into a bustling town with cheap markets and chaos in the streets. We had all planned to do a tour here, and Jack and I met a really nice but drunk guy in the bar that is a free lance guide and he said he would take us canoeing down the river and it was to be a cheap adventure, except it rained really hard overnight so all tours were cancelled the next day...sucks.
So back up into Mexico for me for the final leg of my trip!...
Hope you're all well, love Fi xxxxx
