Ok so this month begins down the Pub!!
Leaving doo at Hanrahan's Click on link to view pictures, Thanks to every one for coming and the pressie and cards, we had a fab night and defintely suffered the net day! cheers to Si. for having us back to his place after the pu, Right on to the serious business of travelling!
Our flights are booked for the 15th of March to Cancun, we have decided to take the scenic route to the boat (rather than the expensive one, as the penny pinching starts here!)
The plan so far is to fly into Cancun Spend a night here, and maybe a little time on the beach!
Then off the next day for a 5-6 hour bus trip crossing the Mexican border down to Corozal in Belize.
We will stay there for the night, then back on the Bus in the morning for a few hours ride into Belize City. from here, jump off the bus and get the next available flight ( which run frequently throughout the day.) down to Punta Gorda, where we will spend a night.
This should have us on track to get the Friday morning boat down to Livingston in Guatemala, then we just need to get a boat down the Rio Dulce to our boat Mari, which is currently moored at Tijax Marina on the Rio Dulce. You can see more about the marina / jungle lodge by visiting their website.
All sounds quite straightforward, we will just have to wait and see how it goes!
Well we finally got her, more or less as planned. The only thing we did differently was staying in Livingstone for the night as when we got there the customs people had popped out for the afternoon, so we had to wait for them to get back so we could get our passports stamped the next day. Click here to see pictures of Journey And the first pictures of Marie. (Since I had seen her last 4 years previously.)
The weather here is boiling hot and really humid, it can make you very angry when you are trying to get things done! We are finding that it is best to get up at 6 in the morning when it is a little cooler and do some work then, and later that night as it is really difficult trying to get things done during the heat of the day. There doesn't appear to be any breeze this side of the river so even without moving you find yourself dripping with sweat! (MMM. Nice thought I know!)
We have found a load of realy friendly and helpful people out here. When we were in Punta Gorda we got chatting to the owner of the pub called The Titanic , he was an American Guy named Jer, he took us round the local village and to a couple of the local pubs, brought us a load of beer, which was realy nice and something we wouldn't have done otherwise.
Whilst we have been on the The Rio Dulce we also met the manager of another Bar 'Brunos' Steve who has been realy helpful and drove us to get a battery for the boat, so we are getting to know a few people now. there are a load of Americans over here all with boats so we are finding out the best places to find supplies. Its a little difficult staying out of pubs though as that is where you meet most people!
We went up to Antigua for 4 days over the Easter week to see all of the processions and bits, We didn't do anything too strenuous whilst we were here, no volcano climbing or Anything of the sort, Most of the things we have read have said that you shouldent go up without a guide as people have been attacked when they have gone up there alone. I think Stuart would have dragged me up there if it was not for that.
The Climate here is much cooler than it is at the river, it is hot during the day, then cools down in the evening, rather than being stupidly hot all the time.
The bus Journey was 5 to 6 hour, but went pretty well, no major incidents, which was good, considering the stories you hear about Guatemalan roads! We only had one chicken on the bus but at least we can declare it was a proper Chicken bus now! We had to change in Guatemala City which I was a bit worried about, as the Fuente Del Norte bus stop is apparently the worst in town. It didn't seem half as bad as i had thought once we got there. The bus from there to Antigua was one of the nice colourful school bus types with Nigel Mansell at the wheel. you had to hold on for dear life as you ent around the corners and none of the locals found the journey quite as amusing as we did!!!
The Hotel we had booked was nice, but made Stuart Very unhappy with the price, we managed to live pretty cheaply so far but this was back to uk prices.
Antigua was heaving with people for Semana Santa, and had a really good atmosphere. We spent most of our time wandering around, wathcing the parades and looking at the carpets (Alfombras.)
The Bus Journey home was a little more eventful, we always seem to get the oldest and tattiest of buses we have seen, mind you at least our bus only had one wheel nut missing from each wheel, rather than the one we saw the other day that had about 5 missing from each! We only ended up off the road once, when the failing brakes couldn't stop in time, to miss the broken down car in front, so we ended up going off the road to slow down! Thought we were going to have to get out and push it back on the road, but luckily the bus driver had a load of spare wood in the bus for such an occasion, to put under the tires, so we set off again with no further set backs.
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