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September |
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27 September - Tikal & back to the Rio
19 September - Mexico to meet the parents
03 September - Spanish School Xela
27 September - Tikal & back to the Rio
From Tulum we took the same route we took on the way up, staying a night in Chetemal then through Belize and into Guatemala stopping at Flores. We had to pay to leave Mexico this time which was a bit of a bummer as we managed to get away with it last time.
We stayed in the same hotel as we did on the way up and booked in for two nights, then brought our bus tickets to Tikal. It looks as though all the tourist companies work together here and there is only one price for the bus which is Q50 per person, there is no bartering down. We went with San Juan travel who were ok. We got picked up at 5.00am outside our hotel and took the hour bus ride to Tikal. We thought about getting a guide when we got there but they all stick together too and the set price is $10 per person, which we thought was extortionate so decided against it. The entrance fee to Tikal was another Q50 per person.
We managed to get around all of the ruins, it was pretty breath taking. Set in the middle of the jungle, to get to each different section of ruins you had a proper Indiana Jones Jungle walk to go through, well it was a bit more landscaped than that but it was still pretty amazing. You would walk through a bit of jungle then look up and peering down at you over the canopy of the trees would be an enormous Mayan Temple.
The front steps of the larger temples have now been closed to the public, I don't know weather this is because of wear and tear or just because they are so dangerous to climb! I am rather glad that they were closed or Stuart would have convinced me that it was a good idea to climb them and I probably would have scared myself to death! There were alternate routes made so you could get to the tops of the larger temples, wooden stairs, which in some cases were scarier than the main steps. I managed most of them but had to decline the steepest (Click here for pics of the steps) they just looked like a death trap. Stuart scuttled up there no problems though, like a little rat!
The view from the top of Temple V (at least that's what we think it was) was absolutely breathtaking. From the bottom the temple wasn't much to look at, most of it was still covered in earth and jungle. After climbing the rickety stairs to the uncovered section at the top, you arrived above the canopy of the trees to see the whole jungle spread out below you, broken every once in a while by the tip of a Mayan temple. It was amazing and well worth risking the scary stairs!
A lot of the ruins still haven't been uncovered and it is amazing to see, what at first glance you think are just hills, covered in age old trees and knowing that beneath all that earth are treasures of Mayan Ruins still waiting to be uncovered. It made you feel like you were in a cross between Tomb Raider and Indiana jones!
Along the jungle walks in between the ruins you saw these great big yellow and black spiders in the most elaborate 5 or 6 layer webs. Stuart did a very good impression of Indiana Jones by walking straight through one. Only to spoil the effect by dancing around like a girl for the next 10 minutes thinking that he had a big spider stuck on his head!! (Glad it wasn't me, I don't think I would have been too Lara Croft about it either!!)
We spent a good 8 hours at the ruins then took the 2.00 bus back to Flores. We left here the next day and caught a bus that drove at a rather more forgiving speed back to the Rio Dulce.
Things are back to normal here now, back into the swing of doing pretty much nothing and being stupidly hot and sweaty. Popping to Jeff's, Chikkis or Bruno's in the afternoons for our daily dose of gossip and beer. We picked the cat up on the second day we were here and had dinner with Ron and Ariane. Little Mano is not to little anymore and is beginning to look like a real cat now. The poor thing, this is the 3rd time we have dragged him away from his family. He has been pretty good though and didn't make a fuss when we took him away, although he did spend the first night back chasing cockroaches around the boat and batting them on the bed whilst we were asleep! We had a few moments that night were we both had to leap out of bed to see what the cat had done this time! Its good to have him back.
19 September - Mexico to meet the parents
Its been a pretty long time since the last update, but here is what has happened since:
Click here to see the pics for this section
Guatemala lost the football to Trinidad, so I didn't miss too much by not watching all of it! We finished school and headed back to the Rio Dulce for a night as this was on route to Flores and Mexico anyway. The boat was as we left it, there had been no problems, everyone was very cheerful to see us.
The next day we took a bus up to Flores, again we had a crazy bus driver that we thought was trying to kill us. It only seems to be on the Fuente Del Norte (or Fuente Del Muerte, as they have been aptly nick named!) buses that the drivers are such complete loons. It took us four hours to get to Flores, we had a bit of a problem on the way there as the main bus stopped at Santa Elena airport. We were told to get on one of the micro buses, which wouldn't cost anything, to take us to the little island in lake Peten. We got on the bus where they immediately started to hassle us, trying to get us to stay in one of their hotels, taking a trip with them to Tikal and all sorts of other rubbish. We said no, so the guy turned round and said, right its 20Q each for the bus ride! Stuart told him pretty much to sod off, we would not pay and to stop the bus (which is free!) and we would walk. It was soo annoying, I wonder how many people they manage to get money out of that way. It wasn't a problem for us as it was only a 5 minute walk across the bridge and we were where we wanted to be.
We stayed a night in Flores then hopped on a bus to Chetemal in Mexico, this was a pretty long bus ride and took us through Belize, then Mexico. Its a bit annoying as you then have to pay the leaving fee for Belize, each time you go through. We spent a night in Chetemal, which is a nice town and the first time I have been in proximity to proper clothes shops for a long time! The next day we took our final bus to Playa del Carmen.
First things first we stopped in one of the first restaurants we found for a few 'congratulations we made it' beers! Got chatting to the local drunk and was pestered by a man trying to con us into looking at a time share! We had already booked a hostel for 5 nights on the internet and found it pretty easily as it was right in the centre of town, right next to the main drag. Its a really nice little place, looked a little like a building site from the front as they were working on it at the time. The rooms were nice and there was cooking facilities and lots of communal areas. The bathroom was a little alfresco and it was a bit of a nightmare having a pee when it was windy as the door was just a shower curtain and would blow all over the shop!
Anyway we had only been in the hostel for 5 mins when my parents showed up! This was quite a shock as they didn't even know that we had arrived in Mexico yet! It was really nice to see them again and the strange thing was it didn't seem at all weird to be seeing them in Mexico, it just felt like we had popped up to Maidstone to see them!! We had a few beers with them, and they had arranged to get us a day pass to there all inclusive hotel the next day, which was very exciting as we haven't had much luxury in the past 6 months!
The next morning we got a taxi to their hote. Which was enormous and super nice. We got an armband for the day, then we were rushed off to the dinning hall for a huge fry up. We spent the rest of the day by the pool catching up and taking full advantage of the free drinks and fantastic food. We stayed there for dinner and the show in the evening. We were completely stuffed by the time we left!
The brilliant thing was that when we left no one took the armbands off of us! So we made sure we made full use of this for the next 4 days that we were staying in the hostel. Each day we met my parents down the beach of another of the hotels in the Riu group, and used their sunbeds, drunk the free drinks, had the free meals and ate the free ice-cream! It was fantastic. The beach is pretty amazing, although a little busy and not a great deal of shade, the sea is such a brilliant colour of turquoise and blue you couldn't help but be amazed each time you looked up at it. In the evenings my parents would come down town and I got to drag Mum round all the nice, jewelry, clothes and touristy shops, something that I am never allowed to do with Stuart so it was very nice having me mum there! And Dad and Stuart could keep each other happy in the pub drinking beer and being invited to strip shows!
After the 5 days at the hostel, my parents gave us a really nice surprise and told us that they have paid for us to stay for 5 nights in their hotel! That was very very exciting, the prospect of having a lovely large air conditioned room, with TV (I know we shouldn't get excited about TV but we couldn't help it!), huge bathroom, fluffy towels that they shape in to crazy animals for you. Not to mention the mini bar, you had a row of optics with bottles of tequila, Rum, Gin and Vodka and a fridge full of beers and soft drinks. It was luxury.
So we moved into the Riu tequila with my parents and dedicated the rest of the week to eating, drinking, lounging by the pool, swimming in the sea and feeding the monsters! The hotel was a real hive of activity for wildlife. Colourful birds, huge iguanas that were rather parshel to a banana or 2. Funny guinea pig, deer creatures that liked bread and Snuffley Wufflers as we named them due to their snuffley wibbley noses that they route in the ground with. I haven't found out the real names for these things yet but will do! Click here to see the pictures.
To counter act all the eating me and mum took up doing some of the activities put on by the hotel we started with about 30 mins of yoga in the morning then nearly an hour of aqua aerobics, then off for a few lengths of the pool. This all sounds very good although I don't think we actually started this regime until the 3rd day we were there and we only did the whole lot once!! The other days it was just one or the other!!!! Oh dear, never mind at least we tried a little.
The boys took to the activities of shooting and sailing in the little catamarans at the beach. Stuart having to be a show off won the shooting both times and had to go up on stage in the evenings to collect his prizes!
We all gave the darts a go one day, but decided once was enough after mum nearly killed us all with her ferocious random darts throwing. Needless to say she did not win, although it wasn't through lack of trying! We decided it was best for the well being of everyone if we didn't repeat the experience!
The parents also brought a load of clothes for us from home, which was fantastic as I have got to fat for most of mine now, either that or they are falling apart. Also a load of books to read which is always good. We also still managed to steal a load of the clothes that they had brought with them for themselves to wear! Poor mum her wardrobe was almost empty by the time she left!! Even Stuart went away with a pair of my dads shorts and his sandals!! It was like all your christmases rolled into one!
All good things must come to an end and our five days flew past. It was sad saying goodbye.
Thank you very much Mum and Dad for the holiday we had a wonderful time
And Dad hope you had a fab birthday on the 25th xxx
We left Playa Del Carmen and took the hour bus ride on a very crowded bus full of locals down to Tulum. We took a hotel there for 2 nights and spent a day in Tulum Mayan Ruins.
The ruins here weren't the most spectacular but the views of the ruins with the sea and the background in them made them worthwhile and you can go and take a swim in the sea which is really nice.
03 September - Spanish School Xela
Click here to see the pictures
This week has been our second week and last week at the school. The whole two weeks have just flown by. We have met a lot of very nice people, ate a lot of yummy dinners cooked by our mama Gladys, drunk lots of rum (nothing new there then!) Done lots of homework and learnt quite a bit of Spanish which we are quite pleased with. We still have a very long way to go though!
We have been on a few excersions with the school this week. We went to San Andres Xequl to visit the crazy colourful church, which is decorated in technicolour saints, angles, flowers, climbing vines, monkeys and tigers! We also visited San Simon, who is the same dude as Maximon (the Spanish call him San Simon and the Ladinos call him Maximon.) He really is rather an unusual saint, what with his alcholism and smoking like a trooper. This one was fab and looked just like a ganster! Aviator sunglasses, a crazy mostach, trilby type hat, black suit and gloves, all quite bizare. They even put him in bed at night, but it is all taken very seriously and cermonies are constantly on the go.
The next place we visted with one of the maestros and some of the other students was Chicobix (I think that was the name!) Hot Baths. We had a really nice 30 minute walk through the mountain to get there from the bus. The scenery is just fantastic and one thing over here that I have never seen anywhere else before is the way they farm on the steepest of mountains, god knows how they manage to tend and harvest the fields as they must be at a 45 - 50 degree angle, most people would need full climbing gear to even attempt to walk up it! It`s amazing. Anyway the hot baths wern`t much to look at but we took a private bano between us and its mad as you just pull the plug out of the wall and the bath fills up with boiling hot water directly from the mountain It was very relaxing (esspecially with a few beers!) It was super hot, you would pay a fortune for it at home.
The final activity was a trip to a large local market at San Fransisco Alto. A 30 minute bus ride from Xela. We went on our final day of school with our maestros and some of the other students. It wasn`t really a market selling touristy stuff, mainly stuff for the locals. There was a fantastic animal market there, which really just consisted of a lot of people standing in a dusty field with lots of different animals! There were boxes of ducks mixed with cats and chickens, dogs, cows, the biggist pig I have ever seen along with lots of tiny piglets. Turkeys and rabbits, I think that just about covers it. The most crazy mixture of animals. It was a very busy market and you were constantly pushed and shoved about by tiny little Mayan women with the strength of Gladiators. It appears to be a very popular place for pick pockets and one of the guys in our group got his wallet taken with all his cards in it. We were warned of this before we went and were told to take only the money we needed and nothing of value, I supose any busy place is going to have this problem.
This week finished with the leaving `Cena`(dinner) which was cooked by my maestro. Most of the students in the school were leaving this weekend and we all received our certificates and had to do a small speech in Spanish which was a little scary but we got through it ok! Then a bit of a drink in the evening with the rest of the students and a couple of the teachers in the bar opposite the school.
Today is our last day in Xela and we plan to head off back to the Rio Dulce tomorrow early in the morning, stay there for a night then up to Mexico to meet my parents. Possibly stopping at Tikal on the way. It will be quite nice to be somewhere a bit warmer again. Guatemala are currently playing football against Trinidad so I have left Stuart in the pub watching it. It was 1-1 when I left so will shave to wait and see how they get on!