The last few days

It was time to leave Mexico. We caught another civilised Mexican coach to the border of Guatemala, where, unbeknownst to us, everything was about to change!

Dumped at the border unceremoniously by our comfortable Mexican coach, we had to walk the distance between Mexican immigration and Guatemalan immigration. And here began our true submersion into the local culture. Backpacks were thrown onto the roof of a very typical, very painted, very colourful, very noisy, very smoky chicken bus – and we piled inside with all the local Guatemalans and what felt like every member of every one of their extended family. I’ve never seen so many people crammed onto a bench seat in a bus in my entire life!! It was like a domino effect when anybody wanted to get in or out, with everyone having to stand up to let anyone past. The larger Guatemalans even sat in the middle of the aisle with one cheek on either seat! I found myself nursing a two-year-old and three-year-old brother and sister while mother next to me contained the rest of the family and market produce. The most amazing thing about this experience was the vibrancy and the energy in the bus. From the colourful fabrics, to the smiles on their faces – we were as much a novelty to them as they were to us.

Our local bus eventually arrived in Quetzaltenango, which had some amazing grand architecture and an impressive Plaza des Armas – and the first modern shopping mall that we’d seen for three weeks! And then onto Panajachel, which is set on Lake Aitlan, surrounded by three amazing, beautiful volcanos. We were there for 2 nights, which gave us plenty of time to explore the local markets, surrounding rainforest and take an awesome boat trip on the lake to visit some of the surrounding villages. I tried not to do too much shopping because I knew we were going to the famous Chichi markets the next day.

If you’ve ever seen a photo of a colourful market in Central America – put them all together, and it will give you an idea of what Chichi is like! Be under no illusion that you’ll have time to make this a cultural experience – Chichi is all about the shopping, and you’ll get sucked in too!

Now here I am in Antigua after a great final group meal out, an awesome night’s salsa dancing, and a bunch of new friends I have to say goodbye to! This trip has been amazing and I totally recommend the Mayan Circle tour to anyone who wants a combination of cultural experiences, outdoor activities, relaxing beach holidays and adventures.

Cecily xx

Chichi markets

San Cristobal

We left Palenque pretty early in the morning for a long bus trip to San Cristobal. We started to wind our way up into the mountains and felt a pleasantly cool change of temperature. The scenery became progressively more impressive – and the roads progressively more windy. We got to San Cristobal into one of the nicest hotels on the whole trip – it had traditional colonial style architecture, and was beautifully refurbished – it was gorgeous! Red tiled roofs, pot plants, corridors and archways, narrow staircases all over the place – very cool. We were here for three nights, which was nice after having many two-night stops, so I decided to have one whole free day exploring the narrow cobble-stone streets, pastel-painted buildings, and a very interesting colourful local market. Some of the others decided to take the optional excursion to Sumidero Canyon. It was a hard decision about what to do – they had a fabulous time and saw a lot of wildlife in a boat trip up the canyon – but some of them did get car sick on the way there and back – so personally, I’m glad I didn’t go!

That night we went out – we must have hit three bars and two nightclubs – all with live salsa bands. The food was fabulous and there were way too many tequilas and margaritas consumed!! Our tour leader had arranged for us to go on a village excursion the next day, so I had to drag myself home at some stage.

Our village excursion was to the region of Chiapas, and there we visited the village of San Juan Chamula, which is one of the most intriguing, interesting places I’ve ever been to. The local guide was just amazing – it was quite a closed, alternative traditional community but he was well accepted there so it made our passage into the village a lot smoother and more interesting. I found the blend of the Mayan and the Catholic religion – and how the hid one under the other – fascinating. Having an insight into this was one of my most memorable tour experiences.

More partying, drinking and dancing wound up our last few days in Mexico!!

Agua Azul falls

Agua Azul sign!

Palenque - Agua Azul

Travelling from Merida to Palenque on a Mexican luxury air-conditioned coach with recliner seats was all good until the videos came on. If you do this tour don’t bother trying – they won’t turn the volume down! But the bus did get us to Palenque in good timing - and on a better bus than I have ever travelled on in Australia!

Palenque was hot, dry and the town not much to speak of – as we arrived I thought, ‘The ruins better be worth it!’

Boy, were they worth it! We combined a day trip around the ruins with an amazing, unexpected excursion to Agua Azul waterfalls in the afternoon. Our tour leader suggested the trip to the falls the night before as a combination, and we paid a couple of dollars extra per person to keep the minibus for the day. We got to swim in the most awesome, blue refreshing waterfalls. I swung off a rope, Tarzan-style, and dropped into a lush, clear river. There were so many different sections of waterfalls and rivers that we could swim in. There were also people walking around selling fresh mangoes and watermelons…it was paradise! I really don’t want to leave now!

Merida

Here I am in Merida. I’ve just had five days of a beach hit followed by a massive dose of ruins, which, famous as they are, lived up to all my expectations. The ruins came alive with the guides’ descriptions of the intricacies of Mayan history and culture. Admittedly, I wasn’t sure I was going to be interested in all the ruins as we went around, but so far so good. But now I’m in Merida, which is a beautiful Mexican city (the white city so I’ve heard), and all the old Spanish architecture, classic Spanish pot plants on the verandas, archways, stain work, etc is all very beautiful. I did a free city tour this morning (which the uni students take to practice their English) and learning about the history of the town was amazing – now I feel justified to sloth around and go partying tonight!!

Oh also – this is THE place in the world to buy hammocks!

San Ignacio - Caye Caulker

San Ignacio was a place I really didn’t know much about but there was an abundance of activities to keep me entertained, from caving, to white-water rafting, to floating down the river on a tyre tube! Some of the group went and did the caving and they said it was an amazing experienced - they got to see the untouched Mayan antiquities. I decided to take the easy option and float down the river in a tyre tube. This gave me the afternoon back at the hotel sitting around the swimming pool, and time to walk around this cute little town. The biggest thing I noticed was that everyone around me was speaking English, and having been in Central America for a week, it was nice to finally be able to communicate in my own language!

The best thing about being in Belize was that our next stop was Caye Caulker, and I needed a beach holiday and I wanted to go diving! I stepped off the water taxi onto the pure white sand streets – or were they the beaches? I couldn’t tell the difference. The welcome sign said “Welcome to Caye Caulker, take it slow” and after reading that, I knew I had a couple of great days coming up. This place is all pastel painted weatherboards, black afro-Caribbean bodies, and it has a real Rastafarian Caribbean feel. We could do as little or as much as we liked. I never thought I’d see the day where I hugged a shark, or nursed a stingray, but I did both of these on my half day snorkelling trip! We also had plenty of time to snorkel three different sites. Love it – don’t want to leave!

Livingston

beautiful views

more ruins!

Tikal

Rio Dulce - Livingston - Tikal

Phew! Haven’t seen an internet café because I’ve been too busy, but I have so many adventures to share from the last few days, so I thought I’d give you a quick run down. Couldn’t believe the hotel at Rio Dulce – it was a resort, complete with swimming pool and restaurant on an island in the middle of the river. Our cabins overlooked the water and you could watch the local river life. I had to drag myself away from there the next day but I’m glad I did! For the most awesome seafood soup you could imagine! It is the traditional dish, if you can ever venture as far as Livingston. The Livingston boat journey we took was a highlight, as it was all wetlands, waterlilies, and we saw monkeys, birds and other wildlife on the way in. We wandered around the village, had lunch and took the boat trip back.

Flores was the base for our excursion to Tikal and my first Mayan ruins, so I was very excited in no way disappointed. We had our local guide, Enrique, whose ability not to bore us with too much history, complimented by great English and a great sense of humour, got me hooked on the ruins and hoping that the rest of them on the tour will be as good. I was even able to climb up a couple of the ancient Mayan pyramids!

Anyway am feeling rather exhausted so that’s it for now!

Volcano climbing in Antigua before the tour

I arrived in Antigua 2 days before the tour started, and decided to get straight into my adventure! So, I booked a volcano climb. My travel agent had advised me to fly into Guatemala a few days before the tour started so I could have some additional time to appreciate this beautiful world heritage site. And, I’d heard all about active volcanos in Central America and really wanted to climb one!! Antigua was one place I knew I could do this on my trip. The reception staff at my hotel helped me book the volcano climb once I’d arrived. After contemplating getting up at 6am with jetlag and torrential rain the evening before, I thought I’d risk it. And I woke to blue sunny skies and the promise of adventure ahead!

The next morning, a minivan picked me up. I met all the other crazy people who had gotten up early! The van deposited us amongst the lush vegetation and to start with, it appeared like a flat, easy walk – that is, until I came out of the jungle and saw the volcano towering over me! I thought, ‘S%&#, I have to walk over THAT!’

I could relay the whole climb minute-by-minute, but suffice to say it was challenging, yet rewarding! As we got closer to the top it felt like we were scrambling thorough the volcanic scree – it felt like 2 steps up, 3 steps back. But eventually we got to the top, and we were lucky enough to be able to stand on the edge and catch glimpses of the volcanos crater in between clouds of sulphuric acid burning our nostrils. Luckily I had remembered to take a hanky to cover my nose – anyone else contemplating this climb, I highly recommend this! A couple of people didn’t actually make it to the top, but the scenery surrounding the volcano, which I finally remembered to take in on the way down, still made the walk very worthwhile.

Exhausted as we were, I’d made a bunch of friends this day, so we all went out for salsa lessons into a touristy bar full of locals who weren’t shy about asking us to dance! And I’m not sure if it was their training or the amount of local beverages I’d consumed, but I appeared to be an expert salsa dancer by the end of the evening – at least to myself!

Antigua has some fabulous cafes and restaurants, and I found this gorgeous little courtyard where I had the best coffee and cake I had ever had in my travels all over the world – and yes I ate this for breakfast! This gave me energy to hit the local markets, where the shopping is just scary. I didn’t bother with the city tour as I found Antigua a myriad of alleys, arcades and everything else to explore on my own.

I’d met some of my fellow passengers before the tour started, but at the pre-departure meeting I really got into tour mode and realised I had a bunch of like-minded people to spend the next three weeks with. I met my roommate who was an English vet, she was the same age and we hit it off immediately, realising we will have a great time together over the next three weeks!