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!