29/06/2005 by drops.

Well, that’s it. We crossed the Mexican border today and have had to say goodbye to Belize. We liked it so much there that we stayed longer than planned, but we had to move on if we were to see anything of Mexico! In fact, we´re also hoping to squeeze in a couple of other places into our Mexican itinerary so time was getting really tight.

Since the last post, we spent 18 days in Placencia, a fishing village in the south of Belize. On the way there we popped in very briefly to Sittee River as Neil was hoping to get in some dives at a nearby atoll, but our arrival coincided with a huge storm that kicked off the rainy season and this sent the insects mad. The air was teeming with flying termites and mosquitoes and we had to escape. The next day we caught the first bus out of there. There were no seats so we had to perch on our rucksacks at the back of the bus.

“Will we make the connection to Placencia?”, we asked the ticket inspector.
“Don´t worry, mon. I´ll have a word with the driver.”

He was as good as his word. The bus doubled in speed and everyone had to hold on for their lives as we flew down the highway, Bob Marley blaring from the speakers.

We made the connection.

The storms followed us to Placencia, and most nights our sleep was broken by howling winds and crashing thunder. Sometimes the rain was so bad it sprayed though the shutters and onto the bed. But by morning, the sun had broken through and it was time again to slap on the factor 45.

We went to Placencia mainly for one reason: diving. We found a great dive shop and Neil finished his Advanced certification. Not to be outdone, Marilena rapidly caught up and got both her Open Water and Advanced certificates. The diving in Placencia was fabulous and we are now both totally hooked. We went out a couple of times trying to find whale sharks, the biggest fish in the world, growing up to 18m in length. No chance. The second attempt was especially frustrating as one appeared just as we were surfacing, but it was on the wrong side of the boat… Oh well, we’ll have to try and find them in Thailand instead. We did see, on the other hand, loads of barracuda, moray eels, other kinds of shark, spotted eagle rays, sea turtles and beautifully coloured reef fish.

If any of you fancy learning to dive, we really recommend that you come to Belize for the second biggest barrier reef in the world, the best coral atolls in the Caribbean, warm and clear water, and great marine life. We also recommend Patty Ramirez of Splash dive shop. She´s professional, patient and friendly, everything an instructor should be. In fact, the whole crew were great and we were really sorry when we left Placencia. We went diving together so many times, we felt almost part of an extended family.

The last few days have been hectic. Last Friday we were partying at the start of the Lobsterfest in Placencia. The next day we got up at 4:30am for the first bus to Caves Branch and did a three-hour hike in the jungle. On Sunday, we went riding on truck inner tubes on an underground river through the Mayan Underworld, and got to jump 10m from a high bank into the river. The same day we got on a bus to the Mexican border. Tomorrow we start with the first great Yucatan ruin at Tulum. More on that next time!

That’s all for now. Hope you are all well. As always, we´d love to hear what you’ve been up to.

Hasta luego,

- Neil & Mari

03:44:03 - Wednesday, 29.06.05

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06/06/2005 by drops.

Hola! As you can see, we’ve finally got around to posting some more piccies, some of which have us in them (as demanded by some people). Check out our Belize and Guatemala pictures.

Lots of stuff to tell you. After Caye Caulker we spent a day in Belize City, where we met up with Bob and Jill. It was great seeing them. In fact, we’re looking forward to seeing them again on the way to Mexico. They swept us off to Old Belize, a museum of Belize history, lunch in a beautiful orchid conservatory, and then to the zoo. Belize Zoo is a tropical garden with extensive enclosures for the rescued and rare wildlife of the country. It plays a great role in conservation and we loved it! Some of you may have seen the pics we posted earlier.

We then shot off to Orange Walk, a seedy town in the North. There were lots of drunks and beggars on the streets, and rows of brothels. A sad reflection of the poverty in this country. In fact, the Lamanai tour recommended by the Rough Guide is actually a side-operation from one of these brothels! The tour itself, though, was very professional and informative. Our tour guide is actually a government consultant who doubles up as a guide, journalist and author. Having more than one job is very common in Belize, wherepeople need all the money they can get.

We approached the Lamanai ruins by boat up the New River, and our guide pointed out lots of wildlife along the way. As well as lots of colourful birds, we also saw crocs, bats, iguanas and a tapir, a very rare sight in the wild, apparently. The ruins themselves have a fantastic setting in the jungle. From the top of the High Temple we heard a jaguar roar – very close! We got away from that temple rather quickly…

After two nights in Orange Walk, we travelled to San Ignacio, a town close to the Guatemalan border. Again, the town is not much to look at, but at least we felt safe there. We found a very good hotel (Casa Blanca), with great air-conditioning which we were very thankful for as the temperature was in the thirties and it was very humid. First off we went for a canoe ride up the Macal River. It was beautiful along the river but way too hot. However, the highlights at San Ignacio were visiting the Mayan remains at Caracol and Xunantunich, and, most of all, going to the Mayan sacrificial cave, Actun Tunichil Muknal (Cave of the Stone Sepulchre; no photos yet, sorry!). To get to the cave entrance we had to walk along a jungle trail for half-an-hour, fording a river three times, and when we got there it took our breath away. Crystal-clear water ran out of the cave mouth, which was surrounded by tree ferns, palm trees and lianas – paradise! To get to the sacrificial chambers we had to swim into the cave and wade up the river underground, scramble over boulders and squeeze through gaps for half a mile, or so. It was great fun and Marilena turned out to be an expert spelunker; Neil, on the other hand, was grateful for the helmet provided. These Mayans were small! Our guide also had fun with our group, getting us to walk along holding hands, with our lights out, not knowing where we were going. Once at the top, we reached two sacrificial chambers, one of which is aptly called the Cathedral for its sheer size and solemnity. The floor of it was covered with Mayan pottery, ritually broken, and human bones, victims of the same ceremonies, all left exactly as they had been found. The second chamber was smaller, but it revealed the crystallized skeleton of a young woman sacrificed there around a thousand years ago. It is a very special place, and one which will probably not be open for long because the artifacts are so fragile.

Then it was off to Guatemala, which left us with mixed impressions. On the one hand, it’s a luscious and beautiful country; on the other, there’s a lot of crime and poverty, and as a foreigner you are a prime target for being ripped off, including by border officials! We spent two nights at Tikal, an ancient superpower in the Mayan world. The site was spectacular, with huge temples breaking through the rainforest, and tremendous wildlife. We did all the main bits of the city in one day, which involved clambering up four huge temples, one of them twice. One of the best moments was watching the sun go down on top of the Great Pyramid while toucans and parrots flew around beneath us and howler monkeys roared in the distance. We also lived our Tarzan dream by sliding along cables 25 metres above the ground through the jungle canopy.

We then went off to Flores, a pretty and laid back island in the middle of Lake Petén Itzà, for three days. It was even hotter there: forty degrees at midday. All we could do was stay out of the heat over the hottest time of the day (the hotel we stayed at had a pool as well as A/C ) and enjoy the nightlife. We don’t have many photos of Flores because we suffered a power cut while we were uploading images to the website and all of the photos on our flash card were wiped out. Fortunately, we’d backed up most photos to disk the day before. Meanwhile, Marilena has been gabbling away in Spanish with the locals, and they have been pretending to understand. Somehow we managed to get the right meals on the table…

We’re now back in San Ignacio for a night before we head south for more jungle and watersports.

Adios!
– Don Neil y Doña Marilena

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04:01:57 - Monday, 06.06.05

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