The rain in Central America falls mainly all the time!

Hello from cloudy Utila, one of Honduras' Bay Islands,

We arrived here yesterday after a few days of travelling from Antigua, breaking our journey at jungle-shrouded Rio Dulce, then Livingston on Guatemala's bit of Caribbean coast. To the right is a picture of Utila Bay that we took this morning, as you can see it's fairly overcast unfortunately, but at least the rain is holding off for the time being.

We must have swapped weather for the past week because it has been positively monsooning for us, not fun when you're on a two-hour open-top boat-ride up a Guatemalan river - we and our bags got absolutely soaked. Actually, soaked doesn't do it justice. We arrived at Livingston dock looking like we'd swum upriver with our bags in tow, a couple of drowned, feeling very sorry for themselves, rats with dripping backpacks! The weather didn't improve in Livingston, but at least we had a roof over our heads and a couple of cockroaches to keep us company (one of which managed to creep into Mark's backpack and made it all the way to Honduras with us before meeting an untimely end at the hands of Mark's flipflop. RIP Cyril.). We didn't mind so much because there wasn't an awful lot going on in Livingston, apart from take a walk to see the two giant alligators in the park.

Early the next day there was a break in the weather so we decided to make a run for the boat to Puerto Barrios, which was a far more pleasant ride than the previous one, and arrived in time for the shuttle to the Honduran border. Border crossings here are hilarious affairs. Whether you encounter roadblocks, rudeness, unofficial fines to enter and leave countries, have your bags thoroughly searched, or not even looked at, there's always something to make you smile about much later. This one was relatively easy, we had to pay to get into Honduras but not to leave Guatemala and no one even so much as looked at our bags or even bothered to check whether we had any stowaways on board the minibus.

Three chicken-bus rides later and we'd made it to La Ceiba, a largish town on the mainland and stepping stone to reach the Bay Islands. It seemed almost deserted in the evenings, with hardly any tourists to be spotted, and in the dark with the rain coming down it certainly didn't hold much sparkle for us and we were happy to leave early the next morning for Utila. Tomorrow we're heading to one of the little Cays just off the island to do a SCUBA refresher (where are you when we need you Sean??) before hopefully doing a couple of fun dives on the north side of the island. Unfortunately the whale sharks that had been here to breed and frolic in the warm waters abandoned the Bay Islands for fun elsewhere three weeks ago, so we're unlikely to see any; but apparently we should spot some turtles and maybe some eagle rays!

But what of our time in Antigua? Well, we spent a lovely week there while I took Spanish classes with a very nice local lady called Carolina. I was there from 8am to midday every day and we only spoke in Spanish, which was tough but very beneficial. It was a nice school and I made a few pals there that we went out for lunch with on the last day. While I went to school Mark mainly concentrated on admin but went on a tour of a coffee finca one morning and came back with a bag of very tasty smelling beans! On the Wednesday afternoon we rode Miguel and Glenda (they are horses) up to a park to the north of the city that overlooks the city and out towards Volcano Agua, which looms over the south of Antigua. On Thursday afternoon we hiked up another volcano - Pacaya - and stood next to the flowing molten rock (there is no such thing as Health and Safety here, which is sometimes good, but when we heard that two Americans had died there there week before and the guides were still letting tourists stand close enough to the smoldering lava to incinerate marshmallows when we were there, you begin to think that a little bit of H&S wouldn't be a bad thing to introduce). The heat from the lava was incredible, you could feel it from many metres away, and when we were up there the clouds cleared from around the top of the volcano further up and made for some fantastic photos. We heard today though that the volcano exploded a day or so ago and that more people died, so we won't be climbing up any more any time soon.

At the weekend we went to Lake Atitlan, to the west of Antigua (pics to the left and right). The journey there was another hazardous one, but worth it to swim in the cool, placid waters and mosey around the hippy village of San Marcos and visit the market at the larger town of San Pedro. We had a go at kayaking too, which was good fun, but unfortunately didn't have time to go too far.



We were back in Antigua on Sunday night so that Markevil Kinevil (no idea how you spell that) could go off motorbiking in the countryside environs of the town for a (late) birthday burn present. A picture of the gallant rider and his steed is to the left. He had a great day and got to see some picturesque little villages as well as quench his need for speed!



And that was Guatemala.

More updates from Honduras soon.

Lots of love,

Soph and Mark-James xx

From Mexico´s Caribbean Coast to Guatemala´s roadblocks, ruins and monkeys

Hello!

We´ve finally got some time to update the blog after a manic week or so travelling down from Mexico´s Caribbean coast to Antigua in Guatemala. We´ve decided to spend at least five days in lovely Antigua so that I can do a Spanish course in the mornings and because it´ll be nice to stay in one place for more than two days.

So, what have we been up to? Well, after the uber touristy Playa Del Carmen we travelled down the coast to the far more peaceful village of Tulum, where we stayed in a gorgeous wooden cabana by the sea (the view from the cabana is on the left). It was lovely going to sleep to the sounds of the waves and be cooled by the sea breezes in the evenings. We spent a morning at the Mayan ruins just down the road (the pic below left), and then went on a snorkelling trip to the reef, about 10 minutes from the beach by boat, and the second longest reef in the world, apparently. We saw plenty of tropical fish as well as two sunken canons.

From Tulum we headed to the border town of Chetumal before catching an early minibus shuttle through Belize to Flores in Guatemala. We had a hairy moment crossing the border between Belize and Guatemala as the Guatemalans were staging a strike against the government and had decided to set up road blocks at the border so no one could pass through. The immigration workers at Belize told us that a few tourists had tried to walk across but had been sent back, but we thought we´d try our luck, and the bus driver seemed pretty confident so we hoisted our backpacks on to our backs and went for it. We were greeted by roadblocks consisting of burning tyres and branches, a couple of which we could walk around and one that we had to climb over (a branch not a burning tyre, though we did have to walk through the smoke). It was a little scary as the locals were telling us to go back and had sticks. On the whole they were fine, just yelled ´Gringo!´a couple of times, but it was rather unnerving, especially as the driver told us to hurry because the police were on their way there through the jungle... We were in luck as a bus coming in the opposite direction was stuck in Guatemala, and our bus was stuck in Belize, so we just swapped over and had a peaceful rest of the journey to Flores, a tiny island surrounded by the giant lake Peten Itza. In front of our hostel was a little pier that we jumped off and into the serene waters of the lake. We had planned on swimming to the island (pictured, right) until we heard that the lake wasn´t crocodile-free!

During our stay we checked out yet more Mayan ruins, firstly to Yaxha (pron. Yash Ha), the third largest area of ruins in Guatemala. There were five of us on the tour, and we were the only people there, which was just fantastic. We saw Howler Monkeys, a spider monkey and many beautiful birds as well as the ruins, many of which are still hidden beneath the undergrowth. You can just about tell what the mounds represent by looking at their shapes though: great triangular mounds are the pyramids or temples and rectangular ones are palaces. The tour culminated in us climbing up the largest uncovered temple and watching the sun set over the rainforest - it really was quite something.


The next day we took the 4:30am bus to Tikal for the early morning tour of the second largest set of Guatemalan ruins. We had a fantastic guide who had grown up there and pointed out a crocodile, all three types of Toucan resident in the national park, as well as lots of Spider and Howler Monkeys, a tarantula and all sorts of other birds. We hiked for kilometre after kilometre and up and down pyramids for hours. The scariest climb of all was up and down Temple 5 (pics to the right and left). The steepest, creakiest and wobbliest of woooden ladders lead to the top (which must have been 100m above the ground). When we got to the top I had to cling to the back wall and couldn´t look over the edge, despite all the other ruins we´d clambered up, there was something extremely vertigo inducing at that one, and on the way down I couldn´t stop shaking (Mamma, you would have been having kittens - but the brave soldier prevailed). It isn´t something either of us would consider doing again!!


Having gorged ourselves on Mayan ruins and enjoyed a good few swims in the lake we boarded yet another minibus from Flores to a tiny town called Lanquin, about halfway from Flores to Antigua, where we stayed in the ´loft´ of one of the wooden huts peppering the hillside next to the river at the bottom of a valley. A steep wooden ladder lead us from the decking outside the dormitories up to a snug space beneath the thatched roof (still made in the Mayan style with palm-like leaves that they´d learned to only cut during a full moon. Any other time of the lunar cycle and they would break apart easily.) It was tricky for us to get up and down the ladder, so imagine our surprise when we woke up one morning to see a cat sleeping on the other bed! She´d made herself quite at home among our clothes!

From Lanquin we enjoyed a trip to Semuc Champey where we explored just 400m of caves that worm into the cliffside for 11km! We waded through the waters - and often had to swim in parts - armed with just a candle, at points having to climb up a rope while a waterfall pounded down on us. It was such good fun, and Mark did a jump into a pool from a rockface (pic below right). When we finally emerged back into the light we went ´tubing´on inflatable tyres down the river before heading to the spectacular pools at Semuc Champey. We hiked up the cliff to the viewpoint to take this pic of the pools before racing back down to swim in them. The water was beautiful, and at points deep enough to dive into from one pool to the next.






Another long minbus ride yesterday brought us to Antigua. It´s similar to the Mexican towns of Oaxaca and San Cristobal we visited earlier on - cobbled pavements, beautiful old churches and pastel coloured colonial houses - but it´s surrounded by volcanoes. We´re hoping to take a trip up one of them in the next couple of days and have been told to take marshmallows to toast them over the lava (deadly serious - we have seen photos of people doing just that!).

The hostel we´re staying in is very quiet and laid back, but we may move in with a local family while i am doing the course to really immerse ourselves in a bit of Guatemalan culture. We´ll keep you posted as to where we end up. Hope all is well back home. Lots of love xxx

Canyons, ruins, waterfalls and beaches

Helloooo!

Well, it's been several days now and I don't really know where to start... I keep thinking of everything we want to tell you about as we're going along, but the minute we reach an internet cafe it all becomes a blur and i can't remember anything.

We're in Playa Del Carmen at the moment. It is hot, hot hot! The beach is beautiful and the waters are clear and dreamy. Our hostel is in a great location but is probably the grottiest one we've stayed in so far. It's full of mosquitoes who are having a field day feasting on us, despite nets, eating garlic tablets and standing in breezes!! Bloomin critters.

Playa Del Carmen is the most touristy place we've been to, America is well and truly here. There is a Starbucks, Ben and Jerrys, Haagendaaz Cafe along the street parallel to the beach and yankeedoodledandees everywhere! Such a shame such a beautiful place (that used to be a sleepy fishing village) has become so touristy (I know we're ones to talk, but there are jetskis whizzing around the water and a Buger King and Macdonalds within spitting distance of one another, and they don't really fit with the natural beauty of the place). Tomorrow we think we´ll head a little south - to Tulum - to check out some ruins and have a little bit more beach time before heading to Guatemala.

It took us 18 hours to get here on the coach from San Cristobel, where we enjoyed a lovely few days. After a good potter around, nosing in and out of the shops, climbing up the steps to the churches at the east and west of the town/city, going around the amazing craft market with jewellery to die for and eating snacks in the ramshackle food market (a rabbit warren of a place with a corrugated tin roof, full of little eateries selling the scrummiest and cheapest of food) we headed off on a day trip that started at 6am and dropped us back at the hostel at 10pm. First stop on the way was the Agua Azul (pic of me at the top) a 7-km series of waterfalls - absolutely spectacular, but again, a total circus of tourism. Stalls line the route, selling food, jewellery and general bric a brac, it was swarming with people, and you are allowed to swim in some of the pools, which is amazing, but bound to spoil them at some point with the amount of people daily going for a dip there... After an hour or so there we went on to the waterfall at Misol Ha (pic of Mark above) and then to Palenque to see the Mayan ruins.

These ruins are especially spectacular because of the jungle backdrop. Wherever we walked among the temples and structures we could hear the roars of howler monkeys and symphony of chicadas in the trees, and the encroaching jungle scenery added a sense of mystery and wonder to the place. It is totally amazing how these people (with awesomely named rulers like Serpent-Jaguar II) managed to create such buildings and carvings...where did they lug the stones from? and how on earth did they survive the incredible heat and humidity of the jungle?? The photos don't do the majesty of Palenque justice, but here are a couple anyways.

The next day we managed to fit in a boat trip up and down the Sumiedo Canyon. It was brilliant to be on a boat bouncing over the water, and the walls of rock either side were breathtaking. The mountains split some 20 thousand (or million - the guide was at the other end of the boat and speaking in Spanish so i couldn't quite catch which!) years ago to create the canyon, which has filled with deep green waters infested with crocodiles! We spent most of the trip trying to spot one and were rewarded at the very end with one sitting sunning himself on one of the few banks.

A quick turnaround and we were on the coach heading for the coast! It's no wonder Mexico is such a religious country, the drivers (and passengers) have to have a bit of faith and feel that God is on their side when they're overtaking, at speed, just before a blind corner along the moutainous road... lalala.

So I think it's time to leave this lovely air conditioned internet bar and head back into the sun. Will leave you with a pic of Mark Chambers doing his best impression of Daniel Craig and me feeling guilty for eating a 5-pound Haagendaaz ice cream!!

xx

Puerto Escondido and San Cristobal de las Casas

Hi again all,

We made it through the 13-hour night-bus journey and are now in San Cristobal. It`s a really lovely city and we`re staying in a very laid back hostel owned by a Swiss lady and her dog, Che.


Yesterday we went on a little trip on one of the minibus shuttles to San Juan Chamula, an Indian village that hosts a large market on Sundays and where the women wear crazy black goat-pelt-looking skirts held up by bright belts around their middle. The men wear the same kind of material but as sweater-vests, sporting them in white as well as black. We had to pay to go into the local church, and unfortunately weren´t allowed to take any pictures inside, as it was quite a site. Each family files in and throws leaves and grass on the (highly slippery) floor before setting out hundreds of candles and gathering around them to pray. Some families bring in some sort of incense-type burners so the atmosphere inside gets quite hazy. And the strangest part about the whole thing is that they also bring in crates of Coca Cola as drinking it apparently gets rid of the evil spirits within the body - what an evil coop for the marketing team at Coke!

Today we`ve been quietly pottering around the town. It has a colourful market right next to the cathedral of San Domingo, stocking amazing pieces of jewellery and bright rainbows of scarves and clothes. You can pick up corn on the cobs covered in salt and chilli, or chunks of mango with lime and chilli sprinkled over the top as you wander around. We wanted to nose around a few of the museums, but unfortunately it`s Monday and they are either closed or being refurbished here... Tomorrow we're heading off on a trip to see a series of waterfalls (7km long) called Agua Azul, the waterfalls at Misol-Ha and then on to see the jungle ruins of Palenque. We were originally going to go and stay at Palenque town, but are running out of time, so on Wednesday will be heading to Playa Del Carmen on the coast for a little more beach action, before going down to Tulum to see yet more ruins, then on to Guatemala.

The last day at Puerto Escondido was fun - we hired a surf board and gave it a good try... Unfortunately neither of us, or some of our hostel pals managed to stand up, but we all enjoyed running into the waves with our surfboard clasped confidently under our arms!

We're going to post some other pics on the previous blogs if you wanna take a peek.

xx

The Beach!

Hi folks,

Just time for a short message...

We went on a day trip to some ruins just outside of Oaxaca, then to the house of a tradional weaving family, then to the fattest tree in the world - it really is gargantuan, will post some pics next time - then to Hieve el Agua, a petrified waterfall high up in the hills with its very own mineral pool. Its position means that when you´re swimming in it, it feels like you´re in the most spectacular infinity pool. The views were incredible. Again, will post pics next time. The trip culminated in a visit to a Mezcal (a little like tequila) brewer? where we had to sample 7 shots of high strength alcohol - fitting as it was Mark´s birthday.

The next day we hopped on to a minibus for the 6-hour journey to Puerto Escondido on the west coast. It was another fairly hairy ride over and around the moutains, especially as the driver had no fear and our backpacks were tied losely to the roof of the bus! But it was amazing to see the sea after a week of heat in the Mexican cities.

Puerto Escondido has a couple of lovely beaches and we are staying just 5 mins away from one of them at an Israeli hostel called Hostal Shalom, which has its own pool and is very quiet and laid back. You head down a dirt track then go down 150 steps to reach the beach. We´ve had a great few days just lazing around on the sand, swimming, snorkelling and lathering on the factor 50 because the sun is ferocious here! Today is our last day - we´re catching a 13-hour coach to San Cristobal tonight - and i think we´re going to hire a surfboard and have a go at riding the waves here before heading off.

The food on this trip has been amazing so far. Mexicans really know how to create delicious meals without a host of ingredients. We have been filling our boots with chilaquiles, tostadas, nachos, frijoles and molletos... yuuummmmm.

A longer, more coherent post will follow this one when we next get to the internet, and we´ll upload some photos then too.

Hope all´s well at home. Lots and lots of love xxx