Belize, Caye Caulker

Leaving on the 5am shuttle from Flores, I arrived in Caye Caulker at around 1pm, after a while spent queueing at the border to pass through immigration.  The water taxi transported us from Belize City, which was about an hours ride, before dropping us on the paradise island of Caye Caulker!  It was a gorgeous, sunny day as we all got off the boat and waited for our bags to be handed to us.  I checked into Yuma's House, which was the hostel of my choice and I was lucky enough to get the last bed!  I paid upfront for 5 nights and would leave monday for Mexico.

Yuma's House hostel

My main reason for coming is to dive the blue hole.  Although that is not the only reason.  There is a definite caribbean vibe here and everyone speaks english again, which feels strange after being in spanish speaking countries for so long now.  I keep answering and greeting people in spanish out of habit now!  So funny!  The island is very relaxed and friendly, everyone passes with a greeting, "hey pretty girl", "hey beautiful", I could get used to this!!!  I walk around for a bit to find my bearings, which does not take long as it is mainly just one long strip of shops, restaurants, hotels and bars, leading down to the strip, which is a great place to hang out during the day and swim, and in the evening an excellent place to watch the sun go down with a cocktail!  I want to try and find my friend Anais and the dutch guys as it is her birthday today and it would be great to hang out and help with the celebrations.  I find them at the strip, which seems to be where everyone is at this time of the day near sundown.  I have a drink with them before going home to get changed and meet up again later.  We all dine out on a feast of lobster and then hit the reggae bar followed by Oceanside.  There is not really many more places to go and even these places are pretty quiet!  By about 2.30am everywhere is closing up and I say my goodbyes as they are leaving today and head to bed!

The following morning I did not even attempt to surface until about 11am!  Still struggling from the effects of the night before I just had a lazy day and stayed around the hostel catching up on my blogs and reading my book, while swinging in the many hammocks that are hanging all over the place!  I did however manage to take the plunge and book my dive for the following day!

I was already awake well before the alarm went off at 5.50am.  I was anxious and excited all at the same time!  The big day was now upon me and the time had come to dive the blue hole!  I have been looking forward to this for so long, but had no idea I had to go to 40 metres, which I am not qualified to do, but I am going to be safe and sensible and take it easy, and if I am concerned at any point I will come back up.  There are 3 main things that might go wrong for me today.  The first being my constant struggle with equalising, as I always seem to take so long to get down, and we will have restricted time on this dive.  The second is my tooth which is still painful after head butting the horse I was riding the other day.  I hope the pressure won't be too much for it.  Thirdly nitrogen narcosis if I over exert myself and don't keep my breathing steady.  I am prepared for all three events happening and am not going to jeopardise my safety but am going to see how I get on :)

Geared up and ready to go!  Our boat arriving!

We get geared up and take our kit to the boat.  The journey to the blue hole will take 2 hours, and we were not really prepared for the rough ride we were about to endure.  Once we hit open water the waves got fairly big and our bodies were aching from the constant jarring effect that the boat gave us every time it hit a wave and slapped back down into the water.  Ouch!  I tried to relax so I did not get a headache from the tension of trying to hold on, and soon as we arrived at the atolls all was calm again, for 15 minutes before we hit open water again!!!  Arghhhh!

The blue hole!

Ariel view of the blue hole!

45 minutes later we arrived.  One poor girl was already being sick!  Fair play to her though she was still determined to dive!  We got our gear on and in we went.  I was staying close to the guide and had explained all my concerns to him and he assured me he would take care of me.  The first problem I encountered was I did not have enough weight on, despite doing the weight check and that all seeming ok!  A guide soon swam up and loaded some more weight into my BCD and I slowly started to descend.  Slowly being the operative word!  I seemed to be at 3 metres for a while, I stayed as still as I could until I started to drop down to 5 metres, then 6, and this is where I experience the issues with equalising.  I could feel the pressure now causing a build up of pain and I was doing every trick I knew to get the air out and it was just not happening!  Arghh so frustrating!!!  I pushed myself to go a bit lower as I was aware that I had been taking a long time, longer than usual and I needed to start moving down faster without putting my safety at risk.  I descended down to about 9 metres and gave a big squeeze and rolled my head from side to side and then I felt it!  A rush of warm water coming from my ears and the pain was gone!  I signalled ok to the guide who was looking a bit concerned and we went down further.  12 metres, 15 metres and down into the big dark blue hole!!!  Before I knew it my gauge read 36 metres!!!  Sharks were swimming around underneath us and past us and I could see illuminescent particles floating all around me.  It seemed as soon as we got down we had to make our way back up and as I ascended, I was still reading my gauge at 36 metres which I thought was strange!  I felt a bit confused as I knew this felt wrong and I kept checking it all the way up but it did not move!  Weird!!!  Suddenly I looked again and it said 15 metres!!!  How strange!  I must have been looking at the wrong dial, I have no idea, either that or it just was not registering in my brain!  I guess that is the confusion associated with nitrogen narcosis.  I did not even really notice my surroundings too much either, the stalagmites and stalagtites, as the blue hole was once a cave that collapsed in on itself, all I noticed was a wall I was swimming alongside and the sharks underneath.  Other than that I was just so busy checking my gauges all the time and making sure my air and depth were in check.  The guide told me afterwards he was just about to abort the dive if we did not go down when we did as we had already been 10 minutes!!!

Back on the boat again we made our way to our second dive.  This was just to about 18 metres and we swam along a reef but there was not a huge amount of fish to see here.  The reef was pretty but I think I have just been spoilt after diving Sipadan!

Island stop!

 

We stopped on an island for lunch and rested here for a while before making the third dive.  I decided against diving again as my ears were feeling a bit sore from pushing on them so hard trying to equalise on the first dive.  I snorkelled instead and it sounds like I did not miss much anyway.  The visibility is so good at this depth of about 12-15metres anyway you can see most things snorkelling.  We were all exhausted now as we headed back to land, and although it was still fairly bumpy it was no where near as bad as the way out here.  I was glad to get off the boat though and be back on solid land.  The sick girl was ill most of the way back too, poor thing!  I showered, changed and went for a celebration dinner of lobster again, and was in bed by 9ish, ready for another relaxing day of doing nothing!

The following morning I laid in bed until almost lunchtime until hunger finally drove me up and out.  I went for breakfast/lunch and then spent the day reading and relaxing on the hammocks.  In the evening I went down to the split and watched the sun go down.  I met up with some of the people who were on my diving trip and we chatted for a while and I joined them for dinner and a few drinks at the reggae bar.  I was tempted to stay out but I had planned to go snorkelling tomorrow as it is my last day and I do not want to be hungover again so I say goodnight and make my way to bed.

The next morning I wake to the sound of rain.  It must be around 7am!  I go back to sleep and hope it clears for snorkelling at 10.30am.  I finally give in and drag myself out of bed around 9pm.  I book my transfer to Tulum and then book my snorkelling trip which leaves at 10.30am.  I enjoy a breakfast of french toast and pineapple juice and go back to the hostel to get my stuff ready for the trip.  There are 6 of us going out today along with the captain and his helper.  The guys running the tour are great and really informative.  When we get to the first place he shows us so many things and points out all the different fish as well as diving down to pick things up and let us feel and hold them.  The reef is buzzing here and so alive!  We have a really good time seeing moray eels, sergeant majors, shoals of blue tang, barracuda, angel fish, needle fish, and too many others to mention.  Next stop, shark ray alley!  This was the best yet!  We stopped the boat and about 20 sting rays swarmed around it as well as nursing sharks!  They were beautiful!  Then it was time to get in and swim with them!!!  I was a bit nervous at first because of the stingers and the whole Steve Irwin scenario, but we were told to be careful not to tread on them or splash around.  Once in though it was amazing!!  They would swim past us and we could reach out and feel them.  They were so soft!  Like velvet!  Then he held one in his arms and I wanted to do it so he got one for me but it was so slippery I could not hold it so it got away :)  I just enjoyed feeling it and stroking it while he held it for me.  It seemed to enjoy it and relaxed as I ran my hand carefully along it.  It was a unique experience!  I was elated to be here doing this with these amazing creatures of the sea with the faces of angels, that is what they remind me of, angels!!!  Sea angels!!

The sharks felt totally different!  They had a rough surface, like sandpaper, and I just stroked them as they swam by.  There was no way he was going to hold onto that!  They were so peaceful and graceful, a real gentle giant!  Then I took some fish which was gross as he made me hold it by its eye sockets, yuck!  This was to feed the fish with and I held it out until one naughty fish came and tugged it straight out of my hand!!  It took the whole lot and was exceptionally strong for such a little fish!  Damn we had no more fish now to feed them!  Their grip is definitely a lot better than mine!!!  There was a lone barracuda hanging around too.  They always look so angry and have big teeth.  This was a big fish too, half the length of me at least!  I was definitely not feeding that as I wanted to go back with my hand intact!

Coral Gardens!

It was time for the 3rd stop and we moved on to the coral gardens.  Here we got to play with a yellow stripe crab, which is the weirdest thing.  It looks like a spider, a tiny body and long spindly legs, like the ones that always hang around in the corners of your house.  We just held it and watched it as it floated down onto our hands and then we would catch it and let it go and catch it again.  So much fun!  I would never have touched it if it was a spider, strange that.  Just goes to show it is all in the mind!  We moved on and saw lion fish, lobster, and all the other colourful reef fish usually associated with these types of places as well as the reef itself with the purple fan coral swaying with the current.  So many colours and so much life here, it really was one of the nicest places I have snorkelled, and the visibility was perfect.

Soon it was time to return to the island and I made my way back to shower and freshen up.  I was so tired and hungry, I went to get some food and spent the afternoon sleeping!  I think I may have got a bit too much sun as it was cloudy and I thought I would be ok with no lotion, but obviously not the case as I realised when I got out the shower with a sore back!  Ouch!

I walked out later to the shop for provisions for the next day and bumped into my diving buddies again.  I stayed and chatted for a bit before making my way back for an early night, well 10ish, as I need to be up at 6am tomorrow to catch the boat to Mexico!

 

 

Finca Ixobel, Guatemala

I arrived at Finca Ixobel in the rain at around 2pm and was shown to my treehouse, which was my little treat to myself, as I just want to get away from it all and chill out on my own for a few days.  It is wonderful and exactly what I needed!  Standing alone on land surrounded by trees, with streams running through, birds and butterfies weaving their way amongst the many colourful flowers, stood my little home for the next few days!  There was its own bathroom downstairs and upstairs on the veranda was a hammock to while away the days in.  The room itself could sleep 5 people!  I felt kind of spoilt having this all to myself, and that it was a bit of a waste there was not someone here to share it with.  However, the point was to spend time alone to recuperate and gather my thoughts, and this was definitely the right place to do it!

I settled in and wandered down to the swimming hole.  This was a big lake surrounded by bamboo and even had a water slide and hammocks to chill out in!  I was the only one there and enjoyed the place to myself for a while before heading back to my room to chill out in my hammock.

Dinner was served at 7pm every night, and was a delicious buffet where you could spend your time reading National Geographic, as they had so many copies, I am now hooked!  It was also a place to meet people and share stories if you so wanted.  I just spent the first evening alone and after dinner went to enjoy the peace and quiet of my veranda where I could sit and watch the fireflies lighting up the gardens.  I was so tired and went to bed about 9pm where I stayed until late the next day.  Breakfast was served all day so there was no hurry to get up!

The following day I just chilled out again and did absolutely nothing!!!  No buses to catch, no bags to pack!  It was bliss!

It tended to rain quite a lot here and as this was my last full day here now I thought I should make an effort to do something so I decided to go on a self guided hike to the view point.  I was so relaxed now I forgot about the mosquito repellant and was eaten alive by mosquitoes.  Then the rain came down!  Maybe I should have just stayed chilling out in my hammock, which was the preferred option.  Not letting this put me off I signed up for the horse riding in the afternoon.  I was the only one so it was just me and my guide who could not speak a word of english!  We ventured once again to the view point and my horse Bronze was so good all the way until we were almost home, then he just lost it!!  Out of the blue he just totally freaked out at something, not sure what he saw, if anything at all, but he tried to run off in the opposite direction to the guide.  I tried to turn him back and then all hell broke loose.  He reared right up!  I was so unprepared for this and nearly lost my seat and as I regained my balance I smacked my face into his head as he was still rearing!!  Ouch!!  Not sure who hurt more, me or him!  But think it brought him to his senses as he calmed down and I called the guide back as he had cantered off in the direction of home.  He returned, and as I took a moment to get over the shock, with my face and head pounding with pain, and checked that I still had all my teeth in place, Bronze returned to normal as if nothing had happened and we carried on our way home.  We had another canter, as there was no way I was holding him back now!  I spent the remainder of the day resting and nursing my swollen, bruised face and aching tooth!  Ouch!  Later the guy working at the lodge asked how my ride was.  I described what happened and he asked me if I was riding Bronze.  I said "yes" and he said "yeh, he does that".  Well, thanks for the warning then!!!

I sat and ate dinner with a lady I had spoken to briefly the night before.  It turned out she was living in Portsmouth for a while as she used to be in the navy.  What a coincidence.  We chatted about that and she was telling me how she lived in Nicaragua now and had been living and working out here for many years as a tour guide as she was married to a local before she got divorced.  From the sounds of it she lived a very basic life here, but said she had not been back to the UK for about 10 years, and did not want to.  she was very content with this lifestyle.  I could relate to that, even though for the last week or two I have really felt the urge to return back home, and am missing my friends and the little family I have there terribly.  I am trying not to wish this last few months away of this trip, but at the same time I long for the comforts of home for the first time!  I am coming to the realisation that some kind of roots would not be so bad.  I am living the dream, but it would be nice to have the people in my life that I love and care about to be near and to share the dream with me.   What I would give right now to sit with my nearest and dearest and share some laughs over a bottle of wine!  All in good time!!!  Until then the dream continues!

My final day here arrives and I feel that it has gone way too fast!  Heading back to Flores and onto Belize tomorrow morning.  I run into Tyrell and Heather who were at Semuc Champey, and on the shuttle to Flores with me.  we get talking and Tyrell tells me he is a photographer and shows me some of his work which he has won acclaim for!  He is very good and passionate about what he does.  We spend the morning chatting away and as these guys are from Vegas, hope to meet up again then.  Tyrell is also going to be doing a writing course to fit in with his photography work, so maybe we could swap notes :)

My shuttle arrives at 2pm as I am busy trying to photograph a humming bird.  I successfully manage to get a great picture, even if I do say so myself.  It is not in flight which would have been exceptional, but beautiful non the less.  There are so many hummingbirds here of all shapes and sizes.  Some as small as your little finger!  They are absolutely delightful to watch, hovering amongst the flowers and drinking the nectar before moving on.  A perfect way to end my stay here!

Hurtling through the countryside on the way back to Flores I try to absorb the scenes before me of rural Guatemala, so I may remember it long after I leave.  This has been my favourite country in Central America and I feel sad to be leaving with still so much here that I have not seen yet.  The people are friendly and caring towards each other, stopping for a chat and a few laughs when they see each other going about their daily business.  The people laugh here a lot!!  That is something I have really noticed whilst travelling, people laugh much more in these places then they do back home.  I guess it is hard to be miserable surrounded by family and friends that love and care for you, when the sun shines every day and there is beauty all around you in every direction you look!  This really is a truly beautiful place, I gaze out the window, passing fields of cattle and horses grazing.  Pigs running about foraging for food wherever they find it.  Dogs sleeping by the side of the road.  Chickens scratching through the dirt closely followed by their brood of chicks.  Families sitting outside their houses in the porch ways.  The men lying on hammocks swinging while the women keep busy preparing the food, or minding the children while they themselves find their own amusement.  In the towns I pass through, a game of football is being played and watched by many locals.  Not many people seem to be working here as there is much unemployment!  Men standing around in their cowboy boots and hats just missing their spurs and horse!  Horses are a big part of this country and are used as working animals which are heavily relied upon in the rural farming and cattle industry.  Traditions of old have been upheld and still play a big part in the everyday life of a Guatemalan today!  I think that is what I find so appealing about the way of life here.  The country has suffered greatly in the past up until fairly recently, and its instability has taken its toll, but now it seems to be coming through and slowly building a brighter future for the next generations to come!

 

 

 

 

 

Semuc Champey, Flores & Tikal, Guatemala

After a long 9 hours on the mini bus, we finally arrived in Semuc Champey at around 11pm!  The night sky was so clear with what seemed like a million stars shining like bright lights, and the milky way just above us, as we hurtled in the back of a truck through the last leg of our journey, holding on for dear life with dogs running out and chasing us trying to keep up.  Two dutch guys and myself that is.  I will use their english made up names, jeff and Tony.  I could not stop staring upwards trying to take it all in, rarely do you see the sky as beautiful as this, and i know this sounds weird, but there was definitely something that was not a plane up in the night sky which I really can't explain!!!  Once at the resort I was given the luxury of my own room and went straight to bed.  There is only electricity here between 6-10pm so it was pitch black as I made my way to the room, following the truck driver who was helping me with my bag.  I hoped the room was not full of bugs and checked the bed with my headlamp before getting in and then tried to unwind by reading some of my book by torchlight before gradually falling asleep!

The lodge by the river!

Jeff jumping from the bridge!

Morning came and I managed to sleep in until around 8.30am.  I heard some familiar voices outside my room and went out to explore.  The couple I shared my room with in Antigua were staying just above me!  I knew they were going to be here and we had arranged to maybe hang out here for a day, so today they had decided to just have a relaxing day at the pools and go up to the viewpoint for a bit of exercise.  I asked to join them after breakfast as I was still feeling fragile and had a migraine which just would not go.  We headed into the national park which was just outside the resort, a few minutes walk.  The resort was located on the banks of the river and the setting was awesome!  Definitely was the best choice in the area!  There was a bridge which crossed the river and also made for a good place to jump in from if you can pluck up the courage, which many people did!  I was not one of them!

The walk to the viewpoint was fairly tough as it was steps all the way up, and it was already getting hot, however the view once there was definitely worth it!  We took some pictures and headed down to the pools.  These were a series of natural and not particularly warm pools formed from the river, with small waterfalls leading from one to another.  I sat down on the rocks in the shallows of a pool and started to relax as the small fish all came up to nibble my feet.  I stayed like this for about an hour until my pedicure was done!  My feet felt wonderful and clean and we reluctantly dragged ourselves away as the need for food was starting to overcome us.  We went back to the resort and enjoyed a sandwich and then I spent the afternoon relaxing alone down by the river with my book.  It wasn't long before I was asked by some guys passing to come tubing down the river.  I thought this sounded like fun and went back to grab a tube.  The dutch guys I had arrived with the night before in the back of the truck with were also getting tubes so we all left together.  The water was chilly as we placed ourselves in the tubes and floated off down stream.  Then we heard someone shouting at us telling us to bring the tubes back as the tour was on its way and would be needing them.  We told him we would be 15 minutes, he was not happy but let us go as we were already on our way!

We floated down for a while and through some small rapids until we found a place to get out.  We had been quite a time already and the guy was now chasing us up the river telling us to get back now!  We got out and walked back with the tubes where we found the tour group waiting and just in time too as the rain clouds were moving in and we could hear the thunder rumbling in the distance.  I am sure we were not popular, and we apologised and passed the tubes to them so they could get on with their tour!

I showered and changed and headed to the bar for a few drinks with the dutch guys, a canadian girl Anais and her Kiwi boyfriend Aaron, that I had been tubing with.  We sat and chatted all night about many things and had a few laughs and then by 11pm the lights were going out again and I was ready for bed!  We agreed to meet the next day and do the caves tour together, should be fun!

Anais, Tony, Aaron and Jeff :)

I was rudely awakened the next morning at 6am by the Israeli people in the room who were leaving on the 7am shuttle and had not bothered to pack the night before as they have no consideration for anyone else.  They were so noisy and were ages getting their stuff together leaving the door wide open as they went!  Arghh!  They are a stereotype, but it really is so true of all the people I have met from Israel traveling.  They always travel in packs and just think they own the place.  Some hostels in South America banned them from staying there because they just annoy everyone!

Eventually I get up and meet the others for the caves tour.  We walked down to the river and hired a guide and made our way up to the cave.  We were each given a candle to light the way.  We scaled the caves working our way through rivers of water where we quickly learnt to swim one handed so as not to put out our candles, climbed up ladders, waterfalls and navigated our way through holes.  The others all had a turn at jumping into the water from the cave wall, I passed being so accident prone when it comes to water, and I had already bashed my leg stepping down a hole in the dark!

After the caves I showered and went to lie down for a while and read.  In the late afternoon I joined the others in the bar for a few drinks as we were all leaving the next day.  A couple of Canadian girls had joined us and we sat down and all played uno for a few hours until the party got going.  By around 11ish I called it a night and headed to bed as I was on the 7am shuttle to Flores.

Once on the shuttle 7 hours soon became 11 hours and we were squashed in like sardines.  Not the most comfortable journey to say the least, but eventually we arrived about 6pm and thankfully the hostel had kept my booking.  I checked into a deluxe dorm, the deluxe bit being the fact it had an ensuite and not much else, and then I grabbed some dinner with a couple of girls I keep bumping into who are also here.  I stopped in at the bar for a quick drink and to watch everyone playing beer pong, then exhausted from the journey I made my way to bed.

In the morning I wanted to go to the lake and have a look around.  Another girl in my dorm room was also going so we joined up and headed out for a walk.  We discussed going to San Miguel by boat, but Esther was telling me that there are police everywhere looking for a local man who has killed a 7 year old girl, and has been advised not to go there as that is where they suspect he is hiding out, and we do not want to bump into him!  As we walk around there are posters up of the mans picture with a reward offered for information leading to his capture.  The mood here is a bit sombre as can be expected!  Instead we bump into a couple I met on the bus here and join them for breakfast/lunch and I decide to do the tour of Tikal with them tomorrow with a private guide instead of the main tour as Esther says it was awful, and too busy.  They have also enrolled the swiss couple from the bus so soon we end up being 5 and grab another 2 to make a 7 for the tour.  We spend the whole afternoon chilling out in the restaurant and chatting and Esther tells us her story of the trip she took to Columbia from Panama by sailboat, the one I did the other way through San Blas.  However her tour did not go quite so smoothly to say the least!

In a nutshell they got caught in a storm, the engine was not working properly, as time moved on they realised something was wrong, then basically the captain was drunk, the boat was sinking, they had to abandon ship in an inflatable life raft, they were all taking turns being sick, and there were 16 of them and only 2 window holes Arghhh!!  Then the captain says he forgot to alert anyone they were here and abandoning ship!!  Luckily one of the fellow passengers had sailing experience and had done that himself before he abandoned ship.  They had managed to make contact with an oil tanker as the coastguard said they were too busy to come right away as they were dealing with drug traffickers!!  The oil tanker found them and then there was the problem of getting onto it as it was huge!!  They threw down a rope ladder but they were all so sick and weak, and the climb was like 10 storeys high, they never would have made it, so in the end they threw down a platform thing on a rope that 3 people at a time could get on and they hauled them up.  When it came to Esthers turn three of them got on, but as it hit the side 2 of them fell off back into the water!!  The guy fell between the 2 boats and Esther thought he was dead!  This was the first time she cried!  Eventually they all made it, but some of them lost all their stuff with the boat, Esther was lucky they managed to save all her bags.  Then the coastguard eventually turned up and took all the credit for the rescue ha!!!  Then the Austrian captain of the boat was flying a private plane over the area trying to locate the boat and sending divers down, obviously something in there he could not afford to lose, most likely the cash for drugs or gems or drugs!!!!  There was a lot more to the story, but we were all on the edge of our seats, desperately waiting to find out what happened next!  Never have I met someone who has been through such a traumatic experience and lived to tell the tale….they were so lucky to have made it out alive!!  Crazy!!!

We finally pulled ourselves away from the restaurant as we had been in there for hours now and I bumped into my dutch friend Tony, he said the others were at a bar and Esther and I went to join them for a drink.  It was Aarons birthday and they were already on the tequila shots at 3.30pm!!  Oh dear this was going to get messy!  I had booked up my tour to Tikal for the morning leaving at 3am and there was no way I could spend the afternoon on the booze.  I made my excuses and headed back to the hostel while Esther did some shopping, then we met with the others for dinner later.

Arriving before sunrise!

Still more to uncover!  Before excavation!

I woke just before my alarm went off at 2.40am!!!  I was so tired, but I dragged myself out of bed and brushed my teeth, threw on my clothes and was ready by the agreed 3am.  The guy from the tour agency turned up a few minutes later, but the minibus did not turn up until 3.30am!!  I could have had an extra 30 minutes in bed!!!  Oh well, we were on our way and I hoped we would make it for the sunrise!  The various promises made by the tour agent were not fulfilled, with regards to not having to pay for the sunrise park entry, another 100Q and having the guide for as long as we wanted, first he heard of it!!!  Not his fault, but he was given a bit of a hard time at first, however he tried to keep everyone happy and they warmed up towards the end.  I found it an enjoyable experience and tried to make the best of it, despite the fact that it was raining when we went to the top of Pyramid 4 to watch the sunrise.  Well, there was no sunrise!  Just a layer of white cloud and mist covering the view and then the rain came!  Shame!  I decided no point in getting wet as there was nothing to look at and went back down to wait for the others in the shelter until the rain passed.

By the time they descended from the pyramid, the rain had stopped and we started on the tour, working our way around the various points of interest.  These temples had mainly been used for sacrifice to the various Gods, and for astronomy purposes.  I could imagine the great view of the night sky here standing at the top of one of these great 60 metre high pyramids!  It would be breath taking!  There was a main plaza, like everywhere here, where I guess people would gather and games would be played, the winner having the prize of not being sacrificed!  The losers had the misfortune of being the next sacrifice!  Life was a gamble in these days and sacrifice was seen as an honour.  Even children were sacrificed and I don't think it was always fast and pain free from some of the books and articles I have read of skulls found with the skin peeled off their face and jaws gaping in an expression of severe pain!!!

Our group :) French, American, Swiss!

Tikal had been abandoned around 900AD and no one really knows why, but probability is they ran out of their water supply.  After then it had just been covered by jungle and was not discovered for hundreds of years.   Some of the pictures scratched in the walls are original mayan artwork and have been preserved for all this time, which was surreal to think that someone all those years ago had sat here and scratched their thoughts on the wall.  Something they had seen, for example, a shooting star, they wanted to express this phenomenon, so they drew it, and here we are over a thousand years later looking at their thoughts!

Shooting star?  Wall scratchings

We found various nature along the way, including a poisonous tarantula and baby snake, Stick insect, orange centipede/millipede, hairy caterpillars, many mosquitoes, monkeys and birds.  We tried to find a toucan, but no luck there.  By 11ish we were all getting tired and we finished the last bit of the tour before making our way back to the bus.  Just in time as the heavens opened and the rain fell down!

Tarantula!

Biggest ants ever!!!

Hairy caterpillar :)

Bees!

I went back to bed and slept for the afternoon before meeting up with the guys and girls who were still suffering from the effects of the birthday celebrations the night before!  I stayed up for a while chatting with them until they all went to bed and then made my way up to the bar where I had a final drink before making my way back to bed too.  On the way back the dutch guys were deciding whether jeff should go to the hospital and get his foot checked out as he had a bit of an accident and it was swollen.  I grabbed their details, hoping to meet up in Belize in a few days and left them to get it sorted out.  The next day I was heading to Finca Ixobel, a working farm, where I was planning some R&R and horse riding.  It was only 2 hours from here as I really was not ready for another long bus journey right now.