Bring on the dancing girls

Our "warm down" from the previous day's excursions, was a trip to the nearby Maya site of Palenque.  The big difference between this site and others is that the location is very green and it is very, very humid.  Unfortunately, it has the same steep, deep steps, which walking up in the heat was even more difficult.

Just before the climb to the very top

Even though we arrived at the site just after opening at 8am, this was the busiest one we've visited both with bus loads of tourists and hundreds of local people setting out souvenirs on blankets on the ground.  Edgar, being a local boy, was very adept at avoiding the crowds and taking us around the site through little used routes.

We left the site, via a route though the jungle, passing a lovely waterfall.

After our exertions the next day and a half were spent doing nothing more strenuous that climbing the steps down in to the pool and up to the restaurant and bar. 

On our final afternoon, our peace was disturbed by excited older men with all sorts of cameras, who began clearing the sun beds around us, but they insisted we could stay where we were. 

We were soon surrounded by dozens of gaily dressed young girls of all ages.  The director then set up the music centre and we worked out they were going to be filming folkloric dancing.

It felt quite bizarre to be sat in our swimsuits whilst all this was happening around us.  HJ even thought about joining the chorus line!

Tomorrow is transfer day again, this time to San Cristabal.

The Final Frontier

Hugo arrived bang on the arranged time of 7am for the transfer from Guatemala to Mexico.  He introduced himself and dashed off to the loo!  During the three hour journey we stopped three more times: he blamed drinking a huge bottle of water before setting off! The last hour of the journey was along an unpaved, bumpy and very dusty road.  Nonetheless he got us to Bethel, the Guatemalan border crossing, where during a final comfort break, our passports were stamped. 

A straight, but dusty and bumpy road

We then boarded a boat on the Rio Usumacinta for the 30 minute trip to the Mexican side of the border, where we were handed over to the non-incontinent Edgar, who walked us up a steep hill, to get Mexican formalities completed.

We boarded yet another boat, a long tailed motorised canoe, for another 30 minute journey to Yaxchilan, a Maya ruin deep in the jungle which can only be reached by river.  Meanwhile PR and all our bags remained with the driver.

Unfortunately Edgar was a very fit young man and had us bounding up steep and deep steps to see wonderful carvings at the top of the high temples. He was enthusiastic without being boring and brought the stories of the Royal Mayan families to life.  We left Yaxchilan with aching knees and backs, but at the least the return boat journey was smooth and cooling as the heat and humidity is very high.

Back to the car, PR, driver and bags for an hour's drive to our next site at Bonampak.  On the journey we decided to skip lunch as there was so much to do. On arrival at Bonampak Edgar explained that the road was owned by the local Mayan tribe which meant transferring from our plush, AC saloon into a rather beaten up "thing" with a couple of windows missing  - which is just as well as there were no winders!  We called this our "MayaMobile".

Our reward for clambering yet another set of vertiginous stone steps, was a series of murals detailing the life of the Royals, a fierce battle and the rather gruesome aftermath of the torture of the prisoners.

Finally, after the return journey by MayaMobile, we got back into our car for the two hour journey to Palenque where we arrived, hot, sweaty, thirsty, tired and hungry at 6.30pm!

After a quick shower to freshen up, you can probably guess where we headed!

How tikal'd we were

Our two days at La Lancha have been very different.

Our first day started early with a 6am departure for Tikal, one of the most powerful and dominant cities of the classic Maya period. It was a huge site, set in jungle, and only re-discovered over the last century. 


Antonio our guide, was very knowledgeable and filled our heads with lots of names, facts, figures and dates - some of which stuck!  His forte however, was to get us around the temples, palaces and pyramids whilst managing to avoid large groups (although the benefit of our early start made this less of a problem). 

The literal highlight were the six temples, all in different stages of being unearthed from the jungle. 

The tallest at 70m was temple 4 which we were able to climb using a very solid wooden staircase of 180 steps.  At the top, we were on our own to enjoy the terrific views of the whole site.

RM on the way up to Temple 4

Antonio then took us through jungle trails showing us many aspects of Mayan life that supported the 100,000 inhabitants of the city.

This ranged from underground food storage, reservoirs and the political and religious way of life.

Thankfully, only a small percentage of the site has been sufficiently uncovered, otherwise our trip would have taken far more than the four hours that we spent there.

Marching down long Mayan roads and climbing up and down all the various buildings, was very wearing on our poor old knees.  We finished the tour with a look around the thankfully small, but interesting museum of artifacts.

A tiny RM at the huge Temple 5 which you are no longer able to climb due to the rickety staircase.

Our final day in Guatemala was spent started when we hiked back down the steep hill to the jetty to catch a boat that we had booked to take us across the lake to Flores, the biggest town in the area.  The water was very still and the crossing was only 45 minutes to be dropped off on the malecon. 

HJ with the shape of the sland picked out of the plaster on a local house

Flores is actually a small island connected by man made causeway to the mainland. It is very colonial and picturesque topped as usual by cathedral and town square.  We strolled right around the malecon, browsed in the gift shops and eventually found a nice place for lunch which overlooked the lake.

HJ on the Malecon at Flores

The crossing back was a different story.  After a few minutes, our lady skipper slowed the boat and made up and down motions with her hands.  We nodded saying si, si but not quite understanding.  It soon became apparent as we hit the first swell and we then spent the next hour bouncing back to our jetty where we alighted and walked knock kneed back to our room.

Tomorrow we move on to Mexico, our last country although one we've visited before.

Monkey business

Just when we thought the Belize border jinx had hit again (with no one to meet us), Henry rode up to the rescue. Not only that, he provided in-car snacks of fresh fruit, nachos and dips, cookies and bananas for our 90 minute journey to the shores of Lago Peten Itza and La Lancha a small, boutique hotel (10 rooms) owned by Francis Ford Coppola. 

On our arrival we were greeted by our new neighbours, a tree full of howler monkeys right outside our thatched cottage.

 

Before lunch, HJ suggested we pop down to the lakeside as we'd been told of a beach and bar.  We followed a passing member of staff down an initial flight of paved steps but as he seemed to be continuing further and further down a very steep, now wooden and dirt stairway, we called him to check that we were travelling in the right direction.  He turned, smiled and said follow me.  Eventually we came upon a well equipped bar on the shores of the lake with a jetty leading to a lovely sun-deck. Who could resist a Gallo cervaza?

HJ on the hike back up from the bar

The afternoon was spent around the pool, just the two of us, with books from the library as the only other two guests were out.

When we went up the twenty or so steps to the restaurant for dinner, we found each of them lit by candles at both ends.  And on returning to our room after a bottle of Mr Coppala's exceedingly good SB, we found our deck also lit by candles.  All very romantic.

Rain did not stop play

As rain put an end to our planned paddle to the Belize Botanic Gardens at a nearby lodge, we had to settle for plan B - a taxi (or at least a four door pick-up).  At $15 each way, it seemed a bit steep, but so were the muddy hills we covered on the four mile journey.

Thankfully, the sun started to smile on us as we headed for the entrance to the self guided trail.  

We didn't know what to expect but we spent the next hour and a half looking at a wonderful range of trees, shrubs, flowers and orchids.  

All of which were cleverly and wittily described in the handbook we were given. For example, do you know why cashew nuts are so expensive?  The cashew tree bears fruit (which can be eaten and made into wine - tasted later that evening) which have a single nut on the bottom.  Also the leaves from the buttonwood tree are used in ritual baths to cure a spiritual sickness called "mal viento" or bad wind. Expect to be "entertained" by many more interesting facts on return!

After lunch in a tree top restaurant, we returned to Chaa Creek for a visit around the Butterfly House and Natural History Centre.

HJ then spent the afternoon "bird watching" from the hammock on the porch.

After avoiding the conch soup earlier in our stay in Belize, we decided to have the conch fritters for dinner.  They were better than octopus, but only slightly, and RM had to manfully help HJ out whilst she majored on the delicious garlic mashed potato.  RM made feeble jokes about conch (couch) potatoes!

Tomorrow, we return to Northern Guatemala to visit the Maya ruins at Tikal. 

Wet, Wet, Wet

The three and a half hour journey from Placencia to Chaa Creek was a delight: the road was flat, relatively straight and with little traffic.  In fact, during the whole journey, we were overtaken once and we only overtook two other vehicles. Cornell, our driver, pointed our places of interest along the way, including an international airport being built just outside Placencia as the only current airport in the country is Belize City. 

Chaa Creek is a luxurious eco-lodge set on 365 acres of rain forest and the Macal River.  Our cottage is spacious but with no wi-fi or TV, and we are back to the wake up call of the howler monkeys and dawn chorus.  We have often had bathrooms with his and hers basins, but this room has two showers, plus an outdoor one.

Our cottage with Royal Palms

We are very well in with Duane, Head Bar Man, as we gave him a lift from the road up to the lodge, a two mile track.  Last night he persuaded us to try their home-brewed limoncello, made using a cross between a lemon and a grapefruit steeped in vodka.  It was so delicious HJ was tempted by their lemon drop martini.

Our first full day started adventurously with a canoe trip on the river.  We were doing well until we hit the rapids in a rather shallow area.  We managed to just get through although were slightly worried we were scraping a hole in the bottom of the canoe. 

On the way back, it was more difficult to go upstream and after trying to cross at several points, RM had to abandon ship and pull the canoe and HJ, majestically sat in the rear, through the shallow but raging waters.  Honour was restored when later that night in the bar, Duane Barman revealed he’d had to do the same thing earlier in the day.  

After a fortifying lunch we set off for a hike around the property to Mayan ruins.  It was pretty strenuous with steep ups and downs.  We were going to refresh ourselves after the 2 hour trek with a dip in the pool, but we didn’t need to, as it started to rain during the last 15 minutes and we got wet enough.

We are now sat with the rain pouring down so our canoe trip to the Botanical Gardens is on hold.

Two wheels on her wagon - with photos

To date we've crossed borders by foot, car and air but our transfer from Guatemala to Belize was by sea.  We left Livingstone in a boat with "Fat Robert" at the helm but despite this. it was a very smooth one hour crossing and we arrived in Belize at Punta Gorda earlier than expected.  Consequently no one met us and after waiting over an hour, the Customs staff hailed a passing taxi (well, it had four wheels and a driver), for the short journey to an even shorter airstrip (it cannot be called an airport).  On checking in, we discovered we were booked twice and therefore, four of the potential 12 passengers.  At first we thought we were going to have the plane to ourselves until three passengers arrived at the last minute for the 15 minute flight.

We are now at Roberts Grove overlooking the Caribbean sea. 

It is very much a beach "resort" with evening entertainment and buffets which we are doing well to avoid by escaping to their Mexican restaurant over the road.

Cyclists amongst you be warned!  HJ has started limbering up for a summer on two wheels.  We ventured into the local town, some five miles away, on bikes provided by the hotel (HJs was pink).  The ride was smooth aside from numerous very steep speed bumps.  

There were two warnings along the way: one for crossing crabs and the other, a barrier to stop us from running into low flying aircraft that were taking off as we crossed the end of the runway.

In Placencia, we had reviving Belikin bees, and HJ tried the recommended ice cream from Tutti Fruitti which was excellent.  By now, any calories burned by cycling had now been restored.  We also had an excellent lunch of jerk chicken and pulled pork.  HJ decided she had been adventurous enough for one day and the conch soup remains untried.

On the return journey, HJ was the Chris Froome, leading Bradley "RM" Wiggins in her slip stream. 

Back at the hotel, HJ jumped in the pool to cool off and then ran to the bar for a drink.  She thinks that the triathlon at the Rio Olympics may be within her grasp!

PRs present on Mother's Day is an hour's kayaking in the Caribbean sea.

We are going to be on the move again, to a lodge called Chaa Creek where Prince Harry stayed; so I expect services to be excellent!