Rio Dulce and Guatemala City

Today was about getting back to Guatemala City before flying back to England on Saturday!

I left the hotel at 9:15am to catch the boat tour to Rio Dulce. The journey itself was very nice – the water was calm and the surrounding landscape was beautiful .

The tour itself didn’t actually involve any form of a tour. All it meant was that we stopped for about 20 minutes at “hot springs” and then slowly went round a couple of islands where we saw about 5 different bird species.

 

The hot springs were interesting to see – it was a small area of the water where the water was very very hot! When standing close to the rocks, you could see the steam coming off the water. When you step into the water you can feel the hot water at the top and the water becoming very cold below. And then if you move towards the rocks the water gets so hot that you can’t really stay in that area for long without getting burnt.

When we arrived in Rio Dulce, I made my way to a bus company (Litegua) which had coaches to Guatemala City leaving at 12:00pm. The coach was a modern coach with air conditioning and a TV. It was very very much more comfortable than the usual “shuttles” I was used to and was a nice change for only 80 Quetzals!

I arrived in Guatemala City at about 6:30pm and headed to a hostel which was very close to the bus stop (Theatre International). It was great that even though I had picked a random hostel, it was nice, friendly and cheap! The dorm bed cost 55Q.

I had planned to meet Grant as he was now staying in Guatemala City and was working in a clinic there. He joined me at the hostel and when we asked where to go for dinner, some of the staff said that they were going to get some food too and we ended up going altogether.

After food we returned to the hostel and played a few card games. I spent the rest of the evening with the staff at the hostel (Grant had to go home as he had work the following day – yes he was working on Saturdays!) and went to sleep ready to head home the following day. 

The Garifuna town of Livingston

In the morning, we walked to “the junction” where we waited for a bus to take us back to Punta Gorda. It was a long walk and we were lucky that whilst we were walking an open back truck passed by and offered us a lift to the junction.

The boat going from Punta Gorda to Livingston (Guatemala) departed at 1pm and so we had some time in Punta Gorda before we left. We sat on the beach for an hour or so before going to the port to cross over to Livingston.

As part of the standard “exit fees”, we were made to pay $37.50 Belizian (2 Belizian dollars to 1 US $). The boat journey cost $60 Belizian. That was SO expensive – the journey was only 45 minutes but this standard price was able to be used because there is no other way to get to Livingston from Punta Gorda. Apparently there is a road which is being built but this isn’t open to the public yet.

It felt good to be back in Guatemala! The prices of things in Belize were so much more than Guatemala!

 

We found a hotel not far from the port (Hotel Henry Barrison Ford). At the top of the hotel we had a great view of the port.

We spent the afternoon walking around the town, which was similar to most Guatemalan towns – had a nice market place and then living areas around the centre. 

In the evening we walked further along the road that our hotel was and saw some very nice hotels on the river-front. We stopped at one of them for dinner and then went back to the hotel where we watched another movie before going to sleep. 

Chocolate making!!

We took the bus from Punta Gorda to San Felipe in the morning – it wasn’t far and the bus dropped us right outside the chocolate factory.

The place (Ixcacao) is said to be the only place where Mayans continue to make chocolate in its original form from Cacao. They have a large farm (60 acres) where they harvest various crops and they take the cacao beans and grind them to make all sorts of chocolate products (from bars of chocolate to chocolate body lotion).

San Felipe is very much a rural town and the houses are spread out across the town. Most people living there seem to be self sufficient – and when walking around the town we could only see a couple of shops in the whole town.

The place we were going to be staying in was very basic – the building was literally made of wood within a wooded area! There were proper toilets and a plug socket in each room too.

The girl I was travelling with had contacted them to tell them our plans and they were meant to have organised a tour for us when we arrived. However, they were busy with another larger group and were unable to be with us until 3pm! That meant that it was too late to be able to go to see the farm.

However, the man in charge showed us the process of making chocolate from Cacao beans and we were made to do it too – we made our own chocolate which we were able to eat after.

It was very interesting to see how they did it – but I was quite surprised to see that they seemed to just not use technology which would make life so much easier for them. They did so much by hand which undoubtedly meant that they could not produce vast amounts of chocolate in the same way they would be able to if they used the technology available to them. His argument was that they didn’t need to – and they didn’t even sell their chocolate anywhere apart from in the shop that we were in! People from various parts of the country travelled to this shop to buy the chocolate as they didn’t offer any delivery service.

As they did not take us to the farm, we were not charged for the tour.

We were provided dinner there - which was really really good food! We went to sleep at about 10pm.

Next stop: Punta Gorda (South Belize)

The next day, we took a bus to Punta Gorda. This was a town from where we were planning to go to San Felipe the following day and then also to Livingston (back in Guatemala) the day after.

We spent the morning checking our travel plans and ensuring that it was all possible and found a room in a hostel very close to the port.

The town itself was much nicer than Dangriga – despite being smaller, the houses were well maintained and actually looked very well kept. Although the town was on the coast, there wasn’t a beach as such – the coast was made up of rocks and a bit of grass. There was a tiny slither of a beach just on the edge of the town which is where we sat and relaxed for a while.

We explored the town – although there wasn’t that much to see. In the evening we watched another movie and slept. 

On to Dangriga (South Belize)

We took the boat at 6:30am to Belize City – where we walked around for a while. There wasn’t much to see – a clock tower, an old church (which apparently is the oldest Anglican church in Central America). 

After walking around Belize city for an hour or so, we collected our bags from the port and walked to the bus station where we took the James bus to Dangriga.

Dangriga looked very run down – despite being one of the biggest towns in South Belize. The houses were all very dilapidated and looked like they had not been cared for at all. We stayed in a place which was on the beach – and that turned out to be a great place to stay.    

In the afternoon we walked to a museum where they showed the history of the Garifuna population, which made up a small proportion of South Belize. The history was interesting but the museum itself only contained things to read.

The rest of the afternoon and evening, we spent on the beach relaxing and then watching a movie before going to sleep. 

Rain rain rain....and the world cup!

It rained for a lot of the day – in fact, the weather was so bad we couldn’t really do much at all. We ended up spending a lot of time indoors.

 

At 1pm, the world cup final was on and so we went to a restaurant/bar to watch the game. There were lots and lots of people there – many, of course, were foreigners and next to us there were some Germans who were over the moon when Germany won. 

Later on in the afternoon, the weather cleared up a bit and we went to the Split where we relaxed and went for a swim.

In the evening I had dinner and we went for a walk along the beach. Whilst we were walking along the beach it started to pour with rain; thunderstorms and lightening.

As we planned to go to Belize City the next day – taking the boat at 6:30am, we went to sleep quite early.  

Snorkelling Trip

As I hadn’t been able to go on the snorkelling trip on Friday, I was scheduled to go on the trip today instead. I tried on the snorkelling gear at 8:45am. As I have prescription goggles, I had to improvise to create a “prescription snorkelling mask”. I took my goggles apart and put each side into the mask which worked perfectly. Unfortunately, my camera isn’t waterproof and so I couldn’t really take any good pictures!

We left at about 9:30am. There were 5 of us along with the guide and his helper. The other 4 were all Israelis in a group together.

The guide was really good. He knew about the sea life very well and was very good at making sure we were at the right place at the right time.

As soon as we left Bella’s Backpackers, there was a place where lots of big fish were present. We watched them jumping out of the water as he fed them.

The first stop we made was at a place where we would see “Loggerhead turtles”. At each stop, we put on our snorkelling gear and jumped into the water to swim with the sea life. The place we stopped at was where some fishermen were cleaning what they had caught earlier in the morning – they were washing the lobsters and this was drawing the loggerhead turtles to them. We were lucky that we got there at the time we did because about 15 – 20 minutes later, the boats cleaning the lobsters left and the loggerhead turtles disappeared with them.

At the next stop we made, we saw two manatees. These are very rare creatures which are endangered and we were lucky enough to see a male and a female resting and then swimming around. We followed them for a while and watched them as they rested on the sea bed again.

Sharks and stingrays was the next stop!! The sharks were “nurse sharks” – they were small sharks which happily swum around with us! When the guide fed them they all leapt to the food and we followed them. The guide even held one of them so that we could pet the sharks! We were also able to touch the stingrays.

Our penultimate stop was at a large area where the guide took us around lots of corals and showed us lots of different types of fish. He explained what they all were and how some were protected fish which could not be caught.

Our final stop was where we were left to swim around as we wanted. A few of us had opted for “spear fishing” – where you get a spear gun and try to follow a fish and shoot it for dinner!

This was actually very difficult – and once you had shot the spear you had to fetch the spear from the bottom where it fell. None of us were able to actually catch anything but it was good fun trying nonetheless!! Even the guide struggled, but was able to catch one lobster.

We returned to the hostel at about 4:30pm. Soon after, I met with a girl who I had met travelling from Antigua to Lake Atitlan. She was planning to travel to the South of Belize just like me. We had decided that we would travel together.

At night, I spent some time with others at Bella’s Backpackers and we walked to the split where some people decided to go swimming in the middle of the night! 

More relaxing in Caye Caulker

Today was pretty similar to Thursday. Initially I had planned to go on a snorkelling trip today – in fact, I had paid for it and was all ready to go. However, the person who was leading the trip told me that he had to go to hospital (in Belize City – there are no hospitals in Caye Caulker) as his father was ill and was being transferred from that hospital to another one.

Instead, I would be staying in Caye Caulker and doing the snorkelling trip the following day. I didn’t mind about this as I was staying in Caye Caulker for a bit longer anyway.

I therefore spent the day in a similar fashion to the day before – I did some reading and spent time at the Split – relaxing and going for a swim.

    

I also found out that the friend I had made on the way to Lake Atitlan was coming to Belize the following day. She was going to be going in the same direction as me – to South Belize and then back into Guatemala and so we decided that we would travel together.

The evening was mainly me sitting with others from the hostel chatting and enjoying the night. 

A day relaxing in Caye Caulker

Having arrived in Caye Caulker the previous day, I was wondering what there was to actually do on the island. The main activities seemed pretty limited – there were some water sports available but not many at all – the main activity was snorkelling.

I woke up at about 8am – most people seemed to wake up early as the morning – some said it was due to the heat – even at night the temperature was pretty high. I decided that for the next couple of days I’d spend time just relaxing on the beach, swimming and enjoying the view. I didn’t really know how long I’d spend in Belize as the only plan I really had was to go to Guatemala City for my flight back home the week later.

I sat and talked to some of the others in the hostel and then made my way to the beach. The “beach” in Caye Caulker is interesting – there isn’t really a sandy beach which continues into the sea – instead, the sandy part is cut off with a very small wall and the water has piers and is used as a place from which the boats depart. But there is an area called “the split” which is where the island, in the 1960s was split by a hurricane. The main island is where everyone lives and the other island is full of mangrove and has, as of yet, not been developed. Having said that, they are just starting to build a bridge now and will in the future be developing that area too. The split itself has a bar on an area of sand, but the part near the water is concrete.

 

I managed to find a quiet spot under a palm tree on the sandy area where I sat and read.    

I spent some of the morning reading and then went to the split where I spent the rest of the day. I sat there and read, met some people and went swimming in the clear blue water.  

In the evening, I went back to the hostel and then returned to the split to watch the sunset, which was, as always very beautiful.

In the evening I went for dinner and chose a restaurant with a view of the sea reflecting the bright light of the full moon. 

Arriving in Belize and Caye Caulker

Today was about getting to Belize.

I left Los Amigos in Flores at 7:30am and we collected a few others on the way to Belize. Interestingly (for the umpteenth time) as soon as I got on the bus people started to speak to me in Hebrew – to which I protested at not knowing the language; the response being “Oh…I thought you were Israeli”. For the past 2 weeks, I have been called Israeli about 20 times!

There is a large number of Israelis in the area and perhaps it’s just that which leads people to believing that I am Israeli.

On the bus, then, over half the people were Israeli – and for parts of the journey were playing some games with each other in Hebrew.

When we arrived at the border of Guatemala and Belize, we were made to get off the bus and take off our luggage as we passed immigration. The process didn’t take too long – we had to line up to get our passport stamped and pay the $5 fee to cross the border.

 

By the time we arrived in Belize City it was 1:45pm. Many of the people on the bus were continuing on to Mexico and so did not get off the bus in Belize City.

Those of us who were getting off took our things and made our way to the Belize Express boat service where we booked our boat ticket to Caye Caulker. The journey across took about 40 minutes.

On arriving, I saw why people recommended going to this place. It was an island with palm trees and clear water surrounding it.

  

I had already booked a hostel room and so made my way to Bella’s Backpackers. I settled into my dorm and walked around the island for a while.

The island itself isn’t very big. The main tourist area is pretty small – but I walked past this to an area at the back which seemed to be where a lot of the locals lived. It seemed a much poorer area and lots of children were running around.

I later asked someone at a restaurant about this area but they suggested it was an area that was being developed and that’s why it was in the condition that it was. I’m not really sure if that’s true though …it seemed like many of the places were dilapidated rather than on their way to being built up.

The other area was “the split” – which is where the island was split during a hurricane not so long ago. This area is where most people go to sit around and swim during the day.

Whilst walking, I saw lots of “kungu” trees. I’m not sure what the fruit is called in English but I managed to find some kungus on the ground which were clean and not bug infested! I took them with me and ate them for iftar along with my dinner.

I spent the evening meeting people at the hostel and having dinner.

Tikal

My trip for Tikal was to leave at 7:30am. I was a bit confused by this because the tour from Los Amigos left at 8am but I soon found out that as I had booked it altogether previously I was on a separate tour from the Los Amigos group.

 

The minibus came to pick me up at 7:40am and we set off for Tikal – on the way collecting some people from the airport. The journey itself took about 1 hour - I slept some of the way and talked to some of the people who were on the bus.

 

The guide who was with us was really great – our group consisted of some people from Costa Rice as well as Americans and Germans – he spoke in both Spanish and English: explaining everything in both languages. He explained how Tikal was only partly excavated – and how there were many more temples which were still under mounds which were also to be excavated.

 

The place itself was similar to a jungle with the temples dotted around the very large area. We were to be walking around the area – taking time to look at the plants and the animals as we went along.

Some of the temples which we saw were partly excavated but some were completely excavated. For most of them we could climb the steps and get to the top. We were told that they were all solid – not like the pyramids in Egypt which were hollow in the middle.

 

The views from the top were really great – depending on how high the pyramid was.

 

 

 

There were 4 main pyramids – all different sizes. We went to them all and spent some time looking at the area around each of them: as we were told, the areas were meant to be the places where people would live, or gather for certain occasions.

 

     

 

 

 

As we walked from place to place, there were monkeys swinging above us and other animals moving around with us!

  

 

 

We also saw a (poisonous) tarantula. The guide took the spider into his hands and I did the same!

 

 

The highest pyramid went above the trees and from there we could see the “canopy” of trees and how a couple of the other pyramids poked up above the canopy.

 

 

Some people go to the park really early to see sunrise from here, but all too often I hear stories of how it’s too cloudy to actually watch the sun rising – I’m sure that the colours are pretty beautiful when it’s sunrise though.

 

By about 2:30pm we were on our way back to the hostel and stopped at a restaurant for lunch. The Brazil vs Germany world cup semi final was on and so we watched the end of the first half….0-5!

 

By the time we got back to the hostel it was after 4pm…and raining. I spent the afternoon in the hostel and in the evening went to watch sunset on the river next to Flores.

 

 

Travelling to Flores

As it was now my turn to leave at 7am, I woke up early to pack my things and await the open topped truck. We made our way to Lanquin and then changed to another bus which took us all the way to Flores. By the time we arrived in Flores it was about 4pm.

Flores is a small town across a bridge and I made my way to the hostel I was going to be staying at: Los Amigos. The hostel was on an inside street but had a nice courtyard inside with a pool table and hammocks. The dorm itself was pretty standard – with lots of bunkbeds and some large lockers to put stuff in.

I relaxed for a while and talked to a few people (some of whom had come up from Semuc Chempey on the same day as me) before having dinner and then chatting to some more people before heading to sleep.

 

Semuc Chempey

Everyone else in my dorm was leaving today and so they woke up at about 6am to get ready for their bus which left at 7am. I slept for longer as my tour started at 10am. Most of the tour took place in water and so we were told not to take our cameras with us – so I hold all the memories in my head instead!

 

There were about 25 of us on the tour – as the hostel was so close to Semuc Chempey, we walked to the entrance and then started the hike up to the viewpoint. The walk was pretty straight forward – but it was quite steep at times.

 

It took about 35 minutes to walk up and we were soon at the viewpoint – where we could see the pools far below us. We were quite high up and it was nice to be able to look around and see such beautiful scenery even after having only climbed a short distance.

 

Some people were already swimming in the pools – and after spending a bit of time admiring the view, we made our way down to the pools too. At first, we spent some time just walking around at the top near some of the waterfalls.

 

The water was so clear and it was so beautiful to swim in the water with the backdrop being the beautiful landscape around. I was wearing my glasses as I didn’t realise we would be swimming in the water. As I jumped down into the pools, my glasses fell off!! Luckily after searching for a few minutes, I managed to find them on the pool-bed!!

 

 

 

We swum in the pools and slid down the rocks. We also jumped from high rocks into the pools below. There was a section where we were taken beneath the rocks and led through a tiny pathway which led back to the outside. It was amazing how this rock formation had developed – and how it was found!

 

We spent some time relaxing in the pools and then made our way back to the hostel where everyone had lunch (except me as I was fasting!)

 

The next part of the tour was a walk through some caves with a candle in our hands! The caves were naturally half filled with water and we had to wade through the water and sometimes even swim whilst holding a small candle – trying to keep it out of the water so that it wouldn’t go out. It was an amazing experience – completely different to anything I had done before. There were some ropes to follow but there was also a guide who led us through the caves. The darkness was surprisingly overcome by our candles – many of which went out and had to be relit using other candles.

 

Within the cave, there was a section which had a deep pool. The guide made those who wanted to climb up the rocks and jump into the pool within the cave!! It was a great experience. This time I put my glasses into my pocket when I jumped to make sure that I didn’t lose them!!

 

We made our way back out of the caves having slid down some rocks on the way and made our way back to the hostel – where we picked up plastic tubes (circular floats) and went to the river to “tube” down. This was a nice relaxing way to end the tour – we didn’t need to do much apart from guide ourselves down the river.

 

Having completed the tubing, we made our way back to the hostel – but this time, when we were crossing the bridge, we were told we could jump off the bridge into the river below!! The bridge was about 10m high. Most of the people in our group did it…and I followed suit! It was scary to do but I managed. Some people did it with such ease – without even thinking about it.

By now it was about 5pm. For the rest of the day, we just rested and ate. In the evening, we played some card games and also played 20 questions – we ended up going to sleep at about midnight.