Belize

We were only in Belize a few days, but would have loved to stay longer. It is a beautiful, lush country filled with such friendly people. The first day we were there, we went in search of a National Park called Five Blues Lake. The only thing we had on it was a Lonely Planet write up. Unfortunately, it seems that right after they listed it in the book, the park pretty much closed. We drove on some pretty run down, overgrown backroads to get there only to have to turn around to find some place else to stay for the night...

We ended up at Ian Anderson´s adventure park on the Humingbird Hwy for the night instead. We were pretty tempted by the cabana´s and treehouses they had on their property, but opted for another night in the van to save $$. They light their jungle property up with Tiki torches every night...

Without very much information on the town, we set our sights on a place called Placencia. It was the description as ¨The Caye you can drive to¨ that got us. It was well worth the drive of 25km on rough dirt. We found the most peaceful campsite run by a couple from Oregon and loved the small town at the end of the road. This place definitely felt like a honeymoon spot.

Placencia has been listed in the world record´s as having the world´s smallest main street. It was built before the road came down into town. And everything pretty much still centers around this street, that is just a couple feet wide...

On our way back from Placencia we stopped at Blue Hole National Park for a few swims in the natural swimming hole there. The crystal clear water flows out from an underwater cave.

From here we pretty much drove to and stayed just south of the border crossing back into Mexico. We weren´t quite ready to leave and would love to come back to Belize someday...with some more money! With gas over $5 per gallon it was a hit on our tight budget!

Tikal

Tikal!! This was our first ruins experience and it kind of spoiled us. We wondered around here for a day and a half and found it really fun to finally sleep in the jungle. There are some crazy noises in the jungle. This was our first time hearing Howler monkeys! They sound like they are about to attack like a lion. They are crazy little buggers!!! The first night we were in the ruins, we pretty much had them to ourselves right around sunset. We were able to climb Temple V and felt on top of the Mayan world.

There was so much to see here with an expansive timeline in history. You can´t climb up the actual stairs of the largest temples anymore. But the three that you could climb up were by a sketchy scaffold stairway system that felt wobblier than if you went up the stone steps.

Temple IV, remember the location of the rebel base from Star Wars? Look familiar?

On the top for the sunrise tour. We hiked in around 5am before sunrise. As we walked in the jungle was coming alive with the morning. All the birds and monkeys and bugs making so much music in the morning. We sat in silence for about 30 minutes atop Temple IV and just listened. Amazing!!!

The sun was trying to make it´s way through the clouds...

and we were trying to wake up!!

View of the Grand Plaza

Temple I This is actually an ant trail. We saw these all through the ruin site. They are making highways...it was crazy!

We´re ready for our Lonely Planet picture...

Photos from Guatemala-Panajachel to Semuc Champey

We have finally had some pictures downloaded to disc and have some computer time to get a posting up. These are all pictures from our time in Guatemala, a country we loved every step of the way. It is a very diverse country and still rich in traditional culture. This is the view across Lake Atitlan that greeted us out our door every morning. The lake was perfect glass every morning, making us wish we had towed the wakeboard boat with us!!

Language classes everyday took place in the school's garden with our teacher, Patricia, who has lived in Panajachel her entire life. The farthest she had traveled was to one of the small villages at the base of one of the volcanoes across the lake.

We were able to walk into town everyday from our campsite up and over the hill from town. This is the view looking back to our campsite on one morning's walk...
The nightlife and bright colors of the streets of Panajachel. The food was great and just as cheap to eat out as to buy groceries and cook, so we took advantage of that! Especially since a nightly rain would make cooking out at camp a little hard.

After leaving the lake, we got off the "beaten path" for a few days and were on dirt roads that took us into some of the most beautiful areas of the country. But ended up being quite a commitment...we were driving about 10 km per hour on some crazy back roads, but it was very worth it. First stop was the caves at Lanquin. They are lit for the first few hundred yards past the entrance and the locals have labeled all kinds of formations within the caves including a monkey face, an Eagle, a skeleton, and the Virgin Mary.

This is the view through the entrance to the source of the river flowing from in the cave that we found out was the drinking source for the village below.

Every night just at dusk, the caves come to life with thousands and thousands of bats coming out for the night. There was no trace of them during the day while we toured the cave...

Our next stop was an area called Semuc Champey, one of our favorite spots on the entire trip. It was a short hike into a series of limestone swimming pools that you can swim in and walk through. We both decided that a spot like this in the states would have been fenced off a long time ago.

The pools alone were so refreshing after a hot day in the car and were so amazingly beautiful...BUT...


It was when we realized we were in fact swimming on a limestone bridge that had formed over the river below that this place became truly magical. The bridge itself was almost 1,000 feet long with countless peaceful pools and waterfalls running through it. You would never know there is a river raging beneath it! Here is a picture of the river as it starts to flow underneath the bridge...

Even though pretty beat from the day we decided to make the hike straight uphill to the Mirador, Spanish for a lookout. The hike litterally went so straight up in some places that ladders and steep stairs had been installed. The view from the top made it all worth it.