Here´s a few pics from Antigua... a really nice town in Guatemala which we will return to before we leave.



We headed south from Antigua to El Salvador, and after a day of buses were on the coast.



It´s mostly black sand beaches and offers world class surfing. We spent a night in La Perla, then headed to El Tunco which had a better offering of hotels and restaurants. While there we did a bit of surfing, ate lots of pizza and hired a scooter for the day to see some beaches.


From El Tunco we went to Los Cobanos which was a bit of a disappointment as the place was too busy with local tourists, the accomodation was over priced and nasty and there seemed to be alot of rubbish floating about. Today we headed inland and up the Ruta de Flores. We´re now at a very nice hostel and spent the day at some waterfalls where we swam through underground tunnels.

Tikal and Poptun

After Belize we crossed back into Guatemala and spent a couple days in Flores before heading to Tikal, one of the largest sites of Mayan ruins. By arriving in the afternoon, we were able to go into the park in the evening to see the sunset, camp right outside, and then reenter in the morning to explore more of the temples and pyramids.

We climbed the highest temple to see the sunset; however, the west side was blocked off and covered in scaffolding. Soon one of the many guards carrying guns walking around the park came up and offered to let us climb over to see the sunset for the small fee of 25Q each. We agreed to go and then he told us to explain the deal to everyone else. We got a group of 6 or so of us together and jumped over the ropes and bars.


The next day we got to see the rest of the temples; about 6 large temples and many other monuments and other ruins.


We found an American couple behind a tree with a guide taking pictures and they beckoned us over to see the huge tarantula. Chris´ first question was ¨Can I pick it up?¨


There were also many animals around the park. We saw spider and howler monkeys and tons of these things. I think they look kind of like anteaters mixed with raccoons.
From there we went to Finca Ixobel, a hostel/resort complete with treehouses, a swimming hole, cave trips, and horseback riding.




And two Macaw parrots!
Now we´re spending a few days in Antigua and trying to find a doctor to fix Caroline´s ear infection, which seems to have flared up again. Next we plan to head down to El Salvador and try out the surfing.

Barton Creek Outpost

For the last 2 weeks we have been living and working at the Barton Creek Outpost in Belize: http://www.bartoncreekoutpost.com/

The deal here is we help out each day, starting at 7:30am with cleaning, and work until 1:30pm doing what ever needs doing, whilst still helping with dinner and cleaning up or bits and bobs through out the afternoon. In return we get free food, accomodation and discounts on local tours.

We started off there weeding the flower beds and were then given the big project of making a stone patio. This involved going to the river and thowing big stones up to underneath the outpost (which is mounted on stilts) which we then placed in the ground which we first levelled. The effect was a rustic style stone floor to replace the bare earth which was there to begin with. It took 5 of us 4 days of work to complete the task, you can see a section of the floor in the photo below.

Other tasks at the outpost besides cooking and cleaning were cutting grass, attacking plam leaves with machettes, starting generators and water pumps and various other odd jobs. After we finished and had lunch each day, we cleaned and cooled off in the river and had some fun on the rope swings.


The outpost is a family affair. Run by a couple who simulaneously look after and home school their 3 kids there. Helping us out with the volunteering were a couple of Quebecers Dominique and Joanie from French Canada and John from England.

It was all fairly relaxed and not too much like hard work. We did have one disaster though as Caroline got an ear infect whilse there. She managed to put up with it for 2 nights but by then had taken the last of my Anadin Extras (originally intended for the treatment of several hangovers) and the American medication other people there had wasn´t up to the job so we needed to get to town to see a doctor. Unfortunately the guy there with the truck had Dengey fever and we were unable to get a lift with anyone else, so just started walking. We covered a good 8 or 9 miles on foot over a very rough road in some rather uncomfortable heat before eventually getting to a proper road and hitching a ride to town. Once there we went to hospital and saw a doctor and Caroline was able to enjoy the novelty of free health care, something that is frighteningly absent in America. Despite the pain of such a long walk it paid off and after some antibiotics and ibuprofen she was feeling much better.

On our last day there we went to some water falls for a day of swimming and cliff jumping before heading back to San Ignacio for a final night in Belize.


We are now back in Guatemala in a place called Flores. Planning to stay here for a few days then maybe do some more volunteering or go to Tikal so see the Mayan Ruins there.

ATM Caves

We visited the ATM (Actun Tunichil Muknal) caves today. After a bus ride, we hiked for about an hour through the forest and crossed the river three times.


At the entrance to the cave , we put on our helmets and headlamps and waded and swam through the water for an hour to get to the Mayan artifacts.

On the way in we stopped and all turned off our lights so that we were in total darkness. Then the guide told us to make a chain by holding on to the shoulder of the person in front of us and we walked through the pitch black cave.


At the end we found pottery for various foods brought to offer to the gods as well as a few skulls and one complete skeleton of a 16 year old girl.

We left Utila and headed north. Maybe not the best time to leave as the president has just been ousted from Honduras and everyone was on edge as the Military had just taken over. As we traveled north everywhere we stopped everyone was glued to the TVs.

We made it up to Porto Cortez where we took a boat up to Placencia in Belize. After arriving for the boat we had to hang around for 4 hours before it left, but the actual journey didn't take more than about 2 hours including a stop for immigration and customs. I did manage to get quite badly burnt on the boat but it was a nice trip and we even saw some dolphins swimming next to the boat.


After a night in Placencia, which is quite expensive and has alot of American tourists, we headed north to a little town called Hopkins. There wasn't a whole lot happening here but it was a nice place to see, populated almost entirely but the Garfunian people. Lots of beach here, although quite a lot of drift wood and such on the tide line. The water in the sea was really warm, like getting into a bath, which was quite pleasant in the evening.

After a night in Hopkins (and lots of Mosquito bites) we headed north again to Belize city where we took a boat over to Caye Caulker, a small island off the coast. The island was originally alot bigger, but got split in half by a hurricane a few year back. A good things really as there isn't much on the north part and the split has made a nice sandy place to swim.


From Caye Caulker we went out for the day on a yacht to the local reef. Here we saw lots of things including this frenzy of nurse sharks.


We snorkeled around with the sharks and various other sealife including turtles, stingrays, moray eels and loads of fish. Lunch was served on the boat along with some rum punch and we got a little bit more sun burn.




Other things we did on Caye Caulker was to have a wind surfing lesson, do some karaoke and hire bikes for the day. Hiring bikes ended in disaster however as me cycled into a remote area infested with massive mosquitoes that attacked us leaving lots of bites and even drawing blood.



In the evenings we enjoyed some of the, rather expensive, local cuisine. Caroline decided to abandon her vegetarianism for 2 days to eat lobsters and lobster keBaabs, which she says was worth it but despite trying a bite I am still unconvinced by seafood. Unfortunately Caye Caulker was completely void of Pizza Huts and McDonald's.




Apparently drugs are illegal in Belize, but you wouldn't think so given the number of people offering them.





It seems most every building, bar, and restaurant here has its own dock, allowing access to boats without dragging them through the masses of Sea Grass, and providing convenient sun bathing spots, although some were in disrepair and a tad dangerous.

From Caulker we boated back to Belize city where we got a bus out to a Bamboo farm and nature reserve. Here we spent three nights in a nice, but rather pricey, bamboo cabin. While here we kayaked up the river, using some strange outboard electric motors powered by car batteries which we had to lug all the way to the river and back again.







The river was nice and warm to swim in but there were wee fish which bit us all over. The river is also infested with crocodiles but apparently they are scared of humans and sleep in the day time.

We are now in a town in west Belize called San Ignacio, close to the Guatemalan border. We are planing to explore some of the local jungle and Mayan ruins before heading out to a place called Barton Creek Outpost where we plan to stay for a few weeks to do some volunteering.