Rio Dulce – Guatemala

A windy road from Lanquin to the Rio Dulce made our friend Dan ill. Got to the port, bought our tickets (Q150) to a small coastal town called Livingston. We expected the trip to just be a motorboat there, but it turned into a little tour as well. We saw some old Spanish forts along the water, and enjoyed some souvenirs that a little girl was selling. Too bad we’re on a long trip because I can’t buy any souvenirs!

I've got some lovely bunch of coconuts!

  Our boat driver drove us to Bird Island where we saw tons of egrets and cormorants. The scenery is very beautiful, and the two-three hour trip was pleasant. We even got to swim in natural hot springs that stank like sulphur, and oozed heat right along the riverside.

Rio Dulce, very pretty.

Swimming in  smelly, warm water.

 The last 15 min to Livingstone were gorgeous! Limestone cliffs and thick jungle. I can’t never get sick of this scenery.  Alas it ended, but we were all hassled to go to Casa de Iguana, a small backpackers. It’s a nice place, met some interesting people. Went out for a great ceviche meal (literally a huge glass filled with prawns & salsa). Told a local we were from South Africa and he immediately stepped back. He told us a South African got ripped off (some local took his money and ran instead of giving him what he paid for) so the S. African tracked the local down, found him and beat the shit out of him! We have a reputation there, and I can’t say it’s bad if people think twice before ripping us off! Haha…

 

Livingston was very sweet, but we were destroyed by sandflies! Left early the next day to get to Utila, and made a booboo, because we had 2 options: pay $55 to get to La Ceiba by boat, or take chicken buses all the way there. Wish we did option 1! We spent ALL day on busses, from Livingston to Puerto Barrito to the boarder to San Pedro Sula to La Ceiba. We only saved $5….then we had to spend $15 on accommodation in Honduras, La Ceiba (Banana Republic) so it was a stuff up. Oh well, you live, you learn.

Tubing down Rio Cahabon, Guatemala

After the stress of lounging out in the pools all day we needed a day to relax and feel that we are on holiday. So we decided to splash out and go on a Tubing adventure down the river (Q40, 2 hours, fantastic). Ordered some beers to hysdrate us down the strenuous river.

I'm on a Tube!

I too am on a Tube!

 It was awesome.  Floated down the river and enjoyed a sandwich in the cave. Great memories were made.

In the cave..Michael and Raphael to the right.

Unfortunatley we didn't get a photo of our sandwich. This will have to suffice.

Rob and Michael after the super hardcore tubing. Kimchi!

Semuc Champey, The Pools! Guatemala

So after the manly goings on previously mentioned we stopped for some lunch, which was delicious meat and tortillas with an assortment of side goodies. A little girl was selling home-made chocolate and we got to eat the cocoa bean and see the plants they were harvested from.We then were ready to enter the park! The guide told us we had about an hour long hike uphill to see the pools, Why did I eat so much?!? It must have been all the hardcore manliness I used up in the morning! So we hiked, uphill, for an hour. It was hot and humid but the forest was beautiful. Finally we reached the viewpoint and saw the most spectular pools of emerald green and saphire blue, it was really beautiful!

Leave it to Chrissie to find chocolate in rural Guatemala!

The 300m limestone bridge of Semuc Champey covered in pools. Photo's can't do this justice!

 Some photo opportunites later and we started the descent down to the pools. We got to the bottom and before we went anywhere the guide took us to our left and showed us where a huge river (Rio Cahabon) crashes down into the bowels of the Earth and explained that what we were standing on was infact a natural limestone bridge over 300 meters long with pools all on top of it fed by the mountain run off from higher up. It's quite difficult to explain how beautiful this was, it is considered the most beautiful place in Guatamala, words can't really capture the atmosphere of sitting in this remote jungle at these other worldy pools (I hope the photos give some idea, but you have to be there to see it.)

Don't swim where the river crashes into the Earth - 5 tourists drowned here. The blackness on the left is the limestone bridge, where the river enters. Semuc Champey means 'where does it hide' referring to the river disappearing under the limestone.

 Someone asked the guide if we can swim there and he said "no", before galloping of and diving into the water pools ontop shouting for us to join him. The water was perfect, nice and cool but not cold and crystal clear with little fish that tickled as the nipped at your dead skin. We went and swam in all the different pools and found caves underneath the water which you could swim into and sit in watching the world outside go past without them knowing we were there. We slid down natural slides and splashed into the water, some more elagently than others (Chrissie I'm looking at you). So after an hour or two of exploring and lovely swimming it was time to move off, our guide walked us out, it literally took 3 minutes along the track! The bastard had made us do a mega hike up a huge ass mountain to see the pools that were 3 minutes away! It's good though as the photos are much nicer from up there!

Robert levitating above the calm pools.

Chilling in the pools at Semuc Champey.

 So on the way back I was quite upset because we had to leave this natural wonder, so non-chalantly I asked if it was possible to go there without a tour, so he said he would pick us up in the morning and take us there and we just needed to pay for the petrol and the entrance ticket. A plan was hatching, so I enrolled some of the people in the group who we got along with well and decided to go back the next day!

This clearly needs further examination.

So back we went, with our French friend Raphael, English mate Michael Edge and a few other awesome people. We spent the next day just lounging about and enjoying the pools, we snorkelled around and had and amazing time, at the end of which we worked our way all the way to the end of the bridge and saw where the river re-emerged. What a stunning site! So we swam up towards it and did some cliff jumping into the turbulent waters below. What a great way to say good bye to Semuc Champey, "Where did it go?".

Where the river re-emerges and all the pools drain into it. Stunning!

Semuc Champey and Lanquin

Okay so the night before we left for Lanquin we stayed at a backpackers called Los Amigos (Q150/dorm) on Isla de Flores. Great place for relaxing and we ate the best Q20 ($2.5) meal ever - a huge borrito, tostada, taco and a beer! Fed both of us. When we left for Lanquin the next day there was a misunderstanding and the hostel forgot to give us our passports back. We had to turn the shuttle bus around (wasted 20min) to get them, so now we never give our passports in.

The bus to Lanquin was nice - a tourist van. Got to Lanquin and it was a lot smaller than expected. Stayed at a Zephyr Lodge, an awesome backpackers. Very party vibey. We got to the reception and bumped into our mate Michael from Denmark that we met in Tequila. Small world! I had written him an e-mail, but hadn't sent it as I didn't have internet in Belize. Stoked to see Michael again, we had some beers to celebrate and chatted to people who are going to Tikal, telling them the ins and outs of camping in the archeological park.

Rob, Chrissie & Michael reuinited again!

We also decided to save some money so as we knew were going to be there for a few days we opted to set up our tent and camp, it was a nice spot! After setting up camp we chatted with Micheal and some other foreigners who needed advice. We also signed up for the cave exploration tour the next day which included going to the stunning pools of Semuc Champey. We played some games and headed to bed.

Our tent is the orange thing in the corner - Zephyr Lodge, Lanquin

Early the next morning we woke up and pottered around until the guide came to take us to the caving and pools. He was a nice friendly guy who cracked alot of jokes and seemed to enjoy his work, I always like going with an enthusiatic guide (since we have gone with some who are just going through the motions).So we drove for about a half hour and arrived at the first spot, the guide found some local berries and painted all of our faces with "war paint"  then we all had a chance to swing out over this big river with a swing and jump quite a high distance into the water, so far a good start!

Ready to battle the cave demons!

Chrissie mid-air about to slam the deep waters!

Next we were all given hand made candles and led to the entrace of a cave, appparently the cave had alot of religious significance to the Mayans in the area who would descend into the Earth to commune with their ancestors. So here we are at the entrance and I could tell everyone was excited about the caving. Being the brave, handsome and bold fellow I am I prompted to be in the middle of the group so if anyone was drowned from behind or attacked from in front I would have other schmucks to feed to the cave demons, hopefully filling them before they ate me (I know I am such a humanitarian).

Armed with only a Candle and our wits we bravely entered the cave.

"That's why I never walk in front" - Gary Larson

So into the cave we descended sometimes walking in water up to our thighs other times actually swimming without being able to touch the floor of the pitch black cave, we climbed up subterranean waterfalls with our candles and waded through pools, it was awesome! After a while of venturing though the caves we got to a larger cavern and the guide stopped and said if anybody was brave they could climb the limestone walls and jump into the pools from above. Obviously my rugged good looks had all the girls assuming I was going to climb and do some gnarly acrobatics jumping into the pools*. So obviously I was like "crimp", "crimp", "sloper", "lay off" and "dyno" to the top and was ready for some cave jumping deep inside the Earth. Once I had done it the other less manly members drew courage from me and too managed to get up the wall with my help and did a couple of jumps.

Cave demon is watching you!

Boldly going where no people* have been.

 Unfortunately this was as deep into the cave as our guide would take us so we all turned around and headed back out, we passed some other groups on the way out and were glad we had come in the morning before other people were there to make noise etc. Once we reached outside our guide collected what was left of our candles to recycle and then we started off walking toward our next destination, the pools of Semuc Champey!

We now walk, Into The Wild.

Along the way to the pools there was a high bridge over the river (about 10 meters high), I had heard that some people had jumped off of it, so I asked the guide if I could do it too. He went and studied the water and said he thought the river was too low but if I wanted to I could jump, as long as any broken legs etc weren't blamed on him. Challenge accepted! I shimmied over the metal bridge frame to the edge and gauged the water depth, I reckonned it was alright so I prepared to jump, amazed the other visitors stared on at this incredible show of human courage. I jumped splashed down, bent my legs and felt the river bottom below my feet, I pushed off and shot out of the water while the others aplauded me in awe*. No-one else was brave enough to do the jump but after a lot of pressure I got another bloke to jump with me, we both survived just fine...

Bridge of manhood! Seen by many conquered by few!

* may, or may not, be true

Tikal Mayan Temples

Spent a night in Dangringa (Val's Backpackers - $10/dorms) and left early the next morning to get to Tikal. Got to the Belize-Guatemala boarder (took 2 buses & a short taxi ride), paid B$37 exit fee and tried to find the Guatemalan immigration. It's so unobvious our loskop friend Michael acctually walked straight through...Got a taxi to Tikal for $20 each, eish but we were impatient and bombarded by taxi drivers, and couldn't see a bus in sight.

Yay! Our 4th country this trip!

 And the Spanish immediately starts...I'm better than Rob, but that doesn't say much! Got to Tikal National Park and the vegetation is amazing, but it's a lot drier than I thought. Got there and pitched our tent at The Jaguar Inn (Q50). Walked around, found a small path and followed it. We bumped into a group of people from all over -New Zealand (Pip), Quebec (Steph), Holland (Fenna) etc. They were trying to find a giant tree for sundowners so we tagged along.

The Stairs of Death!

The only photo I managed to get from the top of the tree. Steph standing on the not-so-straight platform with the canopy in the background.

 Found the big tree and OMG - was it high! We climbed up these termite ridden wooden stairs that creaked everytime you moved. I went up, saw the canopy under us, saw the temples jutting out in the distance, freaked out and went back down. I had such bad vertigo I thought I was going to pass out. No-one else had a problem and I felt like a bloody wimp, but whatever. It was a beautiful view, and we all started speaking about the possibilities of sneaking into Tikal at night to see the Mayan ruins at night.

The Ceiba Tree, ones we saw a lot during the trip!

 After a whole bunch of scheming a guard approached us and told us he will take us into  Tikal at night if we paid him the ticket price ($20). Sweet, so we packed our bags (sarmies, water, mozzie net, torch, camera and sheet) and followed the guide. Eight of us went, no-one was allowed to speak or turn on their torch, which just turned us all into giggling girlies like in High School, there's something about putting girls together and telling them to be quiet that fuels uncontrollable giggling.

Arrived at our 'Hotel' - just be quiet, don't litter and stay away from Templo IV were the instructions from the guide. We immediately saw a scorpion roaming the ruins, which freaked the girls out. It was pure awesomeness being there - the sky was dark and the stars were fantastic. The place had a creepy but calming atmosphere and we literally bumped into tons of temples. We had no idea where we were, but our amazing torch that Daddy gave to us highlighted the massive temples in the dark.

Walking up the stairs of the temples at night.

 Climbed up the 'forbidden' steps up to Templo V. Gorgeous! A more perfect evening couldn't be asked for. The milky way was right in front of us over the canopy line and bright shooting stars entertained us for hours. One was so bright and close we saw the green flames from the rock as it entered our atmosphere. Amazing!

Our group climbing up the stairs of Templo V.

 Templo V was perfect. It was a little chilly and the jungle was eerily quiet - not what I expected. Steph put on her jacket and as she turned around knocked over her open bag, which went tumbling down the stairs. Her bag flew down in slow motion, spitting out all her belongings as the bag the flew down the stairs. Shirts, underwear, food, iPod...all went flying out down the 58m high temple. Shocked in silence we watched until Pip broke the silence with a suppressed giggle which escalated in all of us cracking up. It was hilarious! The noise from the bag falling and our hysterical laugher woke up the howler monkeys, which replied in loud howls. Brilliant!

Steph's sad little tortillas sitting abandoned on the stairs.

 Poor Steph had to walk the stairs searching for her tortillas, knickers, iPod etc. She got everything except one slop (flip flop) - now I know why we always see one lonely shoe in places, because strange events like this! Decided to walk around the temple complex and see the archeological park at night. It's so different at night, the noises, the anticipation of when we will see another Temple, and the general lack of visibility makes it a completely different experience as in the day. Saw a small snake, terantula and some insects. Climbed up the tiring stairs toward Templo IV, the highest in Tikal (64m). Wow!! We could see the reflection of the stars and moon lighting up the canopy line, and we could feel how high we were.

Beautiful Lizard we saw.

 Didn't want to get busted and pay another $20 so we moved away from Templo IV and walked back to Templo V. A small roof protecting some important stone served as a great place to sleep (sleeping on the actual temple was too dangerous, demonstrated by Steph's bag incident). We set up our massive mossie net over all of us, laid down our sheet and tired to sleep. We could hear animals walking around us - sounded like something was carrying a whole branch and I could hear Pip getting nervous. 'Don't be scared of animals, it's people you must be worried about' - don't know if that was good advice, but animals aren't to be feared, especially in a big group. Everyone except me slept well, I was cold and so uncomfortable.

Setting up base camp. The stone that warrents a thatched roof is seen there.

 Woke up at 4:00am to make sure we were out of sight for the early morning tours (that's how you get busted). Climbed up to the top of Templo V to watch the sunrise. It was pitch black and the wooden stairs are so steep it's was more like climbing than stairs. Robbie slept on top (he's NOT a morning person, unfortunatley) and listened to the birds and monkeys wake up. The light was creeping in and the morning smelt fresh.

Napping on the temple at 4:20 am. You can see how narrow it is and why we didn't sleep there in the first place!

 We heard some people walking around, and seeing that it's impossible to hide when you are on a temple, decided to hide in one of the small tracks on the outskirts of the temples to avoid being seen. It was already light, and as we walked a troop of Spider Monkeys swooped through the trees above us. Spider monkeys!! Yay! I was SO excited to see them, they are alot more nimble and dainty than the sturdy howler, and much more fun to watch.

Ninja Monkey!!

 Exhausted, Rob and I lay down our sheet and napped for 30min, just what the doctor ordered. The park opens at 6am so any people found there before are kicked out, so as soon as 6am came we walked around and saw beautiful temples. Saw Toucans! Wow, this is turning out to be a great day already…

Hat's off to bird photographers, they are so difficult to photograph!

 Some very interesting temples, carvings and architecture. Parrots and monkeys were seen everywhere, as Tikal differs from other Mayan sites because it’s in fantastic condition and is nestled in the jungle (it’s all around the temples and you walk through the forest as opposed to wide open spaces).

Some of the carvings seen at Tikal.

Temple Complex G where we spotted our first toucans!

 Saw the iconic temples of Tikal – King Moon Double Comb, built by his son for him. Had breakfast there (Bovril sandwiches with tomato and onion). We saw some excavated faces that looked amazing but had a hard time trying to take a great pic. There were so many birds flying around mum & dad would be going crazy! Enjoyed the views at the temples and had a great day.

Huge scultpur of a face embedded in the temple.

Jump! Fenna, Pip, Steph, Rob & Chrissie

 Walked to Templo IV, the biggest, and saw the spectacular view from the top during the day. It was honestly breath-taking! Imagine being King and standing there, thinking you are the most important person in the world, not having a clue that in the other parts of the world, ships were being prepared for invasion of your land. Sinister maybe, but powerful.

I can see the four corners of the world! I am invincible!

"No, I am God"

 Saw some Coati’s and a malachite toucanite on our way back! Saw a guide knock on a tree with a hole, and nothing came out. Went back later, knocked on the tree and out popped a sweet little toucanite! Felt so awesome. Walked out of the park while the hoards of tourists were coming in. It was already scorching hot and am SO glad to have been there crack of dawn because the heat quickly became unbearable.

Cutest coati ever!

Malacite Toucanite popping out to say hello!

 Fantastic experience! We almost skipped it and went straight to Honduras, thank god we didn’t, because this was a once in a lifetime experience!

Princess kissing her Tikalian Stallion!

Tobacco Caye

We heard about a tiny island in the south of Belize where you can snorkel straight from the beach called Tobacco Caye. We took a few buses to Dangringa, via Belmorpan, and took a motorboat to Tobacco Caye. The ride was so bumpy it left like my boobs were going to slide off - sports bra is deffinitely reccommended! Saw an island in the distance, and then we drove right past it - what?! Tobacco Caye was smaller than I thought! I could spit across the whole island if the wind was right, it´s about 5 acres. We arrived and everyone was so chilled. No-one had change on the island, so we were running tabs with everyone. We camped right on the beach, under coconut trees (but away from the deadly coconuts) and enjoyed the day.

Our little Island Paradise.

This island is a must-see. The vibe is so relaxed, no-one is in a hurry and the only thing with a wheel on the whole island is a wheelbarrow. No roads or paths, just sand, with a few docks jutting out from where you can hire a boat for fishing, diving or snorkelling. We saw a massive stingray swim right in front of our tent, and a beautiful green turtle (that had a rusty red shell) swimming under the jetty. Wow, paradise!

Our neat little tent.

This little guy came to greet us 2m from our tent.

Great spot to camp, right on the beach.

Met some really lovely girls from the States - Tal and Amy. Had drinks for happy hour on the beach bar and watched the eagle rays jump high in the air, to evade predators. It was picture perfect beautiful, calm beach, an island in the distance covered in mangroves with the sun setting, watching tons of eagle rays jumping and swimming. Wow...Words can´t describe it. I saw an eagle ray jump bloody high, and a huge shark fin follow behind. Eek, zambezi (bull) sharks aren´t calming when I´m snorkelling.

Tobacco Caye is right on the reef and is frequented by eagle rays, turtles and tons of marine life.

The next day we decided to go fishing, just for you Mick & Kyle! It was $20 per hour for the boat, but we were 4 people, went out for 2 hours so it was a good deal. We trawled a little on the way to the island, then used sardines to get some fish. Amy caught a big baracuda, and I caught a small one, so threw it back. We entered the mangroves and AC our guide threw in his net to catch tons of small sardines that we used as bait. We fished for a while, when a massive storm went over tiny Tobacco and we didn´t put our rain sheet over our tent. Zoomed back to the island to see some kind semaritan had covered our tent. Waited for the storm to pass and went out again.

On the boat with the blue water behind him.

AC throwing the net in the mangroves to catch sardines for live bait.

Beautiful Mangroves.

Were fishing in deepish water. I caught a fish on a hand line, yay! We all pulled out some fish, no massive ones, but big enough to eat. Rob caught some, so did Amy. Went back and made a massive fish braai. Rob climbed coconut trees and we were taught how to open coconuts with machetes efficiently. Rum and coconut water is so refreshing, the best drink ever! We were also taught how to make coconut milk - so easy, grind up coconut, let it soak in water for about an hour, strain it and voala! Had a fantastic braai (barbeque)!!

The fish we caught and were allowed to keep!

The end product - Robbie prepared them and I made the braai.

The clever little machine to grate coconut.

The next day we did the typical - snorkel, relax, open coconuts and play with the machete. We saw a scorpion fish, tons of colourful ones, rays...lovely fan corals etc. Very nice place. One of the girls on the island made us delicious empindadas with fish inside, served with a homemade spicy relish - delicious! We packed up our tent in the morning and relaxed all day. A group of kayakers went from Corozol all the way to Placencia on their kayaks, sleeping over on the thousands of islands that are scattered throughout the reef. Wow, what an amazing trip, and what amazing people. Said good-bye to them and the island and took a bumpy road back. Great place,definitely recommended and if you go - bring your own booze and snacks!

Some fishies taken with our underwater camera.

Corn empinadas

Beautiful sunset. Adios!