Flores

Our first destination in Guatemala sounded pretty darn lovely from the offing. Flores is spectacularly located on an island in Lago de Peten Itza. Most of the hotels and restaurants are on the lakeside streets so unless you're quite unlucky you're bound to get a lakeside view, and we did. Its a beautiful little place, quite built up, but nicely done, where all the roads are haphazardly cobbled.


Lots of prettily painted buildings.








Clair particularly liked this one. I liked the fact that it seems to say it is the national institute of statistics, delegation department. Maybe not a lot gets done there then.


Clair also loved their phone boxes.


The Guatemalan people we met were hugely friendly and helpful. Having read through a brief history of the country on the bus over, it was quite astounding how totally upbeat and just getting on with things everybody was. According to the lonely planet Guatemala was recently rated the worst democracy in Latin America, and there is some stiff competition for that title.

In terms of what we're likely to encounter on our travels it is deemed one of the safer countries for tourism. The only directly noticeable difference to Mexico that we could see was the heavily armed guards at all cashpoints, and unique drive through banks for cash deposits, where you put your money in a little container and it gets sucked up a pipe into the bank! Neat idea!

Transport around the island of Flores and the small town that it is joined to it by a causeway is normally by tuktuk. I love these things having raced around Bangkok in them. Clair was not quite so keen initially.


This chap was a total legend who raced us around the island a couple of times whilst Clair's nails nearly pierced my thigh.


The village of San Miguel on the opposite side of the lake to Flores.


All around the island were these guys trying to get you to go for a lake tour on their lovely lanches.


Oh hi! A floating house to go with the floating hedge! Doesn't really look like the most practical shape for a boat. Clair was nearly beside herself after spotting this whilst I was out of our room. Apparently there was a chap playing the Marimba onboard and a fully licensed bar. Unfortunately we didn't get to go out on it.


We spotted tonnes more bizarre little lizardy fellas whilst chilling on the island. This guy was making funny little noises, and we noticed him inflating this very odd yellow air sac beneath him.


On our first evening, we watched a couple take a rented kayak out on the beach, and thought that looked like an ideally chilled activity for us two. So the next day we got ourselves a nice picnic together and hired it for a couple of hours before sundown.

All was going totally fine until we noticed the wind seemed to be picking up, and we looked behind us to notice that a vast thunderstorm had sort of crept up without either of us noticing. We decided that it would probably make sense to head back to shore. Unfortunately the wind had suddenly got to such a speed that 15 minutes of solid paddling had got us about 50 yards and we were still miles from where we really needed to be.

Just as the rain started to really hurl it down (massive drops that actually hurt when they hit you), we cut our losses and pegged it over to another tiny island in the middle of the lake. Luckily, the island was inhabited by an extremely cheerful and rather eccentric half-German Guatemalan whose family had owned it for the previous 50 years. He helped drag us up onto the jetty and we pegged it into his little house with his 2 very excited dogs.

It then transpired that he ran an (admittedly very rarely visited) private Museum of Mayan artifacts. He was eager to show us, and we soggily traipsed into an amazing Aladdin's cave of the stuff. He talked us through loads of the pieces, and then proceeded to get them out and actually let us feel some of them. It was utterly incredible to be touching these genuine artifacts. One of them was a 2500 year old obsidian axehead. Clair was immensely excited with all the touchy feelyness.

He then managed to somehow retrieve our kayak and helped us back into it and sent us on our way. What a total legend!

Here we are looking back at his island, with the storm in the distance.


Beautiful skies.


Looking back at Flores from the kayak.


'Stop leaning over or you'll tip us both in!'


Here's Clairy in the water after our kayaking escapade. It was beautifully warm (not suprising really as it was outrageously hot out of the water).


Thats our friend's little island again and a loverly sunset.

Mexico to Guatemala - Three Countries in One Day

Oh hi! Our bus out of Mexico set off at 6am from the bus station. We set our alarm for 4:30am and nipped off to the 24hour cafe. Wiji was in charge of putting this plan into action, and was totally motivated by the prospect of one last 'Huevo Mexicana'. I couldn't really eat at 5 in the morning, but we knew the journey would take nine or ten hours with the possibility of a few random stop for the baños (I hoped)!

It didn't take any time at all to reach the border between Mexico and Belize, we hopped off the bus to show our passports at sleepy and indifferent immigration, and hoofed our backpacks through the building to meet the bus out the other side and continued on our way. Quite quickly the landscape looked very different, much more green, flat and lush. We made our way through the empty morning roads of Belize, stopping unofficially for one of the two drivers to hop out, check over and return to the bus with a bucket that he then sat on for the entire journey, next to the other driver!

Our first official stop in Belize was at Orange Walk, where our drivers had their first big meal of the day, and we looked at the market setting up from the bus windows.

A big convoy of lorries waiting to set off with a harvest load of sugar cane.


Everyone had grass lawns in Belize!


We passed through rural Crooked Tree and Ladyville on the northern highway. It was odd to see all the signs in English (Belize used to be a disputed British colony known as British Honduras).

The port at Belize City was super busy and packed with delapidated beautiful wooden buildings right on the waterfront. We saw someone nearly get run over here. The streets were narrow and crowded in a chaotic manner.






A massive cemetary split by the busy highway, not the most peaceful resting place!


Quite representative of the buildings we saw in Belize, two storeys, wooden and nearly derelict.




A shop, restaurant and a nightclub!


'All eyes on me' graffiti.


Some of the landscape made us think of Britain, except for the giant palm trees, that is.


We picked up more passengers on the way through Belize as the day progressed, the driver even stopped to help people with a broken down car. Later, after much day dreaming and looking out the window, we all hopped off at the Belize Guatemala border, on the Western highway past San Ignacio, to walk through the heavily armed and much more alert immigration office.

We had to pay $30 Belize dollars each on the Belize side and then 10 Guatemalan quetzels each on the Guatemalan side. Lucky then, that as soon as we got off the bus at the Belize border we were met with very enthusiastic men who offered to buy our Mexican pesos for Belize dollars and Guatemalan Quetzels. Oh go on then, if we've got to give all this cash away! They even wanted our Euro's...defo have them!

Then we got on the bus again, waited for the drivers to have another meal and set off into dusty Guatemala, it seemed to get hotter and hotter as we went on, no air con now, we hung our heads out the windows.

The Belize Guatemala border was right by the Belize river. We saw lots of sights like this in Guatemala, with children playing in the rivers and the women washing mounds of clothes.


'The Three Amigos'. The actual bus driver on the left. Personal phone calls didn't put him off dodging the massive pot holes at speed. In the middle a passenger who decided it was his turn to sit on the bucket and have a very passionate debate with the driver (when he wasn't on the phone.) On the right the 'spare' driver, who lost his place on the bucket, and had to sit on the step. Don't slow down for the rickety wooden bridge!


After making it into Guatemala, much lighter of cash, we both fell asleep, slumped over our hand luggage, despite the intense heat, massive pot holes and mental driving, we actually awoke at the drivers call for Flores, our destination in Guatemala. It was quite an epic journey!

A Map of our Mexican Adventure

Seeing as we loved Mexico so damn much and spent such a lot of time there we thought we should stick a little map up for friends and family to see exactly where we went. I can't promise I'll have the energy to this for all countries, as it took ages.

Click the picture below to see the full size version.


The key to the numbers are as follows:
1) Mexico City
2) Puebla
3) Oaxaca
4) Puerto Escondido
5) San Cristobal de la Casas
6) Palenque
7) Campeche
8) Merida
9) Chichen Itza
10) Cancun
11) Isla Mujeres
12) Playa del Carmen
13) Cozumel
14) Tulum
15) Chetumal

Chetumal - Our Last Stop in Mexico

Oh hi! Sadly our we have reached the end of the road, as far as our journey is concerned, in Mexico, although we could spend much longer here! We really do need to get on with the rest of our travels!

We caught our last ADO bus to Chetumal. Chactemàal (the original Mayan name) means "Place of the red wood" apparently (not that we saw much of it). The city is on the east coast of the Yucatan peninsular, and is the capital of the state of Quintana Roo. Chetumal is an important port for the region and operates as Mexico's main trading gateway with the neighboring country Belize.

Here is quality map courtesy of Quintanna Roo council. We could look back on our whole journey across Mexico on this, it was fun to reminisce...


The 1840s revolt of the indigenous Maya peoples against Mexican rule, known as the Caste war of the Yucatan, drove all the Hispanic people from this region; many settled in British Honduras (now modern Belize). Chetumal seemed like a strangely new town compared to other places we have visited, and it is relatively, having been resettled only just over a hundred years ago. We didn't seem to see many people around, althought there were a lot of parked cars, shops, wide streets and hotels, it felt like we were in a ghost town. It was quite odd.

We made a number of trips to the ADO bus station on the other side of town over the course of our two days in Chetumal. This wasn't intentional, sometimes things just are like that! One journey originated from the post office to the bus station to have my parcel checked and sealed up (why the bus station and not the post office, we will never know!) The lady at the bus station had fun laughing at our random souveniers, as she rummaged through them. She decided all was well and good, if a bit odd, and sealed the box up and then sent us on our way back to the post office to have the parcel weighed and payed for.

Here is an ADO mural in the bus station. Thanks ADO. The British public transport system could learn a lot from your efficient, customer friendly, cheap and reliable service. We salute you!


Chetumal seemed to be a concrete jungle, with some totally mad buildings. This one is a drive through off licence...no really!


This was the top recommended hotel in Chetumal from lonely planet. Its name was the Ucum Hotel. Wij thought that was hilarious in itself, but the colour was shocking, even in Mexico it seemed wrong, and this was only one tiny part of it, the whole place was painted like this. It was fully booked and we had to stay in a weird anonymous 'travel lodge' type place, boo!


Oh, if only! These are great, but not as good as a chopper.


We did get on and do some useful things away from the bus station. We went to the very impressive Museum of Mayan Culture. This was in a specifically designed and well thought out building. The displays were beautifully presented... models galore of all the Mayan temples in Mexico, as well as a three storey Mayan tree of life that explained the concept thoroughly.

The whole museum was filled with the sounds of the jungle, it was very atmospheric. Wiji was able to play the interactive Mayan maths game and convert mayan heiroglyphics into numbers and vice versa (I managed to watch). We also learnt about the Mayan calendar through interactive games. It was brilliant! In our continuing theme of Chetumal, we were the only people there.


Exibits included a Mayan underworld in the basement with moody lighting and sound effects.


A gecko ceramic container...and many more exhibits that I took piccys of for a school resource, whatever.


On one of our other many visits to the bus station we confirmed that we could book a bus ticket via Belize to Guatemala, the only thing was we had to return the next day to buy it!? LMAO. And so we did, return to the bus station again and again...despite all of this we were very sad to leave beautiful Mexico and the super friendly and welcoming Mexicans.

Tulum Cabañas and Tribal Chillage

Oh hi! After leaving Playa del Carmen, what could be better than the promise of a cabaña on a deserted beach? The Lonely Planet promised clean safe and secure cabañas. Oh really!? I had my doubt's, given that this one in particular was called 'Tribal Village'. My heart sank. I felt sure that we were about to be subjected to some bongo playing fucktards and mangey dreads. But what a pleasant surprise, there actually was none of this! It did however, occur to us that the Lonely Planet description may be some what out of date, or even written when 'Tribal Village' was owned by someone else. Secure it wasn't. Even though we were given a key and padlock, all the adobe had come away for the wooden structure and the windows only stayed shut if I wedged Wiji's boxer shorts under the rabbit hutch latch.

The bed was unique. Someone had taken a bed frame and then roughly nailed each leg on top of a much smaller and spindly piece of wood. The nails were spiltting the wood, and it rocked savagely. We could not work out why this had happened, and were convinced that it was going to collapse. It didn't, fortunately, but the wood had really split by the time we left!

That said. I was totally and utterly in love with the place! It was a Robinson Crusoe dream! We really were living the dream! LMAO. We had the most amazing views of the sunset and sunrise. I loved getting up at 5ish to walk on the beach alone (Wij loved staying in bed and having a bit of peace and quiet, away from me asking him to look at stuff.) Ideal. We would have loved to stay here for longer...

Oh really?! If I hear a bongo I'll...


My heart sank.


LMAO! What time was the hurricane? Check out these mangey cabañas with Wiji in our window!


Mmm, ours had the most double sheets attached to the outside, because most of the adobe had fallen off! This seemed like a quick fix for privacy and a wind break. Why is ours made of pallets? Not very trad.


Oh hi! Are you man Friday?


LMAO! Wiji reading, all nice and quiet like. While I am laughing hysterically as I creep up on him. 'Why are you reading in a dark shed, err I mean cabaña?' LMAO! Come outside!


Oh hi! I've just had my bath in the sea!






After shouting 'WIJI!' at the cabaña for ages and ages from the shore, he finally put his book down and looked out.


In the 'communal area'...whatever. Behind is the restaurant that the guide book said served funky fusion food. It was actually derelict, but a sign still insisted that you can't eat your own food there! We saw an age'ed hipped eating half an avocado here,


and doing tai chi here, that always makes me laugh!


Here is Wiji modelling the shonky bed and broken mosquito net. Loving the palm roof though.


Getting some mango's, grapefruit and bananas for breakfast. Ha ha, the fruit shop man clearly thinks we are losers...no, we just love your shop!


We went out in the early evening on the first night and had a great meal in Tulum. A young American couple wanted to be our friends. One was a pilot on a private jet and the other was the trolly dolly, this was their life, it really made us laugh! I don't think they get people laughing at thier career very often, it was hilarious though! They couldn't understand why we would want to go away for so long. Doh! There was no point even going there...

Like true Brits we got some Sol to drink whilst we sat on the beach looking at the stars. This was super lush, the moon was full and orange and low in the sky. We chilled, then decided to go to bed. On our way back to the cabaña I spotted a hermit crab. WOW! I had to pick it up and have a closer look, they are amazing! So I took it into the cabaña and over the sound of Wiji repeatedly saying in a defeated tone, 'Oh Clair', I was excitedly shouting 'get the camera!' Here I am holding it, you can see it stretching out of its shell. This is right before it pinched my finger with its claw of steel. I made a big growling noise (mmm, odd) then had to get it off my finger. It had pinched through my nail and into my finger. Wiji was worried that I had distressed the crab. No doubt I had! Sorry, Love you.

If we hadn't had the swiss amy knives to open the Sol, we could have asked you!


The hermit crab, right after the event. Hey, I can still see you! Lovely beady eyes! I checked him over and put him outside and watched him scurry off. Then had a good look at my finger with the head torch. My nail was partly hanging off, and a bit was pinched out. Wiji said that he knew this would happen. LMAO, yeah? It was really funny, classic Clair! We saw lots more hermit crabs after dark, but I didn't pick them up (I was closely supervised.)


The next morning, with the sun coming into the cabaña. You can see where a big slab of the adobe has fallen off on the left. Does our washing count as a home improvement?


Looking out at the early morning sea.


We had two windows, unlike other cabaña's. Is this because part of the wall fell down?


Like the total child that I love being, I just had to be up before anyone, I mean anyone - to be the first person to walk on the beach, 5am seemed to do it.




LMAO!!! Check out the hoofy peg that has been dragged across the sand!! That was hilarious!! The next day Wiji got up early and we had our fruit breakfast on the beach, even better than eating mango in the bath!




As it turned out, even other cabaña sites were just as worse for wear. It was funny that to the right of this was a full on gated spa resort. It was funny watching them walk over the rocks and stare at our cabañas!




We went to 'Charlies' for traditional Yucatan fair, although Wij had Oaxaca pollo mole. I had poblano quesa and pecans. 'When can I start?!'


LMAO. I will frame this picture I love it, it's soooo good, even if I did make you do it! I Love you.


We had a brilliant time here! It was really beautiful. We are really looking forward to giving it a few weeks on the beach in a cabaña in future. Oh fuck yeah!