Belize

I stayed in Belize for a week and a half, about three days inland and a week on an island. I left Flores in Guatemala and crossed the border. I was slightly taken advantage of because I had no clue what I was doing. I got out of the van near the border (which almost left with my luggage - I was running behind it to tell him to stop) at the wrong end of town and later saw people from my same van at passport control. It was only a few bucks though so I wasn't bothered too much and the extra 'taxi' took me from spot to spot so I didn't have to walk in the heat. I don't think I've ever walked through a border crossing before, so that was a first.

Once through, I got a taxi to a nearby town, San Ignacio. It's a good spot to stay when you want to do some cave tours, tubing trips and ruin visits. I did a cave visit that was like three hours in the cave and you got to see Mayan ruins and skeletons because the caves were sacred places for them and rituals were performed here. It was more legit than the candle in a cave and more informative. The ruins and skeletons were pretty cool to see. 

Then I did some exploring on my own and caught the bus out of town to a small village across from more Mayan ruins. You had to cross a river and there was a manually powered ferry. It was hooked up to cables and pulleys and a guy pulled you across - people, vehicles and horses too. A couple vehicles doing other tours asked me if I wanted a ride. I think it was like a mile walk back to the ruins. They seemed a bit surprised when I politely thanked them but declined. 

The ruins were fun and you could climb up top this really high one and even see back across the border to Guatemala. I did some exploring and went to a smaller ruin. There were not many people there and I had it to myself. I walked up and started to walk around the back when I was scared to death by a giant iguana that was white/grey and blended perfectly into the rocks/ruins. I laughed afterwords but it did scare the crap out of me, something so large suddenly scurrying when I was near. 

I headed back on what had to be the slowest bus ever. I don't think we got over 30mph. It took probably triple the amount of time to get home. But I made it. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find my pictures from San Ignacio :(. 

Then I headed to the airport. I shared a ride with another American - maybe in his 50s. Turns out he's a caver. It's his hobby. He comes to Belize frequently and they hire him to lead teams into new unexplored caves in order to map them and identify any new ruins. He had found ruins on this trip! He had a book that illustrated some of his adventures including creatures he has found in the caves. Freak out now. Huge spiders, scorpions, bats. Not to mention he may be underground for miles and days at a time. Definitely not my idea of a fun hobby :). It was neat to meet him though. 

I was headed to the airport to pick up a friend who was joining me for a long weekend on the island. I was so looking forward to it and I know she was too. Seven weeks without friends from home does get lonely even as you meet new friends. Anyway, long story short I saw her for like 10 minutes before she was whisked away to a return flight to the U.S.  Passport troubles that prevented her from entering the country. :(  It was super sad and she was super upset. I felt so bad for her. She did end up making it back home but not without a lot of immigration discussions. Enough on that. 

I headed to the island on my own. I arrived just after a torrential downpour. It had been storming there recently and they were actually without power from one of the three generators that electrify the island. Lucky me, my rental apartment was in the no power zone. But it only lasted the afternoon and then was fine. And the apartment was perfect! My first AirB&B rental and I loved it. The owner lived next door and was the nicest and super helpful lady. She drove me around the island in her golf cart (no automobiles allowed) to give me the tour. 

It is a small island but still plenty of shops to buy food and tour operators to book trips. I did a day snorkeling trip and then a night snorkeling. I had never done night snorkeling before and that experience was awesome! On both trips I got to see a lot. I also kayaked around the island one morning and went to a place where these huge fish chill for the day. The water is clear and you can see them swim right under you. I tried some local food and bbq. I almost did kiteboarding. But I only had one day and he said it takes at least a couple sessions for you to figure it out and get comfortable without being exhausted :). Next time. 

I'll make up for pictures here ;)

We started at a spot where they feed the sharks and rays which was really cool because then they were all swarming below you. These are not people eating sharks by the way. 

One of the crew took my camera and dove down to get closer shots for me. 

Thanks man!

Some type of ray 

We got to see a lone manatee by chance. It was awesome!

She went right by us and below us. 

Then I happened upon what I think is the biggest turtle I've ever seen in real life. Just chomping on some grass. 

Another one swimming alongside me. 

The crew made us some ceviche and had tortilla chips. The leftovers were thrown overboard and the birds had a fiest. 

This is one of the pelicans from my kayaking the next morning. 

These were the big fish swimming in their protected area. 

This guy had his canoe out. 

One night we went out at sunset to do the night snorkel. 

It was a little harder to figure out my flash and get the camera to work well underwater at night. Here the guide is holding a huge hermit crab. 

There's an octopus here, but it's hard to see. Right in the center is its head, the bluish green area. 

Here's one in action moving across the sea floor. Again, middle of the picture a brighter blue green that is almost see through. 

Another turtle we found roaming at night. 

The turtle at a different angle. 

And this is a super small squid floating near the top of the water, thus the reflection. He was able to fit in the palm of the guide's hand. It took me forever just to figure out what he was showing me :).

Otherwise I read a lot. It was very quiet and peaceful. Before I knew it the week was up. I headed back to land and started a long bus ride back to Flores, Guatemala. I stayed in a hotel with a pool there so I could enjoy my last day in Central America. That night I headed to the airport for the red eye back to Chicago. 

Tikal

During the day of driving, we had to get in line for a ferry river crossing. There was a boy helping out at the coconut stand chopping open the coconuts with a machete.

Here's the ferry we are waiting on. It was powered by what looked like a couple big boat outboard motors (if that's what they're called?).

The truck next to us had a dead cow :(.

Flores is a quiet little town and people are mostly there to head to Tikal or other nearby Mayan ruins sites. The town itself is touristy and on a little island in the middle of the lake, but connected to the mainland by a road. The lake has risen in recent years and some of the lakeside properties and walkways are flooded - like you could take a dip and do some swimming flooded.

I got myself onto a sunset tour to Tikal and we headed out mid afternoon. Not the best tour I've been on but not the worst. Here's a map of the Tikal ruins that you see before heading out and our guide explained which ones we would visit. You could probably spend a full day or two here visiting them all. But for me, ruins kinda look the same after you've seen them a few hours.

This was a huge tree in the park that the Mayans termed the tree of life. It was pretty interesting looking to me.

There were two of these towers across from each other. You could only climb one (they erected stairs and platforms of wood so you aren't on the ruins).

The ruins to the left however, you could climb all over. That was pretty fun to explore. I even turned a corner and ran into a monkey. I don't really care for monkeys so I was happy to turn back around.

Then we headed to a different tower for the sunset. There was scaffolding we were climbing around. Super safe I'm sure ;). There is not much money in Guatemala to spend on discovering and restoring these ruins. So you have discoveries still occurring today (often funded by international universities doing research, many from the U.S.). You also have ruins that are mid or pre restoration. It is crazy to see how they get buried over time even though they are fairly large structures.

My sunset pictures didn't turn out too awesome. This is one of the better ones. You could see some of the ruins sticking out above the treetops from our vantage point. One of the guides also does birding tours. He spotted some far, far away toucans for us. I saw a glint of yellow beak in the binoculars but really that was all. Too bad they weren't closer. We walked back in the semi-dark and headed back to Flores.

Semuc Champey

I left Lake Atítlan in the morning and wasn't quite prepared for the 14 hour trip that followed. I got car sick and maybe other sick as well. But I made it to my hostel which was set in the jungle. Though I spent my first two days pretty sick and it was raining a lot. I felt better by the third day and dinner finally stayed settled in my tummy. 

Day four was the purpose for all this nonsense and it was awesome! It was a full day excursion. We hopped in the back of a pickup truck, standing and hanging on, and headed into the jungle for an hour or so. We stopped near a river which is a milky green color because of the minerals. First task was to go cave exploring. I had my headlamp but they also gave us a candle. I was glad I had my lamp because there was a lot of water in the cave and I kept dunking my candle. 

We hiked a little ways up and headed in wearing our swim suits and hiking sandals. He even gave us a little warrior face paint. We walked and swam through water the whole way. There was a ladder up a waterfall, a very dark dunk tank where you could cannonball in and a couple water slides. One was through a hole and you couldn't see the bottom because it was pitch black. I was pretty nervous for that one but it ended up being fun. 

After the cave, we headed to the river and there was a line for the giant river swing. I stepped up after watching a few others go. And then it took a while to talk my self into swinging. It was a big swing and you went far and high over the river. I was so nervous. Finally I went. Cussing up a storm the whole way. As soon as I was over water deep enough to not kill me, I went for it. BAM! I went too early. Bellyflopped it big time. Everyone was asking if I was ok. I was embarrassed and stung, but was okay. Although over the next few days, one of my thighs purpled up quite nicely - the whole thigh. And my tummy muscles were super sore. Memories :). 

The swing done correctly by one of the other guys on the volcano hike from over a week and a half ago (randomly).

Next we relaxed in a tube ride down the river with little boys with coolers of beer following along in their own tubes to try and make a sale. Little entrepreneurs :). We walked our tubes back and a few of the brave souls jumped off the bridge. I was too nervous for them to even consider it myself. We had lunch and headed to Semuc Champey. 

It's a park and we walked a long path to get to the top of the pools. I was super hot and straggled behind. But I made it. Basically there's a raging river going down this canyon. But somehow some limestone covered portions of the river. Well not all of the river because some water, but just a little, comes over the limestone rocks. It has formed lots of levels of pools with clear water. We swam down pool by pool. Some people dove. I mostly slid myself from one spot to the next. Then at the end, you see the raging river coming back out under the limestone. So crazy. 

The next morning I prepared myself for another long van ride to the next destination. Luckily it was the nicest transport van I had yet seen and this trip was much, much better.