Flores & Tikal - Week 6

27th to 29th October

After a very sad farewell to Ozzie Kate (were at school together in Xela and have been travelling together since - lataz Kate, see you in London!), we reluctantly left the beautiful Lanquin and had the journey from hell to Flores.

Not expecting any sympathy here but we had a pretty rubbish couple of days! James was poorly and couldn't stop being sick for two days and the bus journey took an horrendous 11 hours altogether from Lanquin to Flores. The bleedin chicken bus wouldn't go more than 35mph on a road so straight you could see for 10km and it was absolutely roasting at 37 degrees. We were then sold a dodgy tour ticket for Tikal that was meant to leave at 3am but the bus never turned up!!

We managed to get to Tikal nevertheless and it was worth all the misery beforehand! Tikal is a Mayan site that is around 2000 years old and the place is amazing. We were there for the sunrise and to hear the jungle 'waking up' with howler monkeys, parrots and toucans. The temple site was huge. A bit of info - At its height Tikal had a population of 10,000 who gradually deforested the whole area to such an extent that they caused the rains in the area to stop, killing them all off - silly Mayans. Our guide told us an interesting fact, in 1950 there was only a two week dry season in the jungle, but again such has been the deforestation to the south that today there is a FIVE month dry season. It looks like history is repeating itself... (guess who wrote this geeky bit?? - yep James!!)

Some of the main temples and sites:

The three largest temples sticking out of the jungle at sunrise.

The obligatory cheesy photo of your authors!!

Books we read: The Pilot's Wife, Anita Shreve - pretty naff but good ending.

Lanquin & Semuc Champey - Week 6

23rd to 26th October

We took the shuttle from the Black Cat in Antigua on Monday up to Lanquin which is in a beautiful valley in central Guatemala. It was a beautiful drive although it did take 8 hours!! The hostel we stayed at [El Reitero] was gorgeous at the bottom of the valley next to the river. One afternoon we hired lorry inner tubes to float 45mins down the river - very relaxing and cool scenery.


On Wednesday, we took a trip to the Ka'ba caves in our bikinis (alright, James didn't wear his bikini). It was awesome (sorry, running out of superlatives on this blog and awesome really sums this bit up!). We each had a candle to hold and were swimming through the caves, climbing up and down ladders and crawling through waterfalls by candelight - crazy! Love the health and safety in Guatemala!


In the afternoon, we went to Semuc Champey so a limestone formation that has created a series of aquamarine pools that we swam in. The main flow of the river goes under the 'limestone bridge' in a tunnel, under the pools and comes back out at the bottom. The photos from the viewpoint say it all:

Books we read: Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell - bit slow in places but pretty good - James loved it.

Volcan Pacaya - Week 5

22nd October

After a final farewell to our sueco friends from school (adios amigos!) on Sunday, we set out to climb Volcan Pacaya. This has got to be one of the coolest things ever!! The volcano is currently active and we took a 1 1/2 hour hike up its slopes to where the lava was flowing! Surely not safe but the guide assured us it was and we're still here so...

Can't describe how spectacular it was but hopefully the photos do some justice.

It was a bit hot this close - my shoes melted!!

I BORROWED the cigarette, mum!!

Lake Atitlan & Antigua - Week 5

16 - 22nd October.

Arrived in Panajachel at Lake Atitlan on Monday afternoon then travelled on the boat to Santa Cruz on the lake on Tuesday morning. Stayed in a great hostel (Iguana) right on the lake which was absolutely stunning.

On Wednesday we did a walk across to the next village, Jaibalito, for some more amazing views of the lake.

There was also lots of time for relaxing and taking in the atmos...


On Thursday, we decided to go diving in the lake as Katie hadn't dived for 7 years (!) and James never so we wanted to give it a go somewhere nice and chilled. Having sat round in a wetsuit for 5 hours (waiting for Katie to go through her refresher of skills in the water), James finally got his half hour induction chat and we were eventually out on the boat to do the dive. However... got into the water (a backwards roll off the boat for James's first water entry - should have seen his face!) and after a couple of tries, James decided it wasn't for him. To be fair, the water was pretty cold, choppy and visibility rubbish so perhaps it'll be better in the Caribbean!! Try again then... Katie went anyway with the instructor and the dive was great, lots of fish, crabs and wierd rock formations from when the lake was created thousands of years ago.

Each evening, we had a 'family-style' dinner with everyone else in the hostel and most evenings the backdrop was an enormous electric storm accross the lake.

On Friday morning we left Lake Atitlan and a boat and 4 chicken buses later we were in Antigua (and we actually saw our first chiken on a chicken bus!).

Antigua is a beautiful old colonial town that used to be the capital of Guatemala until the 1700s. Stayed in a new hostel called the Black Cat and have spent a couple of days seeing the sights (tons of churches!!).

We met up with all the people from school in Xela here too and went on a crazy night out on Friday. James, however, was very naughty and ended up very, very drunk on 70p triples so Katie had to carry him home by 11...

On the first day, we also found out (to Katie's huge excitement!) that 3 of the founding members of the Buena Vista Social Club actually live in Antigua and make random performances in different bars when they feel like it. This isn't in any of the guide books so we were really excited. However, it was all very cloak and daggers and impossible to find out where they would be playing. On our first night we went on a tuk-tuk ride to the other side of town to and incredible fancy bar where we heard they were playing. And they were there but they wouldn't let us in (they said there was only room for 10 people but I'm sure they didn't like the look of 6 scruffy back packers!!). So the next night we heard about a bar they might be playing in so we went there. They weren't playing there but the owner thought that they were playing at another bar so 1/2 hour later we were there (just James and Katie by this point, everyone else had given up!) but no, they weren't playing 'til the following Thursday. Hmmmph, if you believe that you'll believe anything... Even though the rest of the time in Antigua was great, we still left slightly disappointed. Will have to come back one day!

Last night we blew the budget and went for a very extravagent meal in a five star hotel! The place was magnificent and we just couldn't resist it! The place was archaelogical site where they found the remains of a mayan monestary and then built the hotel around it. It has been restored very sympathetically and the place is magical. There are 4 museums in the grounds and it is the most elegant place we've ever been to! (Unfortunately, the photos in the night weren't good enough for the blog!). The meal was delicious and came to a grand total of 30 quid for 2 courses and a bottle of wine!

Xela - Week 4

Another busy week in Xela.

I (Katie) was working in an orphanage in the afternoons from 2 'til 5 every day so after that and 5 hours of school and an hour of homework it's been jam-packed. The orphanage was terrible on the first day. We met a couple of children that were very sad because they had only been there a couple of weeks. It was heartbreaking watching the kids as young as seven doing their own washing and having hours in the afternoon with no toys to play with. They were unnaturally affectionate but I got used to it and it was great to teach them English, play games and get to know them.

I (James) played football again for the school on thursday. After getting thrashed 18-6 by 14 year old boys the week before it was good to win this week 8-7. See dream team below!!

Julio, Milton, Hugo, James, Jorge and Toby

We left school on Friday, much to our relief!! We really enjoyed it but were very ready to start our holidays properly without homework!! It was quite sad to leave, though. The setting was perfect and all the teachers and other students were lovely (see below).

(Round the circle, left to right) Katie, Matilda, Sandra, Katie, Johanna, Rebecca & Carolina

On Saturday we went to a village called Viejo Palmar which was completed devastated by a volcanic eruption in 1998. There was a massive volcanic mudslide due to the combination of the eruption and the torrential rain. The photo below shows the old church that was split in two by the volcanic mud flow!

James scared on the rickety suspension bridge at Viejo Palmar!

Sunday was a big match for Xelaju against their closest rivals fighting for the top spot in the league. We had to get there at 8.30 in the morning to get tickets and the match started at 12! The stadium was packed and there were people watching from high up in trees around the staduim!

Xelaju lost 2-1 so the referees needed some protection..!

The wait for the match passed quickly for James when the pepsi girls came out...

We were sad to leave the family that we had stayed with for four weeks. Ruth (grandma) and Fernandito in the house on our last day.

Not so sad to leave the shower of death, however!!!!

Next stop, Lago Atitlan!

Xela - Week 3

Another packed week in Xela. Spanish is going suprisingly well as we enter our last week before we set off for another part of Guatemala. Katie still has the edge but I think i´m not too far behind!!

The highlight of the week was climbing the volcano behind the city. Santa Maria is 3770m high so a mile´s worth of vertical climb - it was liteally rock hard!! We left at midnight with a full moon - not that that helped much in the trees - and spent the next 5 hours in the cold rain climbing up to arrive in thick freezing mist. Needless to say we were a bit pissed off after all that climbing. After 45mins waiting in the freezing cold (about -10C with the windchill) the clouds burnt off leaving these views...

The best bit though must be watching the eruption of Santaguito. It is the little volvano that was left after the major eruption of Santa Maria. Its only 2700m but it is one of the most active volcanos in the world as it lets off a toxic gas cloud every 30mins.

And finally a blog wouldn´t be complete without some comedy packaging and signs...

It seems my friend Scott has released a new line of bum wiping products

Books we read: When Night Falls - excellent book about a gay man living in Cuba in '60s and 70's but can't remember his name...
100 Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez - brilliant.