Mexico to Guatemala

The weather in Cancun was pretty average and I spent most of the time in the hotel. Friday night was a social night in the hotel bar and drinks for ladies were free. There was a fashion launch in one section of the hotel so most of the guests were locals. Due to the amount of travelling to date I spent my time relaxing and didn't partake in any big night outs that Caccun is renowned for.

I met up with the new Gap tour a day late. This time I have a roommate, John, a 67yr old from Las Vegas. A bit of a Mr Meldrew from One foot in the Grave and keeps mainly to himself. The rest of the group are Aussies, a Dutch girl, a Canadian and American tour guide. We headed off to another touristy town of Playa Del Carmen on the East coast of Mexico. To be honest you could have been in any beach resort town as you couldn't tell you were in Mexico. Most of the tour party are pretty quiet or on an extreme budget so it is not easy to find someone who even wants to go out for a few beers. This seems to be the story of the trip. The Aussies, Americans and Canadians seem to be the least entertaining and adventurous people whilst on holiday. Maybe it's just the people who do tours. I dunno but this will be my last tour other than the odd day trips.

In the two days at Playa the group did a day trip to the Tulum Mayan ruins which is by a beautiful beach and the crystal blue ocean. We then headed back to Playa and stopped at a nice and quieter beach renowned for sea turtles. I spent about 30mins snorkeling with some very tame and large turtles which was probably the highlight of things to do around Playa.

After 2 nights at Playa it was almost a full day of travelling down to the island of Caye Caulker in Belize. First was a 4hr journey down to the Belizian border and then a change to a local chicken bus which felt like it stopped every 100m every time a local put their hand out. By the time we got the boat across to Caye Caulker it was already dark. The next day I did the day trip to the reefs and I opted to snorkel. The weather was sunny and needless to say i got pretty sunburned after someone forgot to rub my sun lotion in properly. Most of the reef we visited was dead but there was plenty of sea life. Lots of cool fish, rays and nurse sharks. Belize itself was once owned by the British so the first language is English. It has a distinct Caribbean feel and quite a few reggae bars. By the sound of it you can smoke, drink or snort whatever you like. I was feeling by this point and after quite a few weeks travelling of staying on the island for perhaps 5 days and dropping off our tour. However there is not decent beach on the island and very few tourists so I figured I would probably get bored pretty quick.

Next stop on the tour was San Ignacio which takes about 4 hrs, again on a local bus. It is in the jungle and our lodgings were a basic setup but it was comfortable enough. Unfortunately again I came down with another cold courtesy of John my roommate. Around San Ignacio there are days trips to some caves and waterfalls but all I could muster was a few kms walk to some local Mayan Ruins at Xunantunich. The view was actually very nice from the top of the tallest ruin.

From San Ignacio we travelled another 3-4 hrs across into Guatemala to a very small island in the middle of a lake called Flores. Guatemala is again dominated by a Spanish influence. The people are quite dark skinned but I found them to be perhaps the most friendly and smiley of all the countries I've visited so far. There are very few English speakers so although it is possible to get by, learning anything from the locals would require a fair amount of Spanish understanding. Flores is a cute little town. You can walk around it in about 15mins. There are a few nice places around the lake side where you can enjoy a beer and the first night we had a beautiful sunset. The following morning it was an early start at 5am to visit the most famous ruins in Guatemala, Tikal. This site is quite large and in the middle of the jungle. It takes a few hrs to walk between the different Mayan ruins and a few of them you can climb and get views out over the jungle. There is plenty of wildlife to spot ranging from Howler monkeys, ant eaters, Toucans and if you are lucky you may see Pumas and snakes. The ruins themselves are quite good but when you have seen a few different Mayan ruins before it's enough and certainly none of the Mayan ruins compare to Machu Picchu.

The final afternoon in Flores was spent drinking and swinging in hammocks on the top floor of the hotel. Now we are staying in more jungle cabins in a place called Rio Dulce. Tomorrow will be a trip down the river to visit the old slave port of Livingston.