Jan 2007

By the time I arrived in DC I was completely dead. Having said a teary farewell to Ange in JFK I headed back to the hotel to send some emails and finish off final packing. Because my second bag had yet to arrive (owing to the monumental cock-up at Charlotte), I had to fill my suitcase and hand luggage to the max to fit it all in. This meant that at the airport I had to pay a US$20 charge as my bag was over 50lbs (59lbs to be exact). Ah well, if that’s the only charge I pay the whole trip, that’s fine!

I overestimated the amount of time required to check in and pass security so I ended up with an hour spare at JFK airport to surf the net and relax.

I arrived into Dulles at 5pm and Jen (a friend of Claudia’s from Cambridge that I met when I visited Claudia) picked me up. For the next 10 days I’ll be staying at her place in Fairfax, VA. It’s a fair way out of DC, but it’s close to the Metro, and I’m eternally grateful to Jen for letting me stay for such a long time!

Within about 10 minutes we were chatting like old friends, sharing stories about traveling and the like. Ah, good times!

I spent the next two days bumming around the house. I think the furthest I ventured was the grocery store nearby, and even that was under semi-duress! I think I really needed it, because I was fine sleeping 12+ hours, which even I’m not so used to! I sorted through all my luggage and decided on what to keep and what to discard, and I answered all my emails. I even began blogging again – after a long long time!

Ciao for now!

Fri Jan 5
The trip from Caye Caulker to Flores was fairly uneventful aside from some bribing at the border (legitimate and less so) and some hilarious(ly creepy) conversations with drunk locals at bus stations. Apparently I still have milk in my teeth. Good to know!

There’s a huge military presence in Guatemala that makes itself known quite early on. It’s not in-your-face, it’s just, well, there. There are multiple military bases on the way from the border, and armed guards patrol most shops and tourist areas.

Flores island itself is really touristy but great. Along with Isla Mujeres it stands out as my highlight so far. There are some cool little cafes, some great shopping, bargaining and local carnivals to boot! Our hotel is really nice and perfectly located to catch the sunset. Look, alright, these things are important!!

Sat Jan 6
Today was one thing: Tikal.

Tikal, along with Tulum, is a set of Mayan ruins. Instead of being a city centre, Tikal is a set of pyramid-like structures designed as a means of worshiping the gods. Again, it’s not really something that I can do justice with words, so check out the photos! We went for sunrise, but it ended up being misty until about 10am, so all that early rising was for nothing! Actually, the mist added ambience to the whole event that made it quite special, but it wasn’t the amazing ‘sun rising over the back of the pyramid’ scenario that we expected.

After the four-hour tour with an excellent guide (highly recommended that you do get a guide if you go), we headed down the road to the Canopy tour (Q$200). For the Aussies reading this, it’s a series of flying foxes. For the others, it’s a ZipTrek. It was a great was to see the jungle from above and the view was oftentimes spectacular. The only downside is you can’t stop half-way along to take photos, so much of the time was spent talking about it all!

By the end of that we were hot, dirty and sweaty, but unfortunately we couldn’t have a shower as we had already checked out of our hotels. Instead we went down the road to another hotel’s pool and had dinner. I’ve never felt so clean before!

Sun Jan 7
Last night was the overnight bus to Antigua. It was quite a nice bus, with loads of leg room, but unfortunately the bus was too noisy (what with Spanish movies and some of the group getting drunk) that not many of us got a whole lot of sleep. Dan decided to dance in the aisles, and this morning Frankie hit the roof over her lack of sleep. Interesting times!

Antigua, the old capital of Guatemala, is a fantastic city, and already I want to spend more time here. The streets are all cobblestone, and there are loads of interesting alleys to get lost in. After an excellent breakfast at La Casa Contina on the square (such good eggs!), we collectively realized that most of the ATMs in Antigua wouldn’t accept our cards and therefore we didn’t have any money. This caused a minor catastrophe as people debated how to get money – c’mon guys there aren’t really any options – WE NEED MONEY!

In the end, our driver from the bus station came and took a group to a nearby ATM. Turns out the ‘there isn’t any money in Antigua’ story was just that – a story fabricated by stressed tourists.

That afternoon we visited the local markets and the jade museum and store. It was really interesting actually, despite all the many jade stores I’ve been to (China, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and now Guatemala), I actually liked this one. I bought two pieces there – one for me, and one for Ange.

That night we had dinner at a place near the arch for one last time as a group. It was an excellent place (despite Rachael eating pork [she’s Veggie!]). Afterwards, Ange wasn’t feeling too well, so I took her back to the hotel before heading out to find the others. The group had split and so some of us went to Reds to have some drinks. We drank far too many cocktails, met “Chase of Base” who was apparently a ‘bartender’ there (and thought Lorali was perfect! Aw!), and ended up only paying for half of them! Then we headed to the Salsa club and met up with the others. There was no one there, being a Sunday, so it closed early (12:30). Ah well, still a good night in my books!

Monday Jan 8
Another long day today, visiting the coffee fields, a macadamia plantation, another old town and Pacaya, one of the local volcanoes.

It all began (as usual) with breakfast at La Casa Contina. We headed from there to the coffee plantation (where Starbucks imports some of its coffee), then to the macadamia place, which was designed to train local communities to create sustainable industries. From there, we spent some time in another old town nearby, with its communal washing area and hot springs.

After a quick lunch (after getting lost trying to find out laundry place), we headed to Pacaya for sunset. BAD idea. We weren’t properly warned of the temperature issues, or the fact that it had erupted THAT morning. Grr!! Regardless, we went, some of us with proper winter clothing, most of us without. It took 90mins to walk from the base to the peak and by the time we reached the top it was pitch black.

I have to admit it was awesome seeing all the lava (which was fresh, although we didn’t know that at the time), but it was dark and foggy and some in the group failed to realize the importance of keeping together. As Rachael put it, “this is how people die”.

Luckily no one was injured, or at all affected by the experience. For the most part we were just kinda shocked by the whole thing. Definitely not something I’d recommend you do at sunset. There’s a reason why most tours leave at 2pm and no later!

Our final dinner (which turned into a bit of a bitchfest unfortunately) was had on the square, and we all went to Reds for some drinks and tequila. How fitting that we ended our Central America tour with tequila!

Tuesday Jan 9
Another LONG day – this time from Guatemala to New York.

Ange and I went with Rachael and Lorali to visit a nearby hotel (whose name escapes me at the moment). It turned out to be the one that housed the magical ATM that accepted everyone’s cards, and was actually an old monastery. They have really done an amazing job with the restoration that just walking around the place gave you a sense of its history.

From there, we headed back to our hotel, grabbed our bags and Dan & Juliana and said farewell to everyone. It was quite sad saying bye to all these people, although given that most of them are from Sydney, Ange and I will no doubt see them again! Ange & I got a ride to the airport with Dan & Juliana and we all boarded our flights to New York.

At Charlotte airport, being our first stop in the US, Ange & I had to clear immigration. Once again I had issues, namely that I didn’t have my final ticket home to prove I wasn’t staying in the country. Our flight had already been delayed, so instead of the expected 2hr layover, I had 1hr. 70mins of that were spent in Immigration as they detained me (I even spent time in the room for suspected illegal immigrants!) so they could check my records. Now I look back at it and I understand their motives, but seriously – it’s an e-ticket anyway, it’s all on my passport. Just look it up and save everyone the hassle!!

So the short of the story is, I JUST made our flight. In fact, they brought it back from taxiing so I could board. Seriously. I got to the gate and the plane was making its way to be re-attached to the bridge. I am SO grateful to US Airlines for doing that for me – thanks!! Phew!

Ange and I spent that night in a taxi to Suk’s to pick up our luggage, and then onto the Holiday Inn Express JFK to repack and sleep. I think it would have been better to have had another night in New York to relax, but ah well, it all worked out in the end. Just.

Photos from Guatemala

Wed Jan 3
After waking at 5:40am, we took the newly-christened Silver Bullet (our bus) to Belize City. The trip was pretty uneventful, except for the non-stop barrage of reggaeton and 90s Vengaboys.

We arrived into Belize City at 11:30 to find it nowhere near as bad as Coral had made it out to be. Instead of the barrage of touts and cab drivers we found an empty bus terminal. The touts began once we got outside, but we had got our luggage and our bearings by then so all was well.

Belize is clearly a much poorer country than Mexico. I’m sure this has something to do with its lack of proximity to the US. It has many grand old buildings that have since become derelict. There are clearly strong Chinese communities (as noted by the number of shops that have signs in English and Chinese), who appear to have taken over much of the trading. The official language is English, although it’s spoken with a Creole accent, so for the most part it is unrecognisable. The other strong community here are the Christians. There are SO many churches of all denominations everywhere, even in very small communities, which I wasn’t expecting.

Our cabanas are on the island of Caye Caulker. This is truly paradise – a Caribbean island with one main road, almost exclusively for backpackers. No big resorts, no food chains – perfect. Our cabanas are really basic and a bit out of the way from the centre of things, but in this island everything is relative – the whole thing takes about 20mins to walk around.

The other thing that keeps me amazed by this island is the food. For lunch we had Mango fish burgers and banana shakes, and for dinner I had the best grilled fish I’ve ever had. Seriously. With lemon garlic sauce. Ange had Lobster tail too, so I sampled some of it, and it was just as good. I know it’s an island, and so the seafood should be good, but so often it just isn’t, so we were really pleased!

Thurs Jan 4
After having the worst shower EVER (which the whole floor heard about due to the paper-thin walls), involving a screen that creeped inward, and hard, cold water. Argh! My biggest fear of travelling is the showers (possibly too much information, but hey!) So far, I’ve been in all kinds of showers – tall, short, hard, soft, cold, lukewarm, hot, complicated and easy. But this takes the cake!

I had deliberately got up early to fit in a proper breakfast. It turned out that no one else had woken up early, so I went for a walk around the island on my own, which was fantastic. It gave me a chance to clear my head – exactly what the doctor ordered! We all eventually had breakfast at Rasta Pasta – mmm egg muffin and ginger beer!

After that it was off for the main event – a full day snorkelling tour. It was AWESOME! We went to two separate coral reefs, saw turtles and swam with sharks and manta rays. Talk about wicked, eh?

We also stopped at the other (larger) island near Caye Caulker – San Pedro. There we had lunch and the girls bought some really nice jewellery.

We got back to Caye Caulker around 4:30pm and we were all so tired (and some were quite suburnt). Thus the rest of the day was just chilling. We went out as a group for dinner to Habaneros for some excellent (and quite expensive) fajitas. From there, a smaller group of us went to the i-and-i reggae bar to try the local drink: a ‘panti ripper’. Essentially it’s just a double Malibu and coke, although it’s potent!

Tomorrow morning we leave Belize and head to Flores in Guatemala. Hopefully it’s a fairly smooth ride!

Belize photos

We left at 7:30am for Tulum, one of the most complete Mayan architectural sites in Mexico. I really didn’t know what to expect, but I was most certainly impressed. The photos speak for themselves, but to give you some idea of what it all means, the site was a religious centre for the Mayan civilisation. It was not, as many other ruins are, a city. Instead it represents the city centre – a place of worship and politics. The quality of buildings and its location reflect this. It is built on a cliff overlooking an amazing beach and crystal clear Caribbean waters.

The buildings themselves are mostly located according to certain lunar-based rules. For example, on the 6th of April, the sun aligns in a certain way and the boy born on that day is declared King. For more information, visit Loco Gringo .

We ate lunch at the hostel nearby (and I tried some Mola, which is chocolate-flavoured sauce over red beans, guacamole and meat – so good!), before boarding another 4hr bus to Chetumal. Chetumal, on the Mexico-Belize border, was our overnight stop before tomorrow’s journey to Belize.

The bus itself was fine – air-con, TV, bathroom – but came with this ABSOLUTELY annoying kid who continuously ran between his seat at the front of the bus to the bathroom, opened the door, and ran back to his seat. This meant that the ‘aroma’ from the bathroom filled the air. Eugh! If I see that kid again I’ll kill him! We even plotted to feed him sleeping pills hidden in M&Ms! On the plus side, I watched Princess Bride 2 and Suddenly 30 in Spanish. It helped that Mila knew the plots inside-out, so I had a running commentary. Plus, let’s be honest, they are hardly deep films! The bus passed such Spanglish classics as “Chilly Willy’s International” and “Wonderfull Sex”.

Had dinner at our hotel – Mayan Chicken (cooked in oranges!). Really quite tasty, although not exactly what I expected!

Photos of Mexico