Ometepe 19th – 21st Aug

 
As the boat approaches this island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua, you can wonder at the fact that there are Bull Sharks & Sword Fish in the fresh water below you which made it by ‘jumping’ up the river from the Caribbean Sea. The island looks magical, like something out of Jurassic Park, with two towering volcanoes, each surrounded in mist & lush jungle beneath them. We hopped onto a chicken bus on arrival to travel for two hours to the other side of the island. It is not that big, however, the island does not have proper roads and there was a big downpour as we arrived, making the mud tracks into muddy rivers. The 1960s US style school bus delivered though and we made it to the track at the entrance to Finca Magdalena, a hostel we had outlined before arriving. We did get a little unsure as we walked up the steep ‘1km’ pitch black dirt track through the jungle, dripping with sweat from carrying our rucksacks. After checking with a local, we discovered that we were on the right path and kept plodding on. The track was more like 2km & having been warned about snakes before getting on the bus, we were a little concerned at our lack of torch. However, out of nowhere, hundreds of tiny & beautiful twinkling lights appeared making the darkness look like there were fairies everywhere guiding us along – glowworms of course – my first experience of seeing them was entirely magical & meant that I didn’t care how long the track was as I could have looked at them all night flashing away. We heard lots of other exciting noises from the jungle too on the walk up, the most memorable being something which sounded a bit like a laser on a computer game firing away – not sure what it was, but hoping to get a guided walk in Costa Rica to find out! We arrived at the hostel, which was very basic but fun, had some food and collapsed into bed early.
On waking up the next morning, the view was spectacular – the climb up to the hostel meant we could see way out over the lake and all of the lush foliage which came before the beach. The lake is so big, you actually forget that it is not the sea you are staring at. There is a great veranda at the hostel, which is always full of interesting travelers swapping stories and enjoying the island. Directly in front is a beautiful tropical garden filled with all sorts of exotic, colourful flowers & subsequently, hundreds of butterflies. That is no exaggeration – they are everywhere, different shapes, colours, sizes fluttering around and they certainly made breakfast very pleasant indeed. We were even lucky enough to see a hummingbird fly right in front of our table to enjoy a bit of morning nectar. The hostel is actually a working farm that includes coffee, banana fields & they pride themselves on being 100% organic. The food is cheap, simple & delicious & the coffee speaks for itself – you cannot get fresher than this.
Mark & I enjoyed a walk around the jungle, looking out for interesting bugs and monkeys, which we could hear but were proving to be elusive. We followed a trail which is famous for its periglyphs – interesting stone carvings from the pre-Columbian era. We also walked down into the village, which is very poor and basic, with dirt huts, farms animals, etc, but quite obviously self sufficient and full of friendly smiles. We found some American girls who also wanted to climb the volcano & so we got a cheaper guide for the next day.
Climbing the volcano was interesting – 8 hours up and down the muddiest, rockiest path I have ever seen. The four of us were sliding all over the place and we certainly got to the point where we would have been happy to lie on the floor and do star jumps in the mud as we were past the point of no return. The path took us up through the coffee and cocoa plantation, then up into the jungle and cloud forest. We saw some interesting wildlife…Howler monkeys, White Faced monkeys, lots of red ants, a coral snake and most interesting, a mountain crab! I just assumed he was a bit lost and confused, but apparently they live in the mountains too. At the summit, you descend into the crater to find a pretty lake, which you can swim in. We sat and nibbled our crackers as we had not been organized enough to get sandwiches and were kept entertained by the many rats that live in the grasses, who kept coming out to investigate. After a cold shower, bowl of chicken soup and some tea, we were feeling human again ready for our very early bus the next day [4.45am] – yikes. JG
Nb. The climb is steep and not necessarily easy. The hostel lies at 100m above sea level and through five kilometers of jungle you hike up to 1200 meters before dropping into the crater to the lake which lies just below it. The change of the vegetation was pretty interesting from jungle through to cloud forest at the top the massive amounts of mud made the trekking challenging. MT

Granada 17th – 19th Aug

 

Arrival in Granada was a pleasure after being in Managua, with colourful buildings, bustling streets and smiling faces. We found an abode right next to the market, which is a very rough and ready area of town but a lot of fun if you have the energy. Our hostel was beautiful inside the main entrance hall – built in the 1500s with 5m ceilings; it used to be a government building and then became a bus station, before being the hostel that it is today. The rooms are very basic, but fine, & there is one shared bathroom for boys and girls, which again, serve a purpose and are adequate. The key thing to say about the hostel is that it feels really safe and has a lovely outside area for eating/chatting, etc. The old people who run it are really sweet as well and were very happy for us to practice our pigeon Spanish. Look out for it – Esfinge – bright yellow & opposite the market & only 11 USD per room.
We struck lucky again with our timing, discovering that there was a festival on in the town that afternoon. We wandered through the town and the atmosphere was electric – different varieties of live music & pumping stereos everywhere, people dressed up in all sorts of outfits (especially cowboy) milling around the streets, women with big trays of toffee apples on their heads, men selling cashews, huge dancing ladies on sticks with their dresses swirling, children dressed up as little characters (looked like potatoes to me) and people merry-making in the streets. Mark and I got a great spot on the side of the street at a café and watched the parades, then came the horses! Big, beautiful beasts prancing along with sleek lines & proud riders swigging beer and looking very Western film-esque. A totally different and wealthy image compared to the sticks and bones beasts we had seen previously carrying heavy loads. There were also toddlers riding these huge horses, wearing dresses which nearly reached the floor & even some riding cattle. Next to our café was the ‘Marlborough’ sponsored tent, which had scantily clad girls doing an amusing parent-style side step to techno music and handing out free cigarettes, which I was quite suprised at – it’s been a while since the West has actively advocated and encouraged the public to take up smoking. For a change of scene, Mark and I walked down to the lake front, to catch some of the cool breezes. On our way back up, we got ‘caught’ in a crowd and it became quite an uncomfortable mosh pit – barriers on both sides of the road so we could not get out and horses stamping down one side & way too many people on the other – Mark and I got quite pushed around and then he had his pockets picked by a bunch of kids, which he knew was happening but could not hold onto the rucksack/camera/pockets etc all at the same time as there were quite a few of them. Luckily we only had 3 cards between us and had hardly any cash in his wallet, so it could have been much worse. On going to the police station which was a shack on the other end of the town, we were told to come back the next day as basically they could not be bothered to write a report (we later found out that about 90% of Westerners who go to the festival get pick pocketed in the same way that we did, making us think it was a total set-up). We returned the next morning, only to be told the same thing, so we kicked up a fuss and eventually someone took our details and wrote out a report on an old fashioned type writer. We had to go to a shop to pay for photocopies of passports as they did not have one in the station! I wish I could have taken pictures of the place as it was so unlike a police station with buckets of water catching the rain from holes in the roof, big puddles of sewage outside, etc, it was comical.
We stayed one more day in Granada as I need to wait for my card to send some cash, which was very pleasant – there’s a great café which serves breakfast called Edward’s – yes, run by Edward, who is a very entertaining Dutch guy with lots of stories and GREAT pancakes. We also liked the Europa café, which had a great courtyard off the street, good coffee and free wifi, which is quite hard to find.
We left the town by getting a chicken bus to Rivas for 1USD, taking another bus to San Jorge and then hopping on a cargo style barge thing to Ometepe, an island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua. JG

Guatemala to Nicaragua (Managua) 15th – 17th August

 

After hanging around walking the streets of Antigua with our backpacks until 2.30am waiting for our bus & being questioned by the police about our loitering, we finally got picked up by a taxi who drove us to GC to catch our 4a.m. connecting bus. We travelled with King Quality, which is a pretty comfortable way to travel, essential for a 16 hour journey. We got woken up at the border to El Salvador but were allowed to stay on the bus as we were in transit. Looking out of the window, the country is really beautiful but obviously very poor, with the San Salvador being covered in barbed wire. Next border, Honduras, which was fairly straightforward, except we needed to borrow some cash from a very kind Nica to leave the country. A few rubbish movies later and with stiff bottoms, we arrived in Managua, which to be honest, is a total dump. We went to one hostel which we had read about online to find they wanted 20USD for a total filthy, shithole of a room, so we politely declined and went next door, which was marginally better but still a total rip off at 18USD per night. However, we had just been up for 48 hours and were quite keen just to lie anywhere which did not have unidentified stains on the sheets, so we obliged.
The following day, we caught up on a few emails then grabbed some lunch in someone’s house, actually recommended by a homeless guy who I understand has an arrangement with, i.e. he brings in customers and he gets a free meal, so we were happy to oblige as we were hungry anyhow and the food was great. The sites of Managua include the Palace, which houses a museum of natural history & some sort of theatre & the cathedral which is totally derelict, presumably as a result of the frequent earthquakes from which the city suffers & partly from the civil war, highlighted by the many bullet holes in the ruins. There happened to be an army show whereby the military were showing off their finest weaponry and good deeds, which was quite interesting to mooch around. Finally we went to one of the many cafes by the lake & enjoyed a bottle of Tona between us (40 cd for a litre, about 2 USD). The atmosphere in the café was really fun, with people of all ages getting up to dance to the vibrant music. In summary, you can see the sights of Managua in about an hour – it is an extremely poor city, with large shanty towns purely made up of bin liner covered shacks & even the locals seem scared to walk in the streets alone or get taxis with people unknown to them. It has much potential as a city, but it needs a total overhaul of its infrastructure.
We got chicken bus to Granada for a dollar each to enjoy the old colonial town. JG

Volcano in action, hot stuff!

 

Guatemala - short but fun - 11-14th August

We got to Placencia and suffered a slight dilemma. The onward trip to the Bay Islands of Honduras OR head south through Guatemala and into Nicaragua as quickly as possible. We had already made plans to return to the eastern seaboard of Mexico and make trips through into northern Guatemala and then to Honduras for some diving in the future so the option to head south to Antigua seemed the best. We looked for options and routes and were presented with a boat leaving Placencia at 6:30am followed by a chicken bus ride from Independence to Punta Gorda. This bus was scheduled to leave at anytime between 7:30 and 9:00 and arrived at around 8:30. The town of Independence was hot, humid and full of dogs that provided entertainment in the blistering morning sun. The early morning rain had provided an extra dose of humidity and we sat waiting for a bus sweating a little like Charlie Sheen in Apocalypse now… drenching our shirts and shorts creating little puddles around us. Well, I did anyway. The bus arrived and we threw on our bags and enjoyed the breeze while chatting to a teacher from Norway with his enviable two month holidays every year. He knew the score for the trip as he’d done the reverse two days earlier. Arriving in Punta Gorda at ten a.m. we found we’d missed the boat at ten and that the next would be at twelve thirty. The newly developed customs house needed to be paid for so the exit fee had been hiked up by 26.50 USD each and there was a park fee of USD 7.50 each to pay as the boat travels through a maritime park. So... instead of costing $3.50 as advertised by the Belizean Government website, for exiting we ended up paying $37.50 for the pleasure. Betta Belize it for the last time!
The boat was powered by two very fat 200BHP engines which, roaring to life, ripped through the fairly calm coastal waters and made the trip seem like it was taking no time at all. The distance from Belize rapidly increased and Honduras and Guatemala decreased. As we arrived close to the first stop, Livingstone, the forested landscape in the back was beautifully framed by the small town and its very colourful houses and boats, manicured gardens leading to the sea and a very random statue in the sea by the headland. Like most forms of transport in the area, there was another boat waiting patiently for our boat to arrive prior to its departure upstream into Guatemala. Our departure to our destination Puerto Barrios was an estimated minute later and then we were cruising past shrimping boats and the coast line once more. As we arrived in Puerto Barrios the distinction between a working city and the tourist city Livingstone became abundantly clear; there were no brightly coloured buildings here! There was a massive battered Banana ship in dock loading huge refrigerated banana containers and the town was full of trucks taking more to the port or heading inland with empty trailers. When heading out of Puerto Barrios later that day by bus, it looked like an enormous truck parking station. Arriving there was interesting, with no port authority or passport control, but a wave of the hand in the vague direction of the authorities office. It was nice to see that there was almost no interest in our arrival, a stamp without a passing glance and then a wave to carry on…
Guatemala’s first impressions were encouraging, cheap and cheerful as we had hoped! The bus ride to (70 Quetzals for both) Guatemala City took a cool 5 hours and we arrived having watched a number of pretty rubbish films, one in English and two in Spanish. The impression gained of GC as we drove through it at night was not positive. The streets were devoid of human life it seemed, cars and cabs dominated the very empty streets and when we arrived at the bus station the very kind taxi drivers informed us that it would pretty much be suicide to walk around at night. So we took a cab around the corner to a “safe” hotel and booked in for the night. It was fine, clean and tidy and GC was refreshing, a cool breeze was a nice change from the heat of the coast line. The city lies at around 1500 meters above sea level and is surrounded by mountains. The next day we walked back to the bus station and were put into a taxi to the chicken bus station where we jumped on a bus that left almost immediately (8 Quetzals each) and headed to Antigua, the must-see town nearby.
When we arrived at the bus station we were greeted by an enthusiastic tourist guide… for once we decided to give a local some time on hotel advice and we didn’t get a bad deal! The hotel we were taken too had a lovely big bed, was clean and safe. Casa Santa Lucia is on Calle Poniente 6a which was the next street to the south of the bus station and we were charged around 80 Quetzals each for the night. The town itself was very picturesque and has a dozen or more Spanish schools in it, so the population was pretty western and dominated by tourists both backpackers and wealthier types. We headed out for lunch and to our surprise found a very good Austrian Restaurant called Wiener! I had to try the Schnitzel which was possibly the best I’ve had in over a year! We had no further plans so mooched around town for the day before booking a trip for the next day to the Volcano. Earlier in the afternoon, we were sitting in a café when a volcano to the West of Antigua began erupting, billowing large plumes of smoke and ash, it was very exciting.
I think the volcano was the best 20 dollars we spent on the whole trip. The long bus ride which started a little late was spent training one of the drivers who stalled at junctions and swapping over here and there supported by some college boys from the US who whooped when the trainee got into the driver’s seat. The 4km hike up the mountain started out very tamely then as we scrambled up the sharp rocks and loose gravel it became slightly trickier. We’d opted for the later afternoon walk up so reached the interesting bits around 5:30 in time for what is usually a very nice sunset, except it was clouded over. What I had expected to see was there in front of my eyes, and since reading a National Geographic about lava and volcanoes waaaaaay back in the 1980’s (late) has been something I’d wanted to get close to. The rocks we walked over were hollow, some slightly brittle and certainly not safe. Then the heat hit us, the kind of heat that blasts from an open oven that has been on maximum heat for the past hours and the glimpses of red hot molten lava between the rocks in crevasses. There was a crowd at one area which we thought was just another group milling around, but when we headed over to them we saw molten lava flowing out of the mountain side. The view from less than a meter away is amazing and incredibly hot, much hotter than any sauna. We toasted marshmallows and they toast very well up there, perhaps better in the crevasses than near the molten lava though. Jen was using a stick to clamber over the rocks and realized that the end was on fire, which was funny. Looking at the lava was only possible through dancing as the rocks were so hot that you needed to keep moving to stop the shoes melting. This has definitely been one of the trip highlights, toasting marshmallows on a live volcano that is due an eruption anytime soon! I don’t think this really is an option anywhere else in the world… the trip back down was interesting, half sliding, half running to stay up and off the sharp rocks, lots of sliding down on our bums did happen. There was a lot of dust in my shoes, small rocks and debris. Oh, we had to do it in pitch black - what a great day out!
We arrived back sweaty and dirty at around ten, four hours to kill before our massive road trip to Nicaragua… and decided to make one more visit to the Wiener restaurant for a “romantic” candle lit dinner. The food was terrific but we did feel like tramps, stinking of sweat and slightly grimy from the hike, which gave us both a good laugh. The toilet sink did get quite abused as I washed my feet in it. After it closed we found some bars and consumed vast quantities of red bull, coke, tea and then had a wait in the park (this seems to be quite common and was fairly busy for 2am…) until our cab picked us up to start our trip. The city closed its doors at one am, so not really the party town we’d hoped for when making the booking for the bus! MT

You betta Belize it! Man – Jul 30th – 11th Aug

 

Belize has plenty of outstanding attributes. The beaches, the colourful, vibrant restaurants, boats and buildings and perhaps this one is my favourite; the almost complete lack of interest of the touts in actually pushing their wares. It has some negative ones too, Belize City being its largest.
We arrived in Belize by boat from Xcalak, Mexico; there is no scheduled service, so as we outlined, go out there and find a Capitan and boat, it shouldn’t cost more than 2000 Pesos. They might need some dollars for buying themselves lunch on the way home, so perhaps half and half is fair. You arrive in San Pedro, the town on Caye Ambergis on the back side of the island, get off the boat and find yourself crouching low to avoid the very low, but welcome roof sheltering you from the sun. Then a short walk to the immigration office. This is neatly tucked away on a second floor, and doesn’t really have much in the way of signposting. You need a stamp, so go and find it. If you get stuck look for Fido’s Restaurant, it is opposite that on the first floor.
We were then directed to Ruby’s, a beach side hotel which cost 40 Belize Dollars for a night, that is ground floor room and shared bathroom and shower. I think we got the only one for that price; the rest are pricier, but have a view I presume and get some breeze. If you have got more of a budget, spend it! There is another hostel type place with a pool apparently, but we got into the Belizean swing of things quickly and couldn’t be bothered to find it and look.
Stepping off the boat into the town of San Pedro was terrific. From watching the clear azure sea whizz by under brilliant sunshine, we were greeted to an island where the houses are colourful but a little ramshackle, the beach is pleasant but not really ideal for swimming or snorkeling just there, and the people extraordinarily friendly, fellow tourists and locals alike. We were on the hungry side so headed to Fido’s for some lunch that we had spied walking down to the immigration police who had waved us through with flourish. Belizean food is very much similar to Jamaican and West Indian; BBQ Jerk chicken, rice with beans and coleslaw was available for lunch and dinner for $10 Belizean which made life quite tasty and cheap. The restaurants served variants with fish or other stuff, and of course as has been prevalent throughout, the presence of Lobster. Breakfast was Johnny Cakes with chicken or beef filling or some fruit…
We spent a lot of time doing very little, the searing heat and high humidity was not encouraging. We did manage to book ourselves onto a boat trip though which was to take us out to the Blue Hole for some diving. We took off at five thirty am for a fairly long boat ride to an atoll around 40 miles off the coast. Here we got the chance to make our first fairly deep dive into the Blue hole. The blue hole is fairly typical geological feature of the coast line in this eastern area of the Caribbean, some found inland, others, like this one, out to sea. They are essentially flooded cave systems with collapsed roofs. This one was around 800 meters deep and when you start sinking into it, the gloom really sets in. There are stark warnings to all divers, the onset of narcosis is very typical with deeper dives, however, to see what rock formations there are in the blue hole, you have to sink to 40 meters where we had around 8 minutes of diving time. One of our group was happily sinking down in a world of her own, the dive masters of the group grabbing her tank and pulling her upwards until we reached 10 meters once more! The swim through of the huge stalactites was fantastic, we had dropped to 40 meters and were swimming back up towards the lighter blue which when we got to a resting depth of 10 meters we were treated to a fantastic display. My mask had fogged up quite badly and I was running low on air so I only saw some of the show sadly. There were at least 10 four-five metre black tip reef sharks swimming around and coming to our group for a little inspection, then suddenly veering off closer to the surface where they were feeding on a school of fish. It lasted minutes and they then left as quickly as they had arrived, a terrific performance really showing off what amazing creatures they are. We ended up staying 10 days on the San Pedro, waking up each morning to a magnificent view of sparkling emerald and azure seas is pretty hard to beat. Could have done with a hammock, though that might have delayed things further...
The day continued with a lunch on a desert island and two further dives. The main element of diving in the area that surprised me was the amazing reef life; the multitude of corals was incredible with the range of colours, sizes and shapes making for incredible dives. We didn’t come across any further macro life that day though, which was a shame. On the boat back they fed us with the usual fruit and some very potent rum punch. We go chatting to some vets who had been doing the world a favour by reducing dog populace in Mexico making the long return ride very enjoyable and interesting. We didn’t bother introducing ourselves until they got off at Caye Caulker which is the neighboring Caye to Ambergis. Meeting them the next day on our island was a pleasant surprise especially as they informed us about our next trip to be, a day of snorkeling. We took the opportunity to leave the island and headed south the next day to meet them and got on the sailing boats with our groups. The trip turned into one of the best water days we had experienced on the entire trip. Small nurse sharks, beautiful and very rare manatees as well as eagle rays and loads of fish enthralled us for hours on three separate dives. The rum punch on the way back and total lack of wind turned our boat into a bit of a party boat which then continued at a very fun local bar at the north end of Caye Caulker. As you would expect there were a good number of deck chairs in the water, plenty of shade and we stayed till closing time. Strangely, the name evades me, rum and cokes were very very cheap.
With an appropriate hangover, in serious heat and humidity we bailed from the island scene, heading south to Belize City with a plan to get to Placencia, another island legendary for laid back living and great beaches. We arrived in BC and frankly, it was pretty rough. We had a good walk around it, were eyed up by some very shady looking characters who then pretended to be going our way for over an hour. We got back to an area we knew near our hotel and then engaged in some ducking and diving, eventually losing them, and in the meantime booking a flight to Placencia with Tropic Air for the next day. From the travel agent we learnt that BC has some serious drugs issues, with crack being responsible for much of the crime, which was increasing. We had been told by a fairly annoyed American in Caye Ambergis that Skype doesn’t work for voice calls in Belize, which is a real pain in the arse and very anti competitive. Complaints please to Hon Chairman of the Tory Party in the UK, Lord Ashcroft who owns seventy percent of the firm apparently! Would he allow this in the UK? Probably not, so why allow it in Belize? Greedy man. Calls from landlines to the UK were twenty five USD for five minutes!!! The Belizeans are not too happy about it we heard a lot of complaints!
The plane trip was brilliant. The 14 seater first picked us up at the airfield in BC then like a collective bus flew to the international airport and from there to small airstrips along the coast, which resembled dusty tracks in a field more than airports much provoking a reaction of ‘he is not seriously going to land there is he?’ I spotted a manatee in the water and we got some amazing views from the plane as it swerved around thunderstorms and onto tiny landing strips. It was sad to get off the plane, but certainly worth the additional 20 USD for the flight, N.B. If you choose this route make sure you don’t fly from BC international as it will cost more in fees.
Placencia gave us a wet start, we got off the plane were bundled into a taxi by the airport staff and the heavens opened. I think flushed might have been more appropriate. We wondered around and baulked at the prices per room, 20 USD minimum for all standards it seemed. We stayed at the Sea Spray hotel/hostel which was clean, tidy and pleasant, but had the rudest reception staff during the day. An absolute inability to say hello, make friendly and correct statements about internet access, book lending and more really got our backs up. Next door was the D Tatch restaurant staffed by a very friendly Mayan Belizean in the morning and a grizzled old American during the afternoon. It seemed to be like that on the entire island, fifty fifty friendly/downright rude. One of the best spots on the island was a small smoothie/shake bar near the shell garage which made terrific fresh mango shakes and other smoothies. They have chess boards, various other board games and a terrific view of a channel between the end of the island and the next Caye. From what we could see there was a lot of fish life in there as the fishermen would haul our fresh tuna, barracuda and other large fish which could then be eaten that night in any of the various shacks up and down the strip.
Four days into the Placencia and it was time to leave Belize, again, planning our trip to leave by boat to Guatemala, we first took a water taxi with 400 BHP on the way back to Independence from where we took a bus that comes at anytime it seemed - after that to take us to Punta Gorda. From there the trip by larger water taxi took us to Guatemala which is the next leg of our trip.
Belize is more expensive, but if you are happy taking it easy and not going nuts it is still very affordable. Our initial plan had been to head south to Honduras, given recent troubles and also mood changes the in land, rerouting was to be a great option. MT

Xcalak - "Ischkalak" Jul 28th -30th

 

We got off a bus at 6am arriving from Palenque. The ride had been quite long due to our seat positions. Right at the back which is usually not a problem, this time though it was a little disgusting. The toilets on the buses are usually kept pretty clean and smell fine – however, the number of ill looking mainly French travelers on the bus had obviously left the bus in need of some care and attention. The toilets really needed a thorough clean. Lucky us to be sat by them… So the putrid stench of filthy toilets didn’t give us much chance of sleeping too well and on arrival in Chetumal Jen and I gasped for fresh air before collapsing on a bench. We’d heard about a little place off the beaten track called Xcalak and wanted to go there. The bus trip left from Chetumal – 12 minutes later as we then found out. The bus was a little less luxurious and drove through the still sleeping town into the sunrise and a scorching hot day. The mist over the bay and mangroves was beautiful and we bounced along, too tired to think about taking photo’s. The road turned from large to small and then quite sandy, the landscape becoming more and more mangrove forest. There was a lot of hurricane damage for much of the peninsula and vast swathes of the forest lay dead and apparently have been for the past 4 years. The returning signs of life were there, as was the stupidity of the local population who use open space to dump things, any rubbish it seemed was fine for the landscape.
The forest then came back into being and our bus driver detoured slightly to pick up his kids and lunch from home, then onwards to Xcalak. We were excited as we’d heard it was a great little sleepy place which was lovely. I don’t think we’ve seen a quieter or deader town. We learned later than it had been THE place to be until in 1951 it was devastated by a hurricane. The village has a lot of potential but the area is lacking in investment. It really shocked us that there was so much debris and decay in the area, but locals who only earn money in the high season from sport anglers and diving from the posh resorts in the area (very few).
We found a cheap place to stay called Hotel El Caracol. They offer very basic rooms and we negotiated a third off the price. This bit of Mexico- the Yucatan coast is very expensive compared to the Pacific and central parts. The large amounts of tourists paying premiums mean that the cost of living for the locals is higher too so even the cheap places were significantly more than we expected. However, it still only cost around 300 pesos for the night and the room was ok. The town is tiny and we’d walked around it extensively, spoken to some diving places and decided it was too expensive for what it was and how to best move on. We had read about getting to San Pedro (Caye Ambergis, Belize- La Isla Bonita that Madonna sang about) by boat and on the map it is within spitting distance. The dive shops offered a staggering $250 per boat which we declined to pay. Part of the sales patter had been we even do your VISA work for you. As Brits we don’t need a visa and decided they were talking crap. We did pay 200 pesos leaving Mexico to the Harbour Master/Port Authority who have to prepare paperwork allowing a boat to transfer us. We found our captain and boat in a bar/restaurant which was called “disco” but was well tended and very nice! We negotiated briefly and came to a price that allowed them to make a little money but was fair to us too. 1700 Pesos… still a fair whack! The boat ride was great fun and was a superb start to our next stage the Caribbean adventure!
Xcalak… it is lovely, visit it, go fishing, diving is great too, don’t expect cheap holidays though! The locals are super friendly and happy to talk- they have one thing most holiday makers don’t have. Time. Take the boat to San Pedro, pay between 1700-2000 pesos in total.. the trip is 2 hours roughly and absolutely stunning, going along the coastline and then inland through a turquoise lagoon! MT

Palenque 27th – 28th July

 

Palenque is amazing and you should visit. The town itself was a little on the rough side and as we got off what seemed to be a very long bus ride with Oli we were pretty happy. Oli was heading on to the north of the Yucatan peninsula that evening so the break was enjoyed! The town bus station was a far cry from the brand new, air conditioned halls with security guards and clean marble floors. More like what we had expected of Mexico and Latin America. Slightly rough round the edges, not particularly big and surrounded by vendors who sell all sorts of useful things like chewing gum and other stuff. So we traipsed off into town and did a little shopping around for a clean cheap hotel/hostel. We didn’t find anywhere worthwhile recommending, as they all seemed to be similar. We dumped our bags and headed off with Oli for a final dinner before we said goodbyes later that evening. Chicken and rice and cheap beer and then Oli was off. The town is nothing to write home about… but it does look like there is investment by the town and they are trying to make things nicer for tourists and the inhabitants. So, I take it that given a couple more years, it will have a nice central street and square and will subsequently attract more people. There are quite a few large, out of town hotels in the area and of course the ruins, which we visited the next day, were amazing.
Heading back to the hotel after seeing Oli off we found the hotel room to be enveloped in revolting stench emanating from the drains, on complaining we were asked to wait for the shift change in twenty minutes which frankly we couldn’t be bothered with. As we had already paid we moved rooms to a larger room and made bets on this becoming a slight issue in the morning, and of course it did. We refused to pay, dumped our bags and walked in direction of the ruins as we needed a walk. En route we were accosted by several Mexicans who seemed to imply the walk to the ruins was a mad idea, but when the pavement finished and we were soaked in sweat from the early morning sun, we got the idea they might be a little further out than we thought. The usual number of collectivos were roaring past and we hailed one, it cost something like 10 pesos each to get to the ruins. The cost of getting in was fifty more pesos for entrance into the national park area and then another fifty to get into the ruins. Money well spent… the photos do not do justice to how amazing the ruins are – so spread out and still encased by jungle, they really give an impression of what a marvelous sight it must have been for the Spanish explorers who first discovered them. Palanque is probably one of the hottest and most humid places in Mexico, so climbing up the steps of the many temples resulted in Jen and I having drenched tops, although it was totally worth it for the views. In the evening we hopped on a night bus to Chetumal after paying for a much needed shower in the hotel. MT