After more than ten days, Britsy and I have finally sat down to make a blog entry. We are currently in San Ignacio, Belize, having arrived this morning. Originally, we flew into Cancun, Mexico, where we spent two days and three nights. Cancun was more or less forgetable. Although the beaches are pretty nice, the city itself is dirty and the vendors and restaurant owners hung on our shirt sleeves. We did take a ferry ride over to Isla Mujeres (it is believed that pirates stored their women here, thus the name Womens' Island). The one benefit of Cancun was the convenience of a large supermarket right by us, and the air conditioning in our hostel room. We have since learned that air conditioning is a luxury that few have down here. Other than upscale hotels, nowhere has a/c. All restaurants, markets, and everything else, including our hostel rooms are either fan or breeze cooled. It is unbelievably hot down here, so it has been tough adjusting. But a couple heat rashes and a lot of baby powder later, we are feeling more comfortable...kinda.
After Cancun, we went to Chichen Itza, a large Mayan ruins site in the middle of the Yucatan. It was pretty cool, although the heat was blazing and the vendors hovered nearer than the bugs. From here we went to Tulum, where there are Mayan ruins on the beach cliffs, and water more turquoise than the rings that Britsy gaulks over at all the market places. We spent two days in Tulum lying on the beach, as our burnt shoulders would attest. We would have stayed longer had our hostel not been so...cheap.
Traveling into Belize was interesting. First, the buses in Belize are either chicken buses, or old school buses. Either way they have no a/c and the seats are all missing about half of their stitches. Leaving Mexico we were told it would cost twenty pesos each, wich is about $1.5 US dollars. At the border, a guy in just an Air Jordan shirt told us that it was $200 pesos. As we had budgeted just enough to get out, we did not have that much, so we had to pay US$20 which works out to about $260 pesos. We are pretty confident we got ripped badly, but there was nothing we could do and we were happy to be out of Mexico.
Belize has been fantastic. The people are great, as they actually are happy and are not trying to scam you, and the land in beautiful. In Orange Walk, we took a guided tour to
Lamanai, an ancient Mayan site. The tour started and ended with a one hour boat trip down a river, through a dense jungle. The site itself is set deep in the jungle amidst monkeys, crocs, and various birds. The guide on the tour was extremely cool. He was once a high school teacher and now had been guiding for around 10 years. He was very knowledgeable and made us concerned that we would be terrible guides, not knowing anything about anything. Good thing our clients won't know anything either.
From Orange Walk, we took a bus and a water taxi to Caye Caulker, where we planned on spending two days on the island. Five days later, we finally forced ourselves to leave. The tiny key island was practically paradise. The hostel was right on the water and the second biggest reef (largest living reef) in the world was only a short boat ride off shore. We snorkled two days, one of which was on a sail boat. We saw beautiful coral, sting rays, sharks, octopus, hundreds of fish, and huge turtles. It was really cool. The other days we spent lounging in hammocks and kayaking around the island. It was pretty nice.
Today, we bused across the country to San Ignacio, right on the western border of Belize and Guatemala. We will go on a tour of ATM cave, where there are 1500 year old human skeletons, untouched. You have to swim into the cave and wade through water. Eventually you walk over dry ground, where the archealogical sites are. Everyone we have talked to says this is the best tour they have taken, so we are excited.
Soon we will cross into Guatemala which we have heard also from other travelers is fantastic. For anyone who would like to follow our travels, in Guatemala we will go to Tikal, Semuc Champey, Antigua, Lake Atitlan, and Sipacate. Guatemala will be a change as in Belize everyone speaks english, but I guess that is a good thing for us. Speaking of which, it has been really cool to hear the Belizeans speak a combination of Spanish and Creole. It sounds really cool, but is completely impossible to understand. Even their english can be tough to understand because out of habit they mix in some Creole. Fortunately, I speak a bit of Creole myself. I have found that by adding A's and Mon's to the ends of sentences, it helps people to understand me better. Britsy says that I sound idiotic and is glad that in truth I don't do it in public. But I am trying to teach Britsy how to speak it.
Well, we hope that everyone is doing well and we enjoy getting emails from everyone. We will try to blog more often, but we are lazy and internet can be scarce.
Good day Mon!
G & B
After Cancun, we went to Chichen Itza, a large Mayan ruins site in the middle of the Yucatan. It was pretty cool, although the heat was blazing and the vendors hovered nearer than the bugs. From here we went to Tulum, where there are Mayan ruins on the beach cliffs, and water more turquoise than the rings that Britsy gaulks over at all the market places. We spent two days in Tulum lying on the beach, as our burnt shoulders would attest. We would have stayed longer had our hostel not been so...cheap.
Traveling into Belize was interesting. First, the buses in Belize are either chicken buses, or old school buses. Either way they have no a/c and the seats are all missing about half of their stitches. Leaving Mexico we were told it would cost twenty pesos each, wich is about $1.5 US dollars. At the border, a guy in just an Air Jordan shirt told us that it was $200 pesos. As we had budgeted just enough to get out, we did not have that much, so we had to pay US$20 which works out to about $260 pesos. We are pretty confident we got ripped badly, but there was nothing we could do and we were happy to be out of Mexico.
Belize has been fantastic. The people are great, as they actually are happy and are not trying to scam you, and the land in beautiful. In Orange Walk, we took a guided tour to
Lamanai, an ancient Mayan site. The tour started and ended with a one hour boat trip down a river, through a dense jungle. The site itself is set deep in the jungle amidst monkeys, crocs, and various birds. The guide on the tour was extremely cool. He was once a high school teacher and now had been guiding for around 10 years. He was very knowledgeable and made us concerned that we would be terrible guides, not knowing anything about anything. Good thing our clients won't know anything either.From Orange Walk, we took a bus and a water taxi to Caye Caulker, where we planned on spending two days on the island. Five days later, we finally forced ourselves to leave. The tiny key island was practically paradise. The hostel was right on the water and the second biggest reef (largest living reef) in the world was only a short boat ride off shore. We snorkled two days, one of which was on a sail boat. We saw beautiful coral, sting rays, sharks, octopus, hundreds of fish, and huge turtles. It was really cool. The other days we spent lounging in hammocks and kayaking around the island. It was pretty nice.
Today, we bused across the country to San Ignacio, right on the western border of Belize and Guatemala. We will go on a tour of ATM cave, where there are 1500 year old human skeletons, untouched. You have to swim into the cave and wade through water. Eventually you walk over dry ground, where the archealogical sites are. Everyone we have talked to says this is the best tour they have taken, so we are excited.
Soon we will cross into Guatemala which we have heard also from other travelers is fantastic. For anyone who would like to follow our travels, in Guatemala we will go to Tikal, Semuc Champey, Antigua, Lake Atitlan, and Sipacate. Guatemala will be a change as in Belize everyone speaks english, but I guess that is a good thing for us. Speaking of which, it has been really cool to hear the Belizeans speak a combination of Spanish and Creole. It sounds really cool, but is completely impossible to understand. Even their english can be tough to understand because out of habit they mix in some Creole. Fortunately, I speak a bit of Creole myself. I have found that by adding A's and Mon's to the ends of sentences, it helps people to understand me better. Britsy says that I sound idiotic and is glad that in truth I don't do it in public. But I am trying to teach Britsy how to speak it.
Well, we hope that everyone is doing well and we enjoy getting emails from everyone. We will try to blog more often, but we are lazy and internet can be scarce.
Good day Mon!
G & B
Graham and Britsy,
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU for posting - we LOVED reading it and hearing how and what you're doing! Please keep it up. I can't wait to see and hear about your "work". And it's so cool that you're having all these fun adventures en route. Love, Sal