Tulum - 28th November to 1st December

Hear that it has been snowing in England (smug). We have had a lovely relaxing time for 9 days in the sun and on the beach in Tulum, a couple of hours south of Cancun. 

All we have really been doing is lying on the beach drinking beer. One day we went for a cycle ride to a nature reserve where we went to another beach which was equally lovely. Sorry again for the smugness. Now we are leaving Tulum to go to a different beach for 6 more days. The weather forecast is sunny. Please don`t hate us! Not long till we are back (woo hoo!), looking forward to seeing everyone so much.

Orange Walk and Lamanai - 19th to 21st November

We arrived into Orange Walk in the middle of a tropical storm so we were absolutely drenched through. As was all our stuff in our not-so waterproof bags. We spent the rest of the day drying off in our hotel on the river, hoping it wouldn`t flood, and eating the most delicious burritos. 

The next day we took a river boat 30 miles downstream to visit the Mayan ruins at Lamanai. On the way down we saw lots of crocodiles and a few spider monkeys. The spotting was helped by an older tourist screaming at anything and everything she saw, usually making it fly/swim/run away. The ruins were amazing, especially the temple with huge sculptures of faces on it. We also got to climb 60m up another one and could see all over the jungle, which was brilliant as lots of the sites don`t let you up the original steps anymore.

The trip back was very exciting. Halfway down the engine cut out and we were floating powerless down the river, waiting for a phone, any phone, to come into signal. Luckily we avoided crocodiles and jaguars and were rescued after a harrowing 40 minutes!

Caye Caulker - 17th to 19th November

We spent 3 days on Caye Caulker, a tiny island an hour boat trip away from Belize City. Really beautiful and completely different from the rest of our trip - completely Caribbean and tropical. We spent the first couple of days sunning ourselves on the surprisingly small beach which was nice but not very peaceful as were surrounded by American tourists shouting at each other about how drunk they were. Ben managed to get his hair cut by a gangster from Belize who also, uninvitedly, shaped his beard and sideburns - a bit Craig David. But he then shaved it off properly as too embarrassed.

 The next day we went on a snorkel trip to the reef in the Hol Chan reserve. At the first site the boat was immediately swarmed by sharks and stingrays and our fantastic, but incredibly chilled, guide Jerry jumped in and attracted more by throwing them sardines. We slighltly hesitatingly jumped in after him and Anna swam straight to Jerry and didn`t let go of him the whole time we were in the water. Saw lots and lots of fish and coral on the other two snorkels, as well as a green turtle and some dolphins too. We sailed home with bottomless rum punch and fresh ceviche served by the captain Jahlee. Amazing. Even if it did actually rain torrentially the whole day.



San Ignacio - 14th to 16th November

Being very adventurous people, we decided to go down a 5km long cave to see some Mayan skeletons, broken pots and generally try to be brave. Anna did try hard but the sight of catfish in the same water as her did terrify her slightly. As the cave has a river going through it we had to swim and wade the majority of the way to reach the main cavern where the human sacrifices took place.

We spent two and a half hours exploring with our brilliant guide Ben (who kept reassuring us that he was trained in cave rescue) and saw loads of skulls and pots crystalised by the cave water dripping on them, the best being the `Crystal Princess`, a sacrificial victim whose skeleton was (despite the slightly dull photo above) completely glittery and intact. Also there were lots of beautiful rock formations and crystals. Anna`s favourite bit was lunch and the chocolate banana cake.

Flores - 10th to 13th November

We stayed for three nights on the shore of Lake Peten Itza, near Flores in northern Guatemala, in a really stunning hotel with amazing views over the lake and howler monkeys in the trees.

We had an incredible day at the ruins of Tikal, a huge Mayan city. Our guide Jesus was really interesting and managed to show us loads of wildlife as well. The site is deep in the rainforest and only a small proportion is excavated so it is all surrounded by the jungle with lots of monkeys everywhere.

The next day we headed on to Belize where we said goodbye to Julie and Paul. Now need to decide what to do in Belize.

Coban - 8th to 9th November

From Lake Atitlan we drove north to Coban so that we could visit the natural pools at Semuc Champey and the caves at Lanquin. The day start with an unexpectedly steep 45 minute climb up hills and wooden staircases to get to a viewing platform overlooking the 13 pools where we took lots of photos and got daubed involuntarily with mayan war paint. Once down at the river, we could see it disappearing underground which leaves only a trickle of water on top to make the pools. Very beautiful.

We had a quick dip in the water -  rather cold and Julie was encouraged in by local Guatemalan children splashing her! Also lots of fish nibbling on our toes. Then we headed back to minibus and onto the caves at Lanquin. Absolutely incredible and huge with lots of stalagmites and tites and a very slippery walkway all the way to the bottom. Rudy the guide showed us where some French explorers headed off down for 21 days and still couldn’t find the end of the caves.

Antigua and Lake Atitlan, Guatemala - 1st to 7th November

Now in Central America, which is a nice change. We met Ben`s parents on Tuesday in Antigua, a beautiful old colonial town near the capital. Lots of fun things to do, including a tour of a coffee plantation where, suprisingly, we learnt all about coffee, but also zip-lined our way down the mountain. Really fun despite the rain. Incredible views and lots of tarzan-like yelps!

Apart from that, we ate lots of delicious food, especially the loaf of banana bread we munched our way through (not quite in one sitting), and fun sight-seeing on a walking tour around the centre.

 

Next we headed to Jaibailito, on the shores of Lake Atitlan. We stayed in a lovely lodge with gorgeous lake views and delicious home cooked dinners. On our first day, we took a boat to a couple of other villages around the lake with Terje the Norwegian hotel owner. At one of them we visited the bizarre statue of a local saint called Maximon, who is dressed in local Guatemalan clothes and moved from house to house each year. Having been led down a rather dodgy-looking back alley we poured some whisky into his mouth after he`d been tenderly tilted backwards and bibbed, and then lit a cigarette for him and placed it between his wooden lips. Very weird.

The following day Julie and Anna went to a big local market which was fantastic and the boys climbed all 3000m of San Pedro volcano - an extreme way to avoid shopping! Whilst they had incredible views from the top, they are now a bit stiff.

Cuzco and Lima - 28th to 31st October

Our last day in Cuzco was jam-packed and lots of fun. First headed to a circuit of 4 Inca sites just outside the city. All very impressive, even after seeing Machu Picchu. Especially the 70 ton boulders that made up the walls of the Saqsayhuaman fortress.

We also went to a fantastic museum back in Cuzco filled with amazingly well preserved and beautiful pre-Columbian art including this slightly creepy Bambi-looking deer cup.

Now in Lima where we have had a great time exploring the rather grey and cloudy city. Saw the changing of the guards at the presidential palace which was more like a coordinated dance routine including moon-walking, goose-stepping, rifle-spinning and pirouettes!

We also went to Parque del Agua which has 13 stunning fountains. One particularly massive one had a 3D show, which wasn´t very 3D but still very impressive and we enjoyed wearing the glasses!

 We have now said goodbye to Anna´s parents (after a fun last day and a brilliant 10 days) and are getting ready to fly to Guatemala tomorrow. Very exciting.

Manu Rainforest - 23rd to 27th October

We spent 5 days in the Amazon rainforest in the Manu national park and had an absolutely brilliant time. First we went through the Cloud Forest where we saw the Peruvian national bird, Cock-of-the-Rock. No good pictures so you will have to look it up - a very funny looking thing which did a dance to impress its mate.

On the next day we took a 7 hour boat trip down the river to get to the beautiful lodge where we were stayed for the rest of the trip. From here we saw the Macaw and Parrot clay-lick - hundreds of birds munching a clay wall to help their digestion. So many birds it looks like it´s set up for tourists! On the way there, we narrowly missed seeing a Jaguar by only a minute - thankfully the boat in front of us got an amazing photo so we can kind of claim we saw it. 

 

The pattern of missing large mammals continued when we sat waiting for a cow-sized tapir to arrive for 5 hours, but it didn´t come. Although a lizard did make it in to our mosquito net, and Anna proved herself to be a true jungle explorer by screaming and leaping out. Ben obviously stayed and was very manly. Also, a trip to see giant otters in an ox-bow lake was similarly unsucessful. On a more positive note, we saw lots of beautiful birds which our brilliant guide Kike knew all the names and calls of. Kike also found us lots of insects and stuck a stick down a hole to coax out a giant tarantula and all its babies. Not Anna´s favourite moment!

Still with Anna´s parents which has been so much fun. Now back in Cuzco for one more day before heading to Lima for our last few days in South America.

Machu Picchu - 20th and 21st October

Machu Picchu was really fantastic. It looks just like the postcards! We all caught the train up on Wednesday morning - the views through the Sacred Valley were amazing. Checked into our hotel which looked like a treehouse and then headed up the mountain for a delicious buffet lunch.

The next morning we got up super early and it was really sunny which was good as everyone had told us it would be wet. Luckily, we were just in time to get our tickets stamped to be able to climb up Huaynu Picchu, which we did impressively quickly as we had to meet Anna`s parents and the guide an hour and a quarter later. The city itself is incredible and having a guide was really interesting. We ended the day with an amazing view over the citadel, even if it was slightly spoiled by an American very obviously meditating where everyone was trying to take photos.

Cusco - 13th to 19th October

We've been having a really relaxed time in Cusco. It is a really pretty city and although its very touristy that means there are lots of cafes, restaurants and bars to enjoy. We have found one particular cafe which we love, and have decided they can't ban us, even if we have been known to go there twice a day!

Didn`t do any sights for the first few days as we were saving those for when Anna´s parents got here but have now been into a few of the churches and museums which were all beautiful.

Lake Titicaca - 8th to 12th October

Seeing Lake Titicaca has been fantastic. We spent our first few days on the Bolivian side in Copacabana, where we visited Isla del Sol. This is the biggest island on the lake. We took a 3 hour boat journey to the north of the island and saw some Inka ruins and then walked along the ridge running down the length of the island. Really amazing panormic views over the whole lake. By the time we got to the south of the island it was almost sunset. Had dinner watching the sun go down - pretty nice!

Then headed to Peru to a town called Puno. Here we took a day trip to visit the Uros Islands - floating islands made of reeds in the shallow parts of the lake. Very interesting to see, although a bit Disneyfied. Arrived to local woman singing and waving (just like It´s a Small World ride, though they did throw in a Peruvian-style Row, Row, Row Your Boat too), then they explained how the islands were constructed with miniature props and telling us how much they relied on tourism to buy their potatoes (otherwise they would just eat reeds raw). Guilt-ridden purchases included a mini reed boat for Ben with a Puma AND a condor weaved in - very happy!

From here we went to visit another small, very conservative island, where the woman wore different colour pompoms (and the men different colour hats) to show whether or not they were looking for love. All very clear. On the way back we got lost in a pretty rough storm - Anna almost cried.

Now in Cuzco, where we are generally relaxing and waiting for Anna´s parents to arrive, before going to Machu Picchu next week.

La Paz - 4th to 7th October

La Paz was super fun. Didn´t really do much apart from lots of knit wear shopping (Anna´s dream) and quite a lot of eating and drinking. The city is in a gorge so it means everywhere you walk is either down or up a steep hill - really tiring at 3800m with a belly full of curry and beer!

Went to a really fun musical instrument museum (again, Anna´s dream) where we could play all sorts of weird things, though not the giant armadillo guitar or the double sided violin (disappointing).