Guatemala!!!

We arrived in Guatemala, our second country, a week ago today, and what a week it´s been. We arrived in Livingston, a Caribbean Garifuna enclave, by boat from Belize. Livingston is loud and touristy, and more expensive then we imagined. Also, there are no safe swimming beaches in town – a serious problem for us. Still, the liquados were readily available as were great places to eat, so really we can´t complain!

We spent a night in Livingston, then got on the boat for Rio Dulce, a trip that has been recommended by many friends at home, and several others we´ve met on the road. The reviews were dead on – the trip is spectacular. High-walled jungle canyons packed with all kinds of birds and studded with caves and natural hot springs (one of which we got to swim in) for the first hour or so, then a huge open lagoon for the second.

We spent a night in Rio Dulce before heading to El Estor and then the next day to Finca el Paraiso, a working farm between the two towns that so happens to have an incredible hot springs waterfall. Mike – thank you for the tip! Sitting in a cool river with a piping hot waterfall falling down onto your shoulders is absolute bliss. When you do get bored of that, you can swim under the waterfall and into the cavern behind it – which has become a natural cave sauna. Glorious.

What was not so glorious was our night of camping that night at the Finca. The finca is awesome – please go there and stay with Julio and his wife and their piggies and cattle! Swim in the lake (the best swim in Guatemala so far)  and eat at their restaurant! Just don´t sleep in a tent. With the fly on. With another person. In the middle of the Gautemalan dry season. During a heat wave. At one point we did somehow drift into some form of sweaty, delirious sleep, only to be woken up by a horse, her baby, and the fattest pig ever to live. It seems we weren´t the only ones dying of heat; these three barnyard clowns felt that 4 am was an appropriate time for a moonlit splash in the lake. About 2 meters from our tent.

From the Finca we passed through Rio Dulce again on our way to Flores. The bus trip was fairly uneventful. We traded travel tips with Hugh, a middle aged guy from Duncan who is travelling through central America with a duffle bag and a lacrosse stick. Yes, he gets some looks.

Lisa loves Flores! This place is beautiful. Wonderful colourful buildings, cobblestone streets, a hill in the middle with a big church on top, tons of food options. Did we mention this is on a tiny island in a beautiful lake (Lago de Peten Itza.) For you History buffs, Flores was at one time covered in Maya temples and pyramids, but the Spanish destroyed the entire maya city upon their arrival.

Speaking of Maya cities, we left Flores the next day for Tikal, el ruinas de ruinas, mother of all Maya sites. Tikal surprised us with how little tourist infrastructure it has. Don´t get us wrong, you can buy your tickets, pay way too much for some awful food, and pick up a souvenier or two, but it doesn´t come close to the sort of money-spending spectacle you get at places like Science World or Niagara Falls. It is low-key, even difficult to find a guide for a sunset and sunrise tour, and best of all, at 4am we were the only people in the site. Camping was affordable, as was our guide Jose, who gave us a wonderful tour (almost 7 hours in total!).

We met a nice family from Idaho and together with Jose we walked around Tikal from 430 pm 7pm on Thursday night and then again from 430am to 1030am on Friday morning. We watched the sun set and then rise again from Temple 4. Watching the jungle wake up beneath you is incredible. Everything is so quiet and then suddenly everything becomes alive – squawking, howling, swinging tree to tree… Most of the swinging was done by the dozens of spider monkeys that live at  Tikal. Goofing around, eating whatever they want, making inappropriate faces and sounds – I think Tor has found his kindred spirits. The skyscraping temples and humbling size of Tikal can´t really be described, we´ll just recommend it to anyone who can get down this way.

After Tikal we spent a couple days relaxing and laying low in El Remate, a sweet little  lakeside town at the far end of Lago de Peten Itza. We wrote some postcards and did some other chores, but mostly hung out on the beach and caught up on some rest.

Today we are back in Flores, and tomorrow we plan to head south to Semuc Champey, a mysterious and beautiful spot that we need to see for ourselves. We hope everything is wonderful with all of you, and thanks again for following our adventures.

Love Lisa and Torrie