Guatemala

Day 20: Saturday, Nov 27th (Antigua, Guatemala)


Unfortunately, we have now departed from our Singaporean/Australian friend, she stayed for a few more days of surfing in Playa El Tunco.

After a solid nights sleep and some oil of oregano (which taylor has turned both lisa and myself on... it works) Lisa and myself felt a little better. We had been suffering from sun exposure/ altitude sickness, we climbed a mile above sea level yesterday to get here, so that might of had a little bit to do with it. So we headed to the market, which we had no expectations for, but we had seen some cool things that the people we've met had bought... for lisa, a new bag was on the hit list (which was a success!). It's nice, because at this point in our trip, we will only be in Guatemala once, so we can start getting souvenirs. As far as my spanish is concerned, I could write you every number and barter, but actually being able to keep up and do it fully in spanish is a little harder. After today, I can confidently say that every single one of us can barter. We also were able to pick up a few souvenirs. I also need to do a little research on what exactly what I'm allowed to bring back... I hoping to bring a cool looking machete back but it could be a heat score. We decided to move from the Black Cat Inn to the Black Cat Hostal just up the road because it's a little bit more social and slightly easier on the wallet. It's cool, at both places they offer any item on the breakfast menu free of charge which is a huge bonus for us because a nights accommodation is only $8. Gotta run for now, time for a world class coffee!

-Jason

We ended up heading to a very very average Reggae concert, taking a picture in front of this cheetah was the highlight of the night. We were home in bed at 11pm. 

The cheapest late night snacks on the planet...

Taylor ended up getting food poisoning and has spent the night being sick unfortunatly. We have narrowed it down to the fish he ate at a beach bbq at playa el tunco, the Wendy's in San Salvador or the late night snacks in Antigua. He's feeling better this morning.
















Day 21: Sunday, Nov 28th (Antigua, Guatemala)

When we woke up this morning Taylor was still feeling sick from having food poisoning, so me and Jason went downstairs to have breakfast. We were finishing off uploading our pictures onto the blog when we heard this popping bang and a dogs whine. We looked over to see what had happened and there ended up being a drive by shooting of a dog 10 feet away from where me and Jason had been sitting. I clearly couldn't handle it, so I ran up to the room in tears and that's where I spent the day, traumatized in bed. We watched Inception and the only time we left the hostel was to go out for dinner that night when we couldn't seclude ourselves in the hostel any longer.

-Lisa

Hey Mom, I got my machete! 

Day 22: Monday, Nov 29th (Antigua - Flores...)

It turned out that our bus did not leave until 6 pm, leaving us the whole day to check out more of the market and spend money. I was definitely feeling a lot better after the food poisoning and was able to get out of bed to get a better look at the town. It was a pretty low key day which consisted of a lot of hanging around waiting to get on the bus. We had made the decision early in the morning that we were going to pay the extra $6 and get the luxury bus to Flores. Once stepping foot onto the bus, I was glad we had taken that option because this bus was terrible, and I'm glad I didn't get the pleasure of experiencing the 2nd class bus.

Taylor













Day 23: Tuesday, Nov 30th (Flores arrival 6am)

       We arrived in Flores early and grumpy after a horrible 'luxury' bus ride at 6am only to be herded from the main bus into a smaller van by the only english speaking person it seemed on the bus. Being tired we didn't quite clue into the fact that nothing comes for free... ever in Central America. We were even told that it was included in our luxury bus. The guys drove around with us, parked in front of their Tikal  tour guide office and pretty much refused to leave until we booked a tour. On the promise we'd think about it, they drove around trying to pick up other tourists coming off similar buses at the same time. I quickly looked through the book and saw a map of Flores, which is an island with only one bridge and realized it would take 15 mins to walk around the whole thing. As soon as we crossed the bridge and the guys went to try and trick other guys into getting a free shuttle we made our escape. It turns out that our hostel was only about 100 m's away from where we originally were dropped. We found our hostel and
because of the 4am Tikal tours, the entire hostel was
 awake and we were able to check in for the following night at 630am. We were able to find a less sneaky tour guide and did a package deal of bargaining for a 4am Tikal tour the following day and a shuttle ride to Belize City all for just under $30US a person (which is a good deal)

We went for a day nap and woke up at 3pm. We met a few english guys (Dom and Deno) who we are still currently traveling with headed out to a patio for a few drinks before bed. Luckily they did some scouting out before and we had an unreal view of the sun set and the lake. An early night was in order for our 330am start :(

-Jason

Day 24: Wednseday, Dec 1st (Tikal)

Our morning started super early at 3:30 am and our bus left for Tikal at 4: 30 with the promise that we would be able to see the sunrise once we got to Tikal. The park didn't open till 6 and once we got there the sun was already up and we weren't on the ruins at all. The walk started and our tour guides name was Boris, but he was NOT Russian and made it known that he wasn't. We went and saw all that the ruins had to show us. Tarantulas, monkeys, raccoon like things, and Mayan ruins. It was pretty cool that they let us up to the very top of most of the ruins so that we could have a view of the tops of all the other ones and of the rainforest below. Some of the ruins were pretty hard to get up to the top, ladders all the way to the top and then you have to go backwards to get to the bottom again. Some mosquito bites and our guides theories of 2012 later we were done our tour and still had about two hours lefts to do some exploring on our own. But once you're then doing it alone without the guide you get kind of lost in it all. We ended up spending the entire time up on top of one of the ruins people watching and taking pictures of people taking pictures. We finally made our way back to the shuttle and headed back to Flores for the night. It was an early night for us because we have to be up early again tomorrow to catch our bus for Belize and then the boat to Caye Caulker.

-Lisa

Taylor's new buddy

The gang sitting where a famous star wars fight scene was filmed

The view from the top

The tallest temple 70m and it's still growing

... it'd be rude not to

By far the most dangerous part of the tour

Day 25: Thursday, Dec 2nd (Flores - Belize City - Caye Caulker)

The ruins were very cool and it was nice to get the tour to hear about the history behind them all. But.....it was time to get back to the beach and we all were looking forward to the clear water and white sandy beaches of the Caribbean coast. It was another early morning as our shuttle to Belize City left the hostel in Flores at 5am and took 6 hours before arriving at the port in Belize City. The whole gang of us, which had now grown to 7, jumped onto the water taxi on route to Caye Caulker. This beautiful little island was notorious for snorkeling and diving which sparked all of our interests, but the first day we arrived, it was pouring rain and miserable. After trying to barter with some locals for a cheap price on a rental house, we all decided staying at the recommended hostel would be the best option. Luckily, there were only seven spots available, and seven of us, some might say it was destiny. For dinner we went to a place called Pirates where it was there grand opening that night. The food was excellent and came with free appetizers. Due to the recent opening, the restaurant had not yet obtained their liquor license, so they could not sell alcohol but could only give us the two free rum punches that came with the meals. They told us they were sorry but we would have to go next door and get our own booze and bring it to the restaurant where they would supply cups and ice. Needless to say, it was the best.

Taylor