Belize to Guatemala

Monday (11 March) we left Caye Caulker this morning, our guide reminded us that in Central America we must travel with ‘flexibility and Patience’, today we have to walk to catch the ferry back to Belize City, get taxis across the city to the bus station, then catch a public bus to San Ignacio, with another Intrepid group so a total of 27 of us! It is also a bank holiday (National Hero’s day), so our guides were a little bit stressed out. However it all worked out perfectly, they even managed to talk the bus driver into dropping us right outside our hotel, rather than us having to walk from the bus station.

Tuesday, we did a trip to explore the Actun Tunichil Muknal caves (known as the ATM caves), an amazing day first we had to cross three rivers, the water was reasonably low, but the deepest crossing was chest height. On entering the cave we had to swim 50 metres, as the river flowed out of the cave. We spent most of the next two hours scrambling and climbing in the water, to reach the dry cave which was used by the Maya to honour their gods including with human sacrifice. There was lots of artefacts still in situ in the cave, slowly being calcified by the water. It was an amazing challenging adventure. Unfortunately there was no photography allowed inside the caves, thanks to previous visitors dropping equipment on some of the precious items!

Wednesday, we visited the national park of Tikal, which includes the largest Maya archeological site in all of Central America, we visited many of the temples and the central plaza with a Maya guide who explained all the history and symbolism of the site. The guide also had an interest in wildlife and managed to spot, and point out, lots of species including spider monkeys, howler monkeys, toucans and brown jays.

Tikal was used in the filming of Star Wars IV A New Hope, the scenes before the rebel alliance attack on the Death Star. Great to see.

Thursday, we left Tikal and drove to Flores the state capital. Flores is on a small island on a lake we crossed the bridge to visit it. They had just opened an exhibition of the local dance costumes which we were invited to visit.

After Flores we drove to Rio Dulce, then took a boat to our hotel. Lovely wooden huts with shared bathrooms. But also a great pool and cocktail list !

Friday we took a boat trip to Livingston, calling at the Spanish Castle of San Felipe of Lara, bird island, the mangroves, hot springs and finally Livingston, a town that can only be reached by Boat. Had an amazing Fish soup for lunch.

Saturday, up at 3:30am to drive to Antigua, via Guatemala City, where the traffic is notoriously bad! We spend most of the day on the road, thankfully our bus driver was doing all the hard work!

We stopped off in Guatemala City to see a large 3D map of the country.

We got to Antigua (not to be mistaken for the Caribbean island) in the afternoon. Antigua is a old Spanish colonial town, a grid layout around a main square.

Given the early start, a nap was required before exploring the town, luckily we still managed to see the end of a parade as towns in Guatemala stage numerous processions in the run up to Easter.

In a couple of days we’ll be back to Antigua for 3 nights, so today was just a short taster!

Sunday, another private minibus first to Chichicastenango to see the market and the church, some murals depicting the ‘civil war’ and visiting a local Maya spiritual leader (‘shaman’) then on to Panajachel on the banks of Lake Atitlán. Unfortunately due to local bushfires the view of the lake and the surrounding volcanos was a little obscured. Panajachal is a nice town, a little bit touristy, but for local Guatemalan tourists. As it was St Patrick’s day, the bar adjacent to the hotel was having a do! Luckily the they closed at 9pm, so no sleep lost!