Indeed, a little late (what`s new?) but just wanted to post a short message saying THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the bday wishes you sent me! This is what I call record-breaking ;) very touching! My Facebook wall seemed to collapse, the number of pageviews on Hallmark must have increased significantly and even my Hyves-page showed some activity… for the first time in over 8 months… not to mention the good ol` e-mail box that required about an hour of reading!

Well then, a short update: I visited the hospital in Poptun hoping to get some good news on the healing process of my foot… the answer: It`s going to take another 8-10 days to heal. Sitting around doing nothing isn`t quite what I came here for, so I decided to wing it! After a morning bday ritual I left for Rio Dulce, and subsequently Finca Tatin, somewhere on an inlet, somewhere on the river, somewhere in the jungle, somewhere in the east of Guatemala… I`ll see if I can scan a map for you at some point, as I barely know where I am myself ;)

Anyhow, I`ve finally undertaken some more stuff so stay tuned for another post with some serious nature-flavour… and some serious dumbness ;)

Till soon!

-René ”what do you mean, old!?” Miltenburg

Lots of different things to write about this time, so let´s try to be efficient and write less than a complete book :) Also, this post won´t be as “blue” as the previous one, promise ;)

So after the ocean, it was time for an environment that´s a bit more “hilly” - we took off to the Cayo district in Western Belize, to a place called San Ignacio. We used it as a base to explore two different Maya ruins; Cahal Pech and Xunantunich (hope this is correct). Both are very different, though equally impressive.

Next up were preparations for a day of celebration: Mayo´s bday (see comments on previous post ;)). We decided to celebrate this one in Hopkins, a pretty out-of-the-way beach town with hardly any roads, no cell phone reception … you get the idea! Stayed in a highly hippy-oriented place - the owners were interesting, our fellow guests were not (ask Mayo for the full story)! After some nice fish-n-cake meals :) it was high time to run off; on to Caves Branch, time for cave-tubing! Surroundings and caves were really impressive. Tubing was fun, though not very fast, pictures should explain it all!

Following this we had the intention to visit the Lamanai ruins (yes, another one), however once we arrived it turned out the place was one giant tourist-trap so we skipped it and instead crossed the border back to Mexico to visit the ruins of Kohunlich! The only way to get there was by hitchhiking, which still is good fun, especially if you need to watch out where to put your feet as the bottom of the truck was full of holes. Anyway, Kohunlich was impressive as it´s still mostly covered by jungle, and has some really nice Mayan masks.

Time to weave further up north; we ended up near Valladolid to swim in a cenote; a sinkhole filled with groundwater. Quite an impressive experience, and it seemed the water was even clearer than in the Caribbean Sea! As we wanted to blend in some more “wildlife-related” activities we decided to head further north, up to Rio Lagartos, where we made a tour through some mangrove forest (incl the marvellous number of one crocodile and lots of birds) and spotted some flamingos in nearby saliñas.

So much for this “diary-wise” post for now - hope you enjoy the pictures once more!

[Show as slideshow]

Cahal Pech

On top of Cahal Pech

Xunantunich - skyline

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Hey everyone!! Just a short note to let you know I arrived safe and sound in Panama City. You’ll get the details (and pics) later on, only have a few minutes time right now. Just wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Dad! Hope you’ve had (or, given the time difference, are still having) a great day! I promise to bring you something nice from the area, just need a little stimulation regarding my creativity!

Keep in touch - and keep reading!

Rene Read more »