*** Update 11-Apr: right, mañana… anyway the pics are up. Uploading took terribly long so couldn´t be bothered too much to do a quality check. Better luck next time! ***

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Rio Dulce + longest bridge in Central America

My speedy kayak (the left one!)

Kayaking shot...

As I said, time to move on! I was shocked to see that my trail through Guatemala is actually making sense; it’s starting to become a (near) perfect loop… not quite in line with the way things have been going so far!

So the next logic step went down to Finca Tatin, a place on the Rio Dulce, between the equally named city and Lívingston - indeed, close to the Caribbean coast again! Somehow that area keeps attracting me but I’ll elaborate more on that in the near future (trust me, it doesn’t all end whenever you think it will ;)). Anyway, what’s to encounter here; sweltering heat and 3 litres of sweat per hour to begin with. Apart from that; kayaking, lots of community-based eco-tourism, great swimming spots (in the river, not the sea this time!), lovely indigenous villages, a devastating jungle-hike, Lívingston (a Garifuna / Caribbean coastal town) and last but not least: a rope-swing in combination with my self-destructive attitude! May I suggest you check the cartoon-like sequence at the end of the picture gallery :) All in all, time to be hyperactive again!

It all started with a 5-hour kayaking trip to a nearby biotope (Chocon Machacas - have fun pronouncing!). Just what my arms, shoulders and abdomen needed after all this sitting still! Besides, kayaking is fun and the trip was beautiful. Next day, next level: 32 degrees Celsius, extreme humidity and an unforgivingly lot of sunshine: time for a jungle-hike! This hike took us to some indigenous villages which gave a great insight in what everyday life really is like in Guatemala. Also, it felt reassuring to see my guide being just as worn as me at the end! The hike ended in Lívingston, so why not check it out straight away; it’s amazing how quickly Q’eqchi’ culture changes to rasta, yah man and reggae in just a few kilometers!

The final day was a chill-out day - after all the old man still needs to watch out for his foot (and lazy bones). Nonetheless, rope-swinging was still fun (and unsafe)!

The following days were mainly marked by transits and a weird border crossing into El Salvador, but I’m saving that one for the next post, in order not to drag on as I usually do :) Come back soon, more is on the way!

-René *no quote this time* Miltenburg

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Update 20-Feb: comment function is now open. Sorry guys!

Dear diary Whatever. As promised, here`s a post which - in terms of quality - should exceed the previous two. Can`t be too hard, right? At least my predictive capabilities (”worst viewed posts ever”) still seem to work after all these travels, which feels like a delight ;)

Well then, so after having fun on Cozumel and spending most of my time in fairly small places, I felt it was time for some big city life. The place of choice: Mérida, famous for Yucatec culture, its “bustling” weekends, markets, architecture, people, surroundings… in other words: quite the place to get stuck in for a while! What can I say… the weather was nice (nothing but sun, 28C and rising temps), the company was very pleasant (hi guys!), the food was great and the beer was cold - what more could you wish for?

The city functioned as a base for exploring nearby cenotes (3 in total) - which was both fun and stunning. The latter is because in order to see one of the cenotes you need to climb down an 8-meter ladder… and the top step broke while I was climbing up, so I was almost part of yet another bodycount (sounds familiar?). I keep wondering how the people that were still down there got out though! :)

Also, we visited the Chichen Itza ruins (yes, more ruins), which were a bit of a Disneyland-experience but still pretty impressive. Other than that the city itself was good fun, providing basically everything one could look for. Cultural events such as traditional Yucatec dancing - which seems boring at first but then all of a sudden gets impressive - provide a little extra.

Still happy about cities, I moved on to Campeche and hooked up with some people I also met in Merida… yes, I`m still on a well-trodded trail at the moment! Campeche is nice but VERY quiet, the old city centre feels like walking through a candystore with all those hard-coloured buildings. Anyway, the company again was very good! Next day took a night bus to Palenque and after a nice little ride and even less sleep went to visit (MORE) ruins! Anyway, these were the most impressive so far and by now I`m getting a little ruin-tired (and so should most readers) so I promise I won`t post too much on these things anymore.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures (bigger series this time too, whoo-hoo!!) and on to… CARNAVAL! (This way, not this way!)

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One very weary traveler

This is how the Maya kept their kids under control

Chichen Itza skyline

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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!

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Cahal Pech

On top of Cahal Pech

Xunantunich - skyline

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