San Ignacio y Belmopan 11 al 13 de Octubre

Desde Caye Caulker (seguimos teniendo problemas para subir fotos) tomamos un barco a Belice City para tomar un bus hacia el oeste de este extraño pais. Nuestro destino: San Ignacio. Nuestra razon para acabar en este pueblo (una vez mas, con edificios muy poco cuidados) eran los elevados precios del alojamiento en Belmopan (la capital de Belice) que visitariamos haciendo noche en San Ignacio. La otra razon era el poder visitar un pueblo llamado Spanish Lookout, que es una comunidad de Menonitas, otra de las culturas de belice que se mezclan con los garifunas negros, los descendientes mayas, los descendientes de ingleses de la epoca colonial, los taiwaneses y los recientes inmigrantes norteamericanos. Belice logro su independencia de Inglaterra muy recientemente, 1981. Nos llamo la atencion que la gente no habla mucho de su historia en este pais a diferencia de Nicaragua donde siempre les gusta hablar de lo que habia pasado en el pais años atras. San Ignacio no tiene nada interesante asi que buscamos algo que hacer. Fuimos a ver un proyecto conservacionista de iguanas y fue muy interesante. Acabamos los dos con seis iguanas encima de nosotros, tres en cada brazo. Las conservan para aumentar la posibilidad de supervivencia en sus primeros cuatro años de vida y luego las sueltan en libertad. Una iguana puede llegar a vivir 21 años aunque las probbilidades de sobrevivir los primeros años son menores del 10%. No son nada agresivas a no ser que se vean amenazadas y siempre avisan antes de atacar. No todas... algunas se dejaban acariciar sin problemas. Las que no, cuando acercas el dedo a unos cinco centimetros inflaman la piel del cuello para avisarte de que te van a dar un latigazo. Si las tocas te dan con la cola en el dedo un pequeño latigazo y ya esta.... solo te morderian si las agrraras la cola y se sintieran indefensas. Tienen una iguana de mascota que no van a soltar, mide mas de un metro y tiene nueve años. Se llama Gomez y es de color anaranjado ya que las iguanas verdes son las mas jovenes (menos de 6 años creo) y despues empiezan a tomar un color naranja. Finalmente por problemas de comunicacion y lo incomodos que estabamos en el hostal de San Ignacio (se supone que teniamos que llevar nuestro propio papel higienico al servicio, el encargado del hostal se llama Kenny G y tampoco tiene dientes) no pudimos ir a ver a los menonitas. Lo poco que aprendi sin ir (algunas veces puedes ver menonitas en los buses y en otras ciudades donde van a vender sus productos durante el dia) fue que son muy trabajadores y muy religiosos. Llevan ropa antigua, las mujeres vestidos como del siglo XIX, los hombres monos con tirantes, camisas de cuadros y sombreros de paja. Algunos llevan barbas largas y rubias o pelirrojas. Son muy blancos y la mayoria rubios o pelirrojos. Son "primos" culturalmente de los Amish. No beben alcohol, no pueden llevar joyas, y algunas comunidades no aceptan nada tecnologico. Los mas radicales, los de Barton Creek, viven como hace trescientos años. Sin luz, sin maquinaria agricola, se transportan en carromatos. Otros como los de Blue Creek aceptan algo de la tecnologia, la que va destinada a facilitarles las labores agricolas (tractores, etc) Se dedican a la agricultura y cria de gallinas y cerdos. Otros se dedican a la artesania de muebles. Y eso es todo lo que sabemos. Finalmente pasamos por Belmopan (sin pasar la noche) que es la capital mas triste que hemos visto jamas. No hay nada. Es una especie de cruce de carrteras donde la gente no sabe decirte muy bien donde esta el centro (es la capital de Belice con 16.000 habitantes) y fue construida en los años 60 para mover los edificios gubernamentales de Belice City y protegerlos de los huracanes. Al parecer solo se movieron eso, los edificios gubernamentales ya que esta en medio de la nada! Nuestra guia lo llama ciudad fantasma. Nosotros pensamos que podian haber hecho los edificios un poco mas juntos porque para que os hagais una idea, da la sensacion de estar dentro de un poligono industrial (de edificios del gobierno) mas que en una ciudad.

Island Hopping: Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye

04/10/09-10/10/09

We happily left Belize City to head for the small island of Caye Caulker, where we had originally planned to spend a few relaxing days, but where we ended up spending a full week. It is by far the best place we have been to in Belize, and where we have had some of our best experiences, but more than anything this was due to the fact that we met a wonderful group of people, who we spent the majority of our stay with. We were all staying in the same hotel, which made it very easy to organise getting together, and although we sometimes (albeit rarely) did our own things during the day, we ate dinner together every night without fail and spent some great days together too! Our hotel was also beautiful (not 5* luxury or anything like that, but one of the nicest we have been in), complete with balcony with a partially-obscured view of the beach, but a view nonetheless :) And surprisingly, it was quite reasonably priced as well, so we were very happy!

Our lovely group of friends included Tim and Meg, a married couple from Sydney, who have invited us to stay with them if we ever make it to Australia, Catrina and Aisling, secondary school teachers from Ireland, who are taking a year out to explore the world, Richard from Wales, who is an internet whizz, Bruce from up North (England), who has previously worked in IT but is not sure what he will do once he goes back home (like us he is searching for some clarity on his travels) and last, but by no means least, Lisa from Switzerland, who had actually come on holiday to Guatemala, but had found herself visiting all these other countries that she hadn't expected to see. After spending some time back home, I think she has it in mind to visit Catrina and Aisling in Australia in the New Year, so I hope that all works out. It was such a pleasure getting to know them all and spending those few days together made our Caye Caulker experience so much better!

Caye Caulker itself is a tiny island, which can be explored easily on foot. The only vehicles you see on the island are bicycles, golf buggies and quad bikes. There is not a real beach, just a thin line of sand on the coast, but it´s enough to line up a few sunbeds, and you can swim pretty much anywhere off of the various piers. The best place to swim, however, is at The Split, a narrow gap which divides the island into two parts, and which was created by Hurricane Hattie in 1961. The attitude of the island is very laid back, almost to the point of laziness, and you often feel like you are on the set of a Malibu advert...you know the saying: "If people in the Carribean took life seriously as this, they would never have invented Malibu" hahaha! Of course, we undoubtedly came across a few hustlers who would really push for a sale (especially as we were there during the quiet season), but we quickly adapted to the norm and didn´t allow ourselves to be rushed into making any decisions :)

When we were not out and about doing things, we would relax on the 'beach' with a book or at one of the many beachside bars having a drink or a bite to eat. On our first day 'out', we headed for the neighbouring island of Ambergris Caye, where we rented a couple of golf buggies for a few hours. It was a lot of fun driving up and down, at times not knowing in which direction to turn, or where the road would lead, and it was a great way of seeing the majority of the island in a short space of time. Ambergris Caye is a lot bigger and busier than Caye Caulker, and we all agreed that we preferred the tranquility and charm of the latter of the two, but it was good to see something different. Driving along the coast, we were always on the look out for a good spot of beach to go for a swim, and we eventually found the perfect spot and hurled ourselves into the water, leaving the buggies under a couple of palm trees :) Before Bruce and Tim took the buggies back, they dropped us off at a lovely restaurant on the waterfront, which we later realized had won first prize in a national food competition this year. The food was exceptional and the service was also very good. The restaurant also had a feeding station next door, and they let us all have a go at feeding these huge fish (I think they were called tarpin fish), that were obviously very hungry, as they lunged for the food as soon as it hit the water. One of them gave Meg a huge fright when she hesitated a bit before throwing the food in, prompting the fish to jump out of the water to grab it from her hand. A couple of us caught her hilarious reaction on camera and I hope to be able to upload it soon!

Another great day out, although we were missing Tim and Meg, was a snorkel trip that took us out for the majority of the day, with the opportunity to snorkel in three different spots. Tim and Meg had done the same trip the day before us and had thoroughly recommended it, so the rest of us decided it was not to be missed...and we were not disappointed! Each of the snorkel spots had its own highlight, although for me, the second stop was by far the best, just for the amount of fish that we saw and how close they were. When we stopped the boat, our guides started throwing food into the water, obviously attracting hundreds of fish, and up to thirty nurse sharks, who are apparently harmless (the name nurse shark certainly doesn't bring anything sinister to mind). While they were throwing the food in, they told us all to get in the water as quick as we could, because the nurse sharks would disappear as soon as the food was gone. There were only a few of them left by the time I got in, but it was amazing to see them nevertheless, and there were still plenty of fish swimming around, plus a stingray, which our guide picked up several times, to allow us to stroke it :) The third stop was also interesting, as our guides split us into two groups and took us on a guided tour, pointing things out to us and explaining what we were looking at. It was a brilliant trip and great value for money! Definitely one of the highlights of the whole trip!

Our final night together was a great one and we spent it having a second attempt at the regular quiz night at one of the beachside bars. We had first had a go two days earlier, under the name of 'Gringos in Belize' ('gringo' being the term used by the locals for Americans, but which also works just as well for the British, Australians, Kiwis etc.). That time we came a disappointing fourth, and we were determined to better our performance this time around, and to make our final night a glorious one! We named ourselves 'Gringos' Revenge', and it paid off, because we came first out of about 10 teams! We were over the moon! The prize was 50 Belizean dollars off of our bill (the equivalent of US$25). It was the perfect end to what had been a wonderful week!

The next morning we got up early to have a final breakfast with Tim and Meg, who were going on a three day sailing cruise to Placencia, on the south-east coast of Belize, from where they would be heading back to Guatemala to catch a flight to Peru (if my memory serves me correctly). Lisa and Bruce also left on an early boat back to Belize City, with Lisa heading towards Mexico, and Bruce heading south to see more of Belize. We were the next to leave, and Catrina, Aisling and Richard came to see us off at the pier :) They would catch the later boat back and go their separate ways: Catrina and Aisling would take an afternoon flight to Costa Rica and Richard would make his way to Mexico, where he would later take a flight to Cuba! We still had more places in Belize to see, so once we got to Belize City, we got straight on a bus to San Ignacio, on the other side of the country. Belize being small though, it was only a 2 hour journey and on the way we passed through Belmopan, the capital city, which apparently doesn't resemble a capital in the slightest. Time will tell as we are planning to spend a few hours there on the way back east from San Ignacio in a few days' time.

Caye Caulker y Ambergris Caye del 4 al 10 de Octubre

Un barco nos llevo a la isla de Caye Caulker donde teniamos planeado pasar un par de dias y finalmente nos quedamos una semana! Es sin duda el mejor sitio que hemos visto en Belice aunque tambien hizo mucho el haber conocido a gente con la que nos llevamos muy bien! La isla es muy pequeña y se puede andar a todas partes. Los unicos vehiculos que circulan por la isla son bicicletas, carros de golf y Quads. El hostal en el que estuvimos fue muy agradable, incluso con un balcon con vistal al mar. Alli conocimos a Richard, de Gales. Bruce del norte de Inglaterra. Cat y Ashley de Irlanda. Tim y Meg de Sidney, Australia. Y Lisa de Suiza. Fuimos un grupo muy unido durante la semana. Un dia tomamos un barco para pasar el dia en la isla vecina de Ambergris. Esta isla es mas grande y alquilamos dos carros de golf para dar una vuelta. Fue muy divertido conducir uno de esos coches y ver toda la isla! Comimos una enorme hamburguesa de pescado en el supuestamente mejor restaurante de Belice junto al muelle. Buenisima! Y pudimos dar de comer pescado a unos peces enormes que dieron un susto enorme a Meg ya que saltaron del agua para quitarle el pescado que ella tenia en su mano! En Caye Caulker nos relajamos en la playa (aunque realmente no es una playa) es una especie de muelle con tumbonas. Al menos estaba limpio.... Salimos a cenar juntos todas las noches y fue muy interesante conocerles. Cat y Ashley son profesoras, Bruce y Richard trabajan con tecnologia e internet, Meg habia sido profesora y Tim trabaja en una agencia especializada en Marketing para grandes empresas. Tim y Meg nos han invitado a quedarnos en su casa unos dias si vamos por Sidney. Otro dia hicimos Snorkel todos juntos. Vaya experiencia en Belice! nada que ver con la de Mexico. Vimos cientos de peces juntos. Te metias dentro de los bancos de peces y se chocaban contra tu cuerpo y cara. Nadamos con dos o tres rayas o mantas, con tres tortugas marinas y con unos treinta tiburones!!!!! La mejor experiencia de todas. Los monitores daban de comer a los tiburones desde el barco y un grupo de unos doce nadabamos a unos tres o cuatro metros de ellos. Lo unico que no podiamos hacer era acercarnos a ellos como a los otros peces y rayas.... Cuando se acabo la comida, los tiburones (tiburon gata o Nurse Shark) se marcharon porque al parecer no les gusta nadar con personas (al menos a este tipo de tiburon....) La gente local es extremadamente relajada (o vaga) en esta isla. Son como los del anuncio de Malibu! Me estas estresaaaando.... haha. Uno de ellos les dijeron a Cat y Ashley mientras caminabamos.... mas despacio! porque iban andando a un ritmo normal europeo. Muy divertido.... Otro de los grandes momentos en Caye Caluker fueron las dos noches de Pub Quizz. Un concurso de preguntas en un pub donde cenabamos. Se hacian equipos de 8 personas y competiamos respondiento 13 preguntas. La primera noche nos llamabamos "gringos in Belice" por una cancion que tienen aqui que nos gusto mucho. De ocho equipos quedamos cuartos aunque lo pasamos muy bien. En nuestra ultima noche volvimos a jugar. Esta vez nos llamamos "Gringos Revenge" (la revancha de los gringos) y de diez equipos quedamos los primeros!!! Ganando 50 dolares para el equipo que fueron descontados de nuestra cuenta! Despues de una semana con ellos llego el momento de despedirnos. Richard iba a Cuba, Tim y Meg a Peru, Ashley y Cat a Costa Rica, Lisa a Mexico, nosotros a San Ignacio en Belice y Bruce... bueno Bruce no sabia muy bien a donde iba.. Quizas a Mexico, quizas a Honduras.... haha.

Arrival in Belize: Orange Walk and Belize City

02/10/09-03/10/09

We set off from Mexico feeling excited at the prospect of getting to Belize and experiencing all of the wonders that we had read and heard about from other travellers! Belize is a former English colony that gained independence in 1981 and is a member of the Commonwealth. The official language is English, although several other languages are spoken, and the Belizean notes bear the face of Queen Elizabeth II, as she is still the Head of State here. In Belize, everything is so different compared to the other countries that make up the Central American continent and so we were really looking forward to our time here. Maybe it was our fault for starting in Orange Walk??? Not that we could have avoided starting there, as it was the first place of 'interest' on the route from Mexico...but what can I say, disappointment just doesn´t do justice to how we felt upon arriving there (And I´m sad to say that two weeks later, when we are just about to leave again, our experiences of Belize, with the exception of a few, have not been much better than this first one).

Orange Walk is Belize´s second largest city, but does not seem at all prepared for tourists, as there is absolutely nothing to do here. It´s not that we like places which are heavily geared towards tourists, but it´s always nice to at least have something interesting to see, do or find out about. That is certainly not the case in Orange Walk! Well actually, there was a wildlife sanctuary nearby, that may have been interesting, but it was such a mission to get to, that we decided not to bother. If Orange Walk had offered us a better place to base ourselves for a couple of days, we may have been more open to the idea of spending time and money exploring the surroundings, but we were keen to move on as soon as possible. The one consolation here was that we found a really nice restaurant with a terrace out the back where we escaped the dirty and miserable looking streets of the city for a couple of hours.

Another shock to the system on arriving in Belize, although this one a little more expected, was the cost of everything. It is so much more expensive than anywhere else we have been so far, and even more expensive in Europe in some cases. The internet and phone tariffs are by far the worst offenders, with some places charging as much as US$ 7.50 an hour!!! Although we did manage to find a more reasonable rate of just US$2 in a couple of places. Accommodation (quality depending of course) also tends to be a lot more expensive than we have been used to, with Belize City (our second destination in Belize) really taking the biscuit on that score! In Orange Walk we paid the slightly-higher-than-normal rate of US$22.50 for a double room with private bath (and the luxury of a TV, which is always useful in a boring place), so when we got to Belize City the next day and headed towards one of the supposedly 'cheapest' places in our guidebook, we were shocked to be told that a double room with shared bath (without TV) would set us back US$50!!! We asked what other alternatives available and we weren´t any more impressed with the dorm room rates of US$20 per person, which would potentially mean sharing with three other people and sharing a bathroom. Not that we are at all averse to dorms (they are not my favourite I must admit) but usually they provide the huge advantage of costing next to nothing, not $20!!! It just so happened that we were staying there during a very quiet period (there was only one other guest) and so we ended up staying in the dorm room for a reduced rate of $15 per person, which is still very expensive, but we didn´t think we would fare much better at any other hostel so we decided to take it! A couple of hours exploring the city was enough to confirm that there was nothing much to do here either, so at least we wouldn´t have to pay the extortionate room prices for more than one night :)

Belize City is Belize´s largest city and former capital. The capital was moved to Belmopan in 1961 following the devastation wrought by Hurricane Hattie. Belize City is right on the East coast of the country and more prone to being hit by the numerous hurricanes that pass through the area. Due to the expensive accommodation and lack of tourist attractions its main purpose is to serve as a transport hub between the islands of Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye, which lie about an hour to an hour and a half away from Belize City. It appears that most people are aware of this and don´t even bother spending anytime in the city, preferring instead to hop straight on a boat, but we thought we´d give it a chance. There were signs pointing towards the Anglican Cathedral so we decided to have a look...unfortunately it looked more like a factory and is quite possibly the most unattractive cathedral I have ever seen. We also tried to find the 'Tourist Village' that is supposedly located near to the port, but either we didn´t find it, or it just wasn´t impressive enough to get our attention. We spent a good couple of hours walking around but having been approached by at least one beggar on every street we had walked down, we didn´t feel all that safe and so we decided to head back to the hostel, where we ordered a take-away pizza for dinner and watched the F1 until the early hours of the morning :) Tomorrow we are off to Caye Caulker, the smallest of the two nearby islands. Let's just hope it doesn´t further disappoint our already diminishing expectations!

P.S. The encounters with beggars in Belize City are not uncommon, and apart from being rather annoying and at times unnerving, some of the beggars are downright rude if you refuse to give them anything. We are not completely heartless and we on occasion give away our small change if we have anyway, but you can´t give to each and every person that asks for it, as you would end up no money, but on one occasion when we weren´t able to give anything, the beggar in question shouted out after us "Why are you people always so mean??? Get out of my f***ing country". A friend we made later on in Belize told us she had suffered a similar experience and had been told to "F*** off"...charming! I feel like I am painting a very grim picture of Belize here, and it is all due to the fact that our experience of the country on the whole was deeply disappointing, an opinion which is shared by several other tourists that we have come across during and since our time there, but I don´t want to ruin the country´s reputation for anyone else, so don´t let my ramblings put you off visiting Belize by any means!!! :)

Orange Walk y Belice City (Belice) 2 y 3 de Octubre

Seguimos con el viaje (estamos teniendo problemas con las fotos pero ya llegaran) Nuestro nuevo destino: Orange Walk en Belice. Es un pueblo (aunque la tercera ciudad mas grande) al norte de este pequeño pais. Los edificios estan bastante deteriorados y lo que mas llama la atencion es la cantidad de chinos que viven aqui (al parecer son de Taiwan.) Para que os hagais una idea... todos los supermercados y tiendas de alimentacions son regentadas por taiwaneses. Y no solo en Orange Walk sino en todo el pais!!! Nos comentaron que se debe a un acuerdo para importar comida barata desde Taiwan (aunque no sea tan barata para el cliente final....) Belice es el pais mas caro de centroamerica con diferencia. En muchos casos mas caro que en Europa. Una hora de internet entre US 2 y US 7.50 segun la ciudad. Lavar la misma cantidad de ropa que en Mexico, cinco veces mas. Comida tipica en Mexico US 3-5, en Belice US 12-15. Una sola cama en habitacion con 3 personas mas y sin banio en Belice City US20, Habitacion doble con banio privado y agua caliente en Mexico US16. En Belice se usa el dolar de Belice con la imagen de la reina de Inglaterra en todos los billetes ya que como parte de la Commomwealth, ella es la jefa de Estado. El idioma oficial es el ingles. No habia nada interesante que hacer en este pueblo asi que nos dirigimos a Belice city, la ciudad mas grande del pais (aunque no la capital.) Belice City esta al este y tiene puerto (mar Caribe.) Tomamos un taxi hacia el hostal por 7 dolares y el taxista, que nos habia dicho que sabia como llegar se perdio. Nos dijo que ya habiamos llegado en frente de una peluqueria en vez de un hostal que ni siquiera estaba en la calle a la que ibamos. Le enseñamos un mapa y nos llevo a otro sitio. De nuevo calle equivocada. Miramos en el plano y se habia ido justo al otro lado de la ciudad. Vuelve a intentarlo y en el camino se para para recoger a su novia. Le pregunta si sabe donde esta nuestro hostal y esta vez lo encuentra! Nos dice que van a ser tres dolares mas porque ha tardado mucho!! Le dijimos que era el el que se habia perdido y acepta farfullando "por eso no me gusta llevar gringos, son tan duros conmigo!!". Si hubiera que usar una palabra para definir Belice City (y como hemos oido a otros viajeros con los que sin duda estamos de acuerdo) es un "shit-hole". En español no tenemos esta expresion, literalmente hoyo de mierda...... Las casas son de madera y con el paso de los huracanes y lo poco que parecen cuidar las propiedades, esta que se cae a trozos. La comida es mala. La catedral parece una fabrica. La gente no parece contenta y ni de lejos es amable. Hay muchos muchos mendigos, sin dientes (negros garifunas descendientes de esclavos) que increpan a los pocos turistas que vienen de paso hacia las islas de Caye Caulker o Ambergris. Es una sensacion incomoda cuando te piden dinero casi en cada calle, uno de ellos, tras decirle que no, nos contesto: "Por que estos turistas son siempre tan tacaños!, iros de mi p...to pais! A otro turista que conocimos mas adelante y con el que cambiabamos impresiones sobre esta ciudad le paso lo mismo y le dijeron "fuck off" (que te j..dan! Habeis visto alguna vez mendigos tan respondones?. Un tercer turista ingles nos comento que el iba andando descalzo por la ciudad para que no le robaran las zapatillas.... hahaha.... Asi de amables son por estos lugares. Pasamos una noche y tomamos el barco rumbo a la isla de Caye Caulker!

Final Days in Mexico: Merida and Campeche

27/09/09-01/10/09

After our visit to the ruins of Chichén Itzá, we took another bus that very afternoon to Merida, the capital of the state of Yucatan, where we spent the next few days leisurely exploring the city. Merida is busy but quite charming with several impressive buildings and leafy plazas, which provide a welcome relief from the intense heat. It was founded in 1542 by Francisco de Montejo and boasts the oldest Cathedral in the whole of Central America. The area had previously been inhabited by a community of Mayas, and when Montejo arrived he discovered the ruins of a pyramid, but instead of conserving them, he dismantled the remaining bricks and used them to construct the Cathedral in its place. Talk about marking one´s territory :) The Cathedral forms one part of the main square with the Town Hall and Montejo Palace being located on the adjacent sides. Montejo Palace now houses a branch of Banamex (the national bank) and inside the Town Hall, there is currently an art exhibition on display, with several huge cavasses depicting the history of the Mayas.

We were lucky to arrive in Merida just in time for the start of a festival and one evening we got to see some typical folklore dances, a few of which involved the dancers dancing on top of a box just big enough to stand on and balancing a tray of half-filled glasses and bottles on their heads. It sounds a bit strange I know, but it was very entertaining. We were expecting at least one of them to drop something or maybe fall off the box, but they literally didn´t put a foot wrong. Merida is famed for its artisanal products, especially its hammocks and panama hats. (For those of you that always thought panama hats originated in Panama, I can assure you they are not. The design is actually of Ecuadorian origin and it just so happens that the indigenous population in Merida and in other parts of the state of Yucatan are very skilled in making them). According to a friendly local who started chatting to us, even Antonio Banderas has been here to buy some hats and a hammock :) The hammocks are made from the plant called Henequen, which is cultivated throughout the state, and the same plant is also used to make a traditional Mexican alcoholic drink, known as licor del henequen, which is similar to tequila. Unfortunately, the indigenous people have to compete with an ever-increasing amount of foreigners who sell poor quality hammocks imported from China for about half the price!

It was here in Merida that we had our first encounter with a community of people known as Mennonites. Originally from Germany and Holland, various groups emmigrated to Mexico and Belize from Canada in the 1950s, fleeing from the increasing modernisation and preferring instead to conserve their traditional way of life. They are very similar to the Amish in that respect, although I do not think they are as strict. They are very easily distinguishable with the men wearing straw hats, checked shirts and trousers held up with braces, and the women in plain dresses and headscarves. From one day to the next, I swear about 50 of them appeared in Merida and we seemed to see them everywhere we went. Vic is extremely keen to visit a community of Mennonites once we arrive in Belize, so maybe we will learn a bit more about them later on.

We made yet another visit to the cinema in Merida, as it was just too hot to walk around the city during the day and we felt like a bit of normality :) We actually ended up seeing two films in the same day: The Ugly Truth, which was ok, but very predictable, as is the case with most rom-coms, followed by The Time Traveller´s Wife, which although quite sad, we both really enjoyed and would thoroughly recommend.

From Merida, we went to Campeche, the capital of the state of the same name. One afternoon here was enough to see the main points of interest including the remains of the city wall which was completed early in the 18th century to help protect the city from pirate attacks. During colonial times, Campeche, along with Veracruz, was one of the principal ports used by the Spanish to transport silver, gold and other raw materials to Spain, making it an obvious target for pirates such as Henry Morgan (English) and Laurens de Graaf (Dutch), who the Spanish referred to as Lorencillo for some unknown reason. It was after the attack by Lorencillo that it was decided a wall was needed around the city for protection. Ironically, the completion of the wall happened to coincide with an agreement between several kingdoms to put an end to piracy and Campeche was never attacked again. What remains left of the wall today are seven of the eight original bulwarks, two of which are still connected by the wall itself. Several of the existing bulwarks have tourist attractions built within them such as museums, one of which we visited (the City Museum), while another of the bulwarks forms the entrance to the Botanical Gardens.

One of the many interesting facts that we discovered in the City Museum was that, apart from the gold and silver, pirates, and especially the English, were also attracted to Campeche and its surroundings for the existence of logwood, a tree native to the area, which is a natural source of dye and which was, at the time, of great economic importance. The Spanish eventually managed to expell these settlers from Campeche, and they ended up in what is present-day Belize. The Spanish allowed them to settle there in exchange for an end to piracy. These English logwood camps, established in the 17th century, were the very basis on which the nation of Belize was built, and the reason as to why it is the only former English colony in Central America. In order to cut enough timber to meet demands, the English brought Africans to the area from Jamaica to work as slaves, whose descendants form the Kriol and Garifuna elements of the current day population, comprising 25% and 6% of the total populace respectively.

Before making our way to Belize on the 2nd September, we spent our final afternoon in Mexico in the border town of Chetumal, which is famous for being a conservation area for manatees, which look similar to sea lions. We weren´t aware of this while we were there, but during an evening stroll along the waterfront, we were surprised to see large animals in the water just below us. Being dark, we couldn´t quite work out what they were, but a local, who was fishing nearby was able to tell us that they were manatees. We felt very fortunate to have been able to see them without intending to and we sat and watched them for a while before returning to the hotel. The next morning we would be leaving for Orange Walk, the second largest city in Belize.

Merida y Campeche del 27 de Septiembre al 1 de Octubre

Tras la visita a las ruinas Mayas de Chichen Itza, nos dirigimos al oeste del estado del Yucatan, llegando a la capital, Merida. Es una bonita ciudad, fundada por el hijo de un adelantado de Hernan Cortes, Francisco de Montejo, en 1.542. Se puede ver el palacio de la familia Montejo en la plaza principal. La catedral esta construida con piedra de una piramide maya, es decir, los conquistadores desmontaron la piramide maya y con los materiales hicieron la catedral de la nueva ciudad. Antiguamente estaba amurallada para separar a los espanioles y criollos de los indigenas que vivian fuera de la muralla. Estuvimos varios dias andando por las calles de la ciudad y vimos un festival con bailes tradicionales. Hemos visto varias veces en el Yucatan que las mujeres son capaces de bailar con una botella, lata o vaso en la cabeza sin que se les caiga. En el festival llegaron a bailar con una bandeja llena de vasos! Muy interesante. Merida es conocido en Mexico por la hamacas y los sombreros. Nos conto un hombre que Antonio Banderas estuvo por aqui yse compro una docena de sombreros y una hamaca. Las hamacas las hacen de Henequen, que es la misma planta que se usa para hacer el tequila. Nos contaron los comerciantes que cada vez hay menos de estas hamacas artesanales porque los libaneses venden las hamacas chinas de fibras sinteticas, mucho mas economicas aunque imitaciones de las originales. Aqui en Yucatan vimos por primera vez a unos hombres y mujeres extranios conocidos como Menonitas. Vinieron a Mexico y sobre todo a Belice desde Canada en los anios 50 huyendo de la modernidad aunque son originarios de Alemania/Holanda (siglos XVI) y hablan un dialecto aleman. Visten como granjeros centroeuropeos o puritanos americanos del siglo XVII, con sombreros de paja, camisas de cuadros, pantalones con tirantes y algunos se dejan barbas largas. Las mujeres llevan vestidos con una especie de delantales y normalmente llevan el pelo cubierto. Son parecidos a los Amish y viven alejados de la tecnologia aunque hablare de ellos mas adelante ya que en Belice hay comunidades enteras de Menonitas y maniana visitaremos una de ellas (llevamos un pequenio retraso con el blog por lo que ahora mismo estamos en Belice). He aprendido que algunos aceptan los tractores pero hay otras comunidades que siguen tirando de mulas/caballos para arar la tierra y viven sin electricidad por voluntad propia. Nos parecio muy extranio ver tantos en Merida y no sabiamos muy bien si se estaba rodando una pelicula o habiamos viajado nuevamente en el tiempo o a Nueva Inglaterra........
Desde Merida, el dia 29 fuimos hacia Campeche, capital del estado de Campeche. Esta ciudad aun conserva la muralla construida para defenderse de los piratas ingleses y holandeses que asediaban la ciudad espaniola. Campeche fue muy importante ya que era uno de los dos puertos en todo Mexico (el otro era Veracruz) que usaban los espanioles para exportar la plata, oro y materias primas hacia Espania. Lo usaban como un gran puerto al que llegaban mercancias de todo el virreinato para enviarlas en grandes flotas. De ahi que fuera continuamente asediada por piratas ingleses como Morgan (no se si tiene algo que ver con JP Morgan) y holandeses como Laurens de Graaf (Lorencillo para los espanioles de Campeche) arrasaron la ciudad en el Sigle XVI. Fue despues del ataque de Lorencillo cuando decidieron hacer la actual muralla. Nos contaron que se termino en 1713 cuando la pirateria estaba en declive y la ciudad nunca mas fue atacada. Un producto muy importante en esta zona fue el palo de tinte, una madera que se usaba para tenir textiles y daba colores a las telas europeas. Es otra de las razones por la que los piratas ingleses estaban tan interesados en la zona. Los espanioles los expulsaron de Campeche y Yucatan y finalmente consiguieron establecerse mas al sureste (en lo que hoy en dia es Belice) que sirvio de refugio de piratas y donde los ingleses mandaron esclavos africanos para cortar la madera del palo de tinte para llevarla a los telares ingleses (por lo que Belice debe su existencia a este producto, y es ademas la unica colonia inglesa en centroamerica continental) El dia 1 de Octubre dejamos Campeche y llegamos a la ciudad frinteriza de Chetumal donde vimos manaties en el puerto (una especia de leones marinos) y nos preparamos para pasar hacia Belice el dia dos de octubre. Nuestro proximo destino, Orange Walk, Belice!

Fun with Friends and More Ruins: Tulum and Chichén Itzá

22/09/09-26/09/09

Having taken our first overnight bus of the trip from Palenque, we arrived in Tulum at 7am on the 22/09 and decided to walk to the nearest hostel, which also happened to be the cheapest according to our guide book :) Tulum is a beach town on the Carribean coast of Mexico, with the beach itself lying about 10 minutes away from town, leaving you with the option of paying lots of money for a cabin on the beach (which would be lovely but not really within our backpacker´s budget) or choosing from a selection of cheap hostels along the main road. The one we chose had a great information centre attached and a free shuttle service to the beach so we were sold immediately! They had private rooms on offer but they were across the road, away from the main hostel so we decided to go for a dorm room. They had a really modern checking-in system where everyone registers for a room via a touch-screen computer and is given a card with which to make bar purchases etc. Vic went first, choosing a room at random, and then I got another bed in the same room. Christoph and Sophie had arrived in Tulum the day before us and at this point we didn´t have any idea how we would meet up with them, as I only had their German mobile numbers and I hadn´t received any replies to the messages I had sent them. Our only way of communicating with them was probably going to be through Dani who had a Mexican mobile, and could put himself in contact with Sophie, but he would not be arriving until that evening. You can imagine our surprise and joy then, when we walked into our dorm room and found that we were sharing with none other than Christoph and Sophie. We did a double take at first and noticed that they looked a bit annoyed to have been woken up so early, but when everyone realised who each other was, we all found it rather funny. What a small world!!!

We spent the rest of that day together at the beach and decided to do a snorkel trip, with an absolutely crazy guide, who apparently is just like a guy from Along Came Polly (I´ve seen the film but can´t remember the guy at all, so I hope you know who I mean). For proof of his madness, in Vic´s second photo below, our guide is half way up the palm tree trying to collect coconuts :) The snorkel trip lasted about an hour and a half and we went into the water twice...apart from seeing quite a lot of fish and some coral we also got to hold a few starfish, which was really cool. After that we just relaxed in the sand for the rest of the afternoon. The beach here is absolutely beautiful, probably the best I have ever seen with soft, white sand and the clear, turquoize water. It took my breath away the first time I saw it! I don´t know if any of my photos do it justice but I´m unable to upload any at the moment :(

That evening we went to the bus station to meet Dani, but being a bit early we decided to go and have a quick drink first in a nearby bar. We had just got our drinks when we noticed him walking up the street. He sat down with us and the five of us were reunited once more :) We didn´t stay at the bar for long as the prices were extortionate (well probably not compared to back home, but compared to the bar prices at our hostel, it was expensive) so we went back to the hostel, where Dani also checked into our room! Armed with bottles of rum, coke and lots of ice, we enjoyed another fun night of uno and other card games, including ring of fire, which proved to be a very effective drinking game (i.e. you get very drunk). It was another great night!

The next morning, we were surprised when it suddenly started raining as we were planning to go to the beach and didn´t stop for about 2 hours! Once it had stopped we took the later bus to the beach, with the intention of having another relaxing day! Unfortunately the rain didn´t stay away for long and although we stayed in the sea for a little while during the rain, it started raining so hard that it actually hot so we took shelter in a nearby restaurant and had some lunch. It did eventually brighten up again and towards the late afternoon we moved over to the bar and started on the beer :) After only a few, the bar was shut, but luckily we found another bar that was only just opening, with a happy hour on cocktails. Needless to say, we stayed there drinking cocktails until that one closed as well and got a cab back to our hostel. The night was still young and we still had some rum left over from the previous night so we played ring of fire again and ordered a couple of pizzas from the place next door, as we were all starving! This was our final night together as Christoph and Sophie had to leave the next day, so we had to give them a proper send off :)

For our final day in Tulum, we finally went to visit the Maya ruins, which are set alongside the beach. The ruins themselves weren´t as impressive as the others that we have seen so far, but it was a novelty to see them set against a backdrop of the turquoize ocean, and the grounds around the ruins were really green, making the site as a whole appear really beautiful, so I really enjoyed the visit (although it was way too hot, and we got a bit lost trying to find the exit....getting lost seems to be a regular occurrence with us) :) Afterwards, we decided to check out another beach about half an hour away called Akumal, which was meant to be even more beautiful than 'our' beach....I wouldn´t agree. It was still very pretty, but there was a lot of rocks and algae in the sea so the water wasn´t as clear, and I didn´t enjoy being there as much, but it was nice to have a change of scenery. That evening, we had our final dinner with Dani before saying goodbye to him the next morning and taking a bus to Chichén Itzá, a very famous Maya ruin site. Dani, Christoph and Sophie, we are so glad we got to meet you on that tour from Palenque and it was so much fun spending those few days with you in Tulum. We hope you are all well and that we will see each other again one day!

The most impressive sight at Chichén Itzá is a huge pyramid in the centre of the main square. It is one of the first things you see upon entering and it is amazing to behold. You can see photos of the pyramid in Vic´s entry below. Historians are unsure as to who we should attribute the building of this structure to. The Mayas lived at this site up until around 9ooAD, and the pyramid that they built still remains inside the giant one that can be seen today, but the giant one was added a couple of centuries later when the site was reinhabited. It is believed that the new civilisation might have been the Toltecs, as the newer buildings around the site show heavy Toltec influence, but it is not certain. There are several surprising and interesting facts about this pyramid: firstly, it has nine levels and it is believed that the these nine levels represent the nine planets of the solar system, which the creators of the pyramid are thought to have been aware of. Secondly, the pyramid has the same number of steps as the number of days which Venus takes to revolve around the sun, and so the pyramid is thought to have been built as a monument to Venus. Thirdly, from the pyramid, there is a sacred road that leads to the sacred well, where several sacrifices were made (including personal objects, animals and even humans), but the road doesn´t lead exactly to the pyramid. The pyramid is slightly to the left of the road. For years, scientists could not work out why there was such an obvious shift in direction from the sacred road to the pyramid, but eventually, with the use of satellites, they realised that they have been orientated using different north poles, i.e. geographical north and magnetic north. I don´t know how it works myself and I´m probably getting this all wrong, but it´s more or less what our guide told us. To this day, scientists cannot figure out how they achieved this without satellites, but somehow they managed it. (For those interested, geographical north, also known as true north, is a constant and refers to the geographic north pole. Magnetic north tends to shift and refers to the pole of the Earth´s magnetic field.....I got this from the internet) :) The final interesting fact is that if you stand at the bottom of the pyramid and clap, the echo that comes back sounds like the sound of a bird, and in particular, the quetzal, which was the sacred bird of the Maya (this confuses me a bit, as this pyramid is not supposed to have been built by the Maya people, but maybe the original, smaller pyramid had this feature as well and was incorporated into the larger version somehow??) But anyway, it´s quite amazing to hear, and it´s incredible to think that they were able to build the pyramid in such a way as to make this phenomenon possible.

We also saw the biggest juego de pelota that we have seen so far, and also in the best condition, with the hoops still in tact. This was a religious game, the aim of which was to shoot a ball through the hoops (like in basketball but the hoops are vertical rather than horizontal). All players were killed at the end, but the team that won died in honour and was offered to the gods in sacrifice. Our guide told us that the governors invented this game to control the population. If the population were to keep increasing, there was a risk that the entire population would suffer due to the scarcity of food and water, and so this game was a convenient way to keep the population at a supportable level. And these people were happy to play in the hope of winning and dying in honour of their gods. Sounds crazy to me :) Our guide also told us how the community was split socially: at the very top were the governors, equivalent to a royalty, who were also religious leaders, next came the philosophers, astronomers, mathematicians and architects, who, unlike in medieval Europe, belonged to the nobility and were exempt from paying taxes. After this class came the warriors (the army), followed by trades people and at the bottom, the peasants and slaves. Education was considered very highly within the community, hence the educated people were bestowed with a very high status. The astromoners were even able to construct a calendar more accurate than our own, that did not require leap years every four years. Again I´m not really sure how it worked, but every 32 years the calendar somehow evened itself out, with each year having 365 days. Incredible or what???

Tulum y Chichen Itza del 21 al 26 de Septiembre

Desde Palenque tomamos un bus nocturno con destino Tulum. Despues de 11 horas llegamos a las 7 de la maniana a nuestro destino. Tulum es un pueblo caribenio muy cerca de Cancun pero sin la masificacion ni el ajetreo de Cancun. Llegamos el dia 22 y sabiamos el Christoph y Sophie habian llegado el dia anterior y que Dani vendria la noche del mismo dia que nosotros habiamos llegado. Nuestros mensajes no siempre llegaban y no sabiamos muy bien como ibamos a encontrarnos. Decidimos ir a un hostal que tiene un servicio gratuito de buses a la playa. Estaban muy informatizados y tuvimos que decidir la habitacion (dorms, con muchas camas) pulsando en una pantalla tactil de ordenador. Elegi la 6c creo, al azar. Cuando subimos a la habitacion despertamos a dos chicos al entrar que nos miraron con mala cara. Nos volvimos a mirar y no podiamos creerlo! eran Christoph y Sophie! Cuantos hostales hay en Tulum? y cuantas habitaciones tenias nuestro hostal? Como el mundo es un panuelo, nos encontramos asi de facil. Por la noche nos acercamos a la estacion de buses para saber a que hora llegaba el bus en el que venia Dani. Como parece que venia con retraso nos fuimos a tomar algo a la terraza de un bar y al poco rato aparecio Dani y se sento con nosotros en la terraza. Volviamos a estar los cinco juntos! Y pasamos unos dias en Tulum muy divertidos. La playa de Tulum tiene agua cristalina, color turquesa como el de las peliculas y una arena tan blanca que a veces bromeabamos que parecia harina. Es sin duda la playa mas bonita que hemos visto en el viaje, y ademas no estaba masificada de gente. Hicimos Snorkel con un guia qie nos recordo al de la pelicula de Along came Polly ("y entonces llego ella") por su aptitud un poco chula aunque fue un guia muy gracioso y tocayo mio. Por cierto, es el hombre que esta subido en la palmera cogiendo cocos. Otro dia decidimos ir a la playa de Akumal donde las tortugas salen a poner huevos aunque una vez mas no tuvimos suerte. Tambien visitamos las ruinas mayas de Tulum junto a las playa aunque estas fueron menos impresionantes que las de Yaxchilan o las que veriamos mas tarde en Chichen Itza.
Nos despedimos nuevamente de Christoph, Sophie y Dani (esta vez hasta que volvamos a vernos en Europa) y fuimos hacia las gran ruinas de Chichen Itza. Aqui puedes ver una de las piramides mas grandes y mejor conservadas de la civilizacion Maya. Vimos el mayor juego de pelota (este juego era de tipo religioso y consitia en meter una pelota por un aro como en el baloncesto pero con el aro en vertical.) El equipo ganador era sacrificado en honor a los Dioses. Para ellos era todo un honor morir por sus dioses tras el juego de pelota. A los perdedores tambien se les mataba pero estos morian sin honor y no tendrian un sitio privilegiado junto a los dioses. Vaya, que el juego de pelota era una autentica carniceria y habia juegos todos los dias. Una cosa muy interesante que nos contaron es que esto fue un invento de sus gobernates por controlar la poblacion. Si seguian creciendo, no podrian alimentar a todos y la civilizacion podria desaparecer al escasear el agua y los alimentos. La gente estaba dispuesta a entregar su vida por sus dioese y los gobernantes solucionaban el problema demografico... si Malthus hubiera sabido de esto..... (por cierto, los gobernantes eran lideres religiosos, una especie de clerigos que nunca se ofrecian voluntarios para participar en el juego de pelota....) Otra cosa curiosa era su jerarquia social. En lo mas alto estaba la familia real (que eran tambien sacerdotes o lideres religiosos) despues estaban los Filosofos, astronomos, matematicos y arquitectos que a diferencia de la Europa medieval, pertenecian a la nobleza y no pagaban impuestos. Despues estaban los guerreros, despues los comerciantes y finalmente los campesinos/esclavos. Es curioso la importancia que le daban al conocimiento y elaboraron un calendario mas preciso que el nuestro... no se como pero se ajusta perfectamente cada 32 anios por si solo sin necesidad de anios bisiestos. La piramide de Chichen Itza tiene nueve niveles (se cree que conocian los 9 planetas del sistema solar) Ademas, se sabe que el complejo central de Chichen Itza es un monumento a Venus y a la tierra por lo que se encuentra una cantidad de escalones equivalente a la de los dias de rotacion de Venus alrededor del sol que tambien conocian. Increible no? Hay algo un poco mas sorprendente. Hay un camino central que va hacia la piramide grande pero que parece estar desviado de las escaleras principales por unos dos metros como si hubieran hecho los templos un poco descolocados...... los cientificos no supieron durante mucho tiempo por que y en la actualidad no saben como lo lograron los astronomos Mayas, pero gracias a los satelites han descubierto que estos templos estan exactamente colocados en el norte geografico y el norte magnetico (por lo que la desviacion de los templos parece que se debio a eso, para hacerlos coincidir con estos puntos exactamente..... En la actualidad siguen sin saber como lo hicieron sin satelites....) Por ultimo, una curiosidad, cuando nos poniamos debajo de la mayor piramide, si dabamos palmas podiamos oir un eco que sonaba como el canto de un pajaro. El guia nos dijo que es el sonido que hace el Quetzal, el pajaro sagrado de los mayas. una vez mas, los mayas nos dejaron sorprendidos.......

Maya Ruins Galore: Palenque, Yaxchilan, Bonampak and the Lacandon Jungle

17/09/09-21/09/09

After bidding a sad farewell to San Cristóbal, we made our way northwards to the city of Palenque, a five-hour bus ride away. Arriving quite late in the evening, we did not see much of the town, but immediately noticeable was the dramatic change in temperature. Palenque is situated at 200m above sea level, compared to San Cristóbal, which resides at 2,100m above the sea! Whereas the evenings in the latter were very cool and we had blankets on our bed in the hotel, Palenque is unbearably hot and airless, even during the night! I had to move the bed so that it was directly under the fan, and still I had trouble sleeping. The town itself is quite small with not much in the way of sights, so our first day was fairly relaxed, but Palenque is not famous for the town itself, but rather for its impressive Maya ruins, which we visited the next day. The Mayas are thought to have lived from around 200BC to 900AD, which the classic Maya period dating from 200AD to 900AD, when the community is believed to have suffered its downfall, probably due to the lack of water and food in the area. The period during which Palenque was at its most glorious was during the 7th century, which happens to also coincide with the reign of Palenque's greatest and most poweful governor, Pakal. He ruled for approximately 68 years, and lived for 80, which is quite remarkable when the average life expectancy was a mere 25 to 30 years, but being governor, he never had to exert himself very much, as he had servants to do everything for him, so I suppose it's understandable.

The area that we got to see of Palenque represents only 5% of the total site, (the other 95% is still immersed in the surrounding jungle), and consists of several impressive temples and the palace, which was one of the first structures to be discovered in around 1872 (I think). In front of the palace stand three temples: the Temple of the Inscriptions, which to this day houses the tomb of the great ruler, Pakal (founded in 1952), the Temple of the Red Queen, whose name derives from the fact that a tomb was discovered with the remains of a woman inside, along with many expensive offerings, which suggest that she had been a woman of great importance (founded in 1993), and the Temple of the Skull (founded in 1994). You used to be able to visit the tomb of Pakal, but the moisture inside has made it very dangerous to descend into the crypt and so it was decided to close it to the public, but they have a magnificent replica in the onsite museum, which gave us an idea of what it is like. The tomb and Pakal's remains are still intact within the temple because when it was attempted to move them, the bones began to disintegrate, and so it was thought wiser to leave them be. As for the remains of the Red Queen, they are apparently being investigated somewhere in Canada, in an attempt to determine who she was. It is thought that she could be the mother or wife of Pakal, but it is difficult for them to tell, as Pakal's wife was also his sister, and so DNA testing would be useless in this case. I have no idea how they will find it out. It was during this visit that we first saw the guy who came to be known between Vic and I as the 'mysterious man', because he seemed to appear everywhere, and he was always alone and yet always seemed to fit in and look as if he knew exactly where to go. The first time we saw him was when he asked our guide a question about Pakal's tomb, and we saw him later again that day when we were in a minivan back to town. He appeared out of nowhere on the side of the road and our minivan picked him up, and then he disappeared again when we arrived.

The next couple of days were spent on an overnight tour, which took us to two more Maya ruin sites: Yaxchilan and Bonampak, finally leaving us at a Lacandon reserve in the region of Lacanja, where we would spend the night in a cabin. The tour set off very early in the morning and we were a group of about 10 people. The first stop of the trip was a breakfast stop, and our group met up with several others who were, I assume, doing the same or a similar tour to us. We were surprised to find ourselves at the same table as the 'mysterious man' from yesterday, but apart from offering him some butter and jam, the conversation didn't really get going :) We were then taken to the Usumacinta River, where we got in a speed boat to Yaxchilan, the first of the ruins. We had 2 hours to explore the site, and I'm afraid to say that we didn't make good use of them. We missed out on a whole section of the site because we hadn't noticed the path which would lead us there. We had suspected this was the case, as everyone from our group had disappeared, and we didn't have any idea where to. It was the 'mysterious man' who confirmed our suspicions. Yes, we saw him again here and we decided to ask him if there was more to see than just the area that we were in, and he replied that yes there was, and that it was a lot more impressive than the part we were in. We felt a bit foolish and were annoyed at having wasted so much time (the time we had left at this point wasn't enough to see the other part of the site), but then again, once you have seen one set of ruins, they all start to look the same anyway, so we soon got over it :) Back at the river waiting for our speed boat we got chatting to two people from our group, a brother and sister from Germany called Christoph and Sophie. Sophie had been working as a nurse in Guadalajara and her brother had come out to meet her to do a bit of travelling before she returned home. The next stop was lunch, and the four of us sat together and got to know each other a bit better, which was nice :) They were the only other two people in our group that would spend the night in the jungle, so we were glad to know that we had some good company.

After lunch we made our way to the ruins of Bonampak, where we spent just one hour. The most impressive thing here were some fantastic murals in excellent condition depicting various events in the history of the site, including battles and sacrificial rituals. This is the greatest example of original coloured Maya artwork that can be seen at any of the Maya sites. Finally we were dropped off at the Lacandon reserve, where we would spend the night, and we were greeted by the head of the Lacandones, Vicente, dressed in the typical white sheet and with long, flowing hair (this is how all of them dress). During a quick walk of the grounds we saw that they have several chickens (so that's where they got our dinner from that evening) and that they were in the process of harvesting corn. We were tempted to help them pick some, but it was so warm that we were tempted more to go for a swim in the river. We were glad to see that it wasn't just the four of us there for the night, there were a few other people as well, including the 'mysterious man', who we really didn't think we would run into again, but there you go. During our swim, we got chatting to a couple of Spanish guys from Barcelona who had just recently started a one-year trip around the world. Guys, if you see this, I hope you're enjoying yourselves wherever you are :) That afternoon, while we resting in the hammocks before dinner, we finally got to meet the 'mysterious man', who turned out to be Dani from Madrid, and together with Christoph and Sophie we had a really fun night involving uno, imaginary volleyball and lots of beer :) We all got on so well that we arranged to meet up again a few days later in Tulum on the Carribean coast!

The next morning, we said goodbye to Dani and the other two Spanish guys, who were taking a minibus to Flores in Guatemala. Christoph and Sophie were staying with us and a few others to go for a 4 hour hike in the jungle. Our guide was a member of the Lacandones and showed us several trees and plants that the community uses for medicinal purposes. One of the trees he showed us was poisonous and if you strip off the bark you can watch as drops of white liquid form on the exposed area. The poison can have serious effects if you do not apply the antidote quickly, which can be found in the leaf of a neighbouring tree! Our guide also showed us a plant that is effective against snake bites! Living proof that this works can be found in his grandfather who has been bitten by a snake seven times and always lived to tell the tale :) On the way back from our walk we got to have a refreshing swim in a crystal clear lake. It was a bit cold but after all that walking it was a more than welcome break :) Unfortunately it started raining just as we were getting out of the water so we had to walk the rest of the way back in the rain (45 mins), but once we were back we had a nice, hot shower and a good lunch and then whiled away the rest of the afternoon in the hammocks.

At around 4pm we were picked up and taken back to Palenque, from where Christoph and Sophie were taking a bus straight to Tulum that evening. We were hoping to catch an early bus the next day, but were disappointed to find out that there are only evening services, so we would have to spend another day in Palenque!!! We pretty much spent the whole day in the internet and then went to catch our bus at 8pm. It was an 11-hour journey to Tulum meaning we we would arrive there at 7am the following morning and attempt to meet up with Christoph and Sophie.

Palenque, Yaxchilan, Bonampak y Selva Lacandona del 17 al 20 de Septiembre

Despues de los mas de diez dias que pasamos en San Cristobal decidimos que era el momento de marcharnos hacia el norte de Chiapas, Palenque. Esta ciudad no tiene nada de interesante, esta a tan solo 200 metros del nivel del mar y es muy pero que muy caliente. Gran contraste con San Cristobal a 2.200 metros y mucho mas fresca. Palenque es conocido por sus ruinas Mayas. Las ruinas de Palenque tiene una gran cantidad de templos mayas que van desde el 200 dc hasta el 900 d.c cuando la ciudad maya cayo en decadencia en esta zona probablemente por escasez de agua y de alimentos. La epoca de mayor apogeo fue entre el 610 y 680 que coincide con la mayor parte del reinado del gran gobernante maya, Pakal. Pudimos ver la piramide donde se encuentra enterrado Pakal (desde fuera ya que no permiten la entrada a esta tumba aunque pudimos ver una replica en el museo.) Para que os hagais una idea de lo bien que cuidaban a su rey/gobernante: El maya medio vivia unos 25 o 30 anios. Pakal vivio unos 85. Imaginaos vivir tres veces mas que una persona normal de tu epoca.... seria como si alguien viviera 240 anios hoy en dia (ni la reina madre de Inglaterra pudo con eso!) Tambien vimos la tumba de una mujer al lado de la de Pakal. Los arqueologos no estan seguros si es la de su madre o la de su esposa. Y por que no utilizan pruebas de ADN para salir de dudas pensareis? Porque Pakal estaba casado con su propia hermana y pertenece a la misma familia.... En este viaje conocimos al "hombre misterioso" (Dani) que pregunto a nuestro guia algo sobre Pakal y desaparecio. A la vuelta hacia la ciudad de Palenque en una furgoneta paramos en la carretera para recoger a alguien que resulto ser el "hombre misterioso" (Dani)
Al dia suiguiente fuimos a ver mas ruinas en los alrededores. Esta vez Yaxchilan y las de Bonampak. Fuimos en una furgoneta con una decena de personas y conocimos a dos hermanos alemanes de los que nos hicimos amigos y esperamos visitar en Alemania algun dia. Se llaman Sophie y Christoph. Paramos a desayunar antes de llegar a Yaxchilan, nos sentamos en una mesa y alli estab junto a nosotros...... el "hombre misterioso" (Dani) Seguimos en barca hasta Yaxchilan con la pareja de alemanes y disfrutamos de las ruinas de Yaxchilan. Estan en medio de la selva y son muy interesantes. Cuando subiamos la piramide mas alta, un hombre se cayo y se le salio la rodilla!!! Llegamos a lo alto y Lauren dio media vueltaa. Yo mire por la parte de atras para ver si se podia seguir por detras. Podia oir los monos haciendo el mono entre los arboles y cuando mire hacia abajo vi que algo se movia y medio se escondia entre los arboles. Resulto ser el "hombre misterioso" (Dani) Y me di la vuelta y bajamos por donde habiamos subido..... De vuelta a la entrada principal vimos que venia de nuevo "el hombre misterioso" (Dani) asi que decidimos preguntarle si habia mas ruinas que ver por atras. Resulto que el "hombre misterioso" se llamaba Dani y es de Madrid! Nos dijo que habia mas templos que ver entre la selva pero no tuvimos tiempo para ver mas :( Bueno, otra vez sera....... Desde alli, fuimos a Bonampak. Mas ruinas Mayas... en esta ocasion, lo mas espectacular son las pinturas de las paredes de los templos. Una especie de pinturas rupestres en las que dibujaban sacrificios, batallas y captura de enemigos. Aqui no vimos a Dani y pensamos que su grupo habia tomado un camino diferente. Finalmente nos dirigimos hacia la selva Lacandona donde habiamos previsto pasar la noche en una cabania situada en un poblado de Lacandones. Al llegar a esta zona vimos un cartel que advertia: "esta entrando en territorio Zapatista, aqui el pueblo manda y el gobierno obedece". Los lacandones son los mayas mas puros ya que son los que nunca se mezclaron con los espanioles aunque en la actualidad hablan espaniol. Siguen vistiendo con una especie de sabana totalmente blanca y los hombres tienen el pelo largo. Al llegar a la aldea fuimos al rio. Vimos que los lacandones crian muchas gallinas (nos dieron pollo de cenar) y cultivan maiz. Al acercarnos al rio vimos a Dani (el "ex-hombre misterioso") que venia, como Pedro por su casa, con una toalla en la cintura.... hahaha. No esperabamos encontranoslo de nuevo al no haberle visto en Bonampak y parecia tan familiarizado con el poblado!! Lauren y yo nos baniamos en el rio, nos tiramos con una liana al rio y conocimos otros dos chicos espanioles, esta vez de Barcelona, que acaban de empezar a dar la vuelta al mundo. Despues tuvimos la ocasion de charlar con Dani y nos hicimos amigos junto con los alemanes. Pasamos una noche que no olvidaremos jugando a las cartas! Dani trabaja en Cine, es camarografo y recientemente habia estado grabando en Marruecos. Al dia siguiente nos despedimos de Dani que se iba camino de Flores, Guatemala y decidimos que nos veriamos unos dias despues en el Caribe mexicano, en Tulum. Hicimos una caminata por la selva con los alemanes y con un guia lacandon. El lacandon nos conto que una serpiente habia mordido a su abuelo siete veces pero que conocian que planta curaba y aliviaba el dolor..... hehe. Vimos un arbol que suelta una especie de liquido blanco que si lo tocas te puede llegar a matar a menos que consigas el antidoto rapidamente. El antidoto esta en otro arbol de los alrededores.... Tambien nos hablo de otra planta que servia para curar en caso de que una mosca de la selva pusiera sus huevos en tu piel sin que te dieras cuenta. Despues las huevas empiezan a comerse la carne de tu brazo y duele mucho segun el lacandon. El problema es que las larvas te empiezan a comer el brazo unos dias despues cuando ya no ibamos a estar en la selva si que estuve apunto de llevarme algo de esta planta "por si las moscas"