Tikal (when monkey's attack)

Our final stop in our too short visit to Guatemala was to visit the ruins of Tikal. Arriving early in Flores, the local town on a small Island in the middle of a lake, we went to check out the local mirador (viewing place) to see the lay of the land and also the lakeside beach.

The following day at 2am we awoke to catch our tour to the Tikal ruins. We had to hike through the jungle in the middle of the night & then we climbed to the top of the highest temple (a huge pyramid structure) which was our viewing platform for seeing the most amazing sunrise. Looking out over the jungle canopy we saw the sun come up & consequently the jungle coming to life at the sight of daylight. It was really breathtaking, we especially enjoyed hearing the howler monkeys stating out their territory, they sound like massive beasts as the noises echoed out from all directions. We had to remain silent throughout the sunrise, it was like some weird meditation, but actually glad it wasn't ruined by loud Americans.

After the sunrise we took a guided tour around most of the ruins, finding out about the
Mayan culture, how they built the temples as pyramids to be closer to the gods, in alignment with constellations etc etc... Lots of photo taking, climbing ruins etc. ensued before we got completely shattered & had to have lunch! Thanks mum & dad (Chatterton) for this Christmas pressie!

Shortly before leaving we were followed by a troop of about 30 spider monkeys (Mike's favourite animal!). For some reason they took a dislike to poor Mikee, not only did they try to piss & poo on him, but they were vigorously shaking the trees above our heads, so much so that a huge branch fell down & hit him on the head, nearly knocking him out & cutting his arm! We never knew they could be so aggressive, but Mike has forgiven them & still thinks they're funny.

Lake Atitlan

For a special treat we went over to Lake Atitlan, one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. This calm lake sits under the shadow of several massive volcanoes and has picturesque traditional Guatemalan towns all around the waters edge. As a present from the Spreckleys and Bairds (thanks guys!) we stayed in a lovely stone cottage (complete with cosy open fire) in the town of Santiago and spent some time relaxing in the hot tub, wood fired sauna (followed by cooling jumps into the lake) before heading into the restaurant for delicious traditional food cooked with home grown ingredients.

Taking a tour around Santiago which is known as much for its beautiful embroidered clothing worn by the locals as it is for the history and character. Our guide (an 8 year old local boy) showed us the sights which included a visit to the house of Maximon, the local Mayan saint famous for smoking and drinking! He moves house every year which shares out the wealth generated through charging for pictures with this weird wooden statue.

Its hard to believe that less than 20 years ago this tiny town was the site of a revolutionary massacre of over 100 people. Many taking refuge in the local church, for which the priest was shot in the main square!

Last but not least we need to mention the swimming dog, taking a kayak out onto the lake about 500m from the shore we saw a dog swimming across the lake, we followed to try and help him, but after signalling some locals we realised he was just having some fun...

Antigua - Guatemala

Passing through Guatemala city just long enough to see the armed escorts in every little van, we headed over to Antigua, one of the most beautiful colonial towns on the planet. Stuffed full of language schools and surrounded by volcanoes this little place was perfect for swapping books, watching football and soaking in the charm. Visiting the local catherdral was a highlight and getting to grips with the background of the recent civil war in Guatemala was sobering. Got some very pretty pictures...

The Copan Ruins

Our only stop in mainland Honduras was at the little town of Copan Ruinas, home of the Mayan Copan ruins. These half buried ruins dated from the 5th to the 9th century, full of temples, hieroglyphic stairways and spooky tunnels. A fantastic museum showed the art of these people in all its kooky detail and our tour around the site was straight out of a Tomb Raider adventure. Very cool!

Escape from Roatan

Following the departure of the Sarah and Rob the weather took a turn for the worse and the rain started to pour. Our mission for the next three days was to get off Roatan and get on with our travels. Unfortunately every time we reached the ferry terminal the ferry was cancelled and the airport booked out due to the amount of people trying to leave. Spending the next few nights enjoying beer in the power blackouts became a habit until the morning of the 5th when we met some others in the wait to be told the ferry wasn't running who shared our need to leave. With these 3 other desperate travellers we ended up finding options for a getaway including, chartering a plane, bribing the ferry and a last resort of swimming (30km). Luckily we managed to get on a paper list for an old Russian military plane which took off with 12 passengers all crossing fingers until touchdown.

Finally getting onto mainland Honduras we quickly made up for lost time by jumping on the first bus to the Copan ruins...

Christmas and New Year in Roatan (Bay Islands, Honduras)

We were really happy to meet up with Sarah and Rob who had flown out to meet us from Canada for a holiday. Over a few beers we made some plans for our time together...

Starting with some diving lessons, we took Rob back to school to try and earn our PADI open water certification. We spread this across 4 days and with the help of Mel our bouncy Australian dive instructor learned how to breath and behave underwater. Roatan was the perfect place to learn with crystal clear sea, calm water, amazing reefs, fish and of course sunshiny days. (thanks to Howie and Esther we are now open water qualified).

On Christmas eve we went over to Infinity Bay (Sarah and Robs cool condo) where we stayed up drinking vino tinto and cuba libres while eating some amazing deli treats and lobster tails Sarah bought locally. After midnight we exchanged gifts (thanks Nats for sending over Lisa's present she needed some new pants).

We all woke for egg sandwiches at 5am and then went out to find our captain as we had decided to go fishing for the morning. Unfortunately the boat had broken so this was postponed until the afternoon, allowing us to sober up and go back to bed. On the boat we caught some tuna (including a Blue Fin, mmm sushi) and a big old Baracooda. Drinking beer and catching fish, the perfect way to spend Christmas in the sun! (thanks to Rob & Sarah for this treat).

The next few days were spent enjoying the sunshine, with more snorkelling, fishing and diving. We enjoyed the Open Water course so much we decided to take it to the next level and become Advanced Open Water divers, this included a series of adventure dives - deep diving, wreck diving, underwater acrobatics, underwater navigation and drift diving. (thanks Jez and the Dickens family).

For New Year we joined "the Hunts" for a hog roast by the beach washed down with champers and a caribbean live band. After midnight we took to the beach to watch some locals dance with fire, which was very cool.

Pupusas, pupuserias and no gringos in San Salvador

After a 13 hour bus ride through Nicaragua and Honduras we got to El Salvador's capital city of San Salvador. Driving through the city we couldn't help but notice the many cemeteries (a chilling 70000 civilians died here in the 1980's civil war). Bizarrely in one of the cemeteries a band of school children were playing the rocky theme tune.

After stepping over a half dead tramp and walking past prostitutes in doorways we found our "recommended" hotel. The central location being the only thing going for it. Another place where the book advises not to go out after dark, we decided what the hell as we hadn`t had a proper lunch and Mikee fancied Pizza Hut.

The busy streets were full of people and market stalls (selling mainly porn DVDs, pants and Christian music), we guess they were doing some last minute Christmas shopping as it was a frenzy of activity.

The locals were all really friendly wanting to talk to us to practise their English, lots of people we surprised when we told them we were here as tourists (we didn't have the heart to tell them we were actually only passing through for a connecting flight). After many hand shaking's we realised that we were the only tourists in the entire city, quite a novel and refreshing feeling.

Our final meal was the local speciality which everyone recommended - Pupusas: palm sized tortillas made of corn or rice meal, stuffed with re fried beans and cheese, served with watery tomato sauce and (dodgy) pickled cabbage.

Managua and the hotel of doom!

Catching a bus to the americanised Managua (the capital of Nicaragua which has been destroyed five times by earthquakes, fire, revolutions and floods) we arrived at the bus terminal determined to stay somewhere near the international bus terminal as we had booked tickets to El Salvador for 5am the following morning. Taking note of the "don't go out at night" tourist advice we chose a hotel only 2 minutes walk from the terminal. The price was 5 times the guide price and it was a complete dive. It was suggested that in the morning we hire an armed escort for the 200m walk to the terminal, assuming this was protection money we agreed.

Quite pleased to be out of Managua!

Nic(e)aragua

Taking a chicken bus to the colonial town of Granada, we had a look around and took some cool photos - a pretty place with lots of character, lovely architecture and friendly people.