Alive and well in Guatemala
Allright. Where should I start... First of all, I apologise for not updating the blog since Belize (ATM Caves). There are two main reasons for that. The primary one is that as we entered Guatemala, prices for internet went up, and availability dropped to almost, almost nill. So I haven't actually had access to a computer for this time. Another reason is that time really flies by here. It's like Belize one day, Guatemala the next an voila, 4 days have passed. But I do my best.. SO....
What was the last scoop. Yeah... the furry tarantula... Great stuff. The next day we packed our bags and headed down to the Belize Guatemala border... And guess what. Belize liked us so much and they wanted us to stay so badly that we had to pay 18 USD just to leave the country... Isn't that sweet... Except for that little detail I really enjoyed Belize. Oh well. After passing the border and avoiding our tourleaders dodgy "pals" who love to exchange our cash into the new local currency with insane commisions we drove on to the beautiful city of Flores. Flores is a small island (take 20 minutes to walk around and about 15 minutes to reach a slightly larger town S:t Helena) that is rather expensive but it has personality. And like its said in Pulp Fiction. Personality goes a long way. But besides the feel to the town, there was really nothing to do. Just walk around, waste the day. Anyway, in Flores, I realised three things. First of all: There is a great restaurant by the beaches that serves killer chicken shishkebabs. I mean REALLY good. The second thing is that Guatemala has really good lager. The third, and this one is a real treat my friends... My bankcard is not accepted the ATMS in Flores. Yay... Need I say that it was not living on the extremely small amount I had exchanged? Anyway. the big thing in Flores was the day trip to a Mayan city, Tikal, Lot of temples, beautiful architecture and lots of howler monkeys, spider monkeys and stuff like that (video/photo evidence available). Long walks though. Took us like 5 hours to get around (including short stops)...
Moving on from Flores. 5 hours on a rather comfy bus (I mean it) we arrived in Rio Dulce. Rio Dulce, is located next to a river (wasn't that a surprise?) which we had to cross to get to a jungle hacienda named Tijax. It was like Trek stop (if you recall), alot of trees but normal toilets and really bad managment. I ordered chicken breast at the restaurant, got a raw, yes raw and bloody chickenleg... Sent it back, still chickenleg... Smegin (*^@$%&*$^(@*).
Oh yes. Another difference. At Trek stop, the only really nasty spider we saw was the owners pet tarantula. At Tijax, there were big ass, nasty spiders everytime you entered your cabin. With FANGS and stuff. But good bless DEET (N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide), insect repellent. Got those things on the run. Plus cockroaches but we just threw them into the river and saw how fish devoured them... great fun I say.
Anyway. We spent our day walking a couple of kilometers to a castle outside rio dulce. Castillo de San Felipe I think it was called. Something like that. The castle wasn't that interesting but the walk there! Great. Lot of nature and you pass a few really small town. Recommended.
On the way back I tried my bankcard in Rio Dulce instead. Didn't work. I came to the conclusion that my card won't work in Guatemala... Pardon my french but that sucks ass considering my current financial situation. But no worries. I walked into a bank and got money the good old fashioned way. Armed robbery (I kid). No problems at the bank so I've got some money for food now (yay!). Moving on...
We stayed two nights then moved on to Antigua, where I m located at the moment. There is a lovely active vulcano about 30-50 kilometers away that had a rather violent eruption last month. But we have all been practicing the emergency "duck and cover" routine... Just in case.
It's another town with personallity, the hotel is great and food prices are cheap. My kind of town! We just arrived today so we haven't seen that much but you can expect and update in about 3-4 days.
I'm doing fine, travelling with the group is rather fun. Great people and we do what we want anyway.
I hope all is well with everyone! Cheers friends and see you soon.
What was the last scoop. Yeah... the furry tarantula... Great stuff. The next day we packed our bags and headed down to the Belize Guatemala border... And guess what. Belize liked us so much and they wanted us to stay so badly that we had to pay 18 USD just to leave the country... Isn't that sweet... Except for that little detail I really enjoyed Belize. Oh well. After passing the border and avoiding our tourleaders dodgy "pals" who love to exchange our cash into the new local currency with insane commisions we drove on to the beautiful city of Flores. Flores is a small island (take 20 minutes to walk around and about 15 minutes to reach a slightly larger town S:t Helena) that is rather expensive but it has personality. And like its said in Pulp Fiction. Personality goes a long way. But besides the feel to the town, there was really nothing to do. Just walk around, waste the day. Anyway, in Flores, I realised three things. First of all: There is a great restaurant by the beaches that serves killer chicken shishkebabs. I mean REALLY good. The second thing is that Guatemala has really good lager. The third, and this one is a real treat my friends... My bankcard is not accepted the ATMS in Flores. Yay... Need I say that it was not living on the extremely small amount I had exchanged? Anyway. the big thing in Flores was the day trip to a Mayan city, Tikal, Lot of temples, beautiful architecture and lots of howler monkeys, spider monkeys and stuff like that (video/photo evidence available). Long walks though. Took us like 5 hours to get around (including short stops)...
Moving on from Flores. 5 hours on a rather comfy bus (I mean it) we arrived in Rio Dulce. Rio Dulce, is located next to a river (wasn't that a surprise?) which we had to cross to get to a jungle hacienda named Tijax. It was like Trek stop (if you recall), alot of trees but normal toilets and really bad managment. I ordered chicken breast at the restaurant, got a raw, yes raw and bloody chickenleg... Sent it back, still chickenleg... Smegin (*^@$%&*$^(@*).
Oh yes. Another difference. At Trek stop, the only really nasty spider we saw was the owners pet tarantula. At Tijax, there were big ass, nasty spiders everytime you entered your cabin. With FANGS and stuff. But good bless DEET (N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide), insect repellent. Got those things on the run. Plus cockroaches but we just threw them into the river and saw how fish devoured them... great fun I say.
Anyway. We spent our day walking a couple of kilometers to a castle outside rio dulce. Castillo de San Felipe I think it was called. Something like that. The castle wasn't that interesting but the walk there! Great. Lot of nature and you pass a few really small town. Recommended.
On the way back I tried my bankcard in Rio Dulce instead. Didn't work. I came to the conclusion that my card won't work in Guatemala... Pardon my french but that sucks ass considering my current financial situation. But no worries. I walked into a bank and got money the good old fashioned way. Armed robbery (I kid). No problems at the bank so I've got some money for food now (yay!). Moving on...
We stayed two nights then moved on to Antigua, where I m located at the moment. There is a lovely active vulcano about 30-50 kilometers away that had a rather violent eruption last month. But we have all been practicing the emergency "duck and cover" routine... Just in case.
It's another town with personallity, the hotel is great and food prices are cheap. My kind of town! We just arrived today so we haven't seen that much but you can expect and update in about 3-4 days.
I'm doing fine, travelling with the group is rather fun. Great people and we do what we want anyway.
I hope all is well with everyone! Cheers friends and see you soon.
posted by MMMC at
2:44 fm
1 Comments:
Funnily enough one of my uni friends is in guatemala this very minute, what a coincidence. Oh well have fun with the spiders and monkeys you varmints you.
By
Dave, at 11:41 em
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