Apparently after the G4S fiasco at the London Olympics, they decided to relocate to Guatemala. That would explain the reputation Guatemala has as one of the most dangerous countries in the world then!
Note the high-tech security system along the perimeter wall!
Well, we arrived in Antigua 9 days ago now after a slightly arduous over night bus ride from Flores and we have hardly stopped since. Antigua has to be one of the most beautiful cities either of us has ever been to. It is all cobbled streets and old low rise colonial architecture. As we are now bang smack in the middle of Semana Santa (the biggest one in the world) it is also super busy with people every where and processions going on at all hours, but I’ll do another post on that later.
We found ourselves renting the most beautiful casa, with its own ruin in the courtyard garden and are considering re-christening our blog “The Americas on a Jimmy Choo-String”. Not, mind you, because it is expensive but because we seem to be ending up in the most gorgeous places! We have started our Spanish course in ernest, each with our own teacher. St.John is annoyingly natural at languages and happily chats away with anyone, whereas I have to concentrate considerably harder and for some reason seem to have twice as much homework!
Another reason to visit Antigua, despite the beauty of the place and the fact that decent wine is readily available, is the coffee and the chocolate. Guatemala grows a lot of both and though most is exported (thank you Starbucks and Switzerland) what they do have here is sensational. Our new favourite drink is the local hot chocolate made with pure dark chocolate, water and cinnamon. It is ten times better than any hot chocolate you might have up a mountain in Europe. There are, unsurprisingly, several chocolate shops around town where you can do a class in chocolate making. We have of course done one of these at the Choco Museo. It was a very enjoyable afternoon of learning all about chocolate and then getting to make it from scratch, roasting the beans… After trying several different drinks – chocolate husk tea and the Mayan version of chocolate (pre-Spanish invasion) – we got onto the business of making our own. We were given the melted 70% dark chocolate and moulds along with a range of ingredients -cardamon, macadamia, coffee beans, nibs, sea salt, chilli, black pepper, ginger, orange, cinnamon… – and told to have fun… OMG, I think my new career is going to be as a chocolate maker!
Anyway I’ll leave you with some food for thought with the pics below but this is a place that everyone needs to come.
Our Casita
Our Ruins!
In front of the Casa (it’s built in the ruins of the Candelaria Church, destroyed by an earthquake in the 1700s
CHOCOLATE!! Intense concentration
About town, jacaranda lined streets
One of the main streets, El Arco, early morning
I know, I know it’s been a while, well only 10 days actually but a lot can happen in 10 days when you are travelling. We have now left Belize behind and are in Guatemala. Rather than boring on about what we have been up to since we have arrived I have decided to put up a few photos of where we have been so far.
“Feeling the Energy” in Yaxha
Sunset from the top of the tallest temple at Yaxha
Keel- Billed Toucan, Tikal
One of the many ruins part re-stored yet still hidden in the jungle at Tikal
Temple of the Jaguar, Tikal
St.John swimming in Lago Petan Itza, in front of our hotel
Sunset over Lago Petan Itza from the look out at our hotel in El Remate
One last thing – if you ever get the chance, go to Tikal, it really blew us away and we by far and away much preferred it to Chitchen Itza. Take a guide, ours was called Samuel, it makes all the difference, and stay in El Remate, La Casa de Don David, closer to Tikal and very pretty and chilled.
Actun Tunichil Muknal, otherwise known as ATM or the Cave of the Crystal Maiden, is one day trip that absolutely cannot be missed if you are ever in Belize. It was rediscovered only in the late 1980s and is a large and archeologically, incredibly important cave system, used extensively by the Maya for ceremonial purposes. If you like it is the “missing link” for archeologists regarding Mayan sacrificial practises. Before it was found there had been no physical proof that the Maya practised human sacrifice only descriptions on carvings and codex’s. In the heart of the system proof was found that was irrefutable, skulls and skeletons that without doubt had been sacrificed in that place.
We were lucky and arrived early, with only two small groups ahead of us and only the two of us in our group. After a 40 minute hike through the jungle, crossing the river that created the caves three times, you arrive at the entrance. To enter you must swim across a pool into the cave and clamber up the other side. We proceeded into the pitch black of the caves with only the light of our head torches to light our way, scrambling and squeezing over and between rocks, wading through the river and in places swimming and climbing small waterfalls, for about a mile into the system. As you go, you traverse through 8 levels of the Mayan Underworld, quite literally heading into their version of hell, until you reach the ninth and final level.
The formation of the caves changes as you go, in places revealing glittering crystal chandeliers and curtains formed by the slow growth of quartz crystals as the water leaks down through the earth. Finally you reach a boulder up which you climb onto a ledge, removing your shoes to enter the vast cavern that is the ninth level. Scattered around the floor in the first part of the cavern are hundreds of broken pots, the earliest dating back to 750AD. As you proceed carefully further in you start to see skulls and bones varying from fully grown adults to small children and babies, the earliest of these date to about 850AD. It is believed that the Maya only turned to human sacrifice in times of great need, as it was at this time in their history from an over growth in population leading to famine, drought and war. In the Belize area alone the population was about 3million, an area that today supports only 350,000. The highlight of the cave tours is the skeleton of the Crystal Maiden, a full skeleton of a young women between 18 and 23 years of age, partially calcified (covered with glittering quartz crystals) at the highest and furthest extent of the cave. It is thought from the way she is positioned that she would have been a voluntary sacrifice, rather than one captured in battle.
We left, back the way we had come, privilege to have been able to witness something so unique and possibly something that may not be open to the general public much longer. This due unfortunately and sadly, to several rather clumsy tourists dropping cameras on skulls, stepping on bones and breaking them while taking photos (how idiotic can you be, no nationalities mentioned!!), cameras are now band and even so all it will take is one more accident before the caves are closed to the public to conserve this, so far, unique piece of history.
I felt it was about time that I got St.John back on a horse (having not ridden since he was about 10) and so we duly signed up for a 4 hour round jaunt out to Xunantunich, some local Mayan ruins. We arrived at Hannas Stables with 3 other punters who had also been staying at Parrots Nest. The stables are run by Santiago, who is passionate about his horses, rescuing them as well as breeding them. I was put on Goldie, a rather beautiful cremello, that is golden coated with a white blonde mane (similar to a palomino), while St.John ended up on “The Chosen One” (never did get to the bottom of that name!). It was an easy and, because of the western saddles, comfortable ride out to the ruins through the beautiful rolling farmlands and jungle of the local area.
I’ll make a cowboy of him yet!
Beautiful Goldie
After crossing the river on a hand cranked barge, we dismounted and wondered around the ruins, Though a fairly small site, they afford fantastic views towards Guatemala and Tikal to the west and out across the Cayo district towards the Pine Ridge Reserve and Caracol to the east.
Looking towards Guatemala
Hopping back on we happily ambled back to the stables, me quietly wondering why I always leave it so long between rides and if I could possibly persuade St.John that we should do the whole of the rest of our trip in this manner… It really is the best way to see an area, taking you away from the roads and to places that you can’t get by car and covering ground far more quickly than simply walking, hmmm….
On return to the lodge one of the other guests produced a bottle of overproof rum and Marcus, one of the owners, Red Absinthe (aka Red Devil) brewed locally here in Belize. Needless to say not much got done for the rest of the afternoon and certain people had rather sore heads the next morning!
This is what happens when you drink overproof and red absinthe! Marcus on the left and Jon, an American guest who tried to convince us that a Banana suit will make friends anywhere in the world!
First night in the jungle in the Cayo district and we found ourselves staying, Swiss Family Robinson style, in a tree house in a little family run place in Bullet Tree Falls, just outside San Ignacio, called Parrots Nest. Our little room was perched halfway up a huge guanacasta tree, and sitting out on the decking at night you could gaze straight up through it’s branches to the clear, star dotted skies, listening to the noises of toads, frogs and hundreds of geckos, as well as any other night dwelling birds or creatures that might be about.
Renting a jeep is really the only way to get around here if you don’t want to spend a fortune on taxis and have some amount of independence, added to the fact the roads are pretty appalling off the main “highway”, a 4×4 is really the only way to go. The first day we explored Mountain Pine Ridge Reserve. First stop, the Green Hill Butterfly Farm, hundred of beautiful butterflies from Blue Morphos, with their huge iridescent blue wings, to delicate little Glass Wings with window like wings, edged in black… There was a proliferation of hummingbirds around the feeders here too and I could have spent hours happily watching them as they hung suspended in mid-air before dipping and spinning away in the blink of an eye, a profusion of indigos and emerald colours shimmering cross their feathers.
We ventured further into the park to Rio Frio Cave, a large cavern you can walk through, on a ledge above the river flowing through it. The place was deserted, only sounds the birds in the surrounding jungle and the river.
Next stop were the cascades at Rio On Pools. A pretty enough stop for lunch but one that seemed fairly crowded with about 30 other people splashing around, oh and leeches!
On advice from other guests at Parrots Nest, we saved the best till last, stopping at Big Rock Falls, a much bigger and more beautiful waterfall with only one other couple there. It is much more impressive than Rio On Pools and as you can see from the photos St.John had a wonderful time throwing himself off the rocks half way up.
Our last couple of days in the Cayes were spent in a pretty relaxed fashion. We hired a kayak one afternoon and went up around the east side of the northern part of Caye Caulker. The water was as smooth as glass over there, making it a fairly easy paddle. Well, I say that but I wasn’t really the one dong much of the paddling, my lack of rhythm and deep concern that I was going to get jumped on by a crocodile (we didn’t actually see any), meant I was next to useless but St.John seemed to do a pretty good job without my help.
Pelican on a pole
Another day was spent on a trip with Tsunami Adventures (www.tsunamiadventures.com) snorkelling 4 different sites. We started with Hol Chan, which is a marine reserve just inside the reef off the south of Ambergris. This was by far the highlight of the day, a channel maybe 30ft deep sided by shallow corals and hundreds of brightly coloured fish as well as turtles and a proliferation of spotted eagle rays. I didn’t get in the water at the next stop as I was being a bit pathetic and was cold, yes I know I am English and this is the tropics but I firmly believe that I was never meant to live in a country as cold as England! Shark Ray Alley (another small reserve) was next with its nurse sharks and rays (the name kind of gives that away) and we finished in the Coral Gardens, another shallow reef that was a bit like swimming in an aquarium.
It was finally time to bid goodbye to the Caribbean for a while and head inland towards, mountains, jungle and eventually Guatemala.
Well, he asked us to esculate it, so on advice from friends out here, we did and here we are on the National Channel 5 News and local San Pedro Sun Paper.
All a bit embarrassing, especially as we have been recognised a few times since by people working in the tourism industry even up here a few hundred miles away in the Cayo district. In general though people’s reactions have been positive and sympathetic, mixed with disgust at the behaviour of Aqua Scuba and worry that it may have tainted our outlook on Belize. It hasn’t and we are coming back at the next opportunity!
Next stop was lunch Half Moon Caye itself. We were given an hour to eat and explore, so after gulping down some chicken, rice n beans we wondered off to the viewing platform to see the colony of Red-Footed Boobies (birds for those of you with a dirty turn of mind!).
A Baby Booby
Views from Half Moon Caye
As we walked back up the beach it was to see our dive boat disappearing off into the distance! Hold on, what the f**k?! Luckily for us there was a rangers hut on the island, he informed us that, yes, they had indeed left with no intention to come back to get us but he could get us a lift on another dive boat going to the same dive site. Excuse me, they had marooned us here? We were only 10 minutes late according to his watch. Yes, and as it turned out this particular dive company had been known to leave people before, including 2 divers recently in the water at The Blue Hole itself! Now we may have been left on a rather beautiful island and luckily there had still been another dive boat on site but that was beside the point. You don’t just drive off and leave your paying customers stranded on an island, no matter what the reason! We hitched a lift with the other dive company, who were equally unsurprised at the laissez-faire, cavalier attitude of Aqua Scuba, repeating what the ranger had said about them leaving people behind on other occasions. They even offered us snorkel gear but apologised that they had no additional scuba equipment – believe me if they had we would have stayed with them at this stage!
Upon arrival back on our original vessel, the captain showed no surprise at our re-appearance and offered no apology, merely saying that we had been late and they had dropped off 2 people to camp at the island and hadn’t realised that we hadn’t come back on board. Hello, in scuba diving you are putting your lives in the hands of the captain and crew and expect at the very least for them to follow basic safety procedures (the first three rules of diving, 1.Saftey, 2,Safety, 3.Safety!), like doing a head count EVERY time you get back on the boat, whether from a dive or an island! It is dive shops like these that are responsible for scenarios like the film “Open Water” and while we may not have been in any actual danger, it was their whole attitude toward these safety procedures that really p****d us off. Were they even doing head counts when divers got out of the water? Probably not!
Upon our return we spoke at length to the manager of Big Fish Dive, the shop we had signed up with. He disclaimed any responsibility and said if we wanted a refund we’d have to take it up with Aqua Scuba on Ambergris. While a refund would have been nice, it was beside the point, what we wanted was to know that something was going to be done to stop this or worse happening in the future! However the owner of Aqua Scuba, a Mr.Benjamin Aguilar, had other ideas and wouldn’t even offer an apology, choosing instead to be not only rude but taunting us to “escalate it if we could”. Well fine, we’ll have a go then, this sort of flippant, lazy approach to safety on board any boat can only lead to accidents and indeed tragedy and has done so in the past. It is toying with peoples lives and operations like this should not be allowed to operate. Our landlady here was horrified and swiftly made sure to tell everyone she knows – well the population of Caye Caulker is only about 1,600, so news spreads fast (we emailed the dive shop on Ambergris to enquire about diving with them again and they already knew and that’s another island!) She advised us to contact The Belize Tourist Board, after all monitoring the safety or tour operations etc is their responsibility, as well as the National Press, who by all accounts love stories like this. We’ve been in touch with The British Consulate, who were also very concerned about the events that took place. We are waiting to hear back from PADI, though as it turns out neither shop, despite having the PADI logo on the their website and offering PADI courses, are actually part of it, so there is little they can do.
Watch this space…
Now that we’d done a few dives to get back into it, we felt ready to tackle The Blue Hole, in the Lighthouse Reef, the most famous diving spot in Belize, actually make that the entire Mezoamerican reef. We signed up for the day with a small Caye Caulker diving outfit called Big Fish Dive. They had joined up with an Ambergris Caye outfit called Aqua Scuba and the boat duly arrived at 6:30am to pick us and a few other divers and snorkelers up. The Blue Hole was originally a cavern that was above sea level in a previous ice age, the roof has since collapsed leaving a circular, vertical underwater cavern formation, 300m across and 124m deep.
With Advanced PADI certification you can do a deep dive down to 40 metres. The vertical sides go into an overhang at about 31m and here you can see huge, ancient stalactite formations from when the cave was above the water level. The objective of diving the Blue Hole is not so much the marine life but to see these unusual, underwater, geological features.
<br /
You may however be lucky as you swim though the formations to spot the odd, lurking shark, mainly Grey Reef or Black Tips but occasionally you may come across the more intimidating Bulls or Hammerheads. I'm sorry, repeat that again – large sharks, I was actually going to be getting in the water, voluntarily, where there could potentially be large sharks?! Well I could probably swim faster than most of the other divers going down…
In we got and down we went, I was staying rather close to St.John at this stage and making sure there were people below, in front, above and somewhere behind! As we descended into the hole I suddenly spotted some large shapes cruising in the gloom off to our right, towards the centre of the hole. Grabbing St.John'ss hand I gestured at them excitedly while making very sure at the same time to stick as close as possible to the wall!! No one else appeared to have noticed and they quickly disappeared again. Slightly apprehensively we continued down to the stalactites, the sight of which took my mind off potential predators that might be swimming out there and I began to relax and enjoy myself (perhaps that was the "champagne effect " of nitrogen narcosis). You can only stay down that deep for about 10 minutes so we were soon resurfacing, at which stage a silhouette appeared above us cruising along the edge of the hole, but it too was uninterested in us and quickly disappeared like the others.
The next dive was Half Moon Caye Wall. This is completely different from The Blue Hole, though in the same atoll. We only descended to about 20m and swam along the edge of the drop off which had spectacular coral formations, including arches which we swam around and through. The marine life here was much more prolific and we saw a hawksbill turtle gently gliding its way along the edge. A Goliath Grouper accompanied us part of the way appearing and disappearing from time to time.
The Blue Hole behind us
The Entrance to the reed surrounding The Blue Hole directly behind me.
Food, Fish and Freedom 