We spent 2 days at the volcano, Laguna Chicabal as it was really nice. Even that we heard that 120 visitors (boys church camp) is coming for the second day. But we didn’t mind. The first morning we walked up to the pretty Chicabal lake.

Laguna Chicabal
December 2013

The lake, in the crater of the volcano, is considered sacred for the Mayans and they still come up to do ceremonies and leave offerings. It has a peaceful atmosphere that gravitates you there and invites you to stay still and just be. We walked up both mornings and left our offerings, chocolate and tobacco..

Offerings at the lake
Laguna Chicabal
December 2013

One of the reasons to stay one more night was that we knew we’re about to get down from the high elevation and head to the beach where it will be hot so wanted to enjoy the cool temperature for a little longer.

On our leaving morning we packed up and headed to Tecojate a little fishing village Pierre recommended as a good place to enjoy a quite beach. The town isn’t really pretty but its friendly people helped us to find a peaceful spot on the beach outside of town.

Beach boondocking
near Tecojate
December 2013

near Tecojate
December 2013

The Dutchies has a six-wheel drive, light vehicle so it was a piece of cake for them to drive through the soft (and black!) sand. We, as we learnt before, had to let our tires down which took a short while but did the trick. Once parked up, we made ourselves a social corner with the camping chairs and table which was just ready for sunset, which coincidentally happens to be beer o’clock too. We spent 3 nights here and we probable spent a little more time but Dunya wasn’t getting better, in fact she seemed very low and perhaps had a fever and Erica and Michel were keen to visit a vet. We decided to leave on the 4th day morning and head to Antigua where we planned to spend the last few days of this year.

Inflating tires after the sand
December 2013

There’s only one convenient place to camp in Antigua which the parking lot of the tourist police and  is right in the middle of town. Here we met lot of travellers who some of the we knew from the PanAmericana 2013 facebook group so it was very nice to meet them and the ones who aren’t on the group.

Antigua in my opinion isn’t that mind blowing though it was perfect for conveniences, visit a vet, have wifi and spend New Year’s Eve. There was nothing really outstanding we did here but spent more than usual on eating out’s so we prepared ourselves for the border-crossing to El Salvador and  were ready to leave once the festive time was over.

El Salvador has a legal restriction policy about RHD vehicles. We did some research on this with not much luck as everywhere we hit our heads again and again in to the same wall; No RHD vehicles in El Salvador. We were very keen to visit the country and John was prepared to give it a try. Actually the problem isn’t not-getting in to El Salvador, it’s the leaving Guatemala as we have to hand in the Guatemalan temporary importation paper that they cancel and if we happen to have to return to Guatemala we couldn’t. Apparently we would need to spend 3 months out of the country in order to get a new temp. imp. paper for the vehicle. In this light I was slightly un-easy but John seemed quite confidant for the crossing and the Dutchies were happy to come with us.

We choose Anguiatú the least visited border crossing (where Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador meet) and headed that way.

Once we  left Antigua we took the most direct but mostly dirt road towards East. We had a night at a very beautiful area in the mountains by a small church where we were welcome by the friendly locals and had another night by a volcano about 40km from the border.

Next, border crossing to El Salvador…

After we left Todos Santos we were heading to Quetzaltenango, a colonial town that was also recommended for its good Spanish schools. We found the town quite nice and relaxed, also found several schools though no parking -especially not for weeks opportunities.

We wanted to spend the night at a hot waterfall not far from town. It was getting late so we had to press on to get to the waterfall before dark. The drive was very pretty with colourful vegetable patches all the way in the hillside, well as deforestation goes. We got to the waterfall in the dark to find out that for parking overnight would cost a fortune. We tried to negotiate the price as we didn’t needed anything just simply park up but the guy didn’t have any sympathy for us and for the fact that it was already pretty late and dark and we had no other options. We left. On the way down the hill we found a patch of land, just enough space for Burt by the side of the road so we tucked ourselves in there and had an early and quiet night.

The next day we decided to head to Lake Atitlan. I found out that the Holland couple was in San Marcos la Laguna, one of the small towns around the lake so we thought we could try that town first. It also has a reputation of being quite a relaxed place with several yoga, meditation and other holistic classes, plus as there are enough gringos live here and nearby the little grocery shops has quite a good range of health food supply too.

The road from Quetzaltenango to the mountains of the lake was super fast, 2 lanes highway, then a paved winding road through the mountains to get to the lake. First we got in to San Pablo where we had to drive through small streets then it was San Marcos.

We arrived here quite early in the day so we had a chance to walk about and familiar ourselves with the small town. We were hoping we would spot the Dutchies’ vehicle which is an awesome conversion of an old Volvo ambulance vehicle that would be hard to miss. We were up and down on the streets and the only old dirt road that leads you out of town on the other side but no luck. Then we found a internet cafe and had several back and forth emails with them but kept missing each other and somehow the description of their campground wasn’t enough to locate them. Time was running at this point and we needed to stay somewhere so asked the police office if we could park up for the night on the main square which was fine. Once parked up we found a nice little restaurant with free wifi and we got online contact with the Dutchies. Within half an hour they were there at the restaurant. It was great to meet them and we found out about the lovely place they’re staying and that they already asked the owner if we could park up there too. That night we just stayed where we were but planned to drive up tomorrow morning.

The Dutchies (aka dutchiesgoglobal.com) are a fun, young couple of Erica, Michel and their lovable old dog Dunya, the sweetest Rottweiler you ever meet, driving their lovely old converted Volvo truck, Panda. During our dinner and few drinks at the first night we found out that we have a lot of in common, a very similar story and we are indeed very like-minded in our travelling styles. John and I decided it would be nice to park up where they are, for a while and maybe continue the trip with their company.

The following day we met Pierre the owner of Pasaj Cap, the beautiful place where the Dutchies already spent an enjoyable few days and agreed that we can park up here too.

I fell in love with this place at first sight. We got a grassy spot between an avocado tree and some coffee plants with a spectacular view of the lake and its three volcanoes right in front of us. Pierre has a very huge terrace-style property with a few stylish apartment for rent, his own beautiful house with his partner and three dogs, has his own private dock on the lake, citrus, mango, avocado trees and coffee plants, not to mention the fact that Pierre, being a true French man, has a good taste in food and wine too, and he had some superb quality beef, seafood and wine for sale!! It was paradise with and extra touch of wifi.

San Marcos la Laguna
December 2013

We decided to stay here for Christmas (a couple of weeks time) and leave in the first days of the New Year. It was the perfect place to let our hair down, relax and really feel home.

Lake Atitlan from San Pedro
December 2013

We had a wonderful couple of first weeks. We visited some of the lake towns on foot, then with the boats, Erica and I found a yoga class right in front of Pasaj Cap on the hill, and every other morning we had 2-2.5 hours fantastic yoga sessions. I signed up for Spanish for a week. John could catch up with hundreds of long-forgotten emails, sort a few things on Burt, with family and friends. We cooked together with the Dutchies or went out for a dinner together. We had movie nights and enjoyed lots of (reasonably) good wine. It was great.

Erica, aka half of the Dutchies.
San Marcos la Laguna
December 2013

Michel with Dunya
San Marcos la Laguna
December 2013

Sadly an incident occurred with the dogs just a day before Christmas and the Dutchies were asked to leave. As we already had planes for Christmas they agreed to leave on Boxing Day. John and I thought about it and as much as we loved Pasaj Cap and Pierre we decided to move on with the Dutchies too.

Suddenly we were having our last couple of days cutting our yoga sessions short, did last minute shopping, stock up with the good meat from Pierre and had an improvised Christmas Eve dinner at a Japanese restaurant with sushi!

On Boxing Day morning we were packing up when we heard that Pierre told Erica and Michel that they could stay if they wanted. Of course it was nice and we were tempting but somehow we felt that the decision was made, we knew where we’re going next and I think Erica and Michel was happy to change the scenery for Dunya. We were ready.

Shopping trip
Quetzaltenango
December 2013

We said our good bye’s and left shortly after breakfast for a volcano and its high elevation laguna back up north, near Quetzaltenango. We did some more grocery shopping, filled up with fuel on the way and arrived at the volcano in the late afternoon. There was a grassy football ground at 2600 meters just a few hundred meters from the top where we could park up for a small fee. The change of scenery and a temperature was very nice.

Camp at Laguna Chicabal
December 2013

Laguna Chicabal
December 2013

We were very happy to have travelling companions and I had a feeling that with our new friends there are more adventures ahead of us, and I’m looking forward to them.

Next, Antigua and to the border…

We’ve been planning to take another Spanish lesson in Guatemala. The guide books recommend Antigua as the “ultimate” place for the classes but we weren’t sure at this point if we wanted to go to Antigua or at least staying for a Spanish-class-length of time there.

After some research John found writings on a couple of remote villages in the north highlands where next to some activities Spanish class was an option too.  John is very keen on visiting more authentic, indigenous villages so we decided to take our next stop to Nebaj.

Nebaj is small village in a valley of a the untouched Cuchumatanes mountains with locals keeping the ancient way of living life. Women are still wearing traditional clothes with striking colours. It is a small modest looking town with a church on the main square and a reasonably large market.

We arrived early in the day, parked up at the side of the road and walked in to the centre where there was a local gathering of some sort and the couple bigger streets that lead to the main square had waves of red-skirted woman rushing up to the centre for the beginning of whatever was about to start. We enjoyed looking the arrivals for a while then went to find the Spanish school building to see what our options are.

Nebaj
December 2013

Nebaj
December 2013

Nebaj
December 2013

After asking around for a bit we finally arrived to the school. They did have places for us -whenever we would want to start the course but couldn’t really help us with camping in Burt and a good place to park up for a couple of weeks. At this point it dawned on us that this could may be a problem. However the manager of the school offered to park up at his house which was in the next village. So we came away with some thoughts.

It was getting late in the day so, regardless for the upcoming time, we had to find a place to stay for this night. The outskirt of the village we found a hotel where we could park up for a small fee.

Shalom Hotel
Nebaj
December 2013

The next day we were still hesitating to make a decision on the school and the offer of the campsite in the next village so just to take our time, we hired a guide and went for a hike for the day.

We had an elderly guide who spoke some Spanish but mainly spoke his Mayan language but with pointing and the little Spanish I understood we could make small conversations.

Hiking in Nebaj
December 2013

At lunchtime we arrived in a very small and very remote village and we were invited for snacks and hot drinks which were prepared and cooked on open fire in the adobe hut while chickens, dog, cats and a pig were coming in and out. The hot drinks was basically roasted, grounds corn cooked in hot water and the snack was a hard-skinned with thorns, dark green, pear-shaped vegetable that was steamed for many hours then the skin needed to be pilled off and munch the flesh of it. They simply tasted like boiled potatoes and we were desperately looking around for butter and salt.  Then we got more sugary burnt corn drinks. Then it was time to move on.

Nebaj
December 2013

Nebaj
December 2013

Nebaj
December 2013

Nebaj
December 2013

From here on it was only downhill for a couple of hours, arriving to a town and from there catch a bus back to Nebaj. All together it took the whole day, despite for our snack we were very hungry and very tired by the time we got back but it was well worth it.

We found out that the Spanish school building is actually also a cafe/restaurant with wifi and a quite nice atmosphere. We had a few beers and dinner here and walked back to our hotel spot.

This was our second night with late night football next door, quite literally 6 meters from us, and it went on till 10.30-11PM. By the sound of it, when I asked about this in the hotel, it seemed that there are no evenings really when they don’t play football. So that wasn’t very promising for early and quiet nights. Though we stayed one more day and night to see if we can find a place to park for weeks nearby for the school. Somewhere and sometime in the day we decided to move on to the next town Todos Santos with better luck of the combination of camping and learning Spanish in a school.

It was a day drive through towns, mountain roads then more towns then more winding roads. We thought, according to the description of the town that it will be dirt roads but for our biggest surprise the road was paved all the way. The drive was lovely and there was a point when it did feel we were in Scotland. It was late afternoon when we arrived to Todos Santos.

Its real name is Todos Santos Cuchumatan and it is high up, over 3000 meter in the raged mountains of the Guatemalan northern highlands. It is also a town and area where only indigenous people live under slightly more advanced circumstances than Nebaj. This town felt masculine as oppose to Nebaj but I think it was because in Nebaj the women stood out with their gorgeous dresses, and here quite the opposite. The men, small or big, in Todos Santos wear the exact same outfit; striking red and white stripy trousers and white and blue shirt with embroidered large collars. The fabrics seemed very similar to denim which made it practical in this climate. Being there in December it was quite chilly. The mornings started with thick fog that couldn’t disappear throughout the day which created a spooky atmosphere for the sunset and evenings.

Todos Santos
December 2013

Todos Santos
December 2013

Todos Santos
December 2013

We found a large parking lot on a dirt, grassy field right in town. We found out it was private, but saw a couple of trucks parked up here so we made drove in and our nest for the night. Within half an hour the owner was there so we could settle with a small fee for the parking with him.

Todos Santos
December 2013

The next morning we woke to a 3C (37F) temperature so had to take our woollies out. Then we were on a hunt for the Spanish school. In the meantime visited the small market and got the essentials, found an internet cafe and called Mother for her birthday. We found the school but also found out that it doesn’t functional anymore -or at least not in the winter season.  We got a name of a teacher and a rough direction to her home. We found her home but no luck so we continued up the hill  till the road ran out and we found ourselves in the woods which wasn’t just very pretty but we were out of the clouds and the view from above was spectacular. On our way back we discussed our options, how long want to stay etc.

Todos Santos
December 2013

By this point we got in touch with another overland traveller couple from Holland and we got an email from them that they are in Guatemala now as well -in Cobán and will be heading to Lake Atitlan in a few days. As much as I appreciated John’s efforts to find an authentic places to stay and learn Spanish, and I really do, and also as much as I found these places fascinating and was very pleased that we visited Nebaj and Todos Santos I started to feel isolated and … well lonely. Not only these 4-5 days but for weeks, perhaps months. We have been travelling exactly for one year now in our style; slowly, taking our time, enjoying places and people then move on when we want to etc. But I felt it would be very nice travelling with company, at least to try, at least for a while… John wasn’t quite ready for this yet. He enjoyed these places, the remoteness more. One of the differences between us is that John is more of a “solo” person who is very comfortable being on his own, being quiet and do things his own way. I am a very social person, I enjoy people the most on this travel (and in general), I did find difficult to leave places in Mexico, Belize where we made friends but had to leave them behind so I was ready to make new friends who potentially like-minded, adventurous like us and as a bonus travelling with a dog! That I love. I persuaded John to leave Todos Santos in the next day or after and head towards Lake Atitlan.

When we got back to our camp we found a bunch of mucky faced, cheeky kids who loved Burt and playing around and under it. As we just set down on a piece of log to  watch them they gathered around us and entertained us. It was very sweet and amazing how kids just don’t care for the fact that we speak a different language, somehow everything is understood all you need is a football or a camera or a small bottle of water. For an hour I was playing with the kids and it made feel even better for this town. Where children are so contented, happy and constantly smiling a place can’t be a bad place.

Todos Santos
December 2013

Todos Santos
December 2013

Todos Santos
December 2013

Todos Santos
December 2013

And it wasn’t. I did feel sorry to leave here though I knew we have so much ahead of us.

We left the following morning in the spooky fog and headed south towards Quetzaltenango which is on the way to Lake Atitlan.

Next, Meet the Dutchies…

From Tikal we had one more night in a near-by village by its lake. It was actually a perfect little spot for a night, quiet and peaceful. The next day we visited Flores which was the other side of the lake and we heard nice enough things about it so thought we could give it a go. We got there in no time, but we didn’t like it as much so decided to head south towards another lake, Lago de Izabal. We knew about a campsite on the way, Finca Ixabal, so we knew if we won’t make it to the lake by the end of the day, we’ll still have a place for the night. We arrived late afternoon/ early evening. The lady who runs the place spoke very good English and let us know where we can park up. The place has cabanas, wood-houses, it is a small working farm of growing vegetables, has a few animals. There is also a cafe/self-served restaurant with freshly baked products, a nice chill-out area with wifi, few options for hiking and walking. Overall a very pleasant place to stay for a couple of nights. Needless to mention, as it was still the rainy season and the ground was wet and slippery we got stuck and for a moment it seemed like Burt’s going to end up in a small pond. But a well-thought-through plan, some digging and the use of the sand-ladders did the trick and we out! we were of trouble. All these at 9PM, in the dark and before dinner which makes me slightly more cranky. But it was a huge relief  to be on firm ground again and after cleaning up our mess and mud, we treated ourselves with home-made burgers, chips and beer in the cafe with two lovely French couples. We stayed here two nights which was great and could do a short hike up to the top of an super-overgrown Mayan pyramid.

Hike up to the top
Finca Ixobal
December 2013

John is checking the scene of spinning wheels from the night before

The following day we were ready to move on to Lago de Izabal. Again, we knew about a place right by the lake to stay. Though by this point John was getting a little bored to follow other travellers’ waypoints and campgrounds and was ready to do our own discovery. Regardless, we went to have a look at the lake-side place. It seemed we couldn’t fit through a gate that leads to the lake beach. Our only option was to stay back and park up next to a restaurant and they weren’t shy to ask a hefty amount for the one night camp. We thanked and drove off. Just the other side of the road we found another restaurant that let us stay for the night for a much more reasonable fee with electricity hook-up. But the real attraction was the hot-waterfall which was owned by the same family who owned the restaurant. It was a 10 minutes easy hike to the waterfall and it was really worth it. Very beautiful and authentic place where the hot water falls into a cold river creating a very pleasant pool to hang out.  John would’ve wanted to stay one more day/night here and enjoy the hot water again but at the end we decided to move on.

Aguas Calientes

We kept hearing about Samuc Champey as one of the “must visits” in Guatemala. We decided to drive to Samuc on the less-driven road from Lake Izabal. The whole journey was about 60 km but we couldn’t make it to Samuc before the end of the day. The road was very demanding, narrow, at places steep and full of rain-wash cracks or if not the cracks then animals or people walking across unexpectedly, but if not these then a 24 meter long truck coming from the opposite direction. It was certainly entertaining. It was getting dark and we knew we were still about 20 km away from Samuc and judging by the progress we have made after the whole day drive we were looking for a place to stop up for the night. I wasn’t very easy at this point, mainly because all we keep hearing about Guatemala is danger. Perhaps more so than it was for Mexico. John was getting fed up with these second-hand infos, quite rightly, but I am a cheap audience who believes more than I should. So considering the circumstances -being tired, hungry, thirsty and slightly uneasy about things as soon as we were driving through another village I was looking out for a place. And finally spotted a run-down little “hotel”. I jumped out to ask the usual questions. It seemed that the “hotel” doesn’t function as a hotel anymore but the family let us park up and stay for the night anyway for a small fee. The next morning we only had 20 km’s to drive but it took 4 hours to get only to the turn-off which was a town, called Lanquín. From here, after we took a hitchhiker, in a 13 years old boy form we headed to our final destination on an even narrower and steeper road with a falling-apart wooden bridge that made it almost impossible for us to turn on to it as the icing on the whole journey. David, our little friend, in a cab was tiring to make conversation with us in Spanish. We found out that he is from Lanquín and goes up to Samuc almost every day to have  a swim. And finally we were there, at its car park, heaving with 6-7 year old little girls and boys trying to sell Mayan chocolate. Some of them were very sweet and asked our names, then I asked theirs and they loved Burt. We got to Samuc close to closing time and we found out that we can only allowed to park overnight in the car park. It wasn’t awful but it was pretty underwhelming, driving for two days on these difficult roads to get here just to stay in a car park. Hm. We paid our fees and the entrance fee to get in the park before it’s closing for the day. We had a chance to walk up to the viewpoint and have a quick plunge in one of the pools. It is a very pretty place but not sure that the whole effort worth it.

Pools of Samuc

After closing we strolled down the road to a backpackers’ place with a bar with a view of the river and had a couple of bottles of beer and chatted with a traveller. Then on our way back to our camp spot I heard my name followed by giggles. We looked towards the source of the sound and saw the two little girls under the trees having their evening bath in the river. They were very sweet and playful and giggled away. They were just calling my name, “Betti, Betti… holá!” then one of them remembered John’s name and called out; “Otto, Otto, holá!”  We started laughing and I said that he was called Juan. Now that caused a great joy and more laugh.  I was very impressed that these little girls remembered my name even that got John’s wrong and at the same time I felt a little embarrassed that I forgot theirs. The next morning I wished I saw the girls before we left to give some of our little give-out stickers and balloons but all the chocolate girls and boys were vanished. Samuc was somewhat a little disappointment but I’ll never forget those little giggling herberts calling my name.

In the morning we packed up and headed to Cobán, a bigger town with facilities, shops, bank and all as we needed to stock up things. Cobán really isn’t a pretty town but has the essentials and actually has a small park where camping is allowed. From the park it’s just a 10 mins walk to the centre. We sorted everything out here in a day then moved on towards the northern highlands.

John thought we should have our own route now and he had a plan for us.

Next, Nebaj and Todos Santos

We left Clarissa Falls in the late morning hours knowing that the border is only a few miles from here and that the crossing shouldn’t take longer than an hour or two.

Shortly after we left we arrived to the Belizean side of the border. We gone through the first bit of the process; paying the exit fee(!) (these countries have all; sorts of ways to squeeze more money out of tourists even in the last moments) So we paid our fees and moved on to get our passports stamped out where the immigration officer informed us that according to the stamp in my passport we were suppose to leave Belize 23 days ago!

What?!

Apparently we got a 24 hour transit visa at entry.

When we entered Belize, on the 30th October, the officer asked us about our plans. We told him where we’re going and what our plans were for the next three-four weeks. He didn’t say a thing and gave us the stamps then he scribbled the date on the stamps.

Now, this guy is saying that it was for only 24 hours??

“You need to go through that door and wait there until you are called by Mr. Hopkins, the chief officer”

Needless to say I was nervous. But John was pissed off. After just 10 minutes wait the same immigration officer we just spoke to came though and told us, kindly, that in our situation we have three “no, four” options:
1; drive back to the entrance border and sort out our stamp ourselves.
2; pay the $1000BZ fine.
3; or go to jail.
Then he left…. Wait, what is the fourth option?? But we didn’t get an answer.

So we waited and waited… A security guy came in and told us that we can’t wait here because it is a corridor and it is only for short-time waiting. We said that we were told to wait here. Oh man, John’s head nearly exploded. The guy was persistent so we called the officer who knew us very well by this point. They sorted things out between themselves in Spanish and we were allowed to stay. Good, because John was having no sense of humour at this point. We were waiting for over half an hour by now.

In another 30 minutes or so, finally we were called. A large, pan faced, black guy waited for us and asked what our problem was. John very politely but confidentially explained the situation and how they made a mistake with our stamps and how we don’t understand the 24 hour stamp when it was clear that we needed a month stay. The scary guy listened, then looked at our stamps…. “I don’t understand it either” He said.
Then he left the room for a few minutes when he came back he just asked us to go out, around to the window. And all was sorted. We went back to the window and we got our exit stamps in our passports without any problem.

We were snapping at each other at this point. John was upset with me, with the Belizean immigration and, I guess, with the world.

We needed Guatemalan money (Quetzal) for the Guatemalan border crossing process and between the two borders were unofficial changers. John wasn’t having their rate, thinking there must be a bank so we’ll get the official rate. Turns out there’s no bank so shot ourselves in the foot. He got back to change some dollars…

Not knowing how much we need, Johnny just got enough to sort out our passports, vehicle papers so we were good to go but wait, there was a bridge.
The shortest-and-most-expensive toll bridge in history and we didn’t have any Quetzal left. We told the tough lady that we’ll park up the side of the road and get some cash. It took ages to find a bank. Got the cash, bought some essentials, paid for the bridge and finally left.

All together it took nearly 5 hours to cross the border between Belize and Guatemala. It was a silly mistake and a good lesson. From now on, we both have to double check all stamps, dates and all on our documents when crossing the border.

We weren’t happy when we finally left the border crossing town. We had three options for camping on our first night in Guatemala. One was just half an hour drive from the border. We got there just a little too early in the day and none of us were in the mood to drive up 10 km on a dirt road only to find out that the place doesn’t exist or something (fair enough, we were slightly pessimistic that moment) so we skipped that one and the next one too and ended up in Tikal.

Tikal is Guatemala’s (if not the whole of Central America’s) most visited Mayan archaeological site. “The Mother of Mayan pyramid sites”. And it is located in a national park, in the jungle. It has facilities even a campground. Even after our time consuming border crossing we got here by 4PM. I was glad to get here, knowing we have a good place to stay.

Somehow we didn’t think this through, we just rolled up at the end of the day and bought our tickets for the next day then drove in to the park. Now it was getting late so we did not have a choice but park up here. After buying the two pricey entrance tickets we had to pay the stinging cost for the camping, which was actually only a simple parking on a grassy patch with no facilities. This was the last straw, after this day John felt “let down”.

Catching the last minutes of the sunlight, we went for a short walk where we saw toucans gathering on a fruit tree making a mess underneath the branches. It was a lovely sight at the end of this day. Soon it was dark. Not having electricity at this part of the world, the whole place felt like it was covered with a black velvet blanket with sparkles on it.

Tikal Campsite
Tikal
2013

Next, Finca Ixobal, Peten

The two nights staying at Bill and Cathy’s helped to forget the bone shaking experience on the road down, though I can’t say that I was looking forward to the drive-up journey. Particularly the one hair raising bit of it. But I guess the rest, good company, walks and chill helps John too to relax about the drive so that morning after a good night sleep, fresh as a daisy we made it back swiftly on to the main road with no problem and sooner than I remembered the way down.

Road condition to Barton Creek
November 2013

Spanish Lookout is a main Mennonite town, a hard working, no-shop-front, high quality, agricultural epicentre of the Mennonite productions throughout the country. It is still a small town with their own one brand (but great quality, organic food) supermarket. It did feel very tidy mid East US, strangely. It is also more modern than the countryside farmers, in terms of general living and dressing -they drive cars and agriculture machines, they wear T-shirts and jeans, they even eat hamburgers! We rolled up here in the hope to find a mechanic or a shop where we could get our issue addressed. After a little scooting around town we got the name of the guy we needed. It was the end of the day so we went to find a place to stay.

Because these people are honest, they are trusting so it wasn’t an issue to find a place. It took a little chatting to Tim, a timber merchant, to get ourselves a nightspot behind his shop. We watched the nice little kids, photocopies of each other, playing and climbing on top of the big truck next to us. Then, as they told us earlier the town shuts down after 5, we had an early night.

Spanish Lookout
November 2013

The following day, we learned, was bank holiday but we went to see the guy anyway. Although the shop wasn’t open for business that day he kindly had a look at the problem in question. He told us to come back the next day by 7AM. He let us stay at his shop, which was a bonus for us.

Spanish Lookout
November 2013

The following morning Cornie and his right-hand man were there spot on 6.50 ready to start the job that involved lifting the back of the box, some serious MIG and TIG welding (John could tell you all about it), laser cutting and all. I thought I leave the boys to play and found myself a nice little cafe with wifi. The rest is history. 5 hours later John found me and told me that it was all done, perfectly and that he was very impressed with everything Cornie’s done. After celebrating with a nice little buffet lunch at the cafe we moved on.

We knew one RV park (Inglewood) on the Western Highway but we found it unreasonably pricey so left. In a few miles we saw a turn off to a dirt road with signs of three different resorts, even an airstrip. Usually airfields, resorts/hotels are a good bet for park-ups but these weren’t. They were far too posh and weren’t interested in an RV parking up on their 300 acres land for a night so we had to leave. As we were driving back to the paved highway we were thinking that our only option (considering the time) was now to go back to the pricey Inglewwod RV park.

Just half a mile on our turnout we spotted a sign for Clarissa Falls “Food & Room” 1 mile. So off we went. We arrived to a nice green park with a river, trees, cabanas, farm animals (+ two of the cutest puppies I’ve ever seen!), a little restaurant and a sweet lady, Chena who welcomed us to Clarissa Falls, let us know the price and that we can help ourselves to the fridge for any drinks just put it down in the book and pay later so we stayed. And we stayed for 5 days.

Clarissa Falls Campsite
BELIZE
2013

Clarissa Falls Campsite
BELIZE
2013

Clarissa Falls Campsite
BELIZE
2013

Clarissa Falls Campsite
BELIZE
2013

It was really lovely being there so day after day we decided to stay one more. Went to visit the Xunantunich ruin (3 miles from here) one day which happened to be the same day when Scott and Angela from Placencia went as well with friends, so we met them there. Clarissa Falls is a very friendly, family run place with toucans coming to the feeder, excellent cooking (best Christmas cake), entertaining farm animals (turkeys, geese, ducks, Guinea chickens, horses, kittens, puppies) They hung out around our vehicle keeping us amused. All together, we meant to stay here for a night but instead we stayed 5 days. It was lovely and had a chance to get ourselves ready for the board crossing.
Next, Guatemala border crossing and Tikal.

John, as always, did the research what’s next. We were heading up north-west towards the capital, Belmopan and we had two options to stay, The Blue Hole or Barton Creek.

We got to the Blue Hole area quite early in the day, even though that we met a couple of German bikers who we had ice cream and a good travel-chat with for an hour or so at the famous Mennonite dairy shop by the Hummingbird highway, so we decided to move on to Barton Creek.
I would divide Belize’s population (307,899) to three -unofficially. There are the ever proud Garífuna who arrived 200 years ago to Belize. A smiley, laid back, jolly bunch. The Maya, Mestizos (Mayan & Spanish/European) and Latinos. Some have always been here, some arrived recently. They are a lot shyer and withdrawn than the Garífuna. And there are the Mennonites who arrived from Europe and from the North American communities. Mennonite community is considered the backbone of Belize’s agricultural department. They produce nearly all dairy, meat and veg products throughout the country. They are shy, strongly religious but very friendly people. Many Mennonite communities are still living in the traditional way and dress accordingly. (There are actually a quite large community of Chinese living in Belize and almost all food store/ supermarkets are in their hands.) The main languages they speak in Belize are English, Spanish, Creole and Garífuna but in areas they speak the Mayan Mopan and Q’eqchi and in the Mennonite areas they speak Mennonite German. People we met spoke at least two-three of these. Besides the languages these communities have their own (some deeply traditional) culture and we loved this culture mix in Belize.

So from Belmopan we kept on going towards the Guatemalan border on the Western highway until we saw the sign to Barton Creek. John found a kind of backpackers/campground place where other overland travellers stayed before so we were fairly confident that we can stay there. As we turned off the highway, the route involved 40 mins rattling on a rough road full of potholes then from another turn-off, another good 40 minutes serious of heart attacks on a very narrow and steep road that had size of washouts that swallowed Burt’s wheels until we arrived to a river crossing. Belize had the worst rainy season this year for 20 odd years with so much rain that caused a lot of problems. And we were facing one. The campsite was 100 meters from here but on the other side of the river. The river was too high and too fast to cross. And I wasn’t mentally ready to drive back up on that road. Needless to say that at this point it was rather late in the day.

I know it’s not the foot bridge we should’ve taken…
Barton Creek
November 2013

Our rattle and diesel engine made enough noise in the neighbourhood for Bill to come down to the river to see what was going on. After a short chat with Bill, we learnt that the campsite we were looking for didn’t exist anymore, he offered to stay at his property. We were very grateful and offered to cook fish dinner for everyone. After we parked up at a comfortable spot we met Cathy, Bill’s wife, a very sweet lady. They also had a dog (besides another and three cats) called Burt! They lived on this property for a long time and they built their own beautiful wood cabin-like house. We spent a very nice evening with them and the next day decided to stay one more night.

Campsite at Bill and Cathy’s
Barton Creek
November 2013

That way we could visit the Mayan cave we heard about. It was on the other side of the river but there was a wonky foot bridge (damaged by the flooding) we could use. We passed the closed-down campsite, then crossed another river to get to Mike’s Place, the place where the cave’s entrance was. This park was owned by a Canadian big guy who bought this land 20 something years ago with an ancient Mayan cave, a river and hills on it. He built up a sort of adventure park here with zip-lining, canoeing on the river, and of course tours to the cave. We learnt that he isn’t in the guide book (definitely a place that would be in it) because when the Lonely Planet writer came to visit he said he would only put Mike’s Place in if he gets everything for free. How is that for a genuine review? Mike said to him to f* off (his words!) so he never made it to the Lonely Planet. As he describes himself he is an “A”hole but he doesn’t care and he still gets business. It was entertaining talking to him, and after a good hour or two chat (which involved, for Johnny’s biggest joy, showing his water mill which powers the whole park 24/7, 356 days a year) ironically, he lowered the price to the third to visit the cave. We got his best guide (his brother-in-law) though we needed to wait for him for a while which we didn’t mind at all. The tour took an hour and was magnificent. An enormous cave that is 8 km long (maybe more, it might be 8 miles -can’t remember) but the tour is only for the first 5km, and it only can be visited by canoe. The cave was considered a sacred temple for the Maya and they did their shamanic ceremonies here. We saw potteries, bones and human skulls. Our guide was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the subject and we really enjoyed the trip.

Mike’s Place
Barton Creek
November 2013

Mike’s Place
Barton Creek
November 2013

Mike’s Place
Barton Creek
November 2013

By the time we got back it was dusk. Cathy and Bill were still out and we decided to wait for them with dinner. This area is a Mennonite community and we met Andrew, a young farmer, who came by to see Bill and Cathy. We invited him up if he wanted to wait for them with us. It was fascinating chatting to this shy but somewhat chirpy and really bright Mennonite guy in his 20’s, letting us know about his life plans. He also had more knowledge about solar power (they aren’t suppose to use any powered machines etc) than a lot of non-Mennonite people we’ve met.

When Cathy and Bill arrived we were ready to cook another nice fish dinner and had yet another very nice evening with them. The following morning we were ready to move on and after a nice, long morning chat (I could’ve stayed longer and chat away with Cathy for ever) we finally said our goodbyes.

Saying goodbye to Burt, the dog
Barton Creek
November 2013

Saying goodbye to Bill and Cathy
Barton Creek
November 2013

We have been bothered by a metal clicking noise coming from the chassis when travelling on rough roads (we thought we solved this in Mexico but actually not) and asked Bill if he could advise us where to find a good engineer. Spanish Lookout -He said.
Next, Spanish Lookout and Clarissa Falls

After our enjoyable visit to the Banana Farm, which in every way was a left field, well choreographed tour (our tour guide was actually the wife of the owner’s son and I have never seen anyone more enthusiastic about bananas than Evin was) we were entering a new chapter of our Belize travel, Riversdale.

Riversdale is a small, almost insignificant little corner, the first village, of the peninsula. When one drives along this stretch of land towards Placencia, they might not think much of Riversdale “only the first village” they might even think “further towns will definitely be more exciting, more interesting, more palm trees, more …. err something”. A build up to perfection as it were. This is what we thought of it at first too. But we could have not been more wrong.

We were invited to Riversdale, by an American couple Steve and Rhoda, to stay on the piece of land they were parking on with their RV, building their investment house. As we rolled up Steve and Rhoda just arrived back from their weekly shopping from town but that didn’t stop anyone for being ready for the evening with endless food, beers and margarita cocktails. For the evening few of their friends, neighbours joined us too. Steve is also working on the local resort’s swimming pool and John offered his help. Then the evening blurred into one big pink margarita cloud.

Campsite in Riversdale
November 2013

Steve and Rhoda, though are in their late 50’s are a youthful and super fun couple. Steve is a creative technical builder with a good sense of humour and a great passion for what he does and for spear fishing. Rhoda is a wonder woman. She is everything for Steve, his partner, lover, wife, secretary, production manager and all. She is also the mother of the village’s youngsters. Most of the kids in town, whether they’re in their teens or thirties, call her Mama. Rhoda is delightful, she is unstoppable, full of energy and does everything for everyone. Particularly to Aussie an eleven year old brother of many (not to mention all his nephews and nieces) from the top of the village, a super cute and bright kid who adores Rhoda and everything she does. He is almost always around, helping watching, learning. At the same time he is also “teaching” Rhoda about all that an American woman should know about Belize and taking everything in a Belizean kid could know about cooking and baking! It’s a match made in heaven and I really enjoyed hanging out with them.

Rhoda and me
Riversdale
November 2013

The following few days it was constant rain and the mud flooded half of the village. The only thing we could do is chat all day long or drive down to Placencia for shopping, cooking and baking all the delicious fresh fish and lobster we got everyday from the fishermen or from the boys then it was late afternoon again and the “bar” opened. Everyone were gathering at Steve and Rhoda’s place and the drinking started again.

Each night, after a couple of glasses of cocktails all seemed great and fun and we agreed to stay one more day. And another. and another. But in the morning light all seemed slightly different. Of course, the lovely hospitality of our new friends was hugely appreciated but we are here to Travel and felt that it is time to move on.

Steve and Rhoda said they would organize a boat for the four of us to go out snorkelling and spear fishing in the next few days. So we decided to go away for a couple of days to visit the jungle and come back for the boat ride.

So off we went to a small national park in the jungle not far from Riversdale. We arrived after closing time, though the gate was open, but discovered that there was a resort/ hotel/ restaurant in the park, hence the open gate. So we rolled up at the restaurant and asked if we could stay there for the night. It was OK. The next morning we moved over to the park’s camp area and paid a small fee for camp a night. We spent the day hike up to one of their beautiful waterfalls. It was exceedingly humid and hot with millions of blood suckers so that took away the shine of the otherwise really lovely hike. Though as a reward, at the top, there was a stunning fresh, cool water natural pool of the waterfall so we cooled ourselves in it which made a lot of difference for the hike back. We also did a short hike to another waterfall but it got dark on our way back which made me a bit nervous as all we hear is to be careful with the snakes and spiders!

Campsite
Mayflower
November 2013

We really enjoyed this little park and all it offered to us. It was raining heavily over night and in the morning, before we left we laid down our sand ladders before we would’ve gotten stuck on the slippery grassy mud. It was a good move and very much needed and just about got out of the grass land. Said goodbye to the nice guy at the park and headed back to Riversdale.

We arrived in the early afternoon hours and everyone seemed to be just as happy to see us again as we were to see them. Needless to say we had a celebratory dinner and cocktails that night bearing in mind our boat ride in the morning. The following day by 9AM we gathered all our snorkelling and fishing gears, packed some lunch, drinks and off we went to meet Manuel, our captain.

Riversdale
November 2013

Riversdale
November 2013

Manuel took us out first to the reefs where we snorkelled for a while, the boys were warming up for fishing and generally enjoying the stunning underwater wildlife. If you’ve seen Finding Nemo and remember the opening scene…. that was what we saw there. Then we headed to an island where Manuel introduced us to his mate, an unhinged, young US couple (plus 1 year old toddler and two dogs) who bought this mangrove island 10 years ago, not having an actual land they built a wooden path system all over it a couple of casitas and a restaurant. Dustin (the husband) goes out every day, catches the fish, lobster and all that his wife cooks and serves at their restaurant.  An absolutely brilliant and well designed, hand built place that is not advertised yet always busy, right in the middle of the Caribbean. It was very inspiring to see it.

November 2013

November 2013

We did some more snorkelling and fishing for the whole afternoon. At the end of the day, on our way back to the mainland, I don’t know how, Manuel managed to get a dolphin family appear. It was an unexpected surprise and we all got stunned to see these wonderful creatures play around our boat for a while. This was a perfect ending of a perfect day, of a perfect week.

Spotting dolphins near Riversdale
November 2013

For the last time, that evening I hunted Roy down, the fisherman and friend of Steve’s and got some more fresh fish from him to fill up our freezer.

We really had a great time here in Riversdale. People like Steve and Rhoda are the point of our travel.

We said our heartfelt goodbyes to them and Aussie the following morning and headed north-west.

Aussie and me
Riversdale
November 2013

Next, Barton Creek, Spanish Lookout and Clarissa Falls