Guatemala - North

From Belize caught a minibus to the border, where I bribed the customs official so I could skip the queue and get my passport stamped without getting my baggage checked.

The next hour was the most painful bus journey every. Another minibus, but the road consisted entirely of potholes, even the potholes had potholes. This did not stop the driver careering on and off the road looking for flattest pothole to travel through. Stressfully, the on coming traffic was also doing the same.

Had a wander round the Mayan ruins of Tikal, but to be honest I was more interested in the wild life. I saw Spider and Howler monkeys in the tree tops and an ant eater chewing his way through an ant nest in a tree stump, plus there were loads of tropical birds. Its well worth visiting with some of the tallest pyramids to date and a great jungle setting, but I've seen enough Mayan ruins.

Caught a local bus to island town of Flores, connected by a causeway across the lake and a good hippy happy hostel. After the pounding my spine took I decided to fly south. The travel agent even gave me a lift on the back of his motorcycle to the nearest town to get some cash. How is that for service?

In the morning caught a three wheel tuk-tuk to the airport to see the antiquated turbo prop plane for my flight to Guatemala City. It came apparent that everyone had been given seat number five, so I felt a little smug as I grabbed the single seat behind the pilot. This offered some incredible views over the jungle and mountains, as we did not gain much height and vehicles below were still clearly visible. I felt a little concern when what looked like smoke started billowing out from under the seats and from the air events. Fortunately it was just water vapour.

Coming into the city meant passing a huge active volcano puffing great guffs of yellow smoke. The capital city was not as scary as I expected , but I did not hang around.

Antigua was also not what I expected. I watched Man U in an English pub, listened to dinner jazz while eating Thai noodles. It's just like a mini European city, with pretty churches and cobbled streets. Pretty safe and surrounded by some impressive volcanoes.

I can not adequately describe the bus journey from Antigua. The buses are old US school buses packed to the rafters with people. I saw a bus over take a truck uphill on a sharp mountain bend, straight into the path of an oncoming truck. To make this impossible maneuver possible the bus runs off the road and under takes the truck. In the space of one hour I saw a bus go into a ditch and a car transporter go up the side of a mountain. Insane.

But the journey is more than worth it for the next destination.

Belize

Wow, what a contrast, this place is a breath of fresh air. Its not just that they speak English (they do in Cancun), it is so varied. There are Cantonese speaking Chinese, ethnic Mayans, Creole speaking black African, old English, German Mennonites, its a wonderful mixture. Its also very Caribbean, tin roofed brightly coloured houses, lots of different cuisines, tropical jungle, beaches, a true antidote to the Yucatan.

I hung out in my hammock on the very laid back island of Caye Caulker. A little spit of sand surrounded by a reef. I took the opportunity to some diving and snorkeling, but I would not make a special trip just to go diving here. Its a nice reef, but there are many better places. Also its not particularly cheap, though everywhere is better value than the UK. Saw turtles, nurse shark, barracuda, rays, even saw a big one leap clear out of the water.

I broke my all time record for the longest breakfast. Met some people on the veranda of a little tea room and spent four hours chatting the day away. The tea room closed when the proprietor went shopping, but she was more than happy for us to stay and chat. Its that kind of place, you quickly get to know everyone on the island. Doing nothing is a way of life.

After recharging the batteries I traveled inland to San Ignatio a little town in the Belizian jungle. Again great fun, especially friendly people, paddled a canoe for four hours up steam through an olive green jungle river. Why do I get the mad guides? He did a good job navigating us through the rapids and pointing out the orange iguanas, then proceeded to smoke a huge joint. He was babbling on about all kinds of Mayan gods and goodness knows what else after that.

At a traditional medicine place in the forest I bought, much against my dubious thoughts, some very effective herbal salve for mosi bites. Very tranquil on the river, just the sound of paddles and birds. Kingfishers, swallows, little bats, blue herons too many to remember.

The best little adventure was by a 4x4, bouncing, squirming through the red jungle mud into the depths of the rain forest. A brisk hike through the jungle, fording a couple of rivers to reach a deep river. Helmets and head torches donned, guided by an ex British soldier we swam into the cold river entering a mouth of a cave. Our small group clambered over rocks, through chest high water, continually following the flow of the underground river through sparkling chambers of calcite crystals. It was hard work and took several hours, swimming, wading, climbing over, under and around jagged limestone boulders. The finale was climbing up into the roof of the chamber to see the Mayan artifacts left insitu. We tip toed bare foot around delicate bowls and sacrificial skeletons. The chamber itself was incredible, but the way the head torches cast shadows over the relics stirred the hairs at the back of the neck.

I found a new use for the jungle salve. I stripped off by the jeep to change into dry clothes and felt a sharp tingling sensation in my legs, looked down and there I was stood naked on top of an ants nest. Jungle ants bite hard! At least I spotted them before they reached too far!

Yucatan

This is attempt to bring the blog up to date as it has somewhat fallen behind events.

Not surprisingly the fever did not go away by ignoring it, so I had an enforced stay in Merida. Desperate measures were needed, one paper back "Fever Pitch", pack of tablets, huge pile of food, so I did not have to leave my bed and booked into somewhere comfortable to lie down and sweat it out. I felt like Renton doing cold turkey in Trainspotting. It sort of worked or I shifted the worst of it.

To add insult to injury the non-stop bus to Merida stopped all the way through the night so I had no sleep and I got off to find somebody had gone through my bag. Nothing taken, so I guess it was one of the security check points. In their enthusiasm the ******* knocked open a bottle which emptied into my bag, fortunately most of it was soaked up by a blanket. Unfortunately they also managed to mangle my sketch book in the process.

This did not help my mood, but I thoroughly hated the Yucatan. The scenery was flat, overdeveloped, people unhelpful and full of vacuous American tourists. Its not like Mexico, its full of the trashier bits of the US. No smiles or friendly conversations, just give me your money (and a lot of it).

Went to Isla Mujeres, which on the face of it should have been idylic, a sandy palm treed island in the Caribbean,but I hated that also and I left early. Full of stupid young Americans getting wasted on a few beers. The level of ignorance is just astounding (Do you have democracy in England?). These are college students and they know little about their own country, let alone of the outside world.

I did the tourist thing visited the pyramids of Chichen Itza, where my camera decided it would rather be a paper weight. In annoyance I almost threw it down the hundred steps Id just climbed up. Out of the three main groups in the north Uxmal was probably the best and also the quietest. Tulum was a disappointment just a handful of small buildings by the sea, pretty location though.

Unexpectedly the best thing about Tulum was cave diving in flooded limestone cenotes. Superb. Often divers brag about the visibility, but this water was genuinely gin clear. In the opening cavern I could see clearly the fifty meters to the other side. It was so clear it looked like the divers were flying, you just could not see the water. We weaved through amazing rock formations, silver bubbles rippling across the roof of the tunnels. Rising in vast chambers to echoy voices. The flooded tunnels formed row upon row of stalactites and mites, looking spookily like the jaws of a subterranean demon. Where the roof had broken, blue lasers of light cut through the water creating some unbelievable effects. Id happily go back and spend a week just cave diving.

Tulum was also the first place I came to that was popular with travelers and met many old acquaintances, though its days are numbered as the march of commercialism in the Yucatan continues.