Ambergris Caye/San Pedro, Caye Caulker, Placencia, Corozal & Tulum

When we arrived in Belize it was a bit of a culture shock. Suddenly I could read all the signs that were around, know what I was ordering off a menu and actually understand what people were saying! It was kind of refreshing to be back in a country where English is commonly spoken. Don’t get me wrong I love the Spanish culture and trying to learn the language is fun and challenging at the same time but it can definitely get frustrating at times when your Spanish is as bad as mine!!

Our sweet ride!

 

Belize was beautiful and I fell in love instantly…well after we got out of Belize City. The clear turquoise water was incredible and the reggae music everywhere gave it a very Caribbean feel.

We were lucky enough to go to Ambergris Caye/ San Pedro to visit Kim where she has spent a better part of the last year. Ambergris is the larger, more developed caye northeast of Belize City. For those of you who don’t know Kim; she used to be my boss at Ghostpine (the company I work for) until she moved out to Belize to run a water taxi company she bought. I am so glad we were able to stay with her and see where she works and how she spent her last year. The island is beautiful. White sand and green water, what more can you ask for! Kim took us around to all the cool bars and best restaurants around the island. We even took in a couple karaoke nights, competed in a horseshoe competition (where we got our asses kicked by some old men) and went on a snorkeling tour.

 

Momma Kim!

Another Sunday Funday

Snorkeling was a pretty sweet deal since we got our own private boat and guide to take us out to the barrier reef!

From Ambergris Caye we took the boat over back to Caye Caulker. Caye Caulker is a backpackers paradise and much more affordable for those on a budget. We spent a total of 9 nights here. Laying on the beach, swimming in the amazing water and consuming “refreshments”. We also had a nice bbq dinner on the beach with live entertainment, two locals ended up fighting which resulted in a bottle getting smashed over the one guys head and then he got stabbed with it only a few feet from where we were eating. Dinner and a show I guess one could say! Melissa and I took cover in the lady’s kitchen…(sorry Mom I didn’t tell you, but we were all ok J)

 

Red Snapper! Mmmm

 

Caye Caulker was a highlight for us for sure. We were wanting to find a place to relax and spend some time on the beach and that is exactly what we did!

 

Kim's visit to Caye Caulker

After our long stay in Caye Caulker we were ready for a change in scenery. We caught a bus and headed south to Placencia. The bus over was so full i had to sit on Ben’s lap for an hour which was great fun but we made it and were very glad we made the trip.

The only enjoyable part about 6 am travel days...the sunrises!!

Placencia had THE warmest water I have ever swam in. It also had the best gelato/sorbet I have ever tasted!! The place was called Tutti Fruiti (not the kind we have back in Calgary). We had it every day we were there..no lie.

From Placencia we headed north to the border town of Corozal for the night. We only made the stop to split up the long travel to Mexico. We took off the next morning and headed for the border. Time to get back into Spanish mode! Also time to ditch "chicken buses" and to welcome the luxury of ADO buses (air conditioning and reclining seats!).  Hard to believe we are now in our last country of our trip but I am looking forward to seeing Mexico!...First stop..Tulum!

Hello Mexico!

 

Lake Atitlan, Lanquin, El Remate

A couple of hours west of Antigua is Lake Atitlan, which has a handful of small towns along its shores, each town with its own vibe. Naturally we stayed in the party town; San Pedro la Laguna. There wasn’t a ton to do around Lake Atitlan besides hiking, swimming and kayaking. We were ready for a bit of a break from hiking but we did rent kayaks for a couple of hours and went around the lake to some of the other villages.

We stayed at this really nice hostel called Hostel Fe which had a large deck attached to the bar.  From the deck you were able to jump right into the lake.

Since I cannot swim we decided to buy a pair of water wings back in Antigua so that I’d be able to go in the lake. They said they were made for ages 2-6, but for only two dollars I thought I’d give them a go and thankfully they kept me afloat! We spent our days relaxing and sun tanning on the deck, playing yahtzee (also now known as Shotzee) and darts (with its own set of drinking rules) and swimming in the lake.

A little help from my friend!

Darts!

After 5 nights in San Pedro we headed to the village of Lanquin. We stayed at a hostel called Zephyr Lodge which had some amazing views of town and the jungle that surrounds it.

 

Room with a view

While in Lanquin we took a day trip to the natural rock pools known as SemucChampey. Before the natural pools you go into the Grutas K’anba cave which was so unbelievably cool. The cave apparently goes back 15km. Our tour guide only took us in for about an hour. For the first part of the cave you are given a candle and we were led into the pitch black drippy cave. You could only see what your candle lit up around you. You could hear the bats squealing above you and one even swooped at Eric’s head (better him than me) J. Half way through you had to blow out the candles and swim single file as the cave got super narrow in parts. There was also a waterfall in the cave where you could jump off into the pool below it. It was super creepy not knowing what was swimming in the waters or even what was in the cave around you but we made it out alive!

 

After the caves we hiked to Semuc Champey, these natural pools were a blast.  The pools were tiered and you could either jump from the edge of one pool into the next or slide down on some rocks that acted like natural water slides!  The only thing we would have changed about our day trip was the weather, it was pouring rain for the entire day. Normally you can lay around the natural pools and spend a couple of hours swimming, but it was freezing!! Since we paid the money to go we swam in the pools anyway!

We also did a tubing tour where you float down the Lanquin River in an inner tube for about 2.5 hours. Your guides carry two massive bags in the water full of beer and just toss them to you as needed. Luckily the weather was much MUCH better for our tubing tour. Some parts of the river actually had mini rapids and with trees sticking out over the river it wasn’t always relaxing but super fun. Of course the only person on the tour who can’t swim, I was the one who hit a tree and flipped my tube! Good thing I had my water wings on!

Sunday Funday!

The Zypher lodge was a pretty cool hostel that would put on buffet style dinners and a pretty good happy hour. Unfortunatly one of the buffet dinners came with a cooked cockroach which I had on my fork and ALMOST put in my mouth! Sick!!! When I brought my plate with the cockroach to a guy who was working at the hostel I was told that is what to expect when they have an open air kitchen in the jungle. He was definitely right I guess. We haven’t seen as many bugs on our trip as we did here. We must have killed a good dozen spiders just in our room. Some which were fairly large. The biggest spider I have ever seen was also here (thankfully not in our room). We were having dinner and some guy spotted it on the couch. It was tarantella like and no word of a lie as big as my hand! Eeek! The worst part was no one would even kill it. They carried it over to the hill and let it go. I would have killed if I was brave enough.  

From Lanquin we headed to El Remate which is only about 20 minutes away from Tikal; Guatemala’s number one attraction; Mayan Ruins. The ruins were beautiful. Unlike most other Maya ruins, Tikal was built deep in the jungle.

 

our tour guide for the day

 

 

 From Tikal we crossed the border into the beautiful Belize. The turquoise waters and white sand beaches are incredible...stay tuned for details and pictures!

 

 

 

 

Leon, El Tunco, Antigua, San Pedro La Laguna

Leon was where the volcano boarding took place, it was one of the scariest and most exhilarating things I have ever done. The day before agreeing to do this we met a girl who broke her ankle and had to get surgery with screws and all!! Another girl required stiches in her head from her board hitting her and the day after we went another girl broke her ankle!! Yikes!!

Volcano Boarding!!

You take a 45 minute hike up an active volcano called Cerro Negro and toboggan down the back side that was mostly ash and smaller rocks. From the top you couldn’t see the bottom because it was so steep! The record speed was 95km but I went much MUCH slower haha. Glad I was able to get over my fears and do it though because it’s not every day you can toboggan down an active volcano!

Relaxing afternoon by the pool!

Go Team Canada!

While in Leon we also did a night volcano tour to Telica (another active volcano), where you watch the sunset from the summit and then watch the glowing lava in the dark which was really neat. The sound of the lava roaring below was so loud! It was very surreal.

 

After almost a week in Leon we caught an early morning (2am!) shuttle crossing through Honduras and into El Salvador. We originally had planned to travel through Honduras but after hearing stories of how dangerous it is we decided to skip it. We may still cut back and visit the Honduras island of Utila as it sounds to be fairly safe but we will wait and see.

El Salvador is a small country but is blessed with tons of beach towns, we had heard amazing things of a small beach town called El Tunco. It was fairly tiny and by far the hottest place we have been so far! The town was filled with restaurants, cafés and bars. Most nights you could find a bar with a ladies night where ladies could drink for free! Melissa and I were all over this!!

Pupusa's and beers!

This ones for you Vik! Looked so much like Charlie! 

My prince!

 

We hired a tour guide to take us to some waterfalls we had heard about around town. We had to hike for about an hour through the mountains but it was so worth the hike! The waterfalls had different tiers where you could jump from the ledge of one waterfall into the pools below if you were brave enough or you could just swim in the pools of the falls.  

 

From El Tunco we headed across the border on an 11 hour, 5 “chicken bus” journey into Guatemala. All this time we were worried about getting robbed, kidnapped, etc., but I have come to realize it’s the insane bus drivers and their reckless driving we should fear. One of the “chicken buses” we took from El Tunco to Guatemala was the scariest ride I have ever been on. I swear we were on two wheels more than 5 times whipping around the mountains. You had to hang on as hard as you could not to fly across to the other side of the bus. “Chicken Buses” for the record are old school buses (cheese wagons), they cram 3 adults into each seat and then fill the aisle with people as well!! The shuttle drivers aren’t much better and make the whole “passing on highways” a real nail biter!

Our first stop in Guatemala was Antigua which used to be the capital from the 1500’s to the 1700’s. We really enjoyed our stay in Antigua. We were able to take a private salsa lesson with our friends Melissa and Eric which was so much fun!! I am a natural!! Ben on the other hand…. Well… haha just kidding he was a salsa machine! We also attended yet another pub crawl that was one of the best ways to tour around town!

Apparently in Antigua you get mayo when purchasing iced tea???

Pub crawl around town

 

We took another volcano tour to Pacaya, an active volcano which had just erupted two days prior!! You hike up the volcano for an hour and a half and walked into the crater. The pictures really can’t do it justice but we were standing only a few feet away from lava that had crusted over but was glowing bright red inside. We were even able to roast marshmallows over the lava! This was by far the coolest thing I’ve seen in my life!! It was so unbelievably hot your shoes were smoking from the heat of the ash below your feet.

Marshmallows! yummmm!

 

From Antigua we headed to Lake Atitlan which is beautiful!! It is a volcano ringed Lake which is surrounded by small villages. We are currently staying in San Pedro la laguna and plan to be here for about a week. 

It's hard to believe we have past the half way mark of our trip! We have enjoyed every minute and can't wait to see where the next half will take us!