The tail end of Guatemala. 20 April - 25 April

After what felt like an eternity in the shuttle bus all the way from San Marcos in a day (it looks like nothing on the map, but I can assure you the Guatemalan roads are nothing like either of us have ever experienced...). After calling up a few places to stay whilst waiting for our connecting shuttle in Antigua, we found what sounded perfect, the hostel was called Utopia. It certainly lived up to its namesake. 14 hours later, we arrived in a small town of Lanquin. Although we did stop in the driver´s village to meet his 1 year old and 3 year old sons and his wife as we drove through, which was a real highlight. Thanks Antonio! We had heard horror stories about peoples trips on the road to Lanquin, and after 12 hours we thought they were full of it, and then it made sense. It´s a small town in the middle of the jungle, miles from nowhere. Once we arrived there, we were greeted by young Pablo, or Jose (can´t quite remember) and were sent on a flat deck ute with two bars to hold on to, for another 45 mins through the jungle to Utopia. I couldn´t help think of the Mainland cheese ad - ´good things take time´. The road was horrible, but the trip was incredible! The whole way was navigating through Central American Jungle, this time by night. Howler monkeys were in full song, the stars were seriously shiny in the sky, and the moths and mosquitos looked like they had been given performance enhancing steroids. It was a serious highlight actually - the moonlight illuminated the jungle and it looked great.

Utopia Hostel

Utopia was amazing. We were received with dinner waiting for us and a private room with our resident weta (porbably wasn´t really a weta but looked similar) and we comad. After the best part of a day of recovery we were ready to explore the beautiful natural springs of Semuc Champey. The hostel owner said it was only 3km so of course we walked (don´t laugh). After 4 weeks living in the Guatemalan highlands and having rather cool evenings, we were definitely not accustomed to the temperatures of the tropical rainforest. We set off on our adventure and it wasn´t until the end of the driveway that we were drenched in sweat... a mere 20m. We had a great walk: nearly got attacked by gobbling turkeys (only I freaked out, bloody birds), bought a bottle of water from a naked three year old boy, didn´t see a snake or a turtle (one was much more likely to see than the other apparently), and the three year old naked boy then offered us some fresh coca (which was delicious!). When we arrived at Semuc champey, we had only 1.5 hours left until close, and the guy behind the counter offered us half price because he felt sorry for us. We (I mainly) looked as if we had jumped into a pool, without having jumped into a pool, as it was near on 40 degrees and we had just walked what ended up being 5km. The pools were gorgeous! Naturally formed limestone pools, fed by a natural spring underneath. The brown river diverted just before (went into an underground cave that we explored the following day) and came out just after. Great work Mother Nature! They were so good, that we went back to the hostel that night and signed up for the tour the following day. Homemade chocolate from the local children kept us alive on the return home, and we were fed with the most amazing food (huge portions) when  we got back.

Shirt off, made the 20m mark from the hostel

The walk to Samuc Champey

The local kids offering us Fresh coco and amazed to look at this picture on our digital camera!

One of the many freshwater limestone swimmimg holes 

The tour. By this stage of the trip we had spent 2 weeks in Antigua and 10 days at the lake. We had decided to get a move on. In true Jenny and Julien travelling fashion, that didn´t quite work out of course and one night turned into 3 in what was really Utopia. The second day we decided we had to do the tour which involved Semuc Champey once again, a cave tour by candle light and a tubing session down the river back to the hostel. It all sounded pretty tame really, which we were happy about. One of the ladies on the tour the day before had done it all and said it was brilliant and easy (she was over 60 and said in particular that the tubing was easy and relaxing...). So we did the tour and most of it was fantastic!We had a slightly scared Jenny before we started the caving. After a few tears, as caving is probably near the bottom of the list of easy claustrophic situations that she would be happy with, we persevered and explored this awesome cave. We had to swim through huge passages of the cave with a candle in one hand and the other avoiding rocks whilst swimming, absailing and climb boulders and slide down waterfalls. It was really exciting and great fun. Fortunately there were no real obstacles or problems apart from trying desperately to relight your candle after it got wet. Then there was aforementioned Semuc, which was as beautiful and clean as the day before with a few more sweaty hours of walking around the national park before we cooled off again in the pools.

Then came tubing. You hear about it in Laos as the thing everyone does. What you forget are the risks and the broken limbs. After what our 60 year old friend in the hostel, who had done the tubing the day before, had said though, we were confident and ready for a leisurely ride home in our eco friendly inner tube. Wrong. Over night there had been rain and the river was higher. We didn´t know this until afterwards (good night´s sleep you see). The first part of the river was amazingly calm and we really felt we were in paradise, cruising down the river admiring the jungle and relaxing after a full on day. Then the rapids started. Rapids are big. Much bigger than we first thought. The first few were ok, then the guide was yelling at us and saying we had to stay in a line and not go there because of a huge rock and not go 2 metres to the left because of its twin-brother-huge-rock. We started to get scared and then the Brazilian girl disappeared over the rapid. Then Jenny disappeared over the rapid to be found (after I emerged) on a nearby island without her tube. Then I went over backwards over the rapid, spent what felt like a lifetime underwater and smacked my leg into one of the many sharp rocks. I came up slightly panicked trying desperately to join Jenny on the island. Can´t swim fast, so that failed and ended up further down stream scrambling onto my tube. It was quite a commotion and no-one was happy about being in these bloody tubes going down what seemed a bloody dangerous river! Once we were all back together and getting ready to go down the river again, I noticed I was bleeding a fair amount from my leg and didn´t at all want to continue. Jenny was unscathed but scared as much as I was. Anyway, the only way out was down so that´s what we had to do. We all joined together to make a long tube raft which proved much safer than single tubes, although control was limited to the two extremities of the raft. The guide at one end and me at the other. I was not confident nor happy at this. I was in quite a lot of pain and found it hard to keep paddling. At any rate Jenny was on form and kept me in the game. She is extremely determined and made sure that we kept going and that I was safe. I tried once to break away from the chain but she held me in and coaxed me through the largest rapid as I went in first. In the end we arrived back at the hostel and we were all glad to be out of the tubes. It was painful but it was one hell of an experience. I´m glad we did it, but would not do it again! I think if we hadn´t fallen out at the very beginning it would have been really exciting and fun, but unfortunately not that day. After reading this, we are completely safe and having an awesome time! These are the stories that we want to share as they are interesting. People get sick of hearing, "and this place was so beautiful, and that place was so beautiful, and I didn´t get sick once" - all of which is untrue if any of you have travelled before!!! It´s the interesting or painful stories people want to hear, let´s be honest.

The high river that we tubed down!

Made it out of the cave! Woop!

Outside our hostel

After a 1 hour walk uphill to look down on the pools, finally we were in them!

Samuc Champey!

The waterfall going underneath the pools

Heads and bodies pictures, just how Jen drew people on her primary school teatowel

Land was very welcome after that experience and as I waited for painkillers to work, we dressed the wound and cleaned it as best we could. It was ok but sore and then Guatemalan infection set in... What would be a simple healing process back home is not in this part of the world. It got to the point where I finally went to a doctor and admitted it was worse that I had said, and I needed strong antibiotics and an xray. Anyway, before that part of the story we had to get from Semuc to Rio Dulce. We sadly said goodbye to our new found family in the jungle to head off to the jungle further east and the river - one step closer to the next country! We got a boat from Rio Dulce direct to the next beautiful hostel called the Roundhouse. Run by a vocal and opinionated Londoner (who was awesome and very entertaining) and his Dutch girlfriend situated in one of the most idyllic positions on the river surrounded by tropical rainforest, it was another slice of paradise really, albeit isolated.

Cruising the Rio Dulce

(A side story from this place - they had the most amazing selection of English language books. After so long waiting for a decent book they had thousands. In my invalidity, I read. One book I started reading was called ´Shantaram´ and I was hooked. I had heard about it from friends back home and it is amazing. They refused to change it for the book I had so our new Central American quest was to find this book, which we finally did one month later in Granada, Nicaragua - brilliant day that was!)

Fresh air on the boat cruise on the Rio Dulce!

We got a personal river cruise to get there and loved every minute of it! I was sensible and avoided the water, but it was beautifully warm and I think about half the time we spent there, Jen was in the water. Aligators weren´t hungry obviously (none there though so that was good). Great food, beautiful room and a resident scorpion meant we spent a night there. It really was one of the most beautiful hostels we have stayed in on this trip and didn´t want to leave, but my leg had decided not to work very well the next morning, so it was time to get it sorted and that meant we had to move on. I asked the owner about a doctor (we were in the middle of nowhere remember) and he turns round and says "don´t worry mate, there´s an NGO just around the corner with international quality doctors who all speak English". Of course there was. By that morning I couldn´t really walk and needed to get it checked out. We went and saw these incredible doctors and it was a serious infection with a possible fracture. 30 cents NZ currency later we were off to the next town for xrays. Fortunately, after a very bumpy boat ride later, there was no fracture. It was just an infection. I never realised that infections got so bad!!! Within a couple of days though, the antibiotics had given me back my leg and I was scuba diving down to 30m underwater in the Carribean in Honduras. That accident was such a whirlwind adventure and worked out so well in the end. Now, Jenny continually calls me accident prone and I get a stern warning before anything dangerous.

Swimming in the Rio Dulce from the hostel

Watching the sun go down over a rum

Onto the second rum. Still watching the sun go down!

Horrendously choppy boat ride to the Xray hospital

Yay! I havent broken my leg!

All in all though, that was the end of our time in Guatemala. Our final night was spent in Puerto Barrios, a dismal port town with incredibly good local seafood and cuisine, before we ventured to our fourth country of this trip - Honduras. Guatemala was a real highlight of this trip. We couldn´t have wished for nicer people, better culture and a better experince at all. At first we only planned to spend a week or so there. That turned into 5 weeks and that is testament to the beautiful country and people that gave us no reason to leave in a hurry. Lonely planet was right on one thing, and that was "don´t be surprised if you end up saying, it´s ok, I´ll do that next time!" So much to see, so much to do, and so many great places to stop and never want to leave!

Bowels, borders and a proposal. 19 March - 24 March

The first overnight bus delivered us to San Cristobal de las casas in a reasonable condition , despite being 2 hours late and horrendously twisty with road  bumps every kilometre. We staggered  off the bus 14  hours later, grabbed a coke so we could continue living, and held our map upside down, heading in the complete wrong direction. As you can imagine, there was not a lot of friendly conversation to be had walking  uptown. An isn't travel fun? moment .

Streets of San Cristobal

At the top of  one of the hills in San Cristobal

Still smiling after 14 hours of poo infused bus

This town was beautiful and it is indeed a special place for  us as there must have been something in the water that made Julien propose to me! Great. So so great! We love San Cristobal!!
Apart from doing the good old street meandering, filling our bellies with Mexican delights and visiting churches, a highlight was a 4 hour horse ride through the hills to a indigenous Mayan village, San Juan Chamula. We were the only people on the trip, and our lovely guide  Pancho hardly said  a word to us! So off we went, onto the giant horses and up  up and away into the wilderness, past rivers with Mayan people cultivating the land and woman sitting alone in the shade to weave beautiful clothes. Julien rode in style, whilst I didnt  move with the horse but instead  bounced my way along resulting in sore legs and other unmentionable things.

Mayan village San Juan Chamula

She was much nicer in person  - she weaved our beautiful blanket

Pancho and Julio

At the village we  went into a church where  indigenous Mayan rituals still take place. Yes, as a tourist you can pay to watch which was intriguing however we felt quite disrespectful of their culture. They removed all of the saints from the once Catholic church and covered the ground with hay and candles. Chickens were     sacrifised and Fanta and Coke was drank as it is thought to cleanse the body by burping out                         demons! Quite different to health class back home!It was a really weird experience and we kind of felt like perverts as we weren't exactly invited in  and just sat and watched... Anyway it was interesting and an experience if nothing else. As I said before we saw these beautiful blankets being weaved in the paddocks and we couldn't help but buy a beautiful big mexican rug to drape over our bed or the couch in London.

So that we both have an even stamp on what we do on our travels, we sometime have a day when one of us organises, and the other goes with as they will have the following day to plan. My day was brilliant of course, very relaxing and included the aforementioned trip to the village by horseback. The next day was Julien's . He will take over now to give you his turn of events.

So the next day was my day. That morning I woke up and thought, yea I should propose today. And that's exactly what I did. I should say something first. The men get the really hard job! It's bloody stressful and scary being the man and having to organise this proposal business. What, organise a ring, plan a decent time, be romantic about it and then ultimately put your neck  on the line and ask your girlfriend to commit to a lifetime with me! Anyway, after all that nervous energy and anticipation, it was time to plan the perfect proposal and do what I had been waiting for...

SHE SAID YES!!!

The main thing was that she said YES straight away and it  was a really amazing moment! Still all these weeks later we are still so happy.

Its so exciting and what a relief! After getting the ring made, trying to find the right thing to say and where to do it, it all worked out splendidly and she accepted!!       

We were in the Mexican highlands, in a beautiful little city called San Cristobal de las cases in the Chiapas state. My proposal plan didn't go quite the way I had planned... I ended up propopsing twice... The original plan was to walk to the top of a mountain and ask her there. Unfortunately there were poisonous snakes and spiders up there which I didn't realise and Jen had a slight freak out so we headed back to town for some food and a rest. 

After a short lived nap I turned to her and asked her to marry me. It was very intimate and low key which I liked. I then had to improve on that and do it properly on one knee at sunset with a local handmade copper ring (as the proper one is in London waiting for her). Youll al be pleased to know I went out and got a bottle of Veuve, some ice and some champagne glasses (no small feat I cn tell you in Mexico). Got down on one knee, and told her how wonderful she was and did it properly. As it was two years to the day that we went on our first date, it was fitting I think. WE had the best night out. So much champagne, good food, more wine, skype dates with family in too many different time zones and we awoke the following morning, engaged and with a somewhat elevated head pressure. Such a great experience and we are so happy!

Little did she know that today was the day...

First things first - a celebratory cup of tea

Dinner complete  with virtual ring and a real rose!

So after the excitement of that we were all jiggered up and beaming for several days. We spent another couple of restful days in San Cristobal before we decided to head for the border and go to Guatemala. I say several days because then we were hit with horrific food poisoning! Our first week as an engaged couple was spent in a hotel room  in Huehuetenango (not so much a happening place as a stop off point for adventures further inland) worshipping the porcelain God and taking our turn.

The ring waiting for Jenny in London

Veuve of course

First things first though, the border crossing... The Mexican, Guatemalan border is unlike any border crossing I have ever had. Normally there is the exit booth at the actual border and the entrance booth for the next country directly on the other side of the border. You would think that, but anyway, that wasn't the case. After getting a taxi to the border, we walzed into Guatemala without an exit stamp and were very quickly ushered back to the nearest town (ten min drive away), for another taxi fare of course, to get a stamp. This was no easy feat either. The queues were long and we were sent to the bank down the road to pay an exit fee. The exit fee we had already paid when we arrived in Mexico, however I think the passport man wanted to put his kids through private education. As we couldn't produce a receipt from the airline signed by the CEO of the company we were  forced to pay again. I hope his kids are studying very hard. We crossed the border and what a difference. There were no more airconditined buses and instead of taxis there were tuk tuks .It was great! 

Then something happened. Jen was struggling at the border and she knew something was happening down south. We were supposed to have another 3.5 hour bus ride to Xela to get to the Hostel we had booked for the night. We only lasted 2 hours in the local chicken bus and had to check in to a hotel. After reading all the horror stories of Guatemala we are sitting on the bus and it gets dark very quickly ... Rambo is being played on the DVD player extremely loud, and all of our fears of Guatemala come flooding to our minds.  Fortunately there was no problem, and we arrived safe and sound ready to coma for a couple of days. By this stage I was feeling fine and just looking after Jenny. A lovely Guatemalan man ran off the bus and got Jenny some pills which he said would help. We were a little suspicious so thanked him politely and put the pills in our pocket. A lovely gesture all the same.

WE made it to the hotel, ordered plain rice and went to bed in our luxurious hotel room complete with running water and an ensuite. Jen struggled all night, and then about 8 hours later I was in the same position and we had to just take turns with the bathroom. 

What a start to our engagement! After a few days of this we were finally ready to get on another bus and mission it to Antigua, the beautiful colonial city, famous for Spanish language schools and not much else. It was fantastic there! We ended up spending two weeks there with local families learning Spanish  and our teachers made sure we did that, boy did they crack the whip! More to come on that soon.

Lots of love from us both, hope you are all well. Just remember, we love hearing from home and what you are up to so send us some messages and keep in touch. So long for now. xx

The Yucatan - Mexico 14-18th March

So it has been a while since we have updated the blog, and I´m (Julien this time) sure you are all dying to know what we have been up to since then. It has been a very exciting and busy time since our last post, what with our engagement and the ensuing celebrations. We are now winding back the clock to 14 March when we left the white sands of Tulum and headed inland to the baking and beautiful cities of the Yucatan and the cool pine forests of the Chiapas.

Valladolid town square sunset

Valladolid town square at night

Next stop on our travels was the small Yucatan town of Valladolid. Valladolid was the perfect choice! Just a small town, often avoided on the tourist trail, it couldn´t have been a better place to stay. We were overwhelmed by the colonial architecture when we got off the local bus and meandered the narrow, cobblestone streets to find a place to stay. We muttered some english, french, and would you belive it, Spanish words and came across the best hostel yet, La Candelaria. We checked into a dorm room for 3 nights (obviously pre-engagement). We were ready to explore Mexicos culinary delights and explore some villages surrounding the town. It is worth mentioning now that the Yucatan peninsula is famous for it´s natural sink-holes made from limestone - here called Cenotes. The are formed by the limestone eroding and filling with rainwater. They are some of the most beautiful swimming holes around!

Chocolate made by hand by local Mayan women - Valladolid

At this great hostel we met a kick ass couple from Arizona! We hit it off sipping a local brew whilst relaxing in the hammocks out back in the garden. This started our partnership for the next few days. Great times with Tobin and Kristin. Tobin, if you are reading this, we can´t stop quoting your comment after Kristins mishap on the rope swing in our best American accents 'you went big baby!¨

First adventure was a bike tour of the local cenotes and villages. OSH back home would have a field day if they saw us! No helmets, a semi-detached cycle way and plenty of pòt holes along the dusty Mexican highway, just for fun. The cenotes were outstanding, and the perfect way to cool off after some exercise in the 30 plus degree heat.

At midday, in the hope of finding a restaurant or just something to eat, we cycled into a remote village. Coming into the village we were met with a royal welcome. People came out of the shops shouting HOLA, children ran on the road to practice their two english words, and electricians suspended from live powerlines doing routine (i.e. once in a lifetime) maintenance welcomed us vocally. It was incredible! Anyway our stomachs were growling and we had a Jennifer Holmes wilting slightly in the heat. Food was top of the list. No restaurants, the next best thing was chips and a large glass bottle of coke each to keep us going. We met our Mexican family there! They couldnt believe it when we walked in and wanted something to eat and drink. I don´t think they were accustomed to foreigners there (the prices hadn´t therefore been hiked for the honky who popped in for a drink). Before we knew it there was a make shift table with chairs for us to sit at, and the wife of the shop owner was there giving us some boiled eggs and tortillas to welcome us. It was amazing. We spoke our three words of spanish and communicated as much as we could with our hands as well. They photographed us (now framed on their shop window I´m sure) and we had the most amazing time!

Disco Cenote complete with lights and Staligmites - Valladolid

Well deserved coke and chips

Our Mexican family from the village shop

Next stop, police escort underground with torchlight to another cenote under the town sqaure. Yes, the electricity was down, and the policemen offered to take us down anyway. Quite an experience. This is where you remember all of a sudden those horror stories of missing tourists and corrupt Mexican police. But after Tobin said ´but I looked in his eyes and I knew it was safe´ of course we were fine. We lived to tell the tale (we´re alive parents so dont stress!) and it was in fact quite an impressive cenote.

The next water hole we stopped at was one that sold Corona. Again off the tourist trail, this bar was a concrete shack with a pungent toilet off to one corner and local men singing at the top of their lungs! The music was unbelievably loud which made aural discretion very difficult... I´m sure his words didn´t match the song and he was singing something much more a la sextet than a la song to the girls in our company.

Serenade from Mexican pavarotti - Valladolid

Local bar, near Valladolid

A slow and wobbly bike ride delivered us home in one piece ready for some more food and tequila tasting. Yes, a trip to a tequila store in Mexico, means you leave there inebriated having tasted at least 9 different tequilas. For some this was a pleasant experience, but Jenny turned green, and university memories came flooding back (not the good ones!)

Valladolid´s 16th century convent

No clothes!

View from the hostel in Valladolid

Valladolid was a blast but it was time to move on to Merida via Chichen Itza. These are some amazing Mayan ruins, one of the recent wonders of the world (or something like that). It was well worth getting a tour guide, however it made us feel that our generation is severely dumbed down. We couldn´t build something like that if we tried! The sheer engineering, mathematics, astonomy and physics that went into the building of these structures is truly impressive. The tour was amazing, and we learned how the royal Mayans disfigured their childrens heads to show wealth, how they followed the sun with all their buildings and how they were all made around sacred numbers and special acoustics. The arena, for example, creates an echo when you clap`, however it echos only seven times for each clap. Seven is a sacred mayan number. Seriously amazing!!!

CHICHEN ITZA!

Tour group final photo, big smiles after we had just learned about the penis and ear god (same guy apparently)

Mayan cemetery

It seemed like a heat wave had come through and the temerature soared to 38 degrees when we arrived in Merida later that afternoon.  Nonetheless, this place is a fairytale city, coming alive at night and in the weekend with the markets. And it was a pleasure to stay in a colonial building , overlooking the town plaza from our private balcony for a pittance. Where else in the world could we afford to do this!? We soaked up traditional food and had to get out of there pretty quick to cool off at the local beach (an hour north by local bus). Progreso was a great beach town, much nicer than we had heard. It´s places like these where you meet some locos (crazys) with no teeth from America who own restaurants and treat their Mexican Staff very poorly. Regardless, the fish and chips was a slice of home, and they were washed down with yet another beautifully made Pina Colada, only ruined by the rubbish tequilla shot on an empty stomach on the house. Closed off nose helps.

The engagement story and San Cristobal de las Casas is to come in the next installment. We need to head off home for some food and then off to the natural hot pools for some well earned relaxation (it is! We´ve been in school studying spanish for the past two weeks).

Jenny is very good at shopping - Merida

Merida market and some traditional dancing

Sunset at Progreso after a day in the sun

Merida town square, just before we got abused by the waiter for not giving him a big enough tip

Progreso beach - well worth the trip