Rio Dulce - relaxing at our jungle lodge

We were in two minds about whether we had enough time to fit in a trip to Rio Dulce, but we are so glad that we did. It is a little town at the head of a Lake and at the head of the river heading out to Livingston on the coast.

We found ourselves in a gorgeous jungle lodge, Tortugals ("the turtles"), on the river only accessible by boat. The minute we arrived, we felt relaxed and spent the rest of the afternoon lounging about on the restaurant deck reading and playing cards. As the restaurant closed at 8pm, this meant an early night surrounded by the loud sounds of the jungle.

The main reason for heading to Rio Dulce was the day trip along the river through the jungle and with the amazing steep sided gorge close to Livingstone, and it didn´t disappoint. We had just a few hours to spend in Livingston (for which there is no road access), which we mostly spent eating seafood on the deck of a restaurant overlooking the estuary.

Livingston is an intersting town because most of the population is Garifuna, who were the descendants of African slaves brought to Belize by the British and then settled along the coast after a revolt in the 1800s. Racially, there are a mixture of African/Mestizo and speak both English and Spanish.

Flores and Tikal

After a few very relaxing days on the beach we headed off over the border into Guatemala - final destination Flores, which is a town jutting into a lake and an excellent base for day trips to the Mayan site of Tikal.

Whereas Belize was easy for us to communicate in english, we quickly realized that we would have to step up our spanish skills for Guatemala - our first foray in trying to find a place to get money resulted in a long exchange with a security guard who ultimately seemed to want to just eject us from the bank! Our second and favourable observation was that things are a lot cheaper in Guatemala.





We had an option for a sunrise tour of Tikal heading out at 3.30am, but chose to take a more reasonalbe later bus at 6.00am. Tikal is set in the Jungle and the site was almost empty in comparison to the masses experienced in Mexico. As a result there is quite an abundance of wildlife at the site as well as the monuments to explore - so we saw heaps of Spider Monkeys (Gary was nearly urinated on by one of them).
As an added bonus you can also climb up steep wooden steps alongside some of the pyramids and get a fabulous view of the jungle treetops and tips of the other monuments protuding out above the canopy.

Flores also makes a nice town to come back to, it has cobbled streets and lots of lakeside restaurants and watering holes to collapse in the midday sun.




By the way, spot that fabulous Ted Baker handbag in the corner of the photo!

Belize - Caye Caulker

After a couple of fast paced weeks in mexico visiting many mayan sites, we opted for a few days relaxation at Caye Caulker in Belize. To get to Caye Caulker you have to pass through Belize City which is a bit grotty and not somewhere you would want to wander around. However, Caye Caulker is stunning - very clear aquamarine waters and the island is set up for daytime ocean activities and evening seafood feasts.




We stayed at a fabulous guesthouse "Blue Wave" with views directly on to the ocean. We partook in two snorkelling trips on the barrier reef and had a fantastic time seeing lots of colourful coral fish including reef sharks, manta rays, turtles, dolphins, and a moray eel. On the sail home we were treated to several local rum punch cocktails called Panty Rippers and then proceeded to invent our own - the "Reef Breezer" : Dark rum, and blended Strawberry, Banana, ice.

The food on the island was excellent and we had probably the best seafood BBQ so far.

Cancun farewells

So we traveled up the road from Tulum to Cancun for Caroline´s Dad´s final night in Mexico. The town of Cancun was actually not as horrible as we had expected, and we headed out to the beach for a lovely seafood dinner overlooking the beach for our final night. And as promised, we plied Tony with as many glasses of wine and Tequila Sunrises as we could before he was completely asleep at the table.

We took Tony to the airport the next morning to make sure that all was ok with his flights back to Mexico City and onto London, and after a teary farewell, we headed off back down the coast past Tulum, and onto Chetumal, close to the Belizean border for our last night in Mexico.

Tulum and Grand Cenote

Tulum is a smaller town on the coast south of Cancun and Playa Del Carmen that also has Mayan ruins. From an archaelogical standpoint, this was not the best Mayan site that we visited. However, it´s location on a cliff overlooking the beautiful azur Caribbean Sea, makes it a stellar sight!






We also did a quick morning trip to the Mayan site of Coban which is interesting mainly because it is set amidst the jungle and also has a rather different pyramid structure compared to the other pyramids we have seen so far - so of course we had to go there and climb it!


On the way back from Coban we paid a visit to the "Grand Cenote" - an inland water filled sinkhole that you can dive and snorkel in. It was fabulous for a quick dip to cool off from the midday sun and the waters were wonderfully clear.

Chitzen Itza

Merida and Uxmal

Uxmal and Kabah

















Merida