Slices of Guatemalan Paradise

From Lanquin we took a shuttle north. A days worth of brake trouble made for an interesting trip. The pic below shows the car ferry we went on which was powered by two small outboards.

Further down the road we saw a lot of smoke billowing from the bush. We slowed a little to establish if we could pass or of this would be one more drama to add to the day. Turned out it was an organised burn off to clear land for crops.

The van dropped us in Santa Elena as a collective taxi drove past. Our driver waved them down and we ran from one van to the next. We drove off into the darkness to find El Remate.

We found a place recommended by some locals in Coban. It was the last room they had and it was Easter holidays so we took it.

In the morning we woke to a little slice of paradise. A little dock to sit or read or lie on, a clear blue lake to swim in and days of bright blue skies.

A dug out canoe peacefully waiting on the shoreline.

Beautiful sunsets watched over a cool beer.

The days however, were stifling. Some of the hottest weather I've been in, reaching 40 deg C. I struggled to eat in the heat and spent most of the time in the lake.

After a day of rest we took the 5am shuttle to Tikal National Park; one of the largest archaeological sites of the Mayan civilisation (a world heritage site). On the road out there we saw the following signs:

Look out for Jaguars
Look out for Snakes
The park was basically a huge jungle with these pyramid temples sticking out above the skyline and other ruins scattered about. We were there just before sunrise, but missed it due to too much cloud. This turned out to be a good thing as it kept temperatures bearable til 10am.

If you look carefully at the next picture you will see Ken standing in the square window near the top. Gives you a feel for the size of these monstrosities.

And this one shows the steep stairs we had to climb to get up them.

The views from the top were surreal.

These ruins were pretty impressive

Ken taking a breather

Irresistable vine swinging.

I took the time for some yoga at the top of one of them.

We also saw a few animals, including this one which we dont know the name of because the locals could only tell us in Spanish...

More ruins in a jungle setting

And we did some bird watching, spying woodie pecking holes in the tree for bugs.

A few days later we headed south again to Rio Dulce (a town on the river Dulce). From here we took a day trip on the local collectivo taxis to a jungle waterfall. This waterfall, shown in the picture, was sourced from a hot water spring, so the water falling is boiling hot. The hot water falls to a cold water river below, creating pockets of hot and cold water in the pool below. Behind the curtain of hot water is a natural sauna. We got there pretty early so had the place to ourselves. Had to share it with a snake though that banged into my arm while frantically swimming across the pool.

Back at Rio Dulce, we visited a castle equipt with canons, a dungoen, a 1/2 moat and stunning views of the river. We spent the remainder of the day chilling by the water.

Next day we jumped on a boat and headed down the river toward Livingston, a port town only accessible by boat. The boat trip took us through attractive canyons and natural jungle.

We stopped the night at Finca Tatin, a small hideaway just off the river. Our room was up in the jungle in amongst the creatures of the night. Mosquito nets a must. I woke and was greeted by a massive spider waiting for me on the toilet paper.

We took a kayak out for a paddle on the water. Tropical jungle scenes all around.

The trees roots/branches reaching down to get water.

Beauty all around us.

The young locals in their wooden canoes showed us how it was done. This girl wouldnt have been more than 6 or 7 years old.

Our Guatemalan experience ended at Livingston. We stayed one night to save up our memories and rest before taking starting out on our carribean adventure......