Lakes, Rivers, Coffee and Caves

A tip from another Kiwi helped us to find beautiful San Pedro, a quiet, laid-back village, lake side of Lago de Atitlan (a 340 m deep lake which is the result of an eruption thousands of years ago). Lake side breakfasts were a great way to ease into the day.

All the villages surrounding the lake are Mayan (indigenous people of Central America), with each village wearing their own weaved patterns on their traditional dress.

A trip in a chicken bus round to the next village we found our way to the base of Mayan Nariz (indian nose). The hill in the picture given the name as it supposidly looked like a nose. Halfway up we found this cross and statue. Stifling hot and me pretty sick after a day on the toilet the day before, it was quite a struggle. Rewarding views at the top though.

We stumbled upon a local artist and decided to get a textured oil painting depicting a chaotic guatemalen market.

San Pedro also had little mayan ladies carrying large bowls on their heads selling delicious cakes and buns. Nice and sugary just what a funny tummy needs for dessert.

We took a 10 mins boat trip around the lake to San Marcos. As we were strolling along the lake side, we were suddenly aware this dog was eating something. On closer inspection we saw it was a fish. We then found fresh wet dog footprints leading from the lake and the wet hair of the dog indicated that this dog had just been fishing... for its lunch.

A few days later we found ourselves in the small town of Coban. The main attraction in the town we visited is the german initiated, Dieseldorff Coffee plantation. Here we were shown the whole coffee producing process from the growning and pruning of the tree (see pic below), to the picking, selecting, drying and roasting.

Unknown to Ken and I.... coffee beans are actually a creamy white colour (see pic below). They only get their brown colour after being roasted. I now have a great appreciation for the coffee I drink as the coffee bean selection process is laboursome and done by hand. One bad bean in a handfull of 50 beans will ruin the coffee.

A crazy bus trip, squashed in amoungst the local which took an hour longer than it should, due to a break down on the windy one lane gravel road, took us down to Semuc Champey. A great little get away after the hussle bustle of Coban. Our place was river side thankfully as the temperatures here were still very hot. Rocks and bridges to jump off.... Ken was happy.

We ventured into the Semuc Champey park not real knowing what we would find. Turned out it was pretty impressive. There were a stepped series of turquoise pools great for swimming in.

Then to our amazement we found the pools were actually a natural 300m limestone bridge, as the river Cahabon paseed underneath the pools.

After a fairly steep climp up the surrounding cliff, we were able to appreciate the entire site from above.

And then at the base of the pools was a large cascading waterfall with dark caves under neath. A desperate swim against the current and a tricky climp up the waterfall and down into the caves turned out to be worth it as it enabled us to jump off the waterfall to get back.

Just back down the gravel road 11km we stayed the night at Lanquin to visit the caves. Probably the biggests caves we've seen. They just went on and on with some pretty impressive stalictites and mites.

Antiqua, Guatemala

The first task in Guatamala was to learn some spanish....thus we signed for some lessons.
Ken gave up half way through once he learnt the words for food, beer and free.


Antigua was a nice little spot, cobbled streets, colonial town shadowed by volcanoes. We lived of fresh food from the markets most days.....can you ever get sick of 30c mangos.


The town is famous for its religious momuments....


....some of them have not stood the test of time.....



As it was approaching easter, the town was gearing up for big celebrations, church interiors were decorated...the picture on the floor is made from coloured saw dust.


On sunday, a religous procession marched around town for 16hrs. All the locals made carpets on the cbbled streets....pretty impressive sites....


After all the hard work, the procession (brass band, people dressed in all sorts of old school costumes and bout 100 people carrying float like structure of religous scenes) walk right over them and destoy all the hard work!


I was impressed with this one made of vegetables.....that could of made alot of stirfries for all the hungry people begging on the streets?


After a few days in the town it time time to concur our first volcano....Payaca. Wonder how close we could get to that lava?

The volcanic rock was like a fibreglass layer, hard work on the way up .......however the scree slopes were fun on the way down.

Srouting lava 10m away was very impressive......

Flowing lava under my feet even more impressive (apprently i got ripped off for buying my stick for a dollar.....so i made sure i got my monies worth!)

A beautiful sunset completed the trip.

Hondorus

After a couple of months in the mountains and desert.....the Caribbean was calling. We flew into San Pedro and made our way straight to the Bay Island of Utila.

With a coral reef surrounding the small island, diving was the main activity....so we went diving. After two dives, we managed to see most of the interesting species...eagle ray, turtle, lobster, kingfish......however, we where there to see whale sharks. Unfortunately sightings had been rare and thus we gave up hope of seeing them and saved our money and went snorkling instead.

The snorking was just as good as the diving, the large coral trees and the soft blue coral fans being the highlight of this particular area.


....and what else is there to do on an island in the Caribbean....drink beer and watch sunsets of course!!!The island and surrounding waters was nice, but did not have the x-factor we had found in other locations around the globe...so it was time to make ourway inland to the highlands of central america and look for adventures......first stop, the Mayan Ruins of Copan.

We spent the day exploring the site, the museum and surrounding nature trail.
As with ancient ruins, we learnt some token history and observed the marvels of the past.

Rachel was very good at finding wildlife to photograph.....


Fellow backpackers instructed us to head straight to Guatemala and spend the majority of time there.....so off we went....first stop, spanish school!

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

We asked for the large car.... they gave us a Dodge Charger. Met up with our mate Matt B and headed west for some fun and games in the desert.

First stop, Capital Reef Nat Park. All the rock formations and blue skies we could ask for.

He-man Ken held up this arch for us for the photo. We found a deserted camp site and camped in near freezing temps.

Next day we carried on to Bryce Canyon Nat Park, situated around 6000 feet. Took a walk down amoungst the snow covered HooDoos and spires to appreciate the grandness of it all.

Another night in the freezing temps we woke to a beaut morning at Zion National Park. The walk up to Angels Landing took the whole morning... but was definately worth it. The photo below shows the ridge we had to walk up to get there.

The photos above and below show the views from Angels Landing.

Plenty of beaver action to be seen.... but no beavers.

A night in the hic cowboy town of Kanab felt good after three nights on the ground. The town is famous for many movies. Had a quick look round some of the movie sets.

Picked up two more mates Larry and Sam in Vegas and headed to Hoover dam after a night camping at Lake Mead. Cranked out 2kgs of steak on the bbq for dinner. Fairly impressive accomplishment..... the dam, not the steak.

Unfortunately the weather turned for us and we had near freezing temps during the day at the Grand Canyon... but this did not distract from the enormosity of it all.

And then.....we hit......

Vegas. Stayed in the mighty Stratosphere, but spent plenty of time checking out the other casinos down the strip......gambling..... drink..... etc. Below are some pics of a few of them.

After the wedding party arrived we treated ourselves to the rides at the top of the Stratosphere. Sweet views up there.

Groom and homebrews on the arvo prior to the wedding..... party time.

Only vehical fit for a Vegas wedding..... a stretch hummer.

After all the excitment and "glam" of Vegas we are heading to Central America for some sun and fun.... and presumably a little spanish.... ah.