Mayan Ruins of Tikal

One of the largest sets of Mayan ruins is located in Guatemala, just over the border from Belize. Naturally, Milla and I sort of had to go visit. So at 5.30am, we successfully got onto a tourist shuttle from the little village of El Remate to head to the ruins.

We arrived in the Grand Plaza at 6.30am, when there was only one other person around. The mist was still there and it was incredibly atmospheric - beautiful and eerie. After climbing a couple of the temples in the vicinity, we headed to Temple 5, a temple where one needs to climb quite a steep ladder to get to the top. Again, for a short time, we were the only ones up there, watching as the mist cleared. Obviously, many many photos were taken, including a whole series of "Gap Yah" ones. Obviously, we were incapable of going shopping on the King´s Road that day... we also got a fair few Poker Face ones.

Heading onwards to our next temple of the day (this is at 10am) I realised something. I am a complete idiot. In applying my suncream (very important) at the top of Temple V, I left my rings up there! This was particularly stupid since it was not only hotter, but as I´d started to feel unwell, I´d not eaten a huge amount. Still, I made the climb (Milla, very sensibly, did not join me for the second ascent) up and down in 7 minutes. It would have been quicker, except there was a tour group trying to climb down when I wanted to leave.

We then chilled out at the top of the highest temple in Tikal, Temple IV. I say chilled, I mean boiled. After a few more hours of wandering around, we headed back to the bus stop for a shuttle back. Not a bad day´s work, given we finished at 2pm.


The day after, we got onto another tourist shuttle down to Semuc Champey where an eco lodge, more illness, large insects and some rather exciting natural water features await.

Indiana Jones style Caving

For serious, google the Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) Caves. We managed to go on a trip there, from San Ignacio, Belize. After a 1 hour bus ride in a classic Chicken Bus (old American school bus), we then trekked through the jungle for 45 minutes, had some lunch and went in. Think swimming to get to the entrance, much clambering, climbing, squeezing through rocks, wading through water. Very Lara Croft in Tomb Raider.

Eventually we climbed a ladder (put in place by archaeologists) and viewed a lot of Mayan pots. More wandering through the huge chamber led to human skeletons, from approximately 1200 years ago. These were human sacrifices, whether willing or not, we're not sure. You could see the holes in the skulls of some of them, which was the presumed method of death. Absolutely incredible.

If you do happen to go to Belize, highly recommended. Apparently they could close it down in a few years, which I can see why. It's not exactly the most protected of areas, in that the pots were merely surrounded by red tape. Being a rather clumsy girl, I was pretty terrified I'd stumble and break some of it, therefore ruining a priceless relic. Luckily, we left the cave accident free. Admittedly, we're now both in severe leg pain (loads of climbing) and there were times when both Milla and Claire cursed their height / Milla's slightly shorter limbs made climbing a little more tricky, whereas I struggled with some of the clambering through rocks.


Moving on from San Ignacio, we headed to the border with Guatemala. Just on the Belize side, we needed to change money. As it was about to start raining, we huddled under a little tin shack to sort it out. As the heavens opened, we realised that the football was on and being watched. So we watched the whole of the first half of the England-Algeria game in a little tin shack, on the Belizean border with the local money-changers and taxi drivers. We reckon they loved it. We decided not to waste our time watching the second half (a good decision in the end, given the result) and sped on through the Guatemalan border, paying a probably unofficial entry tax of $3. No great loss, we suppose.

Visiting Lord Ashcroft

Eventually we made it into Belize. We spent approximately 12 hours in Guatemala City (with cable TV so we spent the afternoon watching BBC World News) and then up early for MORE flights, this time via San Salvador to get to Belize.

Belize was a completely different experience. We headed pretty much straight out to Caye Caulker, a caye off the Caribbean coast. Think hammocks, white sand, palm trees, English-speaking, super friendly people. Absolutely marvellous. From a Claire-perspective, ideal on the coast due to a consistent breeze. From a Milla viewpoint, loads of strong sunlight for a tan! We even met some typical Gap Yah boys, almost to the extent of being parodies of themselves. Brilliant.

Basically we spent the week in Caye Caulker just chilling out. Read a lot, gameboyed a lot (we're so retro) and sleeping.

We watched the England-USA game in a sports bar on the beach. Pity about the shocking play (as I've always said, England are so stressful to watch) but it was nice to see many English people pulling together. Shame about the super super annoying Yank we were sat next to. He'd tried to save a seat so came along and demanded we move up (er, not acceptable IN A BAR) and was loud and obnoxious (we're not watching a basketball game, so no need to shout DEFENCE, DEFENCE). Seriously fucked off by the end of the game. Anyways, that was a minor blemish on a mostly good week.


The other thing we noticed was the amount of CRAP food available in the supermarkets. After the second day, we were feeling so bad, so we then tried to only eat rice and beans and fish and chicken and vegetables. Why are vegetables so scarce? Anyway, we realised a) how lucky we are with the supermarkets in the UK, with so much fresh food available and how one can buy takeaway salads, sandwiches, etc and b) how it is no wonder there's a problem with obesity in the USA with so much processed shit that's not even recognisable as food.

But yes, as a place to chill out, Caye Caulker rules. The most energetic thing either of us did was me going windsurfing. Love it.

Costa Rica Photos

As promised, we finally have internet where I can upload photos! I've never been this glad of a USB port before.... anyway, I've been able to upload some of the Costa Rica photos, so look! We're still alive!

First morning breakfast, looking out over the Pacific.

Milla makes a new friend...

Nasty... combination sunburn with Mindo insect bites/rash

Day 2's beach attire. Much more covered up, to prevent further burn and the cries of horror from fellow beach-goers.

Milla, considerably less covered-up

I'm teaching Milla the ways of the Poker Face pose

Ipod touch... wifi = fantastic

And finally (because I couldn't be bothered to comment them all) a lot of photos from an absolutely beautiful sunset that we happened to be on the beach for.

(This is Milla, just in case you can't tell)

Sun but no surf in Santa Teresa

Apologies for the lack of photos, a lot of the internet places seem to have the USB ports taken out. Very inconvenient for when you're trying to show off sunburn and Pacific sunsets.



Casa Zen was our latest home for a week. With a name like that, how could it be anything but chilled out? Pan-Asian restaurant (incroyable and superhealthy), a yoga hall (which we didn't use) and 100m from the Pacific Coast!

Day 1 involved heading down to the beach for a late-morning visit. 2 hours later and I was feeling the after-effects. I don't think I have ever been so burnt. I reapplied Factor 30, dammit! The backs of my legs were the worst, but I also had it on my stomach and back. The face avoided it, thankfully. Even Milla got a tad burnt in a few places. The sun in Costa Rica is super strong! Wise purchases made = a long sleeved navy rash vest (well, I wanted one anyway) and some waterproof factor 50 from a surf shop.

Needless to say, I then covered up for most of the rest of the holiday. As much to avoid having to put on so much sunscreen so often as to hide the burns from the rest of the beach. There are some things that people don't need to see.

Sadly, my burns meant that it would have been too painful to surf the following day. No surfboard. Milla was still working on the tan, so we headed down. I was considerably differently attired, wearing my new rash vest and a pair of loose cotton trousers over my bikini. Managed a quick swim, but in general, did look rather out of place on the beach. It was super-hot too, the humidity in Santa Teresa is killer. We combatted this humidity by heading to an air-conditioned cafe called RendezVous, which did amazing juices and salads. Honestly, I am definitely making that one. Hot weather makes me crave fresh vegetables and healthy food, what can I say?

Other food that we've discovered includes Gallo Pinto, a breakfast dish of rice and beans. Again, a food I am going to adopt and bring back to the UK. Protein, carbs (I went for brown rice, so much healthier) with a dash of Lizano salsa. Must find recipe!

Day 3 brought with it a stomach ache for me, so again, no surfing. We did meet a whole host of Americans though, who were quite fun. A couple of them we spent quite a long time chatting too after they donated me some aloe vera and managed to discuss accents (always comes up), the US health system, politics, weed, etc. Really interesting stuff!

It was only on one of the evenings where we had a truly stunning sunset. The rest of the time, by the time 6pm rolled around, it was usually grey and forboding of tremendous storms. I don't think I've ever seen rain or lightning like it! Absolutely bouncing down. Anyway, the sunset. We'd gone for a quick stroll on the beach as a whim and ended up faced with the classic "pink and orange skies, Pacific ocean, palm trees, super calm" sunset. Beautiful. I got loads of photos. Shame I can't put them up. Grrr.


Our final day in Santa Teresa was the day I was definitely going surfing. I had my short boardshorts and rash vest on, hair up, Milla had a book for beach tanning... and I checked the waves. Noone was out. The waves were breaking very close together and were much stronger than I would have felt comfortable in. Thwarted. Still, we hung out on the beach and got to eat more healthy Asian food, so all was not lost.

In general, a week of reading a lot and getting a lot of sun. One 7 hour bus trip later and we were back in the arms of the Galileo Hostel in San Jose, ready for a flight out to Guatemala City the following day.



Tan Watch - Milla= definitely darker ("I look dirty!") as a result of the week. On the coffee scale, she's definitely more double cappucino than latte. Claire = pink (fading) with formerly neon legs plus slash of white, currently peeling on the back. Back covered in white patches of non-burn. Somehow.

Arriving in Santa Teresa

If this post lacks my usual enthusiasm, do bear with me - 1. The exclamation button doesn't work and 2. my legs are killing me.

So we had a long lie in on Thursday morning after the stresses and trials of travels on Wednesday, getting a late breakfast and generally chatting to the guys around the hostel. Not many girls, weirdly. Anyway, we headed out to La Coca Cola where the buses go from and ended up on the bus to Playa Santa Teresa/Montezuma. I say bus... more like 3.

Costa Rica, so far, is certainly much more gringo/traveller than Ecuador. I suppose the proximity to America, where most of the people we've met have been from, is a high factor. We met some law students and some surfers on the bus. At the ferry terminal, we changed buses, keeping an eye that our luggage definitely got transferred and then hopped on, in the process meeting a lovely French guy who lives in London and who we chatted to for quite a long time. He was also heading to Santa Teresa, whereas most people were going to Montezuma, so we kept talking.

The bus then took us from the ferry stop to a town not even on the map in Rough Guide - Cobano. This is the point where we were glad we took Galileo hostel's advice...the bus to Montezuma was broken, but not the bus to Santa Teresa. Bus went down some dodgy roads and eventually got us to El Pulpo, a restaurant we knew was in Santa Teresa. Getting off and then trying to find Casa Zen - "400m away". Er not quite. And it was tipping it down. EVentually thgough we made it to Casa Zen and into a room at 9pm. Ideal. They have a very nice, if a little expensive, Asian restaurant on site, of which we were all very grateful. Rice has never tasted so good. And the salad too.... sleep time for big time beach chilling.

Tricky Taca

4.20am, Wednesday- Most normal people are asleep. Party-animals are getting in from a big night out. Claire and Milla, on the other hand, arose, ready to hit up Quito airport. With still no idea of where they were going to end up, the girls blearily got into a taxi and headed to Aeropuerto Mariscal Sucre...

5am - A long long time with Taca representative leads to us finding out that they can get us as far as San Jose, Costa Rica, as the airport in Guatemala City is still shut and won't open until at least the afternoon (ie too late for our early afternoon flight). Receive confirmation that we will indeed be able to rebook the last leg for a time in the future.

7.15am - Fly to Lima. No problems.

9.15am - Storm through to gate. No immigration, so Milla gets through absolutely no problems. Purchase 2 bottles of diet Inca Cola and an overpriced (but worth it) Granny Smith apple. I have missed fresh fruit A LOT.

10.45am - Fly to Costa Rica.

13.45pm local time - Land San Jose, get bags, no problems. Customs decided Milla was a more desirable person in the country and gives her 40 days whilst I only got 30. Whatever. Our flight's in 29 days anyway.

14.30 - Head to arrivals at San Jose to talk to Taca about rebooking Guatemala City leg and potentially booking flights to Belize.

15.00 - Finally talk to someone from Taca after waiting in line behind a chubby blonde lady with 6 passports (presumably of the rest of her group) and the world's MOST annoying child. If we'd acted like that, particularly in the airport, there would have been slapped legs.

15.30 - Still arguing with Taca lady/waiting for her to come back from her supervisor. Apparently, we can't rebook flights without penalty, despite this being contrary to what the website says. The phrase "We feel that we have been lied to" was certainly used, particularly given the reassurances (and 45mins waiting in Quito) by the Taca rep and the website.

16.00 - Supervisor comes out on our request and instantly gives us the flights we want, no charge. Done.

16.15 - Get very expensive taxi (we knew Costa Rica was more expensive than Ecuador but $28!) to hostel Galileo in San Jose.

17.00 - Arrive at Hostel Galileo. The guys are incredible. So helfpul, energetic, positive. On their recommendation, we decided to go to Santa Teresa for the week, as it's "super chilled out" and took their hostel recommendation too. And even where they said we should go for dinner. Mexican place just down the road. Super good tacos.


Note - Mexican restaurants in Central/Latin America are amazing if you're wheat intolerant because they tend to say on the menu whether the tortillla is flour or corn, and even if it doesn't eg for my tacos, youask and they just know.


20.00 - Zonk out into bed. Definitely not getting the 6am bus to Santa Teresa.