Forty Days and Forty Nights

From San Pedro we embarked on the long journey to Juyua, El Salvodor. We found another wonderful hostel where we were the only guest so we literally had the place to ourselves. It rained all night and then next day which turned out to be very nice because we just lounged around, read, watched movies and relaxed. In the evenings, we played ware wolf and catchphrased. This was the time that our travel family were introduced to Emily playing catchphrase - those of you who have played with her know what we're talking about.

The next day we visited these exotic waterfalls in Juyua el salvaotre. There were three in total with the highest being 70 m tall. It was another absolutely beautiful sight. The exciting part about these waterfalls was the wild tunnel which is more of a drain pipe you could go through but water is up to your eyes and it is pitch black. All the locals quivered in fear at this dangerous 300 m tunnel of death but our group did let fear get in the way and Owen led our team through.

Later that day we took a chicken bus to Playa El Zonteh which is on the southern coast and we checked into the best palm tree filled beach resort known to man. Ollie, the owner built the place up from a bare sandy beach and some palm trees five years ago. He was another great hostel manager and made our stay amazing. His story is also great - he is from Montreal and just travelled through, loved the city, the surf and especially the people so he pooled whatever cash he could and with a little help from some friends, he built the place from the ground up. You would all love how beautiful and elaborate this place is. It had a pool, a half pipe by the ocean for skateboarding, a huge bar off the pool, some wild tree top bungalows and so much more.

While were were in Playa El Zonteh we been lived the relaxed beach life - swam in the ocean, relaxed in the hammock watching people surf, swam in the pool, enjoyed some intense ping pong matches, played soccer games on the beach, tossed the frisbee around, cold beers over sunset, And, of course, we surfed. I think we all agreed that our first day of surfing was dominated by the beginners and in particular Emily and Kate who both stood up almost every time.

Our next and final stop in El Salvador was El Tonco which is another surf town. It was much busier then Playa El Zonteh and the waves were insanely large so we decided to just watch from a safe distance. This town was more for pro surfers. It was a lot of fun and we met some more amazing people. Sadly, this is were we had to break up the fabulous travel team. Kate will be hading back to London, Will and Mark will continue travelling through Central America and then to Peru and Bolivia and Aurilie is heading back to Antigua.

We are heading to Utila, Honduras for the final chapter. Stay tuned for details!

We have finished our journey through Guatemala and it is hands down our favourite country in Central America. Guatemala's culture is lively, exuberant and the country is so lush and naturally beautiful with so many great adventures to be had. We only touched the surface of what this country has to offer.

Our last blog entry left you while we were in the beautiful town of Flores, Guatemala. Since then we have been to Livingston, Laquin, Antigua, San Predro, then off to El Salvadore where we visited Juyua, Playa El Zonteh and El Tunco.

Livingston was a busy town and out of all of Guatemala was not our favourite. The boat ride between Rio Ducle and Livingston was absolutely gorgeous though and worth going to the city just to its beauty. We would have to say that Livingston's only saving grace was the booming hostel we stayed at called Casa Iguana which we definitely recommend visiting if you are ever in Livingston and are in the mood for a great party atmosphere. We only stayed there two nights and decided to cut our stay short and flee from the expensive party lifestyle and numerous sand flies. We hate sandflies!

The next part of our journey was our most beautiful stop in Guatemala that words cannot describe. We took a shuttle bus through the mountains on a tiny one lane dirt road. The scenery was at a level 10 as was the level of danger. It had just rained so the vehicle was often slipping and sliding and the driver seemed to not be phased by this. Emily however held on to the seat in front of her for dear life with white knuckles and all. Owen sat all chilled out listening to Mother Mother and enjoying the scenery. All and all it was the most beautiful and exciting travel day yet.

Awww, Lanquin - So beautiful! We stayed in a hostel called Zephyr Lodge which was situated in the middle of the mountains - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Zephyr-Lodge/119239031463897?sk=photos
Our room had a front porch that overlooked the sunset in the the mountains and the view we woke up to was beautiful. We would like to say a special thanks to Damon who is the best hostel manager we have ever met and was so taken with the beauty of zephry, that he returned to Ottawa sold all his posessions and moved to Lanquin to live permantely.

We visited Lanquin so we could go caving and then swimming in Semuc Champey. The day started bright and early with a intimidating 20 ft jump off a rope swing which we both properly took on. Unfortunately, we were victims to the current once again and Emily lost her precious water shoe leaving her with only one which later got lost in the caves. She would like to publicly thank Owen for sharing his left shoe with her throughout the day. So, the caving, rather then using modern technology (ex. flashlights) we walked through the caves using candle light. It was very exciting!

Next we went swimming in the pools - http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4026/4454994267_240fe49dce.jpg
If you travel in Guatemala this is definitely a stop you cannot miss! You can dive off and slide down rocks, there are beautiful hikes (which we could not participate in because we were sharing one pair of shoes) and fresh water swimming.

We ended the day with a daring 10 m plunge off the bridge of death. Well, Owen jumped and Emily watched from a safe distance.

We only stayed for two nights in Lanquin so we could get to to Antigua to meet up with our travel family. This was actually the first time we had a disagreement. Owen wanted to stay longer and Emily wanted go to Antigua. We decided to solve this disagreement with a healthy debate presenting both sides. After this did not present a decision, as appealed to the wisdom of our good friend Anthony and we put it up to a good old fashioned coin toss. Emily won so off to Antigua we went.

In Antigua we were reunited with our amazing English mates. As those of you that have been to Antigua know, it is beautiful town that overlooks a volcano. It has magnificent colonial architecture and an energy that differs from the rest of the country. Our reunion with Will, Mark and Kate was a definite call for celebration so we went out for a night of dancing. We found a great club with an English DJ that was mixing great music that kept us dancing all night. This club also had delicious mojetos and monster gin and tonics in massive goblets with delicious cucumber floating in it (JF, you would have been in heaven)...yum! The rest of our time in Antigua was just spent enjoying the town and the market. We were going to do a volcano walk there but for some reason we were not able to see any lava so we decided to head to San Pedro after a two night stay in Antigua and hike a volcano there.

On the way to San Pedro we stopped at the biggest market in Guatemala for some shopping. The shopaholic in Emily was awaken and we both got some great deals. Emily bought a great hanging hammock chair that will be enjoyed by many over the summer. A big thanks needs to go to Will for then carrying the chair through Guatemala and El Salvador - You did a great job!

San Pedro is another beautiful town on a lake surrounded by mountains and volcanoes. We spent four nights there and had a nice balance between doing absolutely nothing except reading and staring at the scenery and intense hiking.

Owen and Will rented kayaks and paddled across Lake Atitlan to these exotic and terrifying cliffs. They gathered up there manly bravery and took the 50 ft plunge. We were all so proud of them upon their return.

The next day we climbed volcano San Pedro - over 3000 meters tall. On this hike, we all realised our conditioning was poor and we spent days after with sore muscles. Once again, pump up music got Emily through the trek and she pretty much ran up the mountain with no complaints.

Off to El Salvador we go!

Ola from Flores, Guatemala!

We just finished a spiritual journey through the mystic
jungle of Tikal, the most ancient and sacred Maya ruins in Central America.

We rented tents at the Jaguar Resort, enjoyed some great food and fresh Guatemalan coffee
then retired early for our 4am wake up. There was a vigorous storm the night before,
lightning and thunder, and it was raining in the morning however we weathered
through and were the first and only people to enter the Mayan ruins.

It was a 1.5 km hike into the thick of the jungle with howler monkeys roaring,
copious birds and parrots flying over head, and various other animals frolicking around.
We ascended Temple 4 and made it to the top for sun rise, which was kinda washed
out by the fog of the clouds. A family of spider monkeys gracefully swung right beside us
at the top of the temple in a playful and entertaining manor. The collective experience
was both spiritual and humbling. Instead of hiring a guide we read the history of the culture and temple
aloud in our best Jian Ghomeshi tone.

Six hours later, after exploring the full extend of the once 100,000 person city dating back to 250 BC
we collapsed in our tents for a brief rest, took a quick shower, had breakfast and
piled in a mini van which took us 2 hours south to a small lake side town named Flores.

We are currently resting here at Los Amigos - a relaxing backpackers paradise.
It has a self contained jungle within comprised of lush greenery, ferns, plantain trees, bamboo, etc.
There are various hammocks, lazy chairs, bean bag chairs, and superb little relaxation stations
as you make your way to the restaurant which is incredibly delicious.
We´ll stay here for a few days as it´s the best guest house we´ve found to date and
is filled with amazing people from around the world.

Our next chapter will take us south east to a small island off the coast of guatemala called Livingston.
Here the Garafuda tribe can be found playing historic drums and instruments on the beach and
performing tribal dances.

We're heading off to the lake now for a much needed swim!

Well, we`re about 12 days into our journey through central America and will soon be closing the Belize chapter. This country has been amazing and we`ve had so much fun.

Caye Caulker:
We only planned to stay there for 5 or 6 days and ended up staying for 9 days of rest, relaxation and learning. Yes, we are both officially certified divers. What an amazing experience it was to be 60 feet under water. We plan to do more non-school diving in Honduras and hope to see some interesting aquatic creatures - maybe even a whale shark.

The rest of our time there was just relaxing, eating great food and spending some quality time with our new travelling family. We would be occasionally serenaded by a full-time backpacker, fire dancer and he also informed us he loved singing people to sleep - Yes, his name was Quest and his sister`s name is journey.

On one of our last days we did a snorkel tour through the marine coral gardens and saw copious colourfull fish and swam with sharks and sting rays (we even got to pet them).

We stayed at an amazing hostel and would like to thank Jeff and all the gang for some great times.

We all left Caye Caulker on Monday just barely making the 7:30am fairy (thanks Owen) and set off to the Blue Hole. Our crew consisted of Will, Mark and Kate (from England) and Aurelie (from France). The groups were going to separated but couldn`t resist another adventure together. We arrived at the Blue Hole Provincial Park and walked through Herman`s which is 300metres long in the dark. Head lights are highly recommended (and not the 2 for one special at walmart). We then had to make an hour hike through the thickets of the jungle WITH OUR FULL BACKPACKS in 35 degree Belizian sun. If it wasn`t for Girl Talks pump up mix I doubt we would have made it through it. Needless to say it was the best swim of our lives!!! The blue hole couldn`t have been more beautiful.

So, we needed to find accommodations and much needed food and water. We were advised to trek down the highway (still with our full backpacks) to a hostel-farm house which turned out to be a lonely elderly man`s home. This was one of the low points of our trip - desperate, depleted and need food and water. We sent team London out in search of rescue and they returned with a glorious pick-up truck that brought us to a paradise. Click link to see paradise: http://www.cavesbranch.com/lodging/index.html
We could not find a picture of the hostel we stayed at in Caye Caulker but lets just say we wend from 1 star to 5 star.
We`ve separated from our London friends and look forward to seeing them again in a few days for the Guatemala chapter which will begin in Livingston.

We arrived in San Ignacio yesterday and hand washed every piece of clothing we had. Today, we went on a tubing trip through some caves about an hour out of the city - again, so amazing. We won`t go into details but if you do decide to do the caving trip do not go to Max`s Tours. Terrible. But, the actually experience floating down the river through caves was wonderful!

Tomorrow morning we`ll be going to play a round of frisbee golf in the jungle and then we`re off to Tikal!

Oh, the life we live!

Over and out for now.

Remember to look at our photo album for snapshots of the excitement!