After saying goodbye to Tara (and spending a day alone in Antigua, wallowing in my sorrow), I pulled myself together to go meet up with Dan in Lanquin, Guatemala. We spent a few days exploring the caves around Lanquin, tubing and swimming in the river, and relaxing. Dan found this while doing some night exploring in the bat cave!
After we got our fill of creepy crawlies, we headed north into El Peten, the largest and least populated department in Guatemala, and home to the Tikal ruins. I spent the day climbing up and crawling down the ruins. Dan spent the day trying to keep track of me, while also trying to capture coatis. Tikal was the capital of one of the most powerful kingdoms of the Maya. The temples were absolutely amazing. So many different buildings have been excavated, there is just so much to see through the whole park. And with the exception of the major central temples (first picture) the majority of the park felt empty, we really had the space to ourselves to explore!
From the town of Flores, near Tikal, it was just a short bus ride to the Belizean border. Our first stop in Belize was the town of Hopkins. Arriving in Belize was a bit of a culture shock- everyone was speaking English and ¨English¨ (a combination of Creole, English, and Spanish). Hopkins is a tiny, two-road town right on the coast. We spent our first day there walking up the coast and wandering around town.
We arrived in Hopkins just in time to celebrate Garifuna Settlement Day! Everyone in town was incredibly friendly and welcoming and we absolutely loved our visit. Dan got a drumming lesson from some of the local kids and was even told that he has ¨good rhythm, for a white boy!¨
From Hopkins, we headed out to the island of Tobacco Caye. This was a tiny little island, with maybe 50 people living on it. We stayed with a lovely woman who cooked us the most amazingly fresh seafood!
After getting our share of sun (and sunburns!) we headed back to Guatemala for a few more days before moving on to Honduras. We spent our first few days in Honduras in Copan Ruinas, a small town near the Guatemalan border. After exploring the slightly unimpressive ruins there, we hightailed it to Santa Rosa de Copan, where we are currently.
After we got our fill of creepy crawlies, we headed north into El Peten, the largest and least populated department in Guatemala, and home to the Tikal ruins. I spent the day climbing up and crawling down the ruins. Dan spent the day trying to keep track of me, while also trying to capture coatis. Tikal was the capital of one of the most powerful kingdoms of the Maya. The temples were absolutely amazing. So many different buildings have been excavated, there is just so much to see through the whole park. And with the exception of the major central temples (first picture) the majority of the park felt empty, we really had the space to ourselves to explore!
From the town of Flores, near Tikal, it was just a short bus ride to the Belizean border. Our first stop in Belize was the town of Hopkins. Arriving in Belize was a bit of a culture shock- everyone was speaking English and ¨English¨ (a combination of Creole, English, and Spanish). Hopkins is a tiny, two-road town right on the coast. We spent our first day there walking up the coast and wandering around town.
We arrived in Hopkins just in time to celebrate Garifuna Settlement Day! Everyone in town was incredibly friendly and welcoming and we absolutely loved our visit. Dan got a drumming lesson from some of the local kids and was even told that he has ¨good rhythm, for a white boy!¨
From Hopkins, we headed out to the island of Tobacco Caye. This was a tiny little island, with maybe 50 people living on it. We stayed with a lovely woman who cooked us the most amazingly fresh seafood!
After getting our share of sun (and sunburns!) we headed back to Guatemala for a few more days before moving on to Honduras. We spent our first few days in Honduras in Copan Ruinas, a small town near the Guatemalan border. After exploring the slightly unimpressive ruins there, we hightailed it to Santa Rosa de Copan, where we are currently.
