Ticul

Spent a couple of days in Ticul. On Saturday morning we went to the market in Oxcutzcab, a nearby town about the size of Ticul. On the way back to Ticul we decided to take in a hacienda that had very good signage leading to it, Hacienda Tabi. It involved several very well marked turns and at the end a bad stretch of rutted dirt road. We finally made it an --- gates locked, no indication of when, if ever, it would open up. We´ve had some problems with this sort of signage this trip. Used to be there were no signs telling you how to get anywhere, now its signs for caves, haciendas, sites, etc. and you drive and drive and end up nowhere. We were trying to find the "Church Route" -- signed and mentioned in our book -- and all we found was villages with guys carrying guns and machetes ... guess its hunting season ...

Took a long tour of Ticul in a tricycleta taxi, what an interesting way to see the town. We noticed things we would not have seen in a car, and were too far to walk. The tricycletas are used to haul building materials, sell food, and as taxis for this population which is mostly without any means of transport. The fanciest ones have awnings and are well kept up. Check back for the photos!

After our ride we found a nice loncheria, definitely not a tourist place, and had pollo asado and the trimmings (rice and tortillas) for about $2.50 each.

One of the interesting things about all of the hotels we have stayed at in the Yucatan is that they have hammock hooks for putting up your own hammock, in case you don´t normally sleep in a bed. Most people in this region sleep in hammocks, as they have been doing for a thousand years.

On our way to Campeche after leaving Ticul, we visited the museum in the small town of Santa Elena and saw the mummies of children they found in the floor when they were repairing the church, very interesting. Also stopped at a¨"gruta" -- a dry cenote -- and took a tour down into it. Arrived in Campeche and are in the Hotel America -- not particularly charming, but will do.

Chetumal and the road to Ticul

We spent the afternoon and night in a nice little motel in Chetumal, which is not a tourist place at all. Did some shopping and resting, and headed for Ticul in the morning. Ticul is a very interesting completely non-tourist colonial town below Merida. It is mostly Maya, and has more tricycletas than cars. I will be posting pictures when I get home, I guess, as I haven´t found a card reader. On the way there we ate from the roadside -- at the "topes", which are nasty speed bumps that are placed before and during all small villages, there are usually maya people selling some sort of foodstuff. We passed on the cooked animal parts that were held up for our inspection in one village -- each villager seemed to have cooked a different part of the unidentified creature. However, we had tamales wrapped in banana leaves (very tasty) at one tope, and small apple bananas at another (one dollar for about 4 pounds) for desert. A little later on we stopped in another larger village to get some bread (pan9 at the panaderia. I went into what appeared to be a tiny store, no pan in sight. I asked the woman if she had any fresh pan and she said she did. I wanted to see what kinds she had, as those of you who are familiar with mexican pan know there are many delicious types. She hesitated for a minute, then got her little girl to watch the store and took me through her house, down through the bodega (warehouse) and finally down into the bakery, where there were trays of fresh pan and most amazingly, a huge wood fired masonry oven. It must have been 15 feet or more in diameter, with a big fire going in it, in a partially underground hut-type of structure. The pan was the best we´ve had, and I´m still in shock from seeing this huge, primitive oven, being used in hundred degree heat, to bake all types of breads and cakes. I wish I had my camera in my pocket when I went into that store, maybe i´ll be able to find a photo on the internet somewhere.
We got to Ticul in good time and checked into a hotel we had seen there before, very comfortable and right across from the cathedral church.

Goodbye to Belize and Guatemala

Spent another night in Guatemala at our very nice lodging, and headed back to Belize. Another easy border crossing. We went on a very interesting birdwatching boat trip on the Macal River at Crooked Tree. A guide and a spotter, and just Julie an I as passengers. It was four hours and included a visit to a partially excavated Maya site that can only be reached by boat. Saw a lot of unusual birds, and some that aren´t unusual there: great blue and little blue herons, various egrets, osprey, snail kite, roseate spoonbill, boat billed heron, many more birds, and also several large iguanas resting in trees. Stayed at a place that was the most expensive yet, and which we like the least. The place we had stayed that we liked was full, so we had to pick another.

Headed back to San Ignacio in Belize and spent the night at the nice hotel we stayed it on the way down, and headed for mexico the next morning.

Guatemala

Went to the Belize Botanic Garden on our way from Belize to Guatemala. Its a privately run garden on the grounds of a fancy lodge, and is really gorgeous, with well marked plants. Crossed the border into Guatemala with no problems at all. We ran into some americans from los angeles at our lodging in san ignacio who had all kinds of problems driving over to Tikal. Told us they were charged forty dollars to take the car into guatemala, then some large sum at tikal for parking the car. We did some investigation and found out that what they did was not correct, and we crossed for the 40 quetzals (about $5) that we expected, no cost to park the car at Tikal, etc. Everyone at the border very nice and helpful. I think those poor people must have just tossed handfuls of cash at everyone they met.

Tikal was impressive but crowded during the early part of the day. Nothing like some of the big popular sites in Mexico, but more people than I expected. It cleared out a lot beginning around noon when all the day tour buses have to start back. Weather was southern california gorgeous at the site, and there were few bugs.

We are staying in a guatemalan style thatched bungalow above Lake Peten Itza, gorgeous place with pool, etc. and on-site monkeys wandering through, for the outrageous sum of $44 per night. Don't know how long we'll be here, we may go back for another day at Tikal as we didn't see it all.

Still having trouble with photos on this site.

SanIgnacio, Cayo District

We have been at the Cohune Palms lodge for a few days, on the Mopan River. Went to the Belize Zoo on the way here to get a preview of what we might see up close and personal. Its a small zoo but very well laid out, with just animals indigenous to this area. The jaguar was impressive, also the harpy eagle. We did a four wheel trip to the ruins of El Pilar (in our two wheel drive rental car) -- it is unrestored, but there are many animals there. We saw howler monkeys again (saw them at Lamanai also), and the leaf cutter ants. I'm going to try to get some photos up on this blog, but will have to steal them from the internet for now, as I have yet to find a card reader to transfer my own.

Today we went to the Barton Creek Cave, which is a seven mile long natural cave through a mountain with a river/creek running through it, and maya burials inside. It can only be accessed by boat, and you have to take a licensed guide with you. Our guide, David, is regarded as the best guide here for the cave, and he is a very interesting rasta-man who has been exploring this cave for about 20 years. We rode out there in two vehicles, and forded a river on the way that came up above the bottom of the car doors. I am amazed that the vehicles were able to get across without flooding the engines, I would never have tried such a thing. Both ten to twenty year old vehicles, one a Nissan sedan, the other a japanese pickup of some type. As we were leaving the cave it began to rain, and I ended up on a bench with 7 other people in the back of the pickup, so was drenched after the hour long trip back to San Ignacio. The cave was unbelieveable, just beautiful. There was a partial skull in the rocks, and pottery in a couple of places -- all high above where it could be reached. We were in 3 canoes and had spotlights so we could see the caverns, which were huge -- must have been a hundred feet up. There were also bats that flew in and out and past us as we drifted along.

Tomorrow we're going to a botanic garden and a couple of other places, and will probably go over to Tikal on Sunday for a few days.

Crocodiles and ruins

Made it from Cancun to Valladolid, after waiting a few hours for the rental car company that never showed. Got a different car and found the hotel in Valladolid con no problemas. That's the new buzzword for Mexico, "no hay problema" -- that that means is that you can ask for whatever you want, such as working plumbing, etc., and its no problem, except you won't get it! However, we enjoyed Valladolid and came down to Orange Walk in Belize a couple of days ago.

Found a very nice hotel in Orange Walk Town for $30 per night double, very clean and quiet near the river. Interesting note is that although this is really a shabby third world town, all of the motel and restaurant furniture is very beautifully constructed from local hardwoods by the mennonite community nearby. No broken plastic stuff. We've eaten at two nice "touristy" restaurants -- the "hacienda" at the edge of town, and the "lamanai" by the riverside. Very reasonable, I had lobster for $14 US.

We took a boat trip upRiver to the Lamanai ruins with "jungle river tours" -- good boat, good guide -- its a family run business about 20 years old, and operates out of a tiny cubbyhole right by the main plaza. Our guide was Ignacio and he had a lot of information on the ruins, as well as being an excellent animal and bird spotter. We saw several interesting birds on the river as well as crocodiles and tiny bats sleeping on tree trunks. At the ruins we saw howler monkeys in the treetops, quite a few of them.

Today we are headed for the Cayo district, and hopefully there will be a faster internet connection so I can add photos. Having really great time, easy traveling.

Getting ready to go

Its Saturday night, and i'm just practicing with this to make sure it works. Will be leaving tonight for Cancun.