Pretty Chill Study Days (Nicaragua)

Yesterday, we woke up and everyone got ready for their classes. Eliza is taking math class for grad school from 10-12pm. I dropped off Jared and Nicole, and came back to hang out in the back yard. When Eliza was done with her classes, we dropped Jay off at the airport as he was going to the Corn Islands with a friend. We are going as well, but not till the weekend. We all had a yummy lunch together, and then headed back for a few to-dos before picking up Jared and Nicole. The two of them were pretty starving, so we went to a wing joint called Woodys that Kris (from wayyy back in Tampico, Mexico has recommended to us. Dinner was very good and we were stuffed!

 We quick stopped into the grocery store in the way home, so we don't eat Eliza out of house and home. Once back, we drank some wine, the kiddies did their homework, and watched a movie before bed. Pretty chill day, but exactly what we are looking for after some pretty arduous travel days.
 The next day, I again dropped off Jared and Nicole while Eliza took math class. After Eliza finished work, the two of us headed to the embassy, because I apparently need new notaries for my Australian nursing registration, which is a huge pain, and exactly what I wanted to avoid. After about 2 hours and $50 dollars for one piece of paper to be notarized, we headed out. Made a quick stop at the grocery store and headed back home, to pick up Jared and Nicole. Not as productive a day as I had hoped, since the embassy took so long, but fine. When we got home, Bryan, Eliza's boyfriend had arrived; he normally lives and works several days a week outside of Managua, so we hadn't gotten to see him yet. That night we made a huge Indian food feast, and had some friends over. We went to bed pretty early, as we had to wake up at 4am for a flight to the Corn Islands.

Managua (Nicaragua)

After out wretched day with border nonsense, I think we were all a bit excited to park it for a bit in one place. Nicole and Jared had scheduled Spanish classes in Managua at 10am, so we woke up in Somoto at almost 5am, and header out for our drive. The drive was speedy, as the road conditions were above average. Small glitch came when we were just outside of Managua. Unlike every other country, where people take the driving laws more as guidelines that actual rules, Nicaraguan police officers will in fact pull you over for an infraction. Jared was cruising along, and passed a person on the highway. As we approached a hill, an officer came out from under a tree and flagged us down. He said he had seen us pass the car on a double yellow line, and was going to give Jared a ticket, which would require the officer to keep his license until we picked it up the next day in that district. We were pretty bummed, and I explained to the officer that it was difficult to know all the driving laws in every country, but was resigned to the ticket. Just as he was writing down our information, with Jared's license in hand, he started asking about our roof equipment, the trip, surfing and no joke...I talked us out of the ticket!! I wasn't even attempting to do that, but he finally said that he didn't want this to ruin our time in Nicaragua and would let us off with a warning! Obviously, my powers of persuasion are much stronger in Central America than they are in the US! We thanked the officer, and I took over driving for the last leg of the trip.
We cruised into Managua in good time, and went to my best friend, Eliza's house. Jared and Nicole quick showered, and we headed out to their Spanish classes, which are only about a 5-10 minute drive from her place. The rest of the day, I relaxed in Eliza's awesome backyard. We went to lunch with some of her friends and at 5pm went to pick up our students. They looked pretty pooped after an intense 7 hour Spanish session, but optimistic. The ladies went off to a salon for some much needed grooming, while Jared stayed at the house (accidentally locked out for about 15 minutes) and hung out with Eliza's roommate Dave and Jay, whom we had met in El Zunte. That night, we went to dinner at a local Nicaraguan eatery and then played cards and drank a bit back at the house until we headed to bed.

Border Disputes (Honduras)

Sunday we woke up early and headed out to Nicaragua at about 8:30. The drive was initially pretty straight forward. Jared wasn't feeling that well, so I took over driving, while Nicole was my navigator. We hit the Honduran border, and got flagged for inspection. We headed into the police inspection site on the El Salvadorean side, where the officers we surprised that we stopped as that stop was usually for people coming into the country. After about 40 minutes of getting passed back and forth between two officers, they told us to leave without even looking at the car, uh. We then breezed through to Honduras, where things came to a bit of a stand still.
 There was no electricity...and the customs officer was at lunch...so paperwork was very backed up. We ended up having to walk back across the El Salvador border for copies, before finally being able to finish everything with a handwritten note attached to our paperwork saying it was incomplete, because there was no electricity for printing. The entire process took 3 hours, which worried me as I had budgeted 3 hours for both border crossings. The Honduras drive was easy. We were a bit worried, because at the border initially, we were warned that cops pull people over after the border and check to make sure you have all the required emergency equipment, including orange warning triangles, which we did not, and that they could fine us up to $100. However, Nicole and I discoverer we can double-team a cop right out of his wits. We got pulled over twice and both times ended up chatting about our trip and surfing; giggling and eyelash batting works like a charm down here! Putty in our hands. We quickly passed through to the next border to enter Nicaragua. This is when things got messy.
Customs officers sometime do not back down. We didn't have enough money between the three of us to pay to enter Nicaragua, but had already been stamped out of Honduras. I begged them to allow me to leave Jared and Nicole with the officers while I drove 20 kilometers up the road to the ATM. One officer went for it, the second did not and said we had to go back to Honduras. When we arrived back at the customs office, migration was willing to give us back our paperwork, while customs was not, which meant that we could not take the car. After a bit of begging and pleading, he said we could leave Nicole alone at the border and drive an HOUR back to the closest town with an Atm. As we had no choice, Jared and I got headed back to find money, just as the sun was setting. Probably the worst time I've had thus far, as I was beside myself about leaving Nicole in the dark on the side of the street at the border. We finally found an Atm an hour and 20 minutes later, and booked it back to the Honduras-Nicaragua border. We finally paid all our fines, and started into Nicaragua at 10pm...with one headlight. Thankfully, the roads were pristine, but we did decide to park it in the first town anyway. You never know what border towns are going to be like, but the roads in Central America can be very unpredictable, and we did not want another Guatemala driving situation, so we opted for the lesser of two evils. We lucked out and stayed in a very nice town called Somoto and cheap hotel that had a locked gate for the car. By the end of that night, we were all tired and snappy, but happy to be safe and through the border.

Goodbye Clint, Hello El Salvador (El Salvador)

Thursday was a bit of a sad day. A couple weeks ago, Clint mentioned that he was thinking about splitting from the group to travel solo, as he wanted to spend a bit more time in Central America: go to Spanish school in San Pedro Lago Atitlan and get scuba certified in Honduras among other things. He hasn't bought a ticket to go home from Chile like Jared and I have, so he is slightly more flexible with his schedule. Well, the time came for us to leave Guatemala, and in turn, Clint.
 We woke up, packed, and headed to Guatemala City to drop Clint of at a bus depo. After a quick goodbye, we left Clint there, and headed out to El Salvador. I think Jared took it the hardest, as he was hoping to experience The Americas with one of his best friends, and male counterpart.
 But, the trip must go on! The backseat rider now gets to enjoy a bit more space. The drive to El Salvador was pretty easy. I'm realizing now that basically every border requires those silly copies of documents they stamp, forcing us to do a lot of shuttling back and forth from offices. They are also are all full of the annoying people offering to be a "guide" through the process.


I think what astonished us the most about the El Salvador border was the line of large cargo trucks backed up for several kilometers.
 After about an hour or two at the border we headed in to go to a beach town called, El Zunte. We made it in a bit after the sun had set, and found our hostel Esencia Nativa pretty easily. After eating a bit of dinner, we hung out with some fellow hostelers and locals, and the called it a night.
 The next morning, Nicole and I woke up early for a jog and workout, showered, grabbed breakfast with Jared and set out for the beach. The area around the hostel had an insane amount of bugs and flies, and the beach right by us was very rocky. We watched some people we had met surf for a bit, and Jared got an idea of what surfing was like there, which was daunting. After a bit of a walk down the beach, we found a good area to relax and swim, before heading back to the hostel to get some advice on surf spots for Jared, as they area right by us was way too rocky for him. We met the owner, a fellow longboarder and super nice guy, who offered to lead us to a spot a few towns down that would be appropriate for Jared.
 The two went out, and Jared got some pretty good waves and a serious cardio workout. After getting his surf-legs back, we all headed back to the hostel for some lunch and a rest. Jared made some friends with a European group of guys who invited us to go out that night to a town called El Tunco. Nicole and I made friends with a group of American volunteers, so we all had dinner together and pregamed for our night out.

 El Tunco was much more buildup than our town, so we found a fun bar with a live band. I had been setup to meet my friend Eliza's friend, Jay who was able to pick us out by her description of a loud girl with blonde curly hair with a large guy who looks like he was in the military. We hung out with Jay all night and drank yummy Flor de Caña and coke. At about 1am we took our pre-arranged cab home and settled into bed. The next morning, Nicole and I woke up and slammed down a post-drinking Gatorade with breakfast, before heading out to the beach. Unfortunately, Jared had a harder time recovering, and was bed-bound for a bit.
 After some solid tan-line-removing at the beach, we headed out to a nearby town to watch a surf competition we had heard about from some locals. We were excited for our first surf competition, and expected something straight of out Blue Crush; however, what we got was an empty beach with a few surfers in the water (much like the exact scene the day before), and absolutely no idea where the actual judging was happening. We still got to see some excellent surfers ride a few waves, grabbed a pretty heavy lunch, and then headed back for nap time. That night, we all stayed in to wake up early for our long drive to Nicaragua.

Semuc Champey (Guatemala)

Today was a pretty awesome day at Semuc Champey. We woke up early and took a 3 hour shuttle out to Lanquin, where we then hopped into the back of a pickup truck, and finished the last leg. The guide we had was great. He started out by walking us up to a cave that fed into a waterfall. We each got candles and he guided us through the different rooms. It was very neat to see all the stalactites and stalagmites. He walked us individually through a pretty heavy waterfall, which the boys actually scaled with the help of a rope. He guided us down a teenie hole, I have no idea how anyone would ever discover it, let alone attempt to go down.


 We got stuck for a minute in the pitch black, when he accidentally blew out the last candle, but scaled the walls assuring us he'd be back with new light. The whole setup was pretty risky; some of the ledges were really skinny, the ladders were very slippery, and the rocks sharp, but completely awesome!!
 After some scrapes and bruises, we emerged from the cave. We got to swing off a rope into the river, which we discovered really pulled you downstream quickly.

Probably, the scariest part was when we jumped off a bridge into the water 15 feet below and had to swim like madmen (and women) to the shore. I've definitely never jumped off anything that high, and to then swim for my life was a bit much...but completely awesome again!

After out swim, we put on our tennis shoes and hiked a very aggressive hill to the lookout. I honestly don't even think a lot of people would have the stamina for this; even our two marines were having a tough time! Nicole and I, of course, barely broke a sweat...yea right. But we finally made it to the top, and had lunch with a fantastic view!

A bit into our much-needed rest, we set to descending to the pools of Semuc Champey, which translates to "River that Disappears into the Earth". The main river, Rio Cahabon, is actually not part of the limestone pools at all, but disappears underground, through a cave system, before reemerging right after the limestone pools end. The pools are fed by mountain water. Each pool has clear blue water that is said to have healing qualities. The guide brought us through each pool and showed us the natural water slides down small waterfalls, on one of which Clint took me out in a full-on body-check. The whole thing was fun and, the guide knew ever hidden secret around.

 Lastly, he brought us to the main waterfall where the limestone pools end, and it drops back into the main river. Normally, people can jump off the waterfall, but, due to rain, the river below looked very unforgiving. But, we were able to scale down a life threatening rope ladder into the cave under the waterfall, which was super neat. The climb back up, however, was completely terrifying. You might think the climb down would he worse...it was not. By the miracle of foot-placement we made it back up to the pools to enjoy another quick swim and high jump into the water before heading back. We all passed out for a bit on the ride home and are still a bit tuckered out, post-shower. Dinner and bed on the agenda.

"It's Like Driving in Afghanistan. Just Stay Inside the Tread." (Guatemala)

Today we drove from San Pedro Lago Atitlan back to Coban to then visit Semuc Champey. Jared has apparently gotten his fill of driving for a bit, so Clint took over...for possibly the worst drive ever! Everything started out just fine. The roads are rough, but Clint actually seemed a bit more gentle on the car, so my teeth didn't feel like they were rattling around in my head as much; I was his navigator. We ended up hitting quite a bit of traffic, for completely unknown reasons, and had to sit with the car in Park for about 30 minutes, twice. We were bit worried about arriving back to Coban after the sun went down, but we had already done the drive, and knew the roads were very manageable...well, paved at least, but that's the best for which we can ever hope.
 It rained basically the entire time, but again not so bad as we've ever had. Then the sun slowly started setting and we realized...the headlights are OUT!!!! Apparently, there must be some damaged fuse or something, because the only functioning light was the right hazard. Then the fog set in, to the point that visibility was maybe 5 feet. Clint was freaking out, but we kept chugging along praying we would make it with a bit of light left. We did not. The sun went down completely, and we had to rely on the cars in front of us with headlights to guide our way. We voted at one point, and both Nicole and I wanted to stop on the side of the road and camp...in the pouring rain versus continue, but the boys were confident we could make it. Clint described the drive as similar to driving in Afghanistan, and if he could just follow the tracks of the car in front of him...as they avoided topes, landslide debris, and people, we would be fine *insert huge eye roll*. Needless to say, we have made it to Coban in one piece, and will get the headlights checked out asap. We are all completely pooped, as the drive ended up taking much longer than expected and also probably took a full year's worth of stress off our lifespan. Tomorrow we wake up early to head to Semuc Champey. We will not be driving, so hopefully it will be a stress-free day!

San Pedro Lago Atitlan (Guatemala)

Yesterday we spent all day touring around Lago Atitlan. It was in fact, the first day spent entirely separate from the boys. Nicole and Jared and I woke up and grabbed some yummy breakfast on the lake side. Then us girls went out and rented a kayak to paddle around, which ended up being a much more arduous endeavor than expected; the center of the lake was actually quite rough, and gave us a good run for our money. In fact, the girls we happened to depart the same time as, ended up leaving their kayak on the opposite side of the lake and took a cab back...but we are tough chicks, and stuck it out! Apparently the lake has been a bit of a problem lately, and a tourist actually passed away on a kayak recently ...which we didn't find out until after we returned.
After, we tried to book a hike up the volcano, but were told we wouldn't have enough time before dark, as it's a 5 hour hike. We opted instead to walk around town a bit,and then hop on a water taxi to Panajachel, a town on the opposite side of the lake, about a 40 minute boat ride. The town is a bit more "metropolitan" than San Pedro. We found a German coffee shop with baklava, and an all vegan restaurant. The market was wonderful, so we bought a few things we had either forgotten to bring or lost (me) along the way. After about an hour, during which the weather had turned a bit ominous, we headed back to the water taxi area, and to San Pedro.
 Upon our return, we still couldn't connect with the boys, so we made some hostel friends and drank some good Guatemalan beer, and settled in for the night. I think our favorite thing about our evening was the super hot showers! Lord, we haven't had hot water showers in ages! It was glorious! The boys rejoined us, after having had a nice day of kayaking as well; however, apparently, they were rained on while Nicole and I were in Panajachel, and were limited by that. Into bed pretty early, as we knew we'd have a long day of driving ahead.

"Es Un Milagro" (Guatemala)

After our night in Guatemala City, we decided to continue west to Antigua and Lago Atitlan, instead of going back to Semuc. We packed up the car, and headed out for an easy quick drive. We arrived in Antigua, at the hostel we had researched, and found that the hostel was unattended, and we couldn't get in. Locals around assured us that the owner would be back soon, so we waited...for an hour and nothing. As it was early afternoon, we decided that we could probably make it to Lago Atitlan, about a 2-3 hour trip away, with enough sunlight. So we got back in the car and started out the drive.
 No issues during the trip, and we were about 40 minutes from our destination when Jared noticed that the breaks felt "funny".   Luckily, right about that time, we got to the first straight, flat road we had seen in a couple hours. We pulled over to switch drivers, so Clint could feel the breaks as well. As the navigator, I watched as Clint slowly pulled out and started pumping the breaks, from which...absolutely nothing happened. We did not stop or slow down when he pushed the break pedal all the way to the floor! We used the emergency break to pull off the road, popped the hood, and waited. We must have been the most blessed people ever that day, because low-and-behold a group of mechanics stumbled upon us, and offered their assistance. ...well I guess we were more blessed to discover that the breaks were shot NOT while on a mountain side. The mechanics came right over and called in reinforcements.

The man that came out diagnosed the problem as worn breakpads, and offered to drive around to find some for the car. After about 30 minutes, he came back with pads, stated they were the ONLY pads for our car in the next 3 towns. We pulled the car into his shop about 6 blocks away, and he got to work on the pads. We required new pads on all four wheels. He showed us the worn pad, and there was literally nothing left of it. He actually said it was a "milagro" that we made it to the point down the mountain with the pads we had. LORD!!!!! The breakpad situation ended up taking several hours, part of which we were actually sitting in the family's home. We ended up finding a hotel to hunker down at for the night. The people, specifically this mechanic and his family, were absolutely amazing!! So welcoming and generous. We were in a real bind, and lucked out on a massive level. I think we all said a nice long prayer thanking God that night.
 At the hotel, the boys got their own rooms, while Nicole and I bunked up together. I think they enjoy their space more than Nicole and I find necessary. After a pretty rocky night of sleep, we got up to check the status of the car, as when we went to bed, they were still working on it. There she was, good as new. The mechanic assured us that we could drive the South America and back on these new pads, two of which he actually had to cook onto the existing metal frames in an oven, as there was no way to get new ones anywhere around. We packed up, and finished the last leg of the trip to Lago Atitlan with a new sense of gratitude. Upon arrival, we found the hostel pretty easily. Often, we have to just park the car, have one or two of us wait with the car while the other two go in search of our hostel. We found, Mr. Mullet, which had been recommended to us from a fellow traveler. Found a place to park the car for a couple days, and schlepped our stuff to the hostel. After a bit, we ran into an old friend from Puerto Escondido in Mexico, and headed out to the local gringo spot for a Sunday BBQ. The food and atmosphere was pretty cool. The amount of food they gave was super generous, and they even gave us a full plate of sides just to take home, above the amount they had already given, which we couldn't even finish. After, we came back to the hostel to bundle up a bit, as the climate here is a actually a bit chilly at night. We all went out again with some new and old travel friends and had a pretty great night of drinking and socializing. Came back, and all had pretty good drunken sleep!

Messi! (Guatemala)

Yesterday was pretty relaxed in the morning. Nicole went on a jog, which I am still barred from doing due to my legs. We all ate breakfast, and headed to Guatemala City in hopes of finding tickets to the sold out game. The drive wasn't too bad, but when we got to the city we had a bit of a challenge navigating all the one way streets. Nicole and I grabbed tickets as we were driving by the stadium, so we were happy campers, but the boys waited to see if they could get better prices. By the time we actually found the hotel, Jared was rebelling against driving anymore.
We settled into the hotel, and quickly left to get the boys tickets. The hotel is within walking distance of the stadium, so it was easy. The area around the stadium was pretty chaotic, vendors everywhere, horns going off constantly, and food and beer every couple feet.

 We pregamed a bit, grabbed some street food, and then some pretty neat half Guatemala, half Argentina soccer jerseys. The game was great; it was just a friendship game, so the crowd was very tame, which I think was good as no one else had ever been to a Latin American soccer match, as many people know, those things can get out of hand! Messi played three quarters of the game, and scored three goals, which was awesome to witness. I hope to get in more soccer games throughout our Latin American leg of the trip. After the game, we walked back to the hotel, and called it a night.

More Dirt than Semen (Guatemala)

After my crappy sleep last night, I got up early and was determined to find a doctor for my rash, so Nicole and I packed all our stuff up before the boys woke, and headed out in search of some help. We found a doctor pretty easily; he was a general surgeon not a dermatologist, but I was sure I could convince him to write me a prescription for what I wanted...which was a pretty hefty dose of intramuscular steroids. A miracle worker he was, because after I explained my problem and my background, he pumped me with steroids without even asking my medical history or allergies, and gave me supplies for more steriod shots over the next 4 days, hallelujah!!!
 After I was happily 'roided up, we went back to the hotel to pack for our next stop, Lanquin, an easy three hour drive...not so. The roads were complete shit (I try to swear as little as possible on the blog, and really only reserve it for necessary situations, which this was), by far the worst we've had. We were not able to drive over 20 mph the entire time, and bottomed out constantly, once even forcing Jared to pull over to check for damage.  Occasionally, we hit a patch of "semen" (as we've all endearingly started referring to it as the boys' southern accents make "cement" sound more like "semen" [don't judge us, we have to entertain ourselves somehow during anxiety-riddled car rides]), but those areas wouldn't last more than 100 meters and were very few and far between. We turned onto the "highway" towards our destination, and wouldn't you know it, the roads could actually get worse. We averaged maybe 5 mph during that time, and had to pull over for 30 minutes, because the car was overheating!

 Jared made the executive decision to turn around and go back to the less-crappy, crappy road, as he had concerns about the car making it up higher into the mountains under those road conditions. The 3 hour trip turned into a 7 hour trip, but we made it to Coban instead, right as the sun was going down; a three hour drive from our original destination.
 Along the way, we found out some pretty epic (for me), travel altering information. After reading the front page of a local paper at a gas station, we found out that the Argentine National Men's Soccer Team arrived today, with Messi in tote, for a game in the capital tomorrow. After much deliberation, we decided that we would leave Lanquin and Semuc Champey (the attraction we wanted to see outside of the town of Lanquin) until after we attempted to make this soccer game. Nicole and I were adamant about going, the boys less so (they actually responded with "who's Messi?", when I shouted out that there was a game tomorrow), but we have wanted to watch a live game, and Semuc will be here after the game is done.
 As of now we are unsure we can even get tickets, but I'm holding out for a kind-hearted scalper (???), or I can just wait outside the locker room and then completely rationally discuss with Messi why it is essential that he marry me, effectively changing both of our lives :D Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Rio Dulce (Guatemala)

Yesterday morning we headed out pretty early for our next stop, Rio Dulce and El Castillo de San Felipe. The drive was an easy three hours and we found the hotel pretty easily. We settled in, grabbed lunch, which for the guys consisted of three, yes three, hamburgers each, and made arrangements to hop on a boat across the lake to the Castillo, which was an old fort and jail for the Spaniards to defend against pirates! The sight was probably the most well-kept site we have been to thus far. It was in a really nice park with grass and palm trees and a swimming area.

We were pretty blown away when we entered the fort and a man offered to give us a guided tour for free! Every attraction we've been to thus far has independent people offering tours for pretty outrageous prices, so we were happy. The jail area looked pretty miserable, as it was originally pitch black, and the tiny cells fit two men who couldn't stand up straight due to the cell's size, and half the time it flooded during the winter. After we took a quick dip in the swimming area and headed back to our hotel. After a bit of lounging, it started pouring and the lights kept turning on and off. We were able to grab dinner during a moment of power and then settled in to sleep. I would not recommend this hotel to anyone, as Nicole and I found bugs, not ants, in our beds, so she found one that was clean, which left no available beds. I ended up having a pretty crappy sleep in the car, and woke up early for today, but no bigs, we've all had bad nights of sleep during the trip.

Isla de Flores & Tikal (Guatemala)

The morning we left Caye Caulker was again a perfect day. I woke up a touch after sunrise, so I walked over to the shore to relax. When everyone was up, we packed and grabbed another yummy breakfast, and walked over to the water taxi area. The ferry was seamless and dropped us back off in Belize City where we waited for Edgar to pick us up. The man is nuts! Wouldn't stop talking about this whore house (I'm not kidding) and his "girlfriend" who was a good 40+ years younger than him...gross. Nicole and I could barely keep it together in the back seat.
 When we picked up and packed up the car, we said our goodbyes to Edgar and headed for Guatemala. This was the most annoying border crossing we've had thus far, not terrible mind you, but all our other experiences have been great. We got to the border and there are always people trying to get money off of you, "oh this is where you park, now pay me", "oh I showed you where the entrance was, now pay me" and on and on ad nauseum! So we are always very tentative with anyone not behind a desk. We discovered there were about 4 different places we were had to continue to pay fees for the car. They needed a copy of the stamp they had JUST GIVEN US, along with other documents. So we had to walk across the border to an ATM and then get a copy of our new passport stamp...??? Finally, we made it through! No real issues with the drive, though there is a somewhat significant amount of dirt road, which our car is not made for, but took like a champ non-the-less. We arrived at a super small island called Isla de Flores and found a pretty cheap hostel with a very hippy vibe.
The next morning, I woke up to discover that I had become a leper. I developed some type of rash that sort of looks and feels like poison ivy. It had somewhat progressed slowly, but I thought nothing of it until then. I grabbed some questionable pills at the pharmacy and we headed out to Tikal, the natural reserve and sight of a large Mayan city.
 This was probably the most or second most exciting ruins. A lot like Palenque, the monuments and temples sprung up out of the jungle, some fully some partially, leaving the question of whether the random hills throughout were in fact unexcavated ruins. It was much more sprawling that any ruins we have been to yet. We trekked through the jungle for 2 1/2 hours, climbing the tallest temple to see nothing but jungle till the horizon with a few ancient temple peaks poking thorough. Very cool trek.

We also saw spider monkeys, heard what we think was a jaguar, and saw two animals we had never seen before! A great and exhausting day. After our adventure, we headed back to the island for some grub, showers and rum drinks! Headed to bed a bit later than usual, but slept great.

Caye Caulker (Belize)

Our first morning in Caye Caulker, Jared woke up early to catch his scuba boat out to the Great Blue Hole. After a bit more sleep, Nicole and I got up and did some laundry...in a sink! It makes it so much easier when there is a sink, plus all of our clothes stunk and were still wet from Tulum, so we were able to give them a relatively good soak. Clint woke up around 10am and headed off to one of the backpackers hostels we had heard about to see if they had room for us; staying at hostels allows for a certain amount of socializing that hotels do not. Bella's Backpackers had a cabin for us, so we packed up all our bags, Clint threw Jared's entire pack on his back along with his own (quite the feat), and we walked over to the other side of the island. The accommodations were pretty standard: hammocks, grilling area etc so we were happy. After fully sweating ourselves through, we headed out for brunch at a small Labanese place. Clint headed to the beach area, while Nicole and I went back to the hostel to use a FREE canoe!! We started out great, very calm waters. Then we hit the area with a small passage to the other side of the island and the wind and waves kicked in. After a couple minutes, we paused and nearly got brought out to sea by the strong current, so we had to high-tail it into rowing gear and get ourselves through the channel. Finally making it over, I jumped out and strung up the canoe allowing for a bit of easy swimming. We opted to head back to the hostel and return the canoe instead of attempting to continue as the wind and waves were really giving us a beating. Then we just walked back over to the beach area and laid out and relaxed a bit in the sun. Jared came back from his scuba trip around 5pm, and apparently they served rum punch on the boat ride back! He had a great time, and was not at all prepared for the rapid-fire interrogation Nicole and I gave him. After gathering himself a bit, he was able to describe what he did and showed us some of his awesome pictures. That night we went to dinner with a fellow hosteler we had actually initially met in Mexico City. We got talked into a buffet, which ended up being pretty lackluster, but we did at least get our money's worth! That night we went to bed pretty early in preparation for our snorkeling trip the next morning. Belize is an hour ahead, and we have been pretty early risers thus far, so we had no issues the next morning. We grabbed a really yummy and cheap breakfast on our way to the meeting area, where we found that Jared and Clint were basically the only guys in a slew of girls...apparently snorkeling is a women's sport. It was probably the most excited they've been about any venture thus far. We loaded up our sail boat and headed out. It was an absolutely perfect day for sailing. We hit three sites along the way, the first chockerblock full of sealife and really colorful coral. The second was with reef sharks and stink rays (which everyone loved, but sacred the be-jesus out of me), and the third a guided tour around the channel area, where the captain showed us all the different types of fish and sea life, and we got to swim with turtles! The whole thing was AMAZING!!! (I feel like I'm using the word "amazing" a lot, i'll have to reread this). They gave us lunch after the first snorkel, and then ceviche and unlimited rum punk the way back, so needless to say it was great fun. The group we used, Raggamuffin, we all highly recommend! After the long day, we were all pretty pooped, though all of us were super sun-conscious, so luckily we were safe there. We headed to bed pretty early.

Belize (Belize)

Yesterday morning we headed out from Tulum. We ended up having a great time there, and meeting some really fun people. We were lucky that we had enough to time to wait out the rain and see everything the area had to offer. We packed up the car and started the drive down to Belize. We ended up making it all the way to the border before remembering that we forgot to return our unnecessary brake pads back to Autozone, so we had to hook a U-turn and explain to the officers who wanted to search our car that we would be right back...we promised (insert genuine-nonthreatening smile).
  After we finished with Autozone, we headed back to the border and into Belize. The border was relatively hassle-free. We did have to all get out, and they seemed to ask us questions in a very accusatory fashion as they searched our belongings, but again a smile and relaxed behavior works almost every time. We stopped to grab some car insurance, and proceeded into the country. Belize is a pretty poor country, and the roads spoke to that. The conditions we pretty crappy; not completely wretched and dangerous, but just not as well kept as those in Mexico. Using my trusty Lonely Planet forum, I had found a place for us to store our car while we hopped over to Caye Caulker for the weekend. After a lot of searching and asking many strangers, we finally found the house of the man that owned the storage facility, Edgar. Business is conducted very differently with this man. First off, he is an amazing bargain, and after talking to him, we realized he was fully aware of that fact, but wanted to provide a service people needed. After hollaring outside of his house for a bit, a man finally came to the door of the second story and told us to come in. Jared and I went into Edgar's actual home, while Nicole and Clint waited in the car. There was Edgar: pretty massive, shirt-less and hard of hearing. So he yelled as he explained that he would happily store our car for super cheap and even drive us into the city to the ferry and pick us up when we came back. Things don't always turn out how you think though, sometimes for the better! After driving the car into the private storage facility, we headed into Belize City to catch the ferry, and Edgar discovered that the last ferry had actually already departed. He recommended we not stay in Belize City, so he dropped us off at a cheap hotel back by the storage facility and waited for us as we dropped off our bags. He then took us to a yummy restaurant called Manatee Lookout, where apparently you can sometimes see some manatees...and dead bodies...not kidding. Luckily, no dead bodies, just yummy food, good local beer, and a great view of the Belize River. While there we met a nice Canadian/British couple who had moved down 2 decades ago and had taken up leisure and competitive canoeing along the river. They invited Nicole and I to join their team's morning workout! After dinner, we made the short walk back to the hotel, and called it a night for our early morning!
Today, Nicole and I woke up at 4:45 to get ready to meet our canoeing "instructors" at 5:15 at the docks. Soon after, Jared informed us that Belize is an hour behind, and we had in fact woken up at 3:45. Ug. Round 2 an hour later, and we met up with some of the people on the canoe team, endearingly named Grumpy "Old" Men, with the "old" circled and crossed out.  We took about an hour long, vigorous canoe ride up and down the Belize River and got to see howler monkeys, and pick mangoes right off the trees! We were pretty pooped and super sweaty after our 4.5 mile ride, but it was really fun and gorgeous!!!


   Jared had actually been invited as well, but ended up opting for sleep at the last minute. After our ride, we headed back to the hotel for a little nap and then free breakfast right in time for Edgar to arrive. We packed up his car and headed out for the morning ferry to Caye Caulker. An easy boat ride and we arrived. We walked around a bit, looking for the best deal and settled on a nice hotel. The island was swealtering, and our un-air-conditioned room did not make it any better, so we stripped down to bare essentials, and headed out. We went looking for a company that would take Jared on a dive to the Great Blue Hole. After a bit of shopping around, he signed up for a dive and then we all signed up for a snorkeling trip on Sunday.
  After the essentials were completed we got to leisure time. Shockingly, there is not really a sprawling beach area here, but there are lot of docks so everyone seems to congregate around one and get to basking. At some point the boys headed out and Nicole and I continued to relax and listen to music until hunger set in.
We headed back to the hotel, meeting up with Jared along the way, and catching a bit of a local soccer game, before making it back and picking up Clint. We grabbed a super yummy dinner of baracuda steak, curry shrimp and jerk chicken! Then we came back to the hostel and took a dip in the pool, playing a pretty epic game of Sharks and Minnows. All laying around now, playing on our Internet devices before bed.

Rainy Days in the Yucatan (Mexico)

I haven't posted in a bit, not because of a lack of Internet, but more from a lack of activities. We got into Playa del Carmen, and the weather wasn't great. Not actively raining, but just, with an occasional light shower. We walked along the boardwalk a bit, which was full of shops and vendors, all of whom spoke English. That evening, it started raining a bit, but we were hopeful that the weather would be better the next day. We were sorely mistaken, and the one day we had allotted for beach time at Playa was completely rained out. We were stuck in the hostel the entire next day, and the rain really kicked in that night. We had to store all of our things in elevated places, because the people who ran the hostel were worried it would start flooding down from the roof. The lightening and thunder were pretty epic; we just prayed the whole place wouldn't flood. After checking the weather, we discovered it was supposed to rain the entire week :(
The next morning was exciting for me, as my friend Nicole was scheduled to arrive in Cancun!   Jared and I woke up, praying the weather would allow flights to land, and we headed out. After a bit of breakfast, and a Walmart stop, we picked up Nicole. The three of us headed back to Playa, to pick up Clint and figure out how exactly we were going to fit another person plus luggage into the already stuffed car. The roof option is always successful, so we strapped Nicole's bag to the roof with Jared's, and headed out to Tulum.

Coco Loco

The drive was easy and short, and Nicole and I got to catch up in the back, while the boys navigated. With Nicole's arrival, I have relinquished my navigational duties to Clint. I was most excited for Tulum, as I had found camping on the beach and had heard amazing things about the area. Unfortunately, because of the weather, we ended up opting for a hostel instead. The next day, the weather continued to suck, so we just hung around at the hostel getting kind of stir-crazy. Finally around 4pm,the weather cleared up a bit, so we bee-lined it to the beach. It was still pretty cloudy and dark, so we didn't hang out too long. Attempted to go into a wildlife reserve and hike and go to the beach there, but were told that due to the rain, the car wouldn't be able to make the trip. So we headed back to the hostel. Luckily, Nicole and I had discovered the Caribbean version of a Long Island Iced Tea, in a coconut, so we had a good night, but were still hoping for some good weather to come.
 The next morning was cloudy, but at least not raining, so Nicole and I went on a jog and then we headed to the ruins in hopes that it wouldn't pour down on us. Boy did we luck out! The minute we arrived, the clouds parted and the sun started beating down on us! It was super hot, but we were just ecstatic that it wasn't raining. The ruins we pretty awesome; absolutely gorgeous. Topped off by the clear water beach inside of the ruins area. After a glorious dip, we headed out to the main beach to get our fill of the beach. It was A-MAZING!!! That type of thing does not get old! After a bit, it got cloudy again and threatened to rain, so we happily left and headed back to the hostel.
The next day was CLINTS BIRTHDAY!!!!! We woke up and had the yummy free breakfast at our hostel, and headed out to Dos Ojos Cebote for some cavern snorkeling. We ended up biting the bullet and each bought our own snorkel gear, because places try to screw up with rental fees. The cenote was really neat; lots of stalagmite and stalactite.
 
 The water was so refreshing! We headed back to the hostel, only to pile in some girls from the hostel and head to the beach. Mother nature stepped in again, and cut our beach trip a bit short, but again, we were just happy to be able to get out of the hostel. That night, we gussied up to go out for Clint's birthday dinner. We liquored up a bit at the hostel, and set out with several other friends we had made at the hostel. The night was super fun; a bit of dancing, several shots, a good time all around!