Back in Caye Caulker

Decided to come back and dive the blue hole.

Spent a couple of days in Placencia recovering from the sailing trip and chilling out on the beach. Plan was to head up the coast and then head inland to Orange Walk for some jungle and ruins.

However, the gods of the busses decided to intervene and we only made it as far as Hopkins before being diverted from Dangriga (and a tour of Mary Sharps hot sauce factory - KO, I'll bring you back some of this. It will blow your mind) to Belize City, so it made sense to come back here for a couple of days do the dive and then head on.

Sailing

Here's the photos from the boat trip. Morning came with fantastic sunshine and we were all up bright and early to get our kit onto the boat and stowed away.



The boat is a gaff (sp?) rigged 34 footer built in the 70s and made almost entirely of wood.



After a bit of breakfast we cast off and the crew pulled up the sails and we started off sailing to our first stop with favourable winds.




First stop was rendevous caye, a deserted island probably about 50 meters by 20 meters - just enough room for the tents.



Waiting for supper, watching the sun go down and drinking quite a few rum punches.



Followed by a nice campfire (started with liberal doses of petrol).



The following day we were all in quite a sorry state, including the poor boat:



But we were soon off sailing again having been revived by coffee and a bit of breakfast.



Anbd after a few hours of sailing with occasional stops for fishing and snorkelling we reached tobaco caye, this place actually had some civilisation - a bar!



Some nice wildlife:





And of course a very nice beach:



Once again, we watched the sun go down.



Followed by a dinner consisting of the one of the fish that had been caught with the spear gun.



The next day we set of for Southwest Caye, our last stop on our adventure before heading onto Placencia.





No photos of Placencia, you must all be sick of palm trees and beaches by now. Next stop will be Dangria and then maybe Hopkins. But I think we'll stay here for another day. It's a bit too hot to be moving around too much.

Back from sailing

Just spent 3 days on a boat camping on various cayes.

Will post photos tomorrow.

Caye Caulker

So, this is Caye Caulker where I am currently staying:



Very similar to Utila in many ways, only one real main street that goes along the beach.



But all sorts of weird throwbacks to British rule and influence.



And here's the backyard of our hostel - I'm thinking that the hammock might be a good place to spend this afternoon...

Tikal Revisitied - This time with Sunshine!

So we got some sunshine! Walking through the ruins you get a real feel for how old the place is. Trees have grown up through the ruins cracking alters and tipping over structures.



Lots of wildlife as well, I really need to get a cemera with an optical zoom for these pictures.



Once again we climbed the tallest temple in the complex, and here is the view from the top:



Also this time we were able to climb a few of the other temples and get some good pictures



The steps are damn steep!



But defnitely worth the climb.





Lots of oportunities for good photos - if only there was a good photographer around...



And more temples to climb!




More good views:




And onto the main plaza

Belize!

I'm now in Belize! I'm currently on an island off the coast called Caye Caulker. It's beautiful. Hopefully I'll have some photos to post tomorrow. I also have some more photos of Tikal, this time with sunshine!

Tuesday I'll be heading off on a sailing boat for a 3 days cruise camping at various islands and ending up in a nice beach town. Will probably head to the northern part of Belize for some ruins and wildlife after that.

Back in Antigua

So it turns out that getting a new 90 day stamp was a lot easier than everyone told me. The Guatamalan border chap gave me another one without even blinking.

Now I´m back in Antigua. I think I´ll still head up to Belize, but will take it a bit more leasurely and will stop off at some of the places I didn´t get to see before. But as always, these plans might change.

Last night our quiet meal out was interrupted by the Gallo girls!

Just makes you want to have a beer.

Copan Photos

To the ruins!


Here´s some photos of the ball court. According to the guide, the captain of the losing team would be sacrificed to the gods!




And heres one of the sacrificial alters. The channel is for the blood to run down so that it can easily be collected...



These steps record the history of Copan.



More ruins...



Much more detailed carving here compared to Tikal.



And lots of colourful birds.