Every time we reach this stage, an end to yet another chapter of the trip, I have mixed feelings. They are so mixed; I don't know what they are. I don't want to leave, but it's time to move on ( Read more... )

My skin is all wrinkly - time to get out of the water I guess. Besides, Belize just got interesting on mainland. Yes, thank you, you know-it-alls, I know that technically you can't even spit in Belize and not hit a National Park or a reserve. Those though, are all so high on price and low on wildlife and adventure, we mostly stuck to the ( Read more... )

A month break and we are back to exploring indigenous sites where time left almost no stone unturned. It is home to the longest Maya text found yet carved into the steps of a very tall and wide staircase. Unfortunately, the "manuscript" was found in pieces all over the place and some blocks badly eroded, so the text is jumbled and its full meaning ( Read more... )

No gates, no guards, or fancy signs. Just a one tree hill and a huge stone head peering out the charred ground. The head itself is black with soot - the locals have been coming to pray along its side and burned fires under its now chipped-off nose. There are candle remains and pieces of garbage on the ground. If it wasn't so, I wouldn't have ( Read more... )

To make it easier to explain, a hot waterfall is, in many ways, a lot like a hot shower. For one, getting out is just as hard - you want to stay as long as time allows and just stand there under the pressure of the water, watching your skin wrinkle and feel your mind going a bit foggy from the heat. One way this hot waterfall was not like a hot ( Read more... )

To understand why we went to Bonampak, I must first tell you about Luis. He came as a package deal with the Tikal sunrise-tour, which was the only way into the site at that hour. He was a good guide, at least this is what we thought at the time, though a little pretentious repeatedly telling us what page we could find his name on in the Lonely ( Read more... )

Hate to sound redundant, but today's forecast doesn't yield anything new other than more problems with the car. We were having the worst luck! Everything that could break - broke, and anything that could have gone wrong - went. Even as simple task of ordering a part to be delivered from Guat City (we gave them the part number and everything), ( Read more... )

It never ceases to amaze me how every slice of Mayan culture, every relic, every ruin that we visit, is a new experience time after time. Maybe, the thing is, we never expect it. It being the thing we end up liking the most. It doesn't have to be the ruin itself, but perhaps what we find inside aside from the structures themselves. For that reason ( Read more... )

San Cristobal, you are a saint! Yes, yes, I know San Cristobal is a saint, but I'm talking about the amazing town of San Cristobal de las Casas in Mexico where we came back after almost a month journey in the Yucatan Peninsula and entered a magical zone where not only souls find peace and are able to unwind and relax, but harddrives as well succumb ( Read more... )

Unfortunate but true, just like the book said, Villahermosa was not living up to its name. It was by far not a villa anymore, but a big town, and the only hermoso thing around was supposed to be the Park-Museum La Venta, were the original giant Olmec heads were put on display after being dug out in the nearby La Venta ( Read more... )