Hola!
Central America, the true challenge, on my own, just me and my backpack for 5 weeks...it was fabulous! Yes, I did survive, thanks to everyone who emailed their concerns, they were noted...and then disregarded and I was off on my adventure!
I started in Mexico City where I only had a mild meltdown when I realised I was completely on my own again(!). I spent 3 days there seeing the sights, the Cathedral (largest in the Americas), trawling through the Museum of Anthropology for hours and hours (that was one heck of a history lesson!), the Museum of Medicine (took notes on some very cool bizaare natural remedies), and the largest market in Mexico. Spent a day at Teotihuacan, the Temple of the Sun and the Moon, climbing the tallest pyramid in the Americas at 70 metres, the view from the top was pretty good.
I left Mexico City, negotiating the metro system, backpack and all, and headed south to Oaxaca, lovely colonial town famous for markets, weaving, and special Oaxacan mole sauce made with chilli and chocolate - yum! With a few other travellers from the hostel, we went to see the Monte Alban ruins set on top of a huge flat mountain outside of Monte Alban with a view over the whole valley, then weaved our way through the famous Oaxacan markets before jumping on the overnight bus to Puerto Escondido on the Pacific coast of Mexico. The bus ride was something else completely, screaming round corners at breakneck speed all night long, there was no sleep for any of us that night. Arrived in Puerto Escondido, we wandered down to the beach to watch the sunrise before figuring out where we were going. Two of the others moved on to a beach further down the coast but Eileen from Canada and I decided to stay and that was the beginning of more than two weeks travelling together through Mexico.
Puerto Escondido was a beautiful, relaxed beach town, where we spent 3 days lounging on the beach, going out on boats with locals to spot turtles, and drinking margaritas while lying in hammocks, a really hard life. We took the overnight bus to the town of San Cristobal, up in the mountains and freezing cold(!), and did a trip to Canon del Sumidero where we saw caimans, pelicans, herons, and a petrified waterfall cascading down the side of the canyon which was very very cool, shaped like a Christmas tree. After a 2 days there it was back on the late bus to Palenque, a town famous for the ruins in the jungle, and that was exactly where we were headed that next morning. The Palenque ruins were exquisite, beautifully set in thick green jungle with monkeys and birds chirping, we spent a few hours there, looking around and then just lying in the shade of a tree staring up at the ruins. Then it was off to see Misol-Ha, a single waterfall set down the in jungle that you could climb in behind and into the cave, and then onto Agua Azul, a long series of crystal clear blue waterfalls cascading down over sandy coloured stone. We passed the afternoon away just lounging in the waterfalls, enjoying the peace and quiet of the forest around us, it was perfect. Back in Palenque, Eileen and I grabbed our packs and it was back to the bus station, to another overnight bus (saves time AND money on accommodation), this time on our way to Merida. There never seems to be an easy overnight bus ride, but this one wasn't disturbed by the crazy roads or driving, it was disturbed by the military coming aboard at 1am and ordering us all off for a baggage search. Everyone with a pack had to empty the entire thing for it to be searched and then repack it all before we were allowed back on board and the trip could continue...not so much fun in the middle of the night, and in the middle of nowhere, but its just part of the adventure.
Merida was a big town, the centre point for most of the ruins in the Yucatan Peninsula, and after breakfast we headed straight out to Uxmal, where it poured with rain as soon as we got there! The iguanas there seemed to love the rain, they were all out and about which was fun to see, although we definitely fans of the rain that much. We ended up having to do a running tour of the ruins, from building to building coz its not that much fun having to sit soaking wet on a bus back to town for a couple of hours! That night we were invited out to a Salsa club by some locals which was fun enough, except of course, I can't salsa to save myself! They all tried to teach me, but I'm afraid I'm a bit of a lost cause when it comes to having to shake your hips like those south/central American girls can! I was having more fun getting up and playing the maracas with the band! After a few hours sleep, we were up and off to visit Chitchen Itza, the most famous ruins in Mexico. They were pretty impressive but over-crowded with hundreds of tourists so after a couple of hours we grabbed the next bus to Tulum out on the coast - to the beach!
Tulum was a beautiful white sand beach with turquoise water and swaying palm trees where we ended up staying for almost a week, sleeping in our hammocks in a 'dormitory' cabana-style - a large open shack where backpackers could come and hang their own hammock...it was great except for the lack of doors and windows that meant every night you got covered in sand when the wind came up and blew it all over you! But we easily managed to pass a week with lounging on the beach each day, and we even managed to wander the 200 metres down the road to the Tulum ruins after 5 days on the beach! The Tulum ruins were spectacular, set against the amazing backdrop of the turquoise ocean and cliffs, and surrounded by green grass and palm trees, you could imagine why the Mayans chose to build a city there!
Leaving Tulum meant saying goodbye to Eileen as she headed back up north in Mexico and I continued south into Belize where I spent 6 days chilling on Caye Caulker, a very small island off the coast of Belize, famous for the Belizean Barrier Reef. I passed my time there snorkling with nurse sharks and sting rays, soaking up the sun on the dock at the backpackers, hanging with the local Carribbeans, learning how to understand them, getting harrassed by Australian backpackers and meeting my next travelling buddies, all good fun. After almost a week it was time to move on to Guatemala along with new travel buddy Brian from Florida. The bus trip into Guatemala was uneventful until we crossed the border and our bus didn't follow us! We managed to find out after a couple of hours that another bus had broken down and ours had gone back to help out, but hadn't told us about it, so we just had to sit and wait for it to come back, Guatemalan time though! Eventually it returned and we arrived in Flores, Guatemala, a little island on a lake which was just beautiful. There wasn't any room left at the backpackers by the time we got there but they let us sleep in hammocks in the garden so that was fine, we were getting up at 3am for the sunrise tour to the Tikal ruins anyway, it wasn't like we needed to be in the hammocks for long!
Tikal was amazing, again set in the jungle, we arrived in the dark and hiked through the jungle by torchlight til we reached one of the tallest temples where we climbed up to the top and sat to watch sunrise. Sunrise didn't really happen as it was clouded over but we had the most amazing views of tucans flying from tree to tree, talking to each other as they went, and gradually the mist rose and we could see more and more of the ruins poking out from the jungle. We then had a few hours of exploring the ruins, climbing up all the temples, scaling some of the steepest staircases I've ever seen - worse than Angkor Wat in Cambodia that's for sure! We just chilled at the backpackers for the afternoon, then it was time for Bri and I to catch the night bus down to Antigua via Guatemala City. It was a long uncomfortable ride, but I was used to it by then and eventually morning arrived and so did we to Antigua. Antigua is a beautiful town, all cobbled streets and cute buildings. We had a couple of days there, staying at a funky backpackers where I met two kiwi girls which was very exciting, they hadn't met any other kiwis since they'd been travelling and they were the first kiwis I'd met since saying goodbye to Mary back in Brasil so it was fabulous, we didn't stop talking for ages coz it was just so nice to hear someone that sounded the same as I did and who could understand everything I was saying and vice versa! Brian just sat dumbfounded listening to us talking in our kiwi slang about everything, he said later he could only understand half of what we were saying, especially because we were talking so fast too! Of course, we had no problem understanding ourselves! I also met up with a guy Phil at the hostel, who I'd met on my trip to Palenque the few weeks beforehand, it took us a while to figure out where we knew each other from, but we got there in the end, funny what a small world it is when you're backpacking... That afternoon Brian, Phil and I climbed Volcan Pacaya, the active volcano on the outskirts of Antigua. It was a steep climb up but within an hour and a half we were climbing on real lava, feeling the heat coming out of the rocks and daring each other to get as close as possible to the real red hot lava within reach, lot of fun. We stayed there to watch the sun drop down below the clouds and then climbed/slid back down the volcano with torches. It was great, dirty, but good fun.
Another day of wandering the town, exploring markets and drinking fabulous Guatemalan coffee, and then it was another farewell, this time to Brian heading in to El Salvador, and Phil staying in Guatemala, as I carried onto Honduras on the 4am bus - gotta love these early starts! After a very long day, I finally arrived in La Ceiba on the coast of Honduras around 7pm and found somewhere to stay for the night, because the next morning I was off to Utila in the Bay Islands to learn to dive!
The ferry across was rough as anything and there were people dropping like flies everywhere and I was so incredibly thankful I don't get seasick, but after only an hour we had arrived on the island and I was booked into Underwater Vision dive school before I knew it! It helped that the dive instructor from Underwater, Alfred, was on the ferry over too and had me hooked while still onboard! Utila is a great little island, very laidback, with the main reason for visiting being to dive or learn to dive. The dive course started the next day and it was 4 days of sometimes 12hours or longer, hard work but very enjoyable. I loved learning to dive, took to it like a fish to water and am now stuck with the problem of desperately wanting to go back and do my Advanced Diving! I had another few days on the island, enjoying Semana Santa (Easter) and the festivities that go along with it - a huge rave on the beach on the night we finished our course with fire dancers and all sorts was a great way to celebrate getting our Open Water Certificate! After a few fun dives it was time to leave Utila, head back to the mainland and make my way back up to Mexico City.
I was at the airport at 4am the next morning, on board the plane waiting for take off when they decided there was some technical problem and they cancelled the entire flight! It took 8 hours to get everything rebooked, a long day wasted at the airport, but the airline took us back into town for the night at least. The next day went without a hitch and managed to get up to Mexico City smoothly, it was just a long trip with flights from La Ceiba to San Pedro, to San Salvador, to Guatemala Ctiy, to Mexico City! Talk about the long way round! But I got there, and had been planning on sleeping in the airport overnight but a couple that had been delayed with me from Honduras were on the same flight and they lived in Mexico City and took me back to their apartment with them - that was a different experience of Mexico City! They live in a nice neighbourhood and we wandered cafes and enjoyed dinner at a Mexican Japanese fusion restaurant! It was totally different to the few days I had spent in Mexico City those weeks before, that's for sure! The next morning I was back at the airport at 5am, boarding my flight up to the States and after a few hours flying and a nervous customs experience, they finally let me into the country and onto Indianapolis where I was picked up by my Uncle and Aunt - hooray! It was so nice to get picked up from the airport instead of having to find my way somewhere in another strange city to another strange backpackers, what a treat! And I've been nothing but spoiled since I arrived, hot showers every day, my own room with a double bed, not sharing it with 10 other people, and a flushing toilet that really flushes! Its all a little overwhelming, but I'm loving every second, except the weather - in two days we've had tornado warnings one day and snow today! Hard to believe that only 3 days ago I was on a tropical island in the Carribbean...! So I'll be here, hanging out, recuperating for a while, will hopefully travel round a bit, see a few places in the States and then who knows where? But I'm sure there'll be more adventures just around the corner...they never seem to be far away when I'm around!
I hope everyone is well, thanks for all your emails, I promise the individual replies are coming now that I'm back in civilisation!
Take care, and signing off,
Senorita Ronita xxx
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