Week 12, Belize, Guatemala
22/8
Rose at 6.30, breakfasted, packed and on the road at 8.00. To Orange Walk. Did a boat trip from there, which was terrific. Great boat ride, beautiful nature, croc's, monkeys, maya temples, cold beers, and so on. Look...
Back: cookgroup. Shopping, cooking, doing dishes, let the rice burn, well.. its done now. We have decided to stay here for an extra day, since its so relaxed here. So tomorrow i publish week 11. Wifi is good here. Sleep well.
23/8
Rose at 6.45, way in time to do breakfast i thought. Everybody was up already, due to the hour time difference with Mexico probably.
So, setup kitchen and started. Luckily Norm and Laura came out to help, so for the next 6 days no cookgroup. Oh yeah!
After breakfast, I went to town with Richard. ATM, a coffee and a stroll through the small town. Visited the museum, bought some sunscreen (im peeling like an idiot, even have a little fever) and relaxed for the rest of the day. Blogging, facebooking, extra nap, and good old Bijan... he gave me the luxury of a room up here at the campsite. Thanks dear friend! Highly appreciated.
Sipping a beer now on the veranda of our camping restaurant...
Laterz...
After dinner the suprise... a pineapple cake for my birthday. So nice! At 9.30 everybody went to bed.
24/8
Woke up at 6.00, showered, packed, breakfasted and on our way to Belize city.... see you there.
Short drive to our camping spot. About 15 went to the islands off the coast, 7 of us stayed here. After all there is a nice restaurant, a beach and a cool breeze from the sea, so... ate and did some shoping nearby with Lutz and Norm, then off to the beach. Well, a man-made beach, but nevertheless, it was all right. Swam, sipped a beer, and back to the truck at 5.
I got a phonecalfrom a good friend, with some bad news wrt the health of his girl friend, also a good friend of mine. No details here, but it swept me of my feet.
Going to install my sleeping gear in the tent. Then some dinner in the nearby restaurant where the rest of the 7 are too i guess. Here is a picture of our camp site for the next 2 days...
Laterz...
Had diner with Lutz and Stephany. Discussion about american politics ... well, discussion.... S kept on talking and we... just were annoyed again. At the end of the discussion S thought that everything and everybody was against her... Oh well, that just will not change.
Slept early, but.. warm, warm, warm, despite the hard wind.
25/8
Woke up at 6.30, showered (good shower facilities), breakfasted in relaxing mode (took an hour), did the media, had a good talk with Jono. Waiting to go on a short trip (with the truck) to the zoo. See you there...
The zoo was not much. Expensive though. Oh well ...
It was nice to see a leopard, since its very unlikely we see one in the wild.
Came back at 1.30, set up the tarp, and off to the beach i was ...
Sipped a beer at the restaurant and went back to the truck. We're already planning our stay at Rio. That's half a year from now! Anyway, laterz...
Rest of the evening sat down, watching the lightning and thunder with Lutz. Went to bed at 9.30, watched fringe and fell asleep at 11, to be woken up again by rain and storm and a wet sleeping bag. Rain stopped at 12 and when i woke up again (6 am) everything was dry. It was a dampy night though... unpleasant heat.
26/8
Rose at 7. Showered, breakfasted, was annoyed once more by S (kept the shower building occupied for 1.5 hour), breakfasted. Rest came back from the islands. Nice to hear the stories. Dan was the last to arrive (waited for half an hour). Left at 9.30.
A 3 hour drive to the border with Guatemala. Border crossing took 2 hours. Had some lunch there with Bijan and Richard. Continued at 15.00.
Guatemala is just as beautiful as Mexico. Look ...
Arrived at a improvised campground round 18.00, after several attempts to find an official campground. Setup camp, had diner (Lauretta cooked, so high quality). Went to the bar on the opposite side of the street, where we are now, sipping beers. See you tomorrow.
Went to sleep at 10, episode of fringe and slept reasonably well (warm and humid though).
27/8
Rose at 6, slow breakfast with a stunning view over the lake (reminds me of Vietnam actually) ...
... shower, the media and left at 8.15 for the Tikal ruines. Supposed to be the most beautiful Maya temples in the world. Well, lets find out... see ya.
Well, it was expensive and not that special. I mean, nice, but i had seen similar temples already, so... could have done without. Oh well...
An ATM and a good lunch followed , before we hit the road again for a long , long drive (where as we just wasted time this morning for a full hour of doing literally nothing (ps: don't tell, but the british are bad planners)).
Anyway, we arrived at this shipyard wild camping spot in a little town called Fronteras at 7.30 and the poor cookgroup still had to cook. I gave them a hand obviously (although, it's not always that obvious to everybody ... grr).
Updating blog now over a cold beer (that i still have since the US, so about time to finish it).
PS: Karim just has this shout-out!
Waiting for dinner now... poor cookgroup ...
They managed to make a nice meal though. Bob got me a beer (for helping the cookgroup out i guess, or because im a nice man ... 😉). Went to sleep just after 9, since we had to rise at 5.45. Slept well, despite the heat.
28/8
Rose at 5.45, showered, packed, breakfasted and on the road to lake Atitlan, where we'll stay for 2 days. 400 K to go though on bad and bumpy roads. See you there ...
Morning went well and we did a lot of milage. Had lunch in the outskirts of Guatemala city (McDonald's ... yes, i know, but still... it was delicious).
On we went and a 7.00 we arrived at the campspot near lake Titalan. It was dark already, so we had no idea what place it was. Facilities looked good though.
Cookgroup hadn't taken enough time for shopping, so bread, too little salad and burned sausages it was.
Sipped a beer and went for an episode of fringe at 10.00h. Slept like a log!
PS: there are some tensions in the group, wrt who does what (some do a little extra, some try to do as little as possible) and wrt the new driver and his rough(er than Will's) driving style... lets see how that works out.
Meanwhile, lets not forget to enjoy. After all, we see a lot of the world, which is a fantastic experience.
See you next week...
Rose at 6.30, breakfasted, packed and on the road at 8.00. To Orange Walk. Did a boat trip from there, which was terrific. Great boat ride, beautiful nature, croc's, monkeys, maya temples, cold beers, and so on. Look...
Back: cookgroup. Shopping, cooking, doing dishes, let the rice burn, well.. its done now. We have decided to stay here for an extra day, since its so relaxed here. So tomorrow i publish week 11. Wifi is good here. Sleep well.
23/8
Rose at 6.45, way in time to do breakfast i thought. Everybody was up already, due to the hour time difference with Mexico probably.
So, setup kitchen and started. Luckily Norm and Laura came out to help, so for the next 6 days no cookgroup. Oh yeah!
After breakfast, I went to town with Richard. ATM, a coffee and a stroll through the small town. Visited the museum, bought some sunscreen (im peeling like an idiot, even have a little fever) and relaxed for the rest of the day. Blogging, facebooking, extra nap, and good old Bijan... he gave me the luxury of a room up here at the campsite. Thanks dear friend! Highly appreciated.
Sipping a beer now on the veranda of our camping restaurant...
Laterz...
After dinner the suprise... a pineapple cake for my birthday. So nice! At 9.30 everybody went to bed.
24/8
Woke up at 6.00, showered, packed, breakfasted and on our way to Belize city.... see you there.
Short drive to our camping spot. About 15 went to the islands off the coast, 7 of us stayed here. After all there is a nice restaurant, a beach and a cool breeze from the sea, so... ate and did some shoping nearby with Lutz and Norm, then off to the beach. Well, a man-made beach, but nevertheless, it was all right. Swam, sipped a beer, and back to the truck at 5.
I got a phonecalfrom a good friend, with some bad news wrt the health of his girl friend, also a good friend of mine. No details here, but it swept me of my feet.
Going to install my sleeping gear in the tent. Then some dinner in the nearby restaurant where the rest of the 7 are too i guess. Here is a picture of our camp site for the next 2 days...
Laterz...
Had diner with Lutz and Stephany. Discussion about american politics ... well, discussion.... S kept on talking and we... just were annoyed again. At the end of the discussion S thought that everything and everybody was against her... Oh well, that just will not change.
Slept early, but.. warm, warm, warm, despite the hard wind.
25/8
Woke up at 6.30, showered (good shower facilities), breakfasted in relaxing mode (took an hour), did the media, had a good talk with Jono. Waiting to go on a short trip (with the truck) to the zoo. See you there...
The zoo was not much. Expensive though. Oh well ...
It was nice to see a leopard, since its very unlikely we see one in the wild.
Came back at 1.30, set up the tarp, and off to the beach i was ...
Sipped a beer at the restaurant and went back to the truck. We're already planning our stay at Rio. That's half a year from now! Anyway, laterz...
Rest of the evening sat down, watching the lightning and thunder with Lutz. Went to bed at 9.30, watched fringe and fell asleep at 11, to be woken up again by rain and storm and a wet sleeping bag. Rain stopped at 12 and when i woke up again (6 am) everything was dry. It was a dampy night though... unpleasant heat.
26/8
Rose at 7. Showered, breakfasted, was annoyed once more by S (kept the shower building occupied for 1.5 hour), breakfasted. Rest came back from the islands. Nice to hear the stories. Dan was the last to arrive (waited for half an hour). Left at 9.30.
A 3 hour drive to the border with Guatemala. Border crossing took 2 hours. Had some lunch there with Bijan and Richard. Continued at 15.00.
Guatemala is just as beautiful as Mexico. Look ...
Arrived at a improvised campground round 18.00, after several attempts to find an official campground. Setup camp, had diner (Lauretta cooked, so high quality). Went to the bar on the opposite side of the street, where we are now, sipping beers. See you tomorrow.
Went to sleep at 10, episode of fringe and slept reasonably well (warm and humid though).
27/8
Rose at 6, slow breakfast with a stunning view over the lake (reminds me of Vietnam actually) ...
... shower, the media and left at 8.15 for the Tikal ruines. Supposed to be the most beautiful Maya temples in the world. Well, lets find out... see ya.
Well, it was expensive and not that special. I mean, nice, but i had seen similar temples already, so... could have done without. Oh well...
An ATM and a good lunch followed , before we hit the road again for a long , long drive (where as we just wasted time this morning for a full hour of doing literally nothing (ps: don't tell, but the british are bad planners)).
Anyway, we arrived at this shipyard wild camping spot in a little town called Fronteras at 7.30 and the poor cookgroup still had to cook. I gave them a hand obviously (although, it's not always that obvious to everybody ... grr).
Updating blog now over a cold beer (that i still have since the US, so about time to finish it).
PS: Karim just has this shout-out!
Waiting for dinner now... poor cookgroup ...
They managed to make a nice meal though. Bob got me a beer (for helping the cookgroup out i guess, or because im a nice man ... 😉). Went to sleep just after 9, since we had to rise at 5.45. Slept well, despite the heat.
28/8
Rose at 5.45, showered, packed, breakfasted and on the road to lake Atitlan, where we'll stay for 2 days. 400 K to go though on bad and bumpy roads. See you there ...
Morning went well and we did a lot of milage. Had lunch in the outskirts of Guatemala city (McDonald's ... yes, i know, but still... it was delicious).
On we went and a 7.00 we arrived at the campspot near lake Titalan. It was dark already, so we had no idea what place it was. Facilities looked good though.
Cookgroup hadn't taken enough time for shopping, so bread, too little salad and burned sausages it was.
Sipped a beer and went for an episode of fringe at 10.00h. Slept like a log!
PS: there are some tensions in the group, wrt who does what (some do a little extra, some try to do as little as possible) and wrt the new driver and his rough(er than Will's) driving style... lets see how that works out.
Meanwhile, lets not forget to enjoy. After all, we see a lot of the world, which is a fantastic experience.
See you next week...
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