One strange thing going to Copán was, that they ask me, if I want a new 90-days visa for Guatemala. Normally this shouldn´t work at the honduran-guatemalan border, so I declined friendly ;)
Next day I took a bus to Puerto Barrios to go from there to Punta Gorda, Belize. I had to pay 80 quetzales to leave Guatemala, and 175Q for the boat. The boat ride was one hour long and I went straight to the house of my couchsurfing host. But she wasn´t there, I started talking and playing with the neighbour kids until the dark. These children told me, that my host sometimes sleeps at a friends house, and I was kind of scared, she forgot about me, so I started to find a hostal. On the way a man started talking to me and we went out for soem beers, after he showed me a hostal. So I got to see Punta Gorda by night, and he wanted to give me a present the next day, that I don´t forget Belize. But he wasn´t there the next morning, so I left PG without seeing him again.
Placencia, my next stop was very relaxed, and I think a lot of British people live there. One woman asked me, if I am from the United Kindom, because my ¨Hello¨ sounded very British english. I don´t even know the differences between the ¨hello´s¨ from the different english speaking countries. But so far, nothing else to say about Placencia, very calm and hot!!!
After that I took a bus and drove on the Hummingbird Highway, which was cool. So many orange trees, over and over the valleys, Orangetress. Cars on the road full with oranges. And all was so green. I would recommend to everybody, take the James bus and drive along the Hummingbird Highway...better, drive it with your own car, then you can stop and make pictures, and you can also stop at the blue hole, a lake in the middle of the rainforest.
In Belize City it was crazy. I didn´t really know, where to stay, so I wanted to go to a bookstore first and have a look in a guide book. But, ha, I asked people about one street and that I am looking for a bookstore. They probably thought, what need this girl with a bookstore, so everybody told me, where I can cross a brigde to find the water taxt to Caye Caulker. So, not my question. An old man showed me a place to stay, finally. His name is Frank, or Volt called by local people. He told me his was a police officer for 20 years, but he is retired now. He showed me a bit of the city and said, Iam safe now, because people saw me with him, and he is respected by everybody in Belize City.
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| frank in front of the old hospital |
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| the blue water in Caye Caulker |
If you like snorkeling, you should go there, the reef must be beautiful. That told me all the people who came from one.
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| Belize zoo |
Then I went to San Ignacio, but I hadn´t belizian dollars anymore, so I decided to go to Guatemala earlier and skip making trips around Cayo (San Igancio called by locals). They day I was in San Ignacio was a holiday, so almost all was closed, but in Cayo they made a city bbq at there river. So families and couples were swimming there, relaxing, and listening to the reggae music. I went there, too and juggled a bit. Some people came over asking what I were doing. That showed me what I miss since September, hanging around in the parc, sitting on a meadow, talking to friends, juggle, listen to music. I´m looking foward to do this again in June in the Alaunpark in Dresden...juhu!!!
I crossed the border to Guatemala and went to Flores. I have been there in December with Erin, but I didn´t go to Tikal, the ruins. So I wanted to do it this time. The day I arrived in Flores, I took a boat in the afternoon to San Miguel, because there is a Mirador to see the Itza lake. A man showed me the way, he recognized that I don´t know the way and showed me a shorter one. I am actually not sure, if it is really shorter then the normal one, haha. From the Mirador you can see how huge this lake is, and the water is so blue. I think, I like this lake better than Lago Atitlan, because the water is cleaner (compared to San Pedro at Lago Atitlan). Later a guatemalan guy from San Miguel came and two italian travellers. I ended up going to the beach, the guatemalan guy recommend us, and later drinking some beer in Flores together with the Italians.
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| you can see the Flores island |
Next day I made Tikal, but I wrote about it already. The day after this was really hot, I couldn´t leave the hostal, haha. But at maybe three I left to go to the beach again in San Miguel. But I had bad luck, 2 minutes in the water and it started to rain with thunder. I waited probably a bit to long, it was raining really hard when i decided to go back. I met Sebastian again on the way back (the guatemalan guy from two days ago) and we went to a place to protect us. But I was already wet and the wind was cold. But we waited maybe 45 minutes until the storm was over. We left, it was still raining, but it was raining into the night. He showed me the ruins of Tayazal and also a tree were spider monkeys are sleeping in the night. But it was getting dark, and I couldn´t see one monkey, they slept too high. Sebastian offered me to go to the zoo Petencito the next day with his canoe (which is more than 25 years old). I said yes.
So next day he picked me up in Flores. The canoe is kind of shaky, so I were thinking if I come back dry to Flores. It was cloudy, so it wasn´t too hot and an enjoyable ride by canoe to the zoo. My spanish works, but often I can´t discribe things as adequate as I would like to. So I got free entrance to the zoo and a lot of monkeys and parrots to see. Other animals too, but, I can´t remember all the spanish names I heard this day. Sebastian told me that the zoo is full at Eastern, a lot of families are coming, to hang out there. In the zoo they have a nice bbq-place with a playground for children and also waterslides. Later we watched some americans using the slides. The first guy was very slow, because there wasn´t a lot of water in the slide. So some parts he walked down. His friend couldn´t wait and started sliding while the other were still walking down. The second guy was very fast, and the other one: OH, NO, SHIT!!! He started running down the slide, tried to be out before his friend comes. But his friend catched him 2 meters before the end of the slide. It looked so hurtful! He made a loop into the water and landed on his friend. I think his back hurt very bad, and it was red. In the same manner one guy died last year on the slide, because of this they have the sign: Only one person on the slide at one time! You can get really really fast....
After the zoo we drove, or better, I let me drove ;) to the museum island near flores. They had some mayan stuff which they found in Tayazal and also from Tikal. Another things were old maschines, like telephones or flat irons.
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| my boatsman ;) |
The next day I took the bus to Guatemala City at 8:30am to go to Antigua. In Guate I catched the last bus to Antigua and arrived there a bit later then 9pm. I couldn´t sit anymore. The first bus was so slow, they made long breaks in every bigger city, then there were an accident on the road and finally the motor hadn´t enough power to make it uphill fast. Sometimes I felt like I am faster walking....
But now I am back in Xela, there is somebody in the flat now, so I can go there!
