Costa Rica

The last but not least country to visit on my Central America tour was Costa Rica.

The place I particularly wanted to see was Tortuguero. From San Jose we took a bus to the ferry that would take us to the Pachira Lodge. The ferry ride took 2 hours along the canal system and was quite interesting

                                My luggage is in there somewhere!
Why Tortuguero? In this National park giant water turtles come ashore to lay their eggs and people can book for a guided tour to watch the turtles. This activity is strictly controlled and the guides need a permit from the government to be able to conduct these tours.
There were 2 tours leaving from our hotel, one at 8pm the other at 10pm. We were lucky to be on the early tour as we were a bit tired after all the travelling we had done that day. We set off to the meeting place, where we had to wait for the “spotter” to tell us what the turtles were up to. We had strict dress rules as well. No white or bright clothing,  no cameras or videos,  no phone.
Once the turtles start laying they are in a kind of trance until the job is completed so it is quite safe to approach them.
Again we were so blessed. It was a clear night with a full moon. We could see everything. First we saw a turtle coming up the beach. We stood very still not to disturb her. We had to wait a little while for her to get settled, make a deep hollow in the sand and start laying. We all saw this wonder of nature very close up. Our guide actually lifted one of her flippers to let us see the eggs falling into the hole. When she had finished she started to cover the area. Sand was flying everywhere!! We had been so concentrating on our turtle that we completely missed another one starting to lay her eggs close by.  
Back at the hotel, we had to have a beer and talk about our adventure. What a special event had we just witnessed!
The howler monkeys woke us up at 4.30 am  It did not worry us too much, as we had to get up at 5 am anyway as this day was set aside for a trip around the canals to have a look at the abundant wildlife.   

We saw plenty of this and had to laugh at the antics of the Howler monkeys. Unfortunately it bucketed down with rain, so the walk in the rain forest was cancelled.
We left for Sarapiqui the next day and here we had a ride in the Areal Tram. It was wonderful to view the rain forest from above the canopy of the trees.

Our next stop was Arenal. We stayed in a five star plus hotel right at the foot of this active volcano. From our beds we could see the lava glow in the night sky and clouds of steam leaving the caldera. It was awesome!

Our very handsome Costa Rican guide picked us up from the Hotel and on the way to the airport in San Jose we visited a Humming Bird Sanctuary. I met a rather large, but beautiful spider here. It was bigger than some of the humming birds.

Yes, it is alive! No, I was not scared. Just very, very careful.

Costa Rica, you will always have a place in my heart.

Guatemala

Two other countries I visited on my trip to Central America were Guatemala and Costa Rica.

The Mayan city of Tikal is huge and different to all the other sites I have seen.

We were not allowed to climb all the buildings and for some they had erected ladders to the top as the steps were too dangerous for climbers.

The site is situated right in the middle of a rain forest which meant it was nice and ‘cool’ to walk. The temperature was still in the low forties though.
Most of the pyramids in Tikal are only excavated on two sides, but the whole site is very impressive indeed.
After a few very interesting hours we were taken to the airport in Flores for the flight to Guatemala City. From there we made our way to Antigua. This is a very charming city, surrounded by volcanoes.  The custom in Antigua is that all the hotels are hidden from view by very big walls.

If one does not know where the hotel is, it is very easy just to walk past and never see the beautiful buildings inside.

We spent a day exploring this lovely city and really had a good time. The markets are something else!
From Antigua it was a bus ride to Lake Atitlan. Many, many prayers were said on that bus. It was a hair raising experience. The mountain road was very narrow, the traffic quite busy, with busses and trucks coming the other way. But I am still alive, we made it safely to our hotel.
Lake Atitlan is very pretty, or so I’ve been told. There are volcanos all around it which we could not see.  
It was here that hurricane Dean finally caught up with us. The rain was heavy and  relentless.
One of the side trips that we made from here was to Chichi Castanango. Again the driver must have won his licence in the lottery. He overtook other vehicles in curves, over double lines and in front of an oncoming bus. I was scared!
Chichi  is known for its Church with the steps leading up to it. Many pictures have been published from here.

We thoroughly enjoyed the markets, luckily they are under cover.
The next day we were booked on the 4pm bus back to Antigua and then on to Guatemala City. Because of the rain, I had the bright idea to ask if we could take an earlier bus. We could and we did.  How lucky were we? There were 12 of us plus the driver in a very small bus. We were picked up first so our luggage was inside the vehicle, most of the other cases were on the roof.
It was the most uncomfortable ride I have ever been on. We were practically sitting on top of each other. But there is always a bright side. This time we had a very good and careful driver, but that did not stop the idiots coming the other way. One time we were nearly collected by a bus. Everybody screamed!
On the way we had a long delay because of a landslide, but we made it safely to Guatemala City.  It rained, no it poured all the way.
Looking back and writing this – I must have been crazy, but I so enjoyed Guatemala.

Mexico Part 2

We slowly made our way up north and the next stop on our itinerary was Merida  where we stayed for 2 nights.

Very close to Merida are Uxmal and Kabah and we went to both of them.
I was quite excited to see Uxmal, as this Mayan site is very big.

We were not allowed to climb all the buildings, but I did master the one I was allowed to climb.

Kabah was different again, not as large in area, but the ruins are very impressive. I especially liked the stone carvings.

Our next stop on the way to Cancun was Chichen Itza. The Pyramid on this site has been declared one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. A lady fell to her death only months before we arrived, and we were not allowed to climb it.
Honestly, this was a big disappointment.  I would have loved to stand on top of this very special monument. 

We toured this amazing site for nearly 3 hours, and in this short time, we had rain and sunshine, but mostly sunshine.
What followed was the long, long drive to Cancun.
When we arrived at our hotel - they did not have a reservation for us. What had gone wrong? We had booked, we had paid, please kind sir, give us a room.
The representative for my travel agent had really fouled up and I am sure they were never used again. Everything, but everything went wrong.
When we finally got to our room, we were exhausted.
But it is amazing, what a good nights sleep will do!
We had booked a boat trip to Isla Mujeres for a few lazy hours and some snorkelling. I am very fond of snorkelling.
We were duly picked up from the hotel, again it needed quite a few phone calls to the representative who was invisible for the duration of our stay.
We presented our vouchers for the trip on the Catamaran.  No go. We had no booking. Finally a very kind lady took care of us and put us on a large ferry so we could at least go to the island.
Isn’t it funny how things work out for the best some times. On the way to the island we had a downpour as they can only occur in the tropics. The cat did not have a roof, we were snug and dry on the ferry. Then came the real blessing.
It was here on Isla Mujeres that I had my dolphin encounter.  I was enthralled.
For more than an hour I was interacting with these wonderful animals.

Viva Mexico – I thoroughly enjoyed my visit.

Mexico #1

One country most definitely on my ‘bucket list‘ was Mexico. Mexico City was our starting point and we had booked our tickets for a ‘Cultural’ event, a folklore ballet in the Opera House. I enjoyed that immensely. A funny thing happened though. On that day all roads in the city centre were closed off to cars. The reason? So bicycles could have the use of the streets. No copycats please!

After the show, we had a beer in a real Mexican pub and proceeded to explore town. There was more dancing in the town square, and we were very tempted to join.  All of this gave us a nice feel for Mexico City.

The next day was set aside for our guided tour to visit the Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon. What a place to see. Needless to say I had to climb them both. The view from the top was magnificent.  

When it was time to leave Mexico City we met up with Leo our driver and guide for the next 7 days.
We had a look at quite a few ruins on the way to Oaxaca and made it safely to town where we stayed for 2 nights. From here we set out and spent the day sight seeing.
Some of the ruins are very impressive. I especially remember Monte Alban.

Fantastic place! We carried on to Mitla, and from there to Beneva for a Tequila tasting. We also learned in detail how Tequila is made.
Back to our Hotel for a good meal and a glass or two of Tequila. Yeah!!!!
The next section pof our trip included quite a long drive, 600km to San Cristobal.
A boat ride up the Sumidero Canyon was on the itinerary, but we arrived too late and had to leave it until the next morning.
This canyon is quite spectacular as the nearly vertical walls can reach a hight of up to 1000m.  Very impressive.
It was also from San Cristobal that we visited a real Indian mountain village. As luck would have it, a festival was in full swing to honour  Saint Lorenzo. I adored the colourful costumes of the local people.  

We left early in the morning for Palenque  and on the way visited the Agua Azul Waterfalls. Words fail me, they are so pretty.

Palenque was a Mayan town and the ruins are spectacular. We spent the whole morning there and I climbed to the top of every one of its towers.

We pressed on to Villa Hermosa where we said good bye to Leo. But first he took us to the La Venta Park, home to giant statues collected from all over the country to keep them safe from developers.
It was in this park that we met some really cute animals.

It was then off to the airport for the short flight to Merida.