Flores - Guatemala

Flores – Guatemala

Post published:11 January 2014
Post category:Central America Guatemala

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Nuestra Señora de los Remedios y San Pablo

Leaving behind the Caribbean short stop-over in Belize, we continue overland entering Guatemala. Starting at the very north is the Peten Itza Lake with the city of Flores, a little island connected to mainland to Santa Elena just across the causeway. But why to come here you may think? Flores is the gateway to the heart of the Maya Civilization, with Tikal, one of the ancient capitals of the Maya world just at little over an hour away.

This northern region of Guatemala is very peaceful and tranquil, almost fully covered in pristine jungle. Because of its remoteness you will be happy to know that it’s not very touristy and restaurants and bars are still so real and traditional without inflated prices nor tourist traps.

Flores and Santa Elena both have nothing else to offer than that, a beautiful spot in the middle of your trip. The point of arrival into the incredible Maya world of this region. Still, very charming streets, churches and its amazing people, a unique colonial flair everywhere. So colourful and so traditional, it seems time stood still in this region. Not to mention the gorgeous food anywhere. (more…)

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San Pedro Island - Belize

San Pedro Island – Belize

Post published:8 January 2014
Post category:Belize Central America

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La Isla Bonita

Travelling all the way here to beautiful San Pedro Island in the pristine of the Caribbean was quite an unique experience to say. Just merely a day and a half stop over in the country of Belize and for 2 equally important reasons. The first was the route. Back in Merida, Mexico, we started to travel overland and while some routes could have been done by plane, this would have set the costs really high. Also, between Cancun and Flores in Guatemala there is no airline connection, leaving the only possible option the bus. We were travelling from Mexico to Guatemala via Belize.

The second reason, getting on a flight over the UNESCO World Heritage Site listed second largest barrier reef in the world to Caye Ambergris and the famous San Pedro Town. The hundreds of paradise coral islands is what we have in mind when talking about Belize and we wanted to experience it first hand. And as an extra, a curious fact this time, who have never heard of Madonna’s song La Isla Bonita? Last night I dreamt of San Pedro… Well, this is said to be the island she might refer to.

Infrastructures are still old and poor and thankfully there are no big hotel properties. This is perhaps one of the reasons the place has retained its charm and laid back attitude. Unfortunately, I guess this is due to change with so many North Americans buying properties on mass and owning business as we experienced first hand, and the ever increasing number of tourists of course. Still, you can enjoy the quietness and tranquility here than if going instead to the over-touristy and also over rated, Caye Caulker. (more…)

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Belize City - Belize

Belize City – Belize

Post published:8 January 2014
Post category:Belize Central America

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The Old Capital of British Honduras

After a long night bus ride from Cancun, we arrive 2 hours delayed to the former capital city of Belize. The bus was almost full, all of us tourists, therefore both border crossings took much longer than expected. Then, the heavy rain on the way did not help either forcing to reduce the speed. We wouldn’t have minded if Belize City was our final destination that day, but we were having an onward flight to catch to San Pedro right after the supposedly original bus arrival time.

Let’s be honest, Belize City has absolutely nothing to see or do tourist-wise speaking. No charm, almost none to zero sights, houses falling apart and pretty much filthy and dirty everywhere. This is not a place you come for holidays, this is a place you come as a bridge to the incredible beauty and nature of the hundreds of islands just minutes away on what will probably be the shortest flights you have ever taken in your life.

But what happened here for a beautiful English colonial capital city to become what is today? Flooding, hurricanes and fires. It is painful to see the old pictures from the beginning of the 19th century and compare these to the same locations today. Almost nothing stands any more. It is for this reason that the government decided to move the capital inland to Belmopan after Hurricane Hattie in 1961 almost flattened over 75% of Belize City. Long gone are such incredible wooden mansions and elegant streets and monuments.

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Cancun - Mexico

Cancun – Mexico

Post published:7 January 2014
Post category:Mexico North America

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The Riviera Maya

Our last 2 days in Mexico we decided to spend them resting in Cancun. After all the previous busy and tiring days, we though the best we should do was to have a well deserved rest in between, before continuing on to Belize for a short stop followed by a busy week in Guatemala and a final resting days in Panama. But from our original thoughts to what the reality unfortunately was, it’s a big difference.

The weather. It really ruined what was meant to be sun, beach and pool for two days. The freezing blizzard happening in North America pushed too much south and while temperatures were not cold in Cancun, we did not get see a ray of sun at all. Thankfully we could enjoy the beach on the first day. Very warm water and nice outside temperature, just big clouds but no rain. Only towards the end of the day it is when the strong wind and heavy rain started. That was the end of our beach time the following day.

In any case, if you plan in coming to Cancun around the same time of the year as we went, be aware that the chances of rain are quite high. Other months of the year are better but then you need to be careful during the hurricane season. It’s kind of a lottery to be honest. We were unfortunate in this occasion. (more…)

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Uxmal - Mexico

Uxmal – Mexico

Post published:5 January 2014
Post category:Mexico North America

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Oxmal, Three Times Built

Another day and another Maya city: welcome to Uxmal. The 4th pre-Columbian archaeological site we visit in this trip so far, and sadly meaning only one more left to go. This is quite different to Chichen Itza even the distance separating both is not that big and both are of Maya civilization. The main difference is the architectural style. Although structures are always repeating on every city; final decoration, sculptures and finishings are not the same. While Chichen Itza has a wide mix of styles, Uxmal is entirely Puuc.

How can you easily spot what is Puuc architecture? Notice the intricate mosaics made of stone on the upper façades of the constructions. This is something unique to this style and the finest examples are found in Uxmal, the largest city on such style.

Being around half of the size of Chichen Itza, and so near to many other Maya cities, it is easy to actually visit more than one in the same day. In fact and as I will explain below in the section how to visit the site, there are Sunday tours where they take you to 5 cities. This is called La Ruta Puuc (the Puuc Route). (more…)

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Chichen Itza - Mexico

Chichen Itza – Mexico

Post published:4 January 2014
Post category:Mexico North America

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At the Mouth of the Well of the Itza

Welcome to Chichen Itza. The third pre-Columbian archaeological site we visit on our tour, and one of the finest of the entire Maya civilization for the size, history and how well preserved it’s been kept and excavated. An UNESCO World Heritage listed masterpiece. Incredible to see how some of the constructions seem to have been built recently, but in fact, they are even 2000 years old. Of course it’s been greatly restored and rebuilt, adding back the missing stones taken over centuries for the use on other constructions like the Spanish did for churches and cathedrals upon conquering the region and founding new cities.

The site is still not fully excavated, but it’s one of the most uncovered and studied Maya cities in the region, including as far as Guatemala. The jungle in here is not as dense any more as it used to be years back, something that helped in the other hand to uncover and discover new constructions. This is a subject I will come across again when talking about Tikal in Guatemala because in there that is the totally opposite side of the coin, pristine thick jungle where 80% of the ancient city still lies under the jungle.

From all the structures in the site, two will get your look immediately for being in perfect shape. The Castle (El Castillo) pyramid and the ball court. The pyramid is so well preserved that you can see the snake effect on the stairs, for this you will need to look to it sideways and there you will see the head of the snake and the body all the way up to the top. (more…)

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Merida - Mexico

Merida – Mexico

Post published:3 January 2014
Post category:Mexico North America

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The Capital of Yucatan Region

Leaving behind the Mexico City of the country and all the beautiful places we’ve been around, we move to our next base: Merida, the capital city of Yucatan region. Our main aim for a base here? Get to visit two of the major and most important Maya cities: Chichen Itza and Uxmal. Sadly for us, we could not count with more days to keep exploring the many other Maya cities in this region, therefore we had to choose and decided for the most important ones.

Merida has retained one of the finest collection of colonial buildings in the country and hosts the very first cathedral to be built in the New World. Of course no need to mention here that the distribution of the city follows the same pattern as any other in Mexico, where the Zocalo is the main square with the cathedral and City Hall along the sides and the streets follow a strict grid pattern. Wherever you walk is another sight, no wonder it is one of the finest colonial old towns in Mexico to be listed by the UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

Now the main question is how many days you do need here. Let me tell you, for the city itself you don’t need more than one. It is small enough to make a one day visit perfect. But since coming to Merida is mostly because of visiting the Maya cities around, then it is really when you need to calculate your time, which cities you want to visit, and how many. We spared 2 days to visit 2 sites. Gladly I would have stayed longer and keep visiting as many others as possible but my plan for this trip included 3 other countries, therefore I was limited in time. (more…)

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Puebla and Cholula - Mexico

Puebla and Cholula – Mexico

Post published:2 January 2014
Post category:Mexico North America

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Angelopolis, the City of Angels

Moving on to some other stunning cities while we traveling across Mexico we reach the jewels of Puebla and Cholula, some of the most wonderful places the country has to offer. Two cities right next to each other, the smallest volcano in the world, and the largest pyramid by volume in the world. Plenty to see and do, ideally on a two day visit although if time is your limitation, a well planned one day visit will be good enough as it was in our case.

Both cities, but specially Puebla, the 4th largest city in Mexico and a wonderful UNESCO World Heritage Site listed old town, do follow the usual Spanish colonial orthogonal street planning with a central square, usually named the Zocalo, home to the cathedral and City Hall buildings along the sides. From all the cities we visited, plus the many villages we passed by travelling on buses, this was repeated on and on. Having such city planning, it is almost impossible to get at any point lost.

The best way to fully discover and enjoy the countless historical buildings and sights all around is by doing spirals or zig zags. Both ways are quite self explained. After all the sizes of this places are small and straightforward.

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