The finest Rum in the world is Guatemalan

Going from Mexico to Guatemala proved to be the fastest and easiest boarder crossing. A quick hop along the river Usumacinta and onto another bus up the road to immigration. James was all prepared for an argument about the illegal £6 they where trying to charge.  saying that he would pay if he could receive an official receipt. The guy said the old 'no pay no stamp' trick... then with no delay promptly stamped our passports without a word of argument! James was somewhere between smug and disappointed after not getting the verbal fight he was so eager for.

First stop we stayed at Flores which is a island-like peninsular in the middle of lake Peten Itza. Enjoying a view we had a couple of beers to toast ourselves into Guatemala and got an early night ready for our 4am start to visit the ruins at Tikal in the morning.

Waking up an hour late at 5am we sneaked onto another bus with a tour group. Opting out of the over-priced group tours was definitely the way to go as we could quietly amble the tracks through the jungle seeing an abundance of flora and fauna. In the early hours of daybreak the spider monkeys were busy eating in the trees, we were lucky enough to see many groups and later in the day a group of the more shy howler monkeys. We had been listening to their bark-like calls all day so it was a real treat to see a big group of over 15 relaxed and about their business. However we were watched like a hawk from the top-dog/howler who swung from tree to tree following us as we watch his troop. James was somewhat wary after reading that they may defecate on one's head - just to let you know who's boss. Lucky for us we obviously were not enough of a threat and avoided the fouling.

Practising Hamlet

The ruins were a spectacle of wonder, surrounded by parrots, caramundi (an animal somewhat like a racoon) and the deafening bird song. From the top of the highest one 'Tempel IV' you can see the peaks of the others - not for us though as it was a misty morning. However being up there just the two of us, looking out into the tree-tops, spotting the odd flash of colour from parrots and toucans flying above the mist was a eerie and dream-like experience. A feeling of freedom grasped us both until a group of rowdy tourists from the USA climbed up shouting about how they should put in an escalator to the top... needless to say we moved on to quieter grounds. Despite it being a Sunday and so more busy we had many ruins to ourselves and spent most of our time alone wandering the tracks eagle-eyed for anything that moved and ears pricked for crazy noises.

                       Biggest tree ever - the great Ceiba

Now they're some COJONES

Onto a bus (not a chicken-filled bus as I had expected) and south to Lanquin, watching the hours go by I was entertained by the luscious green jungle scenery. Guatemala is not only mountainous - it's crumpled, like an oversized egg box, many mountains of almost identical size and shape covered in a thick green carpet.

The roads wind around up and down and houses made of wood shuttering and tin or palm-thatching roofs are dotted with swinging multi-coloured washing hanging out in the sunshine. After 6 hours along the sealed road we reached the bumpy bumpy unsealed road that made the final hours to our destination. We planned to find a hostel called El Retiro where James had pitched his tent 8 years ago. It's located just outside the village of Lanquin. Delighted that it had a room for us (as we had no tent this time) we settled in to paradise in the heart of jungle. The animal life and song is very present... in fact even as I type this a strange creature has taken a stroll around the keyboard. Lucky for us not too many mosquitoes. Situated right along the edge of the river it's a beauty of a spot so we enjoyed the surrounding and spent a few days of quality R&R.

From here we took a day trip to visit Semuc Champey, some stunning waterfall/cascades nearby... it is not very often that things look like they do on a postcard but this natural wonder... WOW. We walked up to the viewpoint first, sweating all the way up the steep path, and then BOOM completely surrounded by jungle this green-blue oasis shone back up at us like a precious stone amongst gravel.

Pickup surfing!

It is not actually a waterfall but instead a limestone bridge. The bulk of the river flows underneath the 'bridge', only some water flows above from pool to pool leaving limestone sediment before the final fall back to rejoin the raging river beneath. Truly the most stunning natural beauty I have set eyes on. Guatemala seems to be 'out-doing' itself with each destination we stop at. We ended up visiting Semuc Champey twice while we where there, it would have been rude not to!

Prehistoric sunbather

Short of time we went direct to San Pedro la Laguna, skipping straight through the very pretty colonial town of Antigua in the shadow of a volcano. Antigua was nice but once we arrived at Lago Atitlan I was very pleased that we had made the decision to spend our time here instead. Lake Atitlan is at 1200m altitude and surrounded by a ring of mountains and volcanoes. It wasn't untill we climbed Volcan San Pedro that I really grasped the sheer size of the lake. A 6am start and a gruellingly steep 2-hour climb to the 3000m summit that tested our fitness to its limit was soon forgotten once we reached the top. A jaw-dropping view across the lake. For me the way down was full of far more pain than the up, as usual my knee deciding it's far too old for this kind of thing. Poor James even had to piggyback me through the steep streets of town back to the wonderful hostel Pinocchio where the rest of the day was spent in the horizontal position.

Regulations have now made it compulsory to take a guide as its a bit dangerous around the area for muggings etc. It is not advisable to walk outside the area of town or from town to town without a giude or transport but in town there is a subtle police presence and a friendly safe vibe. Taking the precautions we had a guide called Lorenzo from Maya Tours, a lovely man full of knowledge and awareness that when you are climbing up steep volcanoes conversation is not top of the agenda. I would recommend him for anyone who might be considering a trip up there.

Knackered and less than half way up!

BOOM

The electricity went out a half-hour after we arrived in San Pedro due to a fire burning down some lines (although first thoughts was someone has stolen the cables!!!) so we lived by candle light and cold showers until it came back on, ironically one hour before we left 3 days later! Our stay was not hindered by the lack of electricity as the town by night was very romantic bathed in candle light. The view across the lake to the other towns twinkling lights and sparkling stars above was also definitely enhanced by our blackout.

In the Mayan villages around the lake all the women wear traditional clothing with beautiful fabrics

Having not yet experienced a Guatemalan chicken bus as tour agencies have been quick to take advantage with many minibuses since James' last visit. He felt it was vital we did our last journey, to the capital, in a local bus. So onto the huge brightly-painted beast we jumped, stuffing our packs under the back seats in a frantic hurry. After a while I thought the bus was full but then about 20 more people got on. We where all like sardines in a can which helped to stay upright as the driver swung the monster truck onto two wheels from corner to corner. It was more like a rollercoaster ride, and I swear the driver only had one speed - fast! When it was our time to get off we exited out the back door, grabbing our bags as quickly as possible - I had my bag but just as James had caught hold of his the bus drove off, his bag sliding out onto the road. The bus hurtled down the busy road with the back door swinging open, conductor hanging out the front door beckoning us to run and get back on - thinking we had fallen out accidentally I guess! Crazy but huge fun, I am glad it was only a short 1 hour ride though.

Free static on market day

Finally I must share a crazy sight our surprised eyes widened to. Along the road in Guatemala city, just before we exited the bus we passed a rum lorry - yeah yeah pretty normal. Oh no - this one had the metal shuttering rolled up at the side and a man stood legs spread, shoulders wide and a pump-action shotgun gripped diagonally across his body! We would love to have taken a picture to share this with you but he was pretty intimidating so we thought better of it. We are still baffled as to his purpose - maybe protecting the rum or just to intimidate, either way it looked like a scene out of the Italian job!

Who da man? Jesus da man!

...we had a 3-stage flight to Colombia and a bit of time to kill in El Salvador airport so we thought
James should try the local beer and I tucked into some Flor de Cana rum - my newly found favourite. Just as we were congratulating ourselves that this is the way to kill transit time we realised that our plane was due to leave in 6 mins. By the time we got to our gate they were just about to final call us and all the staff shot us evil eyes, we hurried onto the plane greeted by name 'ah, James Coin!' by the air hostesses before we did the walk of shame down the aisle!

...and as far as medicine goes, this is by far the finest to have crossed my lips...