Email sent 5 February 2009..............Guatemala to La Ceiba, Honduras

 

We had an easy border crossing from Belize into Guatemala, once again the people were helpful and friendly, not at all what we were expecting from what we had read by other travellers. The first 45km’s from the border town of Melchor de Mencos was a bumpy and dusty gravel road, then it turned into the worst potholed tar road we have been on since Kenya. Thankfully that was the only really bad road for the rest of our travels in Guatemala.   Once again we were blessed with the most beautify scenery from the shores of Lago de Peten Itza to the Tikal ruins in the Tikal National Park.  The park is 576 sq km’s and contains thousands of separate ruined structures.  The area which has been mapped by archaeologists (over 3000 structures) with the Grand Plaza where we were visiting is only 16 sq km’s.  The ruins and camp site was fantastic as it is 17km’s inside the national park which meant that the birds and animals were protected.  We got really excited when we saw so many new species of birds and animals roaming free.  The most amazing and colourful bird we have seen is the Keel Billed Toucan, its bill/beak is almost the size of its body, yet it picks the small nuts from the palm trees with the tip of the bill and then with a quick little upward flick of the head it throws the nut into its throat!  There were also Collard Aracari, Red Lored Parrot, Great Kiskadee, Lineated Woodpecker, Great Curassow, Oropendula and the Oscillated Turkey.  We also saw the Howler Monkeys, Spyder Monkeys, Pizote (Koatymundi) and a Grey Fox. Unbelievable, Praise the Lord!

 

We were up and about at the crack of dawn and by 6am we were strolling the jungle paths to the Grand Plaza. Wow, what a lovely sight so early in the morning.  We climbed the wooden stairs (built alongside the structure by archaeologists to stop more damage to these ruins) to the top of Temple II and sat and admired the beautiful view of Temple I – built by King Moon Double Comb, the Central and the North Acropolis. We found Temple III still mostly covered by the thick jungle except for the top of the tower (55m high) which is higher than the trees growing on its sides.  At Temple IV (64m) we once again went up the series of steep wooden stairs and ladders which zigzagged to the top of the structure.  From this view point we were higher than the rest of the site and could see the tops of Temple I, II, III and V sticking out through the trees in the distance.  Wow, amazing!  We had the binoculars with us, and from our vantage point we saw Howler Monkeys curled up in the tops of the trees waiting for the warmth of the sun-beam and two Keel Billed Toucans calling to each other.  Then we were off again to El Mundo Perdido (The Lost World) a complex of 38 structures surrounding a huge pyramid.  We must be suckers for punishment because Temple V (58m) also had the wooden ladder up the side but this one went straight up!  It is by far the tallest ladder that we have ever climbed – who needs the gym?  The Lord is providing his own work-out program for us!  Hallelujah!!  We were pleasantly surprised at how beautiful and clean the northern part of Guatemala is.

 

On the road toward Poptun we met three other overland travellers, Paddy on a forever braking down Aprilia from Ireland, Jason on an R100GS from San Francisco, and Mat on a F650 Dakar from Alaska.  We decided to join them for the evening in Flores, this is a little island in the lake – Lago de Peten Itza and it is connected to the lakeshore town of Santa Elena.  The first hotel we stopped at was closing down and the lady said that she had no rooms but the bike could be parked in her now empty reception/shop, when she realized that we would be four bikes and five people she quickly sent a team upstairs to prepare rooms for us!  What a blessing, not only did we have very secure parking for the bikes but we also all got good rooms at a very good price, thank you Jesus.  We had a nice evening together chatting about travels.... well, what else?  We left early the next morning as we were heading for Honduras.  The border crossing was interesting as we were two-up on the motorbike and the customs officer wanted to send us to Puerto Cortes to get the vehicle road permit, but that meant that there was no space for the ‘guide’ who is supposed to travel with you!!  After a phone call to the head office they filled in a vehicle permit by hand and we were on our way. Once again we were pleasantly surprised to see modern shops all with the American flavour – so far we have seen almost everything except Mac Donald’s and Wal-Mart!  We have also seen some seriously fancy houses along the Caribbean Coast!  Our first stop was Rolli’s Place in the little sleepy coastal town of Omoa.  Then we travelled through Tela to La Ceiba, where we currently are.  Most of the little towns and islands along this part of the Caribbean coast have Garifuna – they are descendents from West African slaves and Carib Indians. In many ways we feel at ‘home’ here with these people, who seem to have a very similar culture to the Africans on the East Coast of Africa, just as friendly and happy-go-lucky. The area is very tropical and thick jungle covers the slopes of the mountains which run along the coast.  There have been some serious rain showers the last few days but thankfully it is not cold and I am even more thankful that we are not in the tent at the moment. When the weather cleared we decided to spoil ourselves and do a jungle canopy tour – this was loads of fun and a good adrenalin rush.  The view from some of the cable runs was stunning, we could see over the tops of the trees all the way down to the coast line and the Cayos Cochinos (islands) in the clear Caribbean Sea, wow, beautiful!  We also saw the most amazing big cobalt blue butterfly, it had wing span of about 10cm.  Unfortunately is only flittered around and did not settle on anything but that was beautiful enough.  We also went on a tour to the Cayos Cochinos which is a group of 13 islands about 16km’s off shore.  These privately owned jewels are composed of two hilly, lush islands (Cochino Grande and Cochino Pequeño) and 11 small coral cays.  On old British maps, they are called "The Hog Islands" and lore has it that British pirates (Henry Morgan and the likes) "planted" hogs on these cays so they would have meat on their return trips.  In 1993, the Honduran government designated these cays and surrounding sea a Marine Biological Reserve. We had a wonderful day in the sunshine snorkelling and sunbathing, just like real tourists.

Sms sent 9 February 2009....................We spent the night at Lake de Yojoa, Heading for Danli, if early enough we might cross the border into Nicaragua.

Epos gestuur 12 Februarie 2009..............................Honduras
La Ceiba was 'n lekker genoeg stad om so paar dae daar deur te bring. Van daar af is ons na Trujillo, so 160km oos, ook op die noord kus van Honduras. Halfpad soontoe keer die polisie ons voor, en verduidelik dat die pad vorentoe toe is, en ons die alternatiewe roete (grondpad) moet vat, wat soort van paralel met die hoofroete loop. Dit het gesous asof dit uit die mode gaan, en ek het sommer geweet dat hierdie grondpaadjie nie so lekker gaan wees om te ry nie. Dit was ook toe so, plek plek was die pad so gliberig soos piesang skille, en ek moes maar katvoet oor daardie dele ry. Ek dink die grondpad was so 60km lank, maar gelukkig was daar beter dele ook, waar ek darem so 60 kon ry. Die terein en omliggende omgewing was mooi groen van al die reenwater.

Ons het drie rustige dae net buite Trujillo gebly by 'n plek met die naam van Casa Kiwi. Ja, soos die naam voorstel, behoort dit aan 'n New Zeelander. Dit het steeds kort-kort bly reen, maar ons het die tydjie gebruik om te ontspan. Die enigste nadeel was dat die miggies ons gevreet het, en laat ek jou vertel dat ek vat eerder 'n muskiet byt voor ek 'n miggie byt vat, want dit jeuk vir 4-5 dae aaneen.

 Naby ons kamer venster was 'n hoop hout, wat so paar Iguanas gehuisves' het. Waneer die reen ophou, en die sonnetjie dreig om uit te kom, sit die 'menere' bo op die hout en bak in die son. Ek het hulle sit en kyk vir so paar uur aaneen. Dis nie dat hul doen en late so interesant was nie, want hulle sit meeste van die tyd soos soutpilare, stok stil. Daar was nou nie juis iets anders om te doen nie, en ek het nog nooit regtig geleentheid gehad om 'n Iguana met die verkyker van nader dop te hou nie. Die een ou grote was duidelik die 'koning' van die hoop hout, want as hy beweeg dan pronk hy sy kop so op en af en die ander kleiner Iguanas gee maar pad. Die groot man se lyf was seker so 350-400mm lank, en sy sterk dieselfde (700-800mm in totaal). Die kleiner outjies was so 200-250mm lyf en 400-500mm totaal. Ja, stel jou voor 'n trapsoetjies van 'n half meter in lengte,lyk soortvan dieselfde.Op een tyd was daar 9 van hulle op die hout. Chaz (die New Zeelandse eienaares) vertel ons toe later die aand dat die locals sop maak van die Iguanas, en dit as 'n lekkerny beskou word.

 Ons het gehoop dat die weer sou verbeter, aangesien ons graag wou gaan snorkel het op die skeepswrakke wat vlak in die baai le, maar die weer voorspelling vir die volgende week het sleg gelyk, so toe pak ons maar ons ou esel en maak soos beesmis, val die pad. Soos die weer voorspel het, het dit liggies gereen, maar nietemin het ons die rit deur die pragtige oerwoud-agtige omgewing baie geniet. 'n Groot deel van die pad suid was baie sleg, en ek moes stadig ry, maar dit het ons die geleentheid gegee om pragtige voels te sien. Hulle het alerande eksotiese kleure, vanaf pot blou to helder oranje en alles tussen in. Elke keer waneer ons 'n 'nuwe' voel of dier sien, prys ek net die Skepper vir Sy eindlose vindingrykheid en magdom. Dis waar dat hierdie avontuur ons nie net baie van kulture en diere geleer het nie, maar ons ook nader aan God gebring het, op baie maniere. Ons het baie lof gehoor van 'n blyplek naby Lake La Yojoa, en het soontoe gemik. Die meer en omgewing is pragtig, ook met alerande pragtige voels en digte oerwoud. Die blyplek daar was egter 'n bietjie van 'n teleurstelling, en ons het maar net een aand oorgebly. Die hoofpad suid was nie van die beste nie, vol slagate en onbeskofte bestuurders. Gelukkig was die pad deur Telegalpa (Honduras se grootste stad) nie sleg nie, en ons kon deur ry in 'n japtrap. Ons plan was om in Danli te oornag, maar aangesien dit nog vroeg in die dag was, het ons besluit om aan te stoot na die grenspos, en Nicaragua.