More volcanos, less rain please

The next stop of the trip was Antigua, a nice little town in the highlands of Guatemala. It's a beautiful city full of charm and surrounded by volcanos. However, when we arrived we didn't see much apart from rain, more rain and then some rain. A tropical storm was hitting most of Central America and it stranded us in Antigua for the week.

Yup, there's a street under that river, somewhere

But the rainclouds did have a silver lining. It made sure we stayed there long enough to do some much needed Spanish lessons. We booked ourselves for a week of one-on-one lessons, four hours a day, for five days straight. To increase my chances of improving my current repertoire of Spanish (which pretty much solely consisted of how to ask for a beer), I opted to stay with a local family in Antigua for some immersive learning.

But when I arrived at the house to find five other students there with the same intention, I soon realized I wouldn't learn a whole lot of Spanish there - although I did learn very quickly that 'huevos' were eggs and 'frijoles' were beans since they seemed to make up the majority of meals there!

I may not have learned much Spanish staying with the locals, but I did have a pretty cool view from my bedroom

While studying for the week, we got to spend a lot of time in the city. It's filled with cobblestone streets, some cool buildings and lots of other students looking to relax over a pint after a hard day at school (including the bunch of Irish I'd met earlier in Guatemala). Conveniently, the city has some great pubs for said students in need of a quite (or not) pint. It did feel kinda weird to hear myself saying -

"I'll come out for a pint, but first I've got to be home for dinner at six and then I've got to my homework, but I'll be out after that"!

Near Parque Central, Antigua

Café No Sé, definitely my favorite pub in Antigua

The (fridge) door into the Mezcal Bar in No Se

It was only towards the end of the week, when the weather started to clear that we realized how good the view surrounding the city was. Three giant volcanos towered over the city, one of which, aptly named Fuego was easily recognized by the frequent dark clouds of smoke it would emit.

On one of the mornings, before school (which didn't start until 1.00), we headed to the Pacaya volcano for an up close and personal look. The volcano had just erupted in the summer of the pervious year so it's still pretty active, and the terrain still very recent.

One of the local dogs showing us the way. He stole my lunch later on - cheeky!

Walking around near the top if the volcano was like walking on a foreign planet. It was totally baron, with steam vents and crazy rock formations all over the place.

We even got to toast marshmallows over the volcano - one of the things I had to do before leaving Central
America.

Mmm....volcanoey!

Climbing to the top of Pacaya also provided some cool views of the surrounding volcanos

Edgar, Nico and I. If you look closely, you'll see a cloud of  smoke from the volcano on the left which erupted while we were there.

Unfortunately, one of the sad things about Antigua is that this where most of the group from Belize were going separate ways. Six of us had traveled together for nearly three weeks. Nicola and James were heading off on a three day bus trip to Costa Rica, Edgar was headed for the highlands of Guatemala and onto El Salvador, Elke would head back to Belize for a flight down to Chile and Nico and I hoped to keep traveling together until we reached El Salvador.

When you're traveling with people you're around them 24-7 and you get to know them very well very quickly so while you might have met someone only a week or two beforehand, it's still sad to see them go.

The gang's last night together

Once the week was up and the roads had been reopened (there had been some huge landslides and lots of road closures with all the rain) we left Antigua, to spend a few days higher up in the mountains by Lake Atitlán.

Chilling by the lake.

We headed for San Pedro which is a chill little town right on the lake. A nice change from the city of Antigua, and deserved break after a week of partying studying. Lake Atitlán is surrounded by small towns, one of which is San Pedro. It's pretty easy to kayak from town to town, and there's some great hiking around the lake as well.

And of course, there's more volcanos here as well!

Some great cliff jumps we found on while kayaking around the lake

After a few days by the lake, Nico and I decided to head for Xela, the second biggest city in Guatemala and a great base for some good hikes. I was happy to have spent some time working on my Spanish - by now I could even order some food with my beer! Who knows, with my Spanish progressing quickly I might even be able for some traveling in Cenral America...

More Pics:

• Antigua and Pacaya
• San Pedro and Lake Atitlán

Guat's Up!

Our first stop in Guatemala was Flores, a tiny little island in the middle of a lake, not too far from the Belize border. Flores is beautiful, with a nice waterfront and tiny cobblestone streets it has small seaside resort feel to it. I will admit, the small-town feel was quickly forgotten once you crossed the bridge to the mainland and the first thing you passed was a Burger King! Still though, once you were on the island you were very much away from any feeling of being near a big city.

The island of Flores

It's a great town for relaxing by the water, drinking cheap mojitos and cubra libres and going for a dip in the lake to cool off.

Dusk at the lake. We ended up swimming out to the island in the background - it wasn't until we were half way there that one of the guys mentioned that we should have asked if there were any crocs in the lake, I think he was just trying to make us swim faster. 

From Flores, we headed for a day trip to Tikal, some of the most famous Mayan ruins in Central America.  We set off at 4.30 in the morning (I'm still not quite sure why we left at stupid o' clock) to wander around the huge archeological site, taking photo after photo, awing and gasping at every monolithic temple towering over our heads.

Temple #1 in the background. You used to be able to climb this but it's now closed off because people kept falling to their death -  you see, there are safety standards in Guatemala!

There's thousands of ancient structures in Tikal, only a fraction of which have been excavated. Of those are some huge temples, the biggest of which being Temple IV. Climbing to the top presents you with an amazing view (and heart palpitations!)

The view from the top of Temple IV - check out some of the other temples poking above the forest canopy

From Flores, we headed on a fun eight hour bus ride to Lanquin. We stayed at a cool hostel with some great views of the surrounding area. 

the view from the deck of the hostel

And while myself and Nico, ended up spending the first night sleeping in hammocks in the bar

Nico and I in catching some zzzs while the night continues in the bar

the view from the dorms (and even the showers) the following night definitely made up for it

view from the dorm room

From Lanqin we did a day trip to Semuc Champey which has some amazing lakes and cool caves. While the caves may not have been as spectacular as the ATM caves in Belize, what made this trip was the fact that everyone was given just a candle to light their way as we swam and climbed our way through the network of caves. I wish I had a waterproof camera with me, as the words can't describe how sureal it is to be deep inside a network of caves, and just seeing the path ahead of you lit up by candlelight.

After the trip through the caves, we crossed a bridge which our guide told us was good to jump off. Of course we didn't need any encouragement and were soon throwing ourselves into the river below like lemmings.

Nico posing mid flight

Just incase we hadn't had enough excitement that day, we headed for a quick hike up the hill overlooking the beautiful turquoise lakes below, where we'd spend the afternoon relaxing.

Check out out the lakes below

Going for a dip to cool off

What's a amazing about these tranquil lakes is that there's a raging torrent of a river flowing right beneath them! The huge river splits in two, the majority of which creates a world of nastiness flowing underground and the rest of it creating some beautiful, peaceful lakes.

The view from just above the lakes.

James, Elke, Nico, Edgar and I above the lakes

The evening after the trip to Semuc Champey, Nico and I went in search of a rafting trip which we heard might be possible nearby. He was hoping to go rafting while I was hoping to find a kayak and tag along. After we had been quoted outrageous prices we had pretty much given up hope and were heading back to the hostel, when I spotted a pickup truck outside a restaurant with a kayak strapped to the roof. Without hesitating I headed inside in search of the owner.

We met the owner of the kayak, Paul from the US, and the owner of the pickup Roberto from Guatemala. Together, they had set up a rafting company in Guatemala over 15 years ago. The rafting company finished up quite a while ago and Paul moved back to the US, while Roberto spends the summers as a raft guide in Colorado and the rest of the year in Guatemala. Paul had just returned for a quick trip. After chatting to them for a while they told us they were putting together some footage for so promote the conservation of rivers in the area and invited us to tag along for a rafting trip on the Rio Cahbon the following day.

That night, it turned out there was a bunch of Irish folks staying at the hostel. And of course, when Irish people get together (especially this bunch), it's only polite to have a few sociable ones.

Myself, Neal (from Cork) Jill, Anne, Alana and Bronagh (all from Dublin) doing what the Irish do best

The next morning I managed to crawl out of bed and head for a day of rafting.

Roberto our guide with Edgar, Nico, Justin and I ready for our first day rafting

None of us had been rafting before, but Roberto had over twenty years experience as a raft guide and we were soon paddling down stream with Paul kayaking alongside us. The river was pretty easy with some nice big water class III rapids, perfect for our first time rafting. While I'd have preferred to be in a kayak, I must admit it was fun to see the river from another perspective.

Full steam ahead!

 It was a great day out on the river - huge thanks to Paul and Roberto for taking us out. All we had to pay for was the park entrance and give some money towards the shuttle driver - cheap cheap. Unfortunately the guy they'd organized to drive shuttle neglected to take the handbrake off while driving to the take out and ruined the brakes on Roberto's pickup. The drive back to the hostel became a class V shuttle as we drove through torrential rain with practically no brakes!

The rain bucketing down as we slowly make our way back to Lanquin

And so after a great start to Guatemala I hopped on the bus for another eight hours heading further into the country in search of volcanos and Spanish lessons...!

Lots more pics

• Flores
• Tikal
• Semuc Champey and Lanquin
• Rio Cahbon

Conches and caves

I landed in Belize city airport and stepped off the plane wondering if I had made the right choice by heading off for three months traveling by myself in Central America. After a quick cab ride and a boat out to the island of Caye Caulker, I knew I had.

Caye Cauler is a seriously chilled out spot. Everyone on the island is so laid back that I really don't know anything ever gets done. At one stage, I had some guy shouting at me because I was walking too fast. I had heard they did that but didn't actually believe it! The locals all speak English, but often with such a strong accent (it almost sounded Jamaican) you're not sure what language it is.

A long way from home

I had booked the first few nights accommodation in Yuma's House, a hostel on the island, and apart from flights it was the only thing I had organized. I was basically planning on winging it for the next three months.

The hostel, right on the waters edge

The hostel was pretty sweet, right on the waters edge and as soon as I got settled in I got talking to some of the others staying there. A few of us headed out for dinner that night, there were two Germans, two English, one Spanish, one Dutch and myself. Little did I know that I'd stay traveling with them for the next few weeks.

One big happy family

Belize is famous for it's diving and snorkeling so I made it my business to see what all the fuss was about. One of the guys and I hadn't been diving for a quite some time so we arranged to do a refresher dive. It's handy to remember what's what when you're twenty meters under the sea.

The following day a few of us had organized a boat trip. The plan was to head out on the boat for the day, do some snorkeling, some spear fishing, catch some fishies and then head back to head what we caught for dinner.

Chilling on the boat

The snorkeling was good but not nearly as good as some of the stuff I've done in Florida, I don't think we went to the best reef. But what more than made up for it, was the spearfishing. While snorkeling, once we spotted a fish we could catch, (half the problem was figuring out what fish we were/weren't allowed to catch) we had to dive after them and get close enough catch them. By the end of the trip we returned with enough to feed the lot of us.

We finished the evening by chowing down on the fish we had caught that day. Ain't gonna get much fresher than that!

Dinner Time

The catch of the day washed down with some local brews

While staying in Caye Caulker, the weather was pretty patchy. And while the diving in Belize is excellent, the visibility for dives looked uncertain with the mixed forecast, so we (six of us in total, we said goodbye to Abraham the Dutchman) decided to head to San Ignacio in search of some ancient Mayan caves.

The entrance to the caves - the only way in is to swim!

The Actun Tunichil Muknal caves (commonly referred to as the ATM caves, which can can make for some confusing conversations) were used for ancient Mayans rituals including human sacrifices. The trip to the caves involved a hike through the jungle including a few river crossings.

Nicola and I cooling off as we're crossing the river

Once we arrived at the caves, we got some helmets and torches and were led through the deep pools and narrow passages of the caves - Indiana Jones style!. Once inside we found some amazing rock formations and chambers.

Getting ready for some exploring

Edgar and I in the caves

Caves look so much better if they're only lit up with the torches you have with you

But what made these caves so different from others (apart from the fact that we had to swim and climb through them) was the Mayan archeological sites they enclosed. The place was filled with ancient pots, skulls and most famous of all, 'The Crystal Maiden', the full skeleton of a teenage girl still in the positon it was found - any National Geographic fans will have see this before.

Skulls and stuff!

The Crystal Maiden

The caves alone would have been cool, and the Mayan archeological site alone would have been cool, but to have the two combined made this an amazing expererince - to think that nearly two thousand years ago, people ventured into these caves by torch light, and carried out sacrifices to the gods is hard to fathom but cool to think that we got a glimpse into this ancient past.

After spending some time in San Ignacio, we left Belize behind us and headed for the next country on the list, Guatemala....

More pics here:
Caye Caulker: https://picasaweb.google.com/105659496923832797916/CayeCaulkerBelize02
ATM Caves: https://picasaweb.google.com/105659496923832797916/ATMCavesBelize

Colorful Colorado

I made it!

And so I finally made it to the last state on the road trip Colorado! I crossed the boarder after an evening drive from Sante Fe, so I got to see the sun set on the Rockies for my first sight of this impressive mountain range. And no, that picture on the Coors can doesn't quite do it justice.

The Rockies

It kinda felt like I was driving into Mordor

The car and all the toys made it to Colorado!

I had heard that Salida was another cool ski town on the way to Breckenridge so I swung by to check it out. When I arrived, there was neon signs and fast food chains all over the place. It was only then that I realized I really didn't know anything about Breckenridge. Had I made a huge mistake moving to a place for the winter that I knew nothing about?

I was soon to find out that Breckenridge was not Salida, it's a seriously cool down. And so, 4,265 miles and 15 states later I arrived at my home for the winter, Breckenridge Colorado.

Breckenridge! This winter I will mostly be found on the slopes in the background.

I was hoping to stay with some friends of mine Dustin and Anna who had moved out here from Boston. They were out of town for the week but still let me crash at their apartment, right in the middle of the town - thanks guys!

I got to spend a few days in the town getting my stuff ready for the trip to Central America and just hanging out in and exploring the area. The town (and from what I hear, the entire state) is an outdoor enthusiasts dream. Everywhere you look there are hiking trails, mountain biking trails, and everyone I met was into some kind of outdoor activity.

Breckenridge is full of locally owned cafe's and places to eat and even at the start of October, probably one of the quietest times of the year, the nightlife was still decent. I'm looking forward to enjoying the apres-ski here in a few months time.

Just five minutes (at most) bike ride from the middle of the town were some great forest trails, and all the mountains surrounding the town were covered with downhill and cross country mountain biking trails.

One of the many mountain biking trails in the area.

And obviously being surrounded by those mountains there's some amazing hiking to be done as well

Admiring the view

One of the great things of arriving in Breckenridge when I did was that the fall colors were out. I admit it, I may have done a bit of leaf peeping.

I was really impressed with Breckenridge, and can't wait to spend the winter here. It's going to look pretty different in a few weeks once the snow arrives and I'm hoping that like last year, they get another epic year of snowfall. Bring on the powder!

After a fun few days in 'Breck', I jumped on a bus for a quick stopover in Denver before setting off on the next leg of the journey - three months backpacking around Central America...