Saturday 24th June 2006: NICARAGUA: San Juan Del Sur: A Nicaraguan Rodeo

The 24th June is the day of the patron saint of San Juan which involves a procession, lots of partying and a rodeo!

Eric and some of his friends managed to secure some very special VIP seats (plastic patio chairs in the raised section) so off we went with a cooler full of rum and coke. With a great view we waited for the spectacle to begin.

This rodeo was unlike any Rodeo you've ever seen on TV; it's actually insane! It basically involved thirty or so extremely drunken Nicaraguan men standing in the middle of the arena awaiting the arrival of the bull. These bulls weighed in at roughly 500 to 750lbs of charging testosterone. When the gate flew open, out came this huge bull with a very intoxicated Nicaraguan clinging to its back! It was utter madness!!!! Once each rider was bucked from the bull (which is always PDQ!) the other drunken fools would then antagonise and goad the bull into chasing after them - idiots!!!

During one round a huge reddish bull pushed one crazy Nica man head first through the wooden fence to the right of our seats! This guy was very badly injured and in need of instant medical attention, unfortunatley for him he was simply picked up and taken away, a man at each arm and leg. Once the fence was fixed and the crowd had returned from staring at this poor injured man, the next round of madness started! Sadly, but not unexpectedly, a few people were hurt quite badly; we were told one may have died and another is in a coma.

Apparently fatalities happen almost every year and yet they still allow the Rodeo to continue. People treat this as a family day out. We'll admit that we were excited by the whole thing, but at the same time we've never seen such an event where there was such blatant disregard for personal saftey. It's as though the value of life is far cheaper than the need for entertainment.

This was a family day out you will never see back in the UK and one that we will never forget!

The crazy rodeo men!

The Rodeo Party (Oliver, Arelis, JT, Pedro & Eric)

Saturday 17th June 2006: NICARAGUA: San Juan Del Sur

We left Flores, Guatemala, on Thursday 15th, after watching England beat Trinidad & Tobago and took the overnight bus to Guatemala City arriving at 5am. We were fortunate to catch another bus straight away, direct to Managua, Nicaragua and arrived in San Juan on Saturday just in time for our friends 30th birthday party at an MTV Cribs style house with swimming pool overlooking the bay!

Incredibly, in the weeks that we have been away from San Juan, the countryside is now almost looks unrecogniseable. For the most part of our extended stay the surrounding hills and countryside was very dry and dusty, almost desert like, but now that the rains have started the country has been transformed into a luscious green jungle!

We decided to come back to San Juan in order to watch the World Cup with friends and for Oliver to surf plus our friend Eric had kindly invited us to stay with him in his lovely hilltop treehouse type house over looking the bay of San Juan – so here we are enjoying the surf, the company, the football, the poker games and the gorgeous views!


Sunset viewed from Eric's house

Wednesday 14th June 2006: TIKAL NATIONAL PARK: Part 4

The last temple site of our tour was at the Gran Plaza, the main ceremonial site of Tikal and we learnt that the Gran Plaza was also featured in the first Star Wars movie! At the Gran Plaza we sat in the shade of the temples and marvelled at the sight with a nice cold drink before catching the bus back to Flores. A great end to a great day.


The Gran Plaza

Wednesday 14th June 2006: TIKAL NATIONAL PARK: Part 3

Whilst walking through the jungle we came across quite a few different types of animals, from scorpions and snakes to brightly coloured grasshoppers and a funny looking animal that belongs to the racoon family.


A Tikal Scorpion





A beautiful grasshopper





Our day at Tikal really was a day in the jungle! We also saw lots of monkeys – both howler and white faced monkeys which proved difficult to capture on our camera but we did manage to get one shot!


Spot the monkey!

Wednesday 14th June 2006: TIKAL NATIONAL PARK: Part 2

An exciting part of our day at Tikal was being able to climb to the top of some temples. Climbing these temples was not an easy job in the heat and humidity of the jungle and the steep stone steps also added a fear factor to climbing the temples!


Climbing up the temples!





Climbing down the temples!






We were also invited to climb into a Mayan refrigerator which was basically a hole dug in the ground. Again Oliver was the braver when he climed into the dark dank pit to capture this shot!


A Mayan refrigerator

Wednesday 14th June 2006: TIKAL NATIONAL PARK: Part 1

At 5am on Wednesday 14th June we were collected from our hotel and driven through the beautiful countryside to the 550-sq-km Parque National Tikal. As we were driven 16 km from the entrance of the park towards the visitors centre where our tour would begin we noticed the road signs that warned of jaguars and snakes! The tone for the day was set – it was clear this was not going to be just a walk around some ruins but through a thriving jungle! The central area of the city occupied about 16 sq km, with more than 4000 structures.

The Mayan ruins at Tikal are the oldest in the world and were built between 1000 BC and 800 AD. The ruins remained undiscovered for thousands of years until locals discovered it in the 1800s and excavation of the site began in 1848. Now only 20% of the structures have been restored therefore many are still ‘hidden’ under the jungle and will remain so as the Guatemalan government and UNESCO have decided that no more restoration take place in order to preserve the plethora of wildlife that lives in the jungle park.

We began our walk of the park at 8am and our first sight was the crocodiles in the reservoirs that were built by the Mayans. The female crocodile had recently hatched seventeen eggs but we only managed to see a few baby crocodiles as well as the mummy. Our guide then managed to coax a tarantula out of its hiding hole and Oliver got to hold it!!!


Oliver & his new friend, the tarantula!

After our ‘David Attenborough’ moment we then made our way to the temples. As we were only visiting Tikal for one day we were led on the walk that took us to the main temples therefore allowing us to see the main 40% of the park as we were informed that it takes more than two days to see all the ruins. Walking through the jungle park looking at the ruins was really quite amazing as we realised the enormity of the temples and the workmanship that had gone into building the temples thousands of years ago and also the work it’s taken the archaeologists to reclaim the temples from the jungle.


A temple still covered by the jungle






Perhaps the best sight was the view from the top of Temple IV, the highest temple at 64 metres, where we were able to see the tops of temples rising out of the jungle.


Temple IV as seen from the trail leading up to it

The view from the top of Temple IV overlooking the park of Tikal

Tuesday 13th June to Friday 16th June 2006: GUATEMALA: Flores & Tikal

We left Caye Caulker on the 7.30am water taxi back to Belize City. From Belize City we took a tourist bus direct to Flores, Guatemala, a four hour drive away.

Flores is built on a small island in Lago De Péten Itzá that is connected to the lakeshore town of Santa Elena by a 500meter causeway. Flores was founded by the Itzáes after their expulsion from Chichen Itzá in Mexico and is thought to be the last major functioning Mayan ceremonial centre as it was covered in pyramids, temples and idols when the Spaniards Conquistadores first arrived. Flores and the surrounding towns are also located in the Guatemalan Highlands of Péten and the countryside is marked by dense jungle cover. It is in these jungle highlands that the monumental ceremonial centre of Tikal is located and as Flores is only one hour’s drive away it is used as a base for those visiting Tikal.

We stayed in Flores for two nights in hotel overlooking the lake.


View from our hotel balcony over Lago De Péten Itzá

Whilst in Flores we watched the England vs Trinidad & Tobago match with a British couple we had met on our tour of Tikal. We had great fun watching the match with Alex and Emma and it was also very amusing for the locals in the bar watching us Brits screaming for England whilst everyone else was cheering for the other team! As we won the match we all celebrated the win with lunch and a good few beers!



The only England supporters in Flores! (L-R: Emma, Celina, Oliver, Alex)
(Love the shot of Eric Cantona on the TV in the background!)

Monday 12th June 2006: BELIZE: Photos of snorkelling in Caye Caulker

Friday 3rd June to Tuesday 13th June 2006: BELIZE – Caye Caulker

We left Playa Del Carmen on a bus headed for Chetumal on the Mexico/Belize border and then took another bus through Belize to Belize City. We arrived late in Belize City late Friday night and spent the night in a hotel overlooking the river. We woke early the next day (Oliver’s birthday) to catch the 9am water taxi to the Caye Caulker, one of the many Caye Islands off the mainland of Belize. Caye Caulker can only be described as a tropical island paradise. There are three main roads made of white sand and seashells called Front, Middle and Back Street (life there is uncomplicated!) and the island is surrounded by crystal blue waters teeming with a huge variety of aquatic life. There are no cars on the island apart from the occasional golf cart and the maximum speed limit on the island is 10mph!!! Celina had visited the island seven years previously with her sister Sarah and was eager to show Oliver the place that is unlike any other carribean holiday destination. The island was much the same as seven years before except for the many more homes built in that time – when arriving at the island seven years earlier the island had looked deserted from the water taxi port, but arriving this time it was clear that quite substantial development had occurred as ocean front homes can now be seen from the taxi port. Still, even with the development of the island, the island still retains the most relaxed and friendly vibe and Caye Caulker is definitely the most chilled out place we have found on our journey so far. We arrived at the water taxi port with everyone saying “Welcome to Caye Caulker!” and to the sight of a tiled floor mosaic saying: “Caye Caulker: Go Slow!”. Having found a room in a guest house we headed for the split, the swimming part of the island. The split is at the north end of the island and is called ‘The Split’ as it is the place where the island was literally split in two by a Hurricane back in the 1960s. At the split is The Lazy Lizard Bar where everyone writes their name and message on the wooden poles and roof of the bar. Celina did look for her message from her visit before but sadly it was no longer there – the bar had been rebuilt in the year 2000 after a Hurricane destroyed the bar! We continued the tradition and added our names to the hundreds.


The views from our guesthouse on Front Street

The writings on the wall at The Lazy Lizard Bar

As it was Oliver’s birthday we celebrated the day at The Lazy Lizard drinking rum punches and swimming and snorkelling in the beautifully clean and warm waters and making friends with the locals and other visitors. We met a small group of two Americans men and one woman who were holidaying for a week from the States and it turned out that one of the men, Cartwright was also celebrating his birthday on the 4th June so all we ended celebrating together at Maurice’s restaurant and Maurice even made a birthday cake!



The happy couple on Olivers birthday


Our nine days on the island were very very chilled as we followed the island motto; GO SLOW! The most strenous thing we did was watch England beat Paraguay!!!!! However we did also manage to exert enough energy to go on a snorkelling tour. We were hoping to take Ras’s tour but sadly his boat wasn’t fixed in time so instead we took a half day tour (couldn’t take the full day one as now the World Cup is on our timetable works around that!) of the reef with Raggamuffin Tours – (great name!). We had a great afternoon out snorkelling by the reef which is the second largest barrier reef in the world at 165 miles long! We saw a huge quantity and variety of fish; barracuda, parrot fish, puffa fish and so many more we can’t name! We then got back in the boat and went to a spot called ‘Shark & Ray Alley’ because this is where you get to swim with the Nurse Sharks and Stingrays! It was quite mad swimming with these fierce looking creatures and we didn’t stay in the water too long ‘just in case’!!!! We took some great pictures with the disposable underwater camera so we’ll try and post these on to the blog once we find somewhere that can develop the film! 

Monday 12th June 2006: Our last day in Caye Caulker

Our last day on the island was quite sad. We had come to meet some lovely people but it was time to move on to Guatemala. However, we had the best end to our time on the island when we went fishing with Ras.

We were having our last night drinks at The Lazy Lizard Bar. We met Ras at the bar so we all had a drink together and when Ras realised that it was our last day he invited us to go “Catch some fish” right then! So, the three of us got into this little skiff boat with our rum punches and some bait, hook and lines and went to hunt some snapper fish. It was such a fantastic end to our time on the island – fishing in the carribbean. The sun was setting, the breeze was just right, and we were sat on the boat throwing in a lines and picking up bites frequently. We all caught own fish but Ras caught the most fish as he was the master fisherman! We didn ‘t reaslise there were so many different variety of snapper and in our short time (about half an hour) out on the boat we caught three different types; Red, Mutton and Silk Snappers! Once we’d caught enough fish for dinner we took the fish to Maurice and he cooked them for us on the grill – a great last supper on Caye Caulker.

Celina, her fish & Ras

Oliver, his fish & Ras

Oliver & Maurice with our catch of the day

The perfect sunset on our time in Caye Caulker

Monday 29th May to Saturday 3rd June 2006 - MEXICO: Cancun & Playa Del Carmen

Claudia and Sarah had promised us at our wedding that they would come meet us whilst we are on our honeymoon, so we were delighted to receive the emails confirming their holiday to Mexico for the week of 28th May.

So after almost three months it was time to leave the place we had been calling home; San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua. We were quite sad to leave the friends we had made during our stay (even though we knew we’d be returning some time soon) as we also then became aware of the time running down on our honeymoon travelling – our time in San Juan had flown by!

After travelling through six countries, on five different buses, for forty eight hours straight; we finally arrived in Cancun, Mexico late at night on Monday 29th May. We stayed at the same hotel as Claudia, Sarah and Lesley (Sarah’s mum), the Hotel Caribbean Princess which was an all inclusive resort. We found the resort extremely luxurious in comparison to the house we were renting in San Juan Del Sur and we certainly enjoyed the swimming pool, food and the free alcohol from 10 o’clock in the morning! We spent our time at the hotel sunning ourselves by the pool, talking lots and drinking even more! So much so that Celina managed to get heatstroke on the first day from too much sun and was unable to enjoy the one big night out during our time with Claudia and Sarah but Oliver still had a great night out with the girls!

Having spent three nights at the hotel we all then caught the bus to Playa Del Carmen, another beach town one hour’s drive from Cancun. Here we stayed for two nights in Sarah’s friend Tomas’s house (Tomas flew in from Miami and met us at Playa) which was again very luxurious. We much preferred Playa to Cancun as Cancun is basically a tourist trap and very developed, whereas Playa is less so, but then again even Playa with it’s brand name shops was a shock to the system after three months in small San Juan. However, we did enjoy having Domino Pizza and Haagen Daaz ice cream again after so long!

The beach at Playa was beautiful; turquoise sea and white sand and our first day at the beach happened to be when the Annual Fishing Contest was being held which was quite cool to see the fishing hanging on the podium.

Playa Del Carmen Annual Fishing Contest

The Holiday Party (Claudia, Oliver, Lesley, Sarah, Tomas)

It was really nice to catch up with our friends and hang out together somewhere other than London. Sadly after five nights it was time for everyone to go their separate ways and we said our goodbyes and are looking forward to seeing them all again when we get home sometime later this year.

Celina and the funniest Sake Girls, Claudia & Sarah