Well, we are now back in Costa Rica, ready to fly back to the UK tomorrow! Since our incredible sailing trip in Belize, we have done a few other exciting things...
Tikal, Guatemala
We returned to Guatemala, the Eastern side this time, and visited Tikal. I think these were my favourite Mayan ruins, of all the ones that we visited. The ruins are spread throughout the jungle, and you have to do quite a bit of walking if you want to see everything. Some of the temples are incredible, rising above the jungle itself, and you can get some amazing views if you climb up them - not advisable if you suffer from vertigo!
Some parts of Tikal date back to about 400BC but its peak was between 200 and 900AD. Approximately 100 000 people are believed to have lived there, but incredibly after it was abandoned in the 10th century, it was only discovered almost 1000 years later. There are lots of other Mayan sites in this part of Guatemala, but many of them are inaccessible other than by a few days trekking through the jungle!
Finca Tatin, Rio Dulce
Our next stop was down the Río Dulce, which is a river that leads to the Caribbean coast of Guatemala. We stayed in a hotel called 'Finca Tatin', a place which is only accessible by boat and therefore amazingly quiet and relaxing. We spent our time there playing games, swimming in the river, walking through the jungle, kayaking, and lying in hammocks! All in all, we had a great time, and were very sad to leave.
Utila, The Bay Islands, Honduras
We then moved on down to Honduras to visit the Bay Islands, in particular Utila, which is the most popular island amongst backpackers. It's (apparently) the cheapest place in the world to go scuba diving, which means that it's the most popular pastime in the area. We had planned to stay there for a few days, but in the end we decided to move on, as we weren't diving and there didn't seem to be much else to do on the island. It was also quite noisy, with quadbikes and motorbikes driving up and down the main street. All in all I think we both preferred the Cayes in Belize.
Santa Elena, Costa Rica
Finally we caught the bus back to Costa Rica, where we decided to visit Santa Elena before heading back to San José. Santa Elena is the base for visiting the cloud forest of Monteverde, as well as the forest of Santa Elena. It's a popular spot for canopy tours (zip lines through the trees), although we decided to keep our feet on the ground. We went on two hikes, first a night hike with a guide, and the following day a hike through the Santa Elena reserve on our own.
The night hike was great, we saw quite a lot of wildlife, including snakes (one viper!), a tarantula, a kinkajou, a two-toed sloth, an opossum, owls, and lots of cool and freaky insects. Our hike the next day was good fun too, although without a guide we didn't see quite so much wildlife. The forest was amazing though, it felt incredibly wild and exotic.
We are now back in San José, and flying back to the UK tomorrow! It's been an incredible adventure, keep an eye out for the photos on facebook, I will put a link on here soon.
Tikal, Guatemala
We returned to Guatemala, the Eastern side this time, and visited Tikal. I think these were my favourite Mayan ruins, of all the ones that we visited. The ruins are spread throughout the jungle, and you have to do quite a bit of walking if you want to see everything. Some of the temples are incredible, rising above the jungle itself, and you can get some amazing views if you climb up them - not advisable if you suffer from vertigo!
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| View from the top of Temple IV |
Finca Tatin, Rio Dulce
Our next stop was down the Río Dulce, which is a river that leads to the Caribbean coast of Guatemala. We stayed in a hotel called 'Finca Tatin', a place which is only accessible by boat and therefore amazingly quiet and relaxing. We spent our time there playing games, swimming in the river, walking through the jungle, kayaking, and lying in hammocks! All in all, we had a great time, and were very sad to leave.
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| Johnny on the rope swing at Finca Tatin |
Utila, The Bay Islands, Honduras
We then moved on down to Honduras to visit the Bay Islands, in particular Utila, which is the most popular island amongst backpackers. It's (apparently) the cheapest place in the world to go scuba diving, which means that it's the most popular pastime in the area. We had planned to stay there for a few days, but in the end we decided to move on, as we weren't diving and there didn't seem to be much else to do on the island. It was also quite noisy, with quadbikes and motorbikes driving up and down the main street. All in all I think we both preferred the Cayes in Belize.
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| Utila, The Bay Islands, Honduras |
Santa Elena, Costa Rica
Finally we caught the bus back to Costa Rica, where we decided to visit Santa Elena before heading back to San José. Santa Elena is the base for visiting the cloud forest of Monteverde, as well as the forest of Santa Elena. It's a popular spot for canopy tours (zip lines through the trees), although we decided to keep our feet on the ground. We went on two hikes, first a night hike with a guide, and the following day a hike through the Santa Elena reserve on our own.
The night hike was great, we saw quite a lot of wildlife, including snakes (one viper!), a tarantula, a kinkajou, a two-toed sloth, an opossum, owls, and lots of cool and freaky insects. Our hike the next day was good fun too, although without a guide we didn't see quite so much wildlife. The forest was amazing though, it felt incredibly wild and exotic.
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| Santa Elena Reserve, Costa Rica |
We are now back in San José, and flying back to the UK tomorrow! It's been an incredible adventure, keep an eye out for the photos on facebook, I will put a link on here soon.
Good stuff! Amazing photos! Great to hear from you again, I'd like to visit the Mayan ruins in Guatemala and see the freaky insects in the forest!
ReplyDeleteSee you soon xxx