San Ignacio (Caracol, Caves) and Tikal

Sunrise from water taxi leaving Caye Caulker

Lots of updates.  Haven´t had much internet the last few days.  Had been using wifi with my iphone, but there has not been wifi in my hotels the last few days.  I´m limited on time, so there´ll probably be a lot of typos.

Left on the first water taxi out of Caye Caulker on Friday morning.  Got into Belize City around 8 am and spent all day, til about 5 biking to San Ignacio in the heat and humidity.  It was 70 miles, lots of hills for the last 30 miles, but for the most part was good road. Mostly through farm land.  Still getting used to the steering and balance of the bike, with the weight of the bags, it´s hard to go straight.  Not really harder to peddle though, doesn´t seem to make a whole lot of difference.  I for some reason thought it a good idea to bring only spandex exercise clothes.  I´m definitely regretting that now, it sticks to my skin like saran wrap in this heat.  I Will probably end up buying some more clothes at some point, or I will lose weight and the spandez will fit better I hope!  Also been putting on sunscreen everyday even though its a pain, still getting some sunburns.  Have about 4 layers of ridiculous looking tan lines.

On the road to San Ignacio

Pretty farms close to San Ignacio

Entrance to Actun Tunichil Muknal (Cave)

Mayan pottery in ATM cave

Dry area of the cave, had to walk in socks only for this this part!

crystals in the cave

skeleton of a 17 year old deep in the cave

me inside the cave!

Tiny door ways for tiny people at Caracol

Plaza at Caracol

Caracol

Entrance to Rio Frio Cave

Inside Rio Frio Cave

Exit out of Rio Frio Cave

We stayed 3 nights in San Ignacio.  It was nice to have the break from biking and we got to go on 2 tours.  One of a cave full of Mayan artifacts.  It had pretty turquoise water running through it and was very long and intricate.  Still has skeletons, pottery and  sacrificial blood letting plate, etc. inside!  Second day was a tour to Caracol Mayan ruins.  Was a hour and a half drive on awful bumpy road, can compare it to riding a mechanical bull.  Pyramids and structures were very impressive.  On the way back we stopped at another cave, Rio Frio Cave, this one was short and wide, we could see both openings from inside.  It was really cool.  Then we made one more stop at Rio On Pools, which are a series of cascading pools in a river with a few small water falls.  Was very pretty and a refreshing swim.

We attempted to do laundry in bucket in our hotel room, didn´t really come too clean.  Lots of sunscreen on my clothes still.  And in this humidity stuff takes forever to dry so my clothes now small rather moldy.  I think we will have to pay someone to do our laundry in the future.  Also haven´t bought shampoo yet and have been washing my hair with castile soap, so it is in a constant state on greasy nastiness from sunscreen.  Can´t wait for the luxury of buying shampoo sometime in the next few days!

Yesterday morning we left San Ignacio for the Guatemalan border at about 6 am.  Border crossing was easy and we were through by 8am.  For the first two hour after crossing into Guatemala we had the nicest road yet, super smooth with a shoulder!  And it was cool and foggy with pretty scenery of tropical looking cow fields.  By about 10 it the sun came out and it got super hot and the road got really hilly.  We also encountered some sections of the road that were dirt and very bumpy and difficult to ride on.  We got chased by dogs which was extremely scary for me and we also saw lots of pigs crossing the road.  The total mileage for the day was about 50 miles, but took almost as long as the 70 mile ride.  The hills were really tough on me.  We got to El Remate at half past one.  We are in a nice hotel with hammocks right on the Lago de Peten Itza.  We´ve had the best rice and bean meal of our lives since arriving.  And today we visited the Mayan site of Tikal.  Was a very nice day.

Rio On Pools

Waterfall at Rio On Pools

Tikal, grand plaza

Saw a lot of these at Tikal, we think they are Coati

(Red) gumbo limbo tree!

Me and the Grand Plaza at Tikal

View from Temple 4 at Tikal

Tomorrow the journey continues to Poptun where my favorite hostel is located, Finca Ixobel.  It´s gonna be a long day, 70 miles, but lots of downhill and we are starting super early to avoid some of the heat.