Hi all,

Well we're a few days into our epic adventure now and well into the swing of the travelling malarky..Yesterday we crossed the Mexico/Belize border into Belize and here's a 'short' of what we've been up to since our last post:

Cancun - Tulum

With an early start we headed to the Ancient Mayan ruins of Tulum where we learnt about the solistice worship that formed part of the Mayan cycle of farming, human sacrifice and symbolic rituals (along with the incredible architecture). We took in the temples, the ruins of the houses of the elite and the military aspects of Mayan life in this area. We had a very informative guide who apparently was friends with EVERYone..."my friend" was every other word. This was both mine and Yvette's first real taste of the heat, having to walk for quite a bit and sweat like camels wrapped in clingfilm we did!

Tulum - Chetumal

Chetumal is the border town between Mexico and Belize, and we were very pleasantly surprised after a 4 hour bus journey to find ourselves parking up outside what seemed like a 5 star hotel...well, by Mexican standards! :) As luck would have it, it was not our day, so over to the dirty shanty town hut we tramped...just kidding, our hotel was ok actually to the extent that Yvette declared that she thought that the accommodation so far on our travels had been 'not bad'! :) Not wanting to wander about on a border town after hours, we went next door for a bite to eat and what for me was the best Mexican meal I have EVER had! (except of course, for Yvette's mums cooking, her Auntie's cooking, her Dad's BBQ meat oh and her very own 'toast special'. haha - had to squeeze that in of course!) Tampiquena I had and looking forward to many more! Yvette was also quite happy that night as her Mexican language skills came in handy as half the group were thoroughly perplexed by the Spanish menu and were listening intently to everything Miss Sanchez had to say with regards to Enchiladas. She's missed a career in tour guiding there!

ANYhow...on to Belize!

The next morning we started at our earliest yet - getting up at the ungodly hour of 05.30 to embark on our banged up old hippie van journey to the border crammed in with our bags only for the michelin man driver to realise there wasn't enough room for all of us, thus resulting in a 45minute charade of trying to get our luggage secured on the roof (without rope!).

Belize is a pretty country with alot of greenery, very pleasant people, alot of black people surprisingly, and we were both surprised to learn that English is the first language. They also speak Spanish and Criole. There are roads that are seemingly endless cutting through what can only be described as jungle territory and following a very amusing border crossing in which I was addressed as Prince Philip (quite right too!), 4 hours later we were in Belize City, the old British Colony.

We were due to catch a speedboat to Caye Caulker. During the wait a little girl befriended Yvette and we got to learn alot about the local culture and their language.

The speedboat journey was a ride in iteself. 45 minutes on a VERY powerful engine had us nearly flying over the waves! We both looked out for nearly the whole way enjoying the stunning views of the tropical islands.

We arrived yesterday to what we both agree can only be described as Paradise! With it's continuous sea breeze, swaying palms, crystal clear waters, and friendly people we both felt we had landed on a gem. We decided to spend our freetime hiring bikes and riding around the small 7km end to end island with a beer in hand.

We all went for yet ANOTHER delicious meal last night and the seafood out here is simply stunning and in abundance it seems. I had the lobster IN the snapper, and Yvette had a lobster and shrimp kebab. Thoroughly satisfying following a lengthy dip in the ocean which we both needed after our boozy bike ride. :)

Today we have had another glorious day of sunshine such that Yvette is literally BLACK right now and my freckles are also beginning to join up. We have been snorkelling all day on a tour of the second largest coral reef in the world. We have both had a blast making friends with the local sharks (nurse sharks that is), Manta Rays, and above all...the most amazingly graceful beautiful Manatees which are very rare to see and which Yvette thought looked like Whales. Trying to keep up with them was a workout!

We both are on cloud 9 right now as this place is literally so awesome that neither of us want to leave. The motto here (think in a Carribean accent) is 'GOR SLOR MON' aka Go Slow! Belkien (Belizian Beer), Sun, Sea and relxation are the order of the day. Bob Marley is a legend here and we feel like hippies being amongst this crowd. I wish I'd have brought my dreadlocks wig and shoe polish! :)haha

Anyhow - tomorrow morning we leave early for our speedboat back to the mainland. Then it's Due South Cap'n....Guatemala...next stop!

See y'all soon

Phil & Yvette