Yesterday I left Caye Caulker for El Remate near the Tikal Ruins in Guatemala. I had a pretty crazy day, took a snorkeling tour out to the reef off caye caulker and swam with many eagle rays and reef sharks at "shark/ray alley" where they basically just throw a bunch of food in the water every day to attract them. we also snorkeled around the shallow reef which had some eels, barracuda, yellow tailed snapper and a variety of other fish to check out. I got some great under-water pictures with my camera! After snorkeling I booked it to the water taxi and arrived in Belize City shortly after, needless to say Belize city isn't really appealing at all. It's dirty, sketchy and seemed like everyone wanted money or to have you buy something from them. So I spent a solid half hour there and then hopped on a chicken bus headed to the Belizean/Guatemala border. Now they say you have to ride a chicken bus at least once to get a solid cultural experience within central america, i'd say I got that experience after 20 minutes and then it was 3 hours of
sitting on an uncomfortable, packed, dusty ex north american school bus. I just tried to relax and think of it as that field trip I always wanted to go on in elementary school, except to the guatemalan border... I decided to hope off the bus in San Ignacio about 20km before the border because it was starting to get dark and going across isn't a good idea at night. turned out to be a good call because I ran into my 3 friends from caye caulker headed the same way. One Dutch girl Mara and a french couple Eddie and Sandy. so now I'm working on my French and Spanish! going over the border today was much easier with four people splitting a cab for the entire way to El Remate. the ride was over and hour and cost only $6 each. we have a nice room on the lake here now and I'm loving just how cheap it is in Guatemala. watched a beautiful sunset over Peten Itza lake tonight and had a relaxing swim. tomorrow we will likely go to Tikal and stay over night in a temple at the ruins, I'm excited to watch the sun come up from the top of a mayan pyramid! Next stop Semuc Champey.