Well we´ve had an interesting time in the north of the country... It started off well cruising down the Rio Dulce on our way out to the Caribbean sea... Lots of bird spotting (sadly for Ashley only wildlife, not women) and massive waterside pads, one with 18 (yes 18!) yachts, boats and jetskis moored up outside - evidently lots of gringoes have made a lot of money in the area - something to do with it being on a drug trafficking route perhaps? We spent some ...

After all that fun and games it was time for a bit of culture with the mother of all Mayan ruins in Tikal. A very early start to be there for sunrise and a drive into the depths of the jungle - very similar to the Angkors in Cambodia. We pretty much had the complex to ourselves so we spent hours exploring the various temples and plazas spotting monkeys, toucans, raccoons and tarantulas along the way. We´re still none the wiser as to what any of the temples an...

Guatemala is definitely rising up the ranks as one of our favourite countries. From the lake, we bussed it up to Lanquin and met some hilarious New Yorkers along the way - before long we were conducting shakey face contests and comparing the length of our second toes. As you do. On arrival in Lanquin at our party hostel/riverside retreat, we were met by the weirdest barman - a midget Guatemalan who looked exactly like Nik Nak from James Bond´s The Man with th...

Next stop was up in the hills to the huge Lake Atitlan and its little towns of San Pedro and San Marcos. Really pretty with lots of indigineous folk but sadly a place with a few scare stories. We´d heard that robberies often take place on the roads between the various towns so we decided to explore the area on kayaks so we could make a speedy escape over water if necessary. I mean a robber isn´t going to want to get his new steal wet is he? All was going we...

So it was over to Guatemala City where we met up with Big Canadian Ash. Now for any mother who has ever gone on the Foreign Office website re Guatemala City, they might have read something about it being one of the most dangerous cities in the world... So we decided a) to get ourselves a bodyguard (Big Canadian Ash) and b) to get the hell out of there the moment we arrived. So it was onto the nice and safe pretty town of Antigua. Full of tourists (predominant...