So last time i wrote I think i was in Placencia with Aine and Vance. Also i was writing on a key board with punctuation keys... this one has none, so you{ll have to use your imagination with my typing! It seems so much has happened since then. Before we left Placencia we hung out with some local boys who let us help them with fishing..unfortunately not so sucsessful at this! oops! From there we made our way to St. Ignacio just near the Belize boarder. There are magnificent caves there commonly know as the ATM. caves, They contain hundreds of ancient Mayan artifacts which tourists are suprisingly free to walk amongst! Also in Placencia we met back up with a scottish guy called Adam who we had met previously in Tulum and Caye Caulker, and also made some new friends, two Aussie guys called Dave and Drew and an American from Colorado called Mose.

From St. Ignacio the seven of us crossed the boarder into Guatemala and settled for a few days in El Remante a quite lakeside hamlet on Lago Peten Itza. It was quite a change from the caribbean-american feel of Belize, back to Spanish and nice to be near water again to cool down. From the hostel we were able to explore Tikal, a magnificent and huge Mayan city, our guide was really knowledgable, having worked there as an archiologist years before and the views from the highest temple were breathtaking. After a trek through the local Jungle and some close encounters with Howler Monkeys we made our way down to Flores for a couple of days.

Flores, on the other side of Lago Peten, is a pretty island town in the middle of the lake, quite quiet with lovely views and good food. Whilst there we visited the local zoo, quite a tradgic looking place and not somewhere to go twice, nevertheless swimming in the lake was good fun. We then travelled south to Coban and then on to Lanquin.

A day trip from Lanquin are the incredible cascading waterfalls of Semuc Champey. A series of azure blue plunge pools and rock slides. Following a dip, we explored the nearby caves, a candlelit wade into the dark caves brings you to a small plunge pool at the back which you can jump in from the stalicmight above. And staying in the Zeffir Lodge in Lanquin was a lot of fun, putting everything on a tab was a bit dangerous but well worth the crack.

Next onto Rio Dulce and a short but sweet stay in Brisas del Lago. A short walk from a hot spring waterfall and dipping pools, some decent cliff jumping and a clay mud rub sraight from the source of the spring. Up the river and our next stop was Livingston, a rundown but charming garifuna town. Here the poverty was more tangible than most of the places we had been and a clear divide between the garifunas and the hispanics makes for a slightly uncomfortable peace. Nonetheless we enjoyed drumming and cooking lessons from the local garifuna community, hoping to make a positive contribution to the tourism there. After a day relaxing on the beach myself and Adam travelled on alone across the boarder...well..we waded to be exact.. into Guatemala and the welcome of a cancelled ferry at La Ceiba. oops. So here I am waiting for more recruits to charter a flight to the bay islands. Wish me luck, I wanna dive!! x