So its been almost a month since my last blog due to several reasons, one that there is no internet where I am working, only get it twice a week when we head into the town of Flores and the 2nd reason is that on the first day in Guatemala my charger for my netbook stopped working for no reason. So with the beauty of eBay and worldwide delivery, after 3 weeks (which I've heard is brilliant for delivery time in Guatemala) I am back in action!!!

So I'll start from the beginning, so I left Florida armed with cheesecake and sandwiches and knew that getting to Flores in Guatemala was going to be a long trek and I was correct, nothing I haven't experienced before, 3 different flights, crappy airport food and sleeping overnight on the floor in the airport before my last flight. So I have never been to Central America before, and I was leaving with an open mind on what to expect and as I arrived into Flores I was taken away with it all. I loved Peru last year when I went to the jungle and Guatemala was as awesome. It's so green and with the sounds of the forest everywhere, birds, insects, monkeys and more, breath taking and a great place to just take some time to chill, do something worthwhile and have time to feel blessed to be here. You have heard nothing until you hear a howler monkey start calling out, I have a video of it and I'll try and upload it, but it's so loud and its sounds like you are in the movie Jurassic Park. If you didn't know what it was, it would freak the hell out of you as it's such an eerie and impressive sound!

So I read that December is the dry season here, that's a lie but what do you expect from the rainforest, but despite it raining quite a lot, its warm so you can still walk around in the rain in shorts and t-shirt and generally barefoot as the rain just washes my flip flops away. I have never seen rain like this, once minute its dry and suddenly you find yourself drenched through and the streets turn into rivers and flood, it's impressive!!

So I head to the animal rescue project, called ARCAS and its set across the lake, right in the jungle, no getting away from it!!! All the volunteers stay in a house which has wooden walls to about waist height and then the rest is mesh, so you can see and hear the forest all around you. The showers are freezing which is ok when the weather is really humid but if you've been soaked through by the rain, all you want is a hot shower, I will never take hot water for granted again after staying here. There are lots of volunteers here and I finally have people to talk to, it's great after spending so much time on my own over the past month or so.

So this is a project for trying to rehabilitate animals that have been taken from poachers with the hope of releasing them back into the wild. There are so many different types of animals but a lot of birds and monkeys. It's so tempting to talk to the birds but we can't as any talking birds cannot be released and will have to spend the rest of their lives here and there are many of those already. The depressing part is the animals that you know cannot be freed and it makes you angry to know that this is all because of stupid human fancies, parrots are not supposed to be pets, killing jaguars for their pelts and leaving their babies, etc. it's disgusting!!

So we work every day but it's not hard work and it gives you an idea of what zoo keepers go through, we start at 6.30 in the morning, cleaning the cages and feeding the animals, we do chores from 9 till 11, 11 we clean and feed again and finally at 2 feed them for the last time for the day and then from 3 onwards is for us to do as we please, read, play games, chat and share stories. On Monday and Thursday's they take us by boat into Flores to go and use the internet, buy snacks, and just get out for a bit. We normally head to a hostel called Los Amigos which is an awesome hostel, with a bar and restaurant, hammocks, travel agents and it's all outside but covered here and there to hide from the rain and it looks like you are staying in the jungle but it's all in a building, best hostel I've seen, it's a great place and this is also a great place to meet other travellers and find out what they have been up to, where they are going and also to get ideas for things you might want to do.

So as I mentioned that everything is open here, no walls, everything feels damp, the beds, your clothes, yourself, all the time. Also all our things are starting to mould and my general aroma is mould, so looks like I'll be dumping a lot of stuff here when I'm finished and will just have to visit a thrift store when I get back into the states in March. I also never seem to feel particularly clean with the cold showers and the smell of mould!

So the downfall of the jungle and my foreign blood is the mosquitos!!! They eat me alive and I had at one point scratched my feet raw and they took forever to heal due to the moisture and you just can't help but itch them. I've also been bitten by ants, small and large and they bloody hurt. One of the other girls got stung by a scorpion a couple of times when she got out of the shower as it was hiding in her towel!! There are spiders and lizards everywhere which I love but not everyone's cup of tea!!!

So I have been meeting some really great people here at the project and in Flores. I arrived with a girl called Tess from the States and there was already loads of girls here from Oz, NZ, Austria, Denmark and Germany, it's a great mix and everyone is great to be around. So I went with Josephine and Tess to Tikal which is biggest Mayan ruins in Central America, it was incredible and great to go with others. We went for the sun rise tour which meant leaving at 3 in the morning, even though there wasn't a sun rise due to so much mist but listening to the forest wake up around you while sitting on the Mayan ruins was something to behold! We of course got completely soaked but had such a laugh and to witness these temples and pyramids and have a tour round the park was all worth the discomfort of a little rain!!

So Tess wanted to go to Belize and some friends from the US were supposed to meet her there but they cancelled last minute due to the weather forecast of rain so I asked her if she wanted me to go with her and she actually wanted me to join her as she didn't want to go alone. So the day before we were due to leave on the bus, we finished our shifts, had dinner and then caught the bus into Flores to stay the night at the hostel before catching our bus to Belize. So what was supposed to be an early night didn't quite turn out that way. I had seen a guy in the hostel a few times when we had been over in Flores and I started talking to him that night and ended up drinking till quite late, chatting about all amounts of random stuff. He was due to go to Mexico the next day at 5 in the morning and we didn't end up going to bed till the wee hours of the morning. So you can imagine that the next day started off delicately!!!

So the shuttles around the country and to other countries can really range from coaches but more likely they are mini buses and they use all available seats possible and get their monies worth. So I was extremely tired, squashed into a seat with the wheel under my feet with a hula hoop in my ear that the hippy girl next to me decided would be a good idea to be travelling with!! So I was also sat in front of a group of about 8 people who complained the whole way about anything and everything and were just generally annoying and I was in the bus with them from 7:30 in the morning till 3 in the afternoon when we finally arrived in Belize City. Due to all the rain, the mini bus was wet, the roads were full of holes so you were being thrown all over the place, going through the most remote little towns. So for people that haven't done a border crossing outside of Europe then border crossing here will be a shock to you, there is no real organisation or indication on what you need to do, you follow the crowd and do what everyone else is doing. So we hop off the bus, get all our belongings in case they want to search our bags. We head to the Guatemalan border where we get an exit stamp and also they try and get you to pay an exit fee which they are not supposed to. You then walk across no mans land to the Belize border where you then have to get another stamp to enter and then you emerge on the other side to your bus waiting for you but people are spilling out everywhere, people selling all sorts of things and you only found your way because you followed everyone else!!

So in Guatemala they speak Spanish so I kept talking in my rubbish Spanish when I crossed the border only to realise that in Belize they speak English!!! Part of the British Empire and they have the queen on the money, but the coins actually says Queen Elizabeth the second instead of just Queen Elizabeth II.

So we arrive into Belize city at about 3 and have an hour or 2 till our water taxi to the island of Caye Caulker, we are with the 3 guys, and decide to walk around Belize City for a bit before the boat arrives, so far the weather seems to be nice which is a change from Guatemala as we had been experiencing so much rain. The water taxi takes about an hour and unfortunately by the time we arrive its torrential rain, we stand in a doorway waiting for a taxi, which is just a golf buggy as there isn't more than 2 or 3 cars on the island!

So the island is so small that within a day you recognise faces you have met in bars and restaurants and the locals all know you as well. The evenings generally consisted of drinking lots of rum, card games, karaoke and dancing in the local bars, met loads of great people and would see them daily and also go to their hostels in the evenings to drink before heading out again.

The first day there was still raining so this was a day of just wandering around and sorting out snorkelling for the next day, the next 2 days were brilliant weather. So we decided to go snorkelling around the reefs with the sting rays and sharks and we went with this one tour company, myself, Tess and Chris from the bus, it was an amazing experience to be swimming with the sharks and rays, coming right up to you and swimming around you. The only downfall was that the guide was an absolute sleeze, he kept touching me and trying to drag me back to the boat with suggestions that would make my parents furious and then for the rest of the time on the island he wouldn't let up, constantly trying to get me to get rid of Tess so he can come back to the room with me!!!! The men on the island were always trying to hug and touch you, they were harmless and funny most of the time except for that one guy, but there was enough places to hide from him!

The island is beautiful and we spent the last day swimming in the clear blue sea at the split, where the island was split in 2 by a hurricane and just enjoying the sun.

So heading back was not as bad as the journey to Belize but the border crossing was crazy busy due to everyone heading back and forth before Xmas.

I made it back to the project in the evening to find lots of new faces, the busiest I've seen it, all here for the Xmas holidays, and it was great to have so many people from different countries to spend Xmas with. We took part in secret Santa, had tamales which is a local food of corn and vegetables cooked in a banana leaf and some of the girls had made a xmas tree from pineapple heads and we sung a Danish xmas song while dancing round the tree, was a great xmas. We celebrated it on the 24th which is the date it is celebrated in most of Europe and Central America, the 25th seems to be only for the UK and North America so didn't do anything on the 25th but the usual work on the project but still lovely to have so many people around.

So as I mentioned before I met a guy before heading to Belize who was going to Mexico, so I decided to join him in Mexico City for New Years. So on the evening of the 29th I headed on the overnight bus to Guatemala City to catch my flight. I ended up falling asleep for most of the night on the poor guy next to me, however he didn't seem to mind as he was passed out himself, it's about 9 hours on the bus!

I had a funny ride to the airport with a taxi driver who couldn't speak English, so he was typing words into his phone for me to find in my phrase book so that we could have some random conversation, was very funny and a lovely man. My major regret and what I feel so shameful about is not being able to speak Spanish, I feel I am missing out on so much of the experience due to the language barrier that I am now considering changing my plans about going to the 2nd project and actually going to Spanish school for a couple of weeks as they have so many of them around Guatemala and think it would give me so much of a better experience if I do,

So I was feeling very apprehensive about meeting Martin in Mexico as I had only met him for one night previous to this and now would be spending 3 days with him, but I didn't have to worry as I had an awesome time. Mexico City is a crazy busy place, with people everywhere constantly selling things, its market day every day, everywhere, on all street corners and squares, it's amazing to see all these people here. I met some friends of Martin's that he made along the way in Mexico and they were such great people, I was so glad to have met them all. For New Year's we went to Augusto's home, prepared a dinner while consuming lots of rum, playing music before running to go and see the fireworks at midnight in the street with lots of other people. We then headed to a bar that was open till 10 in the morning where you take your own drinks, were we spent the rest of the night and morning chatting to locals and dancing like crazy people. We finally left at 6 in the morning when we couldn't handle anymore, it was an amazing night with some truly awesome people.

I am so glad I took the chance and went to Mexico, I had an awesome time with Martin and he really looked after me, especially as he could speak Spanish and I couldn't (full of shame again), so I played it all cool when I left in the morning to get my flight but it was hard and I felt extremely sad, I should be used to saying goodbye to people by now but some people are harder to do so as they touch you more than others. Luckily I headed back to the project where there are some beautiful people and lots of work to keep my mind occupied and not to dwell too much on the feelings I have, I am back in a beautiful place, working in an amazing place with warm hearted people and I am lucky to be around them.

These past few weeks I have met some inspirational people and I am so glad to have met them and spent time with them all, learning about them, the things they do and have experienced, I am constantly learning and finding more about myself all the time and I am so lucky to have this chance to do all of this.

So I still have over a month in Guatemala, I leave on the 10th Feb for Honduras, so the next task is to figure out where I should head to Spanish school, I've been told about a local one where I stay with a host family who don't speak English so I have to speak Spanish and I can come back to the project here afterwards and maybe at the weekends, I will have to do some research. I'm toying with staying here until a week or so before I am due to leave and go and visit all the places I want to go before catching my flight, we will see.