Well, I'm back in the UK and plummeting feet first into reality.
Some of you who read this may know what I'm about to tell you; for others, it may be the first you've heard. Either way, I have split up with Hannah after 3 and a half years. It was a horrible, difficult decision to make after all the great times we have spent together, and I don't really want to talk to the world at large about why!
So, I'm back living with my parents on the Wirral for the time being, doing some locum veterinary work to pay the bills, and trying to decide exactly what to do with myself in the meantime.
If anyone wants to get in touch in the meantime, I have my old mobile number back and my email is the same as ever.
Laters all,
Pete
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
The Ruta Maya
So, Hannah came out on the 1st December and after a day's rest we embarked on a rather-too-quick tour of some of the finest sights that the Classic Mayan route has to offer.
Seeing as we can't be bothered to write much we're just going to stick up photos instead.....
In front of El Castillo, Chichen Itza - probably the most famous Post-Classic Mayan city
Temple of the Moon (I think), Chichen Itza
Palenque - a Classic era Mayan city
The Temple of Inscriptions, Palenque, also home to the tomb of King Gran Jaguar II
San Cristobal de las Casas - in Mexico's south western highlands, and spiritual home of the Zapatista rebels who hold several areas around the city
Street life, San Cristobal
Into Guatemala and "the most beautiful lake in the world" - Lake Atitlan. This was the view from below our room on the first night......
And this was the view from our room, the second night
Antigua - old colonial capital, very pretty, very touristy
Volcanoes above Antigua's and Guatemala City's skyline
A visit to Volcan Pacaya - very active....... how close should you go?
This close!
Good for roasting marshmallows - you just have to get close enough to the molten rock.....
That's all for now. Tomorrow we're heading to Flores on a long bus ride, from where we'll take in Tikal and a quick visit to ARCAS before heading to Belize.
Just a quick apology for the quality of the photos - since Blogger.com introduced their new all singing, all-dancing upload system, the quality is rubbish. And there doesn't seem to be a way around it! Someday I'll join Facebook like other people suggest.
Seeing as we can't be bothered to write much we're just going to stick up photos instead.....
In front of El Castillo, Chichen Itza - probably the most famous Post-Classic Mayan city
Temple of the Moon (I think), Chichen Itza
Palenque - a Classic era Mayan city
The Temple of Inscriptions, Palenque, also home to the tomb of King Gran Jaguar II
San Cristobal de las Casas - in Mexico's south western highlands, and spiritual home of the Zapatista rebels who hold several areas around the city
Street life, San Cristobal
Into Guatemala and "the most beautiful lake in the world" - Lake Atitlan. This was the view from below our room on the first night......
And this was the view from our room, the second night
Antigua - old colonial capital, very pretty, very touristy
Volcanoes above Antigua's and Guatemala City's skyline
A visit to Volcan Pacaya - very active....... how close should you go?
This close!
Good for roasting marshmallows - you just have to get close enough to the molten rock.....
That's all for now. Tomorrow we're heading to Flores on a long bus ride, from where we'll take in Tikal and a quick visit to ARCAS before heading to Belize.
Just a quick apology for the quality of the photos - since Blogger.com introduced their new all singing, all-dancing upload system, the quality is rubbish. And there doesn't seem to be a way around it! Someday I'll join Facebook like other people suggest.
Monday, December 10, 2007
El Mirador
After leaving ARCAS on 19th Nov, I had a few fantastic (but expensive) days in Belize on the coast. More of that later when Hannah and I get there.....
By Sunday 25th, I was back in Flores and with one of my ARCAS compatriots, Jane, plus 3 other guys who all wanted to do the 5 day trip to El Mirador, or die trying!
Team Mirador: left to right, me, Jane, Peter, Rens, Tom, Garrett, Claude and Chato
To explain, El Mirador is one of the largest Mayan cities discovered, and has the largest temple, in the world, bar none. It is only very slightly excavated and restored, and is as close as you can come to walking through an undiscovered Mayan city lost in the jungle. It is also re-writing some Mayan history - it reached it's zenith during Pre-Classic times, and obtained a level of sophistication that was previously thought not to exist until the Classic era with cities like Palenque and Tikal.
The big thing about Mirador, however, is the getting there. It exists in the low-lying Mirador basin, 64km from the nearest dirt track. The paths there are well trodden by mules and people but nothing else, and for many kilometre long stretches these are nothing but mud - thick, cloying, suck-your-boot-off mud, or very deep, watery mud. Imagine 2 days walking in thing wellington boots, covering 30km-plus each day, mostly in mud, in 80-90º heat with a constant cloud of mosquitos and sand-flies awaiting just the briefest pause (and sometimes not even that), and you being to get the idea. It is hard, not just a bit but very, very hard.
Originally a team of 3 - myself, Jane and a Dutchman called Rens who was looking to go - we ended up with 4 others - Garrett and Peter who were recruited by Rens in Poptún, plus Tom and Claude, a couple of guys who we didn't realise were even coming until the morning we left. On top of that there was our guide - Alex, 19 years old, very knowledgable and with a .357 Magnum stuck perpetually in his belt, plus our two muleteers, Daniel and Chato. That made 10 plus 5 pack mules and 2 for riding (one reserved for us gringos in case of emergencies of just exhaustion).
Camp at the first night
I'll just show you the photos. For me, day 2 was probably the worst - a neverending 33km of mud, slippery rock, thorn trees, mosquitos. And jungle... the most fabulous jungle.
Garrett and Daniel, very tired at lunch on day 2
The restoration workers at El Mirador (plus a few gringos)
The team on top of La Danta, the highest temple anywhere.
On top of La Danta, wearing my clean trousers.
Inside a Mayan tomb underneath a temple, day 4
Yours truly at the finish (and just about dead)
Back where we started - the team at the finish
By Sunday 25th, I was back in Flores and with one of my ARCAS compatriots, Jane, plus 3 other guys who all wanted to do the 5 day trip to El Mirador, or die trying!
Team Mirador: left to right, me, Jane, Peter, Rens, Tom, Garrett, Claude and Chato
To explain, El Mirador is one of the largest Mayan cities discovered, and has the largest temple, in the world, bar none. It is only very slightly excavated and restored, and is as close as you can come to walking through an undiscovered Mayan city lost in the jungle. It is also re-writing some Mayan history - it reached it's zenith during Pre-Classic times, and obtained a level of sophistication that was previously thought not to exist until the Classic era with cities like Palenque and Tikal.
The big thing about Mirador, however, is the getting there. It exists in the low-lying Mirador basin, 64km from the nearest dirt track. The paths there are well trodden by mules and people but nothing else, and for many kilometre long stretches these are nothing but mud - thick, cloying, suck-your-boot-off mud, or very deep, watery mud. Imagine 2 days walking in thing wellington boots, covering 30km-plus each day, mostly in mud, in 80-90º heat with a constant cloud of mosquitos and sand-flies awaiting just the briefest pause (and sometimes not even that), and you being to get the idea. It is hard, not just a bit but very, very hard.
Originally a team of 3 - myself, Jane and a Dutchman called Rens who was looking to go - we ended up with 4 others - Garrett and Peter who were recruited by Rens in Poptún, plus Tom and Claude, a couple of guys who we didn't realise were even coming until the morning we left. On top of that there was our guide - Alex, 19 years old, very knowledgable and with a .357 Magnum stuck perpetually in his belt, plus our two muleteers, Daniel and Chato. That made 10 plus 5 pack mules and 2 for riding (one reserved for us gringos in case of emergencies of just exhaustion).
Camp at the first night
I'll just show you the photos. For me, day 2 was probably the worst - a neverending 33km of mud, slippery rock, thorn trees, mosquitos. And jungle... the most fabulous jungle.
Garrett and Daniel, very tired at lunch on day 2
The restoration workers at El Mirador (plus a few gringos)
The team on top of La Danta, the highest temple anywhere.
On top of La Danta, wearing my clean trousers.
Inside a Mayan tomb underneath a temple, day 4
Yours truly at the finish (and just about dead)
Back where we started - the team at the finish
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
