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Maya
Route
in Middle America:
4 totally different countries
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Part
of the autumn of 2001 we spent in 4 different countries in
Middle America: Guatemala, Honduras, Belize and Mexico. We
booked this trip via Blue Planet and we chose them purely
because they had the best route through the Maya country.
After we landed near Guatemala City we directly drove to the
kolonial city of Antigua.
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From
there the first visit to a Maya ruin was in Copan, Honduras. This
maya site is know for it's impressive sculptures: here for the first
time they reached a style that was 'three-domensional'.
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Via
a backpackers farmhouse in Poptun (Guatemala), where a hurricane
just passed, we continued to Flores. From here it's easy to
reach the important ruins of Tikal. This site is enormous and
is situated in the middle of the jungle. We had to get up early
to see the jungle wake up from the highest temple. |
From
Tikal in Guatemala it's a small trip to Belize. From the capital
we made a boat trip to a small tropical island called Caye Caulker.
Doing nothing for a couple of days but lying in the sun, swimming
in the ocean and eating lobster.
In front of the
coast of Belize you'll find the second largest reaf of the world.
With a speedboat we went there and it was jackpot time: Beatifull
stingrays and a bit later also lots of sharks under and around the
boat.
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We
saw 3 types of stingrays: the small poisonousones , these (left)
beautifull ones and the 'regular' ones we could feed with the
meat from Conch shells.
Nice what you can reach with a throw a way underwater camera. |
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After
the stingrays we went for the sharks. Because I was the only
one with an underwater camera I was allowed to go in the water
first. "is it safe?' I asked. 'Yes it is' was his answer
and only when in the water between the sharks I realized what
I was doing. But it went well: they were just nurse sharks between
120 and 150 cm... Magnificent ! |
As
far as Maya history, Tulum (Mexico) is not the most important site,
but it's setting near the coast is definately one of the most beautifull.
High on a cliff above the white sandy beach of Yucatan, Mexico:
Blue sea, pelicans, palm trees and the opportunity to have breakfast
in that place.
From the seaside
places in Yucatan, Chitzen Itza is within reaching distance, so
for us it was one of the most crowded placed we visited (but still
doable as you can see below). It's also one of the biggest sites:
lot's of beautilful buildings and an enormous temple in the middle
of the square. The current temple is built over a previous one and
there is a corridor in the space between that leads to the top.
Here you can see a jaguar throne. The humidity was about 100% but
it was worth it.
The last Maya site we visited was Palenque in Mexico (below). Beaytifull
scenery and setting in the jungle, but now with open area's so the
views were great. Here we had the best guide ever: next to facts
he could also present opinion and interpretation which made you
think and ask lot's of questions. This made it all very interesting.
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On
the left you see a huge gorge of some kilometers long and in
some occasions up to 1000 meters high. We visited it on our
way to San Christobal de las Casas. A natural phenomenon was
this 'Christmas tree'. Look at the size of the yellow 16 person
boat to value the size of the 'tree'. |
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At
lake Atitlan (Guatemala) the most obvious place to start is
Panajachel. From here we made a nice boat trip to different
little villages on the other side of the lake. In San Pedro
the people were still dressed in the traditional colors. The
tallest woman was about 150 cm... |
We were very lucky
that we went to Chi Chi on the 2nd of November (all saints day). That
place is known as the biggest and most colorfull market of middle
america. But on that day there were a lot of extra festivities (music,
heavy fireworks, parades, dancing). We filmed half a tape and it was
really a privilege to be a part if this.
In contradiction to Nepal (D) this was a (B) trip. (this is the
heayness index for travel organisations, ranging from A: sun holiday
to E: expedition.) Here we had lot's to look at but not much action.
Because it was a trip by public transportation, it was not only
payable, but also a lot of fun: contact with the locals is made
much easier this way. Our luck was that Blue Planet did this trip
for the very first time, which made it more adventurous. Because
Mexico City is skipped (far off and dirty) and the stay at the tropical
island is in the route, this trip can be recommended to everyone
!
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