From Incas to Mayas

Better late than never ….I’m a bit behind with the blog updates, so here we go ….
First, just a couple more pictures of Nicaragua; one of Ann and myself (which I’m sure is really only of interest to our family), plus a shot of one of the 365 islands just off the coast of Lake Nicaragua, next to Granada. These islands have almost all been bought by millionaires as holiday homes. We took a boat trip out to see some of them (see picture); the houses are really beautiful. Ah well, how the other half lives!
Entering Honduras was expensive …US$50 …but at least someone took care of the paperwork for us. It took a few hours, as usual. A bit of advice for anyone crossing frontiers in Central America ….never get to the frontier early thinking that you will get through faster …because what happens is that they start processing your papers …get halfway through …and then go for breakfast!! ….leaving you twiddling your thumbs for an hour or more till they get back! Anyway, we made it eventually.
Our first campsite was unusual; in the grounds of a sort of water park. We camped in the car park, with the pools and slides on one side, and horse stables on the other. If we wanted a shower, we had to use the outside showers next to the swimming pool. Ann said it would be OK because nobody would be there early in the morning ….we didn’t count on the men cleaning the pool! So we had to shower in swimming costumes. The campground was next to the most important Maya site in Honduras; Copan Ruinas. The temples are not as big as other sites in Guatemala and Mexico, but the stone carving is really beautiful, and much more intricate. Also, they have excavated below one of the temples, and found a complete temple from an earlier period beneath it. So they built a full-size copy in the museum of what it was like in all its glory.
We should perhaps have spent more time in Honduras; it’s a beautiful country, but we had arranged to visit a friend in Guatemala city ….so another change of country.
The people of Guatemala love bright colours; a visit round one of the local fruit and vegetable markets is fascinating …Ann was clicking away like crazy taking shots of local costumes, stalls, buildings… The funny little three-wheeled « taxi » is an important form of transport in many of the smaller towns …very cheap, and they can get through narrow streets where ordinary taxis can’t go ….plus they seem to be exempt from all traffic regulations! …hurtling from one lane to another, wrong way down one-way streets, through red traffic lights….
The national emblem of Guatemala is the Quetzal bird, but unfortunately it is almost extinct (humans have destroyed many of its breeding grounds), so very few people actually ever see one. We decided to try ….we arrived at a small hotel/campsite next to a national park where some quetzals lived. We had just climbed out of the car, and Ann asked the owner if there were any Quetzals around. He said « Oh yes, you’re lucky, there’s one in the trees up there » He made a funny sort of whistling noise and a Quetzal flew down into the branches of a tree right next to us!! Unfortunately the picture we took is not very good, you can only see its blue back, but at least we saw one!!
Our next Maya site was Tikal, noted for the height and enormous size of the temples, and the fact that it is in the middle of the jungle. You can climb up the temple at one end of the site, and from there you can see the tops of the other temples sticking up through the trees; very impressive. With all the jungle around the Tikal site, there are quite a few species of birds and animals, we noted Collared Aracari Toucans, Linneated Woodpeckers, a lot of Montezuma Oropendulos, and a troupe of Spider Monkeys ….impressed? I sound just like a twitcher* don’t I? …I promise I don’t have a nylon anorak!
The easiest way to get to the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico is to go through Belize. Belize used to be British, so they speak English, but its Expensive! The most expensive country in the whole of Central America!! So we didn’t stay long, just two days, then on to Mexico and the Yucatan, ….and Chichen Itza (or Chicken Pizza if you like), yet another pile of mouldy old stones ….Ooops sorry, another Maya site.
The customs going into Mexico were rather chaotic; we actually managed to enter without getting any temporary import papers for the car. It was only because I went back and insisted that they provided them (would have caused us nasty problems getting out of Mexico the other side). Then the only insurance office at the border was closed, so we drove for two days with no car insurance in Mexico ….fortunately nobody asked us to show it at the frequent military controls, or I might have been writing this from prison!

I’ve only included one picture of a Maya temple at Chicken Pizza (an astronomical observatory); when you’ve seen one Maya temple you’ve pretty much seen all of them. But I have included a picture of a « cenote ». These are sinkholes, very deep (up to 100metres) that are the result of ground subsidence following a meteorite impact in the Yucatan some time ago (a few million years ago I think ….before I was born anyway). The Mayas used them during religious ceremonies ….they believed they were gateways to paradise, and if you jumped in (and drowned of course), you would go straight to paradise …..they found many skeletons at the bottom …. The notion was not sufficiently appealing for me to try it out!
The final picture is of a Maya mummy buried with all its jewellery and best Sunday togs (and before you ask …..No, they didn’t have a Maya daddy!).

Talking of mummies ….I’d just like to announce that we’re double Grandparents now …our daughter Jane just produced a fine bouncing blonde-haired little boy called Luke Benjamin …3.48kg …mother and son both doing fine.

That’s all for now folks …watch this space!

* birdwatcher, just in case you didn’t know.