I arrived at Denver airport mid morning and had an easy walk through immigration and customs. It felt good to be in the states. I could see it was a beautiful sunshine day outside. I had decided to hire a car on my US trip as I had a short amount of time and a lot of ground to cover. I decided that I only needed a small hire car to get around and it would be easier on my now shrinking budget. I went to National Car Hire and the girl at the counter tried very hard...

My trip from Caye Caulker to Tulum was rather uneventful. Except that the 10:30 bus to Chetumal left at 10:10 and so when I got back from the Internet cafe at 10:15 it was gone. But I got upgraded to a 1st class bus that left at 12:00. So not too painful at all. It was a long trip to the border and across and I eventually got to catch a 18:00 bus from Chetumal to Tulum. This bus took another 4 hours to get there. I happened to meet 2 french guys at Chetumal, (who...

I caught a bus from Flores to Belize City, which to my disappointment was uneventful. Not like the one from Guatemala City. The border crossing was the easiest I have done so far. I had to pay 10 Qasales to leave which I'm sure goes straight into the immigration officers back pocket. The little brown envelope he was putting it into did not help change my thinking on the subject.  I arrived in Belize City & then imediately caught a water taxi to Caye Caulke...

My trip to Flores from Antigua was interesting. I first caught a shuttle (mini bus) from Antigua to Guatemala City. It was full of tourists and locals. The driver was a maniac driver. I think his hero is Michael Schumacher. Anyway I arrived in the city in one piece and then waited at a bus terminal for 2 hours before my bus left. I boarded the bus and got my assigned seat. We had just got out of the city when the bus stops and a guys gets on. The co-driver walks ...

The Monday morning I was up at 3:30am and headed off to the O.X office. These were my tour guides for the 5 days of climbing the volanoes. The week in a nutshell was as follows: Monday - Leave Antigua at 4am and drive 4 hours to Xela where we would climb Santa Maria to look down on Santiaguito volcano. Sleep on top to see the sunset and sunrise. Tuesday - Hike down Santa Maria, drive back 5 hours to volcano Pacaya. Hike up to a spot nearby and spend the night c...