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So, we indeed found our Caribbean paradise from Belize. We ended up staying in Caye Caulker for over a week, and just skipped the rest of our plans in Belize. We just enjoyed doing absolutely nothing and soaking the relax atmosphere of the island, and didn't want to leave anywhere. Especially Maria just fell in love with the place, and is already planning how to return to the island to spend her retirement years.
After 7 days of sunbathing, listening to reggae, eating coconuts, drinking Belikins and lazing, we took an early morning ferry back to Belize City, where we caught a bus going to Flores in Guatemala. It's amazing how everything can change within just a few seconds when you cross the border from Belize to Guatemala. English and Belizean Creole changes to Spanish, reggae to reggaeton and coconuts to frijoles right after the border. Don't get me wrong, it felt really good going once again back to Guatemala, which has started to feel like home during the trip.
Also one other thing that changed was the cost of things. It felt absolutely fantastic not having to think any more about where and what to eat just to save a few dollars. This was pretty much the only annoying thing in Belize, as everything seemed to be a bit out of our budget. It feels pretty absurd, but we ate mostly Chinese food in Belize, as the restaurants of this sizeable minority seemed to be the cheapest ones on the island. We celebrated our comeback to Guatemala immediately by enjoying some 1 euro mojitos and beers in a restaurant with a nice view to Lago Peten Itza. And Jukka had a spiritual experience when he got to taste yuca for the first time in his life.
After resting for a day after the long bus trip, we woke up at 4 AM in the next morning to get to Tikal before the amazing heat and tourist crowds. The Maya ruins here are the number one tourist attraction of Guatemala and for a good reason. The huge complex of ancient temples and palaces in the middle of a jungle doesn't leave anyone cold, and also we were really amazed by the beauty of the site. During the 5 hour visit to the ruins we walked 8 kilometres altogether and climbed many really high temples - even Michelle won her fear of heights and joined me to conquer the fifth temple. During our hike, we also saw a lot of wildlife, everything from howler monkeys, spider monkeys and tucans to tarantulas. After all this we were really tired but happy.
Today we have just been resting in hot and humid Flores, enjoying the view to the lake. Tomorrow it is going to be another early morning, as we have to catch a bus at 6.30 AM to Chetumal in Mexico. And if everything goes according to our plans, we'll be in Merida, Mexico around midnight tomorrow just before the city's weekend fair. As some of you know already, our time here is about to end and we are taking a flight back to Finland from Cancun on the 18th of March. Before that, the plan is to visit another set of ruins in Chichen Itza on the way to Cancun.
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