Guatemala our last Latin American call 25 Sept - 6 Oct

We had travelled all the way up from Ushuia - Argentina, South America's and the worlds most southerly city and had overlanded the whole continent of South America and Central America to get here, to Guatemala, our last port of call before climbing in a plane to Miami and connecting to a whole other world - South East Asia .... this is after all called Mavrix go SOUTH.

But lets not get ahead of ourselves, we still had Gautemala to conquer and see before we jumped over the sea. We had left our little crew behind in Copan and gone through one of the easiest border crossings ever, they didnt even give us a stamp (although this actually sucks as stamps are like souvenirs you can look back on while bored on a 12 hour bus ride, but then again we have our nerd backpacks to remind us of that....we'll tell you about those another time). We had decided to be cheap and hardcore as usual and decided to take the local transport system i.e. chicken buses rather than the Gringo Shuttles that are always faster but 3 times the price. Well not in this case, for once the shuttle would have turned out to be cheaper and 3 times faster! We ended up having to switch between roughly 4 chicken buses until we finally got to our destination 8 hours later, the river town of Rio Dulce (Sweet River). This is the Hurricane season docking station for many a yacht that calls the Caribbean home and therefore a little of a jet set attraction. We thought it was ok... Its really just a Central American version of Hartebeasport with Yachts. There was a really cool hot spring waterfall nearby however that gives you the hot and cold feeling at the same time but that was just good for a day trip really.

So after 2 nights in the worlds biggest dorm (16 people - 1 room) we jumped on the worlds most crowded bus for a 4 hour journey to Tikal. Tikal is one of the most striking and largest of the Mayan cities with a unique setting, smack dab in the middle of the jungle! We had booked the sunrise tour and while we didnt get to see much of a sunrise due to excessive fog, what we did get to hear was the jungle waking up! Especially the jungles loudest animal, the Howler monkey! Imagine that a monkey learnt how to imitate a lion and you are getting close.... only really loud and up in the treesa feminine lion barking long and hard.

As we walked from tree canopy to tree canopy we kept being jumped by giant temples rising into the sky some 60 meters high. We also got to climb a few as steep as they were, with ladders reaching up high and the M got to feel his 31 years coming down and the V's head also...ooops sorry. Your views at the top are truly awesome though, you get to realise how big these cities must have been and how many people they would have housed. The temples themselves are solid, no secret compartments or burial chambers hidden inside these limestone walls, just temples built ontop of temples like Russian dolls. They were built as memorials to the Mayan civilization so that centuries down the line people like us would look at them and remember, the Mayans wanted to be immortal.

While the size and scope as well as the setting of Tikal was amazing, the Mavrix still had a sweeter spot for the smaller and far more detailed Copan in Honduras. No mighty monuments reaching into the sky to be found there but a far finer chisel that recorded history better and the feel of the place and how it was.

Now that we had travelled all the way to the north of Guatemala it was time to put on the brakes and U-turn back down south with our eventual destination being the Guatemala city airport. Hmmm what should we do V? I dont know M, how about some caving, river swinging and general frolicking in Semuc Champe? That sounds great, lets go go gadget! So off the Mavrix went to the very hard to reach but stunningly beautiful Semuc Champe (we arrived in the end in the back of a bakkie under a plastic sheet to shelter from the rain).

Our hostel was in the middle of the jungle here and had a relaxing atmostphere that seeped into your pours. We enjoyed doing pretty much nothing here, but we enjoyed doing the caving even more. Semuc Champes series of caves are best visited with a candle in one hand and the rock wall steadying you in the other. You swim, slide and jump through the cave system with nothing but you and your mates candle to light the way as you go past stalactites, huge underground waterfalls and prey that flash floods (it could happen tomorrow) dont occur! It was great fun and finished with a fun filled bit of tubing down the river right to our hostel, the V did fall off her tube at one point and almost lost her flip flop but thanks to the "claw" (her right toe) it was saved as was she.

The next day we explored the stunningly beautiful pools and waterfalls formed by Semuc Champes underwater river in the national park, not much to say other than its colours are electric, the waters cool and its good for a few hours swimming and cavorting.

Our next stop was Antigua which we reached by Gringo shuttle (we had learnt our Guatemalan lesson by now). Antigua is a another beautiful Colonial town much like Granada and Leon only better, Antigua is an Unesco World Heritage site and has ruins and classic architecture throughout the city, not just in the old town section. Its also flanked by several volcanoes and has the fully active Putaya Volcano just 1hr outside of town...cool.

With our flight in just a week the Mavrix decided to settle down and chill out in Antigua doing very little for a while. Normally our skins start to itch after being in a town for more than 2-3 days but our stay was made infinitly easier by a new made friend Wesley(Weza as his Mom knows him, Sharpy as his mates back home know him and Wesley John Sharpe as the law knows him). Weza is a crazy goof ball that has made "trippin balls" his life motto and daily routine, he's a mechanical engineer working in the Ozzie mines, a graffitti artist working on Melbournes trains and a genuine person made of the good stuff. He would be attached to the Mavrix hip for the next week and we welcomed his company.

One of our first excursions together was to the mighty Putaya Volcano. One hour out of the city and one hour mean ass hiking through the rain, straight up, into the clouds, we reached the volcano with the light starting to get orange but scarce. Cresting the peak we saw the river of lava flowing infront of us, much faster than we would have thought and much brighter than we would have imagined. As you clamber over the rocks to get a better and closer look (no 1st world country would ever let you this close to a live volcano) you start hearing the crackle and hiss of burning rock beneath your feet, look down and you see the burning coals peaking out between the cracks, by the way, dont stand still for too long or you'll start feeling like your feet are pork sausages on the Sunday braai. Get even closer and you forget all about the rain, you feel very dry suddenly and very very hot, the wind changes and the air gets knocked out of your throat, you shield your eyes and take an involuntary step back.... whats that smell? Oops I stood still too long my shoes are burning. Ah - I'm melting! At this point we pulled out our marshmellows (the Mavrix had come prepared), using a very long stick we held the marshies out over the lava and 2-3 seconds later "DING" they were done, sometimes over done or even flaming....yum... nothing like freshly volcano roasted marshmellows on a rainy afternoon.

The rest of our time in Antigua was spent playing basketball with the locals next to ruins, walking the town and generally just enjoying the calm before the storm of our next big jump across the pond to Thailand. It was during this time that an idea was born between the Triopoly as we had started calling ourselves (Weza and the Mavrix). We created a book. This book would contain a story from each of us about our travels or our lives. We would then hold onto the book until we found someone like minded to give it to, they would then write their story and pass it on again, and so on and so on. At the end of the books journey the last person would be asked to send it to one of the Triopoly. Here it would be written out in full and maybe even published with ever member of the "book club" who had contributed to the stories being sent their own copy. In this trip the book would have crossed the world, gone from hand to hand, been read and reread and shortened the distance between all the people who read it. We look forward to getting the book back, whether it be in 1 year or 20 years.

Another goodbye, this time not only to a new friend (a really good one that we will hopefully reconnect with in Oz one day) but also to Latin America our home for the last 7 months. We would also be saying goodbye or rather "Adios" to Spanish but had vowed to keep it as our secret language in South East Asia as we had used Afrikaans in Latin America (lets see if that lasts...). But first we would have to make it through the USA...