You´re Not In Guatemala Now Dr. Ropata

We have left the Carribbean Coast and ventured inland to the country made famous in New Zealand in the very first episode of Shortland Street. The initial border crossing from Belize was a bit amusing as we found ourselves being offered a taxi to cover the 200 metres between the Customs building where we left Belize and the Customs building where we would enter Guatemala. The taxi driver walked with us for a hundred metres before realising we were half way there and probably would not need his services. No significant issues on entering apart from an un-official gringo tax of 10 Quitzals (US$1.40) which could not be waivered, even for Dr Ropata's compatriates. Guatemalais a beutiful country, where lush jungle in the northern part is interspersed with small townships and all along the roads, chickens, goats, pigs and horses wander unrestrained.

We spent our first night on a small island called Flores, located within a lake - Lago de Peten Itza. A quaint little town with some stunning vistas, Flores was only ever a stopover before our first major activity in our slimmed down Guatemalan itinerary, a visit to the Mayan ruins of Tikal. As far as stopovers go however, Flores was a beautiful place to meet some locals and try the local drop of amber ale, Gallo.

Having racked up a few ruins during our time in Mexico, we were generally looking forward to more of the same in Tikal. Arriving late in the afternoon, we dumped our kit and ventured straight in with instructions to head to El Mundo Perdido to catch a sunset. Upon entering the park, we soon realised however, that in terms of Mayan sites, we had entered hallow ground. After hiking through jungle filled with the sounds of howler monkey and toucan, we came across our goal and climbed the 44 metres to the top of the pyrimad. From there, our view across the jungle to the setting sun uncovered a series of other temples peeking above the forest canopy, all of which we'd walked within 100 metres of without actually seeing. We crashed the night in hammocks in the jungle, falling asleep to the sounds of Howler Monkeys clearing their lungs at regular 30 second intervals.

An early start the next day (4.15am) had us charging through the jungle to Temple IV to take in a sunrise. Unfortunately, low cloud and drizzle banished a view of the rising sun from our perch above the jungle, but still made for some memorable moments, including the discovery of a Tarantula Spider, 45 metres above the ground below. The rest of our time was spent exploring the numerous ruins in the area while hanging out with the resident howler and spider monkeys.

Following Tikal, we took our first overnight bus of the trip, powering south to Antigua, a colonial town an hour south west of Guatemala City. Our three days here were dominated by rain and low cloud as we explored this beautiful city and checked out a local coffee plantation. As you'll all know, the closest Mat gets to a hot drink is when he finds a misplaced Speights that has heated during a game of BYC, so it was somewhat amusing for Mat to down a couple of cups of the locally grown cofee, doubling his total lifetime intake.

Antigua is nestled in a valley and looked down upon by three classic conic volcanoes. Having waited three days for the weather to clear before heading up one for a look, we ended up having to pony up and tackle one in misty conditions as the weather failed to break. About 200 metres into the 5km climb, mist gave way to rain and a tough slog up Pacaya Volcano, Guatemala´s most active volcano.

Emerging from the forest to walk across lava flows, we soon found the ground beneath us heating up and large shrouds of steam surrounding us. Like a scene from 'Mission to Mars', each step waited on a break in the steam to ensure we were stepping onto solid terrafirma. Before too long, we came across a live lava flow, where we were able to stand no more than 5 metres away from it and watch the beautiful display of nature. A pretty impressive sight as a flow of lava the size of the Avon River moved by us at a slow pace.

Our guide up the volcano, Jose, is what we would commonly refer to back home as a 'Dickhead'. His interests were not in safely guiding a group up an active volcano in miserable conditions, but on spading 'chicos' and scampering ahead of the group so he could hide and (try to) scare us on our way past. When not doing this, he was lighting 'Double Happy's/Tom Thumbs (a throw back to the good old days of fireworks) and tossing them at inappropriate times (like on to the lava flow when one was trying to take in the serenity).

In his defence however, the Guatemalan approach to nature guiding is somewhat different to that which we expect back home. Safety is far from a guides mind, a fact best exemplified by the willingness to guide a 40 year old woman in torrential rain over active lava flows who was wearing Adidas three strypes, a cotton cardigan and a pair of Crocs (yes, unfortunately they have Crocs in Central America too). And the people they're guiding aren't always the full quid, as we witnessed when another dumb American girl (Tweedledim this time) decided she would poke the lava with her stick. She seemed somewhat surpised when her friend´s wooden walking pole caught alight, and even more surprised when the nylon backpack cover she was using to shield her face from the heat began to melt.

Upon return to Antigua, a 1.5 hour drive wet to the bone in our volcano climbing gears, we were lucky enough to find the cloud had lifted from one of the three volcanos in the valley, Volcano Agua. This provided a real sense of the beauty of this place and a great conclusion to our Guatemalan stay.

We now head north west and back into Mexico. We are re-routing to the north through San Cristobal de las Casas for two reasons - great reccommendations from fellow travelers and news of a tropical storm Barbara (US weather channel talking it up as a possible hurricane) that is tracking towards Salina Cruz, our intended destination.

Congrats to Mum/Pam on completing the half marathon at the weekend and go Team New Zealand.