Liz and Bruce Genuine Travel Bugs

Our Intrepid tour left Antigua Guatemala two days ago to arrive in Copan Honduras. We have had two nights here and we will be leving today. A charming town with steep cobbled streets with tuk tuks struggling noisily up the slopes. First night here we had a traditional meal at a restaurant our guide took us to. There are 14 travellers in the group, mainly Aussies but a good international mix. Central America so far has been inexpensive for food and drinks. Fruit smoothies are readily available which keeps Bruce happy. The Mayan ruins here are amazing and the Macaws are gorgeous. We spent the morning at the ruins and the afternoon at the Macaw bird sanctuary which got us up close to these beautiful creatures. Our first and only Honduras cache was at the ruins which happily we found with no problems. The hotel was ok. We had a swimming pool and patchy wifi. As with all the toilets in Central America, toilet paper has to be put in the bin alongside the bowel. Drinking water is bottled only.

Bachtracking to our departure from Flores Guatemala to Antigua Guatemala on the overnight bus, that transit went ok. We left the security of our airbnb at 7pm and managed to get a tuktuk to load our bags onto. Kind of tricky with the size of our bags and the size of the tuktuk plus the narrow cobblestone road and other traffic. We had been directed to go to Mayan world travel. On arrival and after waiting a while it remained closed. I was able to whatsapp Mohammed back in Belize who was able to advise that a staff member was ill and new arrangements were made for us to catch a shuttle to the main bus station located off Flores island. It was reassuring to see other travellers there and discuss we were all waiting for the overnight bus to Guatemala city. The bus was new and comfortable. Travel was slow. The roads are in poor condition and windy. We arrived in Guatemala city at day break. A mini bus shuttle was there to take us through to our hotel in Antigua. It took about an hour. It was great to be welcomed to a beautifully restored 150 year old building and breakfast was being served.

Antigua is a very beautiful city. Many historical buildings have been preserved and there are vibrant and colourful markets everywhere. We had a handful of caches to find and an Adventure Lab.

We met our Intrepid travel group on the third night that we were in Antigua. I am pleased we are doing the tour especially with the hand holding Walter provides at the different border stops.

So today we have had breakfast in Honduras, coffee break in Guatemala and evening meal in Suchitoto, El Salvatore. We spend two nights in each location and the local knowledge is invaluable. After arriving today we went to a beautiful scenic location and learnt how to make stuffed pupusas which we then had for dinner. This activity was included in our tour.

We have some great photos which we'll try to upload over the next day.

Our departure from Belize city was uneventful. We hung around till we were shepherded to a large comfortable air-conditioned bus. We departed just after lunch time and arrived in Flores at around 6pm. The roads were bad nearer to the Guatemalan border plus we had the exit from Belize into Guatemala which required patience and $us20 each as a departure tax from Belize. There was quite a beauracracy to the process but our bus driver was waiting on the other side thankfully.

Flores in an absolutely delightful place. Surrounded by a lake with a causeway joining it to the mainland. Our airbnb was right on the lake above a restaurant. We arrived right on sunset and were rewarded with lovely views of the setting sun over the lake. Bruce is in charge of uploading the photos and I am sure he will include them.

The cobbled stone lanes, brightly painted buildings, tuktuks, lakeside restaurants, people swimming in the lake added to the charm of the place.

Carlos our host and restaurant owner placed Flores first geocache which means we have two finds in Guatemala so far.

Our first find was Guatemala's first hide, which was placed in 2001. It is at a Mayan temple area called Tikal. We took a tour and were able to excuse ourselves to seek the cache which we found without any problem. The cache is called Hot Jungle and with the temperature being 41 degrees it certainly was. We managed to see many spider monkeys and a racoon type of critter.

Tonight we are travelling on a comfortable overnight bus from Flores to Antigua via Guatemala city. It is comfortable enough that we should be able to sleep. I am a little anxious about the overnight travel but the alternative is 11 hours in a minibus during the day which doesn't sound too good.

Antigua looks to be a beautiful city and we have a couple of days there before our Intrepid tour of Central America starts.

Additional post so we can upload photos from our zoo/sanctuary visit.