Visiting the Mayan temples of Tikal, Guatemala.

In the far northern reaches of Guatemala enormous, intricately built temples have beenrescued from the intense mass of dense rainforest that has swamped them for the last1000 years. It is not the size, the age or the aesthetic design that impresses most, it is theunbelievable scientific planning that went in to the entire “city”. Evidence has beenfound that suggests the city was planned up to 100 years before they even laid the firststone. Each temple and platform is built and positioned very specifically, all basedaround the sun, cycles of time and life, planets and stars. The Mayans were obsessedwith countdowns and predicting future events and in fact their calendar is the secondmost accurate ever made, second only to the atomic clock! Our modern day Gregoriancalendar loses 1 day every 4 years, hence the leap year, but by using the cycles of the sun,moon, Jupiter and Venus, the Mayans created a calendar that loses one day every 6000years! They have accurately predicted solar eclipses, lunar eclipses, etc. as far into their future as 1991! They have predicted the end of the world for December 2012, I for oneam slightly worried based on the accuracy of everything else they have predicted!The temples stand proud and strong above the canopy, the highest reaching just shy of 215 feet into the sky, without the wheel or beasts to transport the giant limestone blocks,it is unsure how they accomplished such a phenomenal feat of engineering. The junglethat once tried to camouflage and hide these temples away from human knowledge after the fall of the empire (cause still unkown) is rife with animals, reptiles and insects.Spider monkeys playfully leap from branch to branch, showing off for the cameras andoccasionally attacking the onlookers down below with fruit or nuts from the trees inwhich they play, and now and again even the “fruit” of their bowels! The howler monkeys that can also be found there are shy in comparison, few can be spotted in theforest, but their roars echo through the city ceaselessly.What makes this tour so distinct is the fact that you are located deep into the rainforest.Despite the fact that all the area was stripped of all trees and leveled out to build templesin around 900 B.C., since the demise of the empire 1800 years later, the jungle has fought back and regained some of it’s former territory. From the tops of the temples you can geta phenomenal view and get a grasp on how remote it is here, a full 360 degree turn givesviews to the horizon in every direction without one telegraph pole, pylon, satellite dish or high-rise building to be seen. The only evidence of man’s influence on the land was themagnificent temples. The historical element to this tour is fascinating, a race of peoplefar advanced beyond any other at the time created a masterpiece of human engineering,only to disappear from the annals of time, their city to be hidden from the world for millennia.When visiting Tikal, 90% of guide books will tell you to stay in Flores, 30km south.However, on the road in from Flores is a remote eco-tourism village by the name of ElRemate. It is imprisoned by a crystal clear lake on one side and dense jungle on theother, a few shacks line the dirt track. For US$2 per night, the top floor ‘penthouse’rooms boast wooden floors, half height bamboo walls and palm roofing, 2 single bedsand accompanying mosquito nets. If remoteness is what you’re looking for then this is it.

From the room, you watch the formidable sun-set over the lake – the reds, oranges, bluesand purples all reflect off the lake’s glassy surface as the frogs, toads, grasshoppers,cicadas and howler monkeys fills the air with an almost oppressive evening chorus. Thisis pure ‘retreat’ country – a place to go to get away from the rest of the world, be at onewith nature and your own thoughts.

A path less travelled

From Tikal in the north of Guatemala to Copan in Honduras to the south is a long,dramatic and complex journey. Starting in El Remate, a chicken bus runs to Flores (if you’re crafty you can do this for free in the morning since all the busses are on their return trip to pick up more tourists to take them to the temples. From Flores a coach runsto Chiquimula, however the coach stops on the outskirts of town and so you have to catchconnecting chicken bus into town (don’t expect anyone to know when the next one isdue, they seem to be completely at random) they are also filled as full as is physically possible, so seat-space is at a premium. From Chiquimula you can catch another minibusto the border, all you have to do is listen out for the cries of “Frontera! Frontera!Frontera!” Having crossed border patrol, another bus takes you to a tiny village in themiddle of nowhere with nothing more than a cross-roads and some tin-roofed huts. It isapparently a bus-station and before long you will be able to get on yet another small,dilapidated and over-filled minibus the final stretch to Copan. Don’t be surprised if youhave to carry an old woman’s shopping, a young child or even the old woman on your lapon any one of these journeys!Tikal to Copan – total distance about 400km, total buses 5, total time 14 hours, total costaround $4. It is a great journey to make, if not a major challenge, and one that is highlyrecommended to anyone visiting the area.

Officially the bet scuba-diving in the world

30 miles off the Caribbean coast of Honduras, Central America lie a few small islands atthe southern tip of the world’s second largest barrier reef. Utila is the main island andhome to an abundance of scuba-diving companies, including PADI’s number one dive-centre in the world. It just also happens to be the cheapest in the world too. For all scubaenthusiasts and those wanting to get into it, there can be only one choice of location, here.To say the sensation of scuba diving is a strange is a huge understatement;weightlessness, hearing your own breathing louder than anything else around you, allsenses confused as light and sound are distorted by the water, all external stimuli thatyour body has come to know and accept as normal is thrown into disarray, nothing worksthe same down there as it does on the surface. You will be struck dumb by the beauty of the underwater world, thousands of fish of all different shapes, sizes or colours dart aboutthrough the underwater forest of the coral reef. Nature programmes that try to capture thismagical world can only portray its beauty, not the sensation of being part of it. Beingunderwater and being able to move up, down, left, right, hanging upside down peeringinto little nooks and crannies, swimming on your back and watching your bubbles rise up

60 feet to the perpetually moving surface is like nothing you can ever experience on dryland, total freedom and a whole new way of moving – your height is controlled by your breathing, a full lung of air will allow you to rise over a tall coral “tree” as you skim thetop of a coral plateau incredulously watching the fish world go by, exhaling as you reachthe top of the “tree” then drops you down to the plateau surface again to get a closer look at the smaller life forms that dwell on the reef. Most of the fish are completely obliviousto your presence, seemingly going about their daily lives despite the enormous bubblingsilhouette invading their patch of sunlit underwater paradise.

Getting back into the USA

When planning to travel, no matter how many tips and hints you receive from friends andfamily, there will always be scenarios and problems that you hadn’t prepared for, theseare tough to swallow, but issues of our own making through lack of proper planning areeven tougher.My initial plans were to fly to Guatemala, travel around the neighbouring countries andthen fly back up to Los Angeles to catch a connecting flight to Fiji. This gave me a hugeamount of flexibility as I could fly back to LA from anywhere I wanted. However, ittranspired that the cost of flexibility is a lot of money and a great deal of stress.On returning to the mainland following 2 weeks scuba diving, a decision had to bemade… keep heading south and fly from Nicaragua or head back north and fly back fromGuatemala. I had 30 minutes to make a decision before the busses left so I ran into thenearest internet shop to find out what the best way of doing things was. I was here thatthe stress levels started to build.In my opinion, STA travel is by far the most helpful and efficient travel companyworldwide, they’re always the first to get back to you with flights and assistance andusually the cheapest. However, I was unable to make international calls from the internetshop and STA Honduras just doesn’t exist! 25 minutes until the bus leaves. So I gotonline and thankfully my brother-in-law’s sister was on MSN and gave me a contact tothe real world, and more specifically STA travel. After a lot of nervous waiting, shefinally came back to me with flight options, and it transpired that flying from Nicaraguawould cost the same as from Guatemala. My decision was made, I was going to headsouth and fly from Managua. However, she could not book the flights for me so I had toleave it for the time being.A day or 2 later I arrived in Leon, Nicaragua still with no flights booked. I got myself toanother internet shop (the only places in Central America with international phoneaccess) and called STA in England, but since I was flying neither to or from the UK, Ineeded to call STA USA, which I did, but they couldn’t help me – apparently it isimpossible to book a flight into the USA without booking a return flight out again!Obviously I already had the flight out booked, but it didn’t matter to them, they simplycould not book me on a flight!