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Alexa PlamondonAlexa Plamondon
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traveled in 4 countries Read more
  • Guatemala
    Day 5

    Tikal

    March 13, 2022 in Guatemala ⋅ 🌧 23 °C

    Forecast was calling for rain all day and night at Tikal which was disappointing as this was one of the biggest highlights of the trip. And the 2.5 hour drive to tikal from poptun was exactly that - non stop rain. Boooo.

    But when we arrived at the park gate, the rain fortunately stopped. Very grey and overcast but much better than the alternative. The park guys didn't accept credit card, nor American dollars (weird!!) which quickly posed a problem to pay for the two day entrance. Fortunately abdel was able to exchange american dollars with one of the nearby shopkeepers, and ron and i pooled our quetzals to make it work. Phew. Its literally jungle plus a few barebone hotels... no atm's. And the nearest town was at least 30 minutes away.

    As soon as we left the hotel and walked toward the entrance gate, the wildlife became abundant. There was a crocodile in the nearby creek. Adorable coati roaming around everywhere. Strange exotic birds too.

    It took about 20 minutes hiking uphill to reach the grand plaza and the astonished look on everyone's faces was priceless as the dramatic temple I and II were towering over us.

    Climbed the stairs to the top of temple II for some amazing views and pics. And those views included a small flock of toucans in a nearby tree. I followed them around for a while trying to get a good photo despite all the grey clouds muting their colors in the camera shots.

    Then made our way to the gigantic temple IV and climbed to the top with views of the tops of the other temples and mist over the jungle canopy. Amazing sights. And even better, a few parrots were flying by us a few times and nesting near the temple top.

    Eventually made our way back to the hotel. Got in a game of catan, and supper before they shut everything down at 9pm. So nice to be back here! Magical spot. Hopefully tomorrow is drier.    Read more

  • Guatemala
    Day 4

    Poptun

    March 12, 2022 in Guatemala ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Chartered the same boat and driver to take us from the atlantic coast back up the river to the interior, saying goodbye to hundreds of pelicans and egrets (cranes). And back into our SUVs to start making our way north.

    Detoured off the main road to a really pretty spot with many small waterfalls called Las Conchas. Perhaps even prettier was the drive there. Dense jungle on both sides of the highway and very mountainous with tall palms everywhere.

    The river seemed to come from several different directions at once and each location had a similar cascading waterfalls with different pools above them. So we all jumped into the river and spent a couple of hours climbing the small waterfalls and exploring the pools above them.

    From there, kept driving north to our hotel just before the town of Poptun. Drove through a wild rainstorm that made it nearly impossible to drive until it slowed down.

    Finca Ixobel isn't really a hotel, but a large estate in the jungle with cabins scattered all around it. Very rural feel to it. Had a nice open air meal at the main building and then donned our headlamps to find our way back to our cabins for an early night under our mosquito nets. Big day tomorrow at Tikal.    Read more

  • Guatemala
    Day 3

    Livingston

    March 11, 2022 in Guatemala ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Woke up to howler monkeys in the treetops making a lot of noise around 6am. Its possibly the best way i can think of to lose sleep :)

    Zero driving today yay. The only way to reach the altantic coast town of livingston is by boat down a river. Abdel managed to hire our own personal boat and driver who also agreed to take us to a waterfall and a nice beach in the Livingston area. Livingston is a garifuna population which is comparable to jamaicans and is the only place in Guatemala with garifunas.

    The boat ride to livingston was beautiful. Jungle lining both sides of the river, and mountains as a backdrop. And there were also lots of hidden canals of tiny islands in the river hidden by dense vegetation with homes and cafés popping up behind huge leafy plants everywhere. Also came across a floating store, meaning a couple in a dug out canoe selling jewellery and hand crafted items. Large cranes and pelicans were everywhere too.

    We bypassed Livingston and went to the Seven Alters, which is a series of cascading pools of water feeding into each other in a jungly setting. Climbed a million rocks and jumped in and out of different pools of water, and for quite a while we had it all to ourselves.

    From there we boated to a gorgeous white sand beach with really warm waters. Spent two hours here relaxing by the ocean before backtracking to livingston and finally checking into our hotel. Spent a few more hours lounging by the pool and then took tuk tuks into town for dinner by the ocean. There's no cars in this city, just tuk tuks. I had an insane local soup where i almost expected half of its ingredients to crawl out of the bowl. Then back to the hotel for another hotly contested Catan game.    Read more

  • Guatemala
    Day 2

    Rio Dulce

    March 10, 2022 in Guatemala ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    Today was mostly a travel day to get ourselves to the eastern side of the country. But what a beautiful drive it was. The center portion of Guatemala city has wonderful colonial architecture everywhere and once outside the city, there are endless huge mountains and valleys on both sides.

    But we weren't alone. We had to contend with a littany of truckers coming and going from the eastern port as well. And oh boy, there were a lot. Managed to find a really cool restaurant alongside the highway for a late lunch and then back to battling truckers for the road.

    Along the way, we stopped at the remains of a mayan city called Quirigua dating back to 476AD, which apparently was the commerce center of their world. Not much remains here but lots of massive stone carvings, and stonework from some smaller temples and their grand plaza. A very lush area with banana, mango, and almond trees, and lots of really tall palms, making it very scenic among the ruins. Also found a 200 foot long vine from a crazy tall palm that most of us did a small tarzan swing from.

    Our hotel is situated on the river near the town of Rio Dulce and requires a very wet boat ride to reach it. I think I easily got the most wet out of all of us.

    All the buildings are thatch huts on stilts in the river connected by elevated decking paths. Arrived late, so finished our evening with pizza, beers and a game of Catan.    Read more

  • Guatemala
    1
    Day 1

    Guatemala City

    March 9, 2022 in Guatemala ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Very brief stay in the capital. Arrived at our hotel after midnight. Flight was an hour late. Took about 30 minutes to get through the airport and another hour to get our rental vehicles. And then straight to bed

    Wasn't a very good sleep. There was no insulation from the street noise below. And the church across the street rang its bell at least 100 times around 6am. But its only one night in the capital and then its a number of stays in more jungly environments coming up.

    A quick breakfast here and then hitting the highway towards the Atlantic.    Read more

  • Guatemala
    Day 1

    On the road again

    March 9, 2022 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 1 °C

    The 30 days being travel-free since returning from Argentina was too much to bear, so I'm spreading my wings again haha. This time bringing along Alexa, Ron, Abdel, Rachel, Caleb and Max

    We are renting two vehicles in Guatemala city and going on a huge drive all over the country.. can't wait

    A brief stop in Washington DC, and then straight to Guatemala.    Read more

  • Belize and Guatemala
    Day 12

    Belize City

    March 22, 2020 in Belize ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Started our day with s 3.5 hour drive from Placencia to Belize City. Really beautiful drive with jungle right to the highway edge all along the Hummingbird highway. Checked into our hotel and dropped off Alexa and mom and then returned our Jeep.

    When we first rented the jeep, about 20 minutes later on a highway, a large rock kicked up from a truck and put a big crack in the windshield. So i was dreading the moment of returning the jeep and sorting that issue out. But somehow they didn't notice, or didn't care, and they even gave me a free ride back to my hotel.

    Our hotel was awesome. Nice restaurant, lovely gardens and a large pool. Spent the day lounging by the pool and finishing off the beer and wine we had bought in hopkins and placencia. It was actually really busy too with lots of families all around the pool area. Hadn't seen this many people in a long time. Last sleep and off to the airport.    Read more

  • Belize and Guatemala
    Day 11

    Placencia - Day 3

    March 21, 2020 in Belize ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    I woke up and decided to try to change my air canada flight on expedia again. Success!, plus $850 to do it for all 3 of us. Now we are booked on two different flights home to cover our bases. Surely we will get on one of them hours before the border here slams shut hard for a long time.

    Felt better about things but i admit it was a nagging issue mentally. We really should have found an excursion but we just had another lazy day at the beach again. I walked the long boardwalk to its southern point and back. 80 percent of everything is shut down due to lack of tourists. Seriously, we are the last of the mohicans everywhere and its a bit unsettling now.

    All the Americans i met (and kept my distance from) had already flown home. Flights coming here wouldn't be dropping anyone off and only picking people up. Corporations and their bottom line concerned me that we might see cancelled flights. But out of my hands now and hoping for the best. Fantastic to be here in the sun and enjoying restaurants and bars but its an uneasy fantastic heh.

    And omg we have played maybe our 500th game of blokus. We are ready for world class competition. Our level of cut throat play has become saudi arabia impressive. Beware!    Read more

  • Belize and Guatemala
    1
    Day 10

    Placencia - Day 2

    March 20, 2020 in Belize ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Beaches and logistics sums up most of the past couple of days.

    First we heard caye caulker was mostly shutting down because of a lack of tourists, so we cancelled our hotel there. Then started hearing different rumours about the airport and borders all closing, and different days. Yesterday read on the airport website that it was closing on the 23rd and our flight was leaving on the 25th. Uh oh.

    Couldn't get our direct flight to Toronto changed to monday because it was full but did manage to book a delta flight to toronto through atlanta. And contacted the embassies to make sure we could transit through American airports without quarantining. We can. Phew.

    Rest of the day was being lazy by the beach. Not entirely easy to enjoy with all the uncertainty ahead of us, but much better than back home in the cold and quarantining and everything being closed. And discovered the best nachos ever. Annnnnd... my first IPA craft beer of the trip! Banner day, minus all the worldwide doom and gloom, and dying and uncertainty of getting home 😉    Read more

  • Belize and Guatemala
    1
    Day 9

    Placencia - Day 1

    March 19, 2020 in Belize ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Felt sad checking out of our dream cabana in hopkins and alexa was especially sad to leave all the doggies that she spent time with everyday.

    Had breakfast at a tiny mom and pop place. While sitting there, there must have been at least 20 different locals who walked in for one reason or another and every single person gave us a friendly hello. This country is over the top friendly everywhere we go, and especially Hopkins. Everyone walking by on the street says hi. While driving, everyone on the sidewalk waves. Even guys doing roadwork will stop, smile and wave.

    The drive to Placencia is only an hour and a lot of the drive is along some pretty coastline and through some pretty swank neighbourhoods. I had an apartment rented which took us a long time to find. My mapping app and booking.com had its location incorrectly mapped.

    While asking for directions, the person referred to my mom as my wife. Thats twice that has happened! I'm not sure how to feel about that lol.

    Spent the afternoon at the beach, sipping beers and jumping in and out of the ocean. The beach is very pretty but we cant help but compare everything to hopkins. Man, we are so spoiled haha.

    And its so quiet everywhere. This place is wall to wall resorts and hotels and its mostly empty at every turn.    Read more

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