Here our family and friends can follow our adventures traveling the world!
Här kan ni följa med på vår resa genom Amerika, central Amerika, tropiska öar och slutdestinationen Australien..
We had an early start and set off for the border town of Frontera Corazol. A local wooden motor boat was waiting to take us to the lost city of Yaxchilan. We took the boat through the river located in between Guatemala and Mexico and we were suprised there was not much of boarder protection, but the guide explained that it is free passing from Guatemala to Mexico and the other way around. Though no one goes from Mexico to Guatemala, everyone passes to Mexico trying to enter America for the American dream.
This river was filled with crocodiles sunbathing on the beach, so no swimming for us! It is the biggest river in Mexico.
The lost city of Yaxchilan, the city you only can visit by boat or helicopter...just a tiny bit discovered and restored, the rest is still waiting to be discovered, but too little money and time. It's very beautiful to see how the nature take back the ruins.
This tree was very important for the Mayan People. They thought it reached all the way to heaven and it's roots all the way to the underworld and it was their connection to the sun. They also thought that when the sun goes down every night it fights the creatures in the underworld and when it rises in the morning it means it won the battle, and one day the sun will be defeated and the sun won't rise ever again. They praised the sun as their God.
We entered the ruins and walked underneath in the dark tunnels. Bats everywhere, this one we got a good picture of before he flew into the dark.
Disgruntled Mayans who were angered at the gods came back to the city after it was abandoned and removed the heads from all the statues of their former rulers.
Inside the ruins the beautiful paintings are very well preserved for being hundreds of years old. This one is picturing a big party celebrating a bwttle against their neighbors.
On top, there is always the Gods and the priests, and in the middle the warriors and at the bottom the slaves poorly dressed, working with guards watching their every step.
When we walked back we saw this adorable ant road filled with ants carrying green litte leaves. It was as long as we could see in both directions.
For the entire trip we have been looking for an opportunity to get deep into the jungle and do some proper kayaking or rafting. After some research we found a small company who run jungle treks, rafting and archeological tours from San Christobal - Palenque - Lacandon National Park - San Christobal so searching for a bit of adventure we booked in even though it was a definite budget breaker.
After a good 5 hours in the minibus the first stop was Aqua Azul, apparently the most beautiful waterfalls in all of Mexico. Fair to say we agree! It was similar to semuc champay though much warmer water and a heap less people. Luckily there had been no rain for a good few days so the water was a beautiful clear turqoise color. Surprisingly we were the only ones in our super boring group of 10 that actually swam.
The water is supposed to be very rich in minerals which helps create the beautiful colors.
Due to the strong currents and crocs it only safe to swim in some spots.
Second stop was this 40 meter high waterfall where we battled old German tourists, swam and walked through a hidden cave behond it.
Sadly we only had about 45 mins to enjoy this beautiful place after hours and hours of driving.
The sprey from the waterfall created some really beautiful light effects and rainbows.
Our great guide Adam found this little fella and explained about how they kill their prey using a limited amount of their super poisonous venom so will not waste it on predators or humans. Rather they secrete a toxin from the red hairs on their back which can cause problems for animals hunting them. His big brother decided to make home in our room this night so we called in our guide to usher him away.
Nice little street parade woke us up on our first morning going past the window.
A decent size skyrocket almost came straight in the window! Fireworks were going off constantly the whole week end.
On our morning walk I found a little friend...
This is the walk to the church on the opposite side of the city which had an amazing view of the city and surrounding mountains.
we met two angry birds on our way up to the church.
We sat down on the hill outside the church enjoying the sun and the view.
Nice little community gym out the back of the church is one of the first public recreational facilities we have seen. Healthy living is not a priority in Central America.
We headed back to the market to have a look around and both stopped when we saw the most beautiful dream catcher! So we took it as a sign and bought it to help Påågy with all her crazy dreams.
Had to stop and try some of the local treats that were all 5 pesos each! Before buying some veggies and cheese for tonight's dinner. The best one was a square made of peanuts; absolutely delicious!
Ate some home made chips, horrible honey soaked funky local berries and beautiful fruits at the markets.
Stopped at the theater to see what was going on and caught the last part of a Mexican dance performance which was very interesting.
This place is the best! Our hostel is built into a very old colonial mansion with two levels of rooms set around a massive courtyard and a huge backyard where they light a fire every night.
Unaware of our perfect timing we realized that today is the start of a three day culture and music festival for San Christobal. The night we arrived there was a big techno/ house festival with famous dj's going on and we could here the music all the way to our hostel. To us this city had a real European deal to it with heaps of unique bard and restaurants and free entertainment.
At either end of the city there is a hill and atop each you will find a nice little church and great view over the city.
We spent endless hours just wandering the cobble stoned streets and finding new markets or view of the surrounding mountains.
Little Påågy was constantly cold even though it was mid 20's during the day. It was a nice change from the Caribbean heat though.
We had a little shopping spree buying a pair of converse for the Pååg and some new boots for me :) about 25 dollars each!
Just getting a clean and polish for about 12 dollars.
After a 16 hour horrible bus ride with two Mexican guys behind us spitting on the floor every fifth minute, sitting next to the stinky toilet and with a fat lady in the seat in front of us who literally crossed our legs with her seat pushed all the way down. On swollen feet we stumbled out of the bus and had no idea how to walk to our hostel, with no map or adress. A guy handing out flyers in the bus station stopped Matthew and lucky us he knew exactly where our hostel was located!
We walked 8 blocks to get to our hostel and we were immediately amazed by the city, and couldn't care less about the heavy backpacks.
After leaving the backpacks in our new hostel Puerto Vieja where we got a really nice room for only 250 pesos a night we took off to explore the city. here above is the restaurant street.
Lucky us there was a big music and art festival going on so there was lots of interesting things to look at, here they've put plastic up so the city's graffiti artists can paint as much as they want.
It was very cool to see the beautiful view and the ruff colorful graffiti at the same time.
We were starving so we went to a vegetarian buffé.
A lentil and green bean soup as a starter.
Lots of vegetables, different dressings and a dark homemade bread. Som vi hade väntat på att äntligen få äta nyttigt och färska grönsaker!
Not planning to we spent 5 nights here as we needed a bit of a rest and the hostel and town were amazing. It's a really we'll maintained old colonial town with great markets and squares.
We saw some cool street art and performances and went to the native art gallery. In the afternoons we spent a fair bit of time kicking it in the pool and gardens which were better than any hostel I've ever seen.
One afternoon we took a cab to a big shopping mall to see a movie with a few folks from the hostel.
The hostel offered all sorts of free activities including yoga, salsa and cooking classes.
We took one salsa class and loved it! The class took around 2 hours and was super intense but by the end of it we were the only couple left and spinning like pro's! Well we thought so anyway....
The following night we had a Yucatan cuisine cooking class! It was free and if you wanted to eat afterwards it was only 20 pesos, or 10 kronor and was probably the best food we had in the Yucatan.
On the menu was beef with orange and lime marinade, corn and coriander empanadas a fresh tomato onion salad and an amazing roast pumpkin seed sauce! Yum!
Matty's neck was hurting so after playing some cards jonna went out to practice her salsa with the girls :)
