For once, we did not have an epic journey ahead of us to get from one place to another – Antigua was but a mere couple of hours by shuttle from Lake Atitlan. We almost didn’t know what to do with ourselves with less than a half day’s transit ahead of us!
Arriving in Panajachel, the vibrant, backpacker focused town on the shore of Lake Atitlan felt somewhat… familiar. Market stalls, street food carts and hawkers were as far as the eye could see, and the hustle and bustle was unlike anything we had experienced in a while. We had four nights in this beautiful Guatemalan highland region, and it had certainly been difficult to choose our base from amongst the many small towns that dotted the shore.
Our two nights in Flores flew by, and next think we know, we’re on yet another cross-country adventure, this time through the highlands of Guatemala to reach the very remote, teeny tiny village of Lanquin deep in the Guatemalan jungle, on our way to the stunning limestone pools of Semuc Champey.
To cross the border from Belize into Guatemala was an adventure in itself – first a taxi to the border; a 5 minute walk through no-mans land between the two countries thinking we had arrived in Guatemala (we hadn’t!); going through Guatemalan customs and finally entering Guatemala; catching another taxi five minutes into the nearest town; into a collectivo for 2 hours to Flores Town, then finally a quick ride in a tuk-tuk for the last leg to take us onto Flores Island and to our hostel door – PHEW!
Once we left the beautiful coastline of Belize behind, we headed inland to quaint San Ignacio, Belize’s second largest city, for a couple of days exploring the caves and mountainous area known as ‘Cayo’.
When I say Caye Caulker is the coolest place in the world, I mean it, and in a BIG way. Everyone there walks cool (“go slooooow man”); talks cool “yo brutha, welcome to Caye Caulker – paradise on earth”); acts cool (“no shoes, no shirt… no problem,”); and are pretty much the most genuinely happy people I have ever met.
Wowsers. I had not realised how much I was missing the beach until we arrived in Tulum, and immediately wished we were able to stay longer than our planned three nights!
To me, Merida is the sparkling jewel of Mexico’s Yucatán region – vibrant, colourful, choc-full of culture and yet still maintaining the friendly, small town vibe that made it a worthwhile destination to visit in the first place.
The Chiapas Region in Mexico is particularly renowned for the ancient Mayan civilisations (or ruins) of Palenque, Yaxchilan, Bonampa and Chinkultik; as well as one of the highest proportions of indigenous populations in Mexico. We were fortunate enough to be able to visit three of these ruins in our four days in the region.
Alongside our two days spent exploring Mexico City, we also spent a day venturing to Teotihuacan about an hour outside of the city, as well as hitting the town on a Late Night Tacos and Mezcal Tour with Eat Mexico (our second tour with them, read about the first, our Street Food tour here).