Trip to Mountain Pine Ridge/Tikal, Guatemala/San Pedro, Abmergris Cayes, including caving and scuba diving. Four days in the Mayan Mountains, two days at the ruins of Tikal and 4 days in the Caye Islands.
Big Rock Falls
We stayed at Five Sisters Lodge. The Lodge is named for the Five Sisters Falls and the pools at the base of the falls were our afternoon hang-out. We trekked through a different set of Mayan Sacrificial caves each day. Barton Creek Caves we canoed , Rio Frio Caves we hiked & Jaguar Paws Caves we inner tubed. Barton Creek, which contained more relics (skulls, pottery) was, by far, the best. Jaguar Paw was the longest (5 caves with short openings between), an hour long hike in the rainforest, followed by a 2 hour float through the caves. Of the 3, Rio Caves would be the one to skip. We did side trips to a Butterfly Farm (very Cool), 1,000 Falls, Rio Frio Pools and San Ignacio which was a terrific shopping stop. We mountain biked to other falls, including Big Rock Falls. Five Sisters was perfect; we had a traditional HUT with thatched roof and oil lamps for lighting. The meals were five star. On day 5 we went by van to Tikal, a large Mayan Ruin in Guatemala. 13 temples/pyramids and several large acropolis. That first day we explored on our own; climbing pyramids II, III and IV. We rose at 4am to climb pyramid IV by sunrise. This was so worth it! You see the roof combs of Temples I, II, III and V from here. Lucas included this shot in the final minutes of Star Wars IV(the first movie). We had a private 3 hour tour - we were able to watch archeologists at work in the 7 Temples structure. We climbed Temple V and the Lost World Pyramid. Next we flew to Ambergris Cayes. We had learned how to scuba specifically for this trip. San Pedro is approximately 3 blocks deep and 6 blocks long. We did five dives over four days and saw nurse shark, sea turtles, lobsters, barracuda and sand and manta rays. At night we would walk into town (no cars – only golf carts) and choose a restaurant – many are right on the beach. Favorite was the Blue Water Grill, but BC’s Beach Bar-B-Que and Celi’s also get high marks. Friday night Elvi’s has Mayan Buffet which was also note worthy
Favourite spots:
Barton Creek Entrance
Barton Creek Caves was an amazing trek, seeing 1500 year old skulls and pottery. Tikal was probably the highlight. The ruins were fantastic and seeing Monkeys, Toucan and Quetzals amongst the pyramids was incredibale. Scuba diving was fantastic - I kissed shark!
What's really great:
Stairs to top of Temple IV
Loved hiking the ruins at Tikal and viewing rain forest from the top of an ancient pyramid. Exploring the caves was fantastic! Scuba diving was amazing. The whole trip was fantastic from one end to the other!
Sights:
Sunrise on top of Temple IV
Tikal Ruins, Jaquar Paw Caves, Rio Caves, Barton Creek Caves
Accommodations:
Coral Formations, Ambergris Cayes
Five Sisters Lodge in Cayo, Jungle Lodge in Tikal and Ramon's Village in San Pedro
Restaurants:
Blue Water Grill, Celi's Restaurant, BC's Beach BBQ
I think there's so much information here that with the photos as well it justifies a 5* grading. However I do agree with the comments of Rudi and Marianne and it was a marginal decision for me. I feel you must have been able to give more information at the end without getting into unnecessary padding.
Fantastic pictures and a good HOT travel tip. Wonderfull as a second report, hope the end of the report can be extended oneday, the start is ***** stuff.
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