7: Frontera Corozal - Mexico

Days 26-28 (8th-10th Nov): Maya Ruins of Yaxchilan, Bonnampak, and Crossing into Guatemala

 

So our trip to the more remote part of Mexico and over the boarder is done, and you'll be glad to know we survived and it was definately worth it, but a lot harder than anything else we've done! We had had the option to do this part with a tour and they sort it all for you... but we decided that was too easy lol, and got local transport and went for it alone!!

The Thursday we got a 3 hour bus to Frontera Corozal, the village on the boarder, and from then on there was no internet and no one spoke a word of English. Definatley a test for the tiny bit of Spanish we had picked up! The hotel was cabana rooms which were ok and basic but nice to stay in something different and funny to look up and see the palapas roof! We went straight out to find a boat to take us to Yaxchilan, a set of Maya ruins you can only reach by boat, 40 mins down the river. We found an old local man to take us and the journey up the river was really pretty, on the way we spotted a giant crocodile and the crazy old man took us closer... to literally 15 ft from this crocodile that was about 15ft long and open mouthed! It was incredible and as we watched it disappeared into the water it brought home that we really were in the jungle! Once we got to Yaxchillan we had to climb up through the jungle on a path that would often disappear under roots and overgrown trees, upto the different parts of the site. Once we got there we were completely alone and it was amazing. We had got to the jungle canopy and could see so many birds and monekys, and it was great to look at the ruins without loads of other tourists there.


















Here, the lintels of all the buildings had incredibily well preserved stucco pictures of the main rulers of Yaxchillan throughout the ages. Plus one of a king blood letting his own penis for the gods that made Liam cringe lol! It was lovely to wander around through the jungle to each different part of aincient city and have it pop out at you from behind trees, and spot lots of ruins that haven't even been excavated still covered in jungle, as well as only comming across a few other people who had made the efffort to come out here. We saw so much wildlife too! One of those bright blue monarch butterflys, frogs, lizards, hummingbirds, 3 species of monkey, and a weird small mammel thing that I have never seen before! It was a really pretty ruin and only not well visited due to its location, but it made it one of our favorites of the trip becauase it seemed really magical and was so quite and hidden, and some of the building were really impressive, when it was a city it would have been a huge feat to build on the mountain. To get out of the site though you have to go through one of the temples into the pitch black and down the narrow stairs into the darkness, feel your way along and out the otherside, quite scary! The boat trip back was lovely in the sunset and we spotted two scarlet macaw parrots flying across the river
too! We were pretty pleased we'd decided to come this way!

 

 

 

 

The next day was more tricky as we had to get further and the language barrier was more of a problem, plus they like to take the piss out of travelers, like our taxi driver who agreed on a price when we left, and then wouldnt take us back at the end of the day unless we paid more than that... hmmm, not much you can do tho, especially if you dont want to be stranded in the jungle!

 

Anyway, after all that and a second trip down a bumpy track into the forest, we got to Bonnampak. It is small site with few buildings, but has the best example of painted murals of any Maya site and it was totally worth making the effort to see. They are hidden in an unsuspecting building and inside they just take your breath away. The colours were so bright and 3 rooms depict a huge battle between two rival cities and Bonnampaks celebrations once they win. You can really see the faces and what they wore (even down to the colour of the Jaguar skin) and the sacrifices they did and things. They are so well kept and lets you see more what it like back then, we really hadn't seen anything like it at any of the other ruins we had been to. You can really see the resemblances between them and the more traditional groups of Mayas today.

 There was a point when the few other people left and we were completly alone at the site, which was amazing and we climbed to the highest point and looked at the surrouding jungle. They also have the biggest preserved stalea here and it was pretty impressive, so this tiny set of ruins must have been very important 2000 years ago! It is quite amazing how what was once a huge, very organised and powerful civilisation just collasped, was abandoned and disssppeared into the jungle, left to ruin...

 

 

 

  

After the ruins we went to the village of Lacondow where we found a trail through into more remote jungle to a small waterfall/pool. We were left to wander it alone and we saw GIANT trees and so much wildlife (including a crab on the jungle floor...??) We were so glad we didn't go for the tour option, even though getting the transport arranged alone was tough, but it was really really worth it to be alone in the sites, and have as long as you wanted, you just saw more and its horrible being hearded in a tour lol. We realised we have taken about twice as long as the time they say you can do each ruin in anyway!

These two days here had to be some of our favorites though and really felt like we were a long way from home and our normal lives and into something completly different that we are very lucky to see =)

The nites without internet were actually really good and gave us a chance to catch up on diaries etc, plus there are less mozzies here so less bites is always nice :)

 

 

 

The next day was boader crossing day! We had to go to the tiny immigration office, hand in our mexican tourist cards and say goodbye to Mexico =( We then crossed the river to Guatemala and had to get the new Visas.

 

Here we were asked to pay to get into the country, and we knew you werent meant to pay anything and tried all the tricks to avoid it , but they insisted and considering they are immigration, and there were lots of armed police around, we had to pay! However that was all there was, and we were offically in Guatemala! It was really easy, didnt even search our bags :) The next bit was worse as we did 70km in a minivan along a very bumpy dirt track and it nearly rattled our heads off! The scenery changed quite dramactically from mountains to lowland/marshland and we drove through tiny villages and past a cemetry that was still covered in brightly coloured streamers and flowers from day of the dead, had weirdly spiced oranges from a market, saw the change in culture instantly, and finally arrived in Flores.

 

The hostel was a more traditional backpacker one like in Tulum and full of more hippies lol. We decided to go out for dinner and ended up sitting on the docks in a lovely little place and it was really relaxing. Also treated ourselves to a hot chocolate (the first choc i've had in a month!) and found a little place where they were making real guatemalan worry dolls :)

So that was the end of the 4th week and our time in Mexico. It was amazing in the Yucatan and it just kept throwing us surprises and new treats all the time. It is quite different to the rest of Mexico from what we've heard from other travelers and we absolutly loved it, from the ruins, cenotes and beaches to tiny towns, jungles and mountains. Our first month-ish has really opened our eyes. It was not quite what we expected but I don't think there is much you can do to prepare back home unless you've traveled before. Definatley a steep learning curve, but a great one! Central America has SO much to offer and we're so glad we came here and are really doing this! It has been a bit crazy not always knowing what your doing the next day, or where you'll be, and going to places you have no idea what they are going to be like. Its a bit strange being in a different bed nearly every night lol and the language barrier is hard, but we've met some great people and seen some amazing things! I'm also very glad I have Liam here with me, and we are doing this great adventure together =) 

Next week we have decided to go to a spanish school for a week to learn the language. Now we're here for another 3 months it makes sense and will make things easier. Should be staying in a village on the lake with a host family so that's something different :)