The latest TRAIL magazine featuring another Eat.Run.See adventure has just been published! In this issue we share our experiences running in three regions of Croatia in Eastern Europe. If you’d like to read more about our adventures in this beautiful, diverse, and welcoming country, we cover Croatia in greater detail (and with many more stunning images!) on our blog here.

Click on the link below for our article as it appears in the magazine:

TRAIL 16 – Eat.Run.See Awed by Croatia

If you’d like to enjoy the full magazine packed with awesome trail goodness, pick up a copy at supermarkets or bookstores in South Africa, or buy a digital copy online via one of these links:

Zinio: https://www.zinio.com/magazine/TRAIL/pr-500650714/cat-cat1960090#/

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/trail-magazine-sa/id979830150?mt=8

We’re once again incredibly proud and excited that we’re featured in TRAIL, South Africa’s leading trail running publication. The latest issue continues our involvement as regular contributors, as we share tales from the trails that we explore and experience on our global adventure.

Walking through the arrivals hall in Christchurch airport offers a clear understanding of two main sources of revenue in New Zealand – sheep and cows. Pictures and sounds of these friendly farm animals greet you at almost every turn. And as a vegan, it becomes clear that life might soon be very difficult!

A common sight in New Zealand – pity we couldn’t save these woolly friends from their fate

However, despite the tremendous amount of dairy produced and milk products consumed, and the presence of many, many sheep farms producing wool and lamb, it is a very easy place to thrive as a plant-based consumer. There appears to be an increasing awareness of alternative dietary requirements and small businesses are blossoming to meet the demand. Since our visit five years prior, the choice and range of products available to vegans has increased dramatically.

Although New Zealand is an isolated country, there is a tremendous variety of fresh produce and fruit sold at both supermarkets and farmers markets across the country. Most of this is grown locally and is beautifully fresh and delicious. There are imported options, but the prices reflect the hefty surcharge to bring these goods into the country from far away lands. An exception to this is perhaps bananas, which are comparable in price to what we pay in North America.

All the larger supermarket chains carry a wide variety of products to support a plant-based diet. These include non-dairy milk and yoghurt options, grains, legumes, nut butters, cereals, soy products, meat substitutes like tempeh and veggie sausages, and breads. In larger cities and towns you’ll find at least one health food store offering everything you could possibly wish for from kombucha to flax seeds. Prices are more expensive than supermarket sundries but many of these products are locally produced and organic. Here are a few options in key centres, many offering freshly prepared vegan food and baking too:

Piko (Christchurch)
Organic Green Grocer (Nelson)
Commonsense Organics (Wellington/Auckland)
Chantal Organics (Napier)
Ceres Fresh Market (Auckland)

Generally we shopped at the Countdown supermarket chain for our regular groceries and did not have any trouble finding everything we needed there. Fruit and vegetables seem to be of better quality and cheaper price at produce markets, but the supermarkets are perfectly fine too for variety and freshness. Whenever possible we purchased fruit and vegetables at road side stalls and even had the chance to pick our own cherries! We also were treated to gorgeous fresh vegetables, herbs and berries from my brother’s garden in Christchurch, making us long for a garden of our own!

Bucket of cherry goodness from PYO (pick-your-own) farm near Nelson

We mostly cooked for ourselves during our three months in New Zealand as we had wonderful kitchen facilities when staying with family and friends on both North and South islands. When we were travelling and camping we usually had access to communal kitchens or used the camp cooking gear we borrowed from my brother. We had a lot of fun trying out new recipes with our family and we especially had fun baking vegan pies, cookies and muffins with our little nephew.

Family baking time!

Yummy homemade pizza

Fresh berries from the garden + vegan waffles = bliss!

Cooking up gourmet vegan chow on one of our camping trips

We did enjoy a few meals out as well as the odd take-out feast with the ethnic flavours of Thailand or India being quite common. Most restaurants are familiar with what vegans eat and are happy to accommodate. Eating out in New Zealand is quite expensive, and our backpackers’ budget struggled to cope with the high cost. In an average restaurant, it’s not uncommon to pay $18-25 for a main meal. Lunch items are a bit cheaper, with coffee and pastry items running around $4 each.

We were also afforded the opportunity through my brother’s generosity and interest, to sample a variety of wonderful local vegan wines. It was very impressive to see that wine makers in New Zealand include information on the component used in the fining process to make wine. Often these components are animal-based, but sometimes a synthetic or plant-based option is utilized. It was very refreshing to find such a wide variety of wines that were vegan and labelled as such.

In summary, New Zealand was an incredibly easy country to navigate as vegans. It would be even easier to enjoy if budget was not a consideration, as there are many wonderful dining options that could easily cater to plant-based requirements, from lunch time food carts through to boutique bistros.

Local resources:

http://www.vegansociety.co.nz

http://www.vegans.co.nz

http://vegetarians.co.nz

www.happycow.net/australia/new_zealand/

We picked Belize as the starting point for our adventure partly because we thought it would help us ease into the change in foods available to us to continue our plant-based diet throughout Central and South America. We also thought Belize was a good place to start as English is widely spoken, helping us greatly if we couldn’t communicate our requirements in Spanish.

Luckily we were correct on both counts. We discovered to our delight that it was relatively easy to find our basic items like soy milk, oats, cereal, bread and peanut butter at any supermarket (less so of course at local small supply shops/kiosks). What was most surprising was the soy milk imported from Canada was cheaper than what it is sold for in Canada!

Fruits and vegetables are also widely available, and if you stick to local produce, it’s very cost effective too. We paid $1 for 7 or 8 bananas, and about $1.50 for a very large papaya. As a comparison, we picked up 2 peaches (imported from the USA) at the market in Corozal for $5. We didn’t repeat that performance! Fruits and vegetables are best purchased at local markets, which are common in every town and village. Supermarkets tend to mark up quite a bit and the quality/freshness isn’t as good.

A papaya almost as big as my head for $1.50! Awesome!

Organic fruit and veggies are virtually non-existent; we found one store on Ambergris Caye that stocked imported organic produce but it was extremely expensive (for example, $7 for a small bag of organic baby carrots). We decided to stick to local produce and save our budget from being wrecked after the first week!

We didn’t have any greens or lettuces in Belize. These items carry a great risk for food borne illness as the soils and dirty water carry bacteria. Needless to say, from the outset we greatly missed our morning kale and banana smoothies!

We decided to seek out a balance of hostels with and without kitchens so that we could cook our own meals but also eat at restaurants some of the time when a kitchen wasn’t available or when we wanted a break from making meals or wanted to explore the local flavours.

Great kitchen at Yuma’s House Hostel on Caye Caulker

Cooking meals on the road is cost effective and a very social experience in hostels – we met and cooked with a fun and diverse group of people in Corozal and on Caye Caulker. It’s also a fun experience to explore the aisles of local supermarkets to see what local foods are available – combined with wonderful fresh goodies from the market! Our favourite spot was the bright pink fruit and veggie stall behind Yuma’s House Hostel (across from the basketball court) on Caye Caulker.

Home cooking at Yuma’s House Hostel: beans, veggies and tortillas – fresh and fantastic with an oceanfront view!

In Belize we typically made oats and tea for breakfasts, with fruit for snacks. Fruits were mostly bananas, oranges, papaya and watermelon. Lunches and dinners were typically pasta, curries, and beans and veggies on fresh tortillas – with a few peanut butter and banana sandwiches (or tortilla roll-ups) along the way.

Hot oats for breakfast with banana, cinnamon and soy milk

Peanut butter and banana tortilla roll-ups – fun and nutritious :)

Eating out was relatively straightforward, even with our basic Spanish. Almost every dish that didn’t include meat or fish did include cheese, so we simply specified no cheese or dairy (sin queso o lactosa) and enjoyed several delicious meals along the way. Most of our meals out in Belize centred around the staple of rice and beans – made a little spicy with Marie Sharp’s hot sauce – a Belizean favourite!

We also had other local fare like “pupusas” – flat corn cakes stuffed with beans (and other non vegan items of course, but we skipped those options!) and cooked on a griddle. Pupusas are actually from El Salvador but Belize has adopted the dish and added their own flare to it. Another great dish we tried was “salbutes” – deep fried tortillas topped with fresh salsa, beans and guacamole. The more standard food we tried included pizza, burritos, falafels and hummus and veggie burgers. Non-local food and restaurants are more expensive than domestic options.

Pupusas stuffed with beans and topped with pickled cabbage and hot sauce

As for beverages, we drank bottled purified water in Belize, along with coffee, tea, local beer (Belikin – regular and stout), and the water from one delicious fresh coconut! Beer is cheaper than water, and in the heat of the day, so much more refreshing!

Delicious fresh coconut water

To summarize, it was incredibly easy and reasonably cheap to follow our vegan diet in Belize while ensuring that we had variety as well as nutritious meals. Aside from our first few meals in Crooked Tree where we struggled a bit to convey what our needs were and found the food to be very expensive relative to subsequent meals we had, we really enjoyed our time as vegans in Belize.

Best local food tried: bean pupusas in San Pedro on Ambergris Caye (the restaurant across from Waruguma Restaurant – Waruguma is very popular, but they wouldn’t make us pupusas without cheese)

Most surprising food experience: finding soy milk readily available

Most challenging food experience: avoiding deep fried, processed and fast food (it’s everywhere in Belize!)

After 2 weeks in the Lake Atitlan region, it was time to head back to Antigua to catch our transport north east to a national park called Semuc Champey. We had previously booked our tour package through The Yellow House hostel which included transport, 3 nights’ accommodation and the activities at Semuc Champey. We found it more economical to book through an agent than to piece the package together ourselves.

What was meant to be an easy 3-hour bus ride from Panajachel to Antigua, turned into a gruelling day of travel as our 11am chicken bus (the only direct bus to Antigua) did not arrive as scheduled. Upon arriving at the bus stop we were told by the somewhat sketchy bus coordinator (a middleman who rounds up people for various destinations) that the bus had a tire problem, but that it should be ready to go an hour later. After waiting for 3 hours we decided to abandon our post, change our plans, and take a different bus to a town close to Antigua, and then get a connecting bus from there. After another hour delay (lunch break for the driver) we were eventually on our way.

Our transport (chicken bus) from Panajachel to Antigua

The first leg on the bus was comfortable enough and we made good time after our late start. We then made an uneventful and quick change to our next bus (which turned out to be fuller than either of us would have considered possible), finally arriving in Antigua at 6pm…only to find that the city’s electricity was out! Fortunately we knew where we were staying and were able to navigate through the dark on the cobbled streets to our hostel, The Yellow House. We were excited to spend the night at this very clean and comfortable hostel that came highly recommended to us. It didn’t disappoint and we settled in for the night – luckily the lights came back on a couple of hours later and we were able to cook dinner in the shared kitchen.

Nice rooms at The Yellow House

Wild skies seen from The Yellow House

The Yellow House

It was up early the next morning for another long travel day by mini bus or “collectivo” – more efficient than the chicken bus but surprisingly less comfortable! The journey to Semuc Champey, only 285km from Antigua took 8 hours! If you’re not on the single main highway in Guatemala, chances are that the road you find yourself on at any given moment is in shocking condition (by North American standards). During our 8 hour journey we traveled through big, bad Guatemala City and north east through Coban and Lanquin, deep in the jungle. Semuc Champey is about 11km on a super bumpy dirt road from Lanquin. Upon arrival in Lanquin we jumped onto a 4×4 truck or “picop” and made our slow final hour to our hostel, El Portal. (We’ve quickly learned that it takes a long time to cover short distances in Central America!)

Unloading the picop

El Portal is the hostel closest to the Semuc Champey entrance and is perched on the hillside overlooking the Cahabon River. We decided to treat ourselves and upgraded to a private cabin with patio and hammock on the quieter side of the property. The hostel has a wonderful common area with decks and tranquil spaces to relax. It’s very isolated there, with limited electricity and internet access (6-10pm every night). This was definitely part of the charm for us as we were looking forward to a few quiet days after a few long days on the road.

View from El Portal of the Cahabon River

El Portal dining area

Our room at El Portal

Semuc Champey is a beautiful natural collection of pools, waterfalls and rock formations with water in amazing shades of green and blue. The rock formation features an underwater canal through which the Cahabon River flows, with another water system fed by natural springs from the mountains that runs over top of the rocks.

Rio Cahabon flowing under Semuc Champey’s limestone bridge

Our tour package included a morning at the pools with a guide. We first hiked up to a lookout point or mirador to view the pools from above. Such an amazing collection of colours, shapes and formations created by years of water flow and limestone accumulation. The rest of our morning was spent swimming, sliding and jumping through the water, pools, waterfalls and natural rockslides. Richard was much braver than me, climbing up 12 meters on a rock face and jumping into the pool below! We finished the day by tubing down the river on inner tubes. Fun!

The pools way below us as seen from the mirador

Richard blown away by the view!

Yeah, how amazing is this view

The pools look more amazing in real life

Jungle

More jungle

Even more jungle

The second part of the adventure package was a 2-hour guided exploration of the K’anba cave system close to Semuc Champey. Kitted out with headlamps, shoes and bathing suits we ventured into the dark recesses. We quickly found ourselves waist deep in cold water, holding onto ropes and surrounded by darkness and amazing cave structures from floor to ceiling. The adventure included climbing up and down chain ladders, swimming across deep pools guided only by rope systems, climbing across and up a waterfall and blindly throwing ourselves down a hole to pop out in a lower cave pool (think Blair Witch with bikinis and board shorts ). Exhilarating stuff! Take a look at the GoPro footage from our cave tour here!

Our stay at El Portal was really relaxing and unplugged. We enjoyed reading and chatting with other travellers on the large patio overlooking the river. Unfortunately it rained most of the time we were there (rain is becoming a common theme in our grand journey!), and while this kept everything damp and soggy, we still enjoyed our time in this special place, the mist and rain making it seem that much more mysterious and mystical.

Bev thumbs up: Amazing views and lush jungle setting – and surviving the cave tour!
Bev thumbs down: Long travel days to and from Semuc Champey
Richard thumbs up: Caves were super cool, the jungle running and hiking were awesome
Richard thumbs down: A lot of rain!

We spent over 3 weeks in Guatemala and during this time, had the opportunity to try a wide variety of foods and restaurants that satisfied our vegan requirements. The staple of rice and beans is nicely complemented by the ever-present corn tortillas. It’s impossible to walk down the street and not hear the pat-pat-pat of the tortilla dough being hand-shaped into 5-inch rounds or to smell the tortillas toasting on the cast iron griddles. The tortillas are made from many different corn varieties – white, yellow, blue, black and likely more! Delicious on their own or as part of a meal!

At our first stop in Flores, we were delighted to discover a full menu of vegetarian and vegan options at the restaurant inside Los Amigos hostel. We tried the tofu wrap, burrito, curry, falafel and salads, as well as the fruit smoothies. All were very tasty, and very reasonably priced for our backpackers’ budget. We decided to eat all of our meals here, as the food, prices and atmosphere were just right for us. They also have an awesome happy hour menu with great deals on all sorts of yummy cocktails and local beers.

Richard relaxing in the garden restaurant at Los Amigos hostel in Flores

The city of Antigua provided a wide variety of options for us including well-stocked supermarkets and a large outdoor produce market. We had a kitchen at our accommodation, Holistico Hostal, so we were able to cook for ourselves most of the time – economical and healthy! We whipped up bean and veggie fillings for our delicious corn tortillas, hot off the griddle! We did enjoy two meals in local restaurants – a fresh and tasty quinoa and tofu wrap at Pitaya and a typical Guatemalan meal consisting of veggie-stuffed tostadas, guacamole, salsa and pickled cabbage at Sabe Rico. Both were on the pricier end of the scale, but were good quality meals. We were also able to temporarily return to banana heaven and enjoyed the use of the hostel’s blender, making a deep green spinach and 8-banana smoothie on two occasions!

Lunch at Pitaya in Antigua

Guatemalan meal at Sabe Rico in Antigua

Return of the spinach-banana smoothie – oh, how we missed you!

The majority of our time in Gautemala was spent in Panajachel, a town on the shore of Lake Atitlan. Here we lived with a local Guatemalan family while we attended Spanish school for two weeks. We ate all of our meals with host-mom Magda, and she did an amazing job of catering to our (unusual) requirements. Breakfasts were fruit and cereal or oats, lunches included pasta, beans/rice, veggies, tortillas and bread, and dinners included soup, bread, tortillas, salad and veggies. We supplemented our meals with peanut butter sandwiches as snacks during lessons, and lots of fruit during the day. Our host-mom was very intrigued that we could not only survive, but thrive on our diet – especially since we ran a marathon while staying with her!

Panajachel has a fair number of restaurants offering vegan options, some even advertising vegan meals and treats on their window signage. Our culinary outings in Panajachel on Calle Santander included a wonderful smoothie/juice bar called Pitaya (not connected to the one in Antigua), a great little restaurant called Llama del Fuego with a multitude of tofu, tempeh and other vegan friendly options, vegan apple strudel from Cafe Kitsch, wood-fired pizza and delicious freshly made pupusas (bean stuffed corn pockets) with salsa from a street vendor.

Pitaya Juice Bar in Panajachel – banana, mango and papaya smoothies – yum!

Another smoothie break at Llama del Fuego in Panajachel – chocolate, banana and mango – yum again!

Snack time at our study table at Casa Magda!

Bev with our host-mom, Magda, in the kitchen at Casa de Magda

During our time at Lake Atitlan we visited two other villages on the lake shore. San Pedro is the largest village after Panajachel, and is a bohemian oasis with a wide variety of vegan choices. We enjoyed a yummy veggie burger at the Irish pub (only one of the many nationalities represented here!), and made the mistake of only buying two delicious vegan choc-chip banana cookies from the natural foods market on the main street just up and to the left from the ferry dock. This market stocks a wide variety of local and imported foods that would happily support a plant-based diet, albeit at a hefty premium. The other village we visited was San Marcos, and it’s a little more hippy trippy than the other villages around the lake. We tried to find a few of the vegan outlets that we’d read about, but were unsuccessful in locating them – either due to closure for the season or poor directions. We were later told that they do exist by friends who visited the village!

In Guatemala we did feel a bit restricted with breakfast options in lodgings that included breakfast in the room rate. Most often breakfasts included bread, fruit, eggs, pancakes, juice and coffee. We usually opted for the fruit, bread and coffee, and then added our own granola, oats or cereal as we were able to. We did have pancakes on occasion once we’d confirmed that no dairy was used in the batter. It’s worth considering this when you’re travelling as a vegan, as the inclusion of breakfast is often not great value if you don’t take advantage of the full spread. Going forward, we may opt to ask for a reduction in rate in favour of an included breakfast.

Breakfast on the deck at El Portal Hostel in Semuc Champey – granola, Cheerios, soy milk, bananas and coffee

Finding staples like fruit, vegetables, soy milk, cereal and peanut butter was very easy in Guatemala and the supermarkets are very well stocked. Bread is in plentiful supply with bakeries or “panaderias” almost outnumbering the tortilla vendors! Be aware that the bread is usually made with white flour and is more cake-like than the crusty bread that you might expect if you’re from North America or Europe. You can also buy sandwich bread (wholegrain and wholewheat) in the supermarkets that are a little healthier although who knows what goes into that bread to keep it fresh! There are also many street vendors who sell cut fruit, fresh juice, pastries, breads, chips, candy and soft drinks. Similarly, there are vendors who board buses with all sorts of food items. Most of these were deep-fried items and definitely not vegan-friendly! Be sure to ask if the item is “sin carne o lactosa o huevos” if you’re intent on staying vegan!

Learning a bit of Spanish was very helpful to us when navigating meal times and shopping for groceries in Guatemala (and all the other Central American countries we’ve visited). It’s definitely a good idea to brush up on a few Spanish phrases and to learn the Spanish words for meat and dairy items. Most restaurants understood vegetarian, but very few understood vegan, so we were careful to describe as best we could in our limited Spanish what we did and didn’t want!

We picked up a batch of supplies as we moved through each major town and were never without an “emergency” source of calories! Aside from more secluded jungle locations like Semuc Champey or smaller villages across the countryside, we found it very easy to continue our plant-based diet in Guatemala in the locations that we found ourselves.

And last but not least – beverages! We enjoyed many wonderful cups of coffee in various spots across Guatemala. Our favourite place for a strong brew was undoubtedly Crossroads Cafe (notwithstanding the religious underpinnings!)  in Panajachel. Of course, we are now in the habit of taking our soy milk with us wherever we go as there is usually a great cup of coffee within arm’s reach! Favourite drinks in Guatemala included the deep, dark Moza beer (our favourite beer hands down on the trip so far) and the many delicious smoothies along the way made from the fresh and plentiful fruit supplies including papaya, mango, banana and pineapple. Be sure to ask if the smoothie bar has soy milk as cow’s milk and/or yogurt is commonly used to make smoothies. You can ask for purified water to be used if no soy milk is available (or bring your own, as we did!).

Rich enjoying a cold and satisfying Moza beer

Best local food tried: Corn tortillas

Most surprising food experience: Eating wonderful tempeh sandwiches in Panajachel

Most challenging food experience: Too much bread

Unfortunately the time came for us to leave Caye Caulker and turn our compass east towards Guatemala. We purchased a combo ticket from Caye Caulker to Flores, Guatemala for US$30 each which included the water taxi from Caye Caulker to Belize City, with a connecting bus from Belize City to Flores in Guatemala. This daily service is offered by the Belize Express water taxi company and we purchased the tickets right on the island next to our favourite bright pink fruit stand behind the village basketball court. The water taxi ride was 45 minutes, followed by a 4-hour bus ride in a small tourist coach through the western highlands of Belize via the town of San Ignacio. Much of the area had experienced heavy rains over the past month, so there was a lot of flooding in the region, along with closures of many tourist attractions. We were relieved that we hadn’t planned to spend any time in this area, as we would’ve been quite disappointed!

Time to leave Caye Caulker via ferry to Belize City

On the bus to Flores from Belize City

Crossing the border from Belize into Guatemala went without a hitch, despite the bribe of US$3 each that we were asked to pay on the Guatemalan side. This is a well known unofficial “entry tax” and every traveller is charged a different amount – ranging from zero to US$10. Of course there’s no sense challenging the request, but it was quite an infuriating experience! At least the Belizean departure tax is an official amount of B$37 that is payable by all travellers and for which you receive a receipt and explanation of what your tax will be used for. I’m sure that we’ll encounter a few more informal entry and exit requirements and “taxes” as we move further into Central and South America!

Continuing on to the town of Flores, we switched buses a few kilometres before the entrance to the town. We soon realized that the purpose of this switch was to give a tour operator an opportunity to sell accommodation and tour packages. Fortunately we had been warned about this by the hostel, Los Amigos, that we had pre-booked in Flores, and we were very firm with our responses to the salesman. We were then very quickly unloaded and sent on our way! Fortunately the walk to Los Amigos was a short one!

Outside Los Amigos Hostel

Los Amigos is one of the most popular hostels in Flores. It has a mixture of dormitory beds and private rooms. We opted for a private room with shared bathroom for two nights in the quieter building (Los Amigos II) around the corner from the main hostel. The hostel offers many services to travellers including a travel agency, great communal social spaces, storage lockers and a fantastic restaurant. We were delighted to discover many vegan options on the menu at very reasonable prices including a lentil burger, tofu wrap, tofu curry and wonderful salads. It was also here that we discovered our favourite Guatemalan beer – Moza (as opposed to the very prolific Gallo brand!).

Our private room at Los Amigos hostel

Enjoying the muy delicioso cerveza – Moza!

Gardens and lounge area at Los Amigos Hostel

Located on an island within Lake Petzen Itza and connected by bridge to another town called Santa Elena, Flores is a tiny but quaint village with brightly coloured old buildings and cobblestone roads. It’s a small part of the world that exists mostly due to the tourist traffic to nearby Tikal – one of the largest and oldest Mayan ruin sites in Central America. We chose to visit Tikal before sunrise, to experience the jungle in the dark and of course, to see the sunrise and hear the jungle come to life. We left Flores at 3am and arrived in Tikal at 4:30am. The ruins are located within a national park and access prior to dawn is limited to small groups. We were accompanied by a guide who led us on a 45-minute walk into the ruins, towards Temple IV – the largest of the structures at Tikal, rising up to 70m. We ascended a staircase alongside the structure, and were allowed to climb only parts of the temple to reach the stepped pinnacle where we would sit and watch the sunrise.

Just after sunrise atop Temple IV at Tikal

Unfortunately the morning was overcast and the jungle was shrouded in mist, so we didn’t see the sunrise. However, we were afforded a very unique opportunity to sit and meditate at the top of a 4th Century BC Mayan temple in the quiet of the morning before the jungle came to life with beautiful bird calls and the chatter of monkeys, including the roar of the howler monkeys. We spent the next 4 hours exploring the expansive site with lunch atop another of the temples. It’s hard to describe the beauty of the setting and the presence of these ancient structures which include pyramids, temples, plazas, living quarters and palaces. Only 20 percent of the ruins have been uncovered by archeologists thus far, and work on the site continues to uncover and restore the structures and their inscriptions. At its peak, Tikal was home to roughly 100,000 Mayans, with a long, colourful, powerful and often ferocious history. The collapse of the Mayan empire remains a mystery.

Structures in the Grand Plaza at Tikal

Moss covered structure in the jungle at Tikal

At the top of the centre temple in the Grand Plaza at Tikal

Our stay in Flores included a very hot run around the village – we had to circle the island and cross the bridge 8 times to make up our 10km distance! We also visited the Cuevas de Ak’tun Kan (also called the Cave of the Serpent) just outside of Flores, that we reached via tuk-tuk – the most common mode of transport in these parts. The limestone caves were filled with interesting stalactite formations and of course, the obligatory bats. We were comforted by the investment we made in our rabies shots prior to our departure!

Welcome to Flores via bridge from Santa Elena

Flores rooftops

Lane with coloured buildings and cobblestone roads in Flores

Tuk-tuk ride to the caves outside Flores

Stalactite formations in the Cave of the Serpent (fortunately the serpent wasn’t home when we visited!)

Our first taste of Guatemala was extremely positive. The people are friendly, the scenery is spectacular and there is infrastructure that we didn’t expect – for example, we were quite surprised by how modern the town of Santa Elena is – complete with shopping malls festooned with Christmas trees, santa and decorations! We were also pleasantly surprised by how much cheaper it is to travel in Guatemala, compared to Belize. And of course, we were delighted to discover essentials like soy milk, granola and peanut butter in the supermarkets! However, there has also been one rather uncomfortable (travel) experience in Guatemala so far, which we’ll elaborate on in the next blog entry (don’t worry, nobody got hurt and nothing was lost, except maybe a few nerves).

After a relaxing couple of days in Corozal it was time to move into island mode and we set off for San Pedro on Ambergris Caye (the cayes are a series of small islands in the Caribbean Sea just off the east coast of Belize). Our original plan called for a reasonably priced ferry ride (on the Tunderbolt Line) over to San Pedro, but as mentioned in the post: “From Crooked Tree to Corozal” the ferry was out of service and we either had to fly over from Corozal or take a bus down to Belize City and catch a different ferry (The Belize Express) from there. Once we heard that the regional airline, Mayan Island Air, was offering a deal to match the usual Thunderbolt ferry prices we made the very easy decision to go by plane. And so we arrived in San Pedro on Ambergris Caye in style, not at all in backpacker mode, but by “jetting” in on a 3-seater Cessna 182. The flight over from Corozal was pretty cool, taking us the 70km or so towards the east in just over 20, scenic minutes. (Check out the video above to experience our bird’s-eye view of part of the flight:

Not quite a 747 :)

Somewhere over the east coast of Belize

San Pedro itself is a tiny, “vibey”, and loud, beach-side village with a (permanent) population of just over 13,000 people, and has been immortalized in pop culture by Madonna in her song “La Isla Bonita”. The entire island is tiny and most of the traffic on it is of the golf cart variety, and trust me, there is a lot of it on the streets on San Pedro – you actually have to leave the little “downtown core” before you can ease into the laid back island rhythm. And to be honest, we didn’t really find that rhythm here (we’ll only truly discover “laid back” once we hit Caye Caulker in a few day’s time). For such a small village we were really surprised by how busy it was!

Aah, island life

Beach side sights

Golf carts everywhere

The island has seen a fair amount of tourist related development in the past 20 years (which is about how long Madonna’s song has been around) and has become a bit of a resort and retirement community for relatively wealthy north Americans while the locals are still very poor by western standards, but all seem to get along well and there wasn’t any time that we felt uncomfortable.

Upon arrival we walked the 200 yards from the airstrip to the beach where we easily found our lodgings at a very basic, budget “hotel” called Ruby’s Hotel. Ruby’s is located right on the beach and we stationed ourselves here for three nights. We really enjoyed the location which afforded easy access to a few convenience stores and the beach, obviously.

Pretty awesome location

The location also proved to be Ruby’s downfall (at least for a couple of 40’ish-somethings like Bev and me), as there are a number of beach side bars located within a stone’s throw of Ruby’s and on both Saturday and Sunday nights we battled some seriously loud parties until around 3AM – not exactly awesome since we wanted to get up early for our runs (before the temperature started to rise).

Speaking of running, San Pedro (and Ambergris) proved to be rather runner non-friendly as there simply wasn’t much room to run and the streets that do exist there are busy (yeah, they’re only golf carts but the result of getting hit by one would still be unsatisfactory) and superbly uneven (crazy cobblestone). All that said, we did clock close to 30km over the few days in San Pedro.

Some of our running shoes…

All in all we enjoyed San Pedro, but after three nights we were ready to move on to what promised to be a more laid back spot: Caye Caulker.

Richard’s thumbs up: beach side hotel; awesome papayas; and yummy bean filled pupusas!

Mmm, papaya!

Bean filled pupusa

Richard’s thumbs down: super loud and semi-agressive sounding partying right next to our hotel

Bev’s thumbs up: swimming off the dock at Ramon’s Village

Caribbean Sea: awesome

Bev’s thumbs down: expensive and somewhat grungy village/island

The topic of what to pack for a trip like ours is always an interesting one, and we spent a great deal of time reading other travellers’ blogs looking for tips, tricks and advice for reducing overall volume and weight.

Bev packed and ready to go!

Richard packed and ready to go!

Having made the decision to travel with smaller backpacks (mine is 34 litres and Richard’s is 38 litres) than the average backpacker, we knew that we’d need to be very aggressive with our packing in order to make it all fit, while still providing everything we’d need for day-to-day living as well as running. Deciding to stay close to the summer season definitely helped reduce the volume of gear required, but we still opted to have at least one warm layer for early morning/evening activities as well as brushes with spring and fall around the globe.

Richard’s packing in progress

Everything ready to go into Bev’s pack

The lists below summarize what each of us packed. It feels like a lot to see it written down, and it’s amazing how it all fits into such small bags! At departure, my pack weighed 24.9 pounds while Richard’s weighed 22.7 pounds. We’ve since re-arranged a little bit to give Richard a bit more of the overall weight! Most of the toiletry and “admin” items are in my pack, while Richard is carrying the technology and connectivity equipment.

After 10 days into the trip we haven’t really identified anything that we shouldn’t have packed. We’ve been able to do laundry once a week and cycle through our clothes with enough to spare in the event of a downpour (yes, it’s happened more than once in this tropical climate during rainy season!). The running gear is a bit challenging as we’re having to run through each set twice before laundry day. I have more clothes than Richard, so I may need to trim down as we go if I find I’m not using everything regularly.

We’ve identified a few things that we should’ve packed: small multi-tool with knife and bottle opener, electrolyte replacement capsules (we’re sweating a lot more in the hotter climate), elastic ther-a-band for stretching and exercise, and an extra pair of shorts. Maybe we’ll pick up these items along the way somewhere (some will be easier to procure than others!).

I’m sure that we’ll revisit this topic after a few months to determine if there’s anything we need to remove and send home or gift to someone in the local community. We’re also getting better at packing efficiently so that the weight is well distributed and to ensure that everything goes in the pack without the need for additional carry bags. We tie our shoes to the the outside of the pack as they’re pretty dirty and often wet! This frees up quite a bit of space in the inside of the pack. We’ve also employed the help of stuff sacks to help us compress those items that are not used as often (like the cooler weather gear).

Bev’s packing list:

Running gear

• 3 x running shorts
• 2 x running bras
• 2 x tank bras
• 3 x running singlets
• 1 x light shell running jacket
• Long running pants
• 5 x pairs running/walking socks
• 1 x running gloves
• 1 x running cap
• 1 x hydration running vest
• 1 x running hydration reservoir
• 1 x personal item pouch
• 2 x 12oz handheld running bottles

Clothes

• 2 x bikinis
• 1 x sarong
• 2 x casual shorts
• 2 x tshirts
• 1 x tank top
• 3 x halter tshirts
• 3 x blouses
• 2 x casual dresses
• 6 x underwear
• 2 x soft bras
• 2 x underwire bras
• 1 x puffy jacket
• 1 x cargo pants
• 1 x jeans
• 1 x long sleeve technical shirt
• 1 x long sleeve tshirt
• 1 x microfleece
• 1 x fleece gloves
• 1 x toque
• 1 x waterproof shell jacket
• 1 x fabric belt
• 1 x bandana
• 1 x Buff headband

Accessories / living items

• 1 x sleeping bag liner
• 1 x travel towel
• 1 x length of thin cord for washing line
• 8 x pegs
• 1 x fabric shopping tote
• 1 x padlock
• 5 x small mesh bags
• 1 x stuff sack
• 1 x compression stuff sack
• 3 x pens
• 1 x small notebook
• 1 x in-pack hydration reservoir
• 2 x sleep masks
• 1 x small tin with simple jewellery items
• Malaria and tummy trouble meds
• 100 x water purification tablets
• 36 x tampons
• 4 x Vega One chocolate shake sachets
• 6 x Vega Sport Protein chocolate shake sachets
• 1 x travel size hand wipes
• 1 x travel size hand sanitizer
• 250 x EatRunSee contact cards

Travel items

• Passport
• Cash
• Travel insurance wallet card
• Bank and credit cards
• Drivers license
• Travel wallet
• Fake wallet with expired credit card

Technology

• 1 x iPhone (unlocked)
• 1 x headphones
• 1 x iPad
• 1 x running watch
• 1 x headlamp

Footwear

• 1 x pair flipflops
• 2 x pairs running shoes
• 1 x pair trail running shoes
• 1 x pair sandals

Toiletries

• 1 x toiletry bag
• 1 x soap bar
• 3 x moisturizer tubs
• 1 x face scrub
• 1 x toothbrush
• 1 x travel size toothpaste
• 1 x floss
• 1 x eye cream
• 1 x face wash
• 1 x ziplock with qtips
• 1 x razor
• 2 x razor blade refills (8 total)
• 1 x tweezers
• 1 x nail clippers
• 2 x small nail files
• 1 x travel size deodorant crystal

Richard’s packing list:

Running gear

• 4 x running shorts
• 4 x running singlets
• 1 x light shell running jacket
• 4 x pairs running/walking socks
• Long running pants
• 1 x running gloves
• 1 x running cap
• 1 x hydration running vest
• 1 x running hydration reservoir
• 1 x personal item pouch
• 2 x 12oz handheld running bottles
• 20 x Clif Shot running gels
• Running maintenance items (golf ball, tennis ball and myofascial release stick roller for rolling out muscles after running)

Clothes

• 1 x casual shorts
• 1 x bathing suit
• 3 x technical shirts (1 short sleeve / 2 long sleeve)
• 1 x button up short sleeve shirt
• 4 x underwear
• 1 x cargo pants
• 1 x puffy jacket
• 1 x microfleece
• 1 x fleece gloves
• 1 x toque
• 1 x bandana
• 1 x Buff headband

Accessories / living items

• 1 x mosquito net
• 1 x first aid kit
• 1 x sleeping bag liner
• 1 x travel towel
• 1 x fabric shopping tote
• 1 x padlock
• 1 x small mesh bag
• 1 x stuff sack
• 1 x compression stuff sack
• 1 x in-pack hydration reservoir
• 8 x Clif energy bars
• 4 x Hammer energy bars
• 1 x day backpack
• 1 x travel size hand wipes
• 1 x travel size hand sanitizer
• 250 x EatRunSee contact cards

Travel items

• Passport
• Cash
• Bank and credit cards
• Drivers license
• 1 x travel wallet
• Fake wallet with expired credit card

Technology

• 1 x iPhone (unlocked)
• 1 x headphones
• 1 x MacBook Air (13-inch) with soft travel case
• 1 x running watch
• 1 x running watch charger
• 2 x iPad / iPhone chargers and cables
• 1 x MacBook charger and cable
• 1 x camera and case
• 1 x camera charger and cable
• 1 x extra camera battery
• 1 x GoPro micro video camera plus cables and head mount
• 1 x headlamp and charger
• Assorted international plug adapters

Footwear

• 1 x pair flipflops
• 2 x pairs running shoes
• 1 x pair trail running shoes
• 1 x pair sandals

Toiletries

• 1 x toiletry bag
• 1 x soap bar
• 1 x toothbrush
• 1 x travel size toothpaste
• 1 x floss
• 1 x face wash
• 1 x ziplock with qtips
• 1 x sunblock cream 30SPF
• 1 x sunblock powder 30SPF
• 3 x travel-size shampoo
• 2 x travel-size body wash

After braving two nights and two days in the less than stellar Tillett’s Village in Crooked Tree, we made our way to the border town of Corozal, just south of Mexico.

We caught an early morning ride on the back of a pickup truck to a boat which took us back to the Northern Highway. Once at the highway, we waved down the next bus heading north to Chetumal, Mexico. The ~90km bus ride cost us US$3 each, all the way to Corozal, via Orange Walk and took about 2.5 hours. The ride itself was quite comfortable, and we were treated to the bus driver’s personal taste in music as his stereo was set to full blast while the LED disco lights in the front of the bus provided a rhythmic and hypnotic distraction from the fact that I hadn’t had breakfast yet.

(Click “Play” to hear a sound clip from the bus ride… )

Once in Corozal we found directions to the Sea Breeze Hotel and walked the 1km or so from the bus terminus to check in to our home for the next two nights.

The highly recommended Sea Breeze Hotel

The Sea Breeze is a 2013 Traveler’s Choice Winner on Tripadvisor.com and also came highly recommended by our guidebook as a basic, but comfortable, budget accommodation.

We met the manager, Gwyn Lawrence at check-in and enjoyed his gruff, but comprehensive welcome to his establishment – informing us of the wifi password as well as the fact that the ferry we were planning on taking over to Ambergris Caye (an island about 70km east of Corozal) two days later was out of service due to maintenance. Gwyn went on to kindly suggest we take the Maya Island Air flight over to the caye instead, and quickly had us on the phone to their reservations person. A few minutes later we were all set on the 10:00am flight on Saturday on their 3-seater Cessna 182.

The Sea Breeze provided a great place to stay for our two nights in Corozal, and we really loved having access to the kitchen where we prepared oatmeal for breakfast and made sandwiches for lunch. We were pleasantly surprised by the availability of organic soy milk for our oatmeal and coffee in the “supermarkets” of Corozal. We also got the opportunity to try our first bananas in Belize, and we were not disappointed!

Have kitchen, have oatmeal

Organic soy milk!

Corozal is an interesting, fairly busy little town with nice stretches of paved boardwalk on the oceanfront. We took advantage of these for our first couple of runs since leaving Vancouver. It poured with rain just as we got started, but in the 30 degrees C heat the cool rain was actually most welcome.

Corozal

We also explored our first Mayan ruin at a small site called Santa Rita – just a short 25 minute run north of the town.

Santa Rita

After two nights it was time to make our departure for San Pedro on caye Ambergris, and on Saturday morning, the hotel manager Gwyn saved us the $3.50 taxi ride to the airstrip by dropping us off himself in his 1985 Mercedes Benz TURBODIESEL.

Bev’s thumbs up: Sea Breeze hotel and friendly staff; getting cheered by all who saw us running!
Bev’s thumbs down: nothing

Richard’s thumbs up: oatmeal and bananas
Richard’s thumbs down: nothing

We arrived safely in Belize after a long but uneventful 17-hour journey via Salt Lake City and Atlanta from Vancouver. First order of business after clearing customs was to change out of our cold climate layers into more appropriate attire! With shorts, t-shirts and sandals in place, we loaded up Richard’s cell phone with a local SIM card and airtime (cost was US$25 total) and walked the 4kms from the airport to the main highway.

You need summer clothes in the tropics

Walking to the Northern Highway

Once we hit the highway, we waited for a bus that would take us north on the Northern Highway to our first destination, a village of 1000 people, called Crooked Tree, located within a bird sanctuary surrounded by a lagoon. The buses in Belize are repurposed American school buses complete with boom boxes and a variety of decor! There is a driver and a conductor. Fares are paid once you’re on the bus – we paid US$1 each for a 45-minute ride. The bus dropped us at the Crooked Tree junction and we made our way to the meeting point for our accommodation.

Boat to Crooked Tree

We had a bit of a rocky start as our accommodation, Tillett’s Village, was a bit more rustic than we thought it would be. It looked wonderful on the web but the lodging was very run down and the village had flooded with heavy rains the week before, so the area was waterlogged with no road access. We received an email on the morning of our departure telling us that the owner would meet us with a boat along what used to be the road into the village. Yikes! We decided to go anyway and although we weren’t terribly comfortable in Crooked Tree, it was an interesting look into Belizean village life. To really test our resolve early, we were also subjected to a heavy downpour on the second night, and we were challenged to find dry spots under the heavily leaking thatch where we could put our gear. A sizeable family of cockroaches also seemed to be seeking refuge from the rain and kept us company in our room.

Tillett’s Village – looks nice enough

Although Tillett’s Village receives good reviews on websites such as Tripadvisor, we recommend passing on them for now as it seems that maintenance, upkeep and customer service has not been a priority for them of late. We paid US$40 per night which is expensive compared to other lodging we’ve enjoyed since. We also thought that their meal prices were expensive for the quality and portion of food. We paid US$10 per person for dinner and US$6 per person for lunch. It was unfortunate that the flood had occurred, as we may have had access to a few other meal options but the other lodges operating in the village were closed. We did have a very nice experience with a lady called Nora who runs a “restaurant” out of her backyard in the village. She made us delicious rice and beans with fried plantain for US$1.50 each (great for the backpacker budget!). The bird sanctuary was also closed due to the flood, so part of our reason for visiting was unfortunately inaccessible.

Nora’s – backyard dining in Crooked Tree

Bev’s thumbs up: Successfully navigating our first few days under less than ideal circumstances

Bev’s thumbs down: Feeling very lonely and far away from home on the first night!

Richard’s thumbs up: Experiencing the village of Crooked Tree; wifi at Tillett’s Village

Richard’s thumbs down: Pretty much everything else about Tillett’s Village

View our TripAdvisor review of Tillett’s Village in Crooked Tree here.