Earlier this week, I visited Tikal, a huge Mayan site deep in the jungle, which is larger than the whole of Belize! The ruins were absolutely fantastic, and part of the Star Wars film 'Return of the Jedi' was filmed at the main temple.
As well as amazing temples, Tikal is home to many animals including toucans, spider monkeys, jaguars, pumas and my favourite animal, the howler monkey. Some of you know that there is a howler monkey in Port Lympne Zoo named after me, Hannah Howler, so it was very special to see this species in its natural habitat. I also saw a family of coatis, which was very coincidental considering my post a few weeks ago!
The weather has cheered up considerably now that Hurricane Alex has moved on to batter Texas. We crossed the border to Belize yesterday and it was immediately obvious that this is an ex-British colony, as they sell Heinz Beans and Twinings Tea in the supermarket. Last night I got chatting to the hotel owners' son, who was brought up 20 minutes from me in Bournemouth, so it is indeed a very small world.
Tomorrow I'm travelling to Caye Caulker, a tiny Caribbean island where I'll hopefully get to do some sunbathing at last!
