Hunting the Aurora

The very helpful Fred and Nadia of
the ABC Hotel

We arrived in Tromso, Norway, on the night of the 25th Feb. On arrival at our hotel we asked Nadia the girl on duty about the northern lights. She checked her computer and told us that the likelihood of auroras, according to the aurora tracker website, was going to be high the next night. She checked another website and gave us information on cloud cover, pulled out maps and gave us tips on the best locations and lots of other useful information. Similarly in the morning Fred behind the counter gave us up-to-date information on the aurora and best locations etc.

The readings from the Aurora Tracker website

After four plane trips and over 30 hours to get here, we were going to use the 26th to sleep and recover, but with a reading of high for an aurora, sleep was going to have to wait. We went to several nearby car rental places and after a very good deal and some more advice we took the last car available from Hertz, which fortunately had GPS built in. Finally at 4:30pm, while it was already going dark, we set off to find the northern lights. Trying to rush but captivated by the landscape, we alternated driving to the first lookout with stopping to take photographs.

Some of the scenery

The GPS seemed to have a sense of humour because when we turned on to the street going to the first location it said 'drive for a long time'. It was not as long as we thought as we soon ran out of road and drove up a steep, slippery, ice covered driveway and ended up in somebody's front yard. Several family members came out on the balcony looking at us strangely. I tried to back up but started slipping and only just made it back up. The son came out and moved his car out of the way and the father helped me make a 7 point turn to face down and front first, which made it easier to drive down.

Off we went again. There were many pull over points on the road back and we would stop regularly to look up and see if we could see anything. I thought I could see a glow in the sky but Elizabeth thought it was just clouds. It turned out eventually that Elizabeth was right and I was just being optimistic. We saw lots of minibuses from the aurora-chasing groups that you could pay to go with, so we were obviously in the right area for looking. At 8pm we were hungry but had to drive nearly back to town before we found an eating spot, a pizza place. A customer helped translate a meal for us because the owner did not speak English. The customer's brother was a northern lights photographer and he gave him a ring; his brother said it was not a good night. Hmmm, things were not going well...

The car dash -3 Deg C  brrr

Off we went again, taking a new direction this time. Elizabeth at one point yelled that she had seen something green flash down and bounce off a mountain, but I was not quick enough to see it. I tried to be positive but inside not happy. This was my dream. We found a few really dark spots with absolutely no light from anywhere but still no luck. At 11:30 after passing lots of brightly lit towns we decided to head back to our really dark spot and sit it out. At midnight we parked the car and just sat and waited. The temperature according to the car was -3 outside, so we just looked out the windows.

Finally at 12:15 Elizabeth shouted that she saw something behind her, we jumped out the car and saw a sky lit up with dancing lights. Initially there was a large glowing circle of light at one end of the sky followed by a tail that went the full length of the sky to the other side, AWESOME. The sky continued its display for 20 minutes. One part that sticks in my mind was when it looked like somebody was sprinkling powder from above and then bouncing it off a glass dome breaking across the sky. By the time it was over my fingers were numb but I was definitely satisfied and happy. Now, no word of a lie, and I know people will think I am faking and using poetic licence but this occurred on the 27th February, the exact day of my 53rd birthday.

I did take some photos as you can see, but they are not very special. I found out my $200 camera is not quite geared for aurora photos. One photographer told me they got their best photos using 60 second exposures at 200 ASA. My camera had a 15 second limit as its longest possible exposure on manual, which I took on the 400 ASA setting. Consequently not long enough to build up enough light to show up brightly and bring out the mountains and a bit on the grainy side, but hopefully you get the idea.

The view from the car window of 'our spot'

All over the news the next day were reports of brilliant northern lights throughout England and Scotland. One lady we spoke to said she had just travelled from Scotland to see the northern lights and in 40 years there she'd never seen them. I had allowed over two weeks to see the northern lights as you never know what they are going to do, but luckily we saw them on our first day. So, what are we going to do for the rest of our time...

I can't belize we're in Belize!

As we enter the final stretch of our Central American adventure, we cross into Belize and spend a couple of nights in San Ignacio. For our free day activity we decided to try our hand at cave tubing. Just like it sounds this is where you stick your ass into an inner tube and let yourself free ride down a river which goes through caves.

It was quite cold that day, so not the best of activities while fighting colds. It even rained, but when you have limited time in a place, you can't let that stop you too often or you might as well go home. So off we went down the river and into our first cave. With torches on our heads and bums in the water we spent a large amount of time inside pitch black caves. It was a lot of fun and quite exciting with some breathtaking moments. Like seeing a small waterfall inside a cave. Other times we were floating down the river outside in the rain with the occasional tiny rapid. You have very little control and just need to be careful to push off the sides of the river, as well as keeping your bum high enough to avoid scraping it at the shallow spots. Afterwards it was hot coffees all around and a hot lunch.

Next stop was the tiny Caribbean island of Caye Caulker, just 32 km off Belize City and a short boat trip from the Belize Barrier Reef, about the third largest barrier reef in the world (go Australia). There is a real rastafarian culture on this island and you'd better like Bob Marley and dislike cars as the only traffic is by golf buggy. This is one relaxing island and the in thing to do at sunset is to go to 'the strip' and watch the sun go down.

We could not leave here without going out to the reef on a sailing boat and doing some snorkelling. That was one awesome day. We snorkelled in three different spots including one with a huge number of stingrays. At the second spot the crew threw out some food to attract sharks and we were soon surrounded. We were then allowed to go in the water and being accustomed to sharks from Galapagos, Elizabeth and I went in. At the last spot we swam to the reef, and by taking a large circle route came across a wide variety of fish, some sea turtles and I saw a large moray eel. On the way back we were treated to ceviche and as much rum punch as we could drink. It was hard to leave this little island paradise.

Can you see the Iguana?

Our last stop was back in Mexico at Playa Del Carmen where we had time to squeeze in one more Mayan ruin and some trips to the beach and one very cheap, but good, massage. The ruins were at Tulum and were a 1 hour shared taxi ride away. Tiny when compared to some of the other ruins we have visited but wow! location, location, location. Overlooking the beach, these ruins were once part of an important trading port.

Lastly, on a day forecast to be 30 degrees Celsius we boarded the first of what would be four plane flights and around 30 hours to get to Tromso in Norway, deep into the Arctic Circle, to start my search to see the northern lights...

Guat's up in Guatamala

Our first stop in Guatamala was a small town on Lake Atitlan called Panajachel. We got up early on the first morning for a run, and luckily I had my phone with me; the view we got is the one above, thanks to the trusty panoramic function on my HTC One. First day was a relax and wander day as we were both suffering from a cold that was going through the tour group. Day 2 was a trip on the lake visiting some of the towns that also share this lake.

In the town of Santiago we visited a home that was host to the Maximon (pronounced moshimon). This is a little dude that is looked after by a different family every year, as was the custom back in pre-Columbian Mayan times. The father and son have to give up work to look after him and make sure he is available 24/7 for visits by the townspeople, smoking and drinking. He actually 'smoked' while we were there, with the son lighting a new cigarette and tapping the ash into an ashtray when necessary;alcohol would be poured into a hole in his mouth. The room was beautifully decorated with different coloured sashes hanging from the ceiling.

This town also had spectacular spice markets lining the streets, while another town was more alternative, where you could see and learn about the different herbs being grown and buy products using them, like shampoos and hand creams.

From there we went to Antigua stopping at the famous market town Chichicastenenga on the way. Luckily for us today was market day, and it was a hive of activity. Everything from hammocks, food and flowers to live pigs, chickens and puppies and the usual souvenir products. We ran the gauntlet and then took a more leisurely stroll around some of the town's other interesting spots like the colourful cemetery, before running the gauntlet back to our bus.

In Antigua we were only an hour away from the very active Pacaya Volcano. Even though we were still not feeling our best we could not pass up the opportunity to climb an active volcano. It was quite a steep hike up with some locals following with horses should you find the hike too difficult. We made it about half way, but as we were still struggling with our colds we shared a horse the rest of the way. The last section had to be done on foot as we took a trail around the more accessible parts near the top of the volcano.

The ground was hot and smoke was coming out of the top and in several cracks down the side. We could not get to the lip though as it is too dangerous; people have died from the ground collapsing underneath them. Elizabeth got in a hole in the ground that acted like a natural sauna and she did not want to get out. Everybody had moved on by the time I dragged her out. A loud bang made us look up while we were there and we saw a plume go up from one of Guatamala's other two active volcanoes. We should rename our trip Michael and Elizabeth's volcano adventure as the volcanoes we have hiked now number four, but this was the most active.

Tapado, the local speciality

Then onward to the river town of Rio Dulce, where we spent a wonderful night in a resort on an island and then took a river trip in the morning to Livingston seeing all the marvellous wildlife and the locals that still live along its shores. Lots of young children on very rickety primitive little wood canoes would paddle out to say hello. We stopped for lunch at Livingston where Elizabeth and I sampled their local specialty, Tapado (a seafood coconut soup with a whole fish in it), that took over an hour to make. You order then go for a walk and come back.

For scale one of our tour group
is standing in front.

Once we got back to the resort it was straight on the boat with our packs and across to the mainland to board a bus to an overnight stay in Flores and then an early start to the Mayan ruins at Tikal. These ruins, like Palenque, are tucked within a thick forest setting and the sounds of howler monkeys were heard regularly. To me they sounded more like lions roaring, the sound is quite imposing. Tikal is spread across a huge area with many of the ruins just mounds in the forest as they were reclaimed by nature a long time ago. It made me wonder if thousands of years from now we will be uncovered by the next civilisation curious also at how a once unbeatable civilisation fell to ruin. This site was the location for the rebel base in the first Star Wars movie, 'A New Hope'.

So ended our busy and eventful introduction to Guatemala as we went from there straight into Belize.

Natural magic in Mexico

Travelling in style

Only a short post this one. I wanted to separate the description of the ruins and the Mayan people from some of the more beautiful natural wonders we have encountered in Mexico.

Swimming in the cenote

While in Merida in Mexico we had a day trip out to the cenotes. These are underground lakes in caves. The transport to the cenotes was by horse drawn carriage along a railway track. It was only a single railway track, so if somebody was coming the other way one group would get off their carriage, physically lift it off the track and then put it back on once you were past.

The cenotes themselves were an experience. You would climb down into the cave, sometimes following a rough path, sometimes on a ladder, and go for a swim. Some were more accessible, bigger and more enjoyable than others. The water was crystal clear and warmish; stalagtites dangled from the roof. Normally they are lit by a naturally occurring hole in the roof, though one was viewed with torches. Unlike anything we had done before.

Misol Ha

Elizabeth and tour guide
at Agua Azul

On the day after seeing the Palenque ruins we drove to some famous waterfall spots. One of them, Misol Ha, actually had a track behind it so you could witness the effect from the other side; very cool and I provide a video below. The day finished with a visit to Agua Azul (blue water) aptly named with its very bright clean green-blue colour. It was a cascading waterfall that went for over a km. We found a nice little spot about 700m upstream and went for a swim as the waterfalls were punctuated by calm pools; though you needed to be careful as the current got stronger when you moved towards the next drop.

Agua Azul

Sumidero Canyon

While we were at San Cristobal we took a trip out to Sumidero Canyon. This was a two hour boat trip along a river with high walls on both sides, at some parts up to a km high. Along the way we saw many birds (including vultures), some monkeys and a few alligators.

So more a pictorial than a blog post, but sometimes pictures just say it better :-)