Mexico to panama and Cuba in between

Panama city

beebatoz — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 13:18:00 GMT

Panama city

Day 1

Up at 6am and head to the bus station on the corner for the 45 minute trip to David. The nice but always staring Swiss guy got up to say goodbye which was sweet. He is working on the new part of the panama canal.

It's a chicken bus, yet it has wifi......WTF??! Yep, got onto the old U.S school bus and the rig has wifi!!

We get to David and buy our tickets to panama city determined to get the awesome front seats on the double decker for the 7 hour trip. I got to them only to realise its allocated friggin seats :(

We stopped half way in Santiago and did a KFC run then back on the road again. We are about an hour out of town when the movie ends and the driver decides its a great idea to crank, and I mean crank, Spanish video clips from the 70's. Oh my Lordy, it was some cringable shit, I even saw some of the Panamanians squirm!

Arriving into panama city is quiet amazing. Over the bridge you see the ports and massive ships with the city skyline behind it, beautiful.

We got to the bus terminal and started to barter for a cab. We got old mate down from $10 to $8, he then let's some random passenger jump in so we tell him it's now $7.

The traffic here is insane and they don't mind beeping their horns.

After going down some dodgy back streets we arrive at lunas castle hostel and it's a great spot.

We checked out our dorm which has probably the best view of the city skyline for $13!

Alyce and I then went in search of an alcoholic beverage. We ended up walking around our end of town and I love it. Beautiful old buildings being restored, it's a little like Cuba architecturally.

There are police and army dudes everywhere. We even saw a police clown car, no shit, about 25 fully armed officers piled into a mini bus that would fit like 12...........stay safe panama!

We ended up at a little bar serving cheap cocktails at 2 for $6, we asked when happy hour ended and the waiter said "whenever you get tired of drinking"! Nice. So we had some of the best pina coladas I've tasted and pizza.

I also made my first purchase, an authentic panama hat for dad. Fun fact: panama hats are actually not made in panama but in Ecuador. True story. So I made sure it was from Ecuador and asked him to show me how to roll it to travel. I hope dad likes it.

We got back to the hostel and I hear someone leaning over the balcony say "how good is casa de olas"! More of our former guests! He had stuck our stickers all over the place for us too which is great, he said it was the best hostel he had been to on his travels by far.........awwww. I walked a few steps further and another former guest, Sally, is here too!

We had a good old laugh at the people we keep running into along the way and it always comes down to space cadet David/Scott with his wick-away clothing and general tripiness. Everyone has crossed paths with him at some stage.......hilarious!

I like this town already and haven't seen much so i'm excited to get out there tomorrow.

Day 2

I woke up to balls, yep balls.

The guy on the bunk behind me decided laying on his stomach reading a book with his legs spread with boxers and no undies was a good idea. It's etched onto my eyeballs forever!

Anyway, balls aside, I jumped on the sightseeing bus to check out the city. I took the canal route and saw it all. We arrived at the canal just as a ship was passing through and then saw the entire process as 2 large yachts came through. Pretty amazing stuff really, the water levels are able to be changed in a flash.

A huge thunderstorm rolled in as we got to the biggest shopping centre I've ever seen. It was actually too big so I jumped back on the bus after an hour.

I met an Aussie guy and English girl on their honeymoon. He was massively snap happy with his giant Nikon taking pictures of everything and I mean everything that we passed!

I got off where I started and walked to a little outdoor market where I bought a kuna mola which is what the local Indian women make around the San blas islands.

I then jumped a $2 cab to the artisan markets in the seedier part of town. Not that exciting really but I am now the proud owner of my dream wallet. Pink leather with a mola pattern, very nice indeed.

It's a great city, very picturesque but I'm really not sure what to do tomorrow, maybe a movie at the huge mall?

Alyse and I bailed from the dorm room after she spotted a fumigation tank next to one of the bunks. It belonged to a guy with dreadlocks so we just assumed it was a creature from his hair they were trying to search and destroy! We hit our fave piña colada joint then back to the hostel for happy hour in the beer garden with $1 whiskeys going down a treat!

Day 3

I got up early to say goodbye to alyse who's off to sth America. Was great meeting her, a really nice girl.

I got a cab to allbrook mall and watched the hobbit in 3D. Spanish sub titles so it was fine but I had to laugh at the translation of Bilbo Baggins as 'Bilbo Bolsins'!

I attempted to walk around the mall but the joint is friggin massive, but I lasted 3 hours. It was packed full of Xmas shoppers and marching bands so I grabbed a cab back into town.

Well for starters my cabbie was high on something, all fidgety and singing to the Spanish tunes at the top of his voice. We went a weird route and picked up some random passengers along the way (which is completely normal here, as is taxis beeping and overtaking ambulances and police cars with lights and sirens on). All of a sudden the motor cuts out and we roll to the side of a busy intersection in seedy ville. I got out and gave him $2 instead of $4 because he drove most of the way. I walked off and heard him start the car straight away so I walked back and asked the little shit for my money back. Got it and hailed another cab after smashing my sore toe on a curb.

Finally I got back after we picked up a few more random passengers.

I went upstairs to the bathroom and reluctantly took off the bandaid on my big toe and yep, the nail came off as well. Grossest thing ever! Adding to the ambiance while i was performing this delicate operation there was a symphony of farts as a theme song! I swear, at least 3 different tunes from three different toilets and everyone was laughing!

I met a new girl in my room who is a nurse and she had a look at it under the light of the hostel Xmas tree. She said it should be fine. I will live another day!

I am absolutely knackered to be honest so it's going to be an early one for me. I managed to hook up with 2 other girls going to the airport at the same time as me tomorrow, so we're sharing a cab at 3pm.

Day 4 back to Nicaragua

Soooo hot in the dorm last night, so not much sleep. I went in search of the famous cafe coca cola and on my way out ran into Brooke and iain who were trying to get a room at Luna's but it's all booked. We went for a walk ANC found the cafe. I went in for a bite, sooooo cheap but pretty basic. Kinda cool to be sitting in a place with so much history though. It's been open since about 1875 and people like Che Guevara have chowed down here!

I then went in search of some hand woven masks and found 2 awesome bird masks in a little panama hat store. She was asking $60 but I walked away with them for $40.........nice! I've managed to get every craft work I wanted in each country so I'm happy. I've just got to lug all the shit home now.

I've checked out and now just hanging out until our taxi to the airport at 3pm. Really looking forward to seeing everyone back in nica again and the guys have promised a whiskey and coke will await me upon arrival!

P.S it's supposed to be the end of the world today............clearly it didn't happen!

I'm a bit sad I didn't get to San blas but I just ran out of time, travelling by road from Nicaragua, through cost rica to panama in 2 weeks was a tough ask.

I'll be back though.

I'm waiting in the hostel for my taxi and this old asian guy, about 70+, picks up a communal guitar and starts cranking out the most amazing flamenco! Wow.

One thing I have realised on this trip is that there is no age limit on a backpacker. I thought I would be the oldest for sure but not even close. There's 17 year olds right through to 70+ year olds!

I'm at the airport and again have to find a porthole to another universe to have a cigarette. To top it off they took both my lighters going through security.

Big surprise is that duty free is not cheap at all here. I commented to the guy in the alcohol section and he confirmed that everything is cheaper in the city........WTF? I hope they have whiskey in Nicaragua!!

Business class again and this time seat 1A, very nice indeed.

It's doomsday and there are at least 12 fully kitted out nuns on my flight, fingers crossed!

Well I'm back in Nicaragua, the country where no one is accountable for anything and a glazed look lets you get away with not doing your job.

I put my bags through the scanner and the dickheads had left a gap between the conveyer belt and the table all the bags go onto. My duty free slipped through the giant crack and smashed my alcohol! How farkin hard is it to push a table closer after seeing bags falling off the edge?

I complained to about 5 people who really couldn't give a fark that they'd stuffed up and then the eyes glaze over in true nica style. Honestly, they wonder why their country runs like shit.

No one does their job properly, it's all half arsed.

Rant over, mums plane from oz doesn't get in for another 2 and a half hours :(

I've had all my lighters confiscated and my grogs smashed on the floor in customs!

Found dad and Umberto and waited for mums plane to get in from oz at 11pm, we couldn't see her for a while and thought she might have been deported! No probs, she got through and was extremely glad to see us!

We dodged a million street dogs on the road on the way home and humans on bikes with no lights. Road work where instead of signs to tell you not to drive on one side of the road they have just put massive broken tree branches all over the road!

Welcome home :)

Boquete

beebatoz — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 14:41:00 GMT

Boquete

Day 1

I feel like absolute shite. The worst hangover since the thanksgiving incident in Nicaragua! I look at the time and it's almost check out time, so I packed my shit and jumped in the shower.

My water taxi wasn't until 12.30 so I went to brave some food at the bakery. I ran into an equally hungover Brooke and Iain before heading to the dock.

I rolled up and met a very nice Aussie girl who was headed to boquete as well. We were chatting and old mate tripper David from Kansas rocks up as well.

We hopped in the boat and took off for Almirante then jumped on the shuttle to boquete. There were a few times there was going to be some serious vommies from me due to a hangover mixed with windy roads!

The scenery was beautiful all the way and the little town is cute too. We all checked into the hostel and alyse and I booked a coffee tour for tomorrow at 9am. Six of us walked up to a Peruvian restaurant called machu pichu and it was delicious.

The boys are all doing a 12 hour hike up the local volcano which starts at midnight tonight so they all went off for a nanna nap..........fark that!

Alyse and I were thinking of doing the hot springs but I google imaged them and it's just a puddle really!

Alyse and I are also going to travel together to panama city on Tuesday which worked out well.

Day 2

My neck is faaaarked. Did something to it in Bocas, might need to seek out a massage this arvo!

We are about to head off to the local coffee plantation, my first in central America and one of the more famous in panama.

It was great. Mr Tito owns the place and he couldn't get loans from the banks 20 years ago to buy the processing equipment so he made it all out of parts from an old jeep his father gave him! It's unbelievable what he's accomplished. The roaster is an old clothes dryer drum!

We got a pic taken with all of us and mr Tito grabbed a crate to stand next to me because I was so tall!

Alyse and I walked around the town a bit and found some great craft stores. I bought jaxon the cutest hand knitted hoody.

A group of us went out for dinner and we ran into gwen and chris who stayed at our casa. Had a few drinks but I've done the dash for an early one, alyse and I have to catch the bus to David at 6.45am then a 6 hour bus to panama city.

Boquete is a lovely little town, there's not a lot to do but the people are friendly, the foods great and the landscape is beautiful.

Bocas del toro

beebatoz — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 14:11:00 GMT

Bocas del toro

Day 1

I woke up early and had a look at my toe, it's pretty nasty!

I hobbled up to the coffee shop to get some food before the shuttle arrives.

Back at the hostel surprise surprise, the three boring German girls who I have run into at the same hostels since monteverde are on the same shuttle to bocas. Faaaaaark.

This is one shitty arse mini bus, the windows don't open and he's cranking the worst Spanish music ever. It's going to be a long trip!

It was actually a really quick ride and then a really easy border crossing walk across the rickety bridge, stamped and welcome to panama!

Our second driver met us on the other side and we started piling into the mini bus and I mean piling in. After throwing the luggage on the roof plus 2 surfboards it resembled a wonky Mayan pyramid.

16 passengers jammed in and we are off.

Met 2 Aussies boys on the bus. Brownie mentioned they stayed at the naked tiger and went to see the monkey next door and then realized that was our hostel! He even met mum on a plane last week! So Brownie has become a sticker disciple and is going to stick our hostel pamphlets all over the other side of the island for me! Great guy and he may even come work for us at the hostel for a while.

The bus trip to the ferry was pretty fast after a quick re tie of the roof gear when a surfboard nearly flew off.

It's raining but I think I'm going to like panama alot.

We all piled onto the jetboat ferry and sped off towards the islands. The driver was absolutely fanging it, getting massive air and driving like a rally car driver! It was awesome.

We get to the main island where the sun is shining and a local called homer shows me how to get to casa verde but it's booked out. I met the owner and she was lovely and took my casa de olas sticker to put up.

They were fumigating and all the smoke came pouring out onto the street so we all started running!

Homer took me to a couple of other places but I ended up at a cool place called posada isla chica.

I hired a bike and went for a ride around the island and got some food. Sam messaged me after seeing where ide checked in and said they were just across at the other island at aqua lounge.

I caught the 2 minute, $1 water taxi over and joined them for some drinks. Met the owner of aqua lounge who is a legend and shouted me all my drinks!

About 8 of us decided to hit an Indian restaurant called 'om'. The guys picked me up at my hostel and we went and ate some awesome butter chicken. We could not stop laughing at the dead cat sitar music which reminded me of that 20th century fox flute clip on YouTube. Alex knew exactly what I was talking about!

We went to check out a couple of bars but i had to introduce everyone to the 20th century flute as we walked past my hostel i picked up wifi. Fark its a pisser, it gets me everytime! There are a few weird bars but all cool, on the water with open ocean pools out the front.

We ended up at a joint cranking gangam style. We were drinking out on the deck and a huge sting ray floated past!

I just had to pull out the flute vid one last time on the way home.......still funny.

We are all going to meet up again tomorrow to head to red frog beach for the arvo.

There's a bake sale and artist market out the front of my place tomorrow morning to raise money for the local old peoples home. Home made carribean cakes.....hell yeah!

Day 2

Woke up to pouring rain and was sure it would clear up like yesterday but it set in.

The bake sale was lame and the arts and crafts over the top expensive.

Brooke and iain moved to my hostel but the beach day is off, no red frogs today :(

Felt a bit sick this morning, hope it wasn't the butter chicken!

I went for a walk around in the rain and dropped off some more hostel stickers but not a lot to do so I flicked on the tv. I saw that a crazy man had shot dead 27 people including 20 kids under 10 and his mum in America. I just couldn't believe it, it's the most horrific thing I've ever seen.

It's hard to comprehend.

I booked my shuttle to boquete for Sunday at midday, so I get another day here to check things out a bit more.

It was a very lazy day but I went for another walk tonight and the town is having a Xmas parade. It's basically kids and adults dressed in flashing Santa hats riding on the back of utes covered in balloons cranking Cher!

It made me smile though........felize navidad.

I also heard someone yell out my name as I walked past a hostel. It was the Dutch girl I've run into in every single country I've been to, all 7 of them!

I was resigned to going to bed when I get a knock on the door from Sam. So 6 of us head out to a Chinese restuarant for some giant wontons and cheap grog. It was cracker central with shit flying everywhere, bands, people dressed as elves! This place is hilarious.

We dropped into the reggae bar (where old mate German with his backpack complete with waterproof cover was dancing up a storm), the sushi bar (where it just smelt like sushi) and the mad bull bar where the barmaid was in a neck brace!

On the way we found all the empty crackers and these guys mean business when they set off like 50 crackers in a bundle right next to the swings in the park! We wrapped up at about 1am in anticipation of ladies night tomoz at aqua lounge!

Day 3

Went to a little cafe on the water for brekky and there's all these cute little humming birds everywhere. They seem to like water and brown sugar in a hanging feeder so I'm getting one for the hostel. They are awesome little critters!

Brooke, Iain and I went in search of a boat to take us to red frog beach. We were walking toward the dock and old mate homer yelled out "Belinda, where you going"? He said his guy could take us for $7 return.......done!

We jumped in and went across to the other island to pick sam, sam and alex up from aqua lounge and we were off.

We got to the dock and walked up toward the truck and we saw not one but two sloths cruising around in the trees! Amazing. The local guy just pointed up and said in his carribean accent "slow monkey"!

We got to the beach and it's beautiful, white sand, clear water with a few waves. Played a bit of volleyball, had a swim, went to the lookout.......bliss.

On the way to the lookout some local kids had some red frogs wrapped in leaves, they are bright red with spots and poisonous!

My poor toe nail is about a millimetre from falling off completely. I wish it just would instead of just flapping in the ocean and grossing everyone out!

We headed back to the mainland got our shit together and got a water taxi back to aqua lounge for happy hour/Ron & cola/ladies night.

Oh my, did we all get a wee bit drunk.

Sammy fulfilled a physical challenge set for her to get a pic with as many strange people's hats as possible. I think the final count was 21!

It really was a great night. Great company and free drinks = dancing, oh yes there was mucho dancing.

I sadly had to say goodbye to Sam, sammy and Alex at about 3am and jumped one of the packed water taxis back to the main island.

I ran into Brooke and Iain on my way to the golden grill for a late night slice. They said the place only had rice and bean empanadas so I went the street meat option and got a hotdog!

Bocas is a gem really. Great people, great food, beautiful islands and beaches. The whole package. This is a place I would come back to for sure.

Puerto viejo

beebatoz — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 05:42:00 GMT

Puerto viejo

Day 1

Finally got in at 9pm and of course the $39 quoted for the shuttle is now $45, honestly. He was a very nice driver though and I had some company when we picked up an English couple half way.

I checked into pagalu hostel which is beautiful and shouted myself a private which has the biggest bathroom ever and cable tv!

I'm currently watching cake boss and eating possibly the best Indonesian chicken curry I've ever had. Oh and a couple of cans of Cuba libre!

I've only gone for a quick walk in the dark but I think I'm going to love this town.

I can hardly wait to see the beach and some sloths tomorrow.

Day 2

I'm up early and I go to check out the brochure section for other hostels and there is already a pile of our hostel stickers! One of our guests has been here already!!

I went next door to rent a bike and asked the lady how to get to the jaguar animal rescue centre. An Aussie guy overheard me and asked if he could tag along. So Patrick from Brunswick and I rode up to the sanctuary.

It was amaaaaazing. We had an awesome guide who made me appreciate snakes, we played with howler and spider monkeys, patted deer, saw jaguars and toucans and........drumroll. SLOTHS!

No shit, we were in the monkey enclosure and I walked out and Patrick said "there's a sloth above your head". I looked up and there was a friggin sloth cruising around the roof, doing laps.

It was actually a wild sloth that occasionally comes to visit the centre. It was sooooo cute.

Then to top it off we saw two baby sloths in a blanket.

We rode back to town in the rain and hit a chocolate cafe.

We then went to grab some tico food at a local place and took off again on the bikes for a ride up the coast.

We stopped a couple of times for some very tasty local craft beer and ended up riding down a dirt road along the beach.

We got back to town and hit a beach bar to listen to some live music.

4 cocktails at happy hour called lazy mamas.......oh mamma!

On the walk to get some food I tripped on a rock and cut the top of my big toe off, the same big toe that has a toenail I bent backwards and is about to drop off.........ewwwwww.

We ran into the English couple I caught the shuttle with and headed to flip flops for some dinner.

I couldn't help myself and had the same indo curry I had last night. Patrick did too and whole heartedly agreed it was the best.

What an amazing day.

I truly love this little town, but alas panama awaits.

San jose

beebatoz — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 09:40:00 GMT

San Jose

Got up this morning and everyone has left the room except for the older Swiss lady. Next comes the awkward moment when the religious person hands the massively non religious person a Jehovah's witness brochure.........awkward!

I took it but told her very politely that I'm not religious and that I would place the pamphlet gently in the bin........kidding! I just told her I wasn't the right person to give it to, she said ok and we went our separate ways :)

I clearly look like I need to be saved!

Kind of can't wait to get out of here, I'm bored shitless but my shuttle doesn't leave until 1.30pm. Booooooored.

I ran into the 2 Aussie chicks from Monteverde and they are heading to our hostel in nica because costa is way to expensive.

I caught the shuttle bus which was supposed to be 3 hrs. We dropped a local lady off at her house in a swanky gated community and I thought, wow this place isn't as bad as everyone says........ 5 hrs later I'm in San shithole Jose and not even at the place I wanted to stay because the driver couldn't find it in that 2 extra hours. Honestly it drives you nuts. He pulled over at one stage and suggested I get a taxi,I suggested he shove that idea where the sun don't shine for many reasons. 1, I had paid for a door to door service and 2, I ain't getting in a cab in this town in the dark after driving past a stabbing scene, junkies and other scary shit trying to find the place.

I suggested another place which he knew exactly where to go and shook his head like it was my fault. Wanker.

This hostel is ok but the area is very dodgy so I'm at the hostel bar/restaurant with not one other person in sight. Fark me!

So I quickly booked a shuttle out to puerto viejo tomorrow, the only one left at 3.30pm which sucks arse also. I'll have to venture out tomorrow and maybe check out the markets and try not to die to kill time.

So I'm eating pasta made from what tastes like cream of chicken soup and a scotch and flat coke.........awesome.

It's starting to feel a bit like Cuba crossed with guatemala city.

Everyone said "don't go to San Jose, it's a shithole" but I had to see it for myself and yes it is.

I had one more scotch and I'm hitting the sack. I'm being soothed to sleep by police sirens, trains, traffic, howling dogs, meowing cats and bad reggae music.

Day 2

I stepped out into the mean streets in search of the artisan markets. My first set of directions was wrong, second wrong, third wrong I think the fourth got me there after an hour. Everyone trying to help seems to think 5 blocks in any direction is the answer!

I got there and it's not that big but it had the Guatemalan table runners I was after. The price for one in la fortuna was $100. Here they started at $60 but after bargaining with 4 different vendors I got two for $80.......bang! Happy days.

San Jose downtown is much better in the light of day. Still a bit seedy and smells like wee wee but civilised and swarming with humans.

I was sitting in the square chowing down on a chocolate churro and saw the most amusing thing. A male store attendant dressing a mannequin with the biggest boobs I've ever seen. The funny part was that he was trying to get the halter dress on but the boobs were so big they kept popping out in his face! Interesting to note that once he got the dress on he adjusted it for maximum cleavage...........he earnt it!

I cabbed it back in case I got lost and now I'm just killing time till the shuttle arrives in 2 hours.

It's now 3.30pm and I've been picked up by a guy and his 2 kids in a 4WD to get me to the highway to meet the shuttle because it's running late.

Turns out he is the owner of the shuttle company and a really good bloke. He wants to start a business in San juan del sur so we had a chat about it all and he would be a really good guy to use for shuttles. We swapped cards and after a few great tips about where to not go in panama I was on my way.

5 minutes into the shuttle ride and the traffic is so bad on the highway that the driver has actually turned the car ignition off and put the hand brake on! Looks like I'll be getting in to puerto late tonight. P.S I'm the only passenger.

Amazing, just half an hour out of San stinky I'm now in the middle of a rainforest national park with either low cloud or heavy mist. Beautiful.

Well bye bye shithole San Jose hellooooo Caribbean!

La fortuna/ Arenal

beebatoz — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 00:50:00 GMT

La fortuna/arenal

I'm on the bus to la fortuna, it's a bus/boat/bus deal for $20.

We are 1 hr into the ride and an English bloke in his 60s asks the driver to pull over. He is absolutely hurling his guts up beside the bus then jumps back on and says "sorry guys, too much jack Daniels last night"! Good for you old mate!

This is a gnarly bumpy ride back down the mountain but I've gotta say I've not been in one crappy vehicle, they are all brand new.

We travelled through beautiful country side with actual rolling pastures! Which brings me to the devastating fact that Monteverde had a cheese factory and I didn't go to it and eat my body weight in the creamy goodness. How could I have missed that?

Anyway we got to the river and jumped into a boat headed straight toward the volcano which looked awesome. Off the boat and back on a bus headed to la fortuna.

On the way in its noticeable that it's very tourist orientated with huge spa resorts everywhere.

We dropped one passenger off at arenal backpackers which is where I was going to stay but I kept going with the other 4 German girls to check out gringo petes. Straight back to the first one thanks driver!

This hostel is more like a resort with a pool, 5 star tent option etc. not bad for $14 a dorm.

I went for a walk into town........hello burger king!

Its almost Xmas so little towns like this crank out the out of tune marching bands and fake policeman santa's, it's cute.

I went into a little shop that had the beautiful table runners I saw in Guatemala but he is charging a fortune.

He wanted $100 for one, I want to pay $40. He came down to $60, I walked.

I think I'll head to baldi hot springs tonight. They have a much cheaper package than I expected. For $30 you get entrance and dinner, must be low season price because I saw it in the guide for about $100.

I really wanted to do the lava tour but I've been told there's been no lava for about 4 years!

I'm also going to head to San Jose on the 8am shuttle tomorrow because I'm hanging to get to puerto viejo and my sloth friends!

So I get back to the hostel to book the hot springs and the shuttle but alas it's now not the price quoted.

My 8am $40 shuttle is now $47 and at 1.35pm and the $33 hot springs and dinner does not include transport so is now $45. Oh costa rica why do you shoot yourself in the foot all the time?

So I've bailed on the hot springs idea and don't really have a choice with the shuttle freakin mofos.

3 hrs later and we've hooked up a cabbie to take 4 of us to the free hot springs for $20 split return.......in your face tours. We are meeting this cabbie down town at 6pm so hopefully he shows otherwise we will just catch a cab anyway for a few extra bucks.

Well none of that happened because it was pissing down with rain and we all bailed on the idea!

I went for a walk with the 2 Canadians and Swiss woman I met staying in my dorm. It really is so expensive here, I payed $12 with taxes for pasta and the poor Canadians were trying to get a tour they could afford so they can actually enjoy this country.

It's so beautiful but almost out of reach of your average traveller sadly. It's a cute little town la fortuna but way too touristy. The backdrop of the volcano is stunning really but I hope it doesn't decide to erupt anytime soon because there was a small earth tremor last night!

Monteverde, costa rica

beebatoz — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 00:29:00 GMT

Monteverde, costa rica

Day 1

So the adventure has begun again and in true central America style!

Dad and I get to the border and he realizes he's outstayed his visa by about a month so guess who's crossing the border with me!

We get to the nica side and old mate behind the counter realizes dads overstayed so he gets whisked off with a couple of dudes while I'm getting stamped. I managed to get a tica bus ticket for $14 straight to puntarenas which saves me a lot of hassle.

I'm waiting for the bus to leave and dad comes up and says the immigration guy just happened to be the same one that was at out resort yesterday fining people for not carrying a passport! So I think due to the possibility he pocketed the fines he let dad off with a fee of $35 instead of about $70. Corruption sometimes comes back around and works out for you it seems!

So dad has taken off with a couple of guys to cross the costa Rican border, have a coffee then back into Nicaragua where hopefully our workers Manuel and marcus are waiting for him. Classic start to a trip here really.

Ok so we travelled for 2 mins and were all back off the bus to go through the costa Rican border. Bags off again, through the new security.

I get to the stamp desk and she asks me for my ticket out of costa, luckily I took a screen shot of my eticket from panama to Nicaragua! Stamped.

Meanwhile I can see dad waving to me from the other side as he gets stamped back into nica.........hopefully!

I took a quick trip to the bathroom and of the 2 dunnies only one has a door but that didn't stop old lady whipping of her pants and squating. She didn't even blink an eye!

About 3 hours into the bus ride that was stopped by 3 police checks, we also watched 3 half movies because the bad pirates kept stopping, they call my stop for puntarenas.

I jump off and grab my bags and a really nice taxi driver asks where I'm headed. I say puntarenas but he tells me I need to catch a ferry. He said I can go straight to Monteverde instead but I better run across the road right now because that's the last bus!

I ran across the pan American highway with the skill of leap frog and managed to flag it down as it was taking off.

Lucky dad found that 1000 colon note this morning cause that's the $2

I needed for this 3hr bus ride, I forgot to get some local coin.

How the fark is this bus getting up this hill? The driver is revving the guts right out of it and people are still pulling the string for random stops. We are almost vertical people, how about lets NOT stop right now.

I'm having flashbacks of the road to semuc champey in Guatemala.

We were about to take on a huge hill when the gears slip. The driver put on the handbrake lifted the engine hood which is next to the drivers seat and literally poked the engine with a big stick! And we're off again.

There's a woman sitting behind me that has so much deodorant on that I kinda wish she had a bit of B.O to balance it out.

Arrived in santa elena/Monteverde and Found hostel pension and it's great. The guy running it has actually stayed at our hostel and Half of our guests from the casa are here!

I went for a walk with Sally to find the bottle shop and get me some mixed drink in a can, oh god how I miss them. Costa rica pulls through with the goods and I find J&B whiskey and coke in a can.

For those wondering why the obsession, well this country is the only one (apart from mexico) that sells dark spirits mixed in a bloody can!

We get back to the hostel and have a few drinks with all the crew from oit hostel. Met a great Canadian couple who once again confirm for me that Canadian men are the loudest people in the entire world.

There was an awkward moment at the table when everyone could smell a hideous fart but no one said anything. By art of deduction and everyone about to throw up, turns out it was the cute labrador street dog who had clearly been chowing down on leftover bin burritos!

Anyway I've paid for another night because it's a cute little town I want to explore tomorrow. It actually looks like a snow village in the mountains in oz. Only problem is its freezing here and I'm sans warm clothes. Oh well, fingers crossed for a warm day.

By the way dad emailed and he got busted on the costa Rican side for owning a business and crossing on a tourist visa! So it's a trip to Managua for him to sort it all out. Pain in the arse.

Monteverde day 2

I've signed up for a sky walk in the cloud forest this morning and I'm hoping I see a bloody sloth because I bloody love sloths!

The bus is actually on time (Guatemala take note please).

It's seriously like a ski resort sans snow here. The skywalk starts at a chalet basically.

Soooooo glad I bought a waterproof jacket at the local sports store. I was wondering why all the locals were smiling and saying "rico", my new jacket is the national costa Rican soccer jacket! Whoops.

There was some kind of marathon through the cloud forest as I walked in which made for very wobbly suspension bridges.

I timed it so I would be by myself and it was a great idea because it was so peaceful. Sadly not much wildlife but I did see the cutest little hummingbird flying around a woman's arse!

The walk took about 2 hours and I jumped on the bus back to town.

There was a nice Aussie woman behind me that wouldn't stop talking and had the worst breath EVER.

I'm now at a little coffee shop having a real hot chocolate, delish.

I've booked the jeep-boat-jeep ride to la fortuna tomorrow at 8am which should be cool. Looking forward to a dip in the hot springs overlooking the volcano.

Just went out with the 2 lovely Dutch girls that stayed at our hostel for some chicken soup but gotta leave room for a burrito later!

They are off on the night walk to find me a sloth. Fashionably I might add. Their runners are wet so they've donned socks and thongs.......noice!

I've done the shopping and prepared for peanut satay rice and veggie wraps when they get back at 8pm.

It's apparently hanukkah so a Jewish girl becky has made a manorah out of empty beer bottles and stuck candles in them!

There's some kind of wierd endurance running race going on in town, they were out at the cloud forest and they are still running through town with head lamps on.

Had a lot of laughs and a few mixers In a CAN with the Dutch girls and will hopefully see them again in panama. Monteverde has been great, very relaxing little town indeed :)

Antigua again, Guatemala city and home to nicaragua

beebatoz — Tue, 6 Nov 2012 10:07:00 GMT

Antigua & Guatemala city

Day 1

Got to panajachel by boat about 2 hours early for my shuttle to Antigua so I tuk tuk'd to the travel agency to see if I could jump an earlier bus. No go so I left my bags with him and went shopping again!

Had the best shuttle driver and most comfortable ride in Guatemala yet. There was a crazy american lady in the back till we dropped her off at a junction. She was headed to the chichi markets but they weren't even open on a Saturday. The driver just shook his head when we took off again and said in broken English "fuck my life" and laughed!

I had the front seat and the best views as we headed back up the mountains. It's truly spectacular except for the road kill. Poor dogs hit by cars everywhere and they just get left on the road :(

Got into Antigua and straight to banana hostel where they were gearing up for a party. I left a message for Amanda, liz and Sarah then of course took one more look at my fave markets!

I booked my shuttle for tomoz and made her promise it would turn up even if I was the only passenger. They tend to just do a no show if they dont have enough passengers but don't bother telling you.

I walked up to meet liz and Amanda at their hostel. I got a message from Sarah's boyfriend John that she was sick as a dog, poor thing.

The three of us went to the Irish bar for dinner where liz and Amanda dropped cutlery left right and centre after we stocked up on happy hour rums!

We then went to my hostel because the girls had heard about the party anyway. Denzyl was there as well and we ended up across the road on the roof of another hostel.

I had a pretty sleepless night with people running amok till about 2am! Antigua was going off last night, people everywhere. I had the joy of listening to a girl spewing for about half an hour while a nearby hostel cranked gangham style (they friggin love that song in central America).

Day 2

I'm at maccas meeting the girls to say goodbye before I head off to Guatemala city for the night.

Met some cool people on the bus. A guy from Boston that lives in Antigua working as the only bookie in town and shoots documentaries.

Guatemala city is the dodgiest place I've ever been. I noticed a bus riddled with bullet holes driving next to us then we were driving down gated streets with barb wire everywhere near the airport looking for my hotel. Boston helped me out by trying to call but then the van stopped and apparently this shithole in front of me is where I'm staying tonight. Fark me, what a hole. The upside is its 600 meters from the airport............that's all.

The one staff member doesn't speak any English so it was fun asking to be taken to the airport at 5.30am and I'm not even sure if that's what I've done. The wifi doesn't work which is always a bonus when you are stuck in one of the most dangerous capital cities in the world!

There's old mate with no teeth from Portland staying here but he doesn't speak Spanish either!

I'm going to risk being murdered and see what's outside the 10ft high locked gate, wish me luck!

I'm back after exactly 8 minutes. It looks like a friggin war zone out there. Nothing around, seedy looking people. I see the airport is literally across the road which is a relief. I cannot wait to get the hell out of here. All I can say is thank god there is a tv in my room because I'm locking it and not coming out until I leave tomorrow.

Third world capital cities really do my head in. It's the gateway to their country for tourists but they are scary as fark and not a very positive start or end to anyone's trip really.

Day 3

Woke up at dawns crack to get the fark out of this joint.

The true sign that it's dangerous here, the lady who runs the place booked me a taxi to drive me across the road to the airport! I stupidly picked up the local paper while i was waiting, i swear there was a picture of a body after a shooting on every page. Who the hell would live here?? After un bolting the door and the gates to let me out, I made the 30 second trip and didn't get shot.

At the airport the dude was going to charge me $200 US for my third bag (yes I bought that much shit!) but I used my charm and he put 2 bags in a giant plastic bag and made it one.......sweet.

Going through the checkpoint they gave me the most thorough pat down of my life even though the beepy thing didn't even go off. They also pulled me aside to check my bags. The guy going through my purse was so friggin dodgy and was really creeping me out. He took my lighter..........bastard!

I've never been so happy to be sitting in the departure lounge. Guatemala city is farked up and ruins it for the rest of the beautiful country.

I'm about to board the plane headed to another dangerous city, Managua. But it's ok because my mum will be there!

Really looking forward to seeing mum, dad and buzz.

Just got on the plane...........business class baby! Noice.

Scary entrance though with the dude in front of me stopping to put his hand on the outside of the plane and start praying and blessing it or some shite. Good luck with that.

I leant over to ask if the 2 guys in front of me were from Australia. Yes indeed they were and after chatting they mentioned they have a dutchies stonegrill in Perth, um that's my uncles franchise! So on a plane from Guatemala to Nicaragua turns out they do business with my family! Small world indeed.

Glad they were there too because I forgot to get $10 US to get into the country, so they spotted me until we got through :)

At the luggage collection a local guy walks up to me and says "there's a woman that looks like you waving through the window at you". Yep that would be mum. So at last I'm

Back at the casa and it is packed with crew I recruited on my travels, a really good crowd. They have even written up a welcome home belinda sign and made jelly shots! Happy to be 'home'.

San pedro la laguna

beebatoz — Sat, 3 Nov 2012 14:38:00 GMT

San pedro la laguna, Guatemala

Day 1

I'm en route to the lake. It's another gnarly bus ride but there's only 8 people so it's comfy!

The scenery is beautiful. Looking down into the valleys you see little villages with smoke coming out of the chimneys of the little shacks.

It's a winding 2 lane freeway and it's interesting to see traditionally dressed Mayan women walking alongside the busy roads with babies or produce on their backs. Guatemalan cowboys herding goats or riding horses.

It's just started pissing down and it's really cold here, this should make it a fun bus ride! I'm just glad I'm not on a chicken bus, those things are flying along the highways.

We just drove through a section where every 100 meters or so were stalls selling the brightest most colourful fresh cut flowers. Apparently a dozen roses only costs about $3 here. Gorgeous.

Observation........all farts smell the same in central America. Yep, and I know because I've been on a lot of public transport with a lot of different people and inhaled a few and it's all the same brand. Just sayin!

I got into San pedro and it's awesome. I walked around and found the hostel denzyl is staying. They were booked so I ended up at a cool little place down the road with everything I need for $8! It's soooooo cheap here.

Met an American guy staying here, Scott, we ran into each other at dinner down the road. Having an early one ready for Halloween tomoz and might take the ferry to panajachel which is only 30 mins away. Excited to see this place in daylight.

Day 2

I got up and walked to the dock. The site before my eyes was unbelievable, mountains and volcanos surrounding a beautiful huge lake with little villages dotted around. Words cannot describe really so you will have to wait for the photos. But even they won't convey this sight.

I jumped a boat for panajachel which only took half an hour across the glass like lake. Met a nice Irish guy on the boat..........wedding ring.

Got to pana and went for a walk through the market streets to the lake which again blows my mind. I can't believe a place like this actually exists.

The stuff here like embroidery is way more expensive than Antigua and confirms I got the deal of the century on my blanket! I bought a couple more small oil paintings but that's about it.

It's a cute little town but I like where I'm staying in San pedro much better.

Halloween parties tonight so it should be a good night in old San pedro town.

I kind of forgot to tell old mate where I'm staying that I will be here till Saturday. Hope he doesn't throw my shit out of the room!

Got back and all is still in my room!

Stopped by a place that makes hand made shoes from second hand traditional Mayan clothing........bang, ordered 2 pairs! I picked the fabric and I know that no one on earth will have the same pair. They even use old tyre tread for the soles!

I also ran into an Irish girl, sarah, who was in Belize and lanquin so we decided to go on a mission to find the local markets, graveyard and church to see what's cracking for day of the dead tomorrow. We found it all along with live and dead turkeys for sale, bright flower markets and crackers going off at every corner!

The roads are soooo steep but when we finally found the cemetery.......wow. It's so colourful and kinda happy. Because its the day before day of the dead, all the families were up there painting the graves and cleaning up etc. all very jovial for a cemetery. They pile them high here and give them a spectacular view of the lake!

We asked a local lady where it all happens tomorrow and she said from about 3pm all through the night they have a big party.

So glad we saw all that, it was the local part of town and so cool. I love this town. I'm staying till Saturday I like it so much.

We are all meeting at buddah bar tonight for Halloween drinks. I'm here now and the locals are all dressed up as ghouls and serving Guatemalan insanity punch! It's a spooky night too with a thunderstorm rolling in. It's nice to be cold.

Ok so the night got crazy. After Buddha bar we all cruised to yo mamma casa party but the police had closed it down so we all went to a bar called zoola. It was right on the lake and pumping really!

I went to the bar to order a drink and this tall guy dressed as a Mexican women started painting my face........badly too!

Anyway I staggered the 200 meters along a crooked broken boardwalk through a back alley to my room and crashed watching the Halloween marathon in Spanish on tv!

Day 3

Up pretty early because I'm starving. Just realised I had a liquid dinner last night and I'm feeling it.

I'm meeting Sarah at 10 to get the boat to Santiago because apparently it's pretty cool and not as touristy as pana.

Took a while to wash that paint shit off my face this morning, fark he did a bad job!

Met Sarah and we walked to the second dock and again the little farkers try to rip you off for a ticket before you get to the boat. He said it was Q50 to Santiago...........bullshit mate, so we jumped on board and decided to wait for the captain. The little shit came back and said it was Q20 now, so I had a go at him blah blah blah. Anyway we got to Santiago and walked through the village trying to find the cemetery. We walked down some dodgy streets and the locals were staring us down!

We finally found our way after following locals with flowers.....derr!

It was full of families busy painting and putting fresh flowers on the graves. Music blaring, vendors selling everything from coconut juice to candles. It was so colourful and lively, pretty cool site really up on the mountain overlooking the lake.

We caught a tuk tuk back down to the dock and headed back to San pedro.

I've arranged to meet Sarah again at 4.30 to head up to the cemetery to check out the celebrations.

I was having a smoke on my balcony and who should walk past but the 2 Dutch girls I've seen in every country!

They were just wandering around hating the place so I asked them to come along with us to the cemetary.

I first went to pick up my shoes and they were awesome but one pair was too big so he's going to fix them, ready in the 'mañana'!

So Sarah and John turn up and We all started hiking up the bloody steep hill and it starts absolutely pissing down. Turns out the 'waterproof' jacket I bought in Mexico city ain't so waterproof.

We got to the cemetary and it was packed, pretty cool thing to see. We decided to get tuk tuks back and I couldn't watch flying down the steep hill in the pouring rain!

We all met back up at a place called D'Noz for a drink where the brittish woman who runs it is an absolute mole. So then decided to go back to buddah bar for dinner. The other Irish couple joined us and we had a good laugh. All really good people who are coming to stay at our hostel in Nicaragua which will be fun.

Having an early night. Ky and Karl are in town tomorrow so it will be cool to catch up with them.

Day 4

Went and had coffee on the lake, it's the most perfect day after a really cold night. I look over and Old mate with a bar of soap completely starkers is having a bit of a scrub up in the lake!

I picked up a local magazine and saw that there's a Mayan dude that does readings and your mayan horoscope. So I went on a mission to find him at a little book store near the docks. He wasn't there but the man in the shop said he is walking around town at the moment and showed me a picture of him. Well if he is Mayan, I'm an aborigine! He's the whitest hippy looking non Guatemalan I've ever seen. So needless to say I won't be returning with my birth details!

I just opened my laundry I picked up yesterday and there's someone else's undies in there........ewwww!

Just got messages from Sarah and liz in Antigua and we are all meeting up which will be awesome.

I just met Ty and Karl at cafe atitlan and had a good old laugh at Karl's expense. He got a case of what we now refer to as 'shamen sharts' in Antigua!

He basically gambled on a fart after a street meat chorizo and lost. He shat himself in the street whilst free balling!

I cried from laughter, happy that i wasnt the only victim (see Cuba debacle)

To add to the incident they had put all their laundry in to be washed so had no spare clothes! It doesn't end there. They went to pick up their washing and it was all pink and shrunk!!! Bahahaha!

It's been great here in San pedro. Lovely people, beautiful scenery, great food. A place I would definitely recommend to anyone. Boat to panajachel then a shuttle to Antigua tomorrow.

Thanks San pedro it's been a blast :)

Antigua

beebatoz — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 16:01:00 GMT

Antigua, Guatemala

As soon as I dumped my bags at the hostel I went to the art markets across the road and I'm in heaven. All the craft I loved so much and wished I got more of in Mexico is here, Guatemala style!

I went a bit ballistic first day in and I haven't even made it to chichi or panchabel markets........woops!

This town is awesome, I love every inch I've seen so far and can't wait to explore it more tomorrow. So the plan at this stage is 2 nights in Antigua, 1 in panchabel, 1 in chichi and get to Santiago on the lake in time for all saints day on nov 1. It's a massive festival here with huge kites, lots of colour and merriment!

I went for a walk around town and it's such a beautiful city. I think my fave so far. Great food too which is a plus!

I bought a bottle of rum for Q48 and kicked back at the hostel for the night to rest my aching legs from my run through Tikal!

I facebooked Denzel who was staying at the casa in Nicaragua and he's in San pedro so I think I'll head that way tomorrow.

Day 2

Woke up early and skyped shane in new York to make sure they are ok with hurricane sandy headed right for them. They have sandbagged and bunkered down ready for the possible impact tonight. Shane showed me outside the window and it looks rough already.

I went to explore the town again in daylight. I hit the local fruit markets and it's so full of life and colour with all the Mayan women in traditional dress selling every kind of fruit under the sun.

The town park centre is gorgeous and every street you turn down is a ruin left behind by their many natural disasters. I visited a photo exhibition and it was eye popping with ultra graphic pics of dead people. It was all in Spanish so I will have to ask what it was all about. Strange but interesting.

I've booked a shuttle to San pedro for tomorrow at 2pm which is on the lake.

Went for another walk around and couldn't resist going back to the market.

I went back to a lovely Mayan women who I bartered with yesterday. I ended up getting 2 massive ornate pillow cases for $50 and she gave me a Mayan bracelet for good luck, such a sweetheart.

Funny, the lady I bought the painting from yesterday is closed........I must have paid too much. I doubt it though, I talked her down from $100 to $40.

I'm thinking of going back to Nicaragua after I've done Guatemala and maybe doing panama next month. I can do Honduras and el Salvador anytime really. 4 countries in a month and a half is plenty for now I think! I've also got a lot of crap to lug around! If I ever find a home back in oz it's going to look amazing!

I've booked my ticket back to Nicaragua for next Monday so I can unload some of my booty!!

Mum wants some cushion covers so I went back to the market and went to a lady I knew I could get them for $10 each. I bought 4 but on my way out saw the most amazing blanket I've ever laid eyes on. Well I've been bartering for 45 minutes and got her down from $670 to $300 but my last offer was $250 which is really all I want to spend. She brought me a million alternatives running around grabbing from other stalls but I didn't cave, walked away about 10 times before they came running after me! I know it's worth a lot more than $250 so I might go back tomorrow and offer the $300. It's spectacular and a once in a lifetime buy. I hope they cave but if not there are other markets to try before I leave.

I've managed to shove everything into my bag after offloading the food I had like pasta, pesto, Parmesan, nutella etc to the English bloke that runs the hostel. He was beyond stoked!

Day 3

Had almost no sleep worrying about Shane, Kristy and jaxon who are in the path of hurricane sandy in New York.

Haven't been able to contact him but a mate tells me they moved upstairs with their landlord to higher ground.

Finally got through to mum and she got an email from Shane early this morning saying they are ok but the town is completely flooded and a lot of it on fire. Bloody hell, good of everyone to let me know.

I went back to the market this morning because I just can't leave without the blanket! I got to her stall and she hugged me. I offered $260 but she's good and held out for $300 which I handed to her in US. She said the piece was made by members of her family and I told her it is going to a good home.

I also stopped by the fair trade market and picked up some of the awesome chocolate you make hot chocolate with and a worry doll that if you put her under your pillow she will take away your worries. Hope that one works!

I've packed my shit but I'm leaving the suitcase and blanket in storage at the hostel here so I don't have to lug it around the lake.

Now that I know Shane and co is safe I'm looking forward to hitting San pedro tonight, the photos look unbelievable.

4 hour bus ride today which should be a piece of cake really!!

Tip if coming to Antigua, it has the most spectacular McDonald's on planet earth. Even if you don't eat here, you have to check it out! The gardens, the building and volcano backdrop is jaw dropping.

Lanquin & semuc champey

beebatoz — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 12:51:00 GMT

Lanquin and semuc champey, Guatemala

The 9am bus arrived to pick us up at 9.30. It's the smallest hottest piece of shit I've ever seen! There's 8 of us in here so far and I'm praying no other bastard gets on. The 8 hour long haul begins.

Fark me we just arrived at the hostel and I can honestly say that was the most white knuckle ride I've ever had. 8 hours of hellish bends through the Guatemalan countryside with the driver going about 200k on tiny roads only big enough for one car. Included was a river crossing on a barge that could well have been frequented by the Mayans it was that old. The guide book description is "it's a bit of a rough ride but not too bad"..........fark you lonely planet you pack of friggin liars.

On the way I'm told the place I'm staying has no electricity.........awesome.

I get to the hostel which is set in the jungle by the fast flowing river and the women shows me to my 'room'. It's a farking ladder into the roof of a cabana and I'm talking a steep friggin ladder. By the way it does have electricity. Luckily I ran into the polish couple I met in Flores and they let me leave my bags in their room below me instead of lugging the crap up the death ladder. I am seriously too old for this shit people!

I climb down from death ladder and go straight to the bar for a strong Cuba libre and about 400 ciggies to calm my nerves.

This little kid comes over within 10seconds of me sitting down in mozzie-ville and pulls out this napkin with foil in it and asks "you wanna buy my hash brownie"! He wouldn't be older than 10. After a resounding "no gracias" from me he cracked it and left!

I have that feeling of dread you get when you get into a situation where there's no turning back. I mean I'm stuck here until my transport picks me up on Monday to get to Antigua which is another hellish 8 hours via Guatemala city. I would give my left flap right now for a charter plane! It is beautiful and off the beaten track but so is the moon and I'm pretty sure it's actually easier to get there! The upside is rums are Q10 which is just over $1.

There's a good possibility at this stage that I might fly to my next destination after Antigua instead of hell buses. You get spoilt in Mexico with the ease of getting around. Apart from the freezing aircon on the buses it's relatively luxurious.

At this stage I'm thinking fark the caves and try to get the shuttle out of hippy hell to Antigua tomorrow instead of Monday.

I'm waiting for the Internet to kick in here, apparently in about 15 mins. My only link to the outside world!

I met a couple of nice girls that work for child protection in Melbourne and we had a few drinks.

I stupidly got on the net and looked at this hostels trip advisor reviews. I can sum then up in a few choice words.....bed bugs, theft, spiders, smelly toilets!

I reluctantly climbed into my roof of death and basically slept with the light on. There was no sleeping anyway because the DJ was cranking gangham style all night long for a massive group of Guatemalans!

I woke up at dawns crack and started to put my getting out of here plan into action.

I grabbed my bags from the polish couple and went to reception to ask if the 8am shuttle to Antigua was going. He looked at my ticket which I had changed the date on and made a phone call. Long story short I got out of there after speaking to old mate from the worst travel agency in Flores and talking a lot of shit!

Well I thought the mini bus here was crap, boy was I in for a treat today.

We were crammed in with no suspension and on what we thought was the last pick up I saw the 3 Aussie boys from the naked tiger!

An hour down the road we stopped to pick up 4 locals, so because there was a tiny bit of space old mate driver thought it was ok to earn a bit of coin on the side. I wanted to kill him.

So the rest of the trip until Guatemala city I had my knees up around my ears. Luckily there was a lovely Melbourne girl and a girl from Iceland to talk to.

7 hours later we arrive in Antigua and what a beautiful sight. It's like San cristobal in Mexico with the same colors and cobblestone streets. I could kiss the ground! I went to a couple of hotels near where old mate dropped us off but they were all booked out so I ran into a girl who took me to a hostel round the corner so I checked in for 2 nights. Time to chill the fark out!

No more hippy bullshit places for me anymore, just awesome cultural places all the way.

Flores and tikal

beebatoz — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 14:43:00 GMT

Flores and Tikal, Guatemala

I caught the ferry from caye caulker to Belize city with a nice couple from Brisbane. They are also headed to Tikal so at least between the 3 of us we can work out how to get there!

Turns out we got a direct bus from the dock to Flores for $25 instead of having to change at the border.

We were talking and they told me one of the Germans staying at our hostel got locked up in the little caye caulker police station on the beach for smoking pot. He's been there since tuesday waiting for a trial. Idiot, there are signs everywhere that they take drug offenses seriously.

Anyway, we are on a pretty shitty bus for the next 4 hours to get to the border then I think it's about an hour to Flores. Exited to see Guatemala and I'll be there for day of the dead too which is cool.

We got to the border and pretty easy again. Just jump off the bus and walk through immigration for both countries.

We changed to a mini bus just outside of town, we all thought it was a scam but turns out they took us to look at accommodation all over Flores island until we were happy. We scored a hostel right on the lake and my private room is $9. We also booked our bus to Tikal for tomorrow, I'm going at 8am but the others are leaving at 4.30am.........fark that!

The tour operator also told us, after getting the goss from a mate by the side of the road, that two men were shot by the military yesterday at Tikal.

Apparently they drove through a checkpoint without stopping.

The plan is to stay another night in Flores and then take the 9am bus to Coban where I can take a day trip to semuc champey. I think the couple from brissie are keen to do the same instead of the overnighter to Antigua.

Flores is absolutely beautiful. This tiny island surrounded by picturesque lake with not a ripple on it. It's actually what I dreamt it would look like. Kind of reminds me a bit of San cristobal.

I've hit burger king because I'm starvin Marvin and its right on the lake next to the swing bridge so it feels like I'm in a swanky restaurant!

We got some takeaway beers on the way home and climbed up onto the roof overlooking the lake........wow! It's a million dollar view for under $10.

Met some Aussie surfers who are headed to Nicaragua so I've got them coming to the casa. It seems everyone in this part of central America is headed that way which is making selling the place dead easy.

I've headed out for a walk and have found a cute little restaurant on the other side of the island that makes fresh pasta, yum! The piña colada smoothie is possibly the best thing I've ever tasted. The pasta was not :( damn you lonely planet guide book.

Day 2 - Tikal

Up early to head to the ruins which is about 2 hours away. It's a beautiful day so I think I'm in for a treat.

Bad start, the tour forgot me and luckily the dude from the agency is just across the road and hooked up a tuk tuk to the main station and now, 2 hours later I'm in a mini bus all by myself headed to Tikal!

He was really nice and felt bad so he gave me a good price to get to lanquin and semuc champey tomorrow and then onto Antigua on Monday.

Well it turns out the farker put me on a chicken bus that stopped about 1800 times on the way to Tikal to pick up locals carrying everything from bags of beans to piles of sticks. I also noticed that everyone was paying Q20 instead of the Q80 I paid.

So we finally get to Tikal and I have the option of the bus back at 1pm or 5pm, well I'm not hanging around for 6 friggin hours so I start to fang it through the ruins.

On the trail in I ran into all the Aussies staying at my hostel that took the 4.30am bus. They were leaving at 1pm so I said I'll see them at the bus then.

Talk about el rapido tour of Tikal. I bolted around to see it all and it's huge. Absolutely spectacular and luckily hardly anyone around. Saw some monkeys and some turkeys, no toucans unfortunately.

I got back in 2 hours and saw the bus with all the aussie crew on it, so I showed him the ticket but he said I had to wait for a different bus......WTF?

The Aussies were asking him to stop but he assured me I had to get the other bus.

20 minutes later the friggin chicken bus rolls up and I jump in knowing that it's going to stop for every Tom, dick and Jose on the way back. The icing on the cake, it went only to the bus station in Santa Elena not to Flores. So I got a tuk tuk with 2 guatemalans and off we went.

As you can imagine I tore the tour operator a new one and he agreed it was shit but I had to speak to the boss. Everytime I went back to see the boss they had shut shop! Little farkers.

I'll try again tomorrow morning before we leave for semuc champey at 9am.

Ty and Karl are on the same 8 hr bus so they can share the pain!

The three of us had some beers on the roof then went for a burrito down on the lake. On the way Ty nearly shat her pants when a dog started going of its head out a window we were walking past. The locals were pissing themselves!

Flores is a lovely place and I would highly recommend it to anyone headed to Guatemala. P.S if katelyn or Lisa are reading this, they have a burger king and a guatemalan KFC just across the bridge!!

Belize

beebatoz — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 00:41:00 GMT

Belize

I got the bus from Tulum to chetumal and decided to keep going to Corazell because the ferry to caye caulker isn't till 3pm tomorrow.

The taxi took me to the market bus station where a giant green chicken bus awaited me!

The conductor tried to talk me into going to Belize city but there's no way in hell I'm staying there the night.

The border crossing is about 10 minutes out of chetumal and surprisingly easy.

Everyone just jumps off the bus and walks to the booth while the bus slowly makes its way through.

The officer said the exit fee was 250 pesos but I only had 200 pesos and $2 US dollars he said that will do! Nice welcome to Belize.

I thought that was it but about 2 minutes down the road we all had to get off the bus again and walk through immigration to get the passport stamped and luggage check. A lovely man gave me a free map to help me out.

You can totally see the culture change already. Everyone speaks like a rasta, they are speaking english but way cooler, I love it! I'm the only gringo on the bus by the way so not knowing how this border crossing works, I just followed them. All good so far.

I get to Corazel and managed to find a hotel that was in the guide book called the sea breeze. I walked past about 50 Chinese restaurants and Asians which is wierd.

I checked in after seeing 3 older crew on the balcony upstairs having a beer.

Gwynne the owner is a Welshman and a pretty good bloke. I asked about the ferry to caye caulker and he suggested for $20 more I could fly instead........hell yes! So he booked me on the $30, 12 seater 18 minute plane ride to San Pedro at 10.30am where I get the ferry to the caye! It's a very wierd little community of expats here from all over the world and all they talk about is how they almost shot a burglar or thief and how many vicious dogs they have and I'm thinking, why the hell would you want to live here??! They all admit it's dangerous all over Belize.

I asked where I should go have dinner after having a few beers with the locals at the hotel (average age = 60) they suggested the blue toucan. One of the locals, a kiwi, drove me the 200 meters and joined me for dinner at this strange little restuarant down an alley!

There were 2 american ladies eating and clearly everyone knows everyone in town. I had the most amazing fish stuffed with veggies. They also have a drink in Belize called 'goodbye mother fucker', it's on a lot of menu boards. Apparently it's strong as fark hence the name!

Gwynn, the owner of the hotel rocked up and had a drink with us and also informed us the lady we were talking to had ringworm!! Random. Anyway he drove me the 200 meters in his old clapped out Mercedes and I'm back at the hotel now watching mob wives on tv ready for some caye caulker action tomorrow.

Day 2

Gwynn drove me to the 'airport' and we arrived about 5 mins before the flight was taking off. I paid my $30 and asked where the plane was. Well I was looking at it, the tiny toy was right in front of my eyeballs! Are you farking kidding me??

Luckily there was a couple from the US taking the plunge too because I was shitting my pants.

There was 5 seats and a pilot, so I climbed aboard, kissing my ass goodbye on the way in!

The runway was a driveway really and off we went with me wondering how the fark this thing flies??!

Hit a bit of turbulence in the low clouds but other than that it was pretty smooth. Once again I shit my pants as I saw the runway at San Pedro approaching and bang, we were on terra firma.

The three of us walked to the dock and got a ticket on the ferry to caye caulker with only a 20 minute wait. The ferry has about 40 people on it and it's fast and smooth. So I've done car, plane, boat in the last hour and kept my brekky down!

San Pedro was such a cool little town I kind of wish I could have looked around a bit. Little streets on the beach, hardly any cars just golf buggies, pretty cool.

Got to caye caulker and it's magic!

Yumas hostel was right in front of the dock on the beach and luckily she had one dorm bed left. I'm standing out the front and I hear "hey bee"........it's the Dutch girls I met in monte alban and palenque a couple of weeks ago!

I dumped my shit in the room (top bunk so should be interesting!) and went for a walk around the island. It is tiny and so full of life. Everyone rides bikes or golf carts and says hi, it's a little paradise with not a car in sight.

I stopped at a bar to get something to eat and had delicious fish. There were three girls eating at the table next to me and no shit they did not speak a word to each other for 45 minutes until they got the bill. Didnt even crack a smile. WTF?? Look around ladies, you are not at work, you are in paradise! Theres a rasta that keeps following me around asking me "to keep a place for him in my heart". If he had at least 3 teeth I just might!

The water taxi heads to Belize city tomorrow at 9am right out the front of my hostel so I'm going to jump that and apparently a bus connects from the dock in Belize city to Flores in Guatemala..........another border crossing.

There's this funny man in a chefs hat who wheels around a cart with fresh banana bread and pineapple cake. I went the pineapple and was not disappointed, there was a party in my mouth and everyone was invited!

There's a rule on the caye that if you walk too fast they give you a ticket, classic! Everything is slow and relaxed in a good way.

Heaps of Aussies here and I've got half of them coming to our hostel in Nicaragua!

There's a few crew doing night dives tonight...........fark that.

The Dutch girls have just asked me out for a drink and a party they are having at midnight for one of the girls birthdays.

I am truly in love with the carribbean accent, I could literally listen to it for hours.

I'm at barrier reef bar now having a local rum and coke for $2 and it's damn good. Tastes pirate-y!

Belize is beautiful.

Tulum, mexico

beebatoz — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 11:43:00 GMT

Tulum

I got the 8.30am bus to Tulum which was only a short 50 minutes away.

I grabbed a cab to playa Esperanza where the girls were staying but when I rocked up the gate was closed. The cabbie got someone's attention and we went through. The entire place is white sand walkways. They asked me to wait a few minutes so they could get the owner. Well I was waiting in paradise. On the balcony of a thatched cabana on, and I mean on, the carribbean ocean.

I went for a little wander while I was waiting and who should I spot right out the front but Lisa and katelyn!

Happy I was in the right place because this certainly looked more expensive than the 300 pesos I was paying!

The boys in my cabana hadn't checked out yet so the girls asked me to come along with them to snorkel in the cenote water holes.

They had met a Canadian dude who used to be a guide and he offered to take us there along with another Aussie, Brendan.

First we stopped off for some brekky which was pretty good but I got double bingo with a hair in my tostada and my watermelon juice.........score!

We made it to the cenote and I actually ran into a couple that had stayed at our hostel in Nicaragua. I actually shared a cab with them to Managua when I left for Mexico!

They swore black and blue that buzz had stolen their room key at the time, well she says "I've got something for you" and pulls out the pink room key! Fancy trying to blame a monkey?

We tried to get a locker but the locker dude was smashed on tequila and could only say in drunk Mexican "no lockers today it's drinky time" and laugh!

We went snorkeling in the caves full of clear blue cold water. Little fish everywhere that nibble on your body which is quiet an unnerving feeling.

Canadian Allan picked us up and we went to an actual supermarket. I bought some supplies in case we were not near anywhere to eat (which it turns out we weren't).

We got grog and food and went back to Allan's place and hung out drinking tequila or 'Craig David' shots with pineapple juice and eating hot dogs.

At about 9pm Allan drove us back to the beach via the Oxxo where lisa and brendan tried to get more alcohol without any luck. You cant get alcohol in this part of mexico after 9pm. Lisa even offered to show her boobs for tequila but still no go! Comment of the night from katelyn after we saw a woman in the oxxo in the worlds smallest bikini bottoms......."when the sun goes down in mexico its time to put some pants on"! There is no power from sunset to midnight at the place we are staying. I had no key at this stage so I went on a mission to find one with success. I'm staying in the cutest little cabana with a swing bed!

There's tiki torches and candles all around palm trees and white sand paths, it's paradise.

I fell asleep on my swing bed to the sound of the carribbean ocean just meters away. I hope I can stay one more night because I want to walk up to the ruins on the beach. Then I'll make my way to Belize.

Day 2

Woke up early and went for a walk along the beach toward the ruins and about 10 minutes in there they were! They look amazing on the cliff face above the clear blue ocean. Quite an unbelievable sight really. I couldn't get into the site because it wasn't open yet so I walked back to our part of the beach and went for a swim.

It started pissing down but it passes pretty quickly. That's the only problem with staying right on the beach in a hut, you are always covered in sand. A very small problem I might add.

Brendan left his shit on the beach when they went for a swim late last night and his wallet got flogged.

We all went for a frappacino at a resort up the beach where even the restaurants have white sand floors.

I decided to check out of my awesome beachside cabana and move on toward Belize. We caught a taxi, shoved my bags as well as brendans bike in the boot and went into town for brekky. We then parted ways with the 3 of them headed to playa del Carmen tomorrow, mainly for a feed of maccas!!

I caught the 1pm bus to chetumal which is 3 hours away where I'm hoping I'm not too late to hop the ferry to caye caulker in Belize. Tulum is beautiful but very isolated in parts so we were really lucky to have Canadian Allan to drive us around really.

Number 1 beach so far!

Playa del Carmen, mexico

beebatoz — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 20:10:00 GMT

Playa del Carmen, Mexico

Day 1

Landed in cancun and cracked up when I noticed that the huge air traffic tower is a massive corona ad. The name down one side and a giant pic of the beer on the other!

After a huuuge immigration queue and a few laughs with the crew I met, I found the ADO counter and booked a 7pm bus to playa del Carmen. People were taking pics and going crazy as a big group of guys walked toward the bus next to mine so I asked a security dude who the hell they were. It was the Mexican national soccer team!

I started chatting to a guy I recognized from my flights to and from Cuba. Turns out Ian from west London loves a chat and was kind of a wanker, talking down Mexicans while there were Mexicans all around us. He lost me at "god I love having lots of money in a poor country".

He's also going to playa del Carmen but I'm tipping he won't be staying in a hostel with the rest of us low lives so I should be safe!

Once again I have no idea where I'll be sleeping tonight and it will be about 9.30pm by the time I get there.

Got out of the bus station and it's out of control! This is cancuns love child after cancun had a one night stand with patpong in Thailand.

Holy shit, talk about extremes. After flying in from the 1950's, oops I mean Cuba, playa del Carmen is definitely back to the land of the living.

I walked a couple of blocks and had no trouble finding a hostel and took a private for a couple of nights.

There is restaurant after restuarant offering mostly Italian food for huge prices. There is also ben & jerrys, subway, KFC, McDonald's, burger king, haagen daaz, Starbucks, Walmart!

I did find señor frogs, the scene of my meeting tomorrow with the dude I lent moola to in Cuba.

The beach is one block from my hostel so I can't wait for daylight to check it out.

I had no idea it would be this commercial and I pray that Tulum is a bit quiter but I don't think I'll be in luck there.

Day 2

It's about to piss down so I've quickly dropped my washing off and stopped for some brekky. Best bacon and eggs I've had I ages!

I went to collect my laundry up the road from my hostel but it was all locked up. I asked the ladies in the shop next door in very broken Spanish if they knew where she was. A little girl took me round the corner to another laundry and the lady there went and unlocked my imprisoned undies. Phew!

Went for a walk when it stopped raining and I'm obsessed with the beautiful ceramic mirrors and basins etc but they are tourist prices here so I'm on a mission to find a local market to see what I can haggle. They want $28 US for the cushion covers I paid $8 for in San cristobal...........get farked.

I'm very excited because the Aussie chicks I met and had a ball with in San cristobal are in tulum so I'm meeting them there tomorrow........yay!

Lisa and Kat have just facebooked to say they've saved a bungalow on the beach for me, so looking forward to that.

So it's 4.58pm and I'm waiting on the steps of señor frogs waiting for armador to show! I don't have high hopes but I'll give him till 6pm to allow for flight delays in Cuba because we had one yesterday. The little fucker better come good because I spent a motza today on mexican ceramics and mirrors etc. The stuff comes from Puebla and San cristobal and I so wish I had bought it there because it was sooooo much cheaper. I even bought a cheap wheely case to put all my purchases in!

Everyone thinks I'm Dutch here for some reason, I guess they're half right.

Well no sign of old mate Armador. I sent him an email to see where he is but I doubt I'll ever see that $150 again. Clearly I have a sign on my forehead that reads "if you are male and a dirtbag please go ahead and treat me like shit".

Anyway it's not the end of the world. While I was waiting I started chatting to a guy who was offering tourists photos with his capuchin monkey. This monkey is about the size of the palm of my hand! I was concerned it wasn't being looked after but the guy seemed to really love it. Then again with my super human powers of good character on the blink again, he probably took the monkey home and ate it. He was a cute little critter named Chaplin.

I went for a huge walk around town and it really is a one day stop kinda place. Very Phuket-esque. So I've packed my shit up again and I'm off on a morning bus to Tulum which I'm really looking forward to.

Cuba

beebatoz — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 14:56:00 GMT

Cuba

So I managed to get the flight out for 3.30pm and it turns out the crazy high fiving, Mexican, Armador, is coming along. So we packed our shit and walked to the bus station to catch a bus to the airport. Armador is pretty funny but also a bit strange. He owns a sail boat in Tulum which he has docked in cancun but has to take back to Tulum because there is apparently a hurricane coming! Anyway, he met like a thousand people at cancun airport and got us a ride to trinidad if we wanted.

I decided on the plane I was going to stay in Havana after he spilt his 3rd drink on himself!

Going through immigration was fairly easy but I got drilled about my travel insurance for some reason but she gave up and unlocked the doors to Cuba for me anyway!

I saw Armador with my bag near some military guys and was a bit worried but he had picked my bag up at the X-ray because I forgot it. He high fived me for the 80th time and then said "I'll meet you outside."

I waited for about 40 minutes and so did the guy who was taking him to Trinidad but he had disappeared. So I changed some money at the airport because cuban pesos is a closed currency. They don't take kindly to changing US dollars for obvious reasons! I jumped a cab by myself. I should have asked around at the airport because the 4 Aussies staying in my room where on my plane......doh!

I got a taxi to rolandos hostel which the Aussies in cancun recommended. Very basic but rolando is awesome. His whole family run the hostel in a house in the centre of Havana.

It really is like stepping back in time here. On the drive in the old American cars are everywhere and they are gorgeous. You see an entire extended family driving around in them because they fit about 9 people and apparently by law you must pick up hitchhikers!

I went for a walk at about 8pm through the very dark street with the aim to walk on the same road until I hit the water so I didn't get lost.

Along the way a young Cuban took a liking to me and walked with me the whole way. Interesting conversation as he didn't speak a word of English and me just a little Spanish!

I ditched him as nicely as I could after he asked to come back to my casa.

I literally couldn't find where the action was so I decided to head back to the hostel.

2 hours later and a little lost, I made it.

I feel very strange in the stomach.........

Day 2

I still haven't eaten since yesterday morning and I don't plan to for a while as I believe I have 'montezumas revenge'!

After a very restless nights sleep in the dorm with 4 other really nice Aussies I felt like crapola in the morning. The aircon was too cold but the room was too hot without it so we were all taking turns switching it on and off!

Graphic content warning! Put it this way, at 8.30 this morning I DID NOT make it to the bathroom. Yep I shat my pants about 2 meters from the door! Oh my god, lucky it's laundry day!

I'm back in bed now along with one of the Aussie boys who's got a flu of some kind. They all have actually. So I'm missing out on seeing Havana during the day, but right now I'm not risking a public pant shitting. Please work drugs.

I've now been in bed for almost 36hrs sick as a dog. Every muscle and bone in my body aches. I'm too scared to move. This is definitely not the place I wanted to get sick because I literally only have a week here. I don't know if I can even risk leaving the hostel today to get to Trinidad.

I couldn't do brekky but the crew in my room agree we have to get out of this place, it's depressing!

We all paid up and caught the smallest cab in the universe for 5 people to the bus station.

We were all keen to hire a big old Chevy for the 4 hour trip to Trinidad and our wish was granted. For $25 each we got into a beautiful big red Chevy with our driver Maury.

Well half way there it started pissing down and those old cars also have old windscreen wipers. There was a lot of stopping by the side of the road until we had any visibility!

We kept seeing road signs to Australia, there is actually a place in Cuba called central Australia!

5 and a half hours later we arrive in Trinidad. The cabbie dropped the 4 Aussies off at his mates place but I decided to head closer to the centro.

Along the way we picked up this lovely old lady who said I could stay at her casa.

I'm lashing out at $25 a night for a whole room to myself with aircon and a tv (Spanish only). I just need a good nights rest and a bathroom to myself to literally get my shit together!

The family are so sweet.

My plan is to head to the beach tomorrow, the one that is blue and transparent.........I just want to swim!

I went for a quick walk to the centre and it's tiny but I found casa de musica and listened to some awesome Cuban music before fighting my way back to my room via the treacherous cobblestone streets streaming with water from the downpour.

It's a very cute, very Cuban little town.

It even smells like cigars!

I'm going to sleep watching what I believe is 'crime stoppers Cuba'!

Day 3

Had a good sleep and woke up to breakfast homemade by Boris, the owner of the house im staying in.

This is the second time I've tasted Cuban cheese and it is terrible! It smells and tastes like old socks. This coming from someone who will eat any cheese put in front of her. The coffee is the best I've tasted so far.

I walked to the taxi area and got a cab to take me to playa ancon for $5 and it was worth it. My first swim in the Caribbean. White sand, clear water..... Perfecto! I swam for 2 hours and made a deal with the cabbie in the small Russian taxi to pick me up at 1pm. I met a lady in the water called belky, she gave me a guava and a banana to eat which was nice.

I got back to town and went in search of the bus station. This place is a maze of cobblestones but I found it not too far from my casa. The lady said there are 2 buses to Santa Clara tomorrow at 7am and 3pm so I'll see what time I'll wake up.

I can't seem to ever find any food in Cuba, it is really like stepping back 50 years. I've lived off icecream sandwiches and water lately so it's a good weight loss plan in addition to montezumas revenge! I would give my right arm for a vegemite sandwich right now! Cubans have been very friendly so far contrary to what I was told by the 4 Aussies in cancun. This makes me think that maybe they were rude to the Cubans??

It is beyond hot here, like being bitch slapped by the sun itself.

I might eat dinner with the family tonight, test the local fare.

What's on offer tourist wise is cuban number plates, crochet clothing, things made out of soda cans and anything they can put Che Guevara's face on!

I met an old local sitting in the square trying to light his cigar. His name was Raphael and he was a farmer, so I gave him my lighter and he was pretty happy. I ran into him a bit later and he showed it to me again!

I've gone for another walk and found a beautiful little restaurant and I've ordered the lamb. Not sure if I've even seen a lamb, so lamb may mean goat and goat may mean lizard but it's a specialty and I haven't eaten properly for days! Bonus, you can smoke wherever the hell you want in this country. Ironically, their cigarettes are called 'Hollywood'......WTF??

The waiter just brought me the starter of tuna fish and I felt rude but I can't eat that shit, not even when I'm starvin marvin! Warm bread rolls is very bueno though.

Looking out the window and about 10 bus loads of tourists just touched down in what was a quiet little village. They sound European.

The bread is so good, I've just made myself a cucumber sanga and bagged it in a serviette for later! I ended up giving said sandwich to a dog I felt sorry for up the road.

The meal was enough for 3 people! The shredded lamb was delicious and definitely salted! Holy shit I'm thirsty as a camel.

I got back to my casa and the mama of the house is on the floor in front of the tv doing aerobics.......classic!

Making my way back towards Havana tomorrow with an overnight stop in Santa Clara.

The owner of this house just hooked me up with a casa in Santa Clara so I just have to look for my name at the bus stop.

While I was waiting I was showing her little boy movies of my dog on the iPhone, well I forgot they don't have anything like that technology here and he would not let it go and watched the movies over and over! So cute.

Day 4

So I'm ready to go to the bus station at 6.10am and try to get out of the place I'm staying only to find I'm locked in. Good to know if there's a fire that I would be trapped until sunrise!

I don't have a ticket for the 7am so I'm hoping it's not packed and I have to hang around until 3pm.

I'm unlocked from the house and at the bus station in the pitch dark. Nice walk though, you can see every star in the sky from here and hear every rooster in town! The ticket office isn't open yet so I'll park my arse on the curb.

Got on the bus and met a girl from Finland who loved a chat, she kept trying to make me eat her finnish flat bread ( reminded me of the shit the hobbits eat in lord of the rings) but unfortunately I felt like I was going to hurl so I nodded off. 3 hours later im in Santa Clara.

The little taxi dude was outside the bus station with my name on a bit of paper spelt 'berlindar'!

I quickly checked what time the bus to varadero leaves tomorrow and hooked it up with my cabbie that he get me back to the station at 7.15am tomorrow.......sorted.

Got to the casa and they are very friendly. I think I've scored a room to myself again for $20 with aircon. It is again as hot as a bitch here, even the locals say its friggin hot.

I decided to jump a bike taxi to the che Guevara memorial (when in Rome.......as I now know what Santa Clara is famous for......Che is buried here).

The poor bastard peddling me around town in the blazing sun, I felt terrible.

The Che museum and memorial is quiet nice, pretty small but full of great items that once belonged to Che including an array of weapons, clothes, diaries etc. I stood in front of were Che's remains are now buried after they were recovered from a secret mass grave in Bolivia about 15 years ago. Fidel himself lit the eternal flame just near the head stone. A lot of history right there mofos!

No pics allowed, so I have no pics.

I jumped back on the bike taxi and he took me to the Cuban cigar factory. I bought a Romeo y julieta and a montecristo for the tiny price of $10. It smelled really good in there but I was a couple of hours too early for the factory tour so I bailed.

The taxi bike man huffed and puffed me back to the park, i gave him an extra $4 for his trouble. I'm now in an italian restaurant because it's all I could find that was packed ( which means high turnover of food to me). I've ordered lasagne which should be interesting!

Well it's pale and cold and salty as hell. They love a bit of salt in old Cuba town.

I can't eat it, it even has that Cuban stink cheese on it. Ide love to get into that kitchen!

It's official, Cuba has the WORST food in the entire world. For some reason I thought it would be really interesting and tasty but sadly no.

So I'm off to varadero tomorrow. It appears to be a very commercialized beach town where alot of Canadians holiday. The reason I'm going.......clear blue oceans! The pictures are unbelievable, so I'll spend the night there then back to Havana for my last night.

I just tried to find food for dinner and it's hard bloody work.

I finally found a "supermarket" and I realize just how spoilt for choice we are in Australia. We can literally get anything we want at anytime. Here they have very very little choice at shops that are run military style. Cubans lead a very sheltered life, but they may like it that way.

This country is hard work. Still amazing but hard work. It's nothing like I imagined.

The tv runs Che Guevara doco's/ ads every 15 minutes which is fine but they are kind of preaching to the converted when it comes to Cubans really.

Day 5

At the bus station awaiting my ride to varadero and I've noticed something. The men in santa clara wear perfume and the women wear aftershave!

No shit, I realized when the same cab driver came to pick me up..........WTF??

The other noticeable thing is the array of very different looking Cubans. Their skin colour comes in about 14 different shades. From very dark carribbean to very light almost white and everything in between. They are a good looking race thats for sure.

They spray the luggage area of the buses with some black smoke from a machine that looks like a leaf blower. I guess for insects??

The sunrise was bright red so it's going to be a scorcher, luckily I'm headed to the beach!

11am and I've travelled through some dodgy towns that if I got stuck there I wouldn't know how the fark to get out.

I found the Cuba I was looking for after lugging my backpack a couple of blocks from the bus station.........varadero is paradise :)

I thought I would try my luck at a semi swanky resort right in the beach, it is low season after all. Bang! Got a room on the beach for $27 and it's worth every penny.

Pool, 24 bar with real food, air con, satellite tv and on the most beautiful white sand clear water beach. Heaven!

I dumped my shit and jumped straight in the ocean. Warm, crystal clear blue calm water as far as the eye can see and not many tourists.

My faith in Cuba has been restored :)

I feel like I should have been here days ago.

Half an hour in the water and a huge tropical rain storm swept through but honey badger don't care, it's perfect!

I took cover under a thatched hut on the beach to wait it out and happened to glance to my left and what I saw is still burnt into my retina.........balls.

Yep, a guy not 1 meter from me decided it was a good idea to get changed on the beach and I witnessed a giant saggy hairy ballsack right in my eyeballs!!!! Oh my farkin god, the full bent over Monty!

I booked my bus ticket back to Havana tomorrow at 11am, I have to get back for my flight on Saturday.

Scored well here because I think this place is about $70+ a night in high season. So I'm celebrating with a scotch and tukola (cuban coca cola) minus the ice and a club sandwich for $5.....bang!

The rain has stopped and the sun is back out so another dip in the ocean is calling.

Ok so I've spent a whole day here and it's a ghost town. The low season may not be the only reason people are not here. There is a stench that I can only describe as rotting eggs thick in the air. I remember reading something in lonely planet about the area being rich in natural gas and it appears here there and everywhere. It also mentioned to stay in a certain part of the beach to avoid it. Clearly I'm in the wrong part of the beach and should have taken note of that shit.

It's almost unbearable and I would bet on it being a health hazard, I actually feel dizzy.

I gambled on a pizza down the road, you can't fuck up a pizza right? WRONG.

The 'meat' is grey and it doesn't taste like pizza. I got it to takeaway which is a phrase they are unaware of here. He put it in a used plastic bag! Needless to say I'm glad I bought those water crackers earlier. After my pizza experience (which i filed under bin) I decided I needed a drink so I stopped at the wierd supermarcado and picked up a bottle of Havana club rum for the grand price of $4.

I dodged 48 skanky cats on the way back to the hotel, they are everywhere.

Well the farkin twist top wouldn't twist so I had to hack at it with the sharpest thing I have which is nail clippers.

20 minutes later I earned that drink and the whole bottle because the lid wont go back on! Good rum though.

Cuba, you will be the death of me.

4 drinks in and I've never been so happy to be watching Canadian tv!

Judging from the ads, it is actually a place I would like to visit. I've been told its a lot like Victoria in Australia. Maybe I'll play that country a visit if I ever make it out of Cuba!

Those water crackers I mentioned were my dinner tonight after the pizza incident, well they promised salt. After the overload of salt in every meal I've tried in this country, crackers that say they have salt.........do not. WTF??

When you are far away from people you know you work out what you miss most. Mine is being in New York eating wings and drinking whiskey with my brother or having a laugh at something at the bar with mum and dad at their hostel in Nicaragua. I've only been off the grid for a week and it hits home.

Day 6

Last night I swear someone was trying to get into my room so I shoved a chair with my backpack on it against the door........sorted!

Woke to the lovely smell of gas and had my free brekky. I got lucky yesterday with the beautiful blue water because after the rains it's not so clear anymore.

I'm an hour early for my bus to Havana so I'm sitting in the stinking hot terminal watching river dance on tv, WTF??!

Think I may just go back to rolandos for the night, at least then I know where I am.

I just ran into a nice couple from London at the station and its so nice to hear English again! They also mentioned that Cuba is not as great as they thought it would be.

We are 2 hrs into the bus ride and have made a random pit stop at a piña colada bar cranking the tunes on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere!

Made it back to Havana and on the way in I found the awesome part, veijo!

It's beautiful. I dumped my shit off at rolandos again and started walking and found the most amazing parts of this city. It's so massive and ornate. I even found an entire open air plaza where they have street stalls with old books, photos, jewellery etc. unbelievable. This is what I missed being sick for 2 days here and only seeing a seedy bit in the dark!

I'm about to jump on an open top bus to see the rest before it gets dark.

The 1 and a half hour tour took 3 hours! Interesting though as I saw parts of Havana I wouldn't have got to myself. Like the whole other 'resort' world at the other end, it's like a gated community. Not very authentic at all. I also saw a Cuban bride cruising around town on the back of a big old Chevy.....nice. Havana is all over the place living standard wise. Slums right next door to mansions. Downtown in some parts looks like a bomb just went off but it's peppered with beautiful old buildings in various states of disrepair.

I am currently sitting in the most picturesque outdoor restaurant in a square dwarfed by a huge cathedral and other gorgeous buildings. A Cuban band is playing. funnily enough they don't put tomato paste on their pizza but they do on their burgers! I'm drinking a dinky di Cuban mojito and it is blow your mind strong!

The sunset tonight was unbelievable, bright red.

The restaurant hawkers are everywhere but the funniest I saw was a little girl trying to show me the menu while she had her finger up her nose with not a care in the world!!

Once again cats everywhere, hundreds of the farkers.

There's a guy sitting by himself next to me, looks harmless, has a Havana guide book in English, drinking straight rum. Should I, shouldn't I??! Nope, he just jumped 6ft when a cat went near his bag!

I walked most of the way in a mojito haze and stopped off for some road dessert. I won churro bingo! Yep a dirty big black hair right through the middle of one!

I jumped a bike taxi after bargaining him down from $5 to $3 with some free churros, hee hee hee!!

Day 7

Drama drama drama at the airport in Havana!

I just walk in the door and Armador (the crazy Mexican) comes running over to me almost in tears. He got robbed in Havana 2 nights ago and has been living on the street until he made his way to the airport today!

He said he was approached by some guys offering a place to stay which is pretty normal here. They then gave him 2 shots of rum and he passed out. He woke up in a park with no bag, no wallet, no phone, just his passport and his ticket out of Cuba.

He asked police for help but they just gave him a light blanket and he literally slept under a tree one night and on the melecon the other. Poor bastard, but it gets worse.

I asked him where he disappeared at the airport when we arrived and he said after he saw me he was whisked away by security and x-rayed, searched, questioned and 'frisked' by a doctor. They were claiming he was carrying drugs from Mexico! He said they told him they would find something but didn't of course, even after checking the seams of his pants. How horrific. As you can imagine he is pretty stressed and has tried to change his ticket but can't get out until tomorrow. I bought him some food and drink because he hadn't eaten in 2 days. My flight has been delayed 2 and a half hours so I'm hanging at the airport for about 5 hours. Cubana air have given us a voucher for food because of the 2 hour delay. Awesome, one last taste of the worlds worst food!

I've checked in and paid my exit tax etc and now I know I have to leave Armador with some money or he will be stuck here until they decide to deport him!

I shelled out my last 140 CUC and 100 pesos ( about $150 US) so he can pay his flight change, tax, eat and so he can get the bus in Mexico.

We have agreed to meet at a bar called señor frogs in playa del Carmen tomorrow night at 5pm. I believe he will turn up because I saved his ass but time will tell. Either way I feel really sorry for him and it's not the end of the world if I don't get the cash back. I have all his details anyway, phone number, email, Facebook etc. As I said, drama is Cuba, Cuba is drama!

I checked my passport and I didn't get a stamp to exit, I quickly checked on this and it's fine. It may be better because apparently you have trouble getting back into the US if you have been to Cuba anyway. So I didn't need to change any money back in the end because CUC is useless anywhere else in the world, Armador has it all!

I met a lovely old couple from new Zealand and a sth African guy and his franadian girlfriend while we were waiting who also couldn't wait to leave!

Glad it's not just me. Two of them even work for trafalgar and contiki.

They were listening, mouths agape, as I retold the Armador story.

I say goodbye to Cuba and can say that this place has a bad energy and a lot of people have agreed with me. I've seen some great parts and some terrible parts to this country. It's like taking a ride in a time machine. With hand on heart I seriously doubt I will ever return.

One last question for Cubana air. Why when the plane is almost empty would you sit complete strangers who are not travelling together right next to each other. Had to laugh because the English guy next to me totally agreed and now we have a row to ourselves. Actually i have almost the entire back end of the plane! The flight is literally get up to altitude and then fly back down again, it's that quick. Bye crazy Cuba and bye bye to the girl across the aisle taking selfies with her blackberry pouting in a souvenir Che Guevara beret. Stay tuned to see if Armador the crazy Mexican returns my money at our rendezvous at señor frogs tomorrow at 5pm!

Cancun or America??

beebatoz — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 18:13:00 GMT

Cancun

So what is it with European backpacker chicks getting their gear out in front of anyone who cares to look??! I'm having a conversation with a girl in my room about booking a ticket to Cuba and she's drying her lady bits (very thoroughly I might add) completely starkers! Everywhere I turn there's someone in the nude. I went to boarding school so I'm no prude but not having a conversation........really WTF?!

Anyway I left the hostel and cabbed it to the bus station and I'm about to head to cancun.

Cancun is a place we only really see in movies as the 'spring break' capital or where ridge and Brooke from bold and the beautiful get married for the eighteenth time. So I really don't know what I'm in for but I'm looking forward to a swim. I just ordered a coffee frappe from a place called 'mexican rooter' and now I'm well and truly awake, holy shit it's like a quadruple espresso!

So I thought I was home free sitting up the back of the bus by myself but alas we have stopped in the middle of nowhere and picked up about a thousand people, oh and while we stopped hombre in front of me decided to drop the kids of at the pool and has stunck the entire bus out. 2 hours to go.

I made it and managed to find the hostel a short walk away. Well it doesn't look anything like the friggin pictures. It's a hippy dive but I can do one night!

On the upside I met 4 Aussies checking out, who gave me priceless info on where to stay in Cuba. Interestingly they said that Cubans are the rudest people they have met on their travels which is the complete opposite of what ide heard from most people. I'll judge that one for myself I think.

I dropped my shit off and went in search of the crystal blue ocean. I caught the R1 for 8 pesos which does a loop. Well these bus drivers are friggin mad behind the wheel, they absolutely fang it.

My heart was sinking as massive resort after resort flashed past me..........where's the farking beach?

It is seriously like the gold coast on massive amounts of resort style steroids. There's even an outback steakhouse for farks sake!

Well I got to the end of the line on the bus and got off with little hope of seeing the ocean when I stumbled across the public access beach.

Wow. The ocean is really as blue as the pictures and the sand is pure white with palm trees and all. It was beautiful. I couldn't resist dipping my feet in and it was warm too!

It was almost dark and I had no idea where the fark I actually was so jumped back on the R1 going to downtown where I (the poorly backpacker) was staying.

The picture of cancun was completed for me on the bus back as three very loud young Americans guys decided to have a conversation the entire packed bus could hear. Most of the passengers were locals heading home after a hard days work. The 'wolf pack' found it hilarious they didn't know where they were going and were already drunk. One said "worst case scenario is we get stuck on this bus to nowhere." while I'm thinking to myself that worst case scenario for you boys would be a local stabbing you in the eyeball to shut you up! So friggin obnoxious.

At least I got to see the beach and there's plenty of places along my travels to see much better I'm told. A lovely local told me where to get off and I made my way to get some grub. I don't think I'll stick around here for long and try to get that flight to Cuba sooner rather than later! Sorry cancun, you are not for me.

I'm back at the hostel and had a chat to another Aussie girl here who concurs that cancun is not cool!

Managed to book a flight to Cuba tomorrow arvo for about $360 which is very exciting.

Luckily it's open bar here at the hostel for 20 pesos so I'm in!

It's now 2am and I'm pretty smashed after playing matchsticks and jen-quila with Brits, Americans, spaniards, Mexicans, kiwis, Israelis and Aussies at the hostel! Good night amigos speak to you from Cuba tomorrow, where apparently there is no Internet or wifi etc. if you don't hear from me in a week alert the authorities! Adios amigos

Merida

beebatoz — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 14:37:00 GMT

Merida

Up at dawns crack again after a really good nights sleep at yaxkin hostel. Now I get those people who listen to 'the sounds of the rainforest' while snoozing.... It's nice!

It is absolutely pouring with rain which makes for an even more nervous me on a bus, so I bought some Dramamine just in case!

The bus is pretty empty and I've got the whole back of it to myself again with the dunny as my only friend and a Mel Gibson movie in Spanish! The 8 hours went surprisingly fast but that could be attributed to Dramamine!

Got into the bus station at 4pm on the dot and shared a cab into town with a local lady to hostel zocalo. Once again I forgot to look up a place to stay, but this one from rough guides is pretty good.

Dropped my shit off and went for a stroll around town and it's nice. The people are a whole lot friendlier than the ones in palenque.

Picked up on a scam pretty quickly though after it happened twice in half an hour! Basically a guy comes up to you and starts speaking English being very helpful about where to go and what to see and eventually points you to a place round the corner that sells authentic Mayan jewellery, textiles etc.

I went to have a look and it's the most overpriced place in the world. The beautiful cushion covers I paid 100 pesos for in San cristobal are double that here. The sales woman said its because their quality is better..........bull farkin shit lady.

I was then told there was more jewellery upstairs with stones (after telling her I was just looking for plain silver). So I went upstairs and the lady went to get the resident 'shamen' to help read my balance and explain the stones.

The 'shamen' was about 35, wearing a Nike t-shirt and Levi jeans!

After he started rattling on I explained to him while I respect their beliefs it's not necessarily for me and got the fark out of there!

I walked around the corner and the same thing happened. "where are you from blah blah blah, there's a festival tonight blah blah blah oh and by the way the only authentic Mayan gear is around the corner! Nice try amigo.

Anyway the town is nice but really hot as there is no mountains around. I think I'll move onto cancun tomorrow, I really need to see the beach and swim.

I got a couple of drinks and went back to the hostel. Ended up getting stuck listening to old mate from Chicago, he would not shut the fark up. I could see one of the girls in my room laughing so when he finally went I had a chat to her.

Her name was Hannah from Poland and she said she was headed to a local festival with a German girl, nina. So I tagged along with them and we ended up accidentally crashing a university fundraiser! Free entertainment was good enough but it was free food and drinks as well! So we scoffed it up there and then went to the other festival but it was boring. We nearly got eaten by a horse on the way back to the hostel as well.

I booked an 11am bus to cancun for tomorrow and it's only 4 hours away so I should be swimming in the clear blue ocean by 3pm! Hoorah. Adios amigos!

Tuxla and San Cristobal

beebatoz — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 11:42:00 GMT

Tuxla and San cristobal

Caught a cab at 6am to the airport after a few drinks last night. Elske even bought me a goodbye present at the local market. It was a cactus fruit which I really wanted to try and it didn't dissapoint.

About to get on a plane to tuxla via Mexico city for a couple of hours. So I'm going back then forward again! I can't see my plane yet but I'm hoping interjet aren't some backward arse company with shitty planes!

Ok so they are like virgin but with heaps more room, good airline. I asked if i could smoke anywhere at the Airport and got a guided escort Back to the front of the airport and the security lady asked in Spanish if i was going to drink some tequila.........um, no, its 6am lady!

I'm now at Mexico city airport, waiting waiting waiting as the planes been delayed.

The plane ended up being on time so I celebrated with some tuxlans sitting next to me with a whiskey con Pepsi. They were all one drink wonders and couldnt stop laughing. One of them showed me a photo of a rock that if you turn the photo upside down it turns into a face!

Got offered a taxi for 600 pesos claiming there was no bus to San cristobal, well I walked about 100 meters and bought a ticket for this non existent bus for 160 pesos........taxi turds. Theres quite a few stern looking army dudes with sizable machine guns lurking around.

Unfortunately I deleted the info I had on the hostel I picked so I'm flying blind.

Got to the bus station in San cristobal and was having a smoke outside wondering where the hell I'm going to sleep tonight when a guy came and offered a free taxi to hostel planet near the zocalo so I took him up on the offer. Not a bad place down a dodgy alley! I dropped the backpack in my first private room (only $12 so I lashed out) and went for a wonder through town. It's so nice here, right in a valley surrounded by misty mountains. Local women are traditionally dressed in the brightest colors. There's a big stinky hippy feel to it as well, very bohemian. I found my way to the local markets and couldn't walk away without these 2 gorgeous cushion covers that you would pay about $100 for at home. Got them for the bargain price of $16 and I feel like a thief because of all the work that must have gone into them. They will take pride of place wherever I end up living back in oz. I stopped for a local beer and some people watching. I've decided to head to palenque tomorrow via agua azul because the bus stops at a few waterfalls and the palenque ruins and then I can just stay in palenque instead of coming back to San cristobal. So up at 5am again for the 5 hour trip! I'm heading out tonight to try the local brew called 'posh'. I have no idea what it is but I know it's a local liquor!

Well didn't get to try the posh but wound up having an awesome night. I walked down the zocalo at about 7pm and found an ATM, there was a line and then I heard someone say "no wuckin furries mate". I asked the three girls "are you Aussie?" and they all started laughing. 2 aussies and a kiwi! They said they were going for a wine and we might catch up later. Anyway, I found a locals credit card they had left in the ATM and stood on the street wondering what to do. I decided against giving it to the police officer *possibly corrupt* and when I turned around the girls had come back to ask me to come drink with them! I flicked the credit card through the bank door so someone will find it tomorrow and followed the girls to a tapas bar. This place was one of a kind. We ordered wine from a massive list and for every drink you have they bring you out some free tapas! My fave the broccoli and cream cheese on toast. We got a table inside because it was packed and I ran into old mate Dutch chick from the hostel in Oaxaca. Well I had to warn the girls about this one. She doesn't shut up and every story is about herself. So we bailed to a table outside where the girls ran into a few of their friends and a couple of locals and the night began! After many wines we went to a mezcal bar down a side street and hooked into a bottle with some salty worms and Chilli crickets! What a great night! Hoping to catch up with the cairns chicks in palenque or tulum at some stage. It's funny where life takes you when travelling solo, I truly love it. Hitting the sack now and all is quiet at the hostel at 12.43am but I had to laugh because someone just let rip the loudest fart which echoed through the entire place! On that note, alarm set for 5am to head to palenque tomorrow. Good night amigos!

Oaxaca, mexico

beebatoz — Tue, 9 Oct 2012 15:07:00 GMT

Oaxaca

So I left the shitty most boring hostel in the world in Puebla after no sleep due to 'call me maybe' amongst other treasures being played on loop until 2am. Got a cab to the bus station stood in a long line to get my ticket only to be told only cash! Anyway cash in Hand now I got a $30 ticket for the 4 hour trip to Oaxaca. Had a quick churro fix before I left and this one she squirted the chocolate into it.......the best! 2 hours into the bus ride and I can see the landscape change. No more cities and billboards but cactus and mountains as far as the eye can see. It's beautiful. I was obsessed with cactus when I was little so I'm in heaven. I even saw a legit couple of Mexicans in ponchos and sombreros herding goats with their donkey! So I'm sitting back in my giant comfy chair in the last row, ive been picking this seat because it seems no one sits up the back so you get the whole area to yourself. Now I know why. A guy just dropped the smelliest shit I have ever has the displeasure of inhaling. The aroma was so thick I thought I was going to die. I swear he must have had a Mexican buffet for breakfast heavy on the frijoles.........fark me! Note to self, sit away from the dunnies on a long distance bus. Got into town after the stink bus ride was over and caught a cab into the centre and found my hostel. Nice and clean but has the no flushing the dunny paper policy..........not bloody likely! Walked into the zocalo where it was party central with music, dancing, balloons, colour, just gorgeous. Yet another beautiful city, the streets leave me speechless. One thing I've noticed about Mexico is they are huge fans of public displays of affection and I say good on them! Ate some awesome thing that looked like a quesadilla but had pork, beef and chicken and coriander, delish. Went for a wander up to plaza santo Domingo where it looked like all the well healed locsls were having a shin dig. Ball gowns galore straight from a 90's ep of bold and the beautiful! Walked past 2 cantinas which were pumping but have opted for a couple of cocktails in a bar with some live music seeming I'm flying solo. They give you these awesome peanuts with chilli and fresh lime. Another thing I've noticed is that street sellers just ask once and then leave you alone. They should give lessons on this in Bali! Mexicans are very happy people and love to socialise but do it with their entire family and don't seem to disgrace themselves like some other countries do. It's nice. My lovely waiter just asked me if I was from Australia and if I know any koalas or good swimmers, bahahahaha! I also asked him if the 'hielo' or ice is ok to drink, his reply "you can drink all the ice as big as the mountains and you will be fine"! Ive managed to avoid montezumas revenge so far, so we will see. I'm now being entertained by a mariachi version of 'Africa' by toto! I pinch myself everyday that I'm actually seeing the places ive dreamed of seeing my entire life and count myself very lucky. Ok so there's a stack of mariachi and other entertainers who perform out the front of the restaurants and they are great but bad form by some young farkers playing shitty music. I had just sat down and the feral out of towner came through and asked for money for the music. I literally had 1 peso in change so I apologized and gave that to them. The little farker came back and said "I don't mean to be rude but here is your peso back it's not enough for 4 of us". Well my response was you are being rude and how about you get a real job and stop taking money from the local musos. Fark off feral. Really put a downer on a great night.........there's always one. Just to spite them I'm giving this current mariachi band a motza!

Day 2

Had the dorm to myself again because my slightly strange 50 yr old roomie didn't get home last night. Dirty stop out swaggered in at about 11am doing the walk of shame! I walked through the markets today to find the shuttle to the monte alban ruins. Found it next to a coffin shop and a video arcade called 'vagolandia'.........where else would it be?! Took the dodgy bus up the mountain to the nicest ruin site I've seen so far. Beautiful green lawns overlooking the mountains and valleys. How the hell did those Mayan farkers get up and down those pyramids all day? Well worth it though. U watched as the tourists got charged 60 pesos to get in and the Mexicans walking through for free, I guess it belongs to them so why not! I'm trying to get a charter flight to a coastal town in Oaxaca called Huatulco with the hope of avoiding the dreaded night bus to San cristobal. Not only is it a spew worthy journey but a couple of Dutch girls just told me they are doing it tonight but did hear there have been rapes as well. Well that put the nail in the coffin really. Aerotucan aren't open Sunday's to book the bloody flight though, so the travel agent is trying for me now. Fingers crossed or its rape bus!

Went back to the hostel and met my new roommate eske from Belgium, we got along straight away so decided to go out for dinner, Anna tagged along too. This was a bonus because she was kind of local she took us to a place to eat typical Mexican food which was delicious. My fave a potato and chorizo number and the rice milk drink. We then walked around looking for a bar and we ended up in the zocalo again at a little mezcal bar. I can honestly say without a shadow of a doubt that I have tried every kind ever made! We also had to drink it with dried crickets and salty dry worm powder which is pretty tasty actually. Anna also taught us the way to tell a good mezcal or tequila from bad. Rub some between your fingers and wait for a minute, if it smells the same as it did before you rubbed it then it's good. There was someone having a birthday on a table nearby and the waiter brought out the cake. No shit, there was fire crackers going off all over it and not small ones! We got back to the hostel just before midnight and hit the sack only to be introduced to Anna's snoring. Now words will not be able to describe the sound of this. Think male elephant crossed with walrus with asthma. Fark me! At about 2am I hear elske say "Belinda, is it like this every nigt? can you sleep?" I just laughed.

Day 3

I bolted down to the travel agent at 8am and bought a plane ticket to tuxla near San cristobal. In my eyes paying a few extra bucks to avoid sitting on a bus winding through mountains for 11 hours is WELL worth it. So I'm set for tomorrow flying out of Oaxaca via Mexico city and should be in tuxla by lunchtime. Elske and I took a tour at 10am to see the petrified stone waterfall, the ruins at Mita and a textile display as well as yet another mezcal tasting! We saw exactly how much work goes into those beautifully colorful Mexican rugs and things. The ruins at Mita are actually quite good, in a place called the village of the dead. You can actually climb into 2 tombs that were discovered by an archeologist. One was for the kings the other for the priests but farked if I was going in there with my claustrophobia! I got eske to take my camera in for a snap. We went to the mineral springs high up in the mountains and it was spectacular. There are green hills and mountains as far as the eye can see with cactus and other wild vegetation and then there's this natural spring overlooking it all like natures infinity pool. I don't think the photos will give it justice. We then hit a restaurant for an overpriced buffet. Elske didn't partake being on a strict backpacker budget so I nabbed some tacos and stashed them in my sunglasses case for her to munch on the bus! At he mezcal factory we saw how it was made and it's a pretty cool old school method. I got distracted by about 6 little puppies that looked like Labradors. I gave the one that looked sad a biscuit.........I call him biscuit! Tasted all the mezcal again and bought a peanut flavored one to swig tonight. It will be an early one for me with a 6am start so I'll be writing again when I get to San cristobal tomorrow. Adios!