Just me, my backpack and I

GOODBYE UTILA!!!

jahne — Tue, 23 Jul 2013 11:36:00 GMT

So I'm on a ferry now (known as the vomit comet), leaving the paradise of Utila early for a 40 hour marathon of ferries, taxis, 4 aeroplanes, and a two hour car ride to get home to my family in preparation for my grandfather's funeral. I didn't know this is what I would choose to do and as much as I hate to be leaving I feel like it's a choice I had to make for my family. I feel like my mum needs me. (What? Mummies girl? Me? No...)

Utila has been a crazy whirlwind experience and an introduction to a totally different way of life. It's an island that for the most part, time forgot. Technology is quite far behind, presumably due to the economy and high levels of poverty. Most phones are prehistoric by Western standards, few locals have computers and while you can get wifi, I thinks it is mostly restricted to houses or businesses inhabited by foreigners and tourists.

For transport, chances are if you don't just walk, you ride a bike (most likely one that has obviously seen many owners and is now about to fall apart or disintegrate into a pile of rust). You also see various modifications to bicycles, to allow for the owner to carry items for sale or delivery (think a ute equivalent for a bike), some of them look really weird but they do the job. Next step up is a scooter or small motorbike, then a four wheeler (quad bike) often piled up with whole families or groups of friends. I always feel like any second one will fall off and get squashed but luckily never witnessed that. Then you get your golf buggies, some of which are so pimped out they're like a sports/all terrain equivalent with massive, deep tread tires. You can also get one of the many three wheeler tuk tuks, that really should only fit about 3 people but squish in as many as seven. I should mention too it’s very common for dogs to jump on the motorbike/quad/tuk tuk/golf buggy or whatever other vehicle with their owners, they’ll stand or sit there, precariously balancing as the owner zooms along the streets, zigzagging between the other vehicles. I only ever saw one actual car on the island. It looked REALLY out of place amongst the other vehicles, it was a new, big, white fancy looking thing (no I don't know what it was) and made me think it must have been a local drug dealer driving around in it. The other vehicles are generally utes and trucks carrying around goods for the island. They are usually so old and dilapidated they look like they've been pulled out of the ocean after 10 years and somehow made to drive again, broken windows and all.

The houses are mostly quite old with a handful of more expensive mansions for the rich folk. Lots of people have guard dogs barking behind the fences (mostly pit bulls if you're curious) but there are also dogs wandering the streets all the time. A lot of them have owners but roam around exploring and trying to get food from tourists and locals. A lot of the dogs including those with owners are fairly underfed so lots of visitors take pity on them, seeing the ribs, limping and other injuries and feed them with whatever they can.

You see all kinds of interesting animals crossing the roads too. 'Gutter crabs' live, unsurprisingly, in the gutters by the roads, and make their way across the roads slowly, hoping not to get hid. Alas, many do, so now I have a real understanding of the term 'face like a smashed crab'. Can't say the smell is great either. You also see various lizards crossing, from little geckos and skinks right up to big iguanas. There are chickens breeding by the roads at various points, so they often cross with their babies or rooster boyfriends who are more than happy to wake me up at ridiculous hours. You see many cats and dogs of course and lots of locals and tourists in the mix, and at one point I even had someone’s pet monkey come and jump on me, all fighting for a piece of road.

The main part of town flows down one street, housing most of the dive shops, restaurants, bars and comadors (small, family run restaurants), a handful of retail stores and supermarkets. There are two beaches, one at each end of the island, neither of which would really class as a beach in Australia. The public one has little sand or space, very shallow water and is next to a road. Each week there are two parties held at a bar there though, and people get into the 'beach' spirit (as well as other spirits) and decide it's a good idea to go for a dip, quite often naked in the well illuminated water across the road. At the other end of the island is a private beach you pay $3 entry to. It's nicer, but ultimately more like a lagoon, no surf, minimal sand and shallow water. There are other beaches on the northern side of the island but apart from being far from where tourists stay, they currents wash a LOT of rubbish onto that side of the island, originally from islands like Jamaica. I actually helped on two beach clean ups there, finding all kinds of things but mostly LOTS of bottles, bottle caps, random shoes, plastic cutlery, tooth brushes, foam and broken up bits of plastic. Despite us managing to remove about 100 bags of rubbish over the time unfortunately we hardly made a dent. Especially sad because three kinds of endangered turtles nest there.

The supermarkets have an odd assortment of common items but loads of things are very hard to find and are very expensive. Milk is only long life or this gross powdered fake milk stuff. Eggs are generally bought individually and really fresh fruit and veg is only available on 2 days when it arrives via ferry from the mainland. Lots of things are really hard (or impossible) to find, random stuff like bobby pins for girls hair, beauty products are almost obsolete (though it's possibly because the heat means any makeup or whatever runs of your face in minutes) and if you think for a second you'll get health foods like Quinoa you'd be sadly disappointed. Food options beyond the basics are veeeery limited. Shops for clothes have very limited options too, either very odd fashions or imported stuff that costs easily as much as in Australia.

The main food people eat for a quick meal is called a Baleada, essentially a wheat tortilla with beans, cheese, salad and choice of eggs, meats and avocado. You can even get a lobster and avocado one for about $2.50. Otherwise, breakfast dishes are similar to those in other parts of central america, usually focusing on tortillas, eggs, beans, cheese and cream. Personally I've also been eating a lot of mangoes. At about 60 cents each I can't pass them up. There are various nicer restaurants around too, but even there the most expensive item on a menu is still not usually more than about $12.

It's such a small island that within two weeks you know heaps of people and run into someone you know every few metres. It’s also absolutely bizarre how many people you run into on Utila that you’ve met in other countries, it’s like a big melting pot where everyone comes back together. Diving is of course the main focus of the island. There are 12 competing dive shops and all conversations revolve around diving, what you've seen lately and which course you're doing. A tradition in Utila when you finish your dive master course is to do a 'snorkel test'. This basically involves wearing a diving mask full of beer while drinking alcohol forcibly through a snorkel that has been turned into a beer bong. Once you've cleared the mask you can officially be inaugurated as a DiveMaster. While I'm disappointed to be leaving, I was NOT looking forward to that part where they pour a horrible mix of drinks including beer, rum, chilli, eggs and other revolting or alcoholic additions down my gullet. Needless to say there is usually a lot of mess and vomit involved, so that's one thing I'm happy to be skipping.

Aside from diving (and swimming/snorkelling) the only real thing to do is party, which people do a lot of. Most people frequenting different bars according to the special that day, eg Tequila Tuesdays at Tranquila bar where you can get Tequila shots for about 50 cents. Dangerous. Some bars have other shots as little as 25 cents, but they're usually very dangerous for the head the following morning. Along with the copious amounts of alcohol, people are smoking pot ALL the time, they smoke openly and at all hours. Yes, some people even do it before diving. On many nights out and in various states of inebriation, a lot of people jump off the 8 metre high dock at Tranquila bar. Afterwards, they return to the main bar, dripping wet, possibly in wet clothes or underwear, but nude has happened on more than one occasion. Problem with jumping being that if you don't have someone who can pull you back onto the lower dock, chances are you have to do a big walk around to the entry of the bar through the crowds of people to get back to where you left your clothes. Very funny.

You also get to know (or at least recognise) the local crazies, like the guy with half an arm missing who wears dirty clothes all the time and rants at you, mostly with a big grin on his face and no particular language he's speaking. Then there is Web, an abrasive and questionable local who knows everyone and acts like he owns the island. He almost always walks around shirtless, but usually with his t shirt wrapped around his head like a bandana. He's older, maybe 55 and when he sees tourists in a bar he yells out a toast to them and growls "Welcome to hell" He's so well known in fact that Skid Row bar who offers a drinking challenge (4 shots of a herbal infused moonshine called Giffidy, followed by spinning and running around a pool table to win a free t-shirt) has made a shirt in his likeness, along with his 'Welcome to hell' slogan.

While Utila isn’t somewhere I could see myself living long-term, it’s certainly somewhere I could spend more time and is a long way from the hell Web sees. I sincerely hope I can return one day to complete my Dive Master course, hopefully not too far down the track. Either way I will remember Utila as a crazy island with incredible diving, great partying, and most importantly, lots of fun and amazing people, many of whom I will miss, but not forget.

Breaking World Records. No biggie.

jahne — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 09:27:00 GMT

The day started as any other, a loud annoying beep signalling time to get up, begrudgingly climbing out of bed, still groggy from an already forgotten dream. And then you remember the reason for your alarm... This morning you're off to break a world record. No biggie.

You wander to the shops, mask, snorkel and socks (to prevent fin blisters) in hand and get some breakfast to eat as you walk. You join the throng of excited divers making their way to Underwater Vision, all eager to participate in the world record breaking attempt. When you arrive you are surrounded by friends, you get your gear ready, BCD, Regulator, weight belt -slightly over-weighted to assist in the challenge, fins and mask and prepare everything on the boat.

There is a lot of waiting around, as the logistics are prepared and the formation is arranged in a dry run on land. Colours are allocated for the different levels and finally three boats of divers embark for Moonhole. At the dive site divers are instructed when to enter the water according to their colours and before long over 70 divers including photographers and witnesses are in the water together. Sixty-one of the divers are stacked up precariously on top of one another, in what is now officially the World's Biggest Underwater Human Pyramid!

A buzzer signals the start of the 30 second period the completed pyramid needs to be held to break the record and divers hold on for dear life, terrified they will be the one who makes the whole formation come toppling down. After an agonising wait another buzzer signals, photos are taken and still the 61 divers try not to move until finally they are signalled that the challenge is complete!

Backflips, somersaults, high fives, bubble rings and general underwater celebrations ensue. Before long the divers gradually exit the water and return to the boats, excitement buzzing as they return to the dive shop. A quick debrief and it's done, it's not even midday and this morning you've already broken a world record. No biggie.

Entering the underwater world of Utila!!!

jahne — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 08:53:00 GMT

CRIB NOTES!!

After Xela I had a few days of travelling with a stop of in Copan to visit the most famous ruins in Honduras, before making my way to Utila.

Having arrived in Utila I started the Advanced Open Water PADI course and caught the scuba diving bug... keeping me here far longer than intended and meaning I'll miss out on a bunch of other countries. But that's all good because I'm having fun : )

AND THE LONG VERSION...

After about a month in the beautiful Quetzaltenango it was really hard to leave for 3 days on buses, but it was marginally helped by the idea of leaving cold pouring rain and heading for beautiful sunny beach weather. The first bus took me to Antigua where I spent about 5 hours in bed before getting up for a 4am shuttle. At this point I had the ‘pleasure’ of joining a couple on the shuttle who were complaining non-stop from before we even got on the bus. Made me glad I was travelling solo, but was horrified to discover the whingers were also from my home town of Sydney. Man they made us Aussie’s look bad! Apart from their constant bickering and wining, the bus was pretty easy and we got in to Copan around 10.30 in the morning, allowing plenty of time to find a hostel then explore the ruins.

When we got out of the bus the heat that assaulted me was crazy after so long in the cold weather, but a welcome change to be able to wear t-shirts and shorts again. I made my way to the ruins alone and explored yet another bunch of big, old mayan ruins. They are pretty incredible especially when you try to imagine what they would have been like at their prime, all painted and decorated elaborately. I’d love to be able to see what they would have been like. There were also a lot of beautiful big red Macaws in the trees around the ruins and lots of colourful trees and flowers. Very pretty place. On a different note, because I was there alone I had the luck of having the various lone male guides trying to follow me around and find out about whether I was travelling alone, how old I was and if I was married. So for the day I had a husband of 4 years who was meeting me the next day in Utila. Still didn’t make them leave me alone but helped marginally. I also explored the tunnels under Copan which weren’t original but are there for excavation purposes and allow you to see some of the remains of buildings that have been built over (some sites had 3 previous buildings underneath the visible one at the top). Was a little eerie and I felt very Indiana Jonesish exploring down there on my own in the dark tunnels.

After the ruins I made my way back to the town and chilled out, read a bit (am ashamed to say I started to read 50 shades of grey but left it behind when I left the hostel because it was getting a bit too weird for my liking) then had a pretty early night. Yet another early bus at 6am took me to San Pedro Sula, then another bus from there to La Ceiba meant a full day on buses and by the time I got there I was tired and hungry. Made the rookie error of eating before a ferry I later learned is known as the vomit comet. Whoops. Luckily I wasn’t too bad but there were LOTS of people vomiting, and one young Russian guy was laughing his head off and taking photos of his brother and wife who were both throwing up in plastic bags. If I was his wife I would have whacked that bag over his face.

On the boat I met a bunch of people who were also heading to Parrots, the dive shop I had been recommended. There were a guy and girl from America, The whingers (NOOOOOOOO) and Corie, a dive instructor who showed us to the shop along with the crazy Russians who turned out to be in the Moscow circus. Pretty quickly we got things sorted and I signed up to do my Advanced Open Water Dive Course. The first night here there was a big dinner with everyone from the dive shop which proved a very interesting bunch of people from all over the world. There was the scottish guy with red dreadlocks who was trying to convince us that life would be better as a professional homeless person, the whingers, various germans, a heap of Americans and people from all sorts of other countries spread across the restaurant. After some very odd conversations, mostly involving the dreadlocked Scotsman, I bailed back to the hostel for my first night in Utila. The room had 2 double bunk beds and 3 fans, but still felt like sleeping in a sauna. So I had a very hot, sweaty night which I have come to learn is the norm for everyone in Utila.

Day 2 in Utila was basically chilling on the beach (which alas is a bit of a fail of a beach, minimal sand right by a road and very shallow water with no waves) and finishing my book (Boomsday - by the dude who wrote thank you for smoking - very good very funny book). Alas unbeknownst to me I was also getting eaten alive by sand flies at the time, but thankfully I didn’t get burnt on top of that. The night was spent doing more reading, but this time to get started on the theory for the Advanced Open Water course, which I started first thing the next morning.

I quickly learned that Advanced Open Water is a lot more fun than the general Open Water course. Not only is the theory not as dry but the activities are way more fun and I started to really develop the bug for Scuba. I also had a great group doing the course with me, particularly a really lovely Aussie couple (who live a few suburbs away from me) Lizzie and John. There were also a lot of dives with English friends Emily and Danny and Swedish Anna.

After a few days in Utila my old friend Damian from Quetzaltenango joined me as well and ended up in the same dorm as me so a big group of friends started to develop. This ensued with lots of late nights and drinks in the bars intertwined with days in the sun enjoying the beautiful views, swimming and diving and exploring the underwater world.

I’ve decided that for me, scuba diving is kinda like you’re flying through a beautiful garden on a foreign planet. There are so many amazing plants, coral formations and rock formations, not to mention zillions of different types of fish of all sizes, shapes and colours. Some of them are beautiful, many are really really funny looking, a lot are really dopey, some poo all the time (parrot fish particularly), some are territorial, some are curious, some try to swim up your shorts, some try to nibble on your wetsuit... the list goes on. I’ve now seen a turtle, loads of eagle rays, moray eels, stingrays, lobsters, an octopus, heaps of jellyfish, millions of different types of fish, and some absolutely stunning underwater gardens and reefs.

I also ended up doing a nude dive, that’s right, totally nude. It’s a tradition for divers to go naked on any of the hundreds, and our dive master had her 300th dive so we all went in naked in solidarity! Not something I thought I’d ever do but lots of fun. Tell you what, there’s no room for modesty in a naked scuba dive.

We’ve had lots of parties here, generally involving food, beer and rum, we’ve had many a lunch, heaps of local food ‘baleadas’ in particular, and many many dives.

After finishing my Advanced Open Water course, I decide to stick around and do the Emergency First Response course (basically first aid and CPR) and the Rescue Diver course. Another very fun and challenging experience, that means I am now qualified to assist divers who are having issues in the water. One of the toughest parts is when you go on a ‘dive from hell’ where essentially the instructors and dive masters do every possible thing wrong on a dive to really really challenge you, but all a good experience.

After that I ended up working my way through a heap of fun dives to build up how many I have so that I could start up doing a Dive Master course. You have to have done at least 40 dives before you can start and I’ve just past that so will now be moving on to that.

The last few days have had a few dampeners, including my iPhone getting stolen and a few issues at home, but overall things are good. I just moved into a house with two great guys, Steve and Rasmus and have room to myself for the first time in ages... I can lounge around in loads of space and have the luxury of borrowing my housemates computer right now.

At the moment the Utila Dive Festival is on too, starting off with a huge party, and with all sorts of different diving events on. I’ll be Lionfish hunting with spears in the morning, did a Sunrise dive (really really early!!!) yesterday and have other stuff later in the week too. This morning though, I participated in what will probably be one of the most exciting dives - an attempt to break the official world record for the world’s biggest underwater pyramid! We had 61 people in total, with the previous record being 45, and managed to smash it without anyone falling, a mean feat because I was on the 6th of 8 levels and it was REALLY REALLY wobbly up there! It should make it to a certain book all going well but we’re not allowed to use the name until all is officially approved....

In the meantime I’ve got to head off and study! Sorry for the delay in writing, hope all is well at home, and I’m finally starting to miss the land of Oz!

Ciao for now! xo

More Adventures in Xela....

jahne — Mon, 27 May 2013 06:55:00 GMT

So I’ve now ended up stranded in yet another town for much longer than planned, I’ve been in Xela for pretty well a month now, learning spanish, suffering from a horrid cold from the dramatically changing weather and with a mildly sprained ankle. All fun and games though. A few different things that have been filling the time (other than studying and sleeping lots to try to kick this stupid cold) are below....

SALSA AND BARS

One common pastime in Latin America is of course Salsa dancing. In Xela a lot of people visit the club ‘La Parranda’ on a Wednesday and shake their booties until the wee hours. It can be pretty amazing seeing how well some of these people can dance, and a bit of a rude shock to see how closely they’ll dance with you too, as one of my friends says after a dance “I feel like I need a hot shower and a morning after pill”. The boys get pretty damn close and you feel a whole lot you’d rather not... getting to the point where you have to make a quick dash and escape to hide behind your friends. Or at least that’s what I’ve done more than once. Fun though. After 1 most nights the only bar that is open is a crazy gay bar too, where it’s a bit like going to a house party, but with a whole lot of transvestites running the show. Loud music, drinking and dancing until 4 is the norm there and it’s a lot of fun. Another thing you notice at the bars (and generally out and about) is that for what is theoretically a conservative society, the level of PDAs is really really bizarre. The young couples sit in the parks, stand in the streets, dance in the bars etc and are all over each other, apparently because it’s not allowed at home, so they all do it out in public. Really quite interesting and in a way kinda sweet if you don’t factor in the ridiculous level of teenage pregnancies and illegal abortions.

HOT SPRINGS

I also went along one day to visit Fuentes Georginas - basically a series of pools that are filled by natural hot springs. The setting is beautiful, way up high in the hills and generally every afternoon it’s covered in a cloud of mist because of the high altitude so it has an almost ethereal quality, and the pools have a lot of jungle trees and rocks around them so it’s all really beautiful. The water is heated by the nearby volcano and one of the pools (which is pretty huge, like a big natural swimming pool) is so hot you have to get in an inch at a time like in a boiling bath. After being in there for a while I felt like I was cooking so got in the FREEZING shower and basically started a pattern of boiling then freezing myself for the afternoon. Lots of fun and very different to going for a swim at the beach. You could hardly even move in this pool without feeling like you were scalding your limbs.

SCHOOL VISIT

One afternoon here after school I went along with one of my friend’s here to his work. Damian is another Aussie (from Melbourne) who works as a primary school teacher at home and here is kindly offering his time and teaching for free at one of the local public schools. Here the way the public schools work is really weird. Firstly, the kids either have class in the morning or in the afternoon, so there are two groups of classes. The morning classes run from 7am - 1pm and the afternoon 1pm-5pm. Almost all of the kids work when they are not at school, whether on the family farm, in the house, in the family shop or whatever, from when they are really small. Most of the girls have classes in the morning while the boys are at work with the family and the boys have classes in the afternoon.

So anyway, I went along with Damian and visited 2 of his classes with him. One was only boys, aged 11 & 12. It’s pretty funny to see how many things are similar despite the massive divide in cultures... The ‘fat boy’ in the class was clearly being teased and had to stand up to himself against the obvious ‘head honchos’ in the class... The naughty kids talked and showed off while the good students tried to get approval from the teacher. The second class was younger students including a few girls. The boys there made sure to ask me “Que significa fug yoo en inglés?” (What does fuck you mean in English) and also “Que significa shit en inglés?” Some things just don’t change. What was sad though was the obvious lack of education, lack of opportunity and lack of discipline. Having said that Damian was very good with them and assured me they were usually well behaved but having the random unknown, foreign woman in the class had them all a bit rowdy.

NEXT STOP...

Anyway, that’s just a few of the things that have been filling my time, Xela has treated me very well (bar illness and injuries anyway) and it’s been a great place to get to know the culture of Guatemala. I’ve made some great friends here too who I will hopefully get to do some more of my travelling with and who I’m sure I’ll stay in touch with over time.

Next stop are the Copan Ruins in Honduras, before the magical island of Utila for some more scuba diving and some much needed sun, Xela being a cold high altitude town has stolen my tan and I need to get it back! Before that though I have another trip to see the football tonight and more Xelaju! Wahoo!!!

Hope you’re all well and happy!

Jahne ox

Xelaju Super Chivos!!!

jahne — Tue, 14 May 2013 09:16:00 GMT

XELAWHO - SUPER CHIVOS!!!

AKA - post about a futbol juego (soccer game)

So those of you who know me would probably know I’m not exactly the biggest of sporting fans. Not really one to go to the football every weekend (or really any weekend generally) and don’t ever remember the rules of the different codes of football etc. HOWEVER in Guatemala they are massively into futbol (soccer) and it’s a big social occasion to go along to one of the games. I thought it would be fun but really had NO idea what I was getting in to.

I arrived at the game with a bunch of friends from my spanish school. Before even getting in we found out that all the mothers didn’t have to pay because it was mother’s day weekend (dia de mama), and that with entry you got four packets of savoury biscuits. Weird. We sat down in an area near the food and drink stands. Not long after sitting down, to my left, a bunch of guys stood up, trumpets and other brass band instruments in hand and started playing music. I thought this was a one off novelty. How wrong I was. The guys were playing, along with drums and at least a hundred fans singing and chanting, including very specific hand gestures and fireworks for nearly the entire game. Before it had even started, the fans were singing various songs for at least 20 minutes, throwing confetti-esque bits of chopped up paper in the air, setting off smoke bombs in red white and blue (the team colours), setting off fireworks, dancing around and chanting. It was hilarious, totally mental, exciting, fun and not like anything I've ever seen before.

During the actual game, what the fans were singing was all timed in accordance with the play. ie - if the local team the Super Chivos had a free kick or something it was all positive and encouraging and when the other team did it was lots of swearing and insults (no idea what they were saying other than lots of repetition of the word punta which means whore) . I did try to find the words for the songs etc online, but alas it seems rather hard to find the songs they use - most likely because it’s primarily swearing and all very crude. Essentially though they sing out things to the extent of the below:

You’re a donkey’s ass

Your mother had sex with me and everyone else here.

you’re gay

you’re shit

you’re all whores

you have sex with your mum

you have sex with (various) animals...

etc.

You get the drift, but it’s much more entertaining when it’s in song and you have about 200 people chanting along with a full brass band.

Other random happenings included various levels of the stairs in the other end of the stadium catching fire at one point (unsurprisingly given the number of flares, fireworks etc and the bits of confetti paper all over the floor just waiting to catch fire), a fan being escorted off site for throwing something at the other team’s coach, many of the men climbing the fence and taking their shirts off to celebrate a goal and more.

If you’re curious what food is available, there are vendors walking around for the whole game carrying various bits and pieces. For drinks you can buy cans of soft drink, but they won’t let you take it in the can (in case you throw it at the team - which the people here TOTALLY would do) instead, they pour the drink into a plastic bag and you drink it out of that with a straw. So weird. Other than the bags of soft drink you can buy beer. And you can only buy it in cups of ONE LITRE for 5 Quetzales or about 60 cents. Luckily for my liver I still really don’t like beer. As far as food goes there are people selling Dominoes pizza slices, nachos, tacos, peanuts (with lime and chilli), fried chicken, some gross hot pineapple drink, plates of tortillas with beans meat and onion, chicklets (chewing gum)... I’m sure there’s more but I can’t remember right now.

Anyway, I’m sure you’re wondering if Xelaju Super Chivos won... Yay!! they did!! 3-0

And weirdly, I would DEFINITELY go again if there was another game before I leave (but there won’t be). SO MUCH FUN!!!!!

Quetzaltenango, the crazy city in the hills!

jahne — Mon, 13 May 2013 04:30:00 GMT

CRIB NOTES!

San Marcos was hippyville - think yoga, meditation, drugs, dreads and ´spiritual enlightenment´.

Next stop Quetzaltenango (Xela), a big town in the mountains.

Volcano climb to watch another volcano erupt, with a local dog joining us for the trek.

Spanish study! Learning lots, loving it and finding it challenging and rewarding!

Partying! lots of partying with students, lots of fun and late nights.

Crazy, frequent use of fireworks. ALL THE TIME. DAY AND NIGHT. FOR ANY OCCASION.

San Marcos

So Erin, Sam and I got the little boat off to San Marcos to do a bit of exploring, having heard it was a really nice little town. Not sure I agree but it´s certainly a strange place. There a zillions of hippies who have moved in and turned the place into a large centre of meditation, yoga, spiritual readings including tarot etc as well as the ever present smell of marijuana. Think loads of people with rasta dreads, lots of piercings, minimal personal hygiene and no shoes. Okay, not QUITE that bad, but it certainly is a very hippy town. Instead of the usual chanting of someone trying to sell you food by the road you'll hear “tacos? tortillas? biscuits? space cakes?”.

There aren't many options of things to do there if you don't want to get in on the yoga, meditation, spiritual healing etc, so basically we wandered around there for a while, ran into a few people we'd met along the way who had been sucked into the hippy lifestyle then got the boat back to San Pedro.

A last night in the bar included running into a guy I'd met in San Cristobal playing in Buddha Bar, one of the local bars, more drinks than I should have had, and yet more farewells to some fabulous new friends before Erin, Sam and I had to get up early for a shuttle to Quetzaltenango, known by all the locals as Xela (pronounced Shailla).

We discovered our shuttle had been overbooked in the morning and ended up having a private car drive us to Xela. A small piece of luxury when you're used to being packed into a tiny mini-bus with 16 other people on small uncomfortable chairs for a few hours on bumpy, windy roads with no suspension.

On arrival in Xela we found a place to stay - Hostal Don Diego, and went off to find food. Xela is a reasonably big city, second biggest in Guatemala, but quite spread out so it doesn't seem too busy. It has a lot of beautiful colonial buildings, especially in Parque Central and bumpy, broken up cobblestone streets. You have to watch where you're walking ALL the time to stop from falling into a pothole, or worse a metre deep hole that would be an O H & S nightmare in Australia. There is a good atmosphere, friendly people and as with everywhere else in Latin America, stray dogs (or Choo Choos) everywhere. A lot of them trot around happily wagging their tails and most aren't as thin as I've come to expect. A lot of the women here wear traditional dress, which includes elaborate long embroidered skirts, embroidered tops and a scarf kind of thing draped over the shoulder (possibly also a scarf kind of intertwined in the hair too). The outfits are all VERY colourful and quite beautiful. It can be really funny sometimes the contrast in what they're wearing because they might have the full traditional dress then a baseball cap and sneakers, or a sparkly spandex top to go with the skirt. Little things like that are what I find really interesting when wandering around watching the people and goings on in a different country. In Xela it´s also worth mentioning the climate. It's about 2500m elevation here in the hills. In the morning, it's usually freezing, lunch time hot and sunny, afternoon cold and raining and freezing at night. I've had a cold for a week because my body is so confused about what the weather is doing (okay and I keep going out late too....).

So anyway, on our second day in Xela, we got up early to do a climb to the Mirador on Santa Maria volcano to see the neighbouring volcano - Santiaguito - erupt. Our guide picked us up and when we got to the base of Santa Maria, we were greeted by an awesome dog named Pinto, a female blue heeler/kelpie looking dog who then joined us for the walk to the Mirador. I loved Pinto. She was 6 years old and EVERY day met up with whichever group was first to make the walk up to the lookout. The walk was reasonably steep but not too bad and took about 1.5 hours to make it to the lookout. As we made ourselves some food up there (tortillas with avocado and chilli sauce - so good, thanks Sam & Erin!!) we heard a deep rumble (that I think was like dinosaurs moaning - because of course I know what they sound like) and the volcano started to emit a massive cloud of ash and smoke. It was pretty incredible watching the cloud grow and apparently we got quite a good eruption. We waited after that and got another one that I thought was like the volcano was just burping, then got another good one later by which time we had been joined by a group of about 20 people including armed guards. After that we made our way back down the volcano having been abandoned by Pinto for other tourists who had more food to offer her than we did.

I did some investigations about good Spanish schools in Xela after that and found just down the road a school called Celas Maya, one of the most highly recommended schools in Guatemala and decided that when Erin and Sam moved on I was going to stay and study.

SPANISH SCHOOL!!!

I’ve been studying for about a week and a half now, learning a lot and finding it really exciting to learn a new language. It´s amazingly hard but so exciting when things start to click in and you start to understand what people are saying. There are a lot of great students here, many who are american doctors and need Spanish for their many latin american patients and various other foreigners who are studying for different reasons. I’ve been staying in a homestay, having my meals with the family (though mine is a bit different because it´s a bit more like a bed and breakfast so I haven’t been integrated into the family like some people are) and also been embracing the student lifestyle and going out to various social occasions.

I went to some thermal baths, which was basically a swimming pool with lukewarm water sourced from the underground springs (pretty average but nice gardens around the pool).

I also visited Chichicastenango where the largest market in Central America is. It was pretty enormous, with stalls including almost anything you can imagine. Lots of clothes, jewellery, blankets, shoes, food and whatever else. One interesting thing here that I haven't mentioned, is that in Guatemala, they LOVE fireworks and firecrackers and use anything at all as an excuse to let them off. Weddings, funerals, birthdays, religious occasions, mother´s day, whatever, you hear them ALL the time. In the markets, there were little processions walking along where a tiny little old man who would have to be at least 70 would have an enormous drum on his back that someone else was beating, while some other guy carried a big elaborate offering for the gods and a little boy in front of them would put down a tube, light it and you would have an ENORMOUS incredibly loud explosion right beside you that sounded like you were being bombed and meant your stomach was sent off somewhere in the distance. It scared the CRAP out of me more than once. But here, it´s TOTALLY normal.

So believe it or not I hardly bought anything in the markets, but the guy who came with me bought loads, including a hat that acted like a beacon for the vendors who followed him around and wouldn't take no for an answer when they were trying to sell him something. It was really funny. In the food sections, not only are there loads of fruit and vegetable stores (with millions of flies all over everything) there are meat stands with all manner of revolting things for sale, all covered in flies as well for good measure. Yuck. No wonder you get sick here if this is where the stores get their meat!

Other social occasions of late have included a party at one of the local trekking companies (Quetzaltrekkers) where everyone added fancy dress clothes to their outfits from a massive pile on the floor, and I was also lucky enough to meet a pilot who may well be flying me to Utila! Ohh my own private flight!

On Friday it was mother’s day here and as mentioned before they use fireworks for EVERYTHING... A lot of the mothers had fireworks set off for them at any time after about 1 am. My teacher at school had fireworks for his mom that he set off at 5am in the morning, as well as a mariachi band that wandered into her room playing music. So weird but totally normal here. Personally I think my mum would kill me if I set off firecrackers for her at 5 in the morning and had a bunch of strange guys rock up in her room playing loud music.

Now one of the absolute highlights here of late was last night - The football. I’m going to do that as a separate post though so those of you who are interested can read it separately!

Yay! Chat soon!

Tulum to San Pedro and all in between...

jahne — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 05:38:00 GMT

CRIB NOTE VERSION

I stayed in Tulum longer, it was fun, relaxing and great people.

Next Bacalar. A reasonably dull lake. Yay.

Accidentally got stuck in Belize City (Uber dangerous place) for the night. Whoops. Met a very interesting Belizian guy.

Went to Flores and visited Tikal. Cool people along the way.

Next Lanquin and Semuc Champey. AMAZING cave tour and swim through pools. Epic bruises from landing badly from high jumps.

Antigua - markets, bars, food, catch up with Erin and Sam from Aus!

San Pedro for a trip up the Indian's Nose.

Next stop - Quetzaltenango!!!

The remainder of Tulum was fabulous but reasonably uneventful. i remained stuck in the sand for several more days, having met lots of great people. I didn't want to leave them or the beautiful days of relaxing on the beach with delicious and cheap cocktails and great conversation. I finally made the move to go after a few of the main stayers from my visit were also moving on. Some if them were heading on to Merida and while tempted to continue on with the crew I decided my time in Mexico was over.

I made the trip to the bus station with three friends, Joe, Sam and Gemma, had yet more sad farewells and jumped on the bus to Bacalar. I had heard the lake at Bacalar was beautiful but other than that didn't know much about the town, it worked to drop by though as it is en route to Guatamala near the border for Mexico/Belize. Now normally when you arrive in a new town at the bus station, there are people everywhere with tourist information who try to convince you to where to stay - so I hadn't booked anything and just headed there assuming Bacalar would be the same. I was the only passenger who got off at the stop which was on a stark highway with a few sparsely stocked shanty stores and no English speakers at all. I stood there with my bags like a shag on a rock trying to figure out what to do for a while and failing to get any information from the locals with my minimal Spanish and their non existent English. Luckily I remembered the name of the hostel I had been told about and

a taxi driver knew where it was to take me there. The room was packed with beds covered in mosquito net and no room for bags which had to be stored in lockers in a different area outside. The lake was pretty but when you go to swim you quickly discover it is about a metre deep so you can't do any real swimming. My night there was basically just sitting around chatting to people, reading and sleeping. In the morning Dennis who ran the hostel had offered to drive a few of the guests to Chetumal to catch buses, so we drove in and he took them off to one stop while I jumped in a cab to the shuttle from Chetumal to Flores. Except that's not where the driver took me. It seems me saying I needed the autobus station to get from Chetumal to Flores meant he was taking me to the Belize border. So at the Mexico side of the border I had to try to figure out what to do as the bus doesn't leave from there. I ended up with no option but to pay a driver to take me to the Corozal bus station in Belize as I couldn't re enter Mexico to go back to Chetumal where I was meant to get the bus in the first place. At the bus station I had just missed the last bus that would allow a connecting bus in Belize City to Flores, in other words it was likely I would not get to Guatamala that day. The driver I had tried to get me to pay him a fortune to catch the bus but as he was pretty dodgy anyway I got off there leaving a much needed bag of snacks behind. Damn. Oh well.

NICK's STORY

On the bus I was seated next to Nick - a Belizean man who gave me a different perspective on things. Wow he had an interesting life story. I got to know him over 24 hours and learned a lot about his family and got an insight into how life is in Belize City, I'll tell his story in a moment though for those of you who are interested.

While I was on the bus with Nick he asked about my travels and said he thought I was missing out by going straight through Belize and tried to convince me I should do at least one day in Belize. His little brother Jermaine was a tour guide so he called him to try to arrange for him to show me around when it looked like I was going to be stuck in Belize over night anyway. When we arrived in Belize city i was shocked to see how dirty and dilapidated the city was. My completely inaccurate and ignorant idea of Belize was that because it was a newer country and an expensive one that it would be more modern and clean. It was honestly a city that looked as though it had been abandoned 30 years earlier and had people return to live there without fixing ANYTHING up. Anyway, Nick showed me around a food market next to the station and got me a few different fruits to try that I hadn't been before while we waited for Jermaine to pick us up. I booked a bus for the next day and Nick, his brother and his sister in law drove me to a hotel where I could safely stay for the night.

NICK's STORY

He had grown up with quite a few siblings with various parents shared amongst them. Something that is VERY common in Belize as it seems noone uses contraception, maybe due to Catholocism being common but also possibly just due to lack of education. Nick himself was 32 and had 2 children to different mothers but hadn't been married. He was very smiley, friendly and had a kind face. When I asked what he did in Belize he told me he worked at the Casino in Corozal, but had left early that day as he had just gotten notification that his sister Shakira had died. He went on to explain that while it might seem odd that he was smiling under the circumstances, his family looked at death differently to most people. They had many family members die in the previous few years and decided that for the family to survive these things they had to look at it in a positive way, celebrate the person's life and move on. They had a rule that everyone had to wear colourful clothes for the funeral and the focus had to be on the FIVE children she had left behind. It turned out she had surviving children, had 3 that were either miscarried or still born and there were at least 4 different fathers. The three eldest were most likely going to end up living with Nick. He also had a promised responsibility to the three children of his best friend who had died as they had sworn to look after each others children if one passed away and unfortunately his best friend had died a few years earlier. While his friend's children didn't live with him he bought necessary items for them and essentially played a child support role. Nick had one of his son's living with him but the eldest who was about 4 lived with his ex's mother as she didn't want him. Nick was trying to fight for custody. He worked very long hours and joked about how he would have to work even more now with the responsibility of his sister's children on him.

An hour after dropping me off Nick came back to pick me up so we could drive 'circle' aka drive around the town so I could see more of Belize City. He turned up with his pseudo brother in law, both with beers in hand having been drinking for a while.

His sister had been in a relationship with a man who treated her children like his own. Together they had been trying to get full custody of the children but Shakira's death meant he was devastated not only about losing her but about what would happen to the children. He spoke about how he had intended to marry her but hadn't had the chance. It was heartbreaking seeing him try to grasp the fact that she was gone.So Nick, the brother in law and I drove around Belize city. They were drinking beers the whole time, no seat belts and driving the way they do everywhere in Central America - insanely. It turned out the 'circling' involved dropping in to various relatives houses to advise them of Shakira's death. It was a very very strange night and involved driving around the absolute slums of what is already a very dilapidated city. Dogs running around everywhere, buildings all falling apart yet inhabited, and a general feeling of unease. I ended up getting home reasonably early as I needed to be up for an early pickup to see a few of the sights with Jermaine and Nick. I got all of my bags and in the morning the three of us went to a 'Baboon Sanctuary' but turns out they call Howler Monkeys Baboons in Belize, so got to see some of those and feed one, then went off to the Belize zoo. It was okay but nothing major and when I finally got on a bus to Flores I was relieved to have survived the night in Belize City.

The bus to Flores was okay, only myself and a Canadian/American couple so lots of room to spread out. By the time we got there we were all roasting and checked in to a hostel (Los Amigos on the island) and went for a swim. After running into a few people I had met on the way and having dinner I had an early night to get up at 3am for a trip to the Tikal ruins.

A long drive and a trek through the dark jungle in the morning led us to a pretty disappointing sunrise - basically it was so cloudy that the morning just got lighter rather than actually seeing any colours, but hearing the jungle wake up was a really peaceful experience. After that we wandered around and got shown various animals including howler and spider monkeys, a tarantula, random red animals whose name i forget that look like a possum crossed with a raccoon and various birds. The Tikal ruins were some of the more impressive ruins I've seen. After a long tour we finally made it back to the hostel. I relaxed, had a swim and wandered around the town then that night met a really cool group of people. Cookie and Joey the Kiwis, Ali and Megan the Canadians, Lizzie and Becca the English girls and a few others I had met before. We ended up playing a bunch of drinking games and laughing a lot, and I booked in to join them at the Zephyr lodge in Lanquin the next day. Awesome decision because they have turned out to be a really great bunch of people who are a lot of fun and travelling my way. We also adopted a tiny kitten at Los Amigos who Megan named Doug, a tiny little thing who we fed and looked after and didn't want to leave behind.

The bus to Lanquin in the morning was a pretty easy ride, we had a lot of space and were able to stretch out again, but it was a LONG drive with lots of very fast very tight turns on the road. At one point Megan looked terrified at the speed and I thought she was about to vomit all over me. Luckily that didn't happen.

That night we had a huge night of partying at the lodge in the middle of the jungle, had a great time with lots of laughing, silly games, Moose, Inappropriate Yoga, Kings and more. So much fun and so much laughter.

SEMUC CHAMPEY

In the morning we all got up for the tour to Semuc Champey. Lizzie and I were at the front of the cattle bus having a ball on the way and by the time we arrived had already been laughing for ages. The tour was AMAZING. First we were flying into the lake off a massive swing, then jumping off a 12 metre bridge (resulting in some epic leg bruises for me), then we got taken for the cave tour. We all had candles to carry (including when swimming which is a mean feat), as we got shown around the caves. It included jumping off high rocks, sliding through tiny holes, climbing ropes up waterfalls, climbing ladders through small places, swimming and trying not to hit rocks and more. So much fun! After the cave tour we had a very steep climb to the Mirador (lookout point) where you get the view overlooking the pools of Semuc Champey. We sat there, sweat streaming down our faces, ate lunch, took photos then rushed down the hill so we could swim.

There the guide took us through the pools, showing us places you could jump off rocks, slide down natural waterslides, swim under caves and more. There were a few smaller jumps along the way, but the final 18 metre jump was one that only I took on. Crazy girl. Alas I didn't land very well so I got yet more bruises and a slightly sore ego but everyone in the group cheered me on. A drinking game that had previously involved a story that goes 'one frog, jumped in, the lake, plop' was then changed to 'one Aussie, jumped in, the river, smash'. Poor Aussie.

That night sore and sorry for myself there were yet more games, yet more drinking, lots of laughter and fun.

In the morning most people decided to chill at the lodge but Lizzie and I went tubing with some of the rest of the group Perfect way to spend the day when hungover, floating down a river in fresh water, cold water helping my sad legs and drinking beer (yes I know, weird for me but I did have one - I've been trying to like beer but one or two is still my limit).

After that there was another night of drinking, a theme with this group, and the next day a relaxing time of swimming in the river, lying around in the sun reading and chatting and a visit to the bat caves. The bat caves are pretty crazy, they smell terrible from the bat poo everywhere and are very slippery for the same reason, but you feel like Indiana Jones in there. Very cool exploring through them, then at 6 when they shut of the lights, hundreds of tiny bats fly straight past you to go out into the night. They are sooo fast though that i didn't get many photos.

That was our last night in Lanquin and in the morning we all got on a bus together to Antigua, an absolutely packed shuttle that was an incredibly uncomfortable ride.

When we arrived in Antigua I had to try to figure out where Erin and Sam my fabulous friends from Aus who are also travelling through Central America were going to be - we had figured out that Antigua and Guatamala was going to be as we would finally cross paths. They had said they were going to be staying at El Gato Negro (the Black Cat) so me and the crew went there and dumped our bags, finding Eda and Josh two more of Cookie and Joey's friends there as well. Erin and Sam had ended up elsewhere so we caught up the next day instead. That night was Becca's birthday so we met up with her again and had a few birthday drinks before I crashed out early. The next day we basically wandered around exploring Antigua. It is a really pretty colonial city, lots of cafes and restaurants and various bars, plus a big market but other than that not a lot to do. Ally, Megan and I did some shopping for cheap clothes to replace worn out travel ones then later finally met up with Erin and Sam. We had a great night out for the first time in a long time and danced the night away. The next day my crew moved on to San Pedro while I stayed with Erin and Sam for some downtime.

The three of us then made our way to San Pedro the next morning and I checked in to the same hostel as my crew, with Erin and Sam a few doors down. The town is not what we expected. We were told it was really amazing and beautiful but mostly it's kinda dirty and touristy though it is on a pretty lake with nice views of the surrounding mountains and volcanoes. Weeks of partying and early mornings etc finally caught up with me and the last few days I've been doing a LOT of sleeping. This morning though we did manage to get up at 3.15am for a trek up a mountain called the Indian's Nose. Basically because it looks like the profile of a Mayan Indian. The walk was short but steep and the view at the top was pretty great. Not a full sunset due to clouds but very pretty either way. There were a load of young very noisy Israeli's there who were quite annoying but then they gave us coffee and cake so we had to forgive them. After that was breakfast and more sleep and now soon we'll be off to explore San Marcos and Panajachel.

Sorry for the epic story again, it's a hazard of minimal internet access!

The Tulum Quicksand

jahne — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 02:21:00 GMT

Tulum

Crib note version: Stayed longer than intended, went diving, got my PADI licence and met some amazing people from all over the world...

So Tulum has ended up as yet another surprise on this crazy trip. Having been told it isn’t a great place to be and that it is too expensive and touristy, I’ve ended up here for almost 2 weeks. The first day I arrived early in the morning, made the walk to Hostel Sheck that had been recommended to me by some friends in San Cristobal. I checked out another place first and then decided on just going with Sheck. What I wasnät aware of that point is that everyone who stays at Sheck gets stuck. The place is like quicksand. Mike and Gabby who run the hostel make the place really accessible and you feel right at home. The room I’ve been staying in is a massive sectioned room for 22 people, most of the time though it hasn’t been too busy. When I first arrived I met some other girls who I joined for myfirst trip to see a cenote. The part that made it interesting was that one spoke a little bit of English and French, another no English, French and Spanish and the other one primarily French Spanish and a tiny bit of English. So I hardly understood most of the conversation for the day. Makes for quite an interesting interaction with people when you rely on a handful of words, facial expressions and mime.

So the cenotes here are essentially a maze of underground water caves that are interconnected underneath the town. They vary a lot but are absolutely amazing and one of the reasons people get stuck in Tulum. After a relaxing time swimming at the Crystal and Escondido Cenotes we got some food and Noemie the Belgian girl and I returned to the hostel. A few drinks with some guys I met at the hostel and I crashed out. In the morning I got up early to buy a snorkel, a staple accessory here, then visited the Tulum ruins, which were overrun with American tourists, and when on a boat for a snorkelling tour. I was promised turtles that didn’t arrive. the snorkel was still very cool, but one of my first lonely times on the trip, as I sat on the boat amidst a group on non-English speakers and realised how alone I am on this trip. Oh well. It was still amazing. After snorkelling at the ruins site I got a taxi to the Grand Cenote where I did get to swim with some turtles - Hooray!!! Back at the hostel I met Paolo, the dive instructor Mike always recommends to people who stay with him. This is where I got stuck. I got successfully convinced that if I did my PADI course in Tulum I’d have the unique chance to scuba dive in the cenotes.

The next day I started some of the study and went to the beach in the afternoon. I managed to go totally the wrong way, realised I had no money (pretty sure some money had been taken from my bag) and so ended up getting a ride to the beach with a lovely older French Man. His name was Henri and he was telling me all about how he was in Tulum for his daughter’s wedding that had been the day before. He was so lovely and told me he was happy to drive me back later if I met him at the same place. I walked around the various beaches, (but Aussie beaches put them to shame) and then ended up getting a ride on the back of a bicycle the 2km trip home. Hilarious.

So my course then took up a lot of the next few days. I had videos to watch a book to read and tests to pass, so it was like being at school all of a sudden. Well worth it though. My first dive was in Casa Cenote and the experience of having to suddenly manage to moderate your breath to adjust where you are floating in the water is quite weird but very satisfying when you start to figure it out. I did a few different dives, 2 in cenotes, 2 off a boat in the ocean and another extra snorkelling trip to Pet Cemetery Cenote, an absolutely amazing place. I’ll put some photos up when I get a chance but nothing will do it justice. Each night has also included at least a couple of margaritas and a few different bars, restaurants, etc.

I’ve spent most of my time with James from Sydney and Maya from Cologne Germany. She is hilarious, I haven’t spent much time with many German’s but she is so animated and has a million different stories that sound like she’s already lived several lives before. James is a chilled out guy who has been stuck in Tulum waiting for credit cards and credit card pins to arrive. For over a month now. The three of us get along well and laugh a lot along the way. We all joke about how we’re stuck at Sheck and never leaving. I’m going to book my bus out for tomorrow morning though and finally start the next part of the trip which will entail a few bus changes before finally arriving in San Ingnacio Belize. There have been some other great people here too though that definitelz rate a mention. Mike and Gabby who run Sheck, a gorgeous American-Mexican couple who have a great relationship and make everyone reallz welcome. Paul, a crazy hippy American who entered early retirement on a spiritual quest, Peter the American with a nervous tick that means he makes odd noises at random, Paolo the hilarious Chilean dive master who in his past life was a vet and a dairy farmer and manz manz other guests who have come and gone along the way. The crazy American who talks in his sleep including yelling out I’m gonna fucking shoot you!! (he’s also about 60) Mattighs the good looking Hollander who gets around like few men can, the American girls Jasmine, Candice and Blair who laugh a lot and have some crazy stories - I never knew weed trimming was such a big industry... Either way there has been a great mix of people and a very interesting journey so far! More to come soon and I’ll try to put up some photos some time soon too! xo

Oaxaca, San Cristobal, Palenque to Tulum

jahne — Sun, 7 Apr 2013 15:28:00 GMT

I wrote too much again so here is the crib note version

I went to Oaxaca, had a great birthday, studied Spanish and got Montezuma´s revenge. Then San Cristobal where I visited a crazy church, rode a speedboat through canyons and spotted crocodiles. Went to the hippy commune that is Palenque, saw amazing ruins, swam in Agua Azul and met yet more cool people. Got a bus to Tulum and now here I am.

Now the long winded version for those of you with more time.

Saturday 23 March -

Saturday was an early start, (though it turned out not early enough) to catch the bus from Mexico City to Oaxaca. Tom and I left the hostel about half an hour before the bus left, supposedly only 15 minutes away by public transport and I stupidly didn't choose to get a taxi. I take full blame for us missing the bus.... the ‘15 minute’ trip took about 45 minutes (no errors mind you it was just because we took Mexican time too literally and I was just too lax about leaving early. Oh well, an expensive rookie error that taught me a lesson. So the first bus we could get was 3 hours later meaning a few hours to kill before the bus. The six hour trip next to an older mexican man travelling with his family was pretty uneventful given we hardly spoke any common language, we did manage a few sentences to be understood but that was hard enough. So essentially the bus was a great chance for me to lean on my fabulously comfortable travel pillow (no really) and catch up on some sleep. We got to Oaxaca around 7.30pm and caught a 40 pesos taxi (AU$3 ish) to the hostel.

{For any future travellers, the hostel we stayed was Hostel Don Nino on Pino Suarez 804. It is amazing, great facilities, really clean, lots of extra amenities, and heaps of extras like free filtered water to fill your water bottles, 3 areas to watch movies with bean bags and comfy couches (great for the many sick travellers suffering from Montezuma’s revenge), good breakfast included and cheap rates.}

We basically dumped our bags on arrival and decided to go and get some food. A reasonably big market square was directly across from the hostel so we decided to head there and managed to find a new friend along the way. Ata was a cool, chilled out, friendly, smiley Canadian born, Iranian-Filipino. He had plans to meet some Mexican friends he made that day on a tour so he joined us for food and later we joined him and his friends for drinks. Food was some quick street tacos from the market before meeting Ata’s friends back at the hostel. They had driven (which we weren’t expecting) and theoretically couldn´t fit us all. But in true mexican tradition, they squished us all in, Ata in the boot (4 wheel drive so not soooo bad) and we drove to the bars. This was Saturday night, on 23 March, meaning we would be out drinking at midnight AKA my birthday. The Mexicanos were really excited when they discovered it was my birthday, I got free drinks (from the bar) the band mentioned me and did a quick happy birthday and the whole bar celebrated with me. What a way to bring in a new year!

After lots of drinking, D&M’s with one young dama about relationships, shrugging off eager Mexican ombres and enjoying the live band (who surprisingly played a lot of songs I knew including things like the Arctic Monkeys) we all left and had a 3am feast. TOTALLY normal for the Mexicans. The traditional Mexican diner we went to was packed with people, chattering, laughing and having fun, as they typically don’t go out at all until late and are usually still socialising until 4am at least. Interestingly though I don’t remember seeing anyone I thought was really drunk. The food was great, the night was a blast and it was a great way to celebrate my birthday.

Sunday 24 March

On Sunday aka my birthday, Ata, Tom and I went off on a tour to see Mont Alban (Housing some of the many ruins in these parts of the world), a random but cool building that apparently was a convent but for men (¿?) at some point, a pottery workshop/shop and a place where they paint traditional Mexican figurines. Basically most of it was a bit crap, there was a lot of waiting around and the reason I’m so vague about what we saw is the guide pretty much spoke NO english. So we just trotted off on our own and looked at stuff without knowing what it was bar the few sentences of information in English on an occasional plaque at Mont Alban. We also went to a buffet for lunch for 120 pesos, or about AU$10.50 – expensive by Central American standards. While there was a LOT of food it was questionable what anything was and I think it probably left me feeling a bit worse after that.

On return to the hostel I met some fabulous young students who were visiting Oaxaca on their uni break. They were from all over the world but doing a year exchange at a university in Queretera to study spanish. One in particular, Emily from England, was absolutely hilarious and everything she said and did was highly entertaining and positive. She was someone I could spend a lot of time around and never get bored. So she’s probably going to be coming to visit me in Sydney at some point. I ended up joining Emily and her friends as well as Penelope who Tom, Ata and I had met on the tour for a healthy dinner (hard to find in Mexico). We had all planned to go out to a bar afterwards but bailed to go to bed as everyone was too tired.

Oaxaca

When I got to Oaxaca (pronounced kind of like Wahaka) I discovered that almost everyone I was coming across was taking at least a week of Spanish classes as part of their holidays. I´d already discovered I quite liked learning a bit of Spanish so decided to take on a week of classes and stay in Oaxaca longer than originally planned.

Alas, in oaxaca a lot of my time was spent lying around in bed sick - thought I was just not dealing with the food but a trip to the doctor after a week of queasiness, almost fainting, fevers etc confirmed a bacterial infection in my intestines. Nice. Getting sick while travelling isn't much fun, though I'm happy to say I didn't get home sick or anything I just felt sick. Bit of vomiting, bit of 'other stuff' lots of nausea and generally feeling like my brain was a pile of mashed potato however meant my week of Spanish classes didnt get me very far - so ´the plan now is to do a week long home-stay in Guatamala to have an intensive crash course in Spanish. Apparently you pay about $150 US for the week, get 4 hours of class each day, 3 meals with the family, accommodation and activities every day. I'd almost be cheating myself if I didn´t do it.

Socially in Oaxaca I mostly hung out with Tom and Francesca, an Aussie from Melbourne who was at the same hostel and had recommended Spanish Magic the school Tom and I took our classes at but I also met lots of other fabulous people.

Tom, Francesca, Lili our Spanish teacher and I went out one night to an amazing bar with fantastic live music. I´m finding it really interesting hanging out with a lot of people who speak different languages and the different way you have to communicate when the language isn´t common between people. Almost like regressing to being a child and relying on facial expressions and mime.

San cristobal

Day 1 in San cristobal was an early arrival after an overnight bus. I walked to the hostel (getting lost a few times on the way - not fun with a heavy pack on my back). On arrival when I rang the bell it was obvious I had just woken up Baxter - the kiwi working at Puerta Vieja Hostel some friends has told me about. He quickly checked me in, I dumped my bag and had breakfast with him before crashing for a few hours in an amazingly comfortable and cosy bed (a rare godsend in hostels). The afternoon was spent exploring the city, looking at markets and the Mayan medicine museum. The evening was out exploring the area with some new doing friends, Lindsay, (American who was also working at he hostel) Natalie (american doing a uni research assignment) and Baxter the kiwi. We went for a walk to a church at the Top of some massive stairs for a great view but on the way found something more fun and interesting instead. A few flights up there was a little food stand and the owners had 3 absolutely gorgeous, excitable and loving little girls. They were about 4, 6 & 7 but Mexicans are tiny and they looked at least a few years younger. We watched them run around squealing with laughter, come to us for cuddles and to be spun around around and they took my camera and had a great time taking photos of us all. Luckily my camera is waterproof and shock proof so I wasn´t too concerned about it getting broken. In the end the little girls were far more entertaining than the view at the top.

From there we had a drink at a wine bar and bailed back to sleep.

On day 2 in San cristobal I was meant to do a tour where you ride a horse into an ancient Indian village but Semana Sante (the Mexican break for Easter over 2 weeks) got in the way so it was cancelled. Instead Lindsay, Natalie, John (Aussie guy) and I got a collectivo in and explored on our own. The church there is a very interesting experience. For starters, there are pine needles all over the ground so it Smells like Christmas. Inside, the people practice spiritual rituals to assist in everything from health issues to lack of rain. Rituals include burning lots of specifically chosen candles, incense, posh (mexican moonshine) eggs and sacrifices - normally a chicken. We did see one poor little chicken with its head poking out of a plastic bag happily sitting on the ground unaware of its imminent fate. The herbs, candle colour and size etc are all chosen according to the issue they are praying for. Very interesting and packed with people on Semana Sante. For lunch the 4 of us shared an amazing meal of some roasted chicken, incredible fresh corn tortillas and yummy salsas for about 37 pesos each (about $3) before making our way back in the collectivo.

After all of the food we had a small dinner of fruit and some crunchy potato tacos, had a few drinks and crashed out.

Day 3 in San Cristobal included a tour to some nearby Canyons, Lindsay and I went together and had an amazing time on the speedboat zooming through the canyons, spotting crocodiles and watching the vultures eating their dead. We saw one pretty big croc who was so still it that it was only checking other people's comparative photos that convinced us he wasn't fake.

After the canyons we stopped in Chiapas de Corso a cute little town for lunch where I had the most amazing tacos of my trip so far. They were fresh corn tortillas, tinga chicken (fried up with spices tomato and onion), fresh coriander and onion, pickled onion, lime juice and amazing fresh salsa. Was so good and about $1 for the meal.

Along the way we also met Richard an English/Indian guy. I spent the afternoon post tour with him wandering around San cristobal drinking coffee and arranging the next leg of my journey. Dinner was some take away tamales (a dumpling sorta thing made with ground corn, meat and spices) and a few drinks at the campfire with yet more new friends from the hostel.

A 7am bus ride to Palenque introduced me to Don aka the Don show. He claims to be shy but he doesn't stop talking and his favourite topic by far is himself and followed closely by constant complaining. I got over it fast but somehow got stuck with him for the next 2 days. He was Irish born, but lived in Aus for 17 years and now lives in New York. He was about 62 and a good guy but painful. When we arrive in Palenque I stupidly took his advice on where to stay and ended up I a dodgy little cabana in the jungle at Jungle Palace. As I was only staying for a night I really just needed a bed and a shower but it wasn't very secure. All good though as there weren't any issues in the end and it was only about $8 for the night. Palenque was really not what I anticipated. It was like one big hippy commune, rasta hair everywhere, a strong smell of marijuana wherever you walked, I even had some guys offer for me to ´rent a hippie´. I just told them I didn´t need one and if I did I could get one for free. In the afternoon Don and I visited the Palenque ruins, some of the most amazing ruins I´ve seen so far, primarily because they are amidst a beautiful jungle. Add some waterfalls, beautiful stone staircases winding through the jungle and the actual ruin sites and it was a truly stunning place to visit.

In the morning we met Michel, an animated Belgian guy who ended up joining us on a trip to Agua Azul. It was quite a drama to convince the tour guide to take him as the bus was reasonably full. Very odd though as usually the Mexicanos will mash in more people than you would ever think would fit.

We visited a beautiful waterfall first (Cascadas de Misol-Ha) where I swam in a cave then bussed on to Cascadas de Agua Azul. What an INCREDIBLE place!!! We had 4 hours to explore the many waterfalls and pools, swim in incredible water and generally have fun. I took loads of photos and had an amazing time.

On return Michel, Don and I had drinks with a lovely couple we met on the tour, Lauren and Tania - one of the first gay couples I've met on this trip. I borrowed Michel's shower, had dinner with the rest of them then got a cab to the ADO (bus station) in hope of booking a last minute ticket to Tulum. I got one with about half an hour to wait and hopped on an overnight bus to Tulum. Thanks to travel sickness tablets and Zyrtec I slept most of the way.

Things I've learnt:

Life as the tall girl. In Australia I'm average height, but in Mexico GIANT. It's handy for taking photos and watching street performers but mostly I just feel big and gangly.

Mexicans have no qualms about openly picking noses and spitting in public.

It's worth paying the extra for a more comfortable bus on long trips.

People get funny about splitting change in Mexico - even though the amount being quibbled about is a matter of cents.

Palenque is like a hippy haven full of dreadlocks, marijuana and mushrooms.

You don't want to accidentally get stuck hanging out with someone you don't like.

Mexican children are beautiful but many are born into massive poverty and are doomed to sell food or nick-nacks to tourists for life.

Swimming with shoes on gives you foot cramp. And sometimes you will get burnt no matter how much sunblock is on.

If you think you shouldn't be there, you shouldn't.

Until next time! Hasta Luego!