2007 world tour

Summary and Conclusion

thorn — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 12:18:00 GMT

Yes, the rumors are true, I am back in Australia. I entered the country under shadow of night some few days ago, but as I am yet to sleep longer than four hours a night I haven't been making my presence widely known.

There were a number of reasons why I cut the trip short by a couple of days. Amongst them was a pervading fear of actually setting foot in Prague. This is in fact the third time that I have been booked to go to Prague and haven'd made it (this also occurred after the floods in 2002 and again in 2004 for myriad complex reasons). Suffice it to say that I am very happy to be back and I have left my parents with strict instructions to take many photos.

Those of you who are concerned about my health will be happy to know that I didn't throw up at all on the plane (well four planes), in fact I wasn't nauseous at all. However, as a person with a propensity for sleeping approximately 10 hours a night, insomnia is coming as a shock to me. I put it all down to the elimination of tomatoes and capsicums from my diet (as an aside, we are the only people in the world that call those evil little vegetables 'capsicums').

So, summary and conclusions:

1: Travelling is excellent. Everyone should do it as much as possible (I am now accepting link-up proposals for my next holiday. If you have an idea, I will entertain it).

2: Places I visited that I would most like to return to:

San Cristobal (Mexico)

Panajachel/Lake Atilan (Guatemala)

The Rockies (Canada)

Lake Alta, near Whistler (Canada)

Vancouver (Canada)

York (England)

Isle of Skye (Scotland)

Inis Mor (Ireland)

The European Alps (Germany, Austria, etc)

3: My favourite moments were:

Visiting local school children in their small village on the shores of Lake Atlian, visiting an insane local market on the shores of Lake Atlian, zip lining over the jungle on the edge of Lake Atilan, swimming in the cool volcanic waters of Lake Atilan and then having dinner as the sun set over Lake Atilan (all in one day).

Caving the ATM in Belize and seeing the ancient artifacts (including human sacrifices) still in situ

Swimming with a dugong of the coast of Caye Caulker, Belize (swimming with the sting rays were some of my least favourite moments).

Eating hot cake and drinking cocktails as the sun set over the beach bar at Caye Caulker, Belize.

Seeing the Canadian Rockies rise like looming grey giants out of the praries.

Sitting in the sun by the shores of Lake Alta (near Whistler in Canada) reading Harry Potter and having a dip every time it got a bit hot.

Watching the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in the pouring rain.

Walking to the black fort on Inis Mor with Tony and then lying on the grass in the sun for hours as there were no other tourists around.

Revisiting the Guinness factory and buying half the shop.

Visiting a local berber couple in the red iron hills behind Marakesh.

Seeing the European Alps rising all around me and then realising that I wasn't actually in Germany, but in Austria.

Meeting heaps of great people and learning a thousand new things every day.

I've got a bit of time left before I go back to work, so I'll be printing out my photos and getting my thoughts in order. I'm looking forward to catching up on what's happened to you all over the past three months.

Thanks for listening,

Janet.

Germany or something

thorn — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 20:16:00 GMT

On Monday I flew from Madrid to Munich and met up with Mum and Dad. They have been travelling through Alaska and Canada so we thought we would meet up before they went up to Prague to start a cruise down the Danube. Munich seemed like a good place to meet.

It rained heavily on Tuesday, so we had a look around the town but we weren't too impressed (how can you be impressed by any city in the rain reallzy). On Tuesday arvo we hired a car and drove south to see a castle we had heard about. About an hour out of Munich the landscape changed drastically. We had reached the beautiful Alps!

The Alps are so beautiful. The grass is emerald green, the trees smattered with the gold and red of of autumn and the mountains steep and jagged. The clouds obscured the tops of the mountains, but it didn't seem to matter any more that it was raining because everything was so crystal clean and beautiful.

I had booked our guesthouse on the internet, but we didn't have very good maps with us. We had an A4 page of the entire of Germany, but the town we were staying in wasn't on the map. After nearly two hours we saw a sign saying something along the lines of 'welcome to Osterich'. We figured we couldn't be in Germany so we took it as a sign that we should look out for tall, long-necked birds. Eventually we found the guest house in the tiny town of Pflach.

The guest house was lovely. We both had large rooms with ensuite and the view of the mountains from my toilet was inspirational! We went down to the bar for our first German beer and Mum asked the hostess in her best German: what country are we in.

We were in Austria!

Its a simple mistake to make really. The alps cover parts of Germany, Austria and Switzerland and if you go the wrong way you can easily end up in Litchenstein (for 10 minutes until you pass out the other side). Of course, one would expect when making an accommodation booking that one knew what country the guest house was in...

We were so impressed by the alps that we extended our booking on the car and spent an extra day. We drove down to lovely Innsbruk for lunch before gliding back (in the super-charged Audi) through scenes that come straight out of a picture book. Rolling green meadows fringed with snow capped blue peaks, cow bells echoing through the crisp fresh air, tiny villages nestled around steepled churches with flower baskets under every window.

The next day we visited the castle that mad King Ludwig built to celebrate the Swan and the Wagnerian opera. The castle looks just like the Disneyland fairytale castle, perched high on the hill overlooking villages and lakes below. It would be hard not to be impressed by the vistas.

On the way, we set the GPS and sat back to let the placid tones of our auto pilot guide our supercharged vehicle back to Munich at 140 km per hour.

Ahhhh....

Magical Morocco

thorn — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 19:52:00 GMT

First of all, Iäm using a German computer, so keys are in the wrong place. Youäll have to put up with that. (z=y and ä=') If I have to learn to speak German, then so can zou!

Second, no I havenät been kidnapped, its just been reallz hard to find internet latelz. I found some the other day that was 20 Euro cents per minute. I could only afford 5 minutes at that rate, so Iäve been checking emails but not updating. Iäve finally found something more reasonably priced.

Iäd like to say that Morocco is the most magical place that Iäve ever been and I canät wait to go back. Unfortunately I donät feel that way. In fact few of the people on mz tour reallz liked it. It might have been that despite the fact that we onlz ate cooked food and drank bottled water that most of us got sick. Mazbe it was the pit toilets, the pollution and traffic jams, the fact that everzone wanted out monez whether thez were going to steal it, beg for it or overcharge us for it. Perhaps it was the subjegation of women (we were told that women and men donät have separate places to prez in mosques, the women just staz up the back. Also zou never see a woman drinking in a cafe. Onlz men. Thez sit there most of the daz). Mazbe it was just the feeling that everzthing was chronicallz dirtz. Whatever it was, Iäve seen Morocco now and I dont think I need to go back.

We spent out first couple of nights in Fes (Fez is the hat, Fes is the town). We visited the souk where there are 9000 winding streets comprising the market. Zou canät take a car in there, onlz donkezs. Even coca cola uses donkezs. Thez have a whole fleet of them. As zou pass through the stinking streets (bz piles of strange fruits, spices, henna paste, severed animal heads, smellz fish, clothing, brass, leather, etc) zou have to be careful not to get run over bz a donkez. If zou hear someone call `belak belak` zou should get to the wall as fast as possible. The highlight for me was the tanneries where the men dye skins in huge vats of stinking muck.

From Fes we travelled to Marakesh and visited the souk there. Marakesh is a red city, so its verz prettz with its red mud walls. The souk is slightly less crazy than the one in Fes, but the hawkers are far more active. We saw monkeys, but they were chained and looked unhappz. We saw snake charmers, but the handlers were hurting the chickens before they fed them to the snakes. There were drummers and people wearing local dress who would stand in your waz and ask for monez to compensate them for the fact that zou had looked at them for a second.

We went to Casablanca, then onto Rabat. Both were nice cities, but the gypsies in Rabat grabbed me and tried to force henna onto my arms. I managed to push them off. What struck me most about the cities is that people still live in destitute povertz - in one room mud huts, but thez all have their satelite dishes on the roof for the tv.

We visisted a carpet shop and one of the guys offered to send a large carpet to my parents if I would staz in Morocco with him. Another girl was offered 10 000 camels. I havenät worked out the exchange rate of carpets to camels yet, but I donät think it was a good deal.

From Morocco we passed back into Spain. Spain is a fairlz poor part of Europe, but the people are much better off than manz of the Moroccans. I enjoyed seeing the deserts (and ski resorts) of Morocco. I enjoyed visiting a local berber family for a cup of mint tea. I enjoyed experiencing the souks, the smell of spices and bread and the eerie call to prayer, but I donät feel the need to go there again.

Seville

thorn — Sat, 8 Sep 2007 21:53:00 GMT

The last few days have been amazing. Spain and Portugal are great. We stayed in Coimbra for a night, which is a University town in the middle of Portugal. We then travelled to Lisbon for two nights. Lisbon is amazing. The outskirts are ugly and full of apartment buildings, but towards the centre there are beautiful plazas, amazing tiled buildings and cobblestone pavements with intricate designs on them (they call them the most expensive pavements in the world.

On our first night in Lisbon, we went to see the Fado singing - a singer wearing all black sings the most emotive Portugese songs you could imagine, accompanied by three stringed instruments (two guitairs and a bass). The second night, Vicky (another traveller on the tour) and I climbed one of the seven hills just before sunset and sat with a glass of wine looking out over the city.

Today I am in Seville. It is an amazing city, filled with tiny meandering streets and beautiful buildings. It´s very easy to get lost, but lots of fun. Last night I saw my first flamenco. There was singing, dancing and stomping. It was very emotive.

Tomorrow we´re off to Morocco. People on the tour have been rushing out to buy immodium in preparation. I of course came prepared.

The rain in Spain

thorn — Wed, 5 Sep 2007 05:46:00 GMT

It took me a couple of days, but I eventually remembered why I liked Dublin so much. It´s because it´s so close to the rest of Ireland. Itºs definately not because of the hostels. I went to bed at 10 and shortly afterward a couple of Spanish speaking girls came in and talked loudly and passionately until 11.30. Then a girl from Litchenstein came in saying´"I´m drunk. I`m so f-ing drunk.´ It turns out shes just met this guy who´s really nice, but is going back to NZ in a couple of weeks. Another girl in the hostel said she should steal his passport and make him stay. I thought this was particularly bad advice, so I had to join the conversation and give her some more practical advice. We talked until 12.30, when I decided it was time to go to sleep. The next night I checked into a hotel.

On my last day in Ireland I went to Glendalgue, an old monastic site from teh dawn of Irish Christianity. I went there three years ago, but it rained. It was lovely this time.

On Sunday I flew to Madrid to start my Spain, Portugal and Morocco tour with Cosmos. Many of the people on the tour are of certain years, but they seem ok. We drove 10 off hours today, stopping off in Avilla and Salamanca (two ancient walled towns) before coming to Coimbria in Portugal for the evening. I am very happy because I have my own room tonight (this wont happen again for about 6 nights because of the room roster). As a consequence, I am going to cut this email short and go and enjoy lazing about in my room. I hope you are all well!

PS it hasnºt rained on the plain in Spain for about 6 months. I think we got it wrong.

the rest of the UK

thorn — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 05:04:00 GMT

Hello! I hope noone was too perturbed by my extended absence. It's been difficult to find email access off late due to the places we've been travelling. Who knows if it will get better or worse when I fly to Spain next week.

Tony and I are in Dublin tonight, and it's the evening before Tony leaves. We arrived in Dublin yesterday afternoon, but I need to go back a bit and fill in a few gaps.

From Edinburgh, we drove the car up to Aberfeldy so that Tony could visit his ancestral home, Castle Menzies. We spent hours wandering around the castle, getting photos from various vantages. From Aberfeldy we drove to Inverness, and then onto Kilvarock Castle where we stayed the night. It wasn't a particularly impressive castle, but there's something impressive about staying in a castle anyway, so we already had baseline of impressiveness.

From Kilvarock, we drove across Scotland to the Isle of Skye. On the first day we drove down a road that was single file most of the way with two ways of traffic. If you saw a car coming, one car would have to reverse back to the 'passing point' to let the other past. It was worth it for the view, but it was a pretty scary trip! We had a couple of days in Skye, but due to the rain my most memorable moments were reading 'an easy death' and 'girl with a pearl earring.'

From Skye we drove to Kinlochlevan. Unfortunately we stayed in the hotel from hell, which left us both shell shocked and unable to enjoy Glencoe much. Well, that and the fact that we couldn't see it because the rain clouds hadn't lifted above ground level for a few days.

Our last night in Scotland was in Glasgow, which is a town that loves to shop. From Glasgow we flew to Galway, where we had an excellent hotel experience that reinvigourated our faith in lodgings.

Yesterday we were in Inismore, which is the largest of the three Aran Islands that lie off the coast of Ireland. I went there last time I was here, and its my favourite part of Ireland. The weather was stunning and I quickly remembered why I liked the place so much: the barren landscapes full of rock walls, tumble down cottages and cows; the rough seas and the smell of salt on the air...its a grand place. I'm glad that Tony enjoyed it too.

We arrived in Dublin yesterday afternoon, around about peak shopping hour. I had forgotten how mad the town gets, with everyone pushing and spitting. It's really not that pleasant. I have a couple more days here to try and remember why I enjoyed living here. The vist to the Guinness factory today was good, I thoroughly enjoyed drinking my pint before lunch.

I know that you're all keen to know whether I've used my emergency towel. Well, not yet, but I have had some near misses (including when Junko the Japanese passenger on my Moose tour accidentally sprayed analgesic in her eye - they were some tense moments). I was very impressed at the Guinness factory today when I found an emergency Guinness tshirt and Guinness socks. You never know when you might need some Guinness socks!

What's the time?

thorn — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 09:14:00 GMT

What's the time? It's Edinburgh Festival time!

It's midnight on Sunday and we've just come back from seeing David O'Doherty live. He's an Irish Comedian who has recently starred in: 'the very modest adventures of David O'Doherty'. He sings funny songs and plays on a very small synthesizer, you might know his song 'very minor superpowers'. Tonight we saw his new live show: 'It's David O'Doherty Time!' He would call out 'what's the time' and we'd all have to call back 'it's David O'Doherty Time!' Funny stuff.

Last night we went to the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Attending the tattoo was actually more difficult than doing the Grouse Grind. In Vancouver, Mark and I climbed the hellish Grouse Grind in 1 hour and 15 minutes. But to attend the military tattoo required queueing for half an hour in the pouring rain, before sitting in the rain for two hours slowly going numb from the cold.

The show itself was excellent. We saw the combined pipes and drums, a Taiwanese marching band with gun twirlers (it was raining so much that one of hte girls dropped her gun at one stage), the blues and royals (the queen's horse-mounted gaurd), the steel-drum marching band of Trinidad and Tobago with some talented limbo-artists, some crazy backwards motorcyclists with a death wish and my favourite, a Russian marching band with some crazy dance moves, including a very slow Mexican wave. The show finished at 12.30 with some rain obscured fireworks. We were soaking wet and freezing, but I would have done it again (perhaps with a slightly larger plastic bag on my lap).

Tomorrow we leave the hectic pace of Edinburgh at festival time in search of Tony's ancestral roots. Actually, we went to Menzies Castle last time we were here, but Tony is keen to go back, so we're off to Weem for a night before heading to the highlands and islands of bonny Scotland.

What's the time? It's 12.30pm and I'm going to bed.

A more sensible account

thorn — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 23:36:00 GMT

Hello and welcome to my more sensible account of our travels in England.

London was frantic. We saw three west end shows in three nights - Les Mis (brilliant), Spamalot (very very funny) and We Will Rock You (yes, well, um, it was loud and there were some good songs, but the acting was a bit dodgy...). We did a lot of touristy things (the Tower, walking the monopoly board, etc), and caught up with a girl I met in Mexico. It was a good trip, but I'm glad we left when we did.

We caught the train to Bath and then hired a car to drive around. Bath was just as lovely as last time, and this time I made it to the Jane Austen museum (Tony declined). Cardiff was our next stop. It was great, even though we couldn't catch up with our Cardiff based friends. We visited the Doctor Who exbibition and saw where the entrance to Torchwood is (for all you Torchwood fans). Next we went to Stratford Upon Avon, which was great, but my flu was starting to kick in. We wandered around looking at wibbly wobbly houses and visited Shakespeare's birthplace for a bit.

We drove up to Derbyshire the next day and were going to the Cornishware factory. I was so stoked to finally be going there. However, the company has gone into receivership and the factory and shop have closed. In a huff, we drove on to Derby, got annoyed and decided to go on to Nottingham instead. Nottingham was nice. A great place for shopping or robbing the rich and giving to the poor. The forrest was nice (must admit I didn't spend much time looking at the lace!).

York was great. I recommend York to anyone. I wont wax lyrical about it here, but I know a great B&B if anyone's in the area.

We stayed in Durham Castle for a night. Durham Castle was the best bit about Durham. The castle was amazing and it was a great place to stay. We left and went to Alnwick Castle - where some of Harry Potter was filmed. We had a look about the castle and then watched some owl flying displays. There was a big African owl called Sasha that I particularly liked. She didn't want to fly, but she got there in the end.

Last night we stayed in Bamburg. There's a great castle there on a rocky outcrop, but I wouldn't recommend that anyone spend too much time in Bamburgh, its a bit too much like Royston Vasey - its a local town for local people.

So now we're in Edinburgh for the Festival. It's raining cats and dogs and we're supposed to be going to the Military Tattoo tonight (do fireworks work in the rain?). Hopefully it will ease off soon. At least our flu's are subsiding.

Dark Days in Derby

thorn — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 21:50:00 GMT

I have the flu and the makers of cornishware have gone into receivership. They took the machines out of the factory 3 days before we arrived there.

Bath, Cardiff, Stratford, Nottingham and York have been amazing. Derby is not so good, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Except maybe someone I didn't like.

Mark H, Cardiff was great, sorry you weren't in it. Mark L, hope the floor becomes less soggy. KF, congratulations, JG, too right! Canada rocks!

I will write more when I'm feeling better.

Stuck in the UK

thorn — Wed, 8 Aug 2007 00:11:00 GMT

Greetings from London! (I was going to begin with 'I'm in London Still' but I thought some of you might complain about gratuitous use of song titles in my posting.)

I arrived in London at midday on Monday. Getting here was quite a trial, what with traffic jams, overdosing on travel sickness pills (I didn't throw up, but it didn't feel pleasant) and slow baggage handlers. I met Tony at the hotel. We were both heavily jetlagged (yes, I know its only a 9 hour flight, but I did 2 days of living to only a few hours of sporadic sleep) so we didn't do an awful lot on Monday. Tuesday has been much more active We've already seen a lot in London: the London Eye, National Art Gallery and the world famous Star Wars Exhibition.

My last few days in Canada were great. After some intense retail therapy on Friday (my pack has suddenly increased from 8 to 13kg), Mum and Dad arrived on Friday night. We spent the weekend checking out the city and eating. On Sunday morning, Mark and I walked up the Grouse Grind, while Mum and Dad took the gondola to the top. They don't call it Grind for nothing - think of the most intense stair master you've ever encountered, then add rocks, dirt and roots, and you've got the Grouse Grind. We made it to the top in an hour and 10 minutes (Mark would have done it in 50 minutes if I hadn't slowed him down). It was quite an effort, but at least now I can say I've done it. Plus, I got a cool tshirt saying 'Grouse Grind: I survived'. Excellent.

I can thoroughly recommend Canada as a destination. It's got lovely scenery, and lovely people (just as long as you walk on the right). It's a really great place to travel.

Tony and I have a month in the UK and Ireland. We've got a few days in London before we head out to Bath, hire a car and drive through England, Wales and Scotland. More later...

Seattle to Victoria

thorn — Thu, 2 Aug 2007 09:05:00 GMT

Hello again! For those of you who are on Facebook, I've just joined. I have no idea how to use it, and I haven't actually managed to download any photos yet, but I am a member. If you've got no idea what I'm on about, check out Facebook.com.

I'm typing from sunny Whistler, site for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. It's 35 degrees out and boiling so I've taken refuge in a dark and dingy internet cafe. In the summer, Whistler becomes a mountain biking mecca. I'm not going mountain biking, but I am going Zip Trecking tomorrow. Those of you who have been reading carefully will remember that I went zip lining in Guatemala (on the shores of Lake Atilan). I liked it so much I'm going again. Apparently they have a line here that you can swing upside down on. Whoo!

After getting back from the Rockies, I spent a few hours sleeping and doing washing in Vancouver before Mark, Tash and I headed off to Seattle. It took us three hours to cross the border, but eventually we made it. Seattle is a great place. It was lovely and sunny as we arrived, so we stopped at a park and looked at the city across the lake. Then we drove to Freemont, the trendy section and self-proclaimed 'centre of the universe'. There's a bridge in Freemont with a big sculpture of a troll under it. It's very cool.

We didn't get to go up the space needle because it was too foggy the next morning, but we did get to go to a couple of good museums - the Experience Music Project and the Science Fiction Musuem. My favourite was the SciFi one, where I saw costumes and props from all the best SciFi shows and movies. There was also a newspaper clipping from a US paper released just after 'War of the Worlds' was broadcast on US radio. Apparently quite a few people thought it was a real alien invasion.

After Seattle, we headed to the Olympic National Park. I took lots of lovely photos, we did a few walks and I saw a few Elk. I still haven't seen a bear yet (that's one of the reasons why I came to Whistler).

The next day we caught the boat to Victoria, on Vancouver Island. We couldn't get the car on the 12noon ferry, so I walked on. It's strange to cross a country border on a ferry. Victoria was lovely, once again quite hot. I spent a couple of hours walking around the city (Victoria prides itself on its hanging flower arrangements) and then a couple of hours in the Royal BC Museum. The Museum was great. Victoria is the capital of British Columbia, so its one of the best museums in the State. I visited a First Nations Exhibit, one containing artifacts from the last century and one on the Titanic. I'm not really sure what the link with the Titanic was supposed to be (apparently a couple of Canadians sailed on her), but it was a really comprehensive exhibition.

On Tuesday morning we went on a whale watching expedition. We saw seals, sea lions and a bald eagle, but no whales. The guide offered to let us go again, so I went on the 3pm whale watching tour back to Vancouver while Mark and Tash took the car back home on the ferry. I am happy to say that I did see whales on the second tour - two humpbacks. I would have liked to have seen Orcas, but I was happy enough with the Humpbacks, and after 7 hours on boats in choppy seas I was happy enough just to be on dry land.

Mark and Tash are moving apartment today, so I figured I should really get out of the way. An overnight trip to Whistler was just what I needed. I'll be back in Vancouver tomorrow evening. Mum and Dad arrive on Friday afternoon and we'll spend the weekend around the city before I leave on Sunday to meet Tony in London.

Note: Mark, if you want to become a tour guide with Tucan Tours, you have to commit yourself to 50 weeks of tour guiding. You also need to do a 6 week training course. Being able to speak another language helps you to get the job. Most of the time there are more girls than guys on gours. It's mainly because women are more likely to want to travel with other people, and are slightly more adventurous. Men tend to go just to one place, or to travel on their own.

Rocky Mountain High

thorn — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 02:51:00 GMT

On our last night in Cancun, the group of us (8 girls plus the tour leader, Paul) went out to dinner at a Jazz bar. There was no music, so I took it on myself to play some jazz before dinner.

After dinner, the plan was to go to a club in the hotel strip. We left downtown Cancun at 10 to travel the 10 odd kms to the hotel zone. Unfortunately nobody knew where to get off the bus and we overshot the club we were going to. It took us an hour and a half to get back in the traffic jam that is Saturday night in Cancun. So at 11.30, we were standing at the back of a line to get into a packed nightclub that would cost us $55 to get into (albeit you get free alcohol all night and a bit of a show, but I don't tend to drink much and I had to get up early to catch a plane). The guide and I decided that it was a bad idea and caught the bus back to downtown. Instead of a club, we wound up back at the jazz bar we had started at. There were some brilliant musicians there playing a blend of jazz and flamenco - amazing stuff. Altogether a great night.

On Sunday I flew from Cancun to Vancouver. It was only two planes, but it took me about 12 hours. I arrived in Vancouver in the dark (although thats not a bad way to enter the city, its beautiful when its all lit up). I visited an ATM and a nice supermarket, and that was the extent of my travels in Vancouver!

After a night at my brother's place, I left early in the morning on a Moose backpacker tour of the Canadian Rockies. It's a hop on, hop off tour, so while there are only 20 people on the bus at one time, there could be several others every day. During the days we watched spectacular scenery (the rockies are amazing - huge grey spiky slabs of mountain sticking up from wreathes of pointy pines) and at night we shared stories and meals. Altogether a great time. Our hostel on the third night was a bit rough though. There were 16 of us in the cabin (male and female). There were at least 3 snorers. The beds had plastic sheets, so whenever someone moved there would be a huge creaking, farting sound. But the worst bit was that there was no running water. You had to pump water from the well, and there were only two toilets for the entire group of 40 odd travellers. Ironically, the accommodation we had in Central America has been much better than the accommodation in Canada so far, but the living standards of the locals are completely different from North to Central America.

Scenic highlights on the tour have included: the Rockies of course. They stretch on in each direction, they're all around us. Lake Louise, Lake Morraine, Bridal Veil Falls. Social highlights have included: gaining a reputation as a pancake making tutor (pancakes are free at the hostel as long as you make your own. Lots of people were having trouble with the concept and created various types of burnt pancake mush until I lent a hand), the crazy Canadian driver, Jeremy and the long nights talking and dancing.

I'm flying back to Vancouver today, but I only have a night in the city before I go to Seattle tomorrow. Eventually I'll get a chance to see the city itself!

I hope everyone is well, keep the comments coming in (although no comments are allowed on what happens in the 7th book of Harry Potter, I'm only 100 pages in).

Caye Caulker to Cancun

thorn — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 02:17:00 GMT

Today is my last full day in Central America (for now anyway). I´m ensconced in an air conditioned internet cafe in the glorious Playa de Carmen, on the coast of Mexico. We arrived late last night after 13 odd hours of travelling. It´s stinking hot outside, so I´m making the most of the air conditioning in here.

Caye Caulker was amazing. A few of us went on an all day snorkelling expedition on Thursday. We were taken on a small boat out to four dive locations. At the first, we had a free snorkel over some corals and saw some beautiful fish, including some pretty blue ones with electric blue spots. The second dive was a guided dive and we found a manatee!! Manatees are very rare, there are only a few thousand left in the wild and due to low birth rates and high mortality, they´re expected to be extinct in 15 years. We saw its tail first. It was about 10 metres away from us. Ever so slowly, it turned to face us. It looked at us for a while, then decided to swim off. I always thought sea cows were ugly, but it was so gracious that it was beautiful.

The third dive spot was over a wrecked ship. The fourth was in shark and ray alley. Basically, you usually see either sharks or rays because they don´t like to be near one another. We saw rays. There were about 20 of them swimming in the water beneath the boat. I was a bit scared to swim with them, given the whole Steve Irwin thing. But I did get in. It was teh scariest thing I´ve ever done. I´d be looking at a pack of them through the snorkel, then suddenly one would pass directly beneath me, a full 1.5 to 2 metres. If the decided to flick that tail up quickly, I would have been a goner. Rays 2, Australians nil. I was very happy to get out of the water and go home!

Yesterday we left Caye Caulker at 7 am. We caught a water taxi, taxi, and bus to the border, then our bus drove off an left us. Our guide Paul found us another bus, but he said that someone should stay with the bags at all times because he didn´t knoe whether the guys were trust worthy. A few of us went off for lunch (some of hte best tacos I´ve had on this trip), and when we got back Paul was storming around yelling ´fuck, fuck, all the bags have gone, the bastards!´It turns out that the driver had locked the bags into a compartment so that they wouldn´t get stolen!

We arrived in Playa de Carmen about 8.30 last night, in time for a late dinner.

Today I have a lazy day of emailing, shopping and postcard writing before I head off to Cancun sometime this afternoon. It´s only a one hour trip from here. Tomorrow morning I´m off to Vancouver for the second part of the holiday.

A final note from Central America: if you ever make it to Caye Caulker, seek out the cake man and get one of his chocolate cakes with coconut icing. You will not regret it!!

An editorial note

thorn — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 01:47:00 GMT

I am sorry to say that the chicken busses are indeed not made of chicken. They are ex-USA school busses, driven to Guatemala and then painted bright colours and strung with religious paraphenalia (to ensure that the driver does not crash and die a horrible death). The Guatemalans know the busses as 'busses', it is us tourists who call them chicken busses, due to the strange array of articles that are often carried on the roof. On one bus, we definately had chickens in a basket on the roof above us. On another, we had an array of garden furniture. On most trips, the 'conductor' (for want of a better word. He is a general dogsbody that does anything the driver cannot, including selling tickets and stowing luggage) will spend his time moving between the inside, outside and top of the bus, usually while it is in motion. Its' quite odd to see a guy hurtle down the isle while the bus is doing 70 down a hill, open the back door and climb up the rear ladder onto the roof. I certainly wouldn't want to be a chicken bus conductor.

In my defense, there was no editorial discretion taken in my description of Caye Caulker. The island is made of sand and situated in the middle of the Carribean. The people do tell you off when you walk to fast. I did go and drink cocktails as the sun set last night (three Lizard Juices, which taste like paint stripper, but at least they're cold) and I have had lobster for lunch and tea while I've been here.

Its unBelizable

thorn — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:12:00 GMT

It's been a few days since I've written and I must confess I've lost track. The email systems in some of the places I've been to have been very dodgy and I haven't always been able to get online. I'll try to reconstruct the last few days regardless.

Panjachel (Pana) was great. I had the best time (see my last entry). After Pana we went to Antigua where the tour group split up. Rene, Martin, James, Stephen and Elle went south to Honduras and Costa Rica with Kirsty and we got 5 new girls and a new tourguide. I spent my couple of days in Antigua commiserating with the old tour group, buying a new pair of jeans (I didn't bring any and I couldn't cope without them any more. I bought some for less than $20) and sightseeing in the town (although carefully as Martin had been mugged in Antigua 3 weeks previously and we were all on alert).

The new tour group isn't as lively as the old one. We are now 8 girls (I am way older than everyone else) and our male tour guide. He is having trouble keeping us all in check!

On our first day our of Antigua we went to Rio Dulce, where we stayed in individual bungalows on a little island. A storm came up in the evening, so we played cards and watched the rain.

The next day we took a boat to the tiny Carribean town of Livingston. The town wasn't much, but the trip on the boat was scenic. Most of the locals still live in tiny cottages with thatched roofs, built right on the river bank. I hate to think what global warming will do to these communities.

That evening we went to Flores, which was stinking hot. At least the beetles we were promised didn't eventuate. The highlight of my evening was borrowing some bug spray from a Parisian bloke named Dennis. It was the most thrilling conversation I'd had all day.

On Monday we went to Tikal, another set of ruins. These ones were very pointy compared to Chichen Itza or Palenque. They were definately worth a look, although the others are starting to get sick of ruins. We crossed the border into Belize after lunch. It was a smooth border crossing, very fast. On one side of the border there were rough dirt roads and all the signs were in Spanish. Straight after the border, we were on tarmac with all the signs in English. What a change! Strangely enough, I have a lot of trouble understanding the accents in Belize and in some ways it was easier to understand the Spanish in Guatemala!

Yesterday was a huge day. I did the ATM in San Ignacio, which is basically a caving adventure. They pick you up at 8am, drive you for an hour to the bush and then you do a 1 hour hike into the jungle. After an orientation walk, you swim in through the mouth of the cave. There are sharp, jagged rocks, tiny crevasses to slip through, bits where you swim and bits where you climb. Eventually you come out into a dry chamber where there are heaps of broken pots (they are 'killed' by the locals to appease the gods) and even a few skulls (the same thing happened to the people as to the pots). It was an amazing day. I didn't get home until 6 but I loved every minute of it.

I have to go now because the sun is about to set and I am due for coctails at the other end of the beautiful sand island resort. You get told off if you walk to fast in Caye Caulker, so I'm off to meander off to see the sun set. In shorts and a tshirt. Oh yeah, I love the Carribean!

Lake Atilan

thorn — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 06:26:00 GMT

We spent one night in the city of Xela, before heading to a much more relaxed town on the banks of Lake Atilan. We had a whole day by the lake, so we got up early and took a boat to a small village on the other side of the lake. First we visited a local school. The school has been set up using funding from benefactors. Before it was established, most kids didn´t go to school at all. Now most children in the village attend, and they are provided with nutricious meals and health information as well as subjects including Mayan and Spanish languages, maths and music.

The kids were really happy to see us. In one class, they sang old macdonalds farm in Spanish for us. In most of the classes we visited, the kids would rush over to us and ask us to take photos of them. Everyone had digital cameras, so the kids would pull at them trying to get a look at themselves.

After the school visit we went into a local´s home to see how they lived. The houses are very basic. They have concrete floors and walls, very few shelves or possessions and a simple wood fire for cooking. There are usually a few chickens wandering about in the courtyard. They usually don´t have doors, but they might have a bit of material over the door. Housing Tasmania could learn a thing or two from Central American housing.

Next we cross the lake and visited a local market. There were fruits and vegetables of every kind, grains, corn, crabs wrapped in banana leaves and a range of unidentifiable meat products. People were pushing through the tiny alleys wearing baskets full of goods on their heads and calling to each other. It was an amazing, if squashy experience.

In the afternoon, we took the boat back to our side of the Lake and went Zip Lining through the forest canopy. There were 6 zip lines which took us back and forth over the side of the mountain. After all that activity we needed a swim,so we went back down to the lake before heading back to the hotel.

After a barbeque dinner, we played card games and did some Scottish folk dancing until well into the night. All in all, a very good day.

Guatemala

thorn — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 02:11:00 GMT

Yesterday we crossed the border into Guatemala. After a 4 hour air conditioned bus ride (with a movie in English for once), we went through customs and made our way across the border. Guatemala is very different to Mexico. The most obvious difference was the transport. Instead of the air conditioned coaches with in-flight movies, we are now travelling on chicken busses. The busses are ex US school busses, painted bright colours and run until their tyres are bald and the fumes coming out the back are so black they leave a permanent film on the windows. The seats fit 2 comfortably, but the minimum number of passengers is three. Our tour guide shared a seat with an entire family- two adults and four kids. The bus drivers are insane here. They spend half their time on the wrong side of the road and the other half blowing their horns at the other drivers that are also on the wrong side of the road. Going around the corners you get flicked around and I´m sure we´d end up across the aisle if we weren´t packed in so tightly.

Arriving in Chichicastenango was an exciting experience. We got caught in the biggest bus traffic jam I´ve ever seen- maybe fifty of these brightly coloured bussess all horking and belching black smoke. There were market stalls along the side of the road, set up in the dirt that made up the pavement, as opposed to the dirt that made up the road. The noise, fumes and chaos of it all was amazing! After 3 busses, two taxis, a tuk tuk and several short walks (all up it was about 10 hours of travelling), we finally made it to our hotel in the city centre to find out that the city is built in the shadow of an active volcano that has been known to errupt frequently! At least its not as hot as the coast of Mexico.

We´re leaving Chichi today on another chicken bus. We´re off to a quieter town - Panjachel, where we can take a trip across the lake and visit some local people in the hills. I´m looking forward to a more relaxed pace, and some clean laundry.

San Cristobal

thorn — Sun, 8 Jul 2007 06:26:00 GMT

In San Cristobal, the hawkers are even more determined than in Palenque. We are thinking of having tshirts made saying No Gracias, because we have to say it so often.

We arrived yesterday, after a 5.5 hour bus ride through winding hills. (Very pretty, but I left my head somewhere outside Palenque). San Cristobal is a pretty city, with cobblestoned streets and beautiful buildings. This morning I found some local markets where vegetables and raw chickens sat on tables in the sun. I hope the restauranteurs don´t shop at the market!

After that, we took a kombi van up into the hills to visist some of the local tribespeople. We visisted a local weaving family, who fed us tortillas and some sort of cinnamon alcohol. Later we went to a church where the floor was covered in pine needles and candles. The indigenes were drinking fizzy cordial (burping releases bad spirits. The type of spirit correlates to the colour of the cordial you drink) and sacrificing chickens. I saw a couple of dead ones, but fortunately didn´t see them being killed.

We have one more day in San Christobal before we cross the border into Guatemala. Bring on the chicken busses...

Palenque 2

thorn — Fri, 6 Jul 2007 10:46:00 GMT

Today we went to Palenque ruins. I´m glad we went to Chichen Itza first, because Palenque was far more interesting. 94% of the city is still under the forrest, with only a few temples unearthed and restored. It was great to wander through the forrest and see the temples sitting there under the earth with trees growing out of them.

In the afternoon we went to Agua Azul falls. We swam in the murky brown water and played a ball game with the local kids. One of them gave me a pink flower, then tried to charge me a peso for it. She let me keep it though.

<the hills are amazing. They´re full of tiny villages and people trying to sell stuff. There are speed humps in the towns, and the locals stand by them waiting for the cars to slow down enough to sell them stuff. In some places, there aren´t any speed humps so the locals tie plastic bags onto a rope and hold it across the road. When you get close to them, they drop the rope and let you through, but by that stage you´ve already slowed down long enough for them to show you their fruit or whatever they´re selling.

I´ve got another big bus trip coming up tomorrow. Apparently the Drammamine will come in handy because we´ll be driving through the windy hills for hours.

Sorry to hear that I´m not the only one getting sick. The consensus is that the fruit was custard fruit, but dragon fruit might be another name for it. We saw another wierd one today - it looked like a rambutan, but it was as big as a basketball. Any guesses?

Nanoo Nanoo.

Palenque, Mexico

thorn — Thu, 5 Jul 2007 09:35:00 GMT

We´ve just come off the bus after a 9 hour journey from Merida. It sounds bad, but the Mexican busses are air conditioned, so it was actually nicer than being outside. We got held up by the military twice at road blocks, and every time we stopped the locals would get on the bus and try to sell us weird fruit that looks a bit like a pink artichoke. Noone bought one, so I can´t say what they taste like. The busses also show movies. We had four of them today, two in English with subtitles and the others American movies with dubbed soundtracks. We saw two of them on one of hte other buses, so now I´ve watched Ice Princess twice, dubbed in Spanish. The scene where she gets the new skates and they blister her feet terribly is especially moving.

Last night in Merida we went to a bar where the waiters gave us all technicoloured sombreros to wear and we sat around with rifles under pinatas drinking crazy coloured drinks. A nice way to say goodbye to a crazy city. As we left, I noticed that the name of the hotel across the street was the Hotel Colon. I was very glad we didn´t stay there.

The heat is still oppressive, but most of the hotels we stay in have air conditioning. Tomorrow, we´re off to the Palenque ruins, followed by a refreshing dip in Agua Azul falls.

For your information, denture cream costs heaps more than regular toothpaste, and I was happy to get my money back and have some useful toothpaste instead.

Until nex time....