Mexicó, Mexicó…what can we say...you were unreal!

We arrived in San Cristóbal de las Casas ready to camp just outside the town…despite the bitter cold. Unable to find it we hopped in a cab with instructions to the cab driver. We were driving for about 20 minutes when we both looked at each other, thinking, nope…this isn’t going to happen…too far! So we gave instructions to make our way back to the centre. We walked around the city for about an hour or more checking out different hostels and guesthouses which were all far too minging for our end of year tolerance levels. Eventually we decided to splash out and found a beautiful guesthouse on the side of a hill looking over the city. We quickly checked in, made ourselves presentable and headed out for some of the fantastic Mexican food I love so much. We found a curry house and settled on that! Mmmmmmmm!! Washed down by 90p Coronas, we left smiling. San Cristóbal is a beautiful colonial town so you could happily stroll around for days on end, sipping wine on the street people watching and enjoying the bustle of all the markets. Chiapas is the poorest state in Mexicó so you do get a lot of hassle but with such a stunning city you barely notice. At the time we thought we were on time pressure as we had planned just a couple of weeks in Mexicó as we wanted to head down to Tikal in Guatemala before flying home…this plan began to change quickly as we fell deeply in love with our favourite country of the year. We hopped on a bus a couple of days later to Palenque for another Mayan ruin ready to camp in the jungle for a few days. We arrived by nightfall, so had to set up camp in the dark. But as we can pretty much set up our tent with our eyes closed at this stage it wasn’t a problem. We enjoyed some live music in the on-site restaurant that night and were looking forward to the sights around us the following day. We weren’t disappointed. The sights and sounds were fantastic. Exotic birds everywhere, howler monkeys chatting to each other nonstop and a glorious pool in which to escape the heat of the day. We had to move our tent the next morning as we quickly realised we had parked among a load of camper vans…so moved to the actual campsite under a massive canopy of leaves to keep the tent cool in the morning. Our plan was to stay for 2 days but, as I’ve mentioned a lot before, this changed and we settled in for 6 days…lazing by the pool all day, sipping Coronas as the sun went down and enjoying the wildlife around us. It was a glorious and memorable week. But, once again, with too much to see and not enough time we moved on to Mérida to prepare for Carnaval. We were initially undecided as to where we would be for the festival but once we arrived in the city we decided this is where we’d stay. So we booked up our hostel (which was without a doubt the best hostel we’d stayed in this whole year) for a week and a half and, once again, spent the days lazing in the pool and the evenings strolling around the town and enjoying cooking for ourselves once again...we also managed to fit in a day at Chichen Itza (which we found a little disappointing)! It was great to see the city get ready for Carnaval and by the time the first day celebrations were upon us we were ready to part-ay!! The parades were mesmerizing…the costumes, the energy…unreal! The main street in Mérida was full of Sol & Corona beer stands, food stalls (all Mexican…yummmmmmmy) and people partying their asses off. Tacky music could be heard wherever you went…it was unforgettable! Exhausted and hungover we made a quick decision to go to the Caribbean with a friend of ours. Once again, it wasn’t planned but we couldn’t resist a few days on the beach before home time. Trying to avoid Cancún like the plague (of course!), we quickly hopped on a boat to Isla Mujeres just off the coast the minute we arrived there. We checked into a hostel on the beach and set out to find a restaurant recommended to us with 10p wings (spicy, sticky and Jamaican jerk flavoured) and 60p Coronas…it was everything we dreamt it could be and more! We ended the evening with cuba libre’s in the beach bar back at the hostel. The next day we set out to explore the beach…what a sight! There was no tearing us away from that. We spent a relaxing day chilling out and rested ourselves in preparation for our 4 year anniversary the following day. After seeing that the main mode of transport on the island was golf carts, we couldn’t resist and booked one for the day to see the rest of the island. We were bubbly with the prospect of our first time in a golf cart the next day and quickly picked it up to whizz around the island. Our first stop was to visit a turtle sanctuary which was pretty awesome…I was just loving it!! Then off to take the coastal route to come back around to the main town…that took all of about 35 minutes so we decided to take another trip around and found a secluded beach where we plonked ourselves, listening to music and sipping freezing cold cans of Sol. We finished the day back at our favourite restaurant with 3 bowls of chicken wings, potato salad (for me of course) and endless bottles of Corona followed by fun in the sand at the hostel beach bar. Perfect! The next day it was time to face reality and make our way back to Guatemala City to catch our flight 3 days later. It took 22 hours to get back to San Cristóbal then another day to get back to Guatemala City but we got back there without much hassle. We spent the last evening of the year at our favourite bar of the year, Café No Sé, spending the last of our Quetzals and enjoying the fantastic live music.
And then it was home time. Scary or what?! It was time to say goodbye to Latin America and absolutely nothing could have prepared us for it. But all good things come to an end I guess and what a good thing it was. A year of treasured memories and unforgettable experiences with my lovely…sur’ how bad!? And to think 6 months before we left he wouldn’t even agree to join me! Mi amor, te quiero con todo mi corazón and I will never forget the year you’ve given me. Latin America…until we meet again, hasta pronto! It was: "and I quote 'Lovely Stuff'...not my words Michael, the words of Shakin' Stevens"...Alan Partridge, 2003.
(pic 1: enjoying the camper's life in Palenque; pic 2: enjoying our oversized cups of Sol at Carnaval in Mérida; pic 3: enjoying the sunset on Isla Mujeres)

Glorious Guatemala

Antigua….definitely the best city we’ve been to in the whole of Central America. Gorgeous little town surrounded by volcanoes with blue cloudless skies and comfortable temperatures. This town, we decided, we could live in forever. Whilst there are numerous activities available, we got lazy and chose instead to frequent all the numerous bars and restaurants, stroll around the markets and visit the many stunning churches around every corner. As has happened many a time 2 days turned into 4 days and 4 turned into 6. But we had to pull ourselves away sometime and, so, we booked our shuttle to Panajachal on Lago Atitlán. Panajachal is the most touristy town around Lago Atitlán but there is a certain charm to it as well…I think this is because of the stunning views of the lake from almost everywhere in the town. We checked into a hotel fast, as Mitch was dying of “man-flu” and took it easy the next day…once again, indulging in food and the like. We decided to take a stroll to a nearby town the following day so took off to follow the path around the lake. We were greeted with stunning views and friendly locals along the way. Santa Catarina (the next town) was quite pleasant with school children in their traditional dress screaming in the playgrounds nearby playing soccer and basketball (which was definitely a sight). We took a rest by the lake to horse into our packed lunch and then made our way back to Panajachal to celebrate Valentine’s Day. It was a special evening where we spoilt ourselves with some Malaysian cuisine followed by some live music and the obligatory rum & cokes in a nearby bar. Lovely stuff! With difficulty, we moved on the next day to Quetzaltenango (yes, it’s a mouthful…but, luckily, it can be shortened to Xela, pronounced 'Shela') which was supposed to be another pleasant town in the mountains. We were a bit disappointed with it to be honest so we only stayed a couple of nights before booking our shuttle to Mexicó…excited, or what!!??
(pic 1: Mitch in one of the many beautiful churches of Antigua; pic 2: a view of Lago Atitlán)

Hmmm…Honduras, not so sure!

We hadn’t planned to spend much time in Honduras…we hadn’t heard great reports but we had heard great reports about Mexico so wanted to keep some weeks at the end of our trip to explore southern Mexico. But after spending so much time inland in Nicaragua we decided we needed some more beach time on the Caribbean again. So we unwillingly spent a horrendous night in Tegucigalpa (the capital)…in a mouldy room and being abused by cab drivers who kept shouting at us “do you know where you are? You’re in Tegucigalpa!! What kind of address is that?” We quickly realised that not one cab driver in Honduras knows anything about the town or city they’re in. We quickly packed our bags the next day and hopped on a bus to Tela on the Caribbean coast. After mouldy and cockroach infested rooms of the last few weeks we decided to treat ourselves to a lovely sea view hotel room. My oh my was it worth it…clean rooms, soap and toilet paper in the bathroom, and (what all travellers dream of) TOWELS!! We were in heaven. We washed up and quickly dug in to a feast of lobster and prawns washed down by a few Port Royal beers. The next day we checked out the beaches which still held the scars of the many hurricanes to visit years before. It was quite obvious we were getting closer to Mexico when it was tortillas and refried beans for breakfast. But it was a relaxing few days and we were happy to be back by the sea. We spent an interesting day visiting the second largest botanical garden in the world followed by an evening of my first Superbowl. That was fun! The next day it was time to move on to visit our first Maya Ruins in the town of Copán Ruinas. Because of bus times in most of Central America (buses seem to stop running between towns at about 4pm), we missed the last bus to Copán…to save time we decided to go to the nearest town so we could move on quickly the next day. The town is called La Entrada and I quote from the Lonely Planet “something must have gone wrong for you to be stuck in La Entrada”. Yup, that’s all I’ll say about that. We arrived safely to the lovely town of Copán the following morning. The town is quite small, only a half an hour from the Guatemalan border and very clean and pretty. The first thing we noticed about it was that it was missing all the grotesque ‘Coca-Cola’ and ‘Pepsi’ advertising that you see on every single restaurant and bar in the rest of Honduras. We were quite pleased. We spent the afternoon visiting a butterfly sanctuary which wasn’t as boring as you’d think and then off to explore the town. The following morning we set off to the ruins which were also much more exciting than we’d expected. A lot bigger than we thought as well and we came out thinking the Mayans are pretty damn cool. After a viewing of “The King’s Speech” (put on by our hostel) it was early to bed for our 6am shuttle to Antigua, Guatemala the next morning.
(pic1: view from our hotel in Tela; pic2: at Copan ruins)

Central America...Part I

It didn’t take long to get to Panama City…we forgot how short the distances in Central America would be compared to South America. We settled in pretty quickly and booked a one way ticket out of Panama to San José in Costa Rica for the next evening. We arrived at the border about 2 hours too early so sat in a queue until the immigration offices opened…fun! After another “speedy” passport check on the other side we were back on the bus within 6 hours on our way to the capital. We weren’t expecting this delay so we had to spend an expensive night in San José but were out of there early the next morning to make our way to Rivas in south west Nicaragua. The border crossing was a little less painful and we quickly arrived to the bustling lake side town of Rivas. Not sure where we were going to go from there, we met some friendly “deutschers” who told us of a beautiful beach side town Las Salinas about an hour away. So we hopped in a cab with them and went to check it out for ourselves. We arrived just after sunset so it was pretty dark dragging our feet through the sand to get to our hotel but were greeted with a friendly Nicaraguan smile, a lovely sea view room and cold beers. What else could you ask for? I spent 3 lovely days lying on the beach enjoying the sun while Mitch did his 2009 taxes!! I refused to get involved. From there we went straight to Lake Nicaragua (the largest in Central America) where we got a boat to the island of Ometepe which is dominated by 2 active volcanoes which you can choose to hike up. After a day of exploring the island on a little moped (going about 10 mph!) we chose to hike up Volcán Concepción. It was a pleasant hike up through jungle to be greeted by fantastic views of the lake on the top (and freezing temperatures). All in all, it was a pleasant stay on Lake Nicaragua. We quickly made our way to Granada, a city we’d heard so many fabulous things about. We found a little “posada” to rest our heads and quickly went out to explore the city. Granada is a beautiful colonial town on the shores of Lake Nicaragua but, unfortunately, is bustling with tourists who are being constantly harassed by street vendors and beggars (and I mean every 5-10 seconds!). But we kept bumping into these nutters (see pic) everywhere we went which was quite entertaining. We stayed around for a few days before departing for Matagalpa in the mountains for a cooler climate. We had started to feel guilty about our lack of activities of late so decided to rent some bikes to see the surrounding countryside. The easy-medium level route was much more difficult than expected with a full 45 minute start on a 45 degree slope gravel track. Our bodies are not in good enough shape to handle that kind of biking so we hiked it up instead until we got to a more reasonable flat. The locals did seem to find it amusing…seeing 2 gringos on bikes…I know, pretty exciting stuff…as they relentlessly stared at us for the duration. All in all it was a pleasant journey with some beautiful sights. The next and final stop in Nicaragua would be Estelí. Another pleasant little Nicaraguan town with some good food, cheap accommodations, curious locals and a freezing cold waterfall! Next stop…HONDURAS!
(pic 1: on the beach at Las Sallinas; pic 2: Mitch on top of Volcan Concepcion; pic 3: "these nutters")

Sailing through the San Blas islands

A bad start to our return to Cartagena as there was absolutely no rooms available in the entire city so we had to settle for an overpriced room in some random family’s house which smelt of dog poop and wee. Then there was a 2 day delay with the boat as our captain, Gwen, attempted to gather the 9 passengers on board and get our passports stamped. On the evening of the third day we had exited Cartagena harbour and, set sail towards the San Blas islands (all 375 of them). As we slipped off to bed we were rocked to sleep by the calm seas only to be woken 4 hours later with our French captain shouting “merde” over and over again as he jumped from the helm of the boat to reel in the sails and then suddenly a loud crash as one of our passengers, Pedro, lands in the kitchen as he’s thrown off his bed! Well, it was a fun two days ahead of us with lots of vomiting (although the Irish & the British stomachs stuck it out!), zero food and very little sleep. But there are no words to describe the beauty of what appeared before us on the morning of the third day. After a broken GPS system (because of a ginormous wave that covered us and the electric equipment) we breathed a sigh of relief to arrive in the correct location. We quickly put on our bathing suits and dived into the clearest seas we’ve ever laid eyes on. While our captain fished for crab and lobster we took our snorkels to the shore and explored the island…which took all of about 8 minutes! We arrived back on deck with rumbling bellies only to be greeted by a feast of fresh seafood and a passion fruit filled with rum and sugar. Mmmmmmm…dee-lish! The next day was spent exploring a nearby ship wreck and lazing on the beach, drinking fresh coconut milk and nibbling on papaya. That evening we feasted on fresh lobster bought from the Kuna indigenous community who govern the San Blas islands (they managed to keep them from the Spanish and the Panamanians all this time). They would visit us every evening selling seafood and artesania while we moved from island to island. Once again we dined fantastically and spent the evening delving into the rum once more…there was a lot to get through! The following morning we moved on to another island surrounded by fantastic corals. We all grabbed a snorkel each and made our way around the island to explore. It was our last evening staying stationary by the islands so we made the most of it. We moved on to another island the next morning for some more snorkelling and spear fishing (for the boys) and then set sail that evening for Panama. It would take another day and a half to get to Portobelo. ..and a rocky one it would be! We spent the rest of the journey horizontal until we arrived to the lovely little port town of Portobelo, Panama. After an unforgettable week it was time to shower up and make our way to Panama City!
(pic 1: first day arriving on San Blas islands; pic 2:Mitch gets his snorkel on!)

Christmas in the Caribbean

Snow…bloody hell! Mama and brother Mitcheson arrived one day late due to the snow at Paris airport so we spent Christmas all alone in our big beachside apartment. Deciding to make the most of the day we indulged in a scrumptious fresh fish Christmas lunch for our festive feast. Late Christmas day with a full squadron of Mitchesons we headed back to the apartment to get the real celebrations going. The apartment didn’t disappoint and was by far the best (and most comfortable) accommodation we experienced in South America. Santa managed to find his way to Colombia with some fantastic gifts and, more importantly, Cadbury’s chocolate. After some traditional Christmas games and a midnight feast it was time to get some rest for a busy 2 weeks ahead. The next few days were spent exploring the old town of Cartagena and getting some beach time in. Then it was time to show our guests what a typical Colombian bus ride is like…it didn’t disappoint!! 6 – 8 hours torturous hours later we arrived at Santa Marta and enjoyed some HUGE steaks and beers on the beach. But we didn’t stop for long and quickly made our way back to Taganga. We were looking forward to a fun filled day in the beautiful Tayrona Park (where we’d already been earlier in the year)…things can change quickly in South America! What was a pleasant 45 minute boat ride 2 months earlier turned into a hellish 3 hour boat journey over 2 metre waves. Conditions in the park weren’t much better and we quickly made our way back to the mainland disappointed and thanking God we survived. We quickly all about it as it was time for some New Year celebrations. We headed to the fantastic Pachamama restaurant and enjoyed a “muy rico” buffet washed down my many many cocktails. Then it was off to the beach for midnight. After some confusion of the exact timing of midnight we indulged in a sing song and a bit of dancing and thoroughly enjoyed the celebrations around us. After another couple of days of beach time we headed to the tiny town of Palomino further along the coast. For a couple of days we lounged (and slept) in hammocks and entertained ourselves with the many games brought along from London...because of the rain that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Then it was back to Taganga to soak up some sun in the remaining few days we had together and indulge in the “complementary” cocktails (i.e. from mum and brother!). After a tearful goodbye, it was back to Cartagena for me and Sharon (for the third time) to hop on our boat to sail through the Caribbean to Panama.
(pic 1: Sharon & I having lunch on Christmas Day; pic 2: everyone enjoying some evening cocktails)

The next 75 days in Colombia (Part II)

Of course the 7 hour bus (as usual in Colombia) turned into an 11 hour bus ride and we collapsed into our dorm beds that evening. I took massive advantage of a nearly empty hostel with cable TV, free coffee and a roaring fire for the first day…fantastic when the rain is hopping off the ground outside. After my fill of Friends, Seinfeld and the Office we went to explore the city with visits to museums and galleries and massive supermarkets (which are a luxury in South America) to make delicious meals. Bogotá was much more fantastic than we’d heard and went down as one of our favourites of South American cities. After a few days we flew from Bogotá back to Cali to begin our 2 weeks of volunteering in the mountains outside. We got pretty clear instructions on how to get to the goat farm we’d be volunteering…get on a bus to Buenaventura and get out at the 28th Kilometre then ask someone where the Finca las Cabritas (Goat Farm) is…hmmmmm?! Anyway, after a lot of queuing in the bus station (apparently the ticket people were on strike) and getting taxis here and there we were on a bus towards Buenaventura (and were nearly thrown off with people roaring “no gringos, no gringos, no hay espacio!”)…space or not I was getting on that bus! And we were off!! I explained to the ticket girl that we needed to get off at Kilometre 28…at which point she explained to me that, yes, we were on the bus towards Buenaventura but it was not the direct route – that route was closed. Super! So after 8 hours of standing on a bus we arrived at Buenaventura (the second rainiest place on the planet receiving 8 metres of rain annually). I won’t go through it but that journey was nothing compared to the bus back to kilometre 28 the next day. Eventually we arrived at the farm and settled into our little cabin nicely. We had the weekend to chill out and got our instructions that Monday morning for our farming jobs for the next 2 weeks. We quickly relaxed into the stunning surroundings and feasted on fresh fruit and veg (which was badly needed) and managed to buy the local shop out of all their beer pretty fast. Unfortunately we couldn’t stay for longer than 2 weeks as the 60 days on our visa was coming to an end and we had to get an extension back in Cali. So back to civilization it was…first things first…mega large popcorn and coke and 2 tickets to see Harry Potter! Bliss!! After a few panics we sorted out our visa extension – which meant we had to hang around Cali to wait for them for another week and a half. But we that also gave us a chance to visit the other farm in the valley (owned by the couple we were volunteering for) in a little town called Jamundi which was good fun…I also got to feed a baby goat so I was delighted! But soon enough it was time to move on again so we packed our bags and hopped on a flight back up to the Caribbean coast for Christmas week to await Mitch’s mom and brother’s arrival. Exciting stuff…!!
(pic 1: Mitch & I with 1 day old goats; pic 2: Feeding a baby goat in the farm in Jamundi)