Hola from Oaxaca

Hi all

Since arriving we have had a wonderful time. We have been staying with Ben´s family in Mexico City. They have been really kind to us - showing us many of the sites in Mexico City and beyond. One of the highlights was visiting the pyramids in Teotihuacan. We climbed the pyramids del sol and de la luna. My lungs nearly gave out by the time we got to the top but the views were worth it. It should be good training for climbing Machu Picchu when we arrive in Peru.

We also took a great boat ride on a trajineras in Xochimilco. These are gondala type boats where they have big parties and hire mariachies to play and sing. The first week or so we have really been roughing it. The family took us to some amazing restaurants in Mexico City, including a hacienda in San Angel, which had the most amazing gardens and also the revolving restaurant in the World Trade Centre which has panoramic views of the whole of the city.

On Saturday we travelled to Cuernavaca for a wedding. The surroundings were beautiful and everyone made us feel really welcome. We got stuck into the tequillas and tried a bit of salsa dancing in the evening, which was not very sucessful. Ben has become a natural at ordering the local tipple - a 'squirt', which consists of tequilla and grapefruit juice. It tastes like squash but has a lasting effect on your motor functions. After the wedding we went to Tepoztlan which is this magical place in the mountains. People believe that the place has a special energy so it is full of hippies. They have a great market there and also a convent and pyramid to explore.

On Monday we went to Acapulco which has to be one of the most fun places in the world. We stayed in a house that had a view of the whole bay so we could watch the cruisers coming in from the sea.

Bit of history - Acapulco has suffered a bit in the last decade as tourism has declined due to polution problems on the beaches. The government has spent a lot of money cleaning up the bay but now they do not advertise Acapulco as a tourist destination and so it is largely a holiday destination for mexicans. As such it has a great atmosphere and so fantastic places to go out and party.

We went to see the cliff divers who are amazing but totally off their rockers. They basically have to leap about 2 or 3 metres out from the cliff face to avoid being smashed into tiny bits on the rocks at the bottom.

On the way back from Acapulco we went to Taxco which is a small mining town about 1 hours drive from Cuernavaca. On the way we had a bit of drama as our tyre burst. It was lots of fun jacking up the car at noon in the midday sun with enormous juganauts racing past at 80 mph.

Taxco is a great town. The Spanish found lots of silver there and so it has been a mining town for about the last 200-300 years. So there are loads of silver shops and hawkers selling their stuff on every corner. They also have a large statue of Christ up in the hills. It is like a mini version of the one that looms out over rio. From the statue you can see the whole town and the mountains surrounding it.

We have now arrived in Oaxaca to meet Anna Goy and Wayne! We have had a great fews days with them. We visited the market yesterday which is listed in the top 100 things to do before you die. The one thing they didn´t mention was the mass of pickpockets there. Unfortunately one of them decided to try his luck on Ben - not a wise decision. He caught the guy with his fingers in his jeans pocket and promptly gave the guy a smack. It did the trick although thank goodness Anna was there to explain to the local traders what had happened.

Apart from that incident the market was really interesting and vibrant. Full of local ceramics, trinkets, birds that look like rubber chickens and some interesting looking fruit and veg. They also have lots of caged birds which was not so good.

Last night Anna took us out to a salsa lesson which was lots of fun but very embarrasing. Those latin folks can certainly shake their stuff! Then we went on to a salsa club were we tried out our skills. The music is so fast that we ended up doing the side to side dance practiced by many 14 year olds at school discos.

We have also been having Spanish lessons which is great fun. Our spanish is improving slowly and I really hope we can improve over the next month. We can ask lots of questions but can´t really understand any of the responses at the mo. The main issue is the speed at which everyone talks. But I hope by the time we leave Santiago in February we will be feeling more confident.

Tonight we are off to show everyone how to really karaoke. We will have to see if they have Daniel on the menu! If not I am sure a bit of YMCA will go down well with the locals.

Must go now as this has taken ages to write.

Lots of love to you all.

xxxx