To the Lake

Ben writes -

We have made it to Guatemala. It was a bit hairy getting here though. My nerves had settled down a little after driving Anna crazy for 2 weeks. We got the shuttle from San Cristobal de las Casas to the boarder where we had to change buses and wait for a couple of hours amid what can only be called 'total chaos'. We kept a lookout for the Oliver Twist style urchins who were trying to rob us blind and also the older Fagin types with no teeth. A Dickensian experience but a bit hotter.

Tig says I am exagerating.

We then got underway again and we witnessed the devestation which Stan wrought on the area. At one point we waited in a traffic jam for one and a half hours not knowing why. It turned out that the road had been COMPLETELY washed away and they were letting traffic go one way at a time (changing every 2 hours) down a dirt track they had constructed round the mountainside. We saw the old road go on for a bit and then there was nothing. We made it to Panajachel on Lake Atilan that night and got a fast lauch in the morning to San Pedro which is a lovely place.

Friendly people, cheap food, beer and spanish lessons. It has got two massive volcanoes that go straight down into the lake from 3200 feet. We are staying here for a few more days to improve our spanish. Hopefully we can go kayaking here too.

We are off to Belize in a few days to learn to dive with Degs, who is returning from Playa del Carmen where he had to whether out Hurricane Wilma.

Take care,
Ben

Adios Mexico

Ben Writes -

Farewell then to Mexico. We've had a good time here and dispite the violent incident Tig mentioned earlier we have had no more problems. Because of that I seem to have developed an irrational fear of markets however. She made me go to one to buy a lettuce today - I was not happy.

Since leaving Oaxaca we have been travelling with Anna Goy and Wayne/Dave Laramee unfortunately they both proved to be very poor company so we ditched them as soon as possible :)

We all went to San Cristobal de las Casas first and then onto Palenque where we stayed at El Panchan which is a bit of a hippy type place. You can see the cabins we stayed at at www.rakshita.com . We were in cabaña Sol. The picture must have been after a new paint job however, when you look at the picture of it try to imagine it ten years older and covered in cobwebs. Next door in Luna they had to kill a hairy spider the size of your hand. In our little semi we were less than impressed to read the note left behind by a previous occupant, "Beware the large spiders and scorpions falling from the roof". Tig made me erect the mozzy net - then she lost the mossy net bag. She has also lost her travel pillow and a pen so far.

Still we are in very good spirits as we head to Guatemala tomorrow. We had to backtrack to San Cristobal because of Hurricane Wilma hitting the Yucatan. This also vexed Wayne who was wanting to work on his tan. He has headed up to Campeche instead. Anna returned to Oaxaca - I stressed her out considerably with my security concerns.

We are back to plan A now - we were originally going to Guatemala from San Cristobal but changed our minds after Hurricane Stan hit there. We now understand Lake Atilan to be cleared up so that is where we're off to tomorrow.

Nicky Dix tells us that the Galapogos islands have just had a volcanic eruption. Hopefully this won't effect our trip there in 5 weeks time. Hope you are all working hard etc.

Hasta Luego

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

Last note from UK

Hi all

Just a quick note to say adios. We fly to Mexico City tomorrow.

See you in May.

Tigs and Ben xx