Kia Ora to the land of fush 'n chups!

Spent a lovely few days back in L.A at Universal Studios, on the beach and lots and lots of shopping! Comedy moment at LAX when the immigration officer corrected our pronunciation of 'Auckland' (what a cheek!) and then asked what date we would be arriving in Auckland, Australia.... duhhhhhh. We know the yanks aren't known for their geography knowledge.... but really!

Arrived in Auckland and spent a few days mincing around the city, weren't too fussed on it really (sorry Em!) so we decided to endure a 12 hour coach journey to check out Wellington, spectac scenery en route. The weather here has been bizarre, every place we have been we have enjoyed a glorious 25-28 degree day, cloudless skies, and the next day its freezing cold, hat and coat weather.... keeps you on your toes I guess! We liked windy Welly a lot, and boy was it windy, but heard that Christchurch is the place to pick up some cheap wheels, so headed over on the ferry (hat and coat day!), then had an awesome day in Picton where we had our first 'tramping' experience (boiling hot day)!

The journey down to Christchurch came complete with lots of Lord of the Rings type scenery and plenty of seal spotting. In (very English) Christchurch we certainly did find some wheels, we are now the proud owners of a Nissan Serena van, goes by the name of Venus (she's a well built lass). It came complete with everything necessary for a road trip so we headed out to Banks Pennisula to test her out. Went on a few more tramps around here and were lucky enough to spot the world's rarest dolphin, the Hector dolphin. Venus came up trumps and the only thing we had to buy back in Christchurch was a couple of chairs (only cos we are posh!).

Time now for a proper road trip, the sights of the South Island here we come!

Deepest Darkest Mehico....

Started with a very hairy bus ride, not only ridiculous hairpin bends, but also one of the most dangerous roads in Mexico, thankfuly again no bandits, guns or machetes present. Phew. San Cristobal de la Casas is high up in the mountains, meaning we had to crack out our jumpers, jeans and in fact every item of clothing possible. A beautiful colonial town and hot spot for Zapatista rebels and supporters. We learnt all about the Zapatista problems in a documentary at a cinema, hard to imagine so much death and violence in such a beautiful little town! Did a trip to the Canon del Sumidero, absolutely spectacular, apart from one section that was jam packed with rubbish, Mexico blaming it all on Guatemala of course!! Loads of gigantic crocs and vultures too (caused by Guatemalan toxic waste!?), defo not a place for a swim!

Then had a tricky two day journey, we were hoping to end up in Puerto Escondido, but unfortunately there were 'political troubles', our Spanish limiting our understanding of the problems somewhat, but the jist was small puebla was mega unhappy with their mayor so barracaded the entire highway for a few days. Ho hum, we decided to settle for the Pacific coast village of San Agustinillo, a mission to get to on various modes of transport but we eventually made it. Got a room slap bang on the sandy beach and spent a lovely few days chilling out, drinking Coronas and watching the pro surfers attempt the humongous waves!! (Not for us!). Had another day further along the coast in Puerto Angel, not so nice, very odd locals.... time to move on!

To Oaxaca next, much easier to get a bus once we had learnt how to pronounce it!! (Wah-ha-ka!). Another nasty journey complete with old man on the verge of death puking his lungs up by the sounds of it..... not the most pleasant six hours! The soldiers at the military checkpoint en route luckily found it funny when the guy puked up on their post! Oaxaca is known for its local delicacies such as chapulines - deep fried crickets in chilli (bit of a dodgy after taste), mole negro and verde -chocolate sauce for meat dishes (tastes much better than it sounds), and tasajo pounded beef (average), not forgetting their famous hot chocolate with sweet bread for dipping (yum). Oaxaca itself was pretty nice, lots of art galleries and nice buildings but the traffic was terrible, bordering on black bogie territory! Had a nice day trip out to El Tule to see the biggest tree in the world, it sure was a whoppa.

Next, the gem that is Puebla, offers everything that Oaxaca has but better. Pristine streets and lovely bustling zocalo with loads of bicentary celebrations, we stumbled across a whole symphony orchestra outside the cathedral one night playing a free concert, only in Puebla! Wish we had longer here!

Finally Mexico City.....for some reason we didn't have high hopes, but it surprised us no end. It is a gigantic city with its fair share (and more) of crime, but there are also lovely areas throughout. The genius metro system made getting around easy and cheap (at 15p a ride you can't complain!!). We decided to go to Plaza Monumental on Sunday afternoon to see the weekly bull fight, controversial we know but we had heard so much about the tradition and atmosphere that it sounded like something of a spectacle...... however after the first fight Sarah felt more than a little queasy and we had to leave. The crowd were incredibly bloodthirsty and got their money's worth as every Sunday six bulls are slaughtered. Amazingly everyone was downing their Coronas and red wine and knocking back the tacos no problem, no way we could eat anything, way too gruesome!

Day trip out to Teotihuacan pyramids was excellent, though the heat out there was incredible, climbing the 70m high pyramid of the sun was no picnic! Spectac views though. Back in Mex City we spent the next few days exploring the sites, parks, museums, art galleries, zoo and tortas stands (the best sandwiches in the world). The best thing we saw was probably the voladores rite, four indigenous Totonac people fly down a 20m high pole upside down spiralling bungee jump type of thing. One even playing the pipe and drum as he goes down! Why they thought this was a good idea back in the day, who knows? Magic mushrooms? Still, it was great to see!

We have had a fantastic time in Mexico, probably our favourite country of the Central American leg of this trip, the locals have been so friendly, food awesome, lovely colonial cities and beaches that knock your socks off and put your flip flops on for you.....

¡Viva Mexico! Part Uno

Regrettably leaving Belize behind we headed to Mexico in search of the best chimichangas we could find..... First stop Tulum to the cliff top Mayan ruins, shame it was so well maintained it looked like a golf course with a few strategically placed obstacles, the beach was more of an appeal, just had to watch out for the giant iguanas! Crystal clear turquoise waters and white sands..... mmmmm.

Playa del Carmen next, yet another beach heaven (though in the news last week for a hotel exploding....). These Yucatan beaches are summat else! We also learnt what a cenote is when we jumped off a bus at one.... lovely place to swim, just a bit nervous bout the crocs! Avoiding Cancun, we hit Isla Mujeres instead, a small island just off the coast. Hired bikes, visited the turtle equivalent to a battery chicken farm, and generally chilled out. Luvly.

More Mayan lovin at Chichen Itza, these sites are becoming more and more overgrown with tourists not vines!!! We wondered where everyone was in the rest of Central America, turns out they`re all in Mexico! Shame at this one you weren´t allowed to clamber over the ruins, but it did have a beaut of a pyramid.

Next Merida, a bit o cool respite after the humid Yucatan, lovely colonial city which goes crazy at the weekends, our room`s balcony was the perfect place to watch the madness unfold. Loads of free dances and live music with awesome fresh churros too! Onwards to Campeche which offered similar colonial cobbled streets and rustic feel with a nice waterfront complete with canons!

Finally our final Mayan ruin, and what a corker... Palenque. One temple in particular was apparently evidence that the Mayan architects enjoyed one too many magic mushrooms!

Onto deepest darkest Mexico next......

You gotta see it to Belize it!

Next stop..... Belize. And what an absolute joy to speak English once again! Headed first off to San Ignacio where we waited out the tail end of the hurricane. Boy did it bucket it down! Unfortunately the entire country was out of electricity and water for 24 hours (would have been useful to know that before heading into the country - doh!!). Still we had a very pleasant time watching the rain gush down from our balcony.

Once the hurricane had well and truly passed we jumped on a bus to Belize City. Saw the full extent of the hurricane as we passed pretty much along its path. Lots of big trees down, most telegraph poles down and lots of roofs ripped off. Still, the Belizeans were quick of the mark to start fixing everything.

Off to Caye Caulker next, choppy boat ride, but wow what a beautiful island. Quite a bit of damage here but the reefs luckily weren´t too badly hit and we had an awesome snorkelling trip around the second biggest reef in the world. One boat stop we made and the sea was jam packed with southern stingrays and nurse sharks. The fate of Steve Urwin ringing in our ears, we kept our distance, but clearly the guide hadn´t heard of this and spent his time in the water wrestling them!! We are also pretty sure its just not right to grab hold of sharks fins while they thrash about in the water trying to get away.... still was an interesting sight none the less! The fish were incredible too, and too quick to be caught by our mad guide! The most dangerous thing on the island were the night time giant crabs which came out with a vengence at sun down! Our walk from our beach side hut to the seafood restaurants further up the island was always a comical affair of focussing hard with a torch and jumping out of the way pronto!

Had a really great time all in all in Belize, not doing much but chilling on beaches and chatting to the locals, what a lovely bunch (and what an awesome accent!!)

Holy Guatemoley!

The plan was to skip Guatemala completely due to the scary recent increase in violent hijackings of buses around all tourist areas in the country. We were aiming to catch the Honduras to Belize ferry.... until we read that the company that runs this route loses on average one boat EVERY month, given that the boat only runs once a week we decided that these were odds we didn´t particularly like, so Guatemala it was. Lucky we made that decision as the day we were due to get the boat Hurricane Richard hit Belize! Phew.

Headed to a market town of Chiquimula first, border crossing was a breeze, if a little blocked up with banana lorries! Had to then endure what was supposed to be a seven hour journey on another rusty school bus. After nine hours we still werent there and then the tyre exploded. No need to get us off the bus to jack it up though! Incredible! Made it safe and sound to Flores, a lovely little town on a lake island, twas all very tranquil apart from some dude who kept shooting birds! Headed to the world famous Tikal for the day, really was amazing. Lots of wildlife too, tarantulas (which one mad aussie woman kissed.... what is with the australians!??), ant eater things, toucans, jungle peacocks things (the technical names!!) howler monkeys (which sound like jaguars) and spider monkeys (which nicely aim their poo at you to make their presence known!!). Hurricane Richard passed over us in the night, wasn´t too bad, lots of wind, rain and noise.

Honduras = Guns, Cowboy Hats & Landslides

We´ve seen more of the above than you could shake several sticks at. Unlike the other Central American countries where every man, child and dog carries a machete, here, its all about guns. Luckily we didnt see any close up, but first stop was Danli.... not a place to linger long. The police have giant machine guns, security guards have humongous air rifles and every one else has pistols. Lovely!

Travel around Honduras was entirely on old American school buses, in various states of disrepair, surely the US dont ask for any money for these buses?

Onto Lago de Yojoa where we stayed at a micro brewery (think Zero Degrees with hammocks and a pool), Matt wrestled a rather large spider for his life jacket (check out the photo!!) and we enjoyed a spot of kayaking on the lake.

The hot springs of Gracias were calling us, the highlands of Honduras were surprisingly chilly, even had to dig out a jumper! We still had yet to see a single other tourist in Honduras!! Where is everybody?? Gracias was a lovely cobbledy street kind of place, v nice to chill out there.

Copan Ruins next, where we were sure we would see some other tourists.... we saw a grand total of one! Our first Mayan ruin, and it was goooooood. Very impressive sculptures, even more impressive having the place to ourselves.

Nicaragua Extravaganza

Possibly the worst border crossing ever experienced between Costa Rica and Nicaragua.... but several hours later we emerged (and several more dollars poorer). First stop Isla de Ometepe, twin volcanos rising out of Lago de Nicaragua- luvly. Met up with Mawson and the Balgue community kitchen building team to give a hand on the construction site.... last nights Flor de Cana (rum) was not our friend in the blistering heat trying to mix concrete (Matt) and brick lay (Sarah). Trekked up the nearby Maderas volcano too, having to climb a tree to get a view.... not the most accessible! Not sure what was more knackering, the eight hour climb or the eight hours of attempting to speak Spanish with our guide!

Off for a bit of beach and surf action at San Juan del Sur (whole build team taking some time out there), little did we know the whole country shut down on sundays, making the journey ever so fun.... was very strange to be around so many other gringos for a change!

Onto Granada, beautiful colonial town, with an even more beautiful posh hotel swimming pool we treated ourselves to (to rest those aching surfing muscles). Another volcano experience in Masaya, this time extremely active, with our throats and nose burning from the sulphur (angry volcano and even angrier taxi driver... cheating scumbag).

Flying stop in the capital, Managua, which to put it politely is an absolute shithole choc-a-block with terrible drivers, and onto the coffee highlands of Matagalpa, which wierdly is the first town we have come across with no restaurants.

Amazingly not a drop of rain fell on us in Nicaragua, having just missed the hurricane that passed through end of September (others we met enjoyed seven days of solid rain). Score.

Off to Honduras next....

Conquering Cerro Chirripo & Costa Rica

Navigated the dodgy bridge border crossing into Costa Rica and rewarded ourselves with a few days chilling out on the Caribbean coast, some awesome beaches and snorkelling around there.

Decided to brave the dodgy roads (and dodgier public transport) to find the town of San Gerardo, the base town to climb Costa Rica´s highest mountain (3820m). The guidebook vaguely mentioned the path was steep, and 8 hours into the first day to base camp, we would definitely have classed it as frickin´ steep!! The race was on against the days thunderstorm, and unfortunately the last few km of that day was in torrential rain as we tried to ignore all the dead burnt trees and lightening around us.... staggered to base camp and a very unwelcoming welcome, the ranger wouldn´t even let us have any hot water for our noodles.... boo hoo. Second day was pretty darn hard too, 26km and steep steep steep all the way. But we did it!! (Couldnt walk for the next three days but thats not the point!!)

Onto La Fortuna next, where we explored lava fields, waterfalls and even managed to time it right and see Volcan Arenal erupt!! wow weeeeeee!

Panamanarama

Panama City was big, busy and bewildering, especially the local buses, which we never quite mastered! At one point a couple of policemen took pity on our confused selves and personally escorted us to the right random street with no name!! There are nice parts to it, the Casco Viejo old town is very quaint and of course we had to go and check out the masssshuive ships crossing the Panama Canal (though unfortunately this looks NOTHING like it did in Team America!!). At one point we were casually looking at a river from a bridge when we noticed a six foot croc skulking around in the murky water- crikey! We now constantly have our eyes peeled for any more lurking crocs (and snakes for that matter!).

Headed into the highlands to Boquete, where it was wet wet wet. Beautiful jungle though, muchos mosquitoes being the downside and some fairly dramatic river crossings! Then to the archipelagos of Bocas del Toro. Awesome place, crystal clear water, big orange starfish everywhere, beautiful empty beaches and $1 beer - mmmmmm. Will attempt to make you jealous when we find somewhere we can upload photos!

The Panamanians are a friendly bunch and we have been getting no hassle whatsoever which is excellent! What little Spanish we learnt however doesn't seem to be understood too much, making travelling around all the more fun!

Next installment...................COSTA RRRRRICA!

Adios USA. Hola Panama!

We have arrived in wet n soggy Panama so thought it was about time to mention our adventures in the u.s of a!

A few lessons we learnt whilst there:
- If you ever find yourself unemployed in L.A, spend your time watching TV sitcom filmings, free tickets, free food, free drinks! what more could you want!
- Matts hand twin is Bruce Willis (Hollywood)
- Mojave Desert campground is scarily remote with lots of deadly snakes, not great for a good nights sleep camping!
- Whoever wrote the mile markers for the hiking trails around the Mojave Desert was very misguided as to how far a mile actually is.
- 55 degrees centigrade is a bit on the warm side for hiking down, let alone up the Grand Canyon!! Absolutely spectacular all the same!
- In Monument Valley every car magically has off-road capabilities......even a fiat panda? I think not!
- Best way to describe Vegas.... Barry Island on acid!

We´ve had a great time so far, and looking forward to the next few months in Central America, hopefully with not a burger and fries in sight!

Arrived!

This is for all you doubting Thomases out there who thought we wouldn't bother blogging til we got home! Ah ha - here is our first blog on the road thanks to a combination of jet lag, free internet and a wierd rule that the front door won't be unlocked unil 8am.... hmmm. Not that we have much to say though!

So we arrived safe and sound - bumped into Johnny Rotten at Heathrow - had to hold back from telling him how sad it was to sell out for butter! Amazing views over the Arctic Circle and between us and our new friend who we sat next to 'in the movie business' we pretty much watched every film Air NZ had to offer. Time well spent.

Introduction

Hello one and all.
Have just been introduced to the beauty of blogging and thought it was perhaps quite a good idea to try out this new fangled idea and get a travel blog on the go for any who are interested as to our whereabouts in the next year.
T minus two weeks until we begin our adventure, so time is currently being spent selling our furniture and vintage bikes and getting our jabs. Very excited!