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.