After the freezing weather and the snow that we experienced in Peru, when I first arrived in Havana, Cuba, the heat seemed to be a very welcome relief! That said it was the middle of the night and it was still about 30 degrees, so I should have been a little wary!

I was a little nervous arriving in Cuba, being a communist country and all, and quite strict with who can enter and leave the country, but I went through the airport pretty quickly, and it was great to see Luke waiting at Arrivals for me.

It didn’t take long to realise that this was a poor country, as the taxi driver had to stop to fill up with petrol on the way into town, and did so using a coke bottle of fuel that he pulled out of the boot! This was further reiterated by breakfast the next morning, ‘toast’ which was really just bread warmed by being left out in the heat for too long. But that said, our room was air conditioned and that would really make up for anything!

We soon realised that the heat and humidity would prove to be somewhat of an obstacle to our touristy adventures (38-40 degrees and very humid), but essentially that just meant that a long afternoon siesta was justified, as it was far too hot to be walking around outside between lunc htime and about 5 o’clock. We also learned that things are done a little bit differently in Cuba. There are two currencies used in Cuba, the local peso and the CUC (for tourists), and that means that tourists can only used some ATMs and not enter all shops (some are for locals only). We also learned that the locals are not supposed to have too much interaction with the tourists, unless it is specifically part of their job. On the first day, we were trying to find an ATM, and the guy who was the doorman at our hotel, happened to bump into us on his day off and offered to help us out. Partway towards the bank, he was stopped by two policeman and a military officer and questioned for about 15 minutes, whilst Luke and I waited. In the end he said to go on and he’d see us the next night at work. We never saw him again... who knows?

As a general rule, the food was also pretty terrible, and the service even worse. But when you are working in one of the state run restaurants and earning $8-13 a month, I’d be a little grumpy too! That said, we did find a great little parador in Havana, a little restaurant run out of someone’s private house (there is supposed to be a maximum of only 12 seats, but often then sneak some more in), and a brilliant Italian restaurant on our last night in Cuba. With these few exceptions, the food was pretty bland. Everything came with rice and a few slices of tomato and raw cabbage, and often the meat was of cuts that you wouldn’t even feed your pets – pieces of gristle and bone throughout.

Despite any of this, Cuba was absolutely unreal. To appreciated Havana, I think that you have to be a little nostalgic and take yourself back to the 1940s and 50s when the casinos were booming, the US mafia was running the place, and there was money to be had by all. In its day, I daresay Havana would have been the most beautiful city in the world - the architecture is unbelievable. Now, most of the buildings have fallen into an absolute state of disrepair and are crumbling and missing doors and windows and in desperate need of a fresh coat of paint.  But come night time, and the buildings were lit up with flood lights, hiding all of the flaws, they still look pretty spectacular.

We had two days in Havana at the beginning of our holiday where we checked out the old town, some of Ernest Hemmingways’ old haunts, the malecon, sampled quite a few ice creams, and naturally, we also drank a fair bit of Cuban rum - enjoying mojitos, daiquiris, ron Collins and whatever else may have been on the menus.

We had then decided to book five nights staying in an all inclusive resort on Cayo Guillermo at the top (?) of Cuba. This place was pretty much paradise. Bright blue, tropical water, white sand, millions of palm trees, sun lounges all along the beach, a massage therapist set up under a hut on the jetty and blue skies. The package was also all-inclusive, and so that meant cocktails under a palm tree on the beach at any time of day! We stayed in a bungalow and it was only a short walk to the restaurant, to the bar, to reception and to the beach. The resort had a pool, but we never actually used it – when you have a beach as beautiful as the one that we had on our doorstep, why would you go anywhere else?

There were lots of activities on offer, so we pretty much tried everything. We each had massages on the first day, Luke went for a ride in this boat/plane contraption, we went scuba diving (inquired at 9.30am in the morning, pool lesson at 10.00, on the reef at midday – who needs certifications! And we went down to 16m), and chartered a boat and went deep sea fishing. Turns out that I am the undisputed champion of Cuban fishing, there was only one fish caught all morning, and guess who caught it! Among our days on Cayo Guillermo, there were also two ‘nothing’ days, as there was a tropical storm passing over Cuba and that meant that the weather was pretty miserable and all water activities were cancelled. Fortunately, the Olympics were on, so we could watch them. This did mean, however, an awful lot of Greco roman wrestling, weight lifting and indoor volleyball (the sports that Cuba featured in).

I also like to think that we did our bit for the Cuban revolution one night. We went out to dinner to one of the fancy restaurants in the resort and found that there were a few sacrifices that we had to make. A slight modification needed to be made to our pizzas as they were out of nearly every topping (though there did seem to be plenty of carrot), there was not cabernet sauvignon despite there being 3 or 4 on the menu, and there was no choice to be made regarding dessert! This follows four or five days of there being no internet access at the resort, b/c they were out of access cards and new ones hadn’t arrived yet. And they never did either!

With some sadness, we moved on to Trinidad after six days on Cayo Guillermo, and since transportation is pretty limited if you are not coming or going from Havana, this meant that we caught a taxi for 3 ½ hours! Not the cheapest way, but there was no other option. For the first time this trip we got ‘done’ by a jinintero, as the taxi driver pretended that the casa that we wanted to stay in would be full and so took us to his ‘friends’ casa instead, where we got charged a terrible rate and the lady tried to screw us for every dollar. But, again, it was too hot to be bothered to do anything about moving, so we put up with it for four nights!

Trinidad was pretty nice, much smaller than Havana, and a little quieter than I might have imagined. We had lobster for dinner the first night (a $10 a serve, how can you go past it!) and found a cool outdoor bar in the ruins of an old theatre to have a drink in. The following day, we made one of our silliest decisions. We decided that it would be a good idea to hire bikes and ride the 16kms to the nearest beach, Playa Ancon. In any month, other than the summer, this is probably a good idea and a pleasant experience, but it was a terrible one on this particular day. It was unbelievably hot, the road seemed never ending, and unfortunately when we got there, it didn’t even compare to the beaches of Cayo Guillermo. That said, the tropical storm had ripped through the area only three days earlier, so it wasn’t entirely surprising that the water was a bit murky and there was sea weed all over the beach. So after a quick dip, we started making our way back to Trinidad, but only got so far as a lunch stop (where absolutely nothing listed on t menu was available!) when we decided that enough was enough and hailed a cab to take us that 13kms back home! The saving grace was a delicious ice cream parlour that we found in Trinidad – I think we had three ice creams each that day!

The following day we made another not to fantastic decision (b/c essentially deciding to do anything slightly vigorous during the day was not so good). We went up to Topes Collantes  to do a walk down to a waterfall. According to the guide books, it was supposed to be cooler up there and more like cloud forest. Turned out that it was almost as hot up here, but we made the walk down to the waterfall and had a swim, and then made the return journey back up. It only took about 45 minutes to get back up, but I almost fainted a couple of times and there were quite a few stops along the way. Fortunately there was a bar at the top of the trail which sold plenty of water served the best lunch we had the entire time in Cuba! Toasted sandwiches with cheese, ham, mustard and chutney. Actually, they would have been good in any country!

We made it back to Trinidad, and that night contributed to the cause of the revolution once again. The entire town  experienced a black out that night whilst we were out for dinner. This meant dinner by candlelight, and since there were absolutely no lights on in the town, it would have been impossible to find our way back to the casa, so we did the only sensible thing of staying there and testing the restaurants cocktail list! We had actually chosen this place to eat because it overlooked a plaza area where live music was usually played. We’d been sampling cocktails long enough for the lights to come back on, so made our way to the plaza, along with what seemed  every other tourist in Trinidad (the stairs were packed!) for some live Cuban salsa music. People (mainly locals) were up and dancing at the front of the stage – it was good fun.

We went snorkelling the next day, travelling out by catamaran to one of the nearby cayos, however, as the tropical storm has passed through only a few days earlier, the water was still pretty murky, so there wasn’t too much to see.  It made for a nice day in the sun and in the water, however, there was still more fun to be had. Luke gets one thousand bonus points because he agreed to come and have a salsa lesson with me that night. But it wasn’t any salsa lesson, it was conducted in the cool bar that we’d gone to a few nights earlier (in the ruins), on the stage, with the spotlight on us, and we were the only two taking a lesson at that time – slightly nerve wrecking!  But we had a lovely teacher who kept promising ‘only one more’ (step to learn), but bombarding us with at least six or seven! In the end we had the basic steps down and one tricky spin move!

The following day it was back to Havana by bus. It was about 5-ish hours, stopping for a break just near a town called Australia, and stopping for the bus driver to pull over on the side of the highway, dash across to a friend’s (?) house, chat through the window for about 10 minutes, finally come back with a bag of lemons and then we continued on our way! I don’t think I mentioned what the roads in Cuba were actually like. As a general rule, the bitumen was okay – few major pot holes here and there – but there was ever form of transport moving along these roads – massive, old 1950s cars, trucks, buses (the snazzy tourist ones and the run down local ones), army trucks, new cars, bicycles, horse and carts, donkeys. You name it, if it had wheels or hooves,  we would have seen it on the roads at some point in time.

So we had one final afternoon in Havana where we brought lots rum and cigars to take home/London, ate yet more ice cream, and then for dinner we went to the amazing Italian restaurant – by far a standout in Cuba. It was the most sensational meal, and we were only disappointed to find it on our last night. We also found (or had recommended by a Tasmanian couple who were staying in the same casa as us in Trinidad) a great casa in Havana, where the host was lovely, the air con was cool and breakfast the next morning was tasty! The only other thing that we were slightly disappointed about was that we forgot to take photos of Havana city. It is unlike any other city and it’s just a pity we didn’t capture it.

On the way to London we had a one day stop-over in Mexico City, so we briefly visited the Zocolo (to do something touristy) and then shopped to our hearts content, buying one million DVDs, sunnies, t-shirts and all sorts of things at ridiculously cheap prices. We arrived in London after a cramped, but uneventful flight, and for me, I found it strange that after four months in Spanish speaking countries, suddenly everyone was speaking English. I had forgotten how easy it was to talk to attendant selling the tube tickets, or to the checkout lady in the supermarket and not have to bumble my way through! Ah... the simple things!

So we are now living in Battersea with Robbo and Chris, two of Luke’s friends from Brisbane, and everything is great. But now the sad part – time to step back into the real world, the holiday is over and I need to get a job...

Well Anna and I set off to conquer the Inca Trail at 4.30 in the morning, on Thursday 31st July (the best part of the day), and we survived to tell the tale! It was bitterly cold in Cusco and we were wondering what we were getting ourselves into as we jumped into the van with 8 others (all from the US – what we´d manager to avoid thus far!)! After meeting up with our chef in Ollantaytambo, who apparently went AWOL,  and driving a further 40mins to Km82, we began our trek with what was supposed to be the easiest part – the ´Ínca Flat´ - nothing overly flat about it.

Having heard from various sources, how tough the second day apparently is, Anna and I approached the trek with some trepidation, especially when we discovered that that ´flat´ was not really all that flan – what would Day 2 really be like??  But my fears were soon put to rest, and I knew that I would survive when we arrived at our lunch spot to find that the porters (and there were 14 porters for the 10 of us) had set up an eating tent, we were given a glass of Chica Morana (a cordially type drink made from purple corn – incredibly good) and there were little basins with soap and a hand towel laid out for each of us! I certainly wasn´t expecting this type of luxury, but I knew that somehow I would be able to cope!!

The porters were absolutely unbelievable – there were fourteen of them carrying absolutely everything – from the food to the tents, to the chairs and tables, to the cooker and even the gas bottle to run the cooker! Those guys were amazing. Even more amazing was watching óur´ porters compared with those from other companies (NB, I cannot recommend Llama Path highly enough to anyone considering doing the Inca Trail). Everyone had a job and something in particular that they carried.

After lunch we hiked some more, before stopping for day, which meant ´happy hour´ - popcorn, biscuits and MILO! And this was all before dinner, which was always a three course meal (as was lunch). Needless to say, it was early to bed that night, in our tents, wrapped in just about everything that we owned – I was finally pleased to be carrying all my thermals, sleeping bag and liner!

The next morning wasn´t quite so early, and just to add to the luxury of the trip, we were woken by the porters, bearing both cocoa tea (thought to help with altitude sickness) and basins with warm water to wash! The second day was the hard day – we basically did an M shape – up to 4200m (Dead Woman’s Pass), down 1 ½ hours for lunch (Pacajunga), and back up to 4000m, before traversing down through cloud forest to stop for the night. We passed a couple of spectacular Inca sites along the way, so fortunately that gave us all time to catch our breaths and have a break. I didn´t actually mind the hike this day, as it was not nearly as bad as what I had been imagining, and once I got into a rhythm, it wasn´t too bad. That said, I´d not be in a hurry to do it again, and I felt especially sorry for one of the girls in our group who was suffering from altitude sickness.

It was during this day, that I came to the realisation that two of the americans doing the trek with us – two guys from New York, were absolute morons. From their need to be the centre of attention, to their need to reach all the key checkpoints first, they drove me mad.  But this wasn’t enough to detract from the experience, especially as the others in the group were great (four friends from Colorado and two girls from New Jersey) and our fantastic leader, Casiado, who called us all ‘super-hikers’ started every morning with a cheer, called all of the other groups ‘losers’ (tongue in cheek) and was constantly playing ‘total eclipse of the heart’ on his wooden flute-thingy.

We had a little bit of a sleep in on the third day, and after a massive breakfast of toast, pancakes, porridge and more  cocoa tea, we set off for a ½ day hike to our final campsite.  The path was almost all downhill and there were lots of switchbacks, so it was actually quite hard work. Arriving at the campsite, it was very different to the others – every group would be staying there that night, so we  were all crowded in.  However, there were showers there (and hot ones at that!), and that turned out to be the best 5 soles I spent in quite some time – came out like a new person after the first shower in three days! Late in the afternoon, we went for a short walk to an Inca Site, Winay Huayna, and managed to catch the sunset from there.

In contrast to the sleep in that morning, we were up at 3.30 on the final morning, to make the journey to the sun gate (overlooking Macchu Piccu) by sunrise.  This was an out of this world experience. We were at the checkpoint at 4am, hoping to be first in line to then start the hike, had to wait there until the checkpoint opened at 5.00am. As soon as the checkpoint opened and our documents had been checked, it was virtually ‘every man for himself’. The pace was pretty quick, as each group tried to maintain their spot on the path, and within each group, people rushing to be at the front, and therefore get to the sun gate first. It was pretty spectacular to get that first glimpse of Macchu Piccu and know that you had made the four day trek, though you were quickly pulled back into reality as we jostled with one hundred other people to take a good photo. It was packed!

We spent a couple of hours walking around Macchu Piccu (being guided by Casiado), but if the truth be told, I think that it was more about the challenge of completing trek than Macchu Piccu itself, and by the time we got down to start our tour of the city, I was totally and utterly exhausted. That said it was still quite spectacular, and amazing to see how such an advanced city was built such a long time ago. Especially without all of the technology that we have today.

After lunch, we then caught a train back to Ollayantaytambo and a bus to Cusco. We got back, and much to our dismay, not only was there no hot wáter at the hotel, but there was no wáter full stop! The owners assured us that it would be back on in 10 minutes, so we waited ten minutes, then 30, the 1 ½ hours, but still no luck, so we had no other option but to go out to dinner without showering – gross! However, this was son to become the least of our worries as Anna discovered that her credit card details had been stolen and $6000 had been run up on her credit card. Given that money was spent in places such as ‘Hot Wheels Quito’, it was pretty unlikely that it had been her! So there were a few frantic phone calls to Australia that night.

Needless to say, we changed hotels the following day. We found a lovely hotel with big rooms, (very) hot showers (we checked before booking the room!), and an open fireplace in the bar. We spent the day recovering by shopping, emailing home and Anna even had a massage. The next two days were our ‘sheep’ days as we joined tour groups, 1 – to visit the sacred valley, and 2 – to travel to Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca. For two days we were herded around with 50 000 other tourists from market, to inca site to all you can eat buffet, where it was impossible to really appreciate anything as the archealogical sites were swarmed with tourists and rude americians pushed in front of you at every turn (not to generalise, but..).

On the way to Lake Titicaca we stopped at the highest pass along the way, and it actually started snowing! It was ridiculously cold, and fortunately there were ladies there selling scarves for about $10, so I brought one of those! Anna and I thought that it was only snowing here b/c it was so high, but no, turned out it would snow a couple of times in Puno also! We arrived in Puno and couldn’t get away from our hideous tour group quickly enough, but fortunately had booked ourselves into a great little hotel, and then found the most brilliant restaurant to eat in. It was an Italian restaurant (at this stage we are getting a little over rice and beans), which was run by a family where all the kids worked, and the wood oven pizza chef was the thirteen year old cousin who quite enjoyed practicing his English with us (and vice versa). The food was delicious, and in fact so good that we went back another two times! The best meal that I had there was an alpaca steak with a red wine and pear sauce – actually, it was one of the best meals I’ve had ever!

So we had a day to explore Puno, booking a tour out to the islands, climbing to one of the look outs – a little silly given Puno’s altitude and then our decision to climb even higher! and visited the Yavari navy ship.  The Yavari is a boat that was commissioned by the Peruvian navy back in the 1860s, that was designed and the pieces constructed in England, and were then shipped to the Peruvian coast and carried up to Lake Titicaca (at 3800m) by man and mule to be put together there!

We woke up the following morning to snow falling and Anna seriously questioning whether we actually wanted to go out and visit the islands, given that it’s apparently even colder on the islands! We did go, and purely by default we ended up on a nicer boat that what we paid for (reclining chairs and only 14 other people), which was a major plus, given that the first boat we’d been put on had about 30 people and they were all squished onto bench seats. It was a very slow journey out to the Uros Islands – the famous floating reed islands. There are more than 40 man made islands in the group, and our first stop was Isla Manco Capac where one of the local men explained how the islands are made and demonstrated how they built their houses and their ovens.  The islands really are terribly commercialised, so the island also had stalls set up, and each family trying to sell us handicrafts. We then caught a reed boat, powered by local men paddling, across to another island, and then we jumped back onto our actual boat for the journey to Isla Amantari. We arrived at the dock to see a group of locals all lined up, hoping to take in a group of tourists (and therefore receive a payment). Anna and I stayed with an older lady and her family, but in all honesty, we were a little disappointed with the experience. We thought (or at least hoped) that we would be living like the locals for the night, but we had our own room with beds and a table and chairs, which meant that we ate by ourselves in our room (so never really met the family), had comfortable beds and even electricity (even though it is particularly expensive on the islands).

Although it was freezing cold, we did walk up to Templo de Papatata (a temple up on one of the highest points of the island) for sunset, and then came back down to the village’s plaza for a celebration of the local artisans – good timing to catch this! Lots of dancing and bonfires being lit. We were also supposed to go to a fiesta that night, but it was absolutely freezing, so Anna and I decided not to go, and in the end, this wasn’t such a bad idea. From all reports, it was a very staged affair – and not surprising, given that the locals have to put on this show every night and most others only stayed about 30mins. The following morning, we had a whirlwind trip to Isla Taquile – not much to see there, and we never actually did anything. So it was more or less a waste of time, and then it was time to make the three hour journey back to Puno.

So one more night in Puno, and of course the obligatory visit to our favourite restaurant, and then we were off to the airport and for one last day together in Lima. Stayed at a nice hostel in the San Miguel district, and spent the day in and around Miraflores – walking along the clifftop above the ocean and trying to avoid waiters doing the hard sell for their restaurants. We did find a shopping centre built into the side of the cliffs (sounds a lot cooler than it actually is) but did find a bar that did good cocktails and calamari. After a bit of trouble trying to find a restaurant for our ‘last supper’ (Anna would be leaving at the crack of dawn the next morning), and discovering the most disgusting sangrias that I’ve ever tasted (and subsequently left almost untouched), we found a really nice seafood restaurant and a nice bottle of wine!

So we toasted our six week holiday, lamented the fact that Anna would be back at work in only a few days, and promised that we wouldn’t have to be cold or climb any more steps for a very long time!

Before we got to Vilcabamba, we did make a stop in Riobamba in order to go on the train and travel the ´Devil´s Nose´ Railway – a rather amazing engineering feat in that they constructed a railroad from Quito to Cuenca through the Andes back at the beginning of the 20^th century, but one of the problems they encountered was the massive difference in altitude betweeo Simbambe and Riobambe, and the ´Devil´Nose´which is a massive mountain of rock that they somehow had to navigate. So what they did was design a series of switch backs, so that the train zig zags forwards and in reverse to slowly edge down/up the side of this cliff face. And the fun part is that you get to sit on the roof of the train whilst it´s travelling.

The only problem was that we got to Riobambe on the Saturday afternoon, only to find that due to landslides, the train was only running from Alausi to Simbambe (a town 2hours further south). Anna and I decided to call it a night there (having already flown back from Lago Agrio and 4hrs to Riobamba), found our hotel and a great little bar, and would get to Alausi first thing in the morning.

This turned into a pretty epic day, on the 6.30 bus to Alausi, to then wait 1 ½ hours (at least) for tickets, to then find that we couldn´t do the ride until 1 in the afternoon! So we had time to kill in Alausi, but when we did finally get on the train (NB Ecuadorian people do not know how to queue), I thought it was pretty magnificent. Admittedly the ride was much shorter than what it should have been, but the scenery was unbelievable, huge, steep peaks rising up and up towards the sky, green but windblown mountains, and an immediate drop off right next to the traintrack. Obviously everyone wanted to ride on the roof, so which had to switch half way, but the conductor was very kind and let me ride in the open doorway whilst we were sitting below, and then we had the ´wind in our hair´up on the roof on the way back! The switch back was really only a series of three or four zig zags, but it was interesting to experience, as the track had to be switched manually (the conductor jumping off to change), and looking at the rock they had to cut through to make the railway, it was pretty amazing. Really pleased that I did it.

Vilcabamba was a lovely place to stop for a few days – a great hotel with beautiful views of the valley, a fantastic restaurant and plenty of hammocks for reading, lazing and watching DVDs. The only bad thing about this stop was the excruciating pain we were left in after going for a 3 hours horse ride, which turned into 4 hours, and horses that had a mighty strange way of cantering and galloping (Anna and I are convinced the horses had to have something to do with the world´s most uncomfortable horse ride!). Fortunately, the hotel where we were staying did offer $18, 75min massages, so we at least had enough foresight to book in for that before going for the ride!

We took some overnight buses to get to Piura in Peru, and we can categorically say that was one of the worst bus rides ever! The driver was unbelievably heavy on the breaks and took corners really heavily, so it was difficult to sleep. Thrown in the fact that the computer system was down on the border, and it was pretty much disasterous! We did finally get to Piura, and embarked on another big journey down to Trujillo, further down the coast of Peru. Rather than staying in Trujillo, we stayed in the little surf/beachside town called Huanchaco, which wasn´t a particularly traditional Peruvian town, given that everyone was getting around in Billabong and Ripcurl clothing, but a nice spot nonetheless. I had a couple dips in the water, though the sweep was incredibly strong, so it wasn´t much fun, and we discovered some brilliant eating spots. Anna and I were a little extravagant, ordering lots of seafood, including cebiche (raw, marinated seafood – actually pretty tasty), tried this delicious dish (purely by accident), which was this moulded, layered stack of potato, avocado and crab meat (I´ll be raving about this for years to come), and we found what I have deemed to be unequivocally the best Mexican restaurant outside of Mexico! The 28^th was also Independence Day, so there were celebrations and street parties everywhere, and Anna really lashed out and at one of the stalls (run by beauty college trainees) had a manicure/nail art done! Actually pretty cool/cute, but I don´t think Anna will be running out to have it done regularly!

We spent a day visiting some of the Moche and Chimu (native Indian) sites around Trujillo, including Chan Chan, which was the biggest indigenous city in all of the Americas. All in ruin now, but they are slowly excavating bits of it. I was impressed by all of the motifs which had been painted on the walls and by the sheer size of all of the buildings, and I was not overly impressed by the hairless dogs which are native to the area, and really quite ugly. The males did gain some credibility, however, as they tended to have mowhawks!!

After the horrendous bus ride to Piura, we decided to lash out and take an executive class bus to Lima. This meant that we had fully reclining seats, a hostess and a little snack box – much better! And then we had a flight to Cusco.

So we are now in Cusco, and getting a little nervous because we are starting the Inca Trail to Machu Pichu tomorrow, and know that the second day is pretty touch and I´m definitely not overly fit at the moment. Come to think of it, I should probably be worried about the other three days also! But we´ve had three days here, basically all full of market shopping and finding delicious restaurants/cafes. Off to the post office this afternoon to post some more things home…

Wish us luck for the trek!!

 So Anna arrived almost a week ago, and it´s been great to see a familiar face. She arrived on Tuesday night to an airport absolutely choc a block full of Ecuadorians also waiting to greet the arrivals and it was hard work to navigate through to find each other!

Wednesday afternoon we met up and went up to El Panecillo, a massive statue of a Virgen who towers over the old town, had a few drinks to catch up, and watched most of the South American Club Champions Final of the soccer. I say most b/c between jet-jag and general tiredness,  I think that we barely made it to half time. That said, I was very aware when the game ended (even though I was at home) b/c there were car tooting their horns and playing loud music and screaming for hours afterwards – The team from Quito- Liga- won!

Thursday was my final salsa lesson, and it was great because Anna was able to come along also, and then an uneventful farewell get together with a group of other students from the school. There were a few of us leaving the following day, but I´m afraid to say that I was not feeling all that sentimental b/c I was more excited about starting the next part of our holiday! I was, however, sad about saying goodbye to my lovely teacher, Amparo, who was just the best.

Friday afternoon I was out of school as soon as my final lesson was done and we made our way up to Otovalo (about 2 hours north) for the big markets the following morning. They are the biggest  markets in Ecuador, and although they are terribly overrun with tourists, they were pretty great. ie we brought a fair bit! Where I did the serious damage, however was when we went across to Cotacachi, a little town about 18kms away which is famous for its leatherwork. I (unfortunately) managed to justify the need for a beautiful pair of chocolate brown leather boots which hardly fit in my pack, but I figure will be great to a winter in London….. we´ll see how the parking goes! But they were a steal!

We are now in Mindo (again for me!). We decided that it might have been a little tricky to do the Latacunga loop and be back in time for the flight to the Galápagos, so we decided on an extra day in Otovalo (time to see the Peguche waterfalls)  and then 2 ½ days in Mindo. There are a few things that I didn´t get to do last time, including tubing (down the river) which we are about to do, and visiting some different (and apparently more beautiful waterfalls). Needless tos ay, I am really pleased to be back in this paradise which is Mindo.

So from here we have 5 days in the Galápagos, backed up the following day by 5 days in the jungle. This is the life….!

Time is still flying by here, and now it’s only one sleep until Anna arrives!

I have had quite an amazing past few days, starting with the Papallacta Thermal Springs last Wednesday night. The springs are about 2 hours from Quito, further south east into the Andes, so they are up high and the road wound its way through the mountains to get there. It wasn’t quite as high as Quito, but it was absolutely freezing by the time we got there at about 8.00pm. The springs are totally different to those in Banos, in Papallacta, as there are about 6 or 7 pools, all of which are of differing temperatures ranging from super hot to freezing cold (plunge pools). The amazing thing was that we went up on a Wednesday night, so there was the group of 6 of us and then maybe only 10 people in the rest of the springs - essentially we had the place to ourselves. It was bitterly cold out in the air, but as soon as we jumped into the water we were warm, and it was a funny sensation to be in the warm water - your ears and cheeks to be tingling b/c they were just about frozen. It was also pretty cool to look up and see so many stars amongst the steam from the springs.

Thursday was great, mainly because we went out for dinner for Mike’s birthday (one of the other students) and I had the most amazing, proper steak from and Argentinian Grill restaurant. Mmm...I miss steak!

Then on the weekend I went to Mindo, a town about 2 hours north west of Quito and it was magical. We were supposed to have a school trip there, but only 3 of us signed up, so it was cancelled, but I’d heard so much about it that I didn’t want to miss out, so I decided to go alone. It turned out perfectly.

I arrived there about 10ish and found some brilliant accommodation, recommended by someone in Quito. It was called La Casa de Cecilia and it was just one massive wooden, open plan stilt house with lots of little rooms. I chose a room that was up in the attic, so to get to it I had to climb up a little ladder and then once up there I had the peak of the roof for walls and windows at both ends, though only one frame had a glass pane in it, so it was like sleeping outdoors, but still being snug!

First things first and I had breakfast when I arrived and during this I met two girls from the UK who were doing a similar thing to me for the weekend. So I ended up spending the weekend with them (Holly and Jane) and we had a marvelous time. We walked to the butterfly garden on the Saturday (the area is renowned for its butterflies and bird species) and saw all of these beautiful bright blue, big butterflies which were impossible to capture a good photo of, but seem happy enough to land on anything and anyone. We also discovered a delicious fruit juice bar which served only juices (in every flavour imaginable) for 50c. So we may or may not have gone back a few times, and between the three of us tested just about every flavour! There are some delicious fruits and juices in Ecuador that I have not seen anywhere else, like tree tomatoes, naranjilla and guanabana. Later that evening we also found a brilliant little dessert only café where we had a beautiful mora  cobbler (mora is like a native raspberry).

Sunday was action day and we were on the go the entire time. We left our hotel at about 8.30 in the morning and the first stop was the canopy zip ride, which was a series of about 10 cables that you crossed like a flying fox. It was amazing whizzing above the beautiful cloud forest, though a bit hairy at the same time when the guides made us hang upside down or not use our hands. And it was a little disconcerting when we noticed about halfway through how hung-over one of our guides was! But we made it back safely! We then hiked up to a series of waterfalls. Well actually, we hiked to a cable car which took us across a valley and from there we hiked down to the waterfalls. It was a decent hike, so by the time we go there, we were boiling and so went for a swim, but it was absolutely freezing in the water. Definitely felt refreshed afterwards. From there we hightailed it back to town (catching a lift with a local farmer in the back of his ute for the grand price of one dollar per person) just in time for a late lunch of trout (typical of the area) and to jump on the bus back to Quito.

A brilliant weekend, and somewhere that I wish I could have stayed at for longer. But for now, it’s time keep learning Spanish –I only have 4 more days in which to become fluent…..

It´s amazing how quickly time flies - I´ve already been in Quito for two weeks and have finished a whole week of spanish lessons. I am having a great time here – I can´t recommend the school that I am going to highly enough. The teachers are fantastic, the staff are great and there are so many things to do. Not to mention I am learning a fair bit of Spanish! My teacher´s name is Amparo and she is just great, so encouraging and patient and I´m amazed at how much you can learn in such a short period of time. Though I have to admit that at the same time it is pretty exhausting trying to think and speak in Spanish all the time, and trying to absorb what you are learning. At the moment it´s verbs verbs verbs and getting a hang of some of the tenses.

But aside from lessons (and associated homework!) there is so much to do. Tuesday nights is the soccer game – teachers versus students at the local park, Wednesday is cooking class at lunch time (the teachers do the cooking for the students – something typical of Ecuador each week), Thursday night is Salsa lessons and then Thursday or Friday is usually some sort of excursión. In addition to this there is a trip away each weekend and some other activity thrown in. Last Wednesday night we went to one of the World Cup Qualifer games for football – Ecuador versus Colombia. It was quite fun, altough it absolutely bucketed down with rain, and I have not been so cold in such a long time. I was actually struggling to think of a time when I have ever been so cold! At one stage before the game, they pulled a massive Ecuadorian banner over our section of the crowd to act as a rain protector, but even through the canvas we were still being saturated.  It´s funny to think that only a couple of weeks ago I was boiling hot, and now it is freezing! Well, not freezing, but we are up in the Andes so it is a lot lot cooler. Anyway, the game was fun though a bit of an anti-climax as the final score was nil all.

This week´s extra activity tomorrow night is to go to some termal springs, somewhere about 2 hours from Quito, though at this stage only Galdia (a friend and another student at the school) have signed up, so it may not be a go-er.

On the weekend just been a group of 10 of us when to a town called Banos (about 4 hours south). This was a trip organised through the school and it was great fun. We arrived and had a 2 course lunch for $2.50…how am I going to cope with prices in the UK?? And then climbed a volcáno in the afternoon. Following a night at some of the bars and clubs around the town, we went quad biking on Sunday morning to visit the surrounding waterfalls. It was great fun as we paired up and tore along the roads, although my life flashed before my eyes at one stage, when Tadaky (one of the other students from Japan) almost ran the two of us into an oncoming van. We honestly missed the van by no more than one metre! Along the way we also stopped to do bridge jumping/bungee jumping over a river. I wasn´t game enough to try bungee jumping, but I did jump and swing from the bridge and that involved a tiny bit of free’falling so I was screaming like a girl! We also rode a cable car over one of the waterfalls, called the Bride´s Veil waterfall. This was possibly more scary tan the bridge jumping – Occ Health and Safety is not a massive priority here in Ecuador!! It poured and poured all Sunday, so by the time we got back to Banos, we were all covered in mud and saturated and freezing, and couldn´t wait to hand the bikes back!

The family that I am staying with is lovely and it´s a good arrangement. It´s a 15 minute walk to school, so I can sleep in and easily pop home for lunch. The main meal of the day here is lunch and everyone comes home for lunch. Not necessarily all at exactly the same time, but lunch is usual ready from 2 o´clock, so when you get home near that time, lunch is served. The food here is great. Lunch is usually a soup followed by a main course of rice or pasta, a meat and vegetables and sometimes something sweet. Dinner is most often left overs from lunch and breakfast is bread or rolls with cheese or jam and/or fruit. The other brilliant thing is that Syvlia, the maid, makes fresh juice ever days and it is always something different, like orange or pineapple or tree tomato (which is like a sweeter versión of a tomato and just delicious). So I am definately not complaining about anything in the food department. Because I eat most meals at home, there are still lots of foods that I want to try, but I´m sure that will come in time.

Anyway, that´s it for now. I would upload more potos but this computer doesn´t seem to want to do that. So next time….

Wowsa - I spoke too soon - I thought my journey into Guatemala was going to be a breeze! I caught a ´first class bus` to the border, which had coffee on board, separate male and female toilets with auto-flush, full lay back chairs, and a driver wearing a full suit. That bus was great - slept the whole night, and as far as traveling overnight goes, woke up pretty fresh.... then the interesting stuff started happening. Nothing bad really, but I was exhausted by the end of that day.

After the 1^st class service from Oaxaca to Tapachula, I had to catch a minibus to the border (1hr; about 23 people in a 12 seater), but it cost about 2 dollars. Then, when I got to the border, I got done for an absolute sucker!!! It was all too hard, so a bicycle taxi man rode me across the border, and even though I said no, his friend came along for the ride to ´help´me across the border. Absolute extortion! Any savings I thought I was going to make by catching `chicken`buses on the Guatemalan side of the border were negated by this. Add to that the fact that when I paid for my Mexican tourist card back in Ensenada, the stupid bank didn`t stamp the card acknowledging payment, and I had no receipt, so I had to pay it again...that was the pits. Thanks god there was a lady from the Cayman Islands (who spoke English) in the migration office who could help me through that one, so I didn`t end up in  jail!!!

Then I had to get another bicycle taxi man on the Guatemalan side b/c the bus station was a fair way from the border and I couldn`t understand the directions, so I got ripped off again, although the driver/cyclist also got a bad deal, b/c he started driving me to one bus station (thinking I was going to Guatemala City) when in actual fact I needed to get to Panajachel, and I had to then get him to take me to the second bus station. And when I say bus station, what I actually mean is a big, muddy parking lot/field with a lot of buses in it and a couple tiny stalls to one side.

Anyway, I got on a collectivo bus ´(the old american school buses, which have all been painted brightly and renamed) headed to ´Pana. The buses still have the original, horrid, vinyl seats and are made for small people, so my butt and knees were numb for quite a while after the journey!!! So I managed to get on the correct bus for a 3.5 hr ride to Quetzeltenango. And was rather confused for a little while while the guy kept calling for people wanting to go to ´Xela´, when in actual fact that is just the local name of Quetzeltenango. Then it was 2 hours to Panajachel (the town on the edge of Lake Atitlan). Fortunately the first driver was really helpful in finding me the next bus to get onto, b/c without him, I would have had no chance. In Xela, there were seriously over 100 buses at the ´station´and I would have had no idea where to start…

The bus rides were actually quite entertaining b/c there were so many people getting on and off with all sorts of packages and goods (eggs, potatoes, luggage, washing, cloth etc etc), and the scenery was pretty cool. Once we left the border and started climbing up, it was all jungle-ly and then we were driving through the clouds. The only thing that I cannot get over here is the lack of concern that the Guatelaman people have for the environment. They all just throw their rubbish out of car/bus windows (ie bottles, plates, cups etc etc) so the roads are littered with junk.  What was also cool about the bus ride was that in each town that we stopped, vendors got on to sell drinks and food – at one placed some ladies got on and actually made up tacos on the spot!

I was, however, terrified on the second leg that my pack was going to be stolen, as the driver and his helper would not let me take it inside with me, and instead had to go on the roof. What also concerned me then was when it started raining and I knew that I didn´t have my waterproof thingy over my pack. To my relief, however, it was there and reasonable dry when I arrived. It`s actually pretty good, each bus I was on had a driver, a Money collected and some one who looked alter luggage, and I didn´t seem to have any dodgy people on my buses, just locals needing to get from A to B.

Apart from that, I have lashed out and have a room with a private bathroom and TV for 3 nights (only 12 dollars a night) b/c I think that after my epic journeys of late, I need a bit of space... Have decided to stay in Panajachel for only three nights. The weather is not fantastic, it has rained each afternoon and we are up quite high, so there is lots of cloud and mist and a bit of rain, so you can hardly see the lake. This also means that you can also only catch glimpses of the Volcano through the cloud.

And truth be told, I´m not totally sold on this place. Maybe it´s better when the weather is clear and when there are more tourists (May is their quiet time), but I don´t think it´s really my kind of place. There are quite a few semi-permanent/gringos here, but they are all of the tie-dye t-shirt wearing, Hessian bag carrying, crappy woven clothes wearing, dreadlocked persuasion, who are really not my type.

But I´ve had a nice time here nonetheless. Yesterday I decided to walk around part of the lake to one of the neighbouring towns, Santa Catarina (about an hour), and when I got there, thought ´why not´, let´s keep going to the next town, San Antonio, and see what that´s like. I worked out that this turned out to be a 22km round journey…ouchies, my shins are killing today! I stopped for lunch in the second town, which was a very generous portion size, but not particularly exciting – just roasted chicken with rice and steamed vegetables. Again, I´m sure this would have been quite a great location, if you had been able to actually see across the lake!

Then today I caught the ferry across to San Pedro, the next biggest town on the other side of the Lake – I think it took about 50mins to get there (stopping by a couple of other little towns on the way) and then about 35mins straight back across. San Pedro was interesting, it was market day, so I wondering through their smallish market, past all of the fruit and vegetables, into the butcher section where all of the meat was just sitting there on the counters, unrefrigerated and uncovered, and have chosen not to think about where any of the food that I eat comes from!!!

Speaking of food, I was totally and utterly put off my breakfast this morning (which was actually quite delicious) b/c there was a dog sitting out on the footpath just infront of me, with hardly any hair and scatching and some revoltingly infected sores all over it´s legs and paws. There are also a lot of apparently stray (though probably owned) dogs here, which appear to be riddled with fleas, that just roam the streets…

So anyway, I had a really nice lunch in San Pedro overlooking the lake (and could see most of the way across, though it was overcast) and then headed back to Pana to watch the Champions League soccer match in one of the bars/restaurants. I also found a little coffee shop which is owned by an American/South African couple who are really nice and who make particularly good coffees. They also source, roast and grind the beans themselves.

The plan from here is that I´m off to Antigua tomorrow lunch time. I have all sorts of things lined up there, like hiking and mountaining biking and horse-riding, so that should be fun. I´ve also decided that I am going to bypass Guatemala City at this stage, and go straight from Antigua to the airport on the 29^th (have bought a flight from Gautemala to San Jose, Costa Rica).

So as you may be able to tell, I am not going to be putting Lake Atitlan on my list of ´must see´ destinations, but that said, I have still enjoyed my time here, and I know that other people have had a brilliant time here, so who knows!

Well, after an epic adventure I am now in Oaxaca, about 6 hrs south of Mexico City. It was an 18hr ferry ride across to Mazatlan (on the mainland), what turned out to be a 20hr bus ride, followed by another 6 hour bus ride!

The ferry actually turned out to be good fun b/c there were two new Zealand guys and about 8 brits onboard, so we watched an incredible sunset (no land to be seen anywhere), then had a couple of beers and played cards for most of the night. Meggie has a lot a lot of beginners luck with the first game that we played, ´last card´,but then the dream run ended abruptly when we started a new one called ´Kings and A**holes. Well, at least until they closed the bar, ie turned off the music and the lights mid-game, and we had no option but to end when we did. Party poopers!

I took Russell and Kim´s advice of getting a cabin to sleep in, and that was definitely the thing to do. It did only go tourist class, as opposed to the next one up, but it meant that you purchased a whole cabin to yourself still, so you could lay down, rather than sit up all night with ratty, crying children, packed into upright seats like sardines. That said, there were three Brits, all over studying Spanish for the year near Cancun, and they had only purchased seats, so I did offer my other beds to them. I figure that I have had a couple of sweet breaks along the way, and I hated the thought of anyone having to sit up all night, or try to sleep like that.

Got in to Mazatlan and caught a crazy taxi to the bus station, and when i got there, there turned out to be only 30mins to the bus i wanted, so i figured to go with that. Turned out there were about 5 others from the ferry also heading along that route, so i had company for the first few hours. Unfortunately within the first 2 hours, we had a blow out, so that took about 1.5 hours to fix, and from then on we had to stop every few hours to either put more air in the tyres, or do something-or-rather. So we were already 3 hours behind schedule when the others got off, so I knew I was in for a long night!! Entertained a couple little Mexican girls for a couple hours, and then slept on and off as we kept starting and stopping.

Finally got into Mexico City at 7am this morning and it just so happened that there was a bus leaving in 30mins to Oaxaca, so I grabbed some breakfast and jumped on that one.

So I am now here in Oaxaca and am happy b/c I´ve showered properly and I smell nice again (!). Just had lunch overlooking the main square of the city with beggars coming up every 2 secs or people selling wares. It´s a lot bigger here, but I think it´s alright. Lots of churches, museums etc to see, and tomorrow I am going on a tour out to the valleys to see some mayan ruins, and to a factory where they made a drink similar to tequila. Ugh!!

There are some new photos up now, so check them out when you have the chance 

So it has to be said - Baja is just amazing and it is definately a place that I have to come back to.

After finally getting a few things organised, I went on a snorkeling and scuba diving tour thingy with four girls from the US on Saturday. The four of them were all from Seattle and are down doing a 1/2 Semester down here in Baja. They were up in La Paz for the weekend, and it worked really nicely in that I wanted a group to tag along with and they were booking at about the same time. It was a pretty full day - we first headed to the top of Espiritu Santos Island where we went snorkeling with the sea lions. None of us were expecting that and were a little bit nervous about getting in the water at first. But our guide was great and we just followed him and kept our arms firmly pressed against out bodies! It was the most amazing thing to see - these massive bull lions swimming just below you, or gliding past and missing you by no more than about 20cm! I think we all wished that we had underwater cameras to try and capture it as it`s definately no everyday you get to do something like that!

After the snorkeling, we headed a back along the island were were kayaked around 4 coves and Benjamin, our guide pointed out all of the different bird species, showed us where the native fisherman once lives in caves on the coves and explained how only the indian fishermen are allowed to live permanently on the island nowadays. There was also these crazy crabs which looked like they belonged in a Disney or Pixar film - they were bright, bright blue and orange. At the fourth cove, we came into the beach for lunch, which the boat driver had kindly prepared for us, and once we had had time for the to digest and to sun ourselves a litte, we were back in the boat to one last spot to snorkel before heading in. In terms of the things that we saw snorkeling, my favourite was the `chocolate chip`starfish, which was bright lime green with brown spots on it.  The trip officially ended when we got back to La Paz, but we all went out for dinner for some more fantastic tacos (chorizo this time) and an icecream.

The following day, I did head down to La Ribera, and had a marvellous time. It`s a smallish (3500)  fishing village about 2 hours south of La Paz, though development has been started on a marina so that is all about to change. Russell`s house is amazing. Given the climate down here, the house itself (a bodega is the correct term I think) is just three rooms downstairs, but then it has an open air second story (so effectively you can by lying in bed or sitting up there with the breeze coming through and be looking out over the water) and a massive outdoor area adjoining with a palm thatched roof, where they have their meals and entertain friends.

On the Sunday night (Mothers Day), Kim and Russell had some friends over for dinner and  Russell BBQ-ed a pork on rotisserie for dinner. It was a delicious meal with good company, so add to that a few Pacificos and it made for a great night.  Amongst  the friends  that came around (Josh, Chuck and Brad), they all had some amazing stories to tell of how they have survived the hurricanes down here, and in particular Hurricane John two years ago. Also great was the fact that Chuck very kindly gave me a couple of maps of Baja (I have already started planning my return trip!) and a brilliant `Spanish for Gringos`book –learning the spanish that you need to get by, but without getting too caught up in actually learning it!

It was also Josh who very generously picked me up from the bus stop when I first arrived, and then took me into Cabo yesterday. Now Cabo , I didn`t really know much about until the OC came on TV a few years ago, and that`s where Jimmy goes sailing in his boat. Anyway, it`s the very end of the peninsula, and it`s where all the cruises end, where all the college kids go for spring break, overly rich people moor their yachts etc etc. Ridiculously priced, but if you`re after a few massive nights, that`s where you go. It`s a town of excesses.

 But we had a marvelous day. Josh did the business that he needed to do, and in true Mexican style, we went into an office to organize some immigration papers, but when we got there, the person he was supposed to be seeing, and that he and his dad had had conversations with, apparently doesn`t actually work for the company – go figure! Anyway, it was sorted out (I think) so we hit the marina, to check out the sights (ie the very flash boats) and grab lunch and a couple of beers. We stopped for lunch in a restaurant overlooking the marina, where we had a mariachi band coming up every 5 mins offering to play a song for `the pretty lady`or some other cause!  You do start to feel bad saying no all the time. We found some markets and I brought a pretty great ring if I do say so - I`m trying not to buy too much `stuff`, but for some reason, I can`t seem to walk past earrings and rings, so it`s starting to accumulate!!

It was pretty darn hot though, so went back to La Ribera, or at least to the property which he and his dad live on, which is just out of town on the beach. So I got to meet Jim, and also see their spectacular piece of a tropical oasis. There is plenty of water in and around La Ribera, so Jim and Josh`s property is covered with palms and lawns (all green and flourishing). And to finish off a fun day, we went down for margaritas on the beach... hard to beat sitting under a palapa at the end of the day with a margarita in hand!

And then we all (Russell, Kim, Josh, Jim and I) went out for dinner to one of their local restaurants, the Lighthouse where there was a man celebrating his 86th birthday, and everyone on that table swore that it was true, that he had been out fishing that day and caught 5 sailfish and 1 marlin and reeled them in by himself! Wowsa!

So after enjoying everyone`s kind hospitality in La Ribera, I am now back in La Paz for one last night before heading across to the mainland tomorrow afternoon. It`s an 18 hour ferry ride, so I`m not particularly looking forward to it, but I am looking forward to the next part of my adventure. And if nothing else, the ferry ride will give me plenty of time to practice Spanish for Gringos!!

After four or so days in Mulege, I´m not in La Paz (getting down towards the bottom of the peninsula). It}s not bad here, a lot bigger than Mulege and lots of American and even a few Australian tourists. I am staying in a hostel which is somewhat alike to staying in a jail - the rooms are cement cells and I have a padlock to lock the door!! Fortunately all of the rooms are out the back, all off a courtyard, and so it´s quiet and safe.

I think I have to say that Mulege has been my favourite town so far. Smaller and relaxed, with a decent mix of locals and americans who come down for 6 months of the year.  Following my adventure to Bahia Conception, I went snorkeling the following day at Punta Prieta, a beach about 5mins out of town, with one of the tour groups. The guy that runs it is British, so for once I had no trouble with language, and it there were some pretty awesome sights. We saw lots of small sting rays and angelfish below the water, and then pelicans and osprays (?) and a heap of other birds resting on the rocks above the water.

On the last day, I caught up with my new friend (I would have absolutely no idea what his name is) and rather than going to the beach, as first intended, he borrowed a friend}s kayak and we went kayaking. I was pretty cool, we paddling down along the Mulege River to the mouth and then headed a little bit south to another beach. All was fine until he thought he heard a rattlesnake (they really do have a rattle) and with that I was straight back in the kayak and back to the town! I}m sure it was nothing, but I was not taking any chances!! I was pleased that we had the tail wind going back in!

It was also in Mulege that I had the most fantastic nachos ever!! I think that the serve would have weighed about one kilo ( I hardly got through a 1/4) and it had everything on it - cheese, meat, tomato, jalapenos, onion, capsicum, guacamole, sour cream - the list just keeps going! So of course I have to go back that for dinner the next night, just to try out something else on the menu!

The bus ride down here was rather uneventful, except for the fact that the trip was supposed to take 6 hours, and it ended up taking just over 8. I suppose that}s mexican time for you... We had three 1/2 hours stops, one on the other side of Mulege, and one when we got into La Paz, but before the bus terminal. ahh! The view of the Sea of Cortez may have been good, except that I could hardly see through the bubbled tinted glass, so instead I settled for watching Armagedon and some Jackie Chan movie with spanish dubbing!

Today is my organising day and it is driving me absolutely nuts! I want to do a mountain biking trip tomorrow, but the store doesn¨t seem to want to open today. I}ve been to the Baja Ferry Office to buy my ticket across to the mainland, but the internet is wrong and there is no ferry on Tues/Thurs (and I want to go Tues) but instead on Mon/Wed. So I am trying to decide - prob Wednesday. I am also quite keen to go to La Ribera and visit the town where Russell (the fellow that I got the ride from El Rosario to Mulege with) and his wife live, and so will try to do that on Sunday for a night or two. Once I work out where I can buy a phone card, I will be able to do that too!!!  Anyway, I will have all of this sorted shortly, and then it will be time for a bit of shopping! There seem to be some pretty good shops here, so I think that will make for a fun afternoon..

Despite this, La Paz seems to be a pretty nice place, though yesterday it was freakin} hot. There is a 5km long Malecon (boardwalk) which stretches along the waterfront (no beach here, need to head around the bay further for that) and lots of cafes and restaurants. It is known for it´s striking sunsets and last night was no exception. It is probably the most modern town that  I´ve been to so far, though there are still a heap of unregistered cards driving around, and lots of absolute bombs which I have no idea how they will run (Mexican mechanics, I guess - do what you can to keep them running).

I was walking along the Malecon last night, just taking it all in, and I met a local from here who is in the Mexican Navy (who knew they had a navy?!). As he said, Mexico tends not to be involved in any warfare, so they really only patrol the waters of Mexico. I saw the naval base from a distance - after going through one of the military checkpoints on the Transpeninsula (a bit nerve wrecking b/c all the soldiers have loaded machine guns, and most of them only look 17-18 years old) and one of the soldiers stopping us as we drove off, demanding that I delete any photos I took - I have become a little hesitant to get too close to police/military/navy. Julio, my new La Paz friend, also took me down to see his ´ship´ which is docked at the moment. In all honesty, nothing more than a tug boat (and an older one at that) which is apparently crewed by 20 people. I would imagine it would have to be pretty crowded.. Doesnt quite compare to the USS Midway or the USS Reagan!!

So as always, the plans keep changing, but I am doing well and enjoying myself!

I was going to catch an overnight bus from El Rosarion to Mulege, but a lovely older American guy, Russell, who has been living in a town called La Ribera in the south for about the last 12 years, was one his way back and offered me a ride (and company for part of his trip). So I took the offer and I´m so glad that I did – the scenery as soon as we left El Rosario is absolutely amazing. It changes so quickly - one moment you are driving through mountains, the next mesas, then desert (well it actually all pretty much desert), then glacial rock formations, then past extinct volcanos, lots and lots of every type of cactus imaginable and there every now and then you come across as oasis (literally) with a lagoon and palms etc. I have taken about 1000 photos, but none of them do it justice. Accepting the ride meant that I actually got to see all of this (otherwise I was planning to be on an overnight bus), I had a personal tour guide, and I also got to see San Igacio, an amazing misión town on the side of a lagoon. I was going to bypass San Ignacio if I had gone by bus, so I was very lucky. The Misión was built in the early 1700s, and it is staggering when you think of how tough the conditions were for building it (I can´t even imagine how they would have brought all the stones by donkey over every rise, dodging cacti and probably the ocasional attack from the indians).

We stopped in a town called Santa Rosalita, on the Sea of Cortez, which is an old mining town first settled by the French. So there was apparently a very good french bakery there (closed on a Sunday) and all of the buildings are made of timber, shipped up from who knows where. What is interesting about this place is that the church that is there was designed by Eiffel (the guy who [obviously] designed the Eiffel Tower), but it was actually entended for Santa Rosalita. It was meant for another town, I have no idea where, but when it wa being shipped through the Panama Canal, it was unloaded incorrectly, and ended up in Santa Rosalita instead!!

Mulege is pretty good - went to the (rocky) beach yesterday and met a semi-local with no english, so combined with my no spanish made for a very difficult afternoon, but still, it was company. And a good opprtunity to practice my spanish.

I wanted to do a tour to the Trinidad Canyon today ( to go down into the canyon and there are some famous cave paintings there), but I was the only one wanting to do it, so the guy said it wasn´t on. But then he felt bad that I might of had nothing to do for the day and so took me for a tour of the town and to one of the beaches on Conception Bay anyway! How´s that for service?? Even better is that Salvador, the tour guide, gave me an impromptu spanish lesson on the beach! Slowly, slowly getting there!

The beaches on the Bay (the one we went to was called Coyote Beach) are great. The water is so blue and such a contrast to the arid mountains which run down to the water. Very coarse sand on the beach, but the water was great, and quite salty so you could just float and drift…

So tomorrow is snorkelling, more swimming the following day, and then to La Paz. Plans keep changing though…

That´s about it from here. Today in Cinque de Mayo (5th of May), a holiday, but apparently it´s not really celebrated here, so no fiesta for me!

PS My apologies for any spelling mistakes, but it keeps auto correcting in Spanish and the keyboard is funny.

So please keep in touch, and I will do my best to keep everyone up to date.

(Lisa - if you only read this, you should get the gist and won't have to read any other updates!!)