6) Next installment guys:

So, where was one? Oh yes, last couple of days in Mexico. Veracruz was the first hispanic city founded in the Americas by Cortés' men in 1518. It has a great colonial feel to it in addition to its vibrant port. No gringos around whatsoever so we were getting plenty of stares, espcially good ole' goldilocks Kirsty Warren. BTW, forgot to add that on the way to Veracruz from the capital, we saw a heavy intense snow and ice storm with overcast skies amongst baking hot weather 2 minutes later.. biiiiizarre. felt i was back home for a while. ..

After being exceedingly indecisive for once (v unlike perfectionaist me eh?), I decided on the spur of the moment to change my immediate onward travel plans with a bit of advice from co-travellers having already seen a bit of Central Am. So, I bought myself a lovely 17 hour bus ticket to the South Eastern Mexican border town of Chetumal, fronting BELIZE... So, no Guatemala then............. Well, not yet anyhoo. I had already "overstayed" my alloted time in Mexico due to immense fun and whatnot, so I thought I'd incorporate littel Caribbean Belize into my itinerary, and reduce time in "dodgy" Guatemala somewhat and unfortunately eliminate Venezuela & maybe even Southern Nicaragua. Priorities fluctuating as reports from different sources are leading me up the garden path as to where to go etc aaargh! Enough ranting...

So, Friday was the last day with mates..... enjoyed a nice "upteenth last supper" fish dish with them Thurs night and on Fri, we went to Latin America's finest Aquarium, housing turtles, toucans, sharks, otters, tropical fish etc etc. amazing... topped the experience off with a tour of the multi-national celebrity wax museum. Had a light lunch on the port front and headed to bus station to bid farewell to girls who were heading back to Mexico City (again), to go separate ways.....(Beans, look out for them at either Jersey Live or the beer fest as we hope to meet soon.)

Right, so I began my "17" hour multi stop deluxe bus to the bordering town all the way across the country. Was told maybe 14 hours but ended up as 19!!!!!!! not so bad as bus not full so slept on and off. Upon arrival, I decided to go hardcore and jump on the next chicken bus to take me all the way to Belize City on the Caribbean coast.. another 5 hours of sweaty travel.. yay.... journey was highly entertaining.. had well and truly exceeded the fatigue boundary and was listening to the mixture of english, spanish, creole and dialect being spoken by the mixed whites and rastas aboard.. cheesy reggae music pumping away.. hilarious! no problems at immigration.

Saturday 6th afternoon now... just dumped gear in my first cheap and grotty as hostel before roaming the busy narrow streets of a small belize city.... once the capital a couple of deacdes ago, but due to hurricane activity, it was transferred inland to a SMALL town.. population only half of Jersey so weird.... people very friendly though. nopt much to see so no photos.. early night indeed..

Sunday: suddenly remembered I was on my tod after many weeks of group travel. kinda strange but has its benefits. will take time to adjust i reckon though.. Here in Belize City, I boarded a funky speedboat to go out to Caye Caulker, a small paradise island the size of between Sark and Herm haha... no motorised transport, lighting feeble, but things to do abundant... this was recommended by previous travellers as a must-see so off I went. cost there is certinly higher han Mexico, so an initial shock to the system man.... wasted no time and booked myself in for a full day all inclusive snorkelling tour, several miles into the coral reef.....same one extending down from Mexico..........

saw stingrays, friendly sharks beside me, and all sorts of tropical fish and differnt corals explained. got incredibly sunburnt but enjoyed drinks on the boat back. so should have taken a cheapo underwater kodak camera like. o well. Could have seen manatees (sea-cow like) and dived the blue hole with bigger and differnt sharks omnipresent.... budget not stretching THAT far.....

Was zonked after that day so nothing much else to report.. again, early as crack of dawn Monday, I got another boat to the neighbouring island of San Pedro... 25 miles by 0.5 miles. bizarre shape. much more touristy, varied, costly, americanised/anglicised, properties for sale galore etc etc... get the feel? airport with domestic flights to the capital available so good links really. i simply sat on beach, read, recovered from 2nd or 3rd degree burns and took many photos of the streets and sights. cheap and cheerful. returned to the other isle and booked return to the capital city the following morning where I would go straight to San Ignacio in the mountainous Western part of the country near Guatemalan border.. Arrived lunchtime, painfree. Got enticed into a local family's house into a dorm room. very authentic set up for pittance so I was very grateful actually. The husband also works with a tour company who I went on an all day caving and ruin tour on Wed.

HOPE ALL HAD A NICE LIBERATION DAY (JERSEY CHANNEL ISLANDS FOLK ON TUES 9TH MAY)

This along with the snorkelling has got to be the highlight of my travels so far:

the trip consisted of an initial rough off-road drive in the middle of nowhere to these Actun Tunichil Muknal caves, then a hike along a river with 3 crossings to the entrance where we entered and hiked/swam fully clothed for safety for hours on end in semi-dark. This place is currently Belize's #1 tourist attraction and I can definitely see why. Inside, there are miles of (still not entirely mapped out) passages containing the remains of sacrificed human skulls, bones and also offerings in the form of clay and stone pots everywhere.. Ths all amidst the impressive huge stallic formations and running waters. I was with a very small group of 5 including this kinda cranky mid-aged yank woman who was panicking/complaining at times....so our guide went slowly and explained all the history and archeology in full detail.....so much so that we emerged into the dusk before heading back 4hours later. wicked day! Evening time, intermingled with locals at cafe and booked this last minute tour to Tikal, capital of the ancient Mayan empire, in GUATEMALA.... thought this would facilitate the border crossing proceedings via quicker and direct transport means but for a fair amount of extra cash though. Got to be in Panama city on 25th of this month aaaargh.

So............. Thursday 11th: rose early to catch the shuttle across to Northeastern Guatemala for this 5 hour guided tour at Tikal.

The bloke was very knowledgable and passionate which only increased the splendour of the place.... With miles and miles of covered jungle housing dozens of species of reptiles, mamals, insects etc and around 50% of world's tree types, only 2% of the ancient city has been completely cleared of vegetation. Will take years and years of work!!!! The 6 odd sauring temples are something else, which made me stay on for the evening sunset and early morning sunrise despite the clouds. So I camped out in a hammock at the on-site lodge with other people and reintered for sunset...ended up not so great but hearing the wildlife come to life in the peace and quiet was cool. roaring monkeys etc.-..... there was a huge downpour and storm that night which made the hammock experience all the more authentic... after 9pm, all lodgings and catering establishments close and electricity is cut-off completely so just moonlight and candelight henceforth till dawn....not much sleep but who cares... had to bargain with park keeper to let us in extra early for the sunrise which was distorted again because of the clouds.... took many more pics and discovered new areas before leaving the site for FLORES, an hour or so westernbound.

Friday: arrived here in Flores with a few travellers, an small island on lake Peten, connected to the mainland via a road causeway. very pretty with not much going on. Nice difference. Stayed in a hippy cheap as hostel. Were shattered so just relaxed and strolled before an early meal and well earned sleep in dorm.

Sat: after a lazy morning in the hostel confines, I spent the afternoon with a french dude hiking along the beautiful lakeside shores etc. cheap! We took this private small motorised boat escort all the way across to a tiny remote island off Flores where the zoo is, and the neighbouring animal sanctuary. It was completely dead with people so we loved being off the gringotrail even if momentarily. We saw all sorts of wildlife including raunchy jaguars a metre from our faces - highlight. Afterwards, we returned tot he mainland and over the bridge to Santa Elena where we roamed the dusty market streets. For some bizarre reason, a few games of pool randomly sounded incredibly appealing so and the only place which had tables was in the red light/dodgy district of the area. funny experience. Sunset was of course picturesque with silhouettes of mountains in distance and lake waters in front. That night, there was a local party in the main quare with live music and fod snack stalls. nice.

At 4:00 the next day I decided it wouldnt be best practical to see much more of huge and diverse Guatemala due to time and money restrictions. So, I got on a chicken bus and headed directly to Antigua, the old capital city in the southwest. A 10 hour bus ride with ample stops. This town is smallish, with narrow collbed streets omnipresent and bright colourful residential buildings with the odd few ruins and impressive churches amogst the lot. Zombified, I found myself a low budget hostel with few travellers in for once. Landlady was obsessed by her cats and kittens! Met this US guy who had already been arround for a few days and we signed up for the must-do hike up volcano pacaya... very much active volcano in Guatemala which had had eruptions in the last few years, and huge ones previously....

So at 6am on Mon 15th, we had a guided tour up to the base of the volcano where hot thick red lava was slowly flowing down. we saw impressive rock formations and climbed right up to the oozing lava to take photos (and burn our faces a little)...took some mini vids too.

Was a little cloudy and nippy up ther so we didnt go much further but he panorama of the city below was excellent. guides are officialy forbidden to lead groups up the crater due to imminent explosions..shame... Pm: got escorted up to the city's panoramic watchtower by the local police (apparently dangerous to go alone at any point of the day?!?!) ... great opportunity to encapture the colourful city from above with mountains in back and sauring trees. then wondered streets etc and ate local cuisine near main square.

Today Tues 16th, I am just chilling to get a better feel for the place and see ruins and churches etc plus market for souvenirs of the country. Tomorrow I leave from bustling and dodgy Guatemala City (2 million people) on the same international bus service I caught from Costa Rica all the way up to Mexico in April. i am having to eliminate Nicaragua and Venezuela completely from my schedule though not too upset by that... instead I will see a couple more sites in Costa Rica that I didn't get the chance to do the first time round, en route to Panama before I catch a flight to Ecuador on 25th.

Time is going incredibly fast....and money seemingly..... it has ben good to travel solitarily for a few weeks (though never really alone), but I am looking forward to the southern continent now and my next all inclusive group tour of Peru-Bolivia on 4th June.

Over and out.

5) Monte Alban:

Today was hilarious now looking back so I will recap the bus incident..... We were due to visit yet anooooother ruin site near Oaxaca only 15 minutes away... However, the main road was closed so our bright yellow bus was forced to go another way around steep windy roads during early morning rush hour traffic like. Result was that the back of the bus scraped the foot of the hill and within a minute further up the driver turned the engine off as there was oil streeeeaming down the hill...

Tank and frame had been damaged so we couldn't continue. What pursued was mental... we were stuck on a steep recline with traffic coming either way and overtaking galore.... slipping and sliding and screeching in the slick with pissed off drivers... entertaining... so we all got off the bus to act as traffic wardens and the such until rescue services had been called and tow truck... we all got taxis to the ruin site but our poor driver spent the whole day and evening with the engineers and mechanics as the engine was fulllll of oil and the tow up truck had to remove the entire front frame of the bus in order to merely tow it away! took ages......

so that was a bad start to the day... 1 stressed out german guide and us lot taking photos and loving it all. journey was only 25 minutes and we were 1/2 way there more or less. o well, that was a great hiccup.

The ruin site was amazing anyhow...... nice panorama of the valley benneath.. Y shape..... we caught a local bus back down to town.... this afternoon was spent being a bum lounging in nice cafes over afternoon tea and chat.. frenchi style... as for the evening, we ate crepes and just played drinking games AT a cafe in front of the general public who thought we were crazy... even our guide joined in to let her hair down! meanwhile one poor mid aged ozzie bloke had been administered 2 jabs up the bum for some virus he had contracted. wasnt looking good at all so we were all a bit concerned. mended a few days later tho.

Following day consisted of a drive to Puebla where we arrived around lunch time. we passed huge cacti on the way where we posed for a group foto....I was wiliting so just couldnt resist a McDonalds nosh up unfortunately upon arrival... this town is even more built up, colonial like with impressive squares, plazas, and smartly dressed locals... liked the feel for it.... definitely another university town...Time wasnt generous to us as we just had 1 afternoon and evening there.... so we did the whole stroll around taking photos of main attractions, japaense style... the evening was spent relaxing in a traiditonal mexican coffee shop-come-library with live music.. pretty much had to caf to ourselves so joked with the musician....

early to bed in prep for a 7 am leave to our final and most vast ruin site, Teotihuacan on the outskirts of the capital, Mexico City. This ruin site consisted of 2 huge pyramids about 70m high, 1 temple of the sun god and 1 of the moon. we climbed these to the top and were completely out of breath and feeling dizzy. At an altitude of roughly 2,300m above sea level, Mex city is the worlds more densely populated city including suburbs (120 million). We then had some wacky ritual with candles and incense in pitch black, withing 1 tomb of a temple....... where our Aztec descended guide chanted and gesticulated and got us involved, narrating the history and prayers etc..fascinating and creepy....

Our final mini drive was to the city itself, based on the ancient Aztec capital, Tenoxtitlan...Here we certainly felt the smog, fumes, and crowds of people the moment we got off the bus... felt like a meat market for the women with dodgy men whislting all the time at the blondies and crime apparently omnipresent... ....

Aaaaanyhow, there was a little run in at the hotel where our guide snapped at 1 of the Ozzie girls who she deemed our peer leader asking her what THE PLAN for EVERYONE was that FINAL night. so that was baaaaaaad... cooled off afterwards so we went on brief orientation then a nice local mex sytle dinner all together in a restaurant... had group snaps and free tequila shots on house to celebrate last night all together...sad Friday 28th.....

Half a dozen of us were sticking round so we rallied together exploring the centre without an agenda...yay...we happily bummed around the metro network and such like. the evening was cool as one of the ozzie girls on our tour has a mexican b/f living there so we were showed a good time on the town in a fancy district... had to say farewell to her then. Saturday was pretty much touristy to the bone with a double-decker round trip of the city centre and outskirts........lazy but most efficient way to encompass so much in so little time..one 34 year old ozzie dude and an english lass even got their faces painted in the park. that night we met with another pair and saw basic instincts 2 at the cinema in english after japanese cuisine. nice different way to spend our evening times instead of drinking card games. felt like i was back home though momentarily. again, a couple of people had to depart at this point so it was another case of cheerio.

Most of the crew, especially the non spanish speakers really felt trapped and insecure in mexico city after 2 days so a few of us not heading to the states or home decided to large it and got a ticket to acapulco for the sunday for a couple of days just to party and hit the beaches.............TRIP HIGHLIGHT! We booked a lush last minute hotel room for 4 of us right off the port in acapulco for a fair deal... felt like we were on a family holiday as this hotel had 5 pools, bars, supermarkets, gym, kiddies club etc....cant complain! atfer our 5 hour bus ride we dumped our gear and took a walk around the golden beaches...by the way, acapulco is regarded nearly as touristy and busy as Cancun......lots of concrete and long beaches with life bustling day and night.

we timed it well as the gringos had left after spring break masses.... sunday evening was spent watching a spectacular moonlit 35m cliff diving show with fire etc.

Monday 1st May, a local bank hol - we opted for a lazy subathing and beach sports activity day eg banana boat and a couple of the group ended up being suspended 50m in the air by parachute with roped tied to a speed boat in the middle of the ocean.. v cool panorama from above apparently..another guy separately came down to meet us as well. the night was once again a send-off for a tour member, so a meal and clubbin it had to be.... we ended up at this wacky place serving a buffet with different tequila shots on the house.we arrived after the kitchen had closed but i used my charm and spanish skills to blag entry... had dinner warmed up especially and had a free beer thrown in. we were alone so the hosts were all the more pleased to offer us free samples of tequila etc... mind blowing...

we then got in the craaaaazy beetle taxi, normally a 3 seater.. this was converted into a disco machine with banging sound system and flashing lights and objects in side. the driver was cool and drove like a maniac but he saw how ecstatic we were getting. absolutely hilarious with music pumping and us lot jumping about in the back in fits. great experience. we drank in senor frogs, a bar chain in mexico blatantly tailored for gringos...then checked out the nightlife on the beachside..the night ended with the second holiday romance for another couple on the beach front.

Tuesday - all of us actually decided to head back to mexico city together as we felt like we were cheaing ourselves living it up at a beach resort . the whole goodbye alarky the previous night had thus been in vain.. we ended back at the same mexico city hostel that evening and hitthe sack earlyish. saw off mate Roj at airport on Wed morning - girlies a bit tearful, and the 3 of us boarded another bus to head to Veracruz, 6 hours easward on the cetnral coast.. it is a nice moderately populated colonial fishing port city so has a nice character to it.

Today we are just discovering the town more and planning our separate onward journeys now. Reunion with my faourite tour buddies will happen in the near future for sure! lata