Bloggerama!

Didn't update the blog for a while...tsk tsk so decided to give you some of the highlights or some of the more interesting stories.....

Guatemala back to Mexico
Luck would have it there was only 3 people in the shuttle..too easy I guess. About an hour into Mexico, the van was stopped with only about 6 cars in front. We waited and then got out of the van. We were at the intersection of a small Mexican town and the farmers had decided to hold a demonstration. Apparently they were pissed as the new president had promised to help them and done nothing. There were a few towns standing together in the road..the only road, and we were told we would be there till the next morning. The traffic blocked up for miles, everyone got out, slept on the road and we made picnics with the locals. After a few hours, an ambulance tried to pass through the demo for the 2nd time..this time they checked the van to find out there was no emergency. The people were so angry they took out the drivers, beat them, slashed the tires and held them hostage on top of the ambulance. We were warned it was dangerous for us but since we could leave there wasn't much I could do, I just resisted taking the amazing opportunity for photos..strange not 1 policeman came the whole time. In the end the people won and reached an agreement with a politician...for now.


Tulum part 2
Living in a Palapa looking over the jungle, on a continual search for cooking gas...driving through roads running over giant tarantulas in their walking season (hahahaha), swarms of locusts flying into the windscreen of the truck, seeing a scorpion in the house, helping to release over 2,000 baby turtles into the ocean with the Mexicans. Mine....Groove juice went flying into the ocean on the voyage of his life, Magico, Rolfs', was so stoned it just walked round in circles....typical! ahhhh the beautiful beach life of Tulum...was becoming another home.


Mexico back to Guatemala-San Pedro
Living at the lake surrounded by beautiful mountains and the volcano. Working at a restaurant for 25 pence an hour serving big groups of Amercian tourists ..i'm sorry, I dont even know what 'over easy' is how am i supposed to say that in Spanglish!, kayaking in the mornings, getting sprayed in aftershave by the lead singer of Buena Vista, watching my friends consume a gallon of space gravy at thanks giving dinner, Having a birthday with some crazy Aussies plying me with tequila and getting the whole bar to rap happy birthday, we then moved on to a local bar where the overly coke-d up sexually frustrated camp guatemaltecan owner made it even more surreal swaying between throwing us out and trying to make us drink the local specialty turpentine! Braved the scary Guatemala city after everyone warned us not to go whats so ever..full stop....had a great day with a friend, visiting a street children project, exploring on the local buses on a mission for stickers of Jesus..alas no luck. Managed 4 more weeks at school before my money ran out although I was still calling my self a church instead of English by the end of it! Acquired another dog, we started calling him Ulsito, then Leapo until we found out his name was actually Gleafo. He started following me around, tearing holes in my jeans as a sign of 'affection' and coming into work, until one morning I had to take him back to his real owners and wake them up in their beds at 6.30am..they woke up to find some crazy English girl shaking their feet shouting 'buenas, tu perro, BUENAS' they starting shouting at me so I locked gleafo in their room (and another dog who happened to be with my too) eer didn't make any friends there.

Day of the dead
A day where the spirits leave the graves and join everyone for a fiesta.. The cementary was at the top of the hill in the town, we´d been warned not to go because of the microbes in the air but actually later found out it was because some Mayans believed that both the good and bad spirits are around so the baddies will take over weak people and do bad things. It was a nice fiesta, the cementary decorated with flowers, candles and streamers. Families milled around photos of the deceased and bands played while kids scrambled over the graves. the graves were all in tombs stacked on top of one another..we were trying to work out how they actually buried the people since they were so small, until a Mayan friend pointed out to us that they are small people! It was a really nice way to celebrate life instead of morn death and it was so happy that the locals included us as well.

The volcano
Anne Marie, Jeanse and me signed up to the volcano trek in Antigua. I heard you see lava but nothing prepared me for this trip. It as around 2 hours walk up the volcano though the darkening sky. We stopped on the way to see a recent lava trail that had cut through unexpectatly 2 months before. There was a lot of cloud and it was just starting to rain, suddenly the cloud lifted for jut a few seconds and you could see a bright red flame in the sky..so it was true!! I nearly peed my pants! As we climbed higher we began to see more and more flashes of this red river and the rumbles of the volcano were getting louder. By this time it was dark and we reached the plateau and needed torches to stumble across the black spiky volcanic rock. There was a storm, lightening striking above the volcano. Now you could see lava rocks breaking away from the river and tumbling down the side. We stumbled over sharp rocks and through white ash and the ground was getting hot. At one point there was as sharp hiss from underfoot and smoke started rising from the rocks by our feet. We kept going until we were actually standing 1/2 meter away from the lava river, balancing on a ledge that had been carved by the lava, behind was another furrow where a rock came tumbling down barely missing some of us. It was totally strange to comprehend what had happened up there, we felt like in some mad end of the world movie with the black sky, lightning striking, rain on our heads, heat on our faces, angry rumbling volcano and a river of red hot lava at our feet..unforgettable

And the rest.....
Finally managed to leave San Pedro after 6 weeks...maybe another homesito. traveled onto so- so so solola my favourite place full of cowboys and beautifully dressed people, but they tried to charge 3 times the the normal price in the only hotel..so we left 1/2 hr later and went to Semuc Champay. A place in the jungle of Guatemala where we swam with candles through caves climbed through underground waterfalls....award to Liza who is a little claustrophobic but made it all the way despite threatening the guide with his life and to bring down 'the bloody lying lonely planet' love ya girl! now sitting in the village of Lanquin near the caves, tranquilo, watching the locals go about their business and there's a pig being chased by a dog.

Happy Diwali

I was flipping through my diary and came across an Indian Story in honour of Diwali..am in Guatemala, update from recent adventures another time...but this made me smile

16th April 2006...Mcleod Ganj

I made an appointment at an ayurvedic centre in Bagsu. It advertised a 2hr consultation of your individual constitution, sounded good. I arrived there and was taken by new Keralan Dr to the outpatient clinic down the road where Dr Senior also resides. I had a short sharp shock back into indiaville. We sat down. He looked confused. A small dirty room with 2 chairs and no private room just an open door to the street. Dr junior stood over me, I took it to mean no examinations then. They both seemed confused about the purpose of my visit. I tried showing them their own advertisment, not much help. I pressed ahead giving suggestions about what this session may include. Dr junior takes a pen and paper and begins that imaginary writing thing, hovering over the paper when you havent got a clue what to write, his vigorous head wobble shows willing though. I notice he has nice shoes. Dr senior looks in dangour of sleeping. I get nervous.

Dr junior begins- name, female, age...he seems impressed with his statistics, I feel that we havent quite finished yet. Dr senior is now busy reading the hole pamphlet of which 3 lines actually describes this particular session but seems to think reading the background of the centre may help us along. Dr Junior is looking nervous, he is new and doesnt want to look bad in front of Dr senior. He slowly begins to ask some questions "madam, and how is your digestion?" "How is your sleeping?" Dr senior grabs my arm for my pulse, I wince because thats my injection arm. I say I sleep well, Dr Senior shakes his head at me and asks me how long Ive been suffering with a mental disorder. "I dream alot" I try to help. Dr junior jumps on this gem "about what?" "oh I dont know, so many things" I reply. 'so many things' he adds to his medical notes. We are now building up a sheet of statements like 'so many things' and a list of ailments so long I wonder how Im still alive..I must really need this!

Dr Senior whispers loudly to Dr Junior 'she is a vata suffering with a menal nervous disorder' "oh" I say "I thought I might be pitta". case closed. I am a pitta suffering with a vata disorder. Prescription, Shirodhara, 7 days of pouring hot oil on my head, and Nasya, just a few drops of this and you will be cured of mucas forever. "Madam, this will clean your brain" Dr Senior chuckles.

I, being slightly sadistic push for a little more. "eeer, something about diet?" I feel the tears welling, maybe I do have a mental disorder. Dr Senior closes his eyes, concentration or sleep. We are all quietly contemplating food. He turns to Dr Junior "Dahl Mukhi"it goes on the paper. Silence. Prolonged. "potato". halluja potato goes on the list (of which I'm not sure whether is foods good or bad for me). I begin to actually enjoy myself and sit back imagine taking this list to my local Sainsburys. I end up with about 8 things on the list a mixture of good and bad, not specified. Potato has been suggested about 15 times and it has been stressed that salads are good for me..does this man work for a genius?

I leave with a strange feeling that I am no further along my path to health enlightment clutching my paper reminding me I dream of 'so many things'. However since then I caved and agreed to give my brain a good old clean...I start tomorrow.


PS
And thats a another story but just to clarify that the real Dr at the centre was the best and most precise Dr I have ever been to see and his treatment i took later was amazing. just to say like..

Jasmine pics

XELA WHO

Xela is around 3300m up in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. We sooned learned that we would be there during Guatemalas Independence day..these dam fiestas just keep following me around. The first weekend we stayed at Casa Argentina fighting off the Pulgas (fleas) and did a walk up to Laguna de Chicobel. I was told it would be a stroll but it actually it was a 3 hour walk straight up the side of the volcanoe to the lagoon, walking through clouds, volcanic ash and the rain. We reached the spooky lagoon, clouds sitting plump and heavy on the water only allowing around 3 metres of view of the vast lagoon, so we skidded back down the slippy tracks to the beautiful village at the base and into the chicken collectivo.


After the first weekend we moved out the pulga hostel and away from the pinche thieving travellers and the crazy old woman who was obsessed that I had stolen her cups, constantly demanding if i’d returned them at 6am. We moved in with a lovely guatemalan family and began spanish school.....

In between trying to cram a million verbs in our heads, Bruce & joined in the Independencia clebrations watching more than 40 brass bands parade through Xela’s streets and spill into the Square. It was bizzare as the bands was playing strict military stylee music while the schools dressed their 12 yr old girls up like hookers and asked to grind like they mean it.....
A few days later was the festival of San Mateo. Once again the parade went straight past the door to the school and after failing to scream verb conguations we went and joined in. Parque Central was filled, church bells ringing, chinese fire crackers hung everywhere and set off without the english fire works code. A statue of Mary moved slowly round the square carried by school girls (more modestly dressed...the nuns were there!) followed by priests, mayans swinging smoking insence and the people hiding under umbrellas from the sun or the rain whichever would come first. Mary was showered in glitter and the obligatory big drums and painfully out of tune trumpets played along. Behind this came the vans advertising compaines like Gallo- the national Beer, belching out Guatemalas national Herione ‘Shakira Shakira’.


After this we went 1 hour further in the mountains to the town of San Mateo, the festivals namesake. It was a beautiful non exsistent town amdist darkening mountains where all the Mayan woman wore colourful wraps around their heads, patchwork dresses and aprons, and the Cabelleros in jeans, stiff shirts and cowboy hats.



Other that that I filled my days with mantra-ing verbs, salsa lessons, partying with crazy Guate chicas, hijacking the Gallo Bus, on a continual search for non-parasital spinach and avoiding the men with big guns who were making sure that the gallo vans didnt get hijacked, while Bruce got a boy band hair cut and became Xela Whos biggest footy fan

names are not important

1 year

Laura,Rolf, Kostas, Suriya, Adam, Lucy,Bruce, Rhys, Helena, Jeni, Moniek, Didier, Ellen, Line, Pas, Diamond, the woman who made noodles, Greg, Haya, Gideon, Kenneth, Luigi, Arabinda, Surmilla, Sam´s cook, Eleanora, Hari, Anil, Jasper,pinche policeman who gave me a fine, Jon, John Phillipe, Gonpo, Benoir, SOS International, Eric, Deb, Anna, Sam, Sara, Etienne, John, Jenny, Emma, Tony, Amir, Liz, Emma, Sarah, Tara, Che, Roro, Billy, Ian, MAG, Hannah, Kesang, Hazel, Ali, Ian, Clare, Rosalind, Pasak,Julia, Bindu, Rachael, Dee, Shelagh Steven, Stephen, Greg, Param, Martin, Vinny, Moises, Pete, Yeshi, Yoan, Christina, Angela, Guilliermo, Vinh, Ponraj, Gabrielle, Pravina, Naomi, Rosa, Mark, Nitin, Nigel, Tomas, Gianni, Chanal, Rob, Jorge, the little boy with broken blue coat, Sunil, Yogi John, Shona, Daniele, Nam Noen NGO worker, Shantoshi, Matteo, Bismark, Sibi, Rajram, Boaz, 2 Swedish guys, Angeli, Noam, Rosantis friend, Pete, Yoga teacher, Diggy, Burt, Camilla, Ashol, Krishna, Jodi, Nicola, Tim, Hilary, Salaam Balaak, Henry, Thai Poy couple, Bo, Januka, Bhindu, Zerai, James,Josh, Amanda,Vinny, Sudesh, New Orleans crew, Lucas, Emma, German woman in Bangkok, Nicks Kitchen, Pedro, Austrian couple on the beach, Saza, Thai guy in P.P, Sandra, John and his girlfriend, Yoanna, Anju, Emma, Natasha, the old lady with the 2 sticks, Ash, sisters at Delek, Steve, Jesús, Tibetan singer, Nischal, Yoans mum, Milan, Jorge,guy at the hatch, Maria, English woman on the plane, Margaret, Boy,woman with the 2 parrots, Alfredo, Dean, Rene, owner of Chowdhary, wondering wanker, Daniel, Chris, Joel, pregrant cuban woman in santiago, sad lady in Granma, Guy from Syria, 2 girls from Mongolia, the Santos, Street kids in Delhi, Pedro Juan, woman on the bus from isla De Juventud, Marrecons of Havana, street kids of Kathmandu, the Thai girl in Singapore hooker joint, Mamasita, Millie, Kayak man, nun at Gedenchoeling, Dong, Santiago fiesta crew, CWARDS, Demetri, Helen, Raju, Niccolo, Alex, Bert, Iswor, Dutch crew in Loas, Fabio, Lara, Osito, Isreali girl in the hills, NYE´s bunch at Bokor, Eric, DM in PP, Hippie isreali mucicians, Anne, Raj, Guesthouse owner in northern Cyprus, Anil, the ice climbers, Milesh, Wendy, Nikki, John, Dean, Claudia, Mark, Natalie, Michelle

and the others i didnt forget

no mames....its Tulum!

Ok, so I rock up to Tulum after arriving from Havana to pick up a friend filled with inspiration to go to Guatemala and study some more Spanglish (official language of the sazzle kingdom now), just 1 night...easy right?.....1 month later I finally left. For those of you have been before think you´ll know this story already.

Whilst Tulum ain't exactly the vibrating valley of Mcleod Ganj, or hill tribes of Laos, it definetely has its thing going on. Over the last month managed to blag a house to stay in (muchas gracias Line), meet some brilliant nutz travelers from around the globe who let me get drunk with them for a month, watch metre long turtles lay eggs on white beaches, do my first cavern dive, try to kidnap a dog, be introduced to the magical talking sea in Xcalak, escape everyones strange typhoid/dengue/something thats needs quarentining disease, swim in lagoons and cenotes and at night with the beautiful phosphorus, mantra every day that Bruce & I are leaving definitely tomorrow...manana manana, learn several Spanish swear words and fail miserably at opening beer bottles with lighters.

oh and of course, wouldnt be right without a few fiestas on the beach... good times good times..heres a few memories, and really am going to Guatemala....tomorrow

Heres to the Tulum crowd..... Buenas Buenas!

More piccies of cuba...