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.