One Hazy night..

Well, we have officially been in Antigua for three weeks now and still loving it. What´s not to love... wonderful home cooked meals, a cleaning lady, rooftop patio for studying, one-on-one teachers that come to us every morning, a weekly one hour massage for Lydia costing a whopping $15...(also at our house), unending pubs, restaurants, cafe´s, theaters...life is definitely tough here in Guatemala!

On Saturday night we decided to reward ourselves after a long morning of study with a night out at a local Arabian restaurant named Gaia. We were lucky enough to arrive just as the prime table came available, a corner filled with pillows where we could stretch out and make ourselves comfortable. The big appeal was not only the incredible food and surroundings, but also the ability to order a shee-shee pipe to your table. Doug was a big fan of the Shee-Shee when he worked in Saudi, and even brought one home to Australia when he left.

The Shee-Shee is basically a large vase like contraption filled with water,a hot coal on the top burning fruit leaves underneath, and a pipe protruding out to allow for a nice fruity inhale and smokey exhale. (Don´t worry mom, there is little to no tobacco ;o) ). We spent the rest of the night blowing smoke rings, drinking wine, eating garlicky food, and planning our future travels. With Lydia´s spousal Visa being approved (yay) and specifying that I have to be in Australia by May 08 (boo) we have decided to potentially do a few months travel around Australia once we land (yay). We will of course keep you posted.

Here are a few pics from our Saturday night adventure.



As always, if you can´t see this slideshow, please check out the link here - Week 3 Antigua Pics

Molten hot magma....

G´day all,

Well Lyds and I are still in Antigua furiously learning a ridiculous amount of preterit, imperfect, future, conditional, subjunctive, present imperfect, feminine, masculine and past present future injunctive past participle opposite multiplication forms of Spanish verbs. Fun, fun, fun !!!

Anitgua continues to treat us well. Maria and Salva are feeding us like Kings and Queens and we´ve continued to explore the local cafe´s, bookshops and bars around town. We have a few favourties already and have been enjoying our Sunday visits to Cafe 2000 to watch the odd English speaking movie to break the Spanish up.

Last weekend we got out of town and visited the nearby Volcano - Pacaya. Anigua is surrounded by 3 volcanos (Agua, Fuego and Acatenango), none of which are active. Volcano Pacaya, just a short drive away however is actually a rip roaring active one. Last Saturday afternoon we decided to cram into a tiny minivan with 13 other people and take it on.

The drive to the Volcano was a bumpy 1 hour trip to the little hamlet of San Francisco where numerous local children greeted our bus to try and sell us plastic ponchos and walking sticks. They of course assured us that they were ¨nessicito¨ (not so). The hike up to the top was a good 2 hours. It turned out to be quite a workout given that we have basically done no exercise for the past 2 months. It was definately worth it though. We got lucky with the weather (very variable at this time of the year) as the views heading up to peak were magnificent.

The higher up we went, the trees started to be replaced with the jagged rocks of former and solidified lava flows. This is where the hike got dicey and the footing became quite tricky. We opted for the afternoon hike as the darker times of day make the sight of the lava that much more dramatic. It wasn´t long before we caught sight of our target. A nice bit of flowing molten hot magma.

Of course once you get there everyone (yes including us) gets as close as possible to the fire to take their photos... We probably got about 10 feet away before we wisely decided that the burning sensation coming from our shoes meant we were a little too close. It was quite sureal, and our group was able to stay for about 30 minutes, watching the slow flowing lava river moving just a few feet away from us.

As darkness set in we hot footed it back down the volcano to avoid having to try and negotiate the jagged rocks in the dark, and believe me, the scrapes on my arm are testement to that.

All up a fantastic trip.

Here is a little gallery of our recent time here, including the volcano tour.



As always, if you can´t see this slideshow, please check out the link here - Week 1 Antigua Pics

Antigua, Guatemala

Well ,we have now moved on from Mexico and are currently living in Antigua, Guatemala. We had heard great things about Antigua being an excellent place to learn Spanish and also being extremely cheap to live, so we´ve settled here for a month or so. It doesn´t hurt that Antigua is a pretty special place all by itself. It actually used to be the capital of Guatemala a little over 200 years ago before a huge earthquake in 1773 flattened most of the city. The town itself (only 40,000 odd people now) was named a World Heritage site 30 years ago. When you see the beautiful cobbled streets (which would kill most car´s suspension), the magnificent old buildings & churches, the colourful cafes, bars and restaurants, you soon see why.

We arrived here after a grueling 12 hour shuttle bus trip from San Cristobal. The minivans we took were quite nice but we seemed to be constantly held up to change vans (5 in all after being told there would only be one van change at the border). We were also faced with a couple of long delays due to some major roadworks on the main freeway.

We finally got here and have set up camp with our host family - Maria and Salva. We were extremely fortunate that one of our very good friends from Vancouver (Jennie) stayed with the same family 2 years ago and recommended them to us. They have been so hospitable to us from the start. They put us up in their beautiful garden room (just off the main house) and have constantly been helping us with our Spanish. Both have been quick to give us a lot of tips on what to do in and around Antigua which has made our short time all the more rewarding. Their youngest son William (a cheeky 30 year old) and his American girlfriend - Karin, have been around regularly and we´ve had some good laughs with them around the dinner table.

As far as our Spanish is going, our teachers - Julia and Sandra have taught us a lot already. It´s amazing how much you can learn in such a short time....so much so that it´s hard to keep up. Our 4 hours of instruction in the mornings is usually followed by another 4 hours of revision in the afternoon to try and comprehend everything. It´s tough, but we are loving it.

We originally said we´d stay for 4 weeks, but we are probably going to try and stay for an extra week to learn even more. We are aware that our services are needed at the Orphanage in Rio Dulce so we´ll see....

All´s good for now.

Here´s our latest slideshow from our early days in Antigua.



As always, if you can´t see this slideshow, please check out the link here - Week 1 Antigua Pics

The Running Man

Maybe it´s just one of those things when you travel, but throughout Mexico, the traffic lights were a constant source of amusement for us with the little running man. This little vid shows you what we mean...

Palenque

Our last stop in Mexico was to the mysterious and enchanting, ruined city of Palenque, only a short five hour trip from San Cristobal. We got their later in the afternoon and just managed to secure the last room at Ed and Margarita´s place (A hostel recommended to us from a guy we met in Mexico city). The place was beautiful, set in the midst of a jungle with lots of exotic plants and animals everywhere. Our main reason for the visit to Palenque was to visit the famous Mayan ruins.

Nestled amidst steep and thickly forested hills, the ruins are some of the best preserved in Central America. Most of the buildings were constructed between the 7th and 10th centuries AD. Mysteriously, the city was abandoned and reclaimed by the jungle not to be rediscovered until 1773.

Unique to these ruins is the ability to climb to the top of each of the temples if you so desire. Given the fact that it was pushing the low 30´s the day we went, we opted to climb the most impressive ones only. The climbs were well worth it as the vistas from the tops were amazing.



If you can´t see the above gallery, or want to see the photos in a bigger size with comments, check out the link here - Palenque Pics

We didn´t stay in Palenque long as it was time to finish our Mexico chapter and head into Antigua, Guatemala.

Oaxaca and San Cristobal

Well after bragging about our luxury bus trips so far, Mexico decided to put us in our place with our journey from Puerto Escondido to Oaxaca. We decided to catch a night bus and were pretty proud to find a ´1st class´ bus deal for only 9 dollars each. When we told our hostel manager about this, he took us aback a bit when he desperately tried to talk us out of it, saying that is was in fact a low budget bus line.

We were already determined to move on however and headed off to the station. When the bus drove up we indeed discovered that ¨first class¨ has a wide variety of interpretations in Mexico, with this one being among the most creative. The bus itself was big, however the airconditioning was ´natural´(i.e - open windows) and the sinking seats and no ¨banos¨ made for a rather uncomfortable trip. Okay, we admit it, we are Bus SNOBS !! We did however survive the trip, and Doug and I wearily disembarked into a busy Oaxaca hub at about 6am the next morning.

We headed off to the Mezkalito Hostel and were lucky enough to score a beautiful and spacious private room where we happilly crashed for three hours before really looking around at our new surroundings. Oaxaca is quite a vibrant city with about 180,000 people all trying to make their mark. It is visually quite appealing with its colourful architecture, cobbled streets, lively Zocalo, and all round cleanliness.

During our walkabout, one of our favorite memories was turning a corner and stumbling into the largest, craziest market we had ever set eyes on. It was one massive maze...as if the architect of the city decided to cut out the middle 12 blocks, cover them up with a low roof, and lease out tiny cubicles for the locals to sell their wares. I have never seen so many pig hoofs, cheese balls (which Oaxaca is famous for), sombraros, figurines, and local handcrafts in my life.

We had heard that San Cristobal was a much better version of Oaxaca, so we didn´t spend a lot of time there and quickly moved on.

Here´s a little gallery of our visit to Oaxaca...



If you can´t see the above gallery, or want to see the photos in a bigger size with comments, check out the link here - Oaxaca Pics

We decided to again brave a night bus for our next trip to San Cristobal, only this time we weren´t falling for the old $10 first class bus trick. We paid a few extra bucks for our luxurious ADO-GL bus and 12 comfortable hours later, we pulled into San Cristobal.

We headed off to our hostel (the Magic) on advise from the Lonely Planet only to find out from our taxi driver that it no longer existed and was now called the Los Palomos. At 7am we were not in the mood to be fussy. We arrived to be openly greeted by the owner who seemd overtly excited to see us and eager to know our story. We soon discoverd that the new Hostel had only been open for 3 days, and we were offically guests No.4 and 5. Due to the emptiness we got the ¨suite¨ for a very low price and stayed in our best room yet. With fresh towels (rare these days), a huge bed, beautiful bathroom, fireplace and kitchen with fridge and a microwave, we felt like we were in the lap of luxury.

The rest of the day was spent walking the enchanting streets of San Cristobal. The people are friendly (the hawkers were actually not that pushy) and wear their colourful native clothing with pride. The tiny streets are cobblestoned and filled with beautifully painted buildings and mosaics. Every other building is a quaint little shop, cafe, or immaculately decorated restaurant.

The big adventure of the day however was during dinner that night. Not long after we sat down, we began to feel our table move from under us and the floor begin to sway. Doug and I looked at eachother in confusion and disbelief at the force of the others ¨footsies¨ when it became apparent that we were actually in the middle of an earthquake. It lasted only a minute, but certainly made for an interesting meal experience.

After dinner we went next door to a local Jazz club. It was a great little spot with a relaxed atmosphere for both locals and tourists alike. We did however have a chuckle at the band itself. You would be hard pressed to find another Jazz band where the members are `fashionably` decked out in dirty hoodies and ripped jeans. Man could they play though- what a sound.

The next day (on advise from Stewy and Matty) we took a tour of two local Mayan Villages San Juan Chamula and Zinacantan. Our guide was very knowledgeable and made a lot of stops on the way to point out various areas of interest with respect to the local communities. In San Juan Chamula, we had a chance to visit the Mayan/Catholic church which was established in 1970 after the locals weren´t happy with some of the restrictions placed on them by the Catholic Priest of the time. They instead, invented a version of the Catholic religion with certain new Twists if you will.

Upon entering the building we were quickly overcome by the strong scent of pine that covered the floor and the glow of thousands of lit candles. Around the room were little groups of people huddled in prayer, each having one family leader in charge of the prayers. The local Mayans come to the church when there is a family member who is sick and in need of healing. They only go to a doctor if there is an accident or for vaccinations. They pray to John the Baptist who they hold at higher level than Jesus because he baptized him.

During their prayers they drink their local concoction of corn and sugar cane which tastes a lot like tequilla (children included). They also hold a live chicken to the sick person so that the illness can be transfered to the annimal. They then proceed to break its neck to illiminate the illness. If you have ever seen a chicken killed this way, you know that their bodies continue to shake for a good few minutes after they die. The locals have to hold onto the chicken for dear life for fear of the carcass bowling through the hundreds of candles lit on the floor. Very bizarre to witness.

Here´s a little gallery of our visit to San Cristobal...



If you can´t see the above gallery, or want to see the photos in a bigger size with comments, check out the link here - San Cristobal Pics

One of the other interesting ( and rather humourous) beliefs these people have is in the spiritual power of Coca Cola. We noticed as we walked around many of them would pray earnestly on their knees, stand up, and down an entire bottle of Coke. They believe that the gas in the coke enables you to communicate with the Saints and God above. It was no surprise to learn that the richest man in town was the distributor of Coca Cola....

Overall San Cristobal was a beautiful town and well worth the visit. One last little anticdote involved our trip to the post office. Doug wanted to post a simple letter back to Australia. We had no envelope but figured we could get one at the Post Office (failry reasonable one would think). No such luck. The man behind the counter at the Post Office gestured to us that we could buy one a couple of blocks away. Okayyyyyy....

When we finally found the right store and asked a seniora there for our envelope, she smiled and quickly grabbed one from behind the counter. Doug went to reach for it but she instead walked it around the corner and handed it to another sales lady. This woman proceeded to fill out a full reciept for the single envelope and handed that (but not the envelope) to Doug. We were then directed to ANOTHER woman behind a counter on the other side of the room who took our money, stamped the reciept and handed it back to us. We were then ushered back to woman No.2 to finally collect our capitve envelope. All this effort for a massive 0.23 pesos (i.e. $0.02)!!!

We are now heading off to the nearby ruins of Palenque before moving on to Guatemala.

Puerto Escondido

Got to love the beach. We are now heading closer and closer to Guatemala and have just been through a stint in beautiful Puerto Escondido.

After the disappointment of the touristy Acapulco, we were looking forward to the quieter and smaller town of Puerto Escondido. We´d already heard some great things about it from some other travellers we met in Mexico City, so we were looking forward to it with great anticipation.

The bus ride there was long but the scenery was amazing and varied along the way with lots of little stops in small towns along the way. The longer we travelled however, the more more frequent these stops became, and the more apparent it was that these were not ´scheduled´stops. As long as our bus had a spare seat, our driver and his co-pilot were perfectly willing to pick up locals along the side of the road and collect a small fare for wherever they were going. We are pretty certain that those ´fares´ were going directly into the pockets of the driver. Do you think it stopped the driver and his co-pilot from pulling over in the very last town before Puerto Escondido for a 20 minute dinner at a roadside cafe with only 100km to go and us already an hour late??? yah..no!! An absolute Classic!

We finally cruised in that night about 90 minutes late and headed straight to our hostel - the Modala on Zicatela Beach. It was recommended to us by a guy we met in Mexico City and he certainly put us onto a good thing. The Hostel was very relaxed with a nice open courtyard and a few hammocks. When we got there, they were already filled with guests chilling out after a hard day of....well probably just sitting on the beach doing nothing. We got our own private ´cabana´ for the equivalent of about $13 a night and the hostel was about as close as you could get to the beach (a whole 50metre walk away).

Here´s a gallery of our time in Puerto Escondido...



If you can´t see the above gallery, or want to see the photos in a bigger size with comments, check out the link here - Puerto Escondido Pics

On our first night, we got eaten alive by bed bugs and the odd Mozzie, but a quick change of sheets and a bed flip fixed that problem. Unfortunately insects love Lyds and her bites swelled up pretty quickly. This does work to my benefit though as they seem to avoid me completely and go for Lyds, much to her shegrin.

By the first morning, the little town with it´s surf shops, little cafes, bars and restuarants had won us completely over. We quickly decided to extend our stay by a day despite our tight schedule to get to Antigua. It didnt take long to find our favourite brekkie place (Mango´s) and dinner joint (Zicatela´s). Everything was so cheap in town, with the $3 for two burgers and a cervasa at Zicatela´s proving to be a very big hit !!

Our days there were spent largely just lying on a beach chair under a big umbrella, enjoying $2 - 1.2litre Sol´s and working on our tans. We spent many hours watching the local surfers try to catch the ludicrously huge barrel waves at Zicatela beach (I´ve never seen faster breaking waves in my life). Zicatela is known as Mexico´s ´Pipeline´and while we were there, they were actually setting up for the surfing portion of the X-Games. Unfortunately we never got to see them complete as the 12 foot waves we witnessed were apparently to woosey for the big waves surfers (who couldn´t possibly lower themselves to anything less than 15 feet waves).

As the days clicked on we became part of a little family at our hostel. There was only about 10 of us staying there and everyone seem contented to just ease away each night around the hammocks or at a local restaurant. One night Lyds and I headed out early for dinner. The town is so small that before we´d finished, almost everyone from the hostel had walked past, seen us, and joined in.

It wasn´t all about just sitting on our bums though. We did do a couple of nice long walks around town. On our last day we took a cliff side beach walk (which reminded me of the Bondi to Bronte one in Sydney) around to another beautiful little beach (Playa Manzillino). While we were there we bumped into another Canadian-Australian couple we had met on the bus to Puerto Escondido(Carlos and Cherie). We spent the day with them and had an absolutely fantastic time chatting and drinking in the sun.

Sadly we had to leave the next day and took a night bus to Oaxaca...now that is a story in itself, but we´ll save that for the next report...