Twitter Weekly Updates for 2008-09-14
- :: xela is covered by beautiful blanket of mist but im too lazy to bring my decent camera! Damn! #
- :: 4.30 am and im up and on my way to the volcano towering over xela. 4 hours to the top… ZZZZ #
- ::que fregados haces vos sonrrie siempre. Att. ROSARIO #
- :: i think i may have broke my thumb! It really hurts when i text with it! Going back to the pool this morning… Dunno why… #
- ::my thumb really hurts! I landed on it demonstrating a breakdancing move at salsa class. I really need to keep my disciplines seperate! :p #
- :: bleh. The student band next door are playing at full volume when i have a little hangover but why do they have to play tequila? Sadists #
- :: bleh, you go to a club expecting music & dancing but first we all have to watch some stupid football game. Guatemala are beating cuba 2-1 #
- ::I’m a linux guru after 9 months of trying. Perhaps now I can stay connected everywhere in the world…. #
- :: was late to school cos my phone (& alarm) was left @ school. Great excuse! #
- ::the local paper has pictures of the prettiest local girls in their swimsuits. Normally i dont mind but these are all 10 years old. #
- ::shesh, when you have to wait 20 mins for the bathroom someone has a problem with their diet! Is it 2 much to ask to tell you theyre done? #
- ::yay, i got a reply about working in antartica, too late for this year but at least i know the jobs exist! Roll on january… #
- ::my teacher is usually disappointed i dont study more in the evening… My solution? Change the language in zelda:MM to spanish! ingenius! #
- :: i just worked out when the end of the world will happen! Someone should tell the president (although barrack is following my twitters…) #
- :: whoo! From a completely random conversation i might have an audition lined up as a singer! Rock and roll! #
::the local paper has pictures…
::the local paper has pictures of the prettiest local girls in their swimsuits. Normally i dont mind but these are all 10 years old.
Tags: girls, localsTwitter Weekly Updates for 2008-08-31
- :: wohoo. Traveltrousers.com is up to position 4,687,000 in the world :p only a few positions to clear then :p #
- :: hmmm, going to the pastry shop so room before dinner was a mistake… But a tasty one
# - ::when you have to go… No power in xela atm so im crapping in the dark :p wonder if i should start a campaign to popularise bog seats? :/ #
- ::should i be concerned that everytime i use the unearthed electric shower in my host families house it lights up like a christmas tree? #
- @traveltrousers test! in reply to traveltrousers #
- :: what a nightmare, my usual teacher is on a course and her replacement is making me study! :p #
- ::salsa was so good, dancing as 2 couples & swapping partners after each move is such good fun! Only problem is my knees are now killing me! #
- ::while the rest of the northern hemisphere swelters in the summer heat i am stuck up a mountain in torrential rain. i should try research?! #
- ::after only 5 months i have nearly fixed my minifridge.Now it gets warm this is good, i just need to improve the cold side #
- :: My usual cafe is closed so Im forced to come to Baveria. Nice sofa, good coffee, but Lionel Richey and Whitney?? oooo soul2soul! better! #
- ::yay! After a week of frustration i have finally managed to get my firewire interface working. Dont expect a CD just yet but its a step… #
- :: im back at the cycle repair man, one of my pedals fell off. I could do it myself but why bother when it only costs 50c #
- :: does it mean im getting old because i object to people letting off fireworks outside my house at 5 in the morning? :/ #
- ::its so depressing to spend an hour in bed & you cant sleep… Maybe i Should study some verbs, that ought to knock me out! #
- :: Im sad the girl I danced with at Salsa class last week didn’t win the Miss Quetzaltenango 2008 competition :p The winner was nice though! #
- :: nice cafe? check. Good music? check. Hot coffee? Check. Interesting people? Check. Stinky chain smoking locals? Check
#
:: Im sad the girl I danced wi…
:: Im sad the girl I danced with at Salsa class last week didn’t win the Miss Quetzaltenango 2008 competition :p The winner was nice though!
Tags: class, week, salsa, quetzaltenango, girlsMy daily routine in Xela
Day 341
Xela, Guatemala
I’ve been here for three weeks now studying and my days are pretty much the same. I wake up at 7.30am, eat breakfast and walk the 50 meters to the school around the corner. I get a cup of coffee and sit studying Spanish until 10am when there is more coffee and usually cake. Every stands around chatting for half an hour and then there is more studying until 1pm. Sometimes myself and the other students and teachers will go for a walk around town to look at something interesting, sometimes we’ll go for coffee. The school hasn’t had many people in it so far, at most 5 students, which at least means its reasonably quiet.
After school I come back to my host family for lunch and then maybe I have the rest of the day to while away. For several afternoons in the week we take excursions out to markets or churches in the local area which fills the rest of the day. Sometimes I have a siesta in the afternoon, or just sit and play my guitar for a few hours. I found a cool little cafe with wireless Internet so like to sit there when I need to get my information fix. I pulled my bike out of my van as soon as I arrived so try to cycle everywhere. Xela is kind of hilly and the roads can be pretty bad but its small enough with a bike.
At 6pm I have a salsa lesson and there are two possibilities, Salsa Rosa, which is small and funky, or Guajira which is bigger and with a nicer room. They both cost Q30 ($4) for a group lesson but no matter which you go its always a gamble as to whether you end up dancing with someone suitable or not. There is a nice Canadian girl, Ashley, who usually goes to one of them who is pretty good to dance with, but you might end up with someone completely off your level, or worse, no one at all. It seems Salsa is pretty popular with guys in Xela.
And so it should be, last Tuesday I turned up at Guajira to find 8 new, and very attractive, girls lined up for the class. Apparently they were trying to learn some new skills as they were the contestants in the ‘Miss Xela’ competition later today. I had a fun hour dancing with some hot (and rather tall) girls but sadly they didn’t return the next night. :p On some nights there is Salsa music in a few of the clubs which I have been to a few times. I’m feel like I’m finally getting to a decent level but I am still hampered by the lack of a good regular partner…
After my class I head back home for my evening meal and maybe an attempt at my homework, depending on whether I was given any. I’ve been messing around with Cubase 3sx for a while in an attempt to record some music, but the PreSonus 1394 interface I have works but produces far too much noise to make it worthwhile. I’m still looking for a solution but its not easy without a permanent Internet connection.
Xela is nice, although a little cold and it seems to be raining a lot of the time these days. I figure I will study for another week, maybe two, while trying to find some travel companions on the road South before heading east to El Salvador and some more time on the beach.
Tags: Guatemala, traveller, fun, cafe, room, girls, coffees, week, meter, beaches, possiblity, Day
The road from Hell
Day 310
Semuc Champey, Guatemala
The girl, Kara, I had spent the day sitting in the bank and fixing my brakes on Monday with still hadn‘t come back from Tikal. I was slightly concerned but I really had to leave. I pointed out this information to the good people of Los Amigo hostel and after another spell on the Internet got my stuff together to leave.
Another week gone, another set of doors close and others open. I had finally met some Swedish girls, a pair of cousins from Uppsala who were studying in Lund. They wanted me to come on their 3 day walk to some ruins to reduce the price. I regretfully declined and of course now wonder if that was a mistake. I bet they see a wild Jaguar! :p
It would be $100, not too bad but they were returning via Tikal and I had no major desire to see it a third time. Thinking back these were my forth and fifth Swede I had met in 10 months, one in Puerto Escondido, one in San Cristobal and the girl I freaked out in the phone shop at the very start of my trip in Toronto. At least it would give me more chance to speak Spanish.
I would be needing it for the next leg. After assuming Kara would be coming with me to the waterfalls at Semuc Champey I had neglected to post a notice to see if anyone wanted to come with me. I probably should have gotten my oil pan welded but the road all the way down was the main highway number 5, it would have to be paved right?
The first part of the journey was fine, I got some gas and directions out of town. I took a slightly wrong turn but firing up my laptop and good old Google Earth showed me I would join the road I really wanted soon. My power converter were all broken now so I suspended the laptop and listened to dodgy Guatemalan radio.
The road was good, the best since the US really since Guatemala has mostly avoided the horrible custom of covering their roads with speed bumps. There were a few around, but nothing compared to Mexico. I made good time, the distance wasn’t that great and I made it to the half way mark at Sayaxche after about 2 and a half hours. I took the green goddess over a little ferry too, which was fun. They were moving 3 cars and a gas tanker around with a couple of outboards.
I crossed a rickety bridge at Sebol and the asphalt gave out. So much for the paved highway all the way south. The road was dusty but flat and clear. I would have to be careful about my oil pan though. I tried to turn on my laptop to recheck Google Earth and learned it hadn‘t suspended and was now nearly dead. My first bit of bad luck.
I bumped down the dusty track passing a few cars and trucks and saw a box in the road. I big one that must have just fallen from the truck I had passed. I pulled up and found it was a box of 14 packets of Corn Flakes. The big 600g boxes. I reached down and pulled it onto the front seat. It barely came through the window. Nice find. Shame I didn’t really like cornflakes :p . 100 meters down the road I found a starving dog nosing around another 3 big boxes.
I chucked them all into the van, emptied a box for the starving dog and continued south. What was I going to do with 56 boxes of Cornflakes? It was 33kg of the stuff. If only they had been Branflakes I would have been much happier. I guess I could sell them, give them away to the locals, eat some or make some chocolate cake things. I started following a beer truck and hoping that would start dropping some of its produce too
My musings about what to do with my sudden windfall was interrupted by a small truck zooming past me but then being blocked by the beer truck. There was a kid in the back sitting on a load of boxes of Corn Flakes. He looked at the pile of Corn Flakes on my front seat, shouted to the driver and they pulled over. I did the same.
He jumped out and started yabbering on in rapid Spanish which I could barely understand. I understood the word ‘Career’ or ‘Job‘ though. He didn’t even wait for me to speak but opened my door and started grabbing the boxes. I really wasn’t prepared to argue with the guy, and why would I. My slight good fortune would be nothing compared to the grief this would get him into.
I told him he was lucky (I doubt he would get so much compliance from a hungry local) and shook his hand before driving off on my way. I was now hoping this was going to give me some good karma for the road.
The road was getting worse. Someone else had obviously noticed this and decided to spend a few billion Quetzals to get it fixed. Only a few miles after losing my breakfast, so to speak, I came to a bridge which was closed. I gathered they were repairing the road, or at least making it half decent and no traffic could get through now until 6pm. It was 4.30pm and I had just missed the 2-4 slot to get through.
What could I do? I pulled into the shade, dropped my hot water bottle into the nearby stream and had to wait for an hour and a half. I tidied my car as usual, checked the oil, tried to fix my power adapter, studied a few Spanish words, hoping the local truck drivers who also pulled up to wait wouldn’t decide to rob me.
I would have gone fishing but the milky water was polluted with soap powder. The truck drivers washing directly in the stream weren’t helping either. How can they be so short sighted. The sun sank lower and lower and my window for making it to my destination shrank.
At 6pm the cones were moved and I now had a choice between the safety of driving slowly verses the danger of being forced to drive at night. I also had my oil pan to consider which was basically being protected by some hard chewing gum. After a minutes drive I realised they weren’t sealing or improving the road, they were building a whole new one by blasting half the hillside to widen it.
Ignoring the waving construction workers I picked my way across the rocky road, cursing the day I didn’t buy a 4WD. I suppose I could go back but the guy manning the blockade told me it was only 1 1/2 hours to Semuc Champey. I was 3 hours away from Flores. I decided to continue.
This probably wasn’t the best decision. I soon came to the most recent part of the roads construction, a steep section of blasted road that was mostly flat but not quite. My first ginger attempt at it was unsuccessful and I backed up to consider my options. The middle part had several large rocks jutting up, waiting to bleed my oil out so I went up and chucked them out of the way. I was still going to be in serious danger of losing all my oil again.
With one of the workers cheering me on I got back in the car, put it in low gear and gunned the engine. I would have to make it in one shot, it wasn’t so steep that I couldn’t make it, the danger was stopping or tearing the bottom off my van in the attempt.
I really should have had my camera on video mode :p
I picked up some speed and hit the rocks at a fair pace, I could hear them smashing all over the bottom of the car and I wondered, not for the first time, what the hell I was doing. It was 10 seconds of sheer hell, I just kept my foot down and prayed to the gods of Karma that I wasn’t going to spending the night in the jungle.
Tags: waterfall, cousins, chewing gum, desire, goddess, tent, tea, san cristobal, trucksNot a bad place to get stuck
Barton Creek Outpost, Belize
How not to eat a chili.
The beautiful Natalie.
Chilling in the Jungle.
Tarzan’s toilet with a monkey voyeur
There is Tarzan!
Just relax Katrijn. A bit more….
We went to check the car and get Eva’s bag.
Katrijn had a wound on her ankle which she was trying to keep dry. Luckily she had a strong man around!
Nice place to park.
We didn’t dare cross this.
On the way back we stopped to chat to a local girl called Chariot who was from Florida.
Eva tried to charm me into losing.
Eva left early so Katrijn and I amused ourselves by switching positions on the camera.
There was no shower. It was …. fresh!
Breaking down in the jungle
DAY 301!
Barton Creek, Belize
I packed up and decided to head west with Katrijn and Eva. I was going to have to go to Guatemala no matter what, there is no vehicle ferry to Honduras. I would have a dilemma soon though since it seemed that is where all my new friends from Caye Caulker would be heading next.
Thankfully my van was still where I left it in Belize City and we drove off without incident. It was so boring Eva fell asleep.
After only a couple of hours we turned off the highway onto a dirt track on the way up to Barton Creek. It is an off the beaten track gem which we were all keen to see. The road was pretty rough though, but nothing too bad I thought. We hit a couple of rocks since I don’t have the best clearance but it seemed to be no worse than the occasional road I had done in Baja California.
Eventually we turned off that road onto one that was even narrower. We were getting close we thought. Then it all went wrong.
Or maybe we were saved.
We saw the sign for the cave pointing right but all thought it pointed left. We went right.
We came to a deep creek which I didn’t want to cross so turned around and came back to the sign.
We realised our mistake and turned around.
This was the worst place to do it and ended up getting stuck on a steep slope and nearly dropping down a cliff.
Fortunately, a local family was passing by shortly after in their 4WD and after pushing and sitting on the hood without much luck told us they would come back with a rope.
When they came back Bill was crawling underneath and saw that I had also knocked a hole in my oil pan.
Bad news!
Bill hitched up his rope and Mikey pulled us out of the drive and we parked up near Bills house and considered our options. The hole wasn’t too bad so we drained the oil and Bill offered to pick us up some more oil in town the next day. Then we would see if some JB Weld would be good enough to get us out of the jungle and back to a welder.
The girls weren’t that impressed, but what could they do? :p
Nick points out the fact that my Hayes manual was upside down.
Bert was a friendly dog. A little too friendly. This shot doesn’t show his red rocket.
With only a slight delay we made it to the outpost where Edwin was there to cater for our every need. There was a Dutch brother and sister also there, Jan and Natalie so they showed us how to swing into the creek.
It was a great place, but with a hole in my oil pan and no oil. How long would I be stuck there?
Tags: dirt track, slope, local family, barton creek, trousers, blog, rope, dilemma, TravelThe tragedy and the Irony* : Facebook sucks.
Caye Caulker,
My mum doesn’t facebook. She’s one friend I don’t need to add. She can read my blog to find out what I’m up to since I now don’t really do much email. That’s fine, facebook is personal.
Yesterday three girls from England arrive in the afternoon. I told them I was Swedish to appear more interesting and to see if they really believed me. They still haven’t got it,who wants to be British on a island full of Poms. Different is good. We hang out, chat, go for some drinks that night. Great girls.
Caroline and Krishna
Next day we hang out and chat some more. My mate frog and I persuade Caroline to come down to the Karaoke for a beer and we start chatting about the hostel which turns to talk of how some hostels are brothels on occasion, like in Africa…
This isn’t going where you think :p
Well I say to Caroline about how she could never do that but it turns out she did. She was in Ghana and did a 3 months overland trip too. We chat about Ghana and the music and dancing. The usual fun of reminding each other of the great times in a shared experience of a place. I tell her that I saw the Eclipse in ’06 thinking this would impress her even more. Hey, I’m not shallow, it was a great thing to see! :p
She impresses me by telling me that she also saw it and we chat about where she spent her 3 months. I ask if she was a volunteer and when she says ‘yes’ a trail of lightbulbs went off in my head.
On my last day I went to a volunteer party… did you got to a party a few weeks after the eclipse? – Yes
I describe it perfectly for her. The court yard, the beer place, the music, the dancing. We also went off to a club together after the party.
So weird.
It turns out she also went to the same place on St Patricks Day in Accra a couple of weeks before, the Irish pub with the live band. We made a pile of shoes and danced on the concrete until they felt like velvet slippers when we were done. Such an awesome night.
It is a small world but I wouldn’t want to paint it.
So why does facebook suck?
Because now you meet people, you make them your friend and maybe someday you notice they’re in the same country and you can track them down. We’re all becoming ultra connected, how can we manage all those narrow threads of brief connections manageable. GPS and mobiles will making ‘pinging’ your friends a normal thing. Its cool to think you will know who will be in the pub that night without asking them but then so will the police if we continue towards this dangerous path along the shattered road of civil liberties.
The chances of people meeting again, randomly reconnecting across the continents is a spectacular luxury we have in the west, but one that is doomed to die. I met a girl called Rachel in New Zealand, Australia and Indonesia, the second and third time only briefly, but in the middle of nowhere. It was such fun. Maybe a well trodden route and not entirely unexpected but Ghana to Belize after 25 months is so amazing.
So guard your friend requests. Don’t make it a quest to gather up as many as you can. More that a few hundred are not your friends, they’re just names, more than a thousand is a full fledged hobby. How you people make time to make new friends I never know. I guess I should try being an attractive girl to find out.
Defriend a few people right now and see if you miss them… they wont mind, they wont even notice you’re gone. Then maybe you’ll bump into a old friend you stupidly failed to make the first time.
So where is the tragedy? That I had to wait so long to really meet Caroline. She’s great. Rest assured I have not fallen in love with her over a weird coincidence, indeed she was freaked out by the whole thing. Maybe she thought I was stalking her across the world :p We passed and didn’t connect.
The tragedy was that I didn’t make any impression on her the first time. Although she lost her photos she doesn’t appear in any of mine from the two nights in Accra. I hung back a bit, I chatted to some people but I wasn’t really there until I started dancing. As you get older you have less to lose and more to gain from being outrageous. We all want to be remembered, if only temporarily, because one day that’s all we will be.
So I will make it my goal now on to find as many people as I can to charm, encourage, humour, help and impress. I’m trying but I need to try harder. I need to be more aggressive than I am, less watching from the wings when I should be pushing towards the center of the stage. You should try the same. Who wants to be forgettable?
I believe we’re like a half marble bouncing around in a marble bag. You may never meet other half but you never will unless you try to connect with every marble in the bag. Just don’t add them all to facebook, it crashes if you have more than a million friends.
So I guess its really not facebook that sucks but me. I shan’t cancel my account just yet.
You’d impress me right now by subscribing and telling 3 more people to subscribe, my blog is now my sole income. I’m trying to travel overland to every country remember, its not free.
*If you want to add me in facebook I’m Travel Trousers, put something original on my wall. Mum, don’t even try!
Comments are back on.
Tags: crash, karaoke, eclipse, hostel, third time, old friend, concrete, gps, paint, new friends, irish pub, st patricks day, facebook sucks, attractive girlA week on a Caribbean Island
Caye Caulker, Belize
One week would never be enough but it would have to do. Caye Caulker isn’t the ‘la isla bonita’ Madonna sings about but it was a beautiful spot all the same. The time was right, I arranged to take Katrijn and Eva over to Flores in Guatemala and just about managed to catch the boat where I am writing this post.
What a great week. Rain, storms, lots of sunshine, warm water but mostly my time was filled with hanging out with a great group of people. After a day at a boring hotel I moved into Bella’s and started having lots of fun. I admit the other guys were having even more fun, but then they were drinking all hours of the day and I didn’t want or need to compete with that.
We did lots of relaxing at the split where they have a great spot for relaxing on the broken concrete pier and a rickety dive board for showing off to the girls. Alcohol and dive boards are not a good combination, but highly entertaining.
I wasn’t just hanging out slacking though. I went out on the free kayaks with Jordan to try my luck at some fishing which was fun. Didn’t catch a damn thing but he still managed to sell me his rod and reel for $30 us. I got a good deal 
The snorkeling trip with the boys from the Sea Hawk were highly recommended too, it seemed everyone from the hostel ended up going and how can I argue with figures like that? They sail out to the reef and make three stops. Hopefully sighting some Manatees on the way. We didn’t get that lucky, there were 2 hanging out but the group before us ended up scaring them away. I put my underwater camera to some good use though.
Nikki shooting me shooting her.
You know what they saw about boats and alcohol though, drinking rum punch while hanging off the rope at the back is not such a great idea, but it seemed it at the time.
There were a few hard nights of drinking to get through too. I should stress I mostly managed to resist the pull of cheap rum and didn’t have a single hangover. Lots of the guys there ended up missing most of the night after.
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See the girls run
Caye Caulker, Belize
Its only a Portuguese Man ‘O War!
Who’s that girl?
I met this girl in Hong Kong a few years ago and lost her email address. She was working as a teacher in Shanghai and invited me to come live with her. Her name was Divine Maxine, or Maxine Divine.
Pity.
3 thrills a day
Hopkins, Belize
Visiting a salsa factory isn’t really very thrilling but its interesting to see. Marie Sharp is a Belizean legend and her hot sauce is on over table in the country. Pop into the factory for a tour if you’re passing that way. 
After that we went swimming in the Blue Hole park. Nice and fresh. Vanessa got a thrill when we floated down the river and were nearly sucked into the underwater tunnel. I saved her
Then we went nearly a mile into the cave nearby with only a small LED flashlight. That was fun. Vanessa was kinda scared :p
Then the biggest and best thrill was saved until last but we didn’t take any photographs. We couldn’t and I will explain why.
When we had driven down to Hopkins a few days before we passed some people in a horse drawn buggy who we assumed to be Amish. We soon learned that they were Menonites, and they had a sizeable community out in the jungle. On the way back up we decided to go and have a proper look.
4 miles up a dirt track from the main road we found a set of farms and houses. No electricity poles or cars were about but there were quite a few people. We stopped to chat to a local on the road and asked if there was any where we could get some food nearby. The community didn’t have anything as advanced as a restaurant but he suggested we pull into someone’s drive and eat with them.
This seemed a bit crazy, to just invite yourself to dinner with a random family but when I suggested we choose his house he told us to give him half an hour and let us know where he lived. We carried on up the road to explore some more.
Vanessa and I wanted to photograph the people but knew this would be rather rude and managed to restrain ourselves. We turned around and stopped again to chat to a guy loading up some lumber at the lumber yard. He was also dressed the same as all the men in the area. Straw hat, blue shirt and a long beard.
Abraham, it turned out, was the brother of John, the man who had invited us to dinner and we waited a while talking about their life in the village and what we were doing in the area. At least until we had to move out of the way of horse and cart that wanted to get past. This was the closest to a traffic jam that you can get around here.
We drove back to Johns house and met his wife Margaret and learned they had 11 children running around, ranging from 7 months to 14 years old. The three boys were outnumbered by their sisters slightly but they were all curious as to what we were doing and what we looked like. I have no idea what they thought of my long hair but they all stared when I took off my hat.
John was building onto his new house so we sat in that and talked some more. Some of the children had had some vaccinations that morning so were somewhat afraid of strangers. They also dressed in the traditional way and John explained how they bought cloth and made their own clothes.
He took us on a mini-tour of their farm and showed us their horse drawn washing machine and how they could change the belts around to power the corn grinder and even a drill. Chickens were running everywhere in the yard, jumping over broken farm equipment and being chased by the barefoot children.
In the field nearby they kept horses for transport and cows for dairy produce. The Menonites are all vegetarians but they are not against using animals to make money. They must be quite well off since they came and bought 3,000 acres in the valley. 35 families lived there and they had only been there 12 years but were well established with a church, school and market.
A spring from the hills provides all the families with a gravity fed clean water supply and the land was green and fertile, perfect for farming. The Menonites provide 80% of the countries local produce and with no real costs for gasoline or other resources were in a great position to profit from the worldwide increases in food prices. I only hope they don’t also suffer from this, people can get very jealous from others’ success.
We learned they sometimes even had people coming to rob them with guns and someone was shot through the hand a few years back. Now they don’t keep too much money in the houses.
Dinner was finally ready so we washed our handed and all 15 of us squeezed around the table, the adults at either end. Vanessa my ‘wife’ and I sat together, we both felt it best not to correct them on this point, it was hardly relevant.
We bowed our heads for a silent prayer and passed around the bowls for a simple meal of vegetable stew, rice, cottage cheese and soup. The children were learning English in school but their main language is Low German which they would mutter amongst themselves. They didn’t really speak to us but we knew at least some of the older ones understood what we were talking about.
Vanessa and I were desperate to photograph this beautiful scene of the family sharing a meal by lantern light, the girls in their black bonnets and simple dresses, the boys in blue with perfect, blonde bowl haircuts but we could hardly jump up and retrieve our cameras from the car. We had both talked about doing an article on them for the National Geographic, which was mostly just conjecture, but here we were having dinner with people who are managing to avoid the crazy materialism we are obsessed with in the west. It was such a nice feeling that we were doing something very few people would ever experience, but even nicer to be reminded that there are friendly people all over the world.
After dinner we continued to talk about their lives and what we were doing. John asked where we were staying that night and I replied that I didn’t know, it would probably be a hotel. He offered to let us stay and I should have agreed immediately, sadly Vanessa and I don’t really know each other that well and she didn’t think I wanted to stay, so she said no.
After we said goodbye and set off to the main road in the dark we realised our mistake but it was too late. They would soon be in bed so we could hardly go back. John did say we would always be welcome, so maybe someday I will return, but who knows. We would have to settle for a night in a dingy Chinese Hotel in the capital, Belompan. What a great day.
A menonite buggy
leaving kismet, photo kids, new arrival, palencia?/late/marie sharp factory/blue hole pool/underwater current/drive to next cave/1 light/scared/muddy/menonite turning/4 miles in/chatting to john/up to nersery/chatting to abraham/back to johns/wrong turn/john + margret + 11 kids/14 to 7 months/3 boys/sat and chat in new house section/no photos/trad dress/vaccines/blonde/waching machine/corn grinder/drill/makes shutters/various carriages./horses and cows/bread fruit tree/chickens/dinner/silent prayer/rice/stew/soup/bread+corn syrup/pineapple and mango/kick in the head/well behaved/long hair/vanessa wife/lanterns/no photos/offer to stay/regrets/drive up to capital/cheap chinese hotel/vanessa asleep
Tags: vege, beard, blog, pool, country pop, nearby, sim, half an hour, mud, thumb, rangers, straw hat, gasoline, brother, pineapple, hole caveMore ruins
After breakfast I took advantage of the break in the weather to finally see the nearby ruins of Palenque. It was pretty quiet up there, I just wandered around on my own, happily snapping away.
When I got back I changed accommodation to the Jungle Lodge. There was no difference in price to Rakshitas but at least the rooms were well screened. That evening I met up with Angel again, a English woman I had chatted to briefly in San Cristobal. She was just about to get a bus to Northern Yucatan but I guessed I might meet her again in Belize or further. She left me to entertain a girl called Amy and we had a few beers and watched the drums and fireshow while waiting for the rain to stop. We waited for quite a few beers
breakfast/lift to israeli couple/park up – clean van?/wandering the site/HDRs/change to jungle village/dinner with angel and Amy/salsa?/fire show-drums
Tags: girls, mexico, weather, eve, palenque, angel, san cristobal, rainStill alive
Zipolite, Mexico
I came to Zipolite just for one day on the way to San Cristobal and ended up staying 8 nights. Its nice, the weather has been great, the water warm, the tourists naked, why shouldn’t I stay longer.
Not been doing much. Yesterday I went on the Crocodile tour at a nearby swamp which was good but marred by my stupidity at locking my key in my van and hence having to do the boat ride only with my point and shoot camera. Luckily the American family that was in the boat gave myself and Paula (my new Canadian friend) a lift back and I got a further lift from the owner of my hotel. I missed hundreds of shots of birds though which were all over the place. Very annoying I couldn’t use my new telephoto lens.
The town is very small, just a village really and its the low season so there aren’t many people around. Tomorrow I have a 10 hour trip up through the mountains to San Cristobal and then onto Palenque. Hopefully I will run into my South African friends up there….
Tags: zipolite mexico, telephoto lens, sun, brother, insurance, boats, stupidity, photos, weatherJust a short stay on the beach
Zipolite, Mexico
I spent the day just hanging out, exploring the town or rather village. The water was semi fierce, safer than Puerto Escondido though and it was famed for its liberal attitudes to nudism. If middle aged ugly people want to get naked that’s fine with me, I can always look at my book.
This was in the local supermarket. Does anyone buy this stuff afterwards?
I checked out another few places since the hotel I was in really wasn’t doing it for me. Lino floors which stay wet from the sea spray tend to have that effect. I had pizza on the beach and got talking to a girl from South Africa called Paula who was staying for a while. She read me my fortune and we arranged to meet up the next day.
So much for staying 2 days….
Tags: locals, tent, Travel, fortune, zipolite, trousers, south africa, sea, blog, supermarket, girls, pizza, thumb, puerto escondido, mexicoCan girls surf?
Lauren leans too far forward :p
 
Go Saranne! oops!
 Fun!
Yay!
Tags: tent, Travel, puerto escondido, trousers, thumb, girls, saranne, blogWandering around Guadalajara
Day 181
Guadalajara, Mexico
I was getting close to finishing off the current book I’m reading, an Umberto Eco novel called ‘The island of yesterday’ which was a tour de force of brilliance but was slightly distracting in my quest to be a tourist. I must try not to read when I wake up as there is a natural tendency to fall asleep once more, which is of course what happened. It was afternoon by the time I woke and I wandered up into town to find something to eat. My car was sitting baking in the sun and I opened it up to find the new wax on my surf board had melted and dripped all over one of my camping mats :/
The city center isn’t very far so I decided against putting my bike together and just walked up. The traffic was pretty bad, but this being the second largest city in Mexico would only be eclipsed by Mexico City, a place I’m not looking forward to driving in, but shouldn’t be any worse than anywhere else, it would just be more crowded. People in the states told me that Boston had the worst drivers but I didn’t particularly find that to be true just as people in Mexico warn me that Mexico City is a nightmare to drive in, but I’m not so sure. I’m sure its only as bad as Bangkok or Kamapala in Uganda. More traffic means you go slower but also means its safer. Then you only have the problem with the cars around you. I’ve found Mexican drivers to be rather selfish though, the usual stupidity of third world thinking where everyone is looking out for number one. Yesterday I saw a ambulance sitting at the traffic lights with his lights flashing and no one moved. So either it wasn’t a real emergency or the driver realised that even using his siren wouldn’t get them out of the way. This is the scariest thing I guess, you can crash your car, get some help and the traffic still kills you on the way to hospital.
Surveys show that the vast majority of people consider themselves to be an above average driver but this is clearly impossible. I find it better to regard myself as a below average driver since I am regularly doing what is the most dangerous activity in my life it is better to regard the whole act of driving as a easy route to my own death and I would be better thinking I barely knew how to drive. Hidden oil spills, dogs on the road, blown tires, mechanical failure, gravel, dust and sand, huge potholes…. the list is endless and all waiting for an unwary driver to not be concentrating. Dying in a car crash is surely the stupidest and most pointless way to die as its highly preventable. Dying in a drink driving crash is far, far worse, but we’re in Mexico… It happens.
Maybe I should go shopping, Guadalajara has loads of stores and I think my current wardrobe is rather lacking. At least I don’t have to carry any clothes In the city center I set off in search of something to eat but I didn’t seem to have much luck. Everything seemed so… meaty! I wasn’t going to starve though I’m sure, and I’m happy to back into size 32" jeans once more, maybe I can get it down to 30" before the end of the year, something unseen for 10 years. Kira reminded me about a water/maple syrup/cayenne pepper/lemon juice diet with daily sea water enemas which would probably do it. 10 days of that and I’d be really able to eat like crazy for a few months :p If only I could find some food. I found myself in the wedding dress district which was clearly the wrong place for a hungry tourist although it was packed with hopeful looking girls all window shopping for their perfect dress, whether they had the perfect man to go with it was unclear.
Guadalajara isn’t a bad place to get lost searching for something to eat though, the architecture is stunning, with sunny plazas around every corner and neoclassic buildings towering overhead. Its still typical Mexico though with plenty of street sellers hawking their wares; beggars and buskers. I finally gave up and headed for Sanborns, a slice of the 50′s and somewhere I had eaten in before. I was disappointed to see that they give you Nescafe if you order coffee with hot milk, although I’m not sure whether that was a better option than the weak Americano coffee with those awful non-dairy creamer pots you get. What’s so wrong with milk?? I spent far too long reading but tempered my guilt with going through some Spanish-English flash cards and hopefully sticking a few more words to my dull brain. By the time I was onto the last chapter it was dark outside but it was still early and I hadn‘t even eaten. I then realised that I had gone through a time zone and lost an hour, but this is hopefully the last one I will have to suffer. I really don’t like going east!
Tags: rain, set, hawk, rash, ears, american, clothes, trousers, crash, wanderings, tent, brain, nightmare, pot, shopping, chapTime to leave
Day 179
San Blas, Mexico
Everyone had gone! Even the two American girls camping under Cabana had left, heading into town for a hotel room before their early morning bus ride, there was only the German group left and they weren’t too keen on speaking in English all day. Maybe I should have gone to Sayalita with Ben and Noah, but they didn’t ask and I didn’t push. I made some tea (my coffee had run out) and sat on my balcony for most of the day trying to get back up to date with my blog. I wrote and I wrote and slowly the days disappeared, its funny how long it takes to get back up to date, even when you’re seeming doing very little. My legs and arms were a galaxy of red stars though, the sandflies setting off supernovas all over my body that itched like crazy. I was thinking it might be time to get out of San Blas, really break the curse and move on, I would head to Tepic and decide from there.
Tags: curse, cabana, flies, set, camping, man group, TravelThe Three (drunken) Amigos!
Day 161
Los Mochis, Mexico
Even though it was Saturday I had to get up and move my van from outside Roberto’s office. I shouldn’t complain since he was kind enough to lock it up for me overnight but I hate to get up, especially since I had won the toss with Roland and snagged the bed. I should have sensed trouble when Roberto backed his car out to take me over there right into the front of a truck behind us. This wasn’t the only crash we would be facing this Saturday…..
After a shower and not much of a breakfast we then had to wait for the local plumbers to fit the kitchen. Roberto had recently separated from his wife and was now going through the painful process of not only living 400km from his 4 year old daughter but setting up a new bachelor pad for himself, the kitchen was just a shell and needed filing out. When the kitchen fitters had finally arrived and had gotten to work we went off on our mini-tour of Los Mochis. I’m not sure you would put it down as the cultural and architectural center of Mexico but it gets a steady stream of tourists all hoping on or off the train that heads up through the Copper Canyon, Mexico‘s version of the Grand Canyon, and an arguably better version of the same. We went for a walk around the botanical gardens, which was a hot walk in the middle of the day. I’m not quite sure why Roberto though we were interested in plants but it was a nice enough place, and free, which is always a bonus. It just looked like a park to me though, if the fact that it had plants in it made it botanical so be it. Roland took up the challenge of jumping over one of the irrigation ditches which was good of him, but the photo would have been much better if he had fallen in, as I hoped :p
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We did pick up an interesting snippet of information though, we learned that there was a baseball game on later on and since Roland used to play baseball a lot, and I’d never been to a game, it would be nice to check out. Best of all the tickets were only $3. Always thinking in the correct way, Roberto took us to a Taco place which he knew sold tickets and proceeded to demolish a load of food while I sat nursing my soda. Telling the average Mexican you don’t eat meat usually garners the equivalent response to saying I had castrated myself, they are horrified, couldn’t understand it and feel sorry for you… My life, my choice…. There was problem with the kitchen and we had to go back. Trying to save a few pesos, Roberto had hired some Mexican Cowboys and they didn’t have the right tools to connect up the gas and water. At least he had worktops instead of nothing as he did before.
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We had a while to kill before the game and Roberto now confronted me, saying he was very worried about me. I hadn‘t eaten since the night before and this was a cause for concern. I did remind him that I only eat vegetables and seafood and we had only been to places that only serve meat, besides I am perfectly capable of going several days without food and not feeling any ill effects but this didn’t assuage his concern and we set off in search of a ‘Subway’. I quickly reminded him I would rather eat fish tacos and happily he knew a good place that might still be open next to the 24 hour disco. Why it seems impossible to get seafood in the evening is still a mystery to be solved, as well as the 24 hour disco conundrum but at least I got something to eat. Roberto would be remiss to allow me to eat alone and joined in with gusto.
Before the game we quickly went to check our mail at his office and I rapidly uploaded all my missing blog posts that I had spent so much time on the beach writing. I still didn’t have enough time and was transmitting them from the car as we left. There is always another connection though, and 15+ posts at once would have to do :p
I have never been to a baseball game, the majority of my experience with the game is playing it on my Nintendo Wii, so at least I had some idea of what was going on, but then not much. I quickly gathered that the main objective was to drink at least one beer per inning.We took it in turns going off looking for ‘Senor Cervesa’ but with each trip up the steps to our seats I took my turn to be concerned as our host was panting like a car trapped dog, and the stadium was tiny…. For some reason we had chosen to sit right behind the local band and infrequently they would start belting out some random tune at breaks in the game. The guys played away but as no one was bothering to update the scoreboard no one knew who was winning. I soon lost interest and started reading my book, trying to ignore the annoying samples of music they would keep playing and the nearby band. The most interesting action came from the girls who would appear and start throwing promotional items into the crowd. Like plastic cups and key chains… To see the locals go after these was like watching refugees chase a UN food truck, I thought people would start fighting if they didn’t get something. I guess baseball isn’t my sport :p
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My First Baseball game, possibly my last…  |
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One of the teams won, I have no idea which, nor did most of the crowd, and we made for home. Roberto had managed to snag one of the big beer cups and was now on double portions of beer, I gave up after 4 beers and a trip to the disgusting cockroach infested toilets but my Amigos were both on double figures and were miles from home. I knew I shouldn’t have gotten in the car, I tried to persuade him to let me drive by admiring his car and asking how it handled but it was no good. It seems the idea of letting the person who has had the least to drink handle the driving is as alien as not getting completely wasted in the first place. Roberto assured me he wouldn’t go too fast, but the speed kept creeping up and thankfully the roads were quiet. He didn’t think it was a problem since he was a lawyer! Of course, you have the other drunken drivers to worry about too… ‘
By now our Mexican friend was hungry but he had a pescatarian guest to consider, luckily he knew a place that did potato tacos and we somehow managed to get there. I had 4, and probably would have had more if I had known they were only 2 pesos each! Bargain! Suitably full we went back to the apartment to get ready for an evening of drinking… it was close, we made it. Roland had set off searching for cigarettes despite my attempts to dissuade him and after smoking one agreed that is wasn’t a good idea, but there is no rolling tobacco in Mexico.
Roberto is a big Sopranos fan, as am I, and he put it on for Roland hoping to get him interested. Perhaps I should have gone to watch as well, then we might have stayed at home and lived, but it was not to be. They soon got bored and then insisted I get out my guitar, which I did. We had half an hour of painful shouting to various Beatles tunes before I had enough and succumbed to asking if we were going out. We got changed and set off to a good club Roberto knew of, after first checking we didn’t have any illegal drugs on us. A few more beers while hanging out kept the mood going and Roberto was in fine spirits as he cruised around looking for the club, telling us only the poor drink tequila in Mexico and his adventures in Amsterdam. Perhaps he should have been concentrating more on the road as he nearly killed us all by starting to turn left into the path of an oncoming car. Only my girl like screams of terror averted disaster and we pulling into the parking spot without a sound.
And we had to drive home….
The ‘club’ was empty, just a few locals in cowboys hats standing around outside so we went next door to shoot some pool and drink more beer. I’m ok at pool but its just a game, not a competition of wills, but Roland and Roberto were pretty drunk so it was a simple matter to keep playing for me. I was bored though, and soon gave up and started reading my book. By now I had gotten to the 7th book in one of my favourite series and there was a whole new novel waiting to be read, much more interesting that beer and pool I have to say. After a few hours of this the club must be busy now? We paid our tab and went out to check, I saw inside before the bouncer quickly closed the door, it was still empty but now they wanted 100 pesos to get in! Oh well at least I would be able to get started on my new book since it was too loud to talk and I doubted we would be dancing… Some Saturday night this was!
We got back in the car and went looking for something, finally spotting some police cars outside a club and calculating that if the police were there it must be good… Well it wasn’t the best place in the world, but it was busy, people were dancing, occasionally a load of teenagers would get up and play some pretty appalling music which the crowd seemed to appreciate. I wasn’t being an old fart, the music was awful, but I was still bored. I thought it hilarious to see Roberto finish his beer and then stand waving his bottle around for 10 minutes trying to attract the attention of a waiter while the bar was only 3 meters away :p Eventually the DJ kicked in and Roland and I went off to dance. Roberto didn’t want to dance with us, apparently that’s a bit gay, but eventually he came over to sit nearby while I hoped and prayed to go home to bed…
getting van/crash/shower/kitchen wait/botanical gardens/jumping Roland/tacos/baseball tickets/kitchen install/fish tacos/office&uploads/baseball match/panting Roberto/too drunk to drive/10 beers/cockroach/potato tacos/cigarettes/sopranos/drug discussion/Beatles/drive/near crash/empty club/pool/not caring/reading my book/100 pesos empty club/police club/kids/terrible band/reading again/waving bottle when bar so close/dancing/Roberto not happy/interesting girl/drive home
Tags: sod, fish tacos, rain, eat meat, pool, hell, sea, cockroachesRace to the Ferry
Day 159
La Paz, BCS, Mexico
It was time to leave Baja after nearly 4 weeks of fun but the whole of Mexico was still stretching before me. We got up, packed up and made our way back up to La Paz to get the ferry back to the mainland. The ferry left at 3pm, but you had to be there 3 hours before, ie noon. It was a simple calculation to make and a simple mistake. The road went north from the RV park and so did we. It curved around the coastal road and traffic was light. We passed the places we probably should have been camping for free but then I can confess we sneaked out in the morning without paying for the second night :p Roland‘s idea! The road became really quite bad, strange for a main road, sometimes the fallen rock debris forced us into one lane and the tarmac had fallen into the cliff on the right more than once. Up and down, around treacherous bends and over rutted sections we finally came to a place where the tarmac ended and it was just a dirt track. This obviously wasn’t the main road! We needed to go inland to get back to La Paz and we had just driven for half an hour north on the wrong road.
Nice View on the Wrong Road |
Cursing our stupidity we turned around and went back on the same terrible road, now an hour behind schedule and wondering if we should bother going to La Paz at all. We had been to the terminal before and it states quite specifically that you must be there 3 hours before. We would be there 2 hours before, but it wasn’t an international flight, and hey! We’re in Mexico! I was half hoping La Curva would be open for breakfast but it wasn’t and we found the proper road and put the pedal to the metal. Around 1pm we made it to La Paz and then went up the 25km to the ferry port but we need not have hurried, they would actually sell tickets up to 45 minutes before departure so we stood in the queue, I paid $180 for a 6 hour ferry ride and we went for a much deserved breakfast of fish tacos from the van near the entrance. So long Baja, hello mainland Mexico!
| The ferry ride was pretty mundane, Roland was kicked out of my van and I had to negotiate the boarding alone, which was mostly waiting around for the lorries to get on board. It was a pretty big ferry, and I was soon sitting on a ramp inside and trying to work out what I needed for the journey. I took so long that eventually the ramp behind me was raised and I stood there for another 15 minutes waiting with a deck hand for it to move. When I eventually set off to find another way out and wandering the |  The scary ferry ramp! |
lower decks for 5 minutes I ended up at the same point I started but with the ramp now down. Well I do like to explore. I found Roland and we stood in line for our included meal before going out to watch the ferry depart. A completely unremarkable journey, it soon went dark but the wind was enough to get us inside pretty quick and we read, I watched the end of ‘Stardust’ until my batteries ran out (the ferry had a non standard plug ) and we tried to ignore bad American movies dubbed in to Spanish.
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Why is Roland wearing a dress? |
Roland had organised another Couchsurfing host in Los Mocis, a town of a quarter million people some miles inland from the port, so we gave him a ring and met him at a supermarket near the highway. Roberto was a big guy, talks good English and the only host in the area, so I guess we were lucky. He showed us the room we would share and then took us out for some 10pm tacos and we discussed a few things to do over the weekend. He works as a lawyer so I guess out timing was pretty good, however Roland had to head off to pick up his father soon so the timing was getting tight….
Waiting on the ferry…
up/wrong road/la paz/ferry terminal/shrimps/ferry/meal/laptop power/coffee/roberto/dinner
Tags: traffic, thumb, highways, american, laptops, insurance, stupidity, Travel, coastal road, coffee, photos, rope, job, blog, laptopLooking for a puncture
Day 161
Los Barilles, BCS, Mexico
God it was hot! Happily I had camped closest to the wall and didn’t have too much sun on my tent in the morning, but I woke as usual at 9.30am and prepared myself for the day. After 4 days of being stinky I had another shower but only for pure enjoyment of being clean. We had kind of decided to stay another day. There wasn’t really anything to do but there was a beach nearby and a pool. When Roland finally rolled out of his blue oven we started chatting about trying to find the puncture in my air mattress in the pool and that became the activity of the day, although not in the pool. We blew it up and found one large hole using water but no more. The pool + facemask idea would have been better I’m sure as it was still leaking. We also removed everything from the van in an attempt to discover what had happened to the bottle of vodka Roland had bought in San Lucas the week before but it was gone baby, gone. Someone is going to have a nice surprise at one of the 2 campsites we dropped it at I had solved my GPS marker problem and then started looking at compressing the tracks a bit better. I was also terribly out of date in my blog and despite a few days effort was still 12 days behind. Roland fell asleep and I took advantage of the nearby electricity outlet to try to get back up to date.
Eventually hunger called to us both and we took a walk into town to fix our appetites and Internet addiction. We went for Tacos at La Curva Restaurant and had simply the best tacos yet. First they heaped fresh nachos and salsa in front of us, with guacamole to die for, and then we had fish and shrimp tacos which were piled high for only 20 pesos each. Simply stunning food and just the thing for my appetite. I got another car key cut while Roland checked his email; we had found a place to stay in Los Mochis, the next town after Topolobampo where we would get off the ferry. It seemed likely we would try to get the ferry the next day and Roland gave Roberto in Los Mochis a ring to confirm. We enjoyed our last evening in Baja by revealing to Roland my video game emulator collection on my laptop and he spent a few frustrating hours trying to get Street Fighter to play properly with my cheap gamepad. When he eventually gave up and went to bed I stayed up far too late watching Gone Baby, Gone which was pretty good (8/10) and then despite my previous loathing for Family Guy watched Blue Shift, their Star Wars parody and enormous fun. It looks like I’ll have to start downloading all of them again soon, if only I could find a decent Internet connection….
lazy/puncture/shrimps at la curva/gone baby gone/blue shift
Tags: girls, dorms, clothes, mail, nearby, addiction, camping, animals, whore