Published!!

Some time ago Chris sent an article about his bike trip to Santa Fe to Bike Magazine in the UK. The trip happened last October and the article was soon forgotten and nothing was heard from the mag. Imagine our surprise when we bought a copy of the May edition of Bike yesterday in San Diego and while flicking through the articles Chris thought that a certain photo looked rather like a picture he had of his trip. On closer inspection the bike in the the picture even had a Union Jack sticker on the front just like Donkey has.....wait a goddam cotton-picking minute here.... Yes! He's famous. A whole page glossy full-page spread of his trip - with his edited down words and 4 fabulous photos. I'm so proud. This is so COOL! Bike is like the 'leading' bike mag in the UK and this is just so darn excellent!

And this comes just ONE day after Pat phoned us to say she'd be browsing through Chris's Mensa Magazine that arrives at her house each month back in the UK when a rather dashing photo of her son caught her eye. It accompanied an article he'd written about Life Coaching and again it was sent off quite a while ago and although the editor had expressed an interest in using the article he hadn't confirmed when it would be featured.

SO 2 BRILLIANT SURPRISES in 2 days!

(And incidentally this comes just 2 days after I finally got the 'Scrapbook magazine' from the UK in which I had a couple of scrapbook pages published. Although the mags were from Dec & Jan and I'd seen scanned copies of the pages I finally got the original mags brought out from the UK only this week!)

Back in the USA!!

Well they had to let us back in didn't they? - after all we're good for the economy!! Since being back we've been busy choring away and shopping and you probably don't need a day-by-day detail on all that!

We've been into San Diego a couple of times. Yesteday we toured the USS Midway down on the waterfront. It's a HUGE aircraft carrier (1001 feet long) that was the longest serving aircraft carrier in the US fleet. It served in the 1st Gulf War and was de-commisioned in '92. Had a great audio tour round the thing and it was even more interesting than I expected (we've done a few of these old military boat things and to be honest I had a bit of a 'seen-one-seen-em-all' opinion but this was good) - we were on board for 3 hours if that's any kind of testimony!

Also strolled around the historic Gaslamp district and had our first good Indian curry in quite a while. In a 1 block area we saw about 5 curry houses so we figured it might be a good bet - and it paid off! We actually had a buffet so all the old favourites, great naan bread, tikka masala etc. Only thing is the restaurant was WAY too stylish! Not like the curry houses in the UK. No moving pictures on the wall, no dodgey music, no stained table-cloths and no poppodoms! But really all that aside it was money well spent!

2 weeks have passed...

And after a rigorous regime of regular exfoliation and expensive body lotions the leathery-ness of my backside is beginning to soften!! I'm feeling like a new woman and Chris says he is too....!!

Haven't done all that much....We did get back to Baja in time to celebrate Chris's birthday with friends at the RV park and generally hung out there for a week. Chris get sick with migraine for a few days so I played Nurse Mills rather well actually even if I do say so myself!!

Baja isn't quite the same second time around. With one road extending the length of the peninsula there's no real options for alternative routes and we travelled slowly on the way down seeing everything there was to see so there's not really anything 'left' to do this time. The season here has quietened down dramatically - most campgrounds we've stayed in on the way north have been empty apart from us! So we stopped at Playa Santispac again (The place we hung out for Xmas) We had no trouble re-establishing ourselves at exactly the same palapa, only this time we had a daddy-O Guatemalan double hammock to hang up - OH YES!! And weren't we just the snooziest-in-the-sun!!

Now we're just 150 miles from the border 'waiting' till Monday to cross over. Fingers crossed...

Around the world in 80 days!

Well ok, not the whole world exactly and it was actually 81 days but you get the picture! Helen, Donkey and I left Baja California on the 5th of Feb. and returned on 26th of April, (my 44th birthday; 43 was one thing but 44 was just too old!) having covered 6,390 miles taking in another 13 Mexican states, pretty much all of Belize, (not difficult really as it's pretty small) and a fair sized chunk of Guatemala.

Despite all the rumours of bandits, highway robbers and murderers; we met nothing but the friendliest of people on our way; I'm pleased to say the bike performed faultlessly even though it's now in need of a good service; the nearest thing we had to a problem was two punctures; in the same tyre, at the same time! We came out of our luxury hotel room, (it must have been good, after all 10,000 ants seemed to enjoy their stay there!) to find the rear tyre flat however, there was a gas station across the road with a pump and not half a mile away there was a tyre repair shop. 10 minutes and 20 Pesos, (including a 33% tip) later we were back on the road! And we like to think we're a developed country...

It wasn't all such smooth going though; slip sliding an overloaded and overweight sportbike down 25 miles off Belizean bumpy dust track, (or would have been dust had we not been in the middle of a tropical storm - it is after all a rain forest I guess!) made the potholed, corrugated Mexican roads seem like an American 8 lane highway! Running the gauntlet with Guatemalan buses in the mountains was an education; if you've seen bike couriers in London's rush hour you'll know what I mean! And no I'm not exaggerating; they slow down for no-one, (even passengers getting on and off have to do so at a jog!) overtaking long lines of traffic on blind bends while all oncoming vehicles pull of the road to make way; or is that to save themselves? It's the only time I've ever been overtaken while filtering past stationary traffic on a bike!

We bumped into a live crocodile on the beach in Mexico, a dead one on the side of the road in Belize, a four inch long scorpion in my shorts, (twice!) "hey, there's only room for one ***** in my shorts! Howler Monkeys in Guatemala that didn't see why we should be eating bananas when they had none! Then there was the packs of wild dogs that hunt in towns and are right up there with the fastest at the traffic light Grand Prix! Thankfully the sharks, sting rays and moray eels we saw whilst diving kept themselves to themselves!

We met our fair share of crazies; two of the most memorable ones were Adam from Manchester who is on a five year trip 'couch surfing' the world, (www.couchsurfingtheworld.com) and a German teacher who is one year into a three year solo trip on a 14 year old and 60 kilo all up weight push bike; 15,000 Kms and counting! (www.mikeonbike.de) Made our trip seem a little tame!

We dived in the aquamarine waters off the coast of Caribbean Mexico, along the second biggest reef in the world off the Belizean Cayes and in a volcanic caldera 5,000 ft up in the Guatemalan mountains. Accommodation ranged from hammocks, (I don't care how cool the image is - it just isn't comfortable however much you drink beforehand!) through beach front 'palapas' made from palm leaves to a Holiday Inn, (well it was Helen's birthday!) with cable TV and wireless internet.

We managed over 1,000 miles in one three day period on the way home, (target fixation I believe they call it) the longest of which was 432 miles in 12 hours! And we must have hit and I mean HIT a thousand speed bumps, or ‘Topes’ one half mile stretch of village may have a dozen topes; some painted, signed and even fairly smooth, others cunningly disguised in amongst the shadows of trees and more like riding up a kerb than rolling over a speed bump! UK drivers - be grateful for small mercies, at least your speed cameras are bright yellow!

Mileages

Flores - Poptun/Finca Ixobel (68m) - Scuzzville (can't remember the name of this wretched little town and it's revolting hotel with dirty sheets) (289m) - Panajachel (52m) - Santa Cruz (by boat) - Panajachel (by boat) - Antigua (70m) - Huehuetenanago (154m) - INTO MEXICO - San Cristobal (168m) - Salina Cruz (255m) - Zipolite (151m) - Puerto Escondido (45m) - Zihuatanejo (432m) - Barra de Navidad (332m) - San Blas (282m) - Mazatlan (192m) - La Paz (by ferry) - Los Barriles (84m)

TOTAL MILEAGE FOR TRIP = 6390 MILES
14 Mexican States, 2 Central American countries
Average Fuel consumption 54mpg (this compares to 7.5mpg in the RV!! - now do you see why we went by bike?!!)

Back in Mexico

We've spent the last 2 nights in San Cristobal at 7000 feet. It's chilly at night and first thing in the morning, but we'll enjoy it while it lasts - heading for the Pacific coast tomorrow! Yesterday we risked life and limb and got on a Mexican bus - (yes I hear the gasps of horror and shock). All in the name of time management and efficiency. We wanted to visit Palenque and Agua Azul (only coz Helen B said we had to!). It was 200km away each way from here and riding just wasn't that appealing for once. The bus tour was a bargain $30 each and carted us round to Agua Azul waterfalls, Misol-Ha waterfalls and finally Palenque Mayan ruins (safe to say I am now offically 'ruined out'!) 14 hours on a bus, but it was an enjoyable day out - we both really enjoyed the laziness of it and the opportunity for Chris to enjoy the view for once. Lots of nap time, time to listen to music on the Ipod - all that stuff we just don't do on the bike - it was worth the money just to be driven!

Met a very interesting fellow Brit on the bus tour trip – Adam. Adam is from Manchester and is ‘couch surfing the world’. So far he’s 6 months into a 5 year trip. Couch surfing is a website organisation that was set-up that people register themselves either to host or to find places to stay on their travels (with fellow members). He's writing a book about his adventures of which I’m sure they’ll be many. So far he’s successfully managed to couch surf the USA and most of Mexico – that is stay for free for the last 6 months (maybe that’s something we need to look into – perhaps there should be a ‘RV-park-in-your-driveway’ scheme!!) Check out his website here.

On our way 'home' now and it feels it. There's a kind of 'winding down' feel to the trip now. And whilst we don't want to rush too much (it is still a trip and should be enjoyed) we're eager to get back. Looking forward to re-visiting a couple of our favourite Pacific coast towns.

Racing Chicken buses & other mountain tales...

Enjoyed some beautiful scenary and riding on our last days in Guatemala. We were up in the highlands where the weather was fresh. We left Antigua and headed NW towards the border and to San Cristobal in Mexico. It was too far in one day so we night-stopped in Huehuetenango - a local market town in the mountains - a bustling place, particularly on the Monday morning as we were trying to navigate our way down the narrow one way streets to head back onto the highway - the market just sprawled itself out onto the surrounding streets so we were dodging fruit & veg stalls, hawkers with candy or T-shirts and a few stray turkeys escaping their baskets only to be hustled back by old women in traditional dress. It was a colourful, hectic place and I think we were the only gringos in town!

The roads were spectacular. A lot of roadworks going on, though that was never a problem for us on the bike - we just got waved through. That doesn't mean it's safe though - you're on your own picking your way through the JCB's and diggers, hoping that the guy doesn't miss the truck and drop a ton of dirt on top of you! It was interesting - and more so once we started racing the chicken buses...The drivers obviously missed out on their calling for Grand Prix driving and so work the buses in the highlands of Guatemala instead. Although we were generally faster, we were getting overtaken by these buses on any dangerous bits that we slowed down for - and especially through the roadworks where they have no regard for the vehicle or it's suspension and whizz past us! The only time we could nip past was when they slowed to drop people off or pick up - and even then they didn't come to a halt - for the poor woman with a laden basket it was a running stop as she flung herself off and trotted off down the hill, basket balanced expertly on the top of her head, chicken tucked under one arm!

It's not just roadworks - wandering pigs, chickens, cows and goats; a fair splattering of local kids begging for money or trying to sell us fruit or woven scarves and bracelets, old men pedalling ice-cream carts (in the middle of nowhere?!), and frail old ladies carrying the largest bundle of firewood on their heads when they should be at home knitting in front of the fire with a nice cup of cocoa.

It's crazy stuff, but so 'Guatemala', away from the tourism of the big city; where we were constantly stared at with curious fascination - after all I guess it's not every day they see a heavily laden bright red sportsbike being riden 2-up by a couple of strange looking gringos in the middle of the highlands!! Must be mad....

Happy Easter

It's Easter Sunday today and we have no chocolate! So far Helen hasn't fallen apart but that's probably coz I took her mind off it by taking her shopping at what is probably Guatemala's biggest market! Maybe she hasn't yet realised it's 'Chocolate Sunday'???

So, the market; huge! It's a twice weekly affair in the middle of Chichicastenanga, (shortened by the locals to 'Chichi' which also happens to be slang for boobs - makes asking directions kinda awkward!) which sprawls out from the main square in every direction and is impossibly easy to get lost in. You could walk round in circles for hours not knowing whether you'd 'been to this stall before'; as much as anything coz most of the stalls sell the same things and most of the sellers wear the same traditional costume!

We did the obligatory bartering and came away with a two person hammock for the bargain price of loads less than first quoted. Both parties seemed happy with the deal although I reckon the seller's smile would have been far smugger if he'd known that we now had to carry this colossus another 2,000 odd miles back to Baja on an already overloaded bike!

On the way to Chichi, (no sniggering at the back!) we had to pass through a small village called Solola which was celebrating Easter to the full; they spend the days before dying mounds of sawdust all different colours, then on Sunday morning the whole village turns out to line the streets with miles of the most elaborate of carpet - all made from dyed sawdust and flowers! From a distance you'd have no idea that it wasn't real carpet; and then once all the hard work has been done, they walk all over it and ruin it all! It's basically a huge Easter procession where who knows how many people carry who knows how many 'float' type plinths adorned with flowers, with life size statues of religious figures aboard. The pace is funeral durge slow, (I guess to put off ruining all the hard work) and starts and finishes at the church. Hours later when we passed through on our way back there was almost no evidence of the incredible artwork that had previously brightened up the village beyond belief; not even an excuse to get drunk! Same again next year?

5 Years, 5 countries!!

We celebrated our 5th Wedding Anniversary today in Guatemala. (So far each anniversary has been spent in a different country - Cyprus, Spain, USA & Canada and now Gautelmala!!)

We've been staying the last 4 nights in 'Finca Ixobel' which is 65 miles south of Flores. It's a beautiful ranch set in the countryside, with hiking, horse riding and lots of good food. It's been a relaxing 4 days.

Tomorrow we move on south. Although we aren't exactly sure where yet - it's Semana Santa (Easter) this week - probably the biggest holiday week of the year for the Guatemalans and everywhere is very busy. We'll see what happens...!

Mileage so far

Oaxaca - Tuxtepec (147m) - Ciudad del Carmen (354m!!) - Campeche (139m) - Chichen Itza/Piste (187m) - Playa del Carmen (189m) - Tulum (52m) - Mahahual (143m) - INTO BELIZE - Corozal (123m) - Caye Caulker - Corozal - Orange Walk (36m) - Dangriga (165m) - Hopkins (29m) - San Igancio (104m) - INTO GUATEMALA - Flores (104m)

Tikal, Guatemala

Arrived in Guatemala yesterday. Everything at the border went smoothly and we made our way the 100km towards Flores in the north of the country. Roads are 'interesting'. The first 35km were a dusty, pot-holed track that someone seemed to have concreted over - bumps and all. So although 'paved' we did an average 20mph! It improved, but we can't pick up speed because at any given moment an enormous pot-hole appears trying to wreck havoc with the wheels.

Flores is a great little town. It's actually an island, no more than about 500m in either direction, and its full of little cobblestone streets and interesting shops. Straight away we've noticed the change in prices of things - it's SO much cheaper here in Guatemala, and it certainly is welcome to our budget! Now dealing in quetzals which feels like monopoly money to us its such good value after Belize & the Yucatan!

Got up at stupid o'clock this morning (alarm went off at 2am - it was hardly worth going to bed!) Were on a tour to Tikal for sunrise. Glad of the bus ride, as we wouldn't have wanted to do the trip on the bike at that time of the morning - it was about 1.5 hours (time to sleep!) We arrived at the ruins about an hour before sunrise giving us just enough time to walk 1.5km through the jungle and climb Templo IV (Tikal's highest building at 64m). We were completly above the trees at that height and we watched as it got lighter and the jungle 'awakened'. There was lots of mist so not the greatest of sunrise moments, but it did lend itself well to the intrigue of the place as the tops of temples and ruins poked out above the mist from time to time. We heard lots of howler monkeys and birds and then we did see a spider monkey swinging its way to breakfast (I can only assume - that's where I'd be heading!). Tikal covers a huge area. I think we walked about 10km today and climbed several of the buildings (there's only one you can't). It's in quite thick jungle so you just suddenly stumble into a clearing and are faced with this whacking great temple or something. Apparently all the stones used to build the city were hand quarried and hauled, no peice of rock used to build with is larger than about 30-40kg so it was 'manageable' to the workers - it's some feat! There are over 4000 structures in what is now Tikal National Park - needless to say we barely scratched the surface.

Actun Tunichil Muknal

Spent the last week lazing around in a little village on the coast called Hopkins. There's not a lot to do, but then that was half the point. Did another dive out on the reef, visited the Cockscomb Wildlife Sanctaury where we did some hiking through the jungle and spent the rest of the time strolling up and down the one dusty, pot-holed street that IS Hopkins!

Today we went to the Actun Tunichil Muknal caves. Touted as one of 'the most incredible & adventurous tours you can take in Bellize' it was pretty much as good as hyped. The caves were 'discovered' in the 70's but weren't fully investigated till the 90's. Hundreds of pottery pieces along with 14 skeletal remains were found there and to date very few of the finds have been taken from the cave, leaving it as a 'living natural museum'. 1993 it was the topic of a National Geographic video series and again featured in the magazine in 2001. Since then research has more or less stopped and now it is the destination of these 'ATM' (because no-one can pronounce the full name!) tours with people like us on them.

It starts with a long drive along a VERY bumpy track up into the jungle, then a 45 minute hike through the jungle, wading across the same river 3 times (now you'd have thought they'd have sorted that admin out a bit better wouldn't you?!) to the cave entrance. The only way to get into the cave was a 15 foot swim, then the rest of the 3 hours spent inside the cave system were anything from full body swim to ankle deep so we were wet all day! The main area where the remains were found was above the water line so we climbed up on the ledge and walked around looking at the finds. Much of the pottery is embedded, having been calcified over the years and some of the bones were misplaced possible from flow of water in the caves at some time. It was all so interesting and the guide was hugely knowledgeable on the subject (it's a shame we can't remember it all!) Most of the skeletons were human sacrifice, a couple more were buried here, all by the Mayans. As well as all the history, there were also dozens of spectacular rock formations - more stalactites & mites than you could shake a stick at!

Belize Zoo & Howler Monkeys

Today we got wet!

For the first time in almost 3,500 miles, (165 today) it actually rained on us; it has threatened in the past but after just a few drops it’s always stopped – until today! I know we're in the middle of a rain forest and tropical storms are to be expected, but this is 'supposed' to be the dry season!!! Thankfully it was after we’d done all we wanted to do and were on the last leg to Dangriga; although we didn’t know we were coming here when it first started raining at the zoo. (More of that later!) Bearing in mind that it is soft warm rain that is actually really quite pleasant to ride in; the clouds were low, the jungle impossibly green, (in more shades than I knew there were!) and shining in what little sun was breaking through. And then there’s the traffic; there isn’t any! Here it’s the pedestrians and the cyclists who rule the road, it's the vehicles that have to fit in – how cool. Road rage – hah!!!

It started just as we were about to the zoo so we stopped and had an ice cream and the most expensive bottle of water in the world, ($4 for a litre compared to the usual 1:50) while it passed over. A woman from the zoo came to let me know there was rain coming and as the bike was loaded up with our luggage, I should put it under one of the picnic shelters; how nice of her! Looking up at the black sky we had the option of staying there in the 'Rustic Cabanas' or head on - we set off.

Of course it soon started again when we were too far to turn back; the first time we stopped at a visitor’s centre for one of the local Cenotes, (caves) and got going again a few minutes later. But it started again with a vengeance; I had to stop coz I couldn’t see to ride! We pulled into a bus shelter and got Donkey under cover whilst I swam to the B&B that just happened to be on the corner, but at $40 each for a room with no light and a cold shower in a bathroom with no light and single beds, I thought I’d rather get wet. We hung on for a bit longer till the rain calmed off again and then made a final dash; which in the end was fine coz as wild as the rain was, it stopped early enough for most of our clothes to dry off(ish)! Helen had my waterproof over her and her bag while her jacket was wrapped round the lap-top in my bag, (for once we didn’t have spare polly bags everywhere - obviously we'd got to used to the sunny weather!) our waterproof trousers however had been pinched off the front of the bike – only the day before, (someone obviously knew the rain was coming – dry season or not!) typical; the first time we needed them in six weeks! Somewhere there'll be a couple of very unslylishly dressed, but dry, Belizeans!

So rain aside - today we rode to the baboon sanctuary; of course Belize doesn’t actually have baboons – these were Howler Monkeys that have had their natural environment protected by a voluntary agreement between surrounding land owners! You can do tours and as some of the monkeys see humans all the time you can get right up close to them and even feed them bits of leaves or banana; however they’re not tame and they don’t assume humans will feed them so they do live perfectly normal monkey lives. To prove the point, one of them did take a fancy to the camera Helen was aiming!

We were heading for Dangriga, which took us past the zoo. We weren't sure we were that bothered by 'the zoo'; it all sounded a bit sanitised – all these caged animals for our pleasure however... they’re certainly not there for our pleasure; in 1983 there was a documentary called ‘Path of the Rain Gods’ filmed in Belize and when it was finished Sharon Matola, (from the film) was concerned that the animals had become partly tame and wouldn’t survive back in the wilds. So she founded the zoo which now only houses local animals in their own natural environment; all of which are either confiscated illegal 'pets', orphans, injured animals or ones now born in the zoo. I was really impressed with the place; all the cages were huge, spacious, clean and full of jungle. There were informative signs everywhere, (‘written’ by the animals) that explained where they'd come from, their predicament in the wilds and how they needed the jungle to survive and stuff.

So, we saw; Jaguars, Keel Billed Toucans, (the national bird of Belize) Scarlet Macaws that are on the verge of extinction, a Harpy Eagle which is the biggest eagle in the world and the national bird of Panama, Spider and Howler Monkeys, oodles of other cats, birds, beasts, thingies and of course the Mountain Cow, (Tapir) which is the national animal of Belize; looking very much like an overgrown anteater, it is actually related to the horse and rhino! All in all a very cool place and a worthwhile visit.

Something I’ve noticed about Belize is that there are millions of kids – everywhere! They all play outside all day and most of the night, and they never cry! All they do is laugh and have a good time; in fact considering they have very little money, they also have very little crime and the whole country has an incredibly 'safe' feel to it; just full of happy, laid back, friendly people – like nowhere else I’ve been! And they talk about 'developing countries' as if we've somehow got it so right!!!

When we got here we hung around the hostel doing laundry and watching TV; because it’s an English speaking country they have English speaking TV, and I guess they don’t have their own networks so they get cable from the states; so we’ve enjoyed having something to watch for the first time since I don’t know when! James Bond on a wet afternoon - what could be better???

Swimming with Sharks!

Yesterday we swam with sharks!! Never thought I'd hear myself say that, but it's not as scary as it sounds. These were nurse sharks so not exactly prone to human attacks for a start! We saw dozens of them, and they were quite content with us swimming amongst them. The largest we saw were probably about 8 feet long, most were smaller. This was all on our dive today from Caye Caulker. Went to the Hol Chan Marine Reserve which is located on the barrier reef. The reef here is the 2nd largest barrier reef in the world, 2nd only to the Great Barrier reef off Australia. As well as the sharks we saw barracuda, green moray eel (who are unbeliveably ugly buggers!), lots of angelfish, a two eyed buttlerflyfish and dozens more I couldn't begin to identify (but I'm already learning - eh?!) Dived down to 70 feet in amongst fingers of coral. There were these huge 'banks' of coral with sandy 'paths' in between them - it felt like we were on a trail! Great, great stuff - I'm loving this diving thing!

Today we did a snorkel trip out to the reef. It's so shallow on the crest there's little point in diving that particular area. We were stood in waist deep water about 1.4km off shore. We went to a shark/ray neighbourhood. More nurse sharks and this time we were swimming around with sting-rays! (Yes those ones that Steve Urwin played around with!).

Belize - yeh mon!

Hey Mon! Dah son ez shinin' an we ez chillin mon. We dah en Belize mon!. Well, something like that anyhow. Dis ez the Caribbean mon!! After 3200 miles in Mexico we crossed the border this morning and got ourselves shockingly organised and all the way to the Cayes (pronounced Keys) by the afternoon. Border formalities took us about an hour and that was mainly because we did everything wrong, back to front and had to go back and forth sorting this that and the other. Got there in the end and 15 miles down the road to Corozol. From here we sorted out some pasture for Donkey to stay in for a few days while we travel over to the cayes. We then hopped a flight to San Pedro on Ambergris Caye (this has got to be one of very few times I've actually got in an Islander and stayed in it for landing and more impressively not had to sit on the floor! - they gave me a real seat with a seatbelt - can you imagine!?!) It was a 20 minute flight and gave us some great views as we flew out to the Cayes. It was also pretty good value - worked out to 15 UK pounds!! and was only 5 pounds more than the boat which took 2.5 hours to do the same journey!! From San Pedro it was a 1/2 hour water taxi ride on to Caye Caulker. Caye Caulker is a chilled out place. There's no motorised vehicles - just bicyles and golf carts to get around and all the streets are sandy. It takes about 10 minutes to walk from one end of town to the other and there plenty of great cafes and bars and dozens of dive and snorkel trip operations. We've got a reasonable place to stay - the rooms not great but the view is - right on the sea and with great sea breezes in the evening which should keep us lovely and cool.

Diving in Playa

While in Playa del Carmen we finally got around to doing our Open Water Scuba course. I might have a brother in the business of dive instruction but I can't wait forever to get him to teach me!! Great dive shop called Ocean Quest, it was a pretty straight-forward 3 day course - diving first in the pool learning all the drills. 2nd day in confined water in a Cenote, then finally our 3rd day doing open water dives out in the Caribbean Sea. We'd had miserable weather - rain even on the first day but it came through for us for our boat dives - glorious weather and excellent visibility under water. Saw lots of turtles and hundreds of fish - now I'm going to HAVE to start learning to identify them and know their names (I know there was lots of Angelfish!!) I think I surprised myself how much fun diving is (I'd always worried beforehand about having to do all these drills taking off the mask underwater etc, I'd stopped realising that it was all supposed to be about having fun!!)(Chris wants me to mention at this point that of course he is a super-dude, had none of these worries having dabbled with a BSAC diving course some years ago and (I quote him)...'took to it like a fish to water' and was more concerned with where he might find the bikini clad snorkellists!) It is awesome and now we just want to dive!! We are in a pretty special part of the world right now as far as diving goes so we might blow the budget a bit here!!!

The day after getting our certification we were straight in there. Booked on a 2-dive trip to one of the many Cenotes in the area - we visited 'Dos Ojos' cenote (which is '2 Eyes' in Spanish). Cenotes are unique to the Yucatan and are natural limestone sinkholes filled with fresh water. Many have spectacular stalactities and stalagmites and it's a really popular diving choice. I think we were still a bit green to appreiciate it at it's best - we spent more time worrying about 'nuetral buoyancy' and having to do this funny kick with our feet to avoid knocking the walls or kicking up silt! But it is awesome. Very dark, we had to carry flashlights, it's a maximum group of 4 per guide. There are lines to follow underwater so you don't loose your way but the cavern system goes on for miles and miles. It wasn't partiucarly deep but it was such a maze of tunnels and caverns adn really quite confined and tight in places. We surfaced in 'the bat cave' which was home to...you guessed it - bats! and we went deep enough at one point to where the fresh water mixed with salt water creating this weird swirly misty water - called a halocline apparently - weird stuff it seemed like your mask was clouded up! Such a great experience!
By now we'd done 6 nights in Playa - our longest stop so far, so it really was time to get moving - not far though - just 50 miles down the road to Tulum. There's a small town on the highway but we headed for the beach area. A small road running paralell with the shore splattered with beach cabanas and mini-resorts. We had a lovely cabana in a small eco-resort - very rustic and stylish (read basic and expensive) but it was stylish too and on a gorgeous white sand beach. This really was the guidebook image - perfect white sand, turquoise waters and pretty quiet and tranquil.

Our final stop in Mexico (for now!) is Mahahual. Supposedly a 'sleepy 'lil old place on the coast' there's a dirt road through one main street and lots of cabanas for rent. Recently though the cruise ships have found their way to shore here so during the day it's heaving with spring-breakers. By night it's as dead as can be! We'll be leaving tomorrow!!

Yucatan

Doesn't time fly when you're having fun?! Seemed like ages since I last managed a blog entry!

We left Oaxaca a week ago and did some serious riding for a couple of days. More stunning roads from Oaxaca for 130 miles of riding, up over the mountains towards the Gulf of Mexico coast. It was another hot ride that day, but we managed to break it up a little but stopping at a great little swimming hole we'd read about. Difficult to find (in fact we'd all but given up and were driving off when we stumbled into it!), it had a few locals in it. Some kids playing around and several women doing their washing there! Very peaceful and wonderfully refreshing!

There wasn't much en route that we really wanted to stop for, so it was a case of riding each day till we got tired then just finding somewhere, anywhere to crash for the night. Stayed in a miserable town called Tuxtepec which I didn't like at all, topped off by the fact we couldn't find anywhere to eat that night so had some suspect food from a street vendor in the local square (now if that isn't the best way to contract Hep A I don't know what is!?!). The following day we got as far as Ciudad del Carmen on the coast. It was a pretty large town, again nothing to get exciting about in terms of things to do or see, but that day we broke all our riding records and had done 354 miles - at 3.30pm we were ready to stop! Tiredness had crept up quickly and we weren't in the mood for trolling around town looking for somewhere to stay, expecially after I'd already spied the billboards for the local HOliday Inn hotel!! (I am my mother's daughter after all and it was calling for me!) So given that it was my birthday the next day it was a great treat to stay in a quality 5 star hotel - hoorah! (no dripping electric fittings, a toilet seat, floors I didn't mind walking barefoot on, thick luxourious cotton sheets, hot water showers and toilet paper on a roll fastened to the wall - it was great not having to carry it around with me! - ah it was bliss!!

We then spent a couple of days in Campeche. It's a lovely old colonial walled city and is on the list of World Heritage sites. Actually there's not a lot of the old wall left - they knocked it down yonks ago but several of the bastions are still there, most housing museums of some sort. The wall was 2.5km and took 18 years to build (obviously a lot less bother to knock down!) The streets are full of old colonial building, many are well restored now and painted in cheerful pastel colours. We were staying in a hostel right on the town square where there was town entertainment, dancing and singing both nights we were there. Since leaving Oaxaca we had our first 'less than perfect' weather. Our first night in Campeche it rained - poured in fact. We had a day off in Campeche which was the first miserable weather we'd seen since being on the mainland. Thankfully the roads were dry when we set off the next morning. (Oh and quite by accident we ended up with a great shot of the town catherdral with the solar eclipse in the background! We just thought the moon was looking a bit perculiar - we were SURE it had been full the night before! It was only the day after we'd read there'd been a solar eclipse and it was that we'd witnessed!)

As far as the weather goes it hasn't been great since. So much for the lovely Carribben setting we were expecting! Since being in the Yucatan we've actually made use of the spare pairs of long trousers we both brought and even the sweatshirts have had an airing on one occasion!
Next stop was Chichen Itza. It's the most famous and the best restored of this area's Mayan sites. Very impressive and so different to Monte Alban (different period, different settlers I guess). It's huge centrepeice is El Castillo, a 25m tall pyramid. We had thought we'd be able to climb it (pictures and our guidebook had said you could, but we later found out that only about 7 months ago some Canadian tourist had taken a tumble and so health and safety had arrived in Chichen Itza - bah-humbugs). Spent 2 or 3 hours wandering around the site, then went back again that evening for a sound and light show - very cool though we missed out a bit as there was a commentary in Spanish.

And so that brings us to date...we're in Playa del Carmen now. The Carribben sea. And still lousy weather, but ho-hum - maybe perfect white sand beaches and turquiose waters AND the good weather to enjoy them would be too much to ask for!!

Monte Alban

Today we went to see the ruins at Monte Alban which is the oldest 'planned' city in the Americas; whatever 'planned' means - can't really imagine these great conquerors having to apply to the local council to build a city!!!

The plan was to leave early to beat the crowds and the heat but the rear tyre on the bike was flat - again... it turned out that the dodgy Mexican tyre mechanics had butchered the valve; luckily there is a petrol station just around the corner so I could repair it there.

Monte Alban itself is pretty amazing. (I know, isn't everything these days?) It's basically the top of a mountain that the Zapotecs decided to flatten so they could build a city, (housing some 40,000 people at i's peak) on it. It was built and lived in/on between 500 BC and 850 AD and was then neglected until around 1300 - 1500 AD when the Mixtecs came and squatted for a while; opening some of the old tombs to bury their own important dead. They did in fairness, put oodles of gold silver and other such goodies, (Rolex's, iPods, Armani suits I would imagine!) in with the dead so they did at least pay some sort of rent. Those particular tombs weren't discovered till 1931 which must have been quite a find!

The site became a world heritage site in 1987 so is now protected which is a good job as it really is quite something to see although personally I think a good coat of paint wouldn't go amiss!

We then took a ride out to one of the outlying villages where much of the local crafts that this area is famous for is made; in this particular village everyone seems to make brightly painted wooden carvings called Alebrijes; nothing like a bit of competition to keep the prices down - certainly a lot cheaper than buying the same stuff in town. We of course had to buy something; a 6" high fire breathing dragon; it does come apart, (legs, wings, flame etc) but it still should prove interesting carrying it around on a bike for the next however many weeks, months...

Oaxaca

Zihuatanejo - Acapulco (165m) - Pinotepa Nacional (184m) - Puerto Escondido (91m) - Zipolite (49m) - Oaxaca City (166m)

The road here from Zipolite to Oaxaca was amazing. It was quite a crazy mountain road constantly twisting and turning and climbing, reaching it’s highest pass at just over 9000 feet. The landscape changed as we climbed. Early on in the ride and closer to the coast it was still jungle. As we moved further from the coast, and without noticing the transition we were soon in pine forest! (and in places so very like Cyprus!) For the first 90 miles it was so twisty we never got out of 3rd gear (out of 5!) and according to the GPS our average speed was just 29 mph!!

Once up and over the mountains the road came quickly downhill onto the plains at about 5000 feet and straight away we noticed the change in temperature – hot again (we’d been so cold in the mountains but never quite got around to putting on our fleece jackets!) Passed through Ocotlan on our way into the city of Oaxaca and saw all the shops selling the black pottery that this part of Oaxaca Valley is famous for.

We were on a mission to get the punctured rear tyre sorted and stopped at the first place we saw. They sent us off around the city to another place, who also couldn’t help but on our way to a 3rd possible we found somewhere ourselves. It wasn’t the ideal tyre but it’s the right size and was fitted for free straight away by a frightening bunch of cowboys (who Chris had to keep an eye on to stop them from doing things wrong and damaging the tyre and the wheel rims) It’s a job done and ticked off – one that might not have been much fun trying to sort out. By chance as we drove away from the shop, took the first turning signed for ‘centro’ we’d ended up on the exact right street for the Hostel we were looking for! It's a tidy little place just 3 blocks from the Zocolo and is just less than $15 a night!

We dumped our things and went striaght back out to explore. As we'd ridden into the centre I’d got to see how beautiful the city is. It’s crammed packed with old buildings, most restored and bustling with people and street vendors galore. Several blocks have been pedestrianised and full of art galleries, handicraft shops and restaurants. Of course there’s the magnificent Zocolo and huge cathedral – the centre piece of the city. We walked to the market which takes up a whole block, and even this late in the day was still really busy. It seemed you could get anything there – fruit & veg, handicrafts, clothing and lots of weird and wonderful food many of them specialities of the region. There was Oaxaca cheese ‘quesillo’ which is a stringy goats cheese, a variety of it which came packed full of herbs and chillis which was a particular fav of ours! There was lots of chocolate and dozens of varieties of ‘Mole’ which is a black paste substance made from chillis, herbs and chocolate. It’s basically a savoury flavour with a kick and is commonly served with chicken. All of these things were available to sample as we wandered round the market. Chris also sampled some grasshopper larvae ‘chapulines’ – it was finely chopped and spicy and apparently quite nice...!

Today we spent more time wandering around the city. It's just such a great place! This morning we visited the ‘Centro Cultural de Santo Domingo’. Here is the Oaxaca Cultural Museum and next door the Church of Santo Domingo. The church was spectacular with incredibly ornate ceiling Sistene chapel styley and a massive Nave centre piece.

The museum occupies a completely restored convent and is enormous. Sadly for us all exhibit tags were in Spanish but just wandered around the place was an event in itself as the building was beautiful – wide open corridors, windowless picture windows overlooking the various aspects of the city, chunky wooden doors leading into the individual exhibit rooms.

Zipolite

We've had a wonderful few days in Zipolite. It's a picture perfect tropical beach that would be so easy to just stay forever! About a mile of pale soft sand and crashing waves. A small cobbled or dirt road Mexican village backs the beach and all the buildings are just simple palapa shelters and huts. There are dozens of cabanas and palapa huts for rent to stay in right on the beach. We've got a great little place - a row of quiant cabanas attched to a palapa restaurant bar. There are shaded verandas and hammocks hanging from every available post and beam, 4 poster beds with mosquito nets hanging from them and brightly coloured Mexican rugs, throws and tableclothes making it cheery and welcoming. And all for $20 a night! In addition they serve mean wood fired pizzas and their 2x1 happy hour cocktails are available from sunset till closing!!

Today we took a short hike through the jungle up and over the headland at the end of this bay and into the next bay and beach. A much quieter place there's no development and just a couple of dusty trails to access it. The waves here were slightly less menacing than on Playa Zipolite so we had a good cool down before the hike back.