Gaz & Gog's World Tour

So why break the habit of a lifetime, and by that I mean why write the blog every 2 weeks when I can write it every two months!

We have been here in Auckland for 2 months now and the World Cup is finally over. It has been a truly epic experience. When you are doing 40 hours shifts in 3 days, you cannot wait for it to be over, but now it’s over we both want it to come back again.

We arrived in New Zealand on the 1st of September and stayed in Nomad’s Hostel for a few nights. Here we became acquainted with our five Irish roomies Catherine, Maria, Victoria, Irene and Alana, thank for our 5 am comedy shows! Robyn cheers for the tickets for Wales V South Africa, shame Wales did not win!

From this hostel we moved to the CozyKiwi, which is a very different hostel, there were a lot of middle aged men there. I think if I went over the bed linen with a UV light I may find a new species! It did make me question what type of people we were. I think the turning point were a fella nearly set my hair on fire using a lighter to try and find his clothes in the middle of the night!

So from here we moved into a flat with an English couple, which was beautiful, our lease was for 2 months. After a few heavy nights we decided our lifestyles were very different and decided it would be better to part ways. We now live in an apartment in the middle of the city with an Irish lad called Col, short for Colin, who’d of thought!

Rugby World Cup 2011

During the World Cup we both worked in an Irish Bar called O’Hagan’s which is located on the waterfront. This Bar is the sister pub of another Irish Bar called Danny’s also located on the Waterfront. This is where we spent our whole World Cup watching and working during the games. It was, I feel the busiest bar in Auckland.

In the first week there we decided to have a night out to meet all the staff, which turned into a very interesting night. We did both have a chat before we went out discussing how we would not get to drunk and just be the grey men in the bar. Just let our hard work do the talking. I think our frame of mind over the World Cup was work hard and play hard which we both did to the extreme! Let’s just say after this one night out we were the talk of the waterfront, and the staff meeting the next day. Oooopppssss.......... Not mentioning any names but one of us slept in a keg room at Danny’s and the other being sick in multiple locations and multiple times. It is very impressive if you can get thrown into a club to then get thrown out. First Impressions count for a lot people.....

Anyway......

George went to 3 games, Scotland v England, England v France and Wales v France. Unfortunately not great games from an English point of view and very disappointing World Cup for them. I went to Wales v South Africa in Wellington which is an extremely wet and windy city, and Wales V France a brutal game. Even though Wales lost, this was one of the best nights during the World Cup.

The best game to work of the World Cup was Ireland v Australia, the Irish drank the bar dry and were still going till 7 am in the morning. The other was Wales v France but we were both on the other side of the bar attempting to drink it dry!

Overall we are both glad New Zealand won because the atmosphere was buzzing and the best part of the World Cup was seeing the French walk up to them during the final which did leave the hairs on the back of your neck standing up. Although the Kiwi fans do need some better banter and figure out a few more chants and songs, cause chanting ‘All Blacks’ for 80 minutes does get pretty monotonous .

During our time here we have set up a social group, ‘The O’Hagan’s Day of Fun’. Here we just organise any events, nights out and daytrips. We have been to the zoo, the aquarium, the cinema. We also have the big staff party coming up, this involves us going to the island of Wahike, where we will go to the beach and a wine tour then a big night out in Auckland. Awesome!

Other things which have happened in the past 2 months but need to be bullet pointed because I don’t know how to write them using humour’s terminology:

• One of our best friends came over from the UK (Ashbourne ) Miss Stacey Hare, who has gone on her travels round NZ with Lydia. Whoop!
• I had to go to an emergency dentist on a Saturday night, and spent 400 dollars on an extraction. I have no money, one less tooth and am not allowed to drink for 2 weeks, oh and also 6 stitches! A very different Saturday night from the one I had in mind.
• We are both growing offensive moustaches for Movember.
• Met Warren Gatland, the Welsh Coach.
• Saw a load of oxygen tanks fall out the back of a Range Rover at some traffic lights, my stomach fell through my bum, I thought they were going to explode.

There is a bit of post World Cup blues, and there is very little to combat this. But our goal now is to save and save a lot so we can carry on the World Trip, and to keep you constantly entertained. Lonely Planet is also chasing us about the GaznGog ‘Travel Guide for Clowns’. So for the time being we are going to be here for Christmas and then see were we at in January with cash flow...

To all the O’Hagan’s and Danny’s staff you are Legend’s, thank you for an amazing World Cup and making us feel so Welcome. Big Love GaznGog x

Travel Tips for Clowns:

1. When sleeping in a Keg Room, be sure to take a coat!
2. You can use the inner cardboard of a toilet role as an egg holder for boiled eggs!
3. Don’t turn off the alarm of someone else’s phone when they have to go to work!
4. Don’t and I repeat DO NOT WATCH PARANORMAL ACTIVITY!!!!!!
5. Don’t throw plastic pint glasses at customers.
6. Eat the pies at Piemania in Auckland.
7. Watch out for confectionary it’s massive ( especially the muffins)
8. Watch the drink driving adverts in NZ, they are good!
9. Don’t set up a bartab!
10. Check out this link for the Wales World Cup Song 2011 :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMoIcbsbZD4
11. This is to sponsor us for Movember :http://nz.movember.com/mospace

From LaPaz we headed north to Cuzco via Isla Del Sol, located on Lake TitiCaca. Here we enjoyed the local delicacies, three giant pizzas made by and old boy, who did everything in the dark only wearing a head torch. Accompanied by two lovely optometrists from Norf Landan!

From Isla Del Sol we took the slowest bus and boat ever built to the Floating Islands also located on Lake TitiCaca.

We managed to squeeze in Machu Pichu. Which was pretty fantastic, you do feel like you are cattle just being pushed around the ruins, being asked by couples if you can take pictures of them! It was similar speal to what we have heard before being spoken by the guide,

“ The sun will align with this broken rock, with a cigarette butt sticking out of it, creating a shadow of a man with the sun coming out his arse meaning there will be 12 months in the year”

“ Er, some Questions please?”

“ No time for Questions”

“ OK then”

After our intense bus ride up to the top of Machu Pichu, we felt the need for another INCA experience. A massage! For the masseurs benefit we took a shower before hand!

We spent one night in the Wild Rover Cuzco! I went to the bar at midnight to ask if they would show the rugby in the morning only to get barged out they way by Freddy Mecury, and then confronted by William Wallace at the wash basins, I don’t think he was to happy, he looked kind of blue, hahaha........

From Cuzco we took our 50 hour bus ride to Santiago. This was not to bad, apart from the bus being full of flies, not just fly’s, there were people as well. Half way through the journey a load of old ladies came on selling huge pizza sized pieces of bread. Maybe you cannot get bread in Santiago, cause everyone went crazy for it, buying it then stashing it away like it was an illegal contraband! We however waited for the next pit stop and opted for an industrial amount of starburst! I do not recommend eating a lot of starburst before trying to sleep!

Our second bus was a lot nicer, but the movie selection was not. They decided to show a film called “ The Collector”. A film about a man that kidnaps people then tortures them. It was put on at three in the afternoon. We have not stopped thinking about it since then. The rest of the entertainment followed suit. A mixture of starburst and horror movies could break any man, and it did. By the time we arrived in Santiago we were a shell.

Thank you Nico for putting us up and letting us stay at your humble home. Gonzo thank you for making us that amazing pizza, you boys have a firm place in our hearts. Thank you Otto, Pilly and Rosia for showing us around the city.

Santiago is a vibrant city, with a cosmopolitan feel and it is very clean!I could write more about the delight of the city but this is not a travel website. If you do decide to go beware of the old people in Jumbo’s supermarket, I nearly engaged into physical warfare with an old lady. Don’t fumble with bags in the fruit and veg section! I was way out my comfort zone!

To treat ourselves we payed for a luxurious bus ride back to BA.
We arrived in BA on Friday morning at about six. Dragged ourselves to the metro station. Where we nearly got mugged. Be very careful when going through bus and metro stations and what not. Never ever speak to strangers!

I will explain briefly what happened :

Scene 1 : George was walking in front of me, chatting to a girl. I was walking behind, I had my rucksack on my back and the very important day sack on my front. The day sack has everything in , e.g./ passports, computer, wallets, etc.. A Brazilian started speaking to me. He told me I had shaving foam on my bag, I did.

Scene 2 : We were downstairs in the busy metro station, George was looking at the map, I put my bag down and started wiping the foam off, then another fella ( who had an offensive leather jacket ) tapped me on the shoulder and pointed at money on the ground. He asked if it was mine. I said No!

Scene 3 : I turn around and the day sack had gone, I s*#t myself. Looked around and some bastard was walking away with it, I gave chase! Grabbed the bloke and had a scuffuffle ,called him a few bad words, grabbed the bag, then ran back to where George was reading the map.

Scene 4: Meanwhile Gog has been reading the map and has no idea this has happened, I was pretty fired up. George could not really get much sense out of me after this, he could have told me we were taking the mickey express to Disney Land and I would have agreed!

I looked like Scrat from Ice Age after the incident.

Thank you Caro and family for putting us up for the last few days in BA. We had a fantastic few days with you and your friends. Thank you Azucares for great night out in the BA.

We highly recommend to everyone out there if you get the chance to go to a Boca’s game you do, even if you don’t like football. We went to a game on Sunday night with some friends. They new someone who new someone, who new a man that looked like Uncle Festa from Adam’s Family who works in the Boca Firm, he got us in. Here all four of us clung to a metal fence a metre off the ground behind the goal for 90 minutes. It is an immense atmosphere, it is one big party. When Boca scored, flares were lit, Argentinian Drum and Bass blares out and the whole crowd charges to the fence your clung to. Half way through the game, a Soccer fan who works for the media fed us biscuits through the fence, cheers chap!

Nacho and little bro thank you for taking us to the Boca game, it was a incredible experience and one of the best live sporting events we have ever been to.

Cheers Manuel for dropping us off at the airport!

Thank you to all and everyone in South America we have met some incredible people and you have left us with fond memories and stories.

Well after 192 hours ( 8 days) travelling around South America on a bus we are finally about to depart for Auckland.Or so we thought. We bowl into the airport to find people shouting, banging things, throwing paper in the air, only to find out a Barcelona flight had been cancelled and a member of staff had been assaulted. This led to a 3 hour Union meeting, they came to the conclusion that it would be best to cancel all flights. This meant we could potentially be spending another week in BA. Things prevailed and after a 20 hour wait at the airport we were on a plane to Auckland!

Arriving in Auckland we realized we could not access funds, but we met a lovely young lady who bought us a tea and some breakfast. Thanks Patch we’ll pay you back when we get to Melbourne.

After a brew and a warm shower we found out the England Rugby Team we arriving at 5.30 am, Gog was made up. Looking our best we got interviewed by Sky Sports News. George met all the England boys, shook hands and what not. Things were looking up. I asked about the Welsh team,there was no welcoming party for them. Plus they were getting into Wellington.

We have been in Auckland for 3 days and have potentially found ourselves a job in an Irish Bar. The atmosphere is absolutely buzzing, and there is a lot of excitement, Role on the World Cup..........

So, just the 17 hours on a bus from Buenos Aires and we arrived in Puerto Iguazu. The Argentinian buses are fantastic; very comfortable, fast and great way of combining travel and accomodation! That said, it doesn't get much more random then lying horizontally on a bus eating the Argentinian version of Rich Tea with a creme caramel!

On arrival in Puerto Iguazu we were met by a local with no teeth who recommended we stay at the Stop Hostel. Judging by his appereance it was only natural to be a bit dubious. However, the hostel turned out to put on a good breakfast spread, which pleased Gareth immensely. George on the other hand was unable to enjoy these breakfast delights and for the next 4 days was on an illness induced fast!

Apparently we were not sleeping in a hostel, but more like a zoo judging but the sounds reverberating around our dorm! Two lads seemend to be trying to imitate the sound of the Iguazu Falls such was the ferocity of their snoring!! Gaz had to fashion some ear plugs out of toilet paper and vasiline which apparently worked pretty well!

Due to our South American time restraints we only visited the Iguazu Falls on the Brazilian side. It took 6 buses to get there, which seemed rather excessive, but at least we now have a Brazilian stamp on our passport! The falls were spectacular, and the recent rains only made their power and magnitude the more imposing!

From Iguazu we took a 27 hour bus ride to Salta. Thank God they had some B-rated Cuba Godding Jnr. movies on or I may well have thought about breaking the emergency glass and throwing myself out! Jerry Maguire seems but a distant memory for poor old Cuba. To add to the total random bus vibe we were also treated to an album of 'classic' love songs during the meal service, starting with 'Lady in Red'. Different!

Another observation which appears to be unique to South America is the sheer volume of travellers, hikers, climbers, expeditioners, and losers who appear at all times to be on standby for an attempt on the summit of Everest or at the very least a world wide natural disaster. I imagine a scene where a dreadlocked employee of Black's or Millets (who calls everyone 'Man' )is laughing all the way to the 'Salesperson of the Month' award after convincing Colin and Barbara (a 55 year old couple from Reading ) that "yes, two thousand pounds worth of high tech, high altitude, Gore-Tex, waterproof-zipped, double lined, anti-rip, idot proof, clothing, footwear, and accessories is of course a sound investment...Man!" Yeh, you're right, English winters are a f*@!ing nightmare ey! We even saw one massive fella who was walking around the bus with a headtorch, over the top of a bushmans hat when there was no sun and the lights were on, as if convinving himself that "yeh, I knew these would come in handy!". I think we were more than adequately prepared with 4 packets of vanilla flavoured rich tea, and an endless supply of toffees.

We arrived in Salta which was boiling, and all was well apart from Gog's bowel's! The first and most important thing was to find a hostel which showed the rugby, we did and all was good. England won, that was not good (for Gaz)!
We enjoyed a cable car ride to the top of the nearest mountain, which gave us a full panoramic view of the city. Then to get the pulse rate going we did the only Bungee Jump in Argentina. It was only 40 metres but included a dip in the lake and a glimpse of the slightly grander adrenaline rides which lie in wait for us in New Zealand!

In Salta our two became four when we met up with Chris and Chris, a 25 year old Canadian and a 22 year old American respectively. Here began two fantastic, action packed weeks of bus rides, bus breakdowns, bike rides, bike crashes, sandboarding, star gazing, tea drinking, desert crossings, salt flat photo shoots and much much more!

Our Fab Four (I can't think of anything more witty) set off from Salta to San Pedro Attacama through some of the most incredible and stunning scenery yet. It would also mark the start of our lives at altitude as San Pedro sits at a mere 2400m above see level. We would not be lower than 3400m until reaching Santiago, Chile nearly two weeks later.

San Pedro is home to some of the worlds most powerful telescopes and a Mecca for both astronomers and astrologers alike. The altitude and arid, desert climate with its lack of cloud and moisture make it one of the best places on Earth to look at the stars. Even for us novices it was a stunning and educational experience, looking at Saturn and seeing in detail the surface of the Moon.

Sandboarding proved a rather more exerting activity than stargazing and not at all like snowboarding, which our entirely unmotivated 'guide' assured us it was. Nevertheless, after a few falls and having filled our pockets, ears and noses with sand we were shreading it just as bloody crazily as when we were on the mountain....in a way! That evening also ended with a glorious sunset over the stunning sandstone valleys and canyons of the San Pedro.

The following day proved to be a day of extremes. George spent it sunbathing, sleeping, reading, eating, and generally relaxing in the glorious desert sun of San Pedro. Gaz, CC (Canadian Chris) and AC (American Chris) on the other hand set out on what can only be described as the most underprepared and ill advised bike ride into the desert, in human history. Armed with underpants, socks, shoes, shorts, singlets (I'm trying to make the list seem long!), approximately 500ml of water, a hand drawn map and a bike, off they set. I know what you're thinking, "what more do you need?" Well apparently quite a lot more! Six hours later they returned with tales of unmarked tracks, rougue llamas/donkeys, scaled mountains, drinks from rivers and rides in pick-ups, looking rather tired and frankly glad to be alive! Enough said!
The following day we left on our 3 day 4x4 trip to Uyuni. Scarcely 30km out of San Pedro and having not moved out of second gear our driver calmly informed us that the bus was "kaput". Really? With your sensitive handling of the vehicle? Never?!! MUG!!!

Luckily our actual driver (Johnny) and his sturdy Toyota Land Cruiser were a lot more reliable and apart from his strange fascination with AC looked after us very well. There are few words that can adequately describe the sheer scale, beauty, ruggedness and harshness of this country and the landscape within it. It is perhaps best to let the pictures speak for themselves and to mention that Johnny who looked 40 if he was a day was a sprightly 27...bad times, and thank you Nivea Sensitive!

After the obligatory 'cool' pictures on Salar Uyuni including a rare glimpse of the 'moon' at midday we arrived in the 'city'of Uyuni. Unfortunately I can think of nothing more than sand and tourism when picturing this place, and to be honest we were all rather glad when we were leaving. Completey isolated the entire city seems to exist soley on the tourism trade and this is unfortunately all too plain to see. There is a quite incredible train graveyard just outside the city where a whole generation of grand old steam engines and their carriages lie decaying end to end, still on their tracks. Covered in rust and grafity they seem to be the last evidence of an earlier time of hope and positivity for trade, economic wealth and self sufficiency. As we drove back into Uyuni past the internet shops, restaurants turisticas and currency exchange booths we couldn't help but feel a little depressed.

However, things were about to go from the surreal to the ridiculous when we attempted to get the bus from Uyuni to La Paz. A simple ten hour journey with 'PanAmericano' in time to watch the second Wales Vs England match descended into a 22 hour expedition including a broken down tour bus, a 50km ride in an open topped lorry with somewhat bewildered locals, and two more local buses. Never before has a company's name been more ill fitting! As we climbed up the side of the lorry AC told George he was going to 'flip out'. Our 'seats' were a combination of full beer bottle crates and what I can only hope were empty propane gas bottles. Not the most comfortable. What followed was our Vietnam. An all time low comfort level, the most potholed road south of the equator and a wind colder than an Inuit rejection! Gaz's feet were in serious trouble and their saviour came in the shape of a Maple leaf! Off came his shoes and on went the Canadian mittens. Then snuggled beneath a sleeping bag with his feet being rubbed back to life by George we waited out against the elements. I know this reads as rather melodramtic but seriously it was well well rubbish!

Anyway, we arrived in La Paz and headed for the Wild Rover hostel. We had missed the rugby, (the scores not important but quickly got ourselves changed and to the bar for a well earnt beer or two. The night out was ok, and we had a good few beers together but the next day was a right off. The most positive thing we managed was to get to a pub/restaurant called Oilvers Travels owned by a Brummie dude and a home away from home. Pints of PG Tips, fish & chips, and a fry up!! Sound!
We of course 'conqured' the Death Road Biking, an absolutely fantastic experience. Much is made about the dangers and how much it is loved by andrenaline junkies but the setting and the various scenery you pass through as you loose height is quite staggering and you really can go as fast or as slow as you like. We used a very professional company fittingly called Pro Downhill and had by far the best bikes and safety equipment compared to all the other companies we saw. Full face helmets, elbow guards, knee gaurds, full length trousers and jackets and excellent guides. All of which came in very useful when AC took a very impressive trip over his handlbars whilst attempting a high five. Magic! I can highly recommend this company and the DRB in general.

All that was left was to get ourselves up to Machu Picchu and back down to Santiago, Chile in 5 days.....easy right???

Do not fear readers, the next installment will be here soon. x x

Well Amigo's I bet you are wandering what we have been up to, and I can tell you a lot has happened in the last 7 weeks. One of the highlights, must have been seeing The Mundog use a hammer and a saw, even though, the hammer he used to stir tea and the saw to draw a straight line. It's True! Travel does change people!

So we were asked by a certain Manuel Benjamin Costa if we wanted to participate in a housebuild in North Argentina. It was for a charity called Un Techo para mi Pais (A Roof for my Country). Below is the link to the website so you can get an idea of what we were doing! Please have a look at the site.

http://www.untechoparamipais.org/pagina-principal/who-we-are

On Saturday 23rd we arrived at 442 Montevideo Street to embark on our 14 hour bus ride up to Santiago. We sat on the only bench in the street outside the office surrounded by a mass of young Argentinians, who oozed with positive energy, keen to build houses and meet families! I wandered what everyone might be thinking when they saw two older, tanned gringo's dressed in winter gear, who don't speak a word of Spanish! We did toy with the idea of legging it!

Fourteen hours later we arrived in Santiago, and stepped out onto a rugby pitch with a great big marquee, familiar territory, Brilliant! Only if we were there to play rugby and prop the bar up! Here we formed a human chain to move the bags from bus to Marquee, we milled around until we understood we had to become a link in the chain, apparently even visual learning has become a struggle! Again we toyed with the idea of legging it! Here we found that we were quite possibly in over our head, everyone was chatting amongst themselves while we were scrambling for the Spanish Dictionary, until someone bought the universal dictionary, A Football! Everyone understands when you are screaming "YES", that you want the ball! We started to make friends and everyone started to realise that we were the British Gringo's that cannot speak a word of Spanish. As we started to accept the fact we are not bilinguel in any language, we also had to accept the fact we are not as fit as 18-20 year olds, who ran rings around us. Double Blow!

We then wandedred off to find a rugby game going on, where 2 big Argentinians spoke to us and thought we were from New Zealand, we informed we were Brit's, he kept giving us high five's, gave us free chorizo and coke, and invited us to come and drink with him. Unfortunatley we are not aloud to drink while we work with Techo, otherwise we could have stayed!
Our first meeting was interesting, we clapped when everyone else clapped, we laughed when everyone else laughed and left when everyone else left. We joined the group called Azuca, and were relocated to our school, were we slept in a classroom with all our fellow amigos. We seemend to be the only people again without roll mats or a blow up mattress, thank god we bought our sleeping bags. One of the girls thought we were lost ( truthfully).

The School was located in the middle of the town, here we ate, slept and had many meetings, discussing what were doing. We were then split into groups of six, George and I were separated for the first time, we were slightly nervous, I say nervous, I believe clueless is more appropriate. Again we could have fumbled massively, because we packed only one bag, luckily we were in the same room.

Rough Guide to our Day:

• Woken up at seven am, to very loud music blaring out, (The tune Danza Kuduro is lodged in our brains). I was up like a shot, one of the girls with a bongo drum, thought it would be funny to tickle George's feet when waking him up. I was thinking to myself " love if there is one person you don't want to do that to in the morning, it's George, unless you want to end up inside your bongo drum."

• A nice cup of tea and biscuits for breakfast,Key!

• A walk to our Family, who live in really quite difficult conditions.

• Here you would build the house which takes 3 days, and the family would cook for you, and make you feel very welcome. You then had a little ceremony opening for the house which involved the cutting of an Argentinian ribbon.

• In the evenings when you get back you eat and discuss how the day went and other topics about the project.

It was an absolute incredilbe week and a fantastic experience, it's not a once in a lifetime experience, because anyone can do it, and we would certainly do it again. But it is a chance to become a part of something which can help change lives. This project, as well as giving a home to a family, gives them a sense of hope, and lets them know that there are people that care about them.

We became very close with our family's and met some extrodinary people who are passionate about making a difference in their country, which is inspiring as most of them were very young. From this experience we have made a lot of good friends, and are very thankful to everyone who made our time so enjoyable.

A massive thank you to Azucares for an epic week, especially our groups, who had to put up with us day in day out, (Andy, Otto, Made, Patiti, Vicky, Elias, Nico, Martina, Pili, Valentina, Felipe).

A massive thank you to Manuel Costa for putting us on the project and to his family for hosting us.

And as always,

Lonely Planet Tips, Construction with Clowns:

1. Always look where you are going when carrying big side panels.
2. Learn these key words, hammer, nail, up, down, back, forward. You get them wrong and things do not go smoothly!
3. Rememeber even to kiss the men on the cheek when greeting them!
4. Don't chop rocks with axes, if you do where shin pads!
5. Don't sleep by doors.
6. Do not pet wild dogs!
7. When a local loans you a hammer because you broke all yours, (and tells you it was his grandfathers) avoid using it at all costs.

I hope you enjoy the read amigo's, we are now embarking on the rest of our trip to North Argentina, Peru, Bolivia and Chili.

Rock On YEEEAAAWWWWW.................

Six weeks, 3 countries, and however many thousands of miles later, we are updating our travel blog again!

We can only apologise that it has taken this long, but perhaps it is a reflection of how incredibly quickly our time has flown by that it seems like this is the first real ‘down time’ we have had to sit down and write something of use for you all.

I shall try and give you an insight into our experiences of the many places we have visited in the last six weeks so I apologise now if this turns into a dissertation sized entry! If you get bored just look at the pictures, they speak for themselves!

Guatever Man, I’m Ruined

At the beginning of June, after visiting a crocodile infested canyon, some pretty breathtaking waterfalls and some more Mayan ruins (in Palenque) we left Mexico and entered Guatemala.

One of the first and best experiences was a home-stay with a Guatemalan family in a small village called San Jorge, just outside Panajachel. The scenery here was quite staggering, with the village perched high on the mountainside over looking the vast Lake Atitlan. The family were lovely and we all struggled with our respective language barrier. Nevertheless we stayed with them for the night and helped them prepare dinner, making tortillas (very badly) and learning about their lives in their village.

After a quite petrifying journey on a ‘chicken bus’ and a slightly less scary mini-bus we arrived in Antigua. Unfortunately the weather was not very kind here and we had two full days of rain, which made sightseeing and exploring the city rather difficult. However, we did climb an active volcano which was pretty cool, even though it wasn’t erupting at the time. The views, and the heat emanating from the ground were rather memorable, as was the ‘Subway’ picnic we had on the summit. I think the other tourists were a little freaked out, but we enjoyed it, as did a couple of stray dogs!

Another early start followed as we travelled to Lanquin and Semuc Champay to swim and explore the famous limestone caves and petrified pools which have been carved into the mountains by some amazing geographical process, which I’m sure I was told about but forgot as soon as I saw a massive bridge to jump off! This was a fantastic day, one adrenaline rush after another as one jumps into the dark with a candle in hand and no idea of where or how deep the water is. I know what you’re thinking; “are candles the best in water filled caves?” No. They’re rubbish and take away a hand which, if you’re as short as Gareth is vital in preventing drowning!

Next came Flores, with it’s lake and yes you’ve guessed it, some more ruins, at Tikal! I don’t really know what to write about here so instead will simply quote my diary entry at this point;

“Awful journey but cool lake. Tikal ruins. I’m over it. Get me to the beach “

We saw some good things in Guatemala, but the main highlight was meeting some great people who made the suicidal bus journeys, mosquito’s and humidity bearable. Thank you Barney and Maren, and our 5 Israeli friends. We hope you are well and that we see you again.

Caye Caulker....UnBelizeable!!!

A little Caribbean paradise hidden away in Central America. Think Malibu advert and the old school Lilt advert and you can get a bit of an idea of what this tiny little island is like.

The six days we spent on Caye Caulker were incredible. We met up with some old friends, made some new ones and generally had a fantastic time. Much of our time was spent hanging out at the ‘Split’ basking on the concrete jetty or bobbing around in the water with a ‘Lazy Lizard’ or ‘Panty Ripper’ (rum cocktails) in our hands.

Ten of us went on a great snorkeling day trip which as well as sharks, stingrays, manatees, eels, and a whole host of other marine life, included much rum punch and reggae music.‘Captain’ Steve was a legend, totally larger than life (in more ways than one!) and really good value all day. As was Gareth, whose fear of snorkeling (he did get in the water but wouldn’t let go of the boat!) meant that he spent most of the day sat on the boat drinking rum punch to excess!!

We stayed for the opening of the lobster season and we were not disappointed. Fresh lobster for US$10 was really very difficult to turn down. So we didn’t. It was delicious.

With our friends departed it came time for us to move on as well. Leaving Caye Caulker was not easy. The beautiful ocean, food, people and pace of life are truly addictive. It was perhaps best explained by Captain Steve when I asked him if he wanted to travel anywhere: “Where should I go? You show me somewhere better than this and I go”. Good point.

The Yucatan

Tulum
The term ‘anti-climax’ really doesn’t come close to explain our time here. After the paradise of Caye Caulker and the incredible Google images of Tulum the reality for us was rather more bleak. Put simply, it chucked it down for three days. I don’t really want to write too much about this, it’s too painful. So instead will write a short ‘pros & cons’.

‘Cons’
Rain so hard it physically hurts.
Losing ones flip flop trying to cross the road/river
Waterlogged French toast
Watching Gaz chase 400 pesos down the beach (he retrieved 200)
Drinking in the rain
Playing cards in the rain
Being asked to sing in a Mexican rock band when you thought you were part of the audience
Having the microphone taken from you when you realise that not everyone knows the mockingbird song from Dumb & Dumber
Watching a huge gazebo being erected on the day you check out.
Rain

‘Pros’
meeting Paul and Izzy, our soon to be travelling/drinking/day tripping/5 starring companions for the next two weeks.
Playa (del Carmen).....respect!
We spent four incredible days here. After the rain of Tulum the sun came out and the clouds (and our moods) lifted. Our group of four soon became six and we had an amazing time. The sea was lovely, the sand as soft and white as flour and so many awesome people. Not to mention some genuine night life. There were some crazy nights, and hungover days, and there was CoCo Bongos!!

There are not really any words to explain the phenomenon that is CoCo Bongos if you haven’t been. It is just “the best night of my life!’ Imagine a combination between a circus, dance club and a rugby maul, and then drench it all in strawberry daiquiris and you begin to get an idea! My personal highlight (apart from the TRON display) has to be Gareth meeting Terry Hollands, a competitor on Worlds Strongest Man. Not only does he tell him “no I don’t know who you are” but also gets him to remove his shirt and then attempts to show him how best to perform a squat. If you’re reading this Terry, thanks for being a good sport and hope you had a good honeymoon.

Our group was 4 again and after a little day trip to the beautiful island of Cozumel in our bright yellow love bug we left Playa and headed up the coast to Cancun, jumped on a ferry and arrived on Isla Mujures.

Isla Mujures - ‘The Island of Women’.....yes it is!

Another gorgeous location. The sea is crystal clear, the sand bright white and the people tanned and beautiful. We stayed at a pretty cool hostel and had some great days and nights, mainly facilitated by daiquiris and the Sun. Our group became 8 for the next couple of days. Beth and Holly, two lovely Welsh girls who we had first met in Playa and Ralph and Dominique another couple of Brits! Our little British legion was so much fun and we miss you all very much, some more than others
Memorable moments include:
Gaz waking up on the beach with an old bitch. Seriously, she was a dog. An actual Dog!
The orange lilo
Gaz and Paul arm wrestling a chef
The slowest golf buggy in the world
The wettest golf buggys in the world
The most self indulgent/s!*t singer I’ve ever heard
The weakest door frame in the world
Water logged beds – due to rain, not anything dubious!
The loosest ‘last night’ in a place...ever!

Cancun
Known as the Mexican Vegas for good reason. A good experience and a fantastic last night with Paul and Izzy but a little too full on for us. All the neon lights and the ‘all you can drink” bars and clubs must be awesome for a week or two on holiday but on our budget and from where we had been I think we were a bit like rabbits in the headlights; kinda freaked out and not sure what to do. Nevertheless, the abundance of unmistakable ‘Britishness’ (football shirts/shorts/beach towels, sunburn, and drunken renditions of God Save The Queen in the hotel pool!) did make us feel at home!

We did however get to see two of our friends from Puerto and had a mental 4 days. Dan and Daz; thank you. It was emotional, but now Gaz and I need about a week to recover!

And then we were two again. All our friends departed and so did we. Our incredible Central American dream drew to a close. To all the fantastic people that we met, thank you. The last eight weeks simply flew by. We shall not forget you. Travel safely. Hasta luego.