Photo Update After Only Two Weeks!

 At the waterfalls! To get here we could either walk or horse ride. So a small few of us decided to take the 30 min hike and what ensued was hysterical cackling as two young British boys, a Mexican and an Australian slip and slidded our way through mud and horse shit. We had numerous blow outs (of thongs) and some abandoned shoes altogether, and went for the all natural mud and horse shit foot exfoliation treatment!

 The Australian and two Brits decided to celebrate the slip and slide hike to the falls by jumping into them...numerous times!

 Never, ever say to a Mexican family, 'l have not yet had any tequila in Mexico'... this is what ensued, a festive shot glass of homebrew tequila set before me!

 At first gulp l thought...smooth...easy....then...feugo! Fire from throat, ears and mouth! Numerous other bottles were then brought out however being the only one drinking l kindly declined, promising to embibe on another night!

 At the beach in Nayarit.... That's right, l like my beach with a lady who can carry a massive platter of donuts on her head in 35 degree heat thankyou!

 Which Australian didn't think she needed suncream on her legs......

 The fabulous Adriana at Proyecto Pittial! 

(Just so you know l won't be putting any pictures of the kids up, despite the fact they have hijacked my camera more than once!)

 After a hard week l think some Sunday beers at a beach hotel are in order!

 Oh yeah, shady shade for the Aussie!

 The view down my street at night, Pretty Vallarta!

 Who let that wierd Aussie out in the rain?!

 La playa, Peurto Vallarta. The word is WARM! The water is really WARM!

 My new favourite thing, these fruity icy poley/ creamy things! There are about 15 flavours sold from your local small Mexican corner store for 6 pesos. This is fig flavour...or was it date?!Or are they the same thing?

 Last day of Spanish classes with Lupita and Anna, sad smiley face! They were really really great lessons, thankyou Lupita...l may just come back for more! Lupita also has the most awesome DOGGY called Skip!

 Walking about Vallarta, awesome steps leading all the way down to the beach!

 Hello Ladies! How is the Malacon today?

View from your average Mexican Transvestite show!

How Did We Get Here?

This trip has been a long time in the making which makes it all the more surreal that this is actually happening. I volunteered almost four years ago in the North Western Central Desert of Australia. In a small Indigenous community, which was a 6 hour drive on a bad road to Alice Springs, where the living was quite hard and the politics were rife. l volunteered for three months with the school and youth recreation team and l found myself falling in love with learning a different culture, a different language and sharing knowlege between the two. After this l got a job and stayed on in Kintore working in the Aged and Disability Center (Ngintaka Women's Organisation) and what ensued was one of the hardest years of my life and without doubt the most rewarding. Many amazing friendships and memories were formed and an enourmous appreciation for what l grew up with were cemented during this time.

After about 9 months working in Kintore l realised that you need a skill to share and offer in such conditions and l decided to return to Mellbourne to do a post graduate degree in Occupational Therapy (OT). The decision to do OT came about as l saw many of the women l worked with had significant physical/ health issues, cultural influences and environmental barriers that impacted on being able to work a full time job. Also through working closely with the old women l saw how important it was for them to continue participating in traditional occupations and the benefits that meaningful occupation/ participation offers. This was all supported by a subsequent volunteer who came to Kintore who was an OT from Sydney, we would have long chats about occupation and participation and the decision was made to study occupational therapy.

I had decied that once graduated from the course l would work for two years  in Melbourne and then head off to do some more volunteer/ remote work. I decided that l was not yet ready to return to the Territory and so focused my sights overseas. I had been tossing up South America, Northern Asia and North/ Eastern Europe. My boyfriend then said he was going to do a year long motorbike trip from Canada down through the USA, Central and South American, all the way down to the tip of Argentina and back up to Brazil. So decision made, we both would have amazing adventures at the same time and get to catch up every now and then to share some adventure!

From here l started saving, convincing my parents that l would be safe and researching NGO's and all the different countries in the region, and decided on Mexico and Bolivia. So here l am. In Mexico starting an amazing adventure that will lead to five months here and then onto Bolivia for another five, with a bit of travel in between. Who knows what will happen in all of this!