Okidokey folks, so time has escaped me somewhat and it has been a fair while since l updated you all on what has been happening on this side of the world. It's been pretty busy here in Cochabamba Bolivia, however where we left off was after the final weeks of Puerto Vallarta and l was about to head off for five weeks of travel and fun.
l left Puerto Vallarta in early December feeling ready for a well deserved holiday after a lot of work wrapped up and several send off parties in the ultimate weeks at Proyecto Pitillal. So as l stepped off the plane into beautiful Oaxaca City, l was ready for 5 weeks of travel, frivolivity, site bagging and meeting some amazing people. Let alone being super excited to be meeting back up with Mark and the boys, to celebrate a fabulous backpacker Christmas feast in Guatemala, sleeping through a Central American New Years, ageing by a river, and being proposed to on the side of a mountain!! So like any great slide show, l will take a big inhale and let the photos tell the story of December 2012 to mid January 2013 National Lampoon -McLellan styles!
Beautiful Oaxaca City had me from the moment l landed with it's cobbled stone streets, public squares, fabulous bars and restaurants an awesome hostel and great sites to go and see around the city. Within hours of arriving a great lil group of travellers came to unite and spend the next 4 or so days together. With no double ups on nationalities and nearly everyone travelling alone we began a great couple of days of hanging out. I had forgotten how much fun it is to be a backpacker and in these early days often shook my head at thinking how hard l had been working over the last 6 months. The holiday felt like it had truly begun!
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| Cobbley and fantastic Oaxaca City! |
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| Giant paper mache people....why not?! |
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| Deep fried grasshopper....delicacy of Oaxaca....tastes like popcorn..... |
On one morning we decided to venture out of the city and all bundled into taxis and then into the back of a truck to visit, drink beers and have lunch at Hierve de Agua. Amazing 'calcium hot-springs' (l think that is how you describe it!?) perched on the edge of an amazing mountain with spectacular views and calcium formations. We went walking with a 75 year old local guide who bounded up and down the mountain with ridiculous speed. We argued that the only reason we were slower was because of the beer we were carrying in belly and hand...doubtfully true!
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| In the back of our bouncy truck, happy as Mexican Banda music blared out at us! |
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| The main pool of Hierve De Agua, a treat to swim in, though not so much to drink though.... |
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| Our extremely happy crew, including a Scotsman who turned into a reindeer during this visit! |
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| Calcium deposits....pretty ok...! |
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| Hiking with our guide and beers...and sticks! |
On the way back we decided to stop at El Tule, it's a really big tree...!! All trees from this point on would be compared to this in the coming weeks and l have now become obsessed with finding THE BIGGEST TREES in my travels. Unfortunately there was a fence surrounding this enormous tree and it was dusk and l am a terrible photographer...therefore hugging a branch will have to do and was surprisingly satisfying!
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| The beginning of the tree hugging! I AM NOT A HIPPY! |
This fabulous day was followed by a fabulous night of Spanish karaoke, which isn't complete without a giant football player from northern Mexico, a hysterical little Italian and a clown! Awesome night!
So with weary heads and hoarse voices we happily (yet a little slowly) trundled en mass to the amazing Monte Alban. A ruin site that is set on top of a mountain, flattened to house some amazing ancient temples and views. We got a guide and heard about the history, the different plants and customs of the era as we strolled around. Then we sat atop one of the ruins and watched the tourist passer-bys. Taking in all around us and chatting on many different topics. At one stage a woman passed us and asked to take a photo of us because we looked so happy and were giving out good vibes. Happily, and obliging we did and we were! It was a great afternoon.
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| Our happy clan chilling atop a ruin! |
So l dont know how it came about but l think inspired by the big tree of El Tulle we decided to visit the Monastry Gardens of Oaxaca as well. So here we recieved free hats (sadly only for the duration of the tour...) and strolled through the gardens on a Spanish tour which between the four of us and some helpful other garden goers we understood the majority. I have a lot more photos of the native trees and cactus however thought l would spare you, should you wish to see (Elise!) l will gladly show you on arrival home!
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| Hats! |
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| Cactus wall! |
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| Hehe!!! |
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| Tree in the middle of a monk meditating courtyard! |
So such activities always lead to hunger and sampling the food of Oaxaca never grew old. So off we trundled to the food market, where on entry you are yelled at, swatted with menus and tea towels by the various tenders, all trying to convince you to eat at their stalls. Which l found both comical and intense at the same time, l was relieved to take a seat and let the yelling subside. Here, a delicious meal was had of mole tamale (chocolatey corny vine wrapped goodness) and it was also here our Italian friend decided to show us what eating really is all about, topping off 4 plates of food!
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| Mole Tomale! |
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| Italy Can Eat! |
So with full bellies, one must try the famous Oaxacan Mezcal....this only needs one photo to express what l thought of this local drink...
So from Oaxaca most people on the backpacker trail decide to go to San Christobel de Las Casas, however l was hell bent on going to El Aguacero. So to Tuxtla Guiterrez l went with a Scotsman in tow who was on his way to a wedding in a nearby town. We travelled on an overnight bus which had a distinctive unpleasant odour and arrived in Tuxtla early in the morning to stay at Tres Central Hostel (awesome) had breakfast and then began the task of finding out how to get to El Aguacero. What l loved about Tuxtla was that even though it is the capital of Chapis it has been missed by the backpacker track. It is a city that is alive and bustling and operating without many foreign tourists, which was great to be amongst. Another great point is that it is located within close proximity to many great sites. What is annoying is the price of many of the tours that go to said sites, and in the end it was cheaper to get a taxi to take us out to El Aguacero, he kindly waited for a couple of hours and then took us back. After descending 800 or so steps we found an amazing river bed that you could walk along with cliff faces lined with waterfalls.
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| Our little El Aguacero troop: myself, Euan the Scot and our taxi driver! |
So that night we met up with a lovely gent from Puerto Vallarta who was staying in the hostel whilst doing his university placement in Tuxtla. He and his girlfriend took us out to a restaurant with traditional food and dancing from the region of Tuxtla. Here we saw much dancing, had a brilliant meal and watched as every time a jug of the regional drink was ordered a bell was rung and all waiters would yell out!
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| Our fabulous hosts, Jorge y Isabel! |
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| The bell that hung above every table that was rung with delight every on ordering of said jug of booze! |
So what better way to overcome a slightly boozy night with a visit to the Coffee museum and free coffee!
We also heard good things about the local Zoo, so off we went for a great day of wandering, meandering and mixing with the many animals of the region. There were many animals not in enclosures, including a deer loping it's way around the grounds, monkeys swinging about, giant rat-guinea pig-esque creatures scuttling about. For some reason every enclosure had turtles in it, even the many crocodile enclosures. Unbeknownst to me they make good friends! Also there was a plethora of humerus signs found around the park! Again l have many photos of amazing animals however that again can be delivered on special request!
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| Crocodile and turtle live as one! Or Turtle monopolises Crocodile as taxi. |
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| Translation : Please do not feed your children to the crocodiles (their maybe some errors in my Spanish) |
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| More Turtles |
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| This sign found at the front of the insect museum...... |
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| Cool window with meaningful message photo opportunity! |
So from here l said adieu to my Scotsman Euan as he headed for the wedding and l headed to Palenque, with the main determination of visiting Yaxchilan. However many other sites would end up being a treat such as the boat ride there along the river that borders Mexico and Guatemala and Agua Azul. I did however not check the national hippy calendar and found myself arriving in this 'quiet' lil tourist town in the days leading up to the 21/12/12, the day the Mayans predicted "the world would end". Anyway....what ensued was me not enjoying the actual town of Palenque very much due to mobs of people. So l managed to stay pretty busy outside of Palenque by seeing some pretty amazing 'stuff'!
On the first day we headed to Yaxchilan and Bonampek. In a combie l bundled in with a gaggle of other travelers (all Spanish speaking) at an extremely early hour in the morning. We travelled far out towards the border and found ourselves a boat and a guide to take us down to the magical ruins of Yaxchilan. These ruins are set within the jungle and rings with sound of howler monkeys and birds. If misdirected you could believe yourself to be somewhere in the depths of Jurassic Park. These would become the Ruins that all other Ruins would be compared to over the following weeks. I did find myself a little sad as we came back on the boat from these amazing ruins, that l didn't have anyone to share them with. Even though on a packed lil boat, l felt a little alone. Who knows, however these sort of first world problems cant get you down for too long as you are placed in amazing settings!
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| Our little collective heading out to the ruins! |
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| Heading down the river separating Mexico and Guatemala |
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| Amazingly well preserved stone carvings |
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| See that dark little opening on the right, l came out of there. The guide in the pitch darkness took great pleasure in using his only torch to show us spiders, bats and other creepy causes surrounding us in the dark. I have never grabbed on to strangers with quite so much vigor! |
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I found another big tree! This tree is supposed to be a link to the gods, who will pass on meaningful messages you need to hear. I just really liked hugging it. HUGS!
So after this we had a feed and then made our way to Bonampak, another Ruin site. Impressive and again remarkably well preserved. However, l was still in awe of the surroundings and atmosphere of Yaxchilan and somewhat 'Ruined' by this stage that l don't know if l really took in what the area had to offer. We were all pretty tired, however we sat atop one of the Ruins and watched the sun dip into the tree canopy as we discussed the nature of things, and beauty, and what 'it's' all about. I did more listening as it mostly ran in Spanish, however a lovely way to finish the day, strangers sharing thoughts in a beautiful space.
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| Where we sat and watched the sun. |
So we returned home late in the evening, weary and ruined, ready for bed and not much else. By chance whilst eating at a small burrito restaurant bumped into some friends made in Oaxaca, Lian and Simon. Here plans were laid over beers and burritos to head the next day for another double site bagging whammy... Agua Azul and Misol - Ha. So again an early start as we again bundled into a combie and headed out for the day of seeing and sighting. First we went to Misol - Ha, a waterfall with caves set behind it. What we thought was going to be a long trek into the mouth of the waterfall was short, however comical with torches lent to us by the waterfall cave guard.
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| One side of the waterfall...l am pretty sure this is not the impressive side of the falls, however due to my photographic skills this is the side we get! |
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| After emerging safely from the mouth of the waterfall cave! |
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| Torch fun in cave! |
So after Misol-Ha we were hot and in need of a swim so we headed to the amazing Agua Azul waterfalls. This is a series of tiny waterfalls that feed into catchments and then flow down into other catchements below. The water was really blue, with cries similar to El Tule ("that is one big tree!") it was also heard here "that water is really blue!". Simon, Lian and l peeled off from the group and ploughed through the trees, scrambled on the rocks and found our own lil pool to swim in. Ecstatic, refreshed and utterly impressed we swam without seeing another soul for a good lil while, until some naked hippies made their way from above...."wait a second" we said "where did they come from!?" On this we decided to go forth and explore... and find we did!
The waterfalls, just got bigger and bigger and bigger. We were totally happy with our initial experience until we realised we were going to miss the entire thing! Feeling exceptionally lucky that we explored we decided to explore more! Typical of me however, l forgot to take the photo of the big mumma waterfall wating at the top. So our secluded lil area will have to do!
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| Our lil waterfalls! |
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| Lian and l extremely chuffed at our find! |
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| Jumping off stuff is fun! |
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| Agua Azul trickling all the way down as far as the eye can see! |
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| After finding out that there was more we decided to keep heading up the track..... |
So that was the end of a fabulous day, where we bumped into our fabulous Italian friend once again. The next day before heading to San Cristobel in the evening l was persuaded to head to see the Palenque ruins. Honestly l was a little ruined by ruins by this stage but thought it necessary to see the famous Palenque ruins. We thought we would hurry to get there early in the morning so as to beat the floods of tourists....alas no...the place was heaving and it really detracted from the site. It was impressive however l think l enjoyed the museum more where it explained many of the different artefacts, building design and positioning and culture of the time.
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| A. Big. Ruin. |
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| Sitting in an ancient 'waiting for the female toilet' seat! Highlight! |
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| The view from on top of one of the ruins |
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| Another big tree! Woo Hoo! |
So with that Lian and l headed out of Palenque and towards San Christobel as Simon headed to Guatemala. I was not so sad to see the hippy throbbing town go as we boarded our bus to San Cristobel De Las Casas, my last stop in this Mexican adventure. We arrived in an awesome little cobbled stone tourist town and stayed in an awesome hostel, which again had another great crew of people ready to converge around a fire, or in a bar and drink wine and tell ridiculous tales of travels and beyond, and which also had TWO DOGS! Both large and a little overweight (the owners were adamant that they had a condition....l agreed they hadn't exercised in many years and were being constantly fed by pet longing backpackers). Though l wasn't allowed to walk them, l settled on petting and sun soaking with these furry two! San Cristobel was about a bit of recovering after the sight bagging of Palenque and this cool town was easy to just hang and explore and have fun times in. We read books by fires on rainy days, watched eerie protests, went to yoga classes, markets, the local caves and just hung out around town.
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| One fat dog! One sunny day! One happy Australian! |
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| One fun market! |
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| One super fun group of gals! |
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| One fun outdoor fire that saw more than one night of drinking by this group of hysterical folk! |
On one energetic morning (l have difficult remembering which) we decided to climb one of the Miradors for some exercise and sight viewing (five minutes later pooped and satisfied we descended!). On this same day, after a rest of course, we decided to take the bus out to a near by national park that had some fun caves, beautiful trees and a massive TOBOGGAN! Unfortunately something stopped me from going down this slippery slide of metal, and it may have been a flash back to Gumbya park days!?
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| TABBOGON! (l am pretty sure that that is incorrect spelling, the first to provide correct spelling l will bring them some Bolivian cheese and swear that it will be off by the time of arrival in June. |
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| Our happy national park/ cave/ tabbogon finding crew! |
So after a day of such excitement we decided we needed a day of yoga classes and rest. This is a lie, the rain determined that a day of horse riding to some remote villages was out (l am not a great fan of horses and was therefore not exceptionally devestated) so we found a cafe with a fire (in Mexico, amazing, l doubted too) and we read books, drank tea, had breaky and enjoyed being girls! This was actually the 21/12/12, the day 'the world was going to end'...however no one knew if it was at 12am or 12pm and considering the lack of local concern and the above mentioned explanation we had no real fears of what was to come. So we decided to enjoy it in true backpacker style. Bludging during the day and partying during the night!
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Minimal wood meant vigilant fanning, oh how l fanned!
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After this we made a quick dash back to the hostel to find a protest occurring in the streets. However, there was no yelling, nor chanting, nor picket waving. It was thousands of local indigenous from the communities around San Cristobel walking in silence, with balaclavas covering their faces and numbers on their foreheads to represent the community they came from. They were protesting the governments movements against the indigenous and that they were being forced into labour when they would prefer to live traditionally. An exceptionally eerie moment, one that we tried to understand but were sure we couldn't.
So this marked my last night in Mexico, the 21/12/12, as the next day l would be heading (extremely early) on a 12-14 hour minibus journey to Guatemala to meet up with Mark and the boys. I was extremely excited, l was also sad to be on the eve of saying goodbye to this amazing country that l had only just began to explore despite living there for 6 months. So instead of celebrating the non- end of the world we decided to celebrate one of the gents birthdays at the hostel, drinking games and frivolity ensued...none of which assisted me in the morning during departure. Nonetheless....an extremely fun night.
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| THE GALS! |
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| Drinking game....l do not recall the rules of said game but l do recall not winning said game...... |
And there it ended, l left the next morning on a minibus to Guatemala with a crew of strangers that supported my pounding head, queasy stomach and growing impatience to see my man for the whole 12 or so hours. To those people l thank you as l don't even think names were swapped on this journey, just jokes and sympathetic acts!
And so l arrived in Guatemala, accidently walking straight passed Mark in the hostel l was so delirious and one minded about arriving at my destination and finding him. Also so one minded that l stopped taking any photographs....so we are on slim pickings for a little while!
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| This is one of the only photos l have of Mark of early Antigua, as l forced him to position himself so as to look as if drinking fountain breast water! Much to my and local amusement (this to pay revenge for the Bimbo truck photo of Guadalajara!) |
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| The Awesome Viking Mats and the Awesome Ferg. This was a regular scene of the Antigua days |
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| There was lots of this! Lunches/ Brunches and drinkies in the semi sun. Fabulous days! |
So as many of you have heard then came THE PROPOSAL! It was such an amazing night starting with stumbling in for a late dinner into a little art gallery cafe-bar which had a live Costa Rican Gypsy band playing (we found this out later, our music knowledge is definitely not this acute!). We had a great shared dinner, listening to the band and sipping wine and watching the other bar goers.
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| Bad, blurry, dark photo of super fun bar and band!...! |
So from here the bar owner/ manager and her partner invited everyone in the bar up to their AMAZING house on the side of a volcano/ mountain to watch over Antigua and the surrounding Pueblitos and watch the Christmas Eve fireworks (pretty much all bought and set off by locals) whilst drinking punch and listening to more Gypsy band!
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| Our fabulous hosts! |
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| Blurry photo of beautiful city! Unfortunately did not capture the fireworks |
So at this stage of the evening l was already pretty extactic with the turn of events starting from a great day and then onto dinner and now this. I was already emotional wondering how we got to this point, how we got this fortunate. This is when we decided to take seat on a wall and watch it all happen around us. And that's when he asked, and it all started happening to us! Of course l cried. Of course l said yes. Of course strangers thought he was dumping me. Once corrected. Of course numerous rounds of celebrations occurred (as well as some strange bodily reactions on my behalf from all the excitement!)
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| Immediately after the question! |
And so the party continued and around two or three we descended down the mountain, eager to call the parentals. Weary and elated and somewhat in disbelief we fell asleep after the excited and emotional reactions of the parents.
The next morning began with a congratulatory flower from the hostel staff with breakfast and many head shaking moments of 'hmmm, we are going to get married....hmmm, oh yeah and merry christmas!".
Then after going hunting for a hunk of meat from the local market, we joined up with the gang for a backpacker christmas, a touch of frivolity and outing of our new news! We spent that day celebrating with those around us and calling folk back home until we couldn't wait anymore and had to tell everyone! I was exhausted, and excited, and just down right really happy. Such a great day!
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| Cooking in the Kitch-en! |
So it came time to leave the haven of Zephyr to venture forth to Flores for New Years Eve. On an extremely rainy morning l headed out with two Irish brothers, which resulted in an exceptionally long yet hysterical trip to our destination. Many ridiculous songs were sung and all of us went to the edge of madness and starvation during this trip. However, we arrived safely and celebrated with beers and card games.
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| Hysterical Irish brothers mid song (l think maybe Celine Dion) |
Flores is a small and quiet little island of a town sitting in the middle of a lake connected to the mainland by bridge. You could imagine it was normally pretty sleepy however with many a backpacker a foot it was good fun!
Mark and the boys ended up having to stay another night at Zephyr due to bad weather. When they arrived on NYE, the following afternoon, they brought in tow my fiance in incredibly bad shape post food poisoning and a long day of riding. To bed he went and within a few hours a UTI had also taken me out, both Mark and l were tucked in bed by 1130, no wild Guatemalan celebrations were had by us this NYE.
Reluctantly we decided to see one more set of Ruins....Tikal.....we were really ruined at this stage and l don't think we really had what was needed to take it all in. However, we went, we saw, we ruined another time. The highlight for me would of been this enormous tree that looked like it had been dropped right out of Avatar. However, in saying that it was a lovely day and we stayed and watched the sunset and sat on top of Ruins watching the world go by. There are definitely worse ways to spend an afternoon!
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| Another super great tree which looked like it had been dropped right out of Avatar! |
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| Mark Atley Mangals mid photo shoot!. |
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| Chilling on top of some Ruins..... |
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| Mark has a Ruin Hat! |
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| Waving! |
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| Ruins poking up above the tree canopy....pretty impressive! |
We returned hungry and decided to partially celebrate my birthday a day early due to a brief departure of Phil the next day. So with this we headed for a meaty meal from a popular local bbq joint. We ate, drank beers, and enjoyed! It wasn't a late night as we were heading out the next morning for Rio Dulce....which ended up being an excessively wet river!
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| Phil and Ferg.....glasses guys! |
So it was at Rio Dulce where l celebrated my birthday, we ate fish, we danced, we swam in the river and we attempted flips both on the dance floor and off the dock....some were successful...most were not....thankfully only minor and comical injuries resulted. The days were passed quietly with a few members of the team out with various illnesses and needing to rest. However, it ended up being a great place to rejuvinate from all the festivities!
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| We ended up claiming this as our bridge by the end of the stay. Our hostel was positioned directly underneath this little doozy! |
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Our Other View of the River Dulce!
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After a few days we decided we better do something and bundled off in a boat to Livingston. What is surely a fun place to visit if you had a bit of time we weren't really able to take advantage of as we only decided on a day trip and had only three hours to explore this strange little Caribbean community. This was the first time we had been on this side, our first taste of the Caribbean ocean was a little lack lustre as we found out to get to the best beach would take us a few hours that we didn't have. So we contented ourselves with meandering and dining before heading back to Rio Dulce.
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| Gerry the Giraffe making an appearance on the way to Livingston (cheers Elise!) |
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| Where the water lillies grow.... due to illness we didn't get to canoe to where the water lillies grew in Flores so we were fortunate to find them growing on the way to Livingston! |
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| I think this guy has had enough to drink?! |
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| That'd be a lot of Pelicans captain! |
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A completely by accident pasta sauce smiley face to mark the end of the Livingston adventure...probably close to the highlight!
The next day l borrowed some gear and Mark, Ferg and l headed out to Agua Calientes where there were some amazing hot waterfalls/ springs, fun things to jump off and muddy paths to slip and slide down!
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So it was time to leave Rio Dulce and to Honduras we headed. Phil ad joined us again and we left on the bus and the boys on their bikes. We bumped into each other on the boarder and headed to San Pedro Sula. The next day we just made it in time to the afternoon ferry to Utila, which was a pretty rocky and turbulent ride. Here the truth came out about those who weren't known for their sea legs and those who are just a bit chicken. I would be the later!
Utila is a tiny island which is quite touristy and known for their diving. Many from all around descend on this little isle to learn how to dive and drink. After not too many days l started feeling not the greatest and slowly became worse until we decided to the doctor l go. I ended up having a bad kidney infection that led to 3 hours on a drip in a small Honduran doctors office situated out the front of a bar on a Friday night. A lovely doctor, who pumped me with everything anyone can imagine. So because of this as the boys completed their diving school l convalesced, read books and went snorkling.
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| A lot of my time was spent like this due to my UTI turned Kidney Infection...not the worst way to convalesce l say! |
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| The Hogg was a pretty happy guy after first dive! |
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| Ferg got Flippered! |
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| Lanky man....a little lankier than usual! |
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| Sunset view from our hostel on Utila, it really was a great place to chill out and get better. |
So Mark and l left Utila and headed back to San Pedro Sula so l could catch my flight the following day. We had another great Japanese meal and an early night. Travelling to Bolivia wasn't a short affair from Honduras and many (l have chosen to not remember how many) hours later l arrived in Cochabamba. Weary from travel, altitude sickness in La Paz and saying goodbye to my lanky lover man another time. However, most of all l was excited. This was where all the planing had begun, l had chosen Bolivia first as the destination l wanted to go and volunteer, for many reasons. I had heard great things from people that had traveled here, of the people, the country, it's culture. It is also one of the poorest south american countries. So this is why l am here!
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| This is a box of items at one of the airports (i think in Peru) where they throw out contraband carry on luggage items. Who new that you cant bring an electrified fly raquet .or a drill and bit set in carry-on luggage..?! |
And so this is where l finish this, from my bedroom in Bolivia, where l start the second half of these travels. At present the plan is for three months here of volunteering before heading to Colombia and Ecuador with Mark. So far it feels so different from Mexico but maybe that's the altitude talking. That we will have to leave until next time....hopefully not as long a wait for this last post....That was a massive update so with a massive exhale of all the great memories of December to mid January, lots and lots of love, l say adieu to you all, take care xo
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| NOT A BAD VIEW TO START EACH DAY WITH!! |
