James' Round the World trip

So the problem with falling in love with so many places in Mexico, Belize & guatemala is that it really shortens the time you have to see the rest of the continent. The following took place over a 3 week period - it was pretty chocker! Format as per usual:

Honduras:

Utila - Diving

Costa Rica:

La Fortuna - Rafting
Monteverde - Cloud forrest

Panama:

Bocas del Toro - Mud!
Panama City - The end!

Read on if you so desire:

HONDURAS - UTILA:

So after what was literally 3 days on buses & boats we finally arrived in Utila, an island off the coast of Honduras in the Caribbean (sound familiar) which is basically where you go to learn to scuba dive and drink (well you don't learn to drink obviously, though if you didn't know how to drink it's probably a good place to learn). We booked into a dive centre/hotel called Underwater Vision which had a great little beach and private jetty you could fling yourself off into the water. Met up with Niklas again (he can't leave me alone) and we got signed up for our respective diving courses. Now I learnt to dive while I was in Australia (for those who I've met recently, this was quite a long time ago, 2003 to be precise) and I haven't done any diving since so I signed up for a refresher course (y'know, so I didn't die and all that) before starting on my advanced open water. This is a great course that involves no classroom time and you do all your learning in the water where you learn navigation (a bit dull), wreck dive (awesome), peak performance buoyancy where you use your breathing to control your positioning underwater, a deep dive (down to 36m where it makes you feel a bit drunk, just without the hangover) and a night dive where you dive with torches and is an incredible experience! If you have your open water already then I highly recommend getting your advanced - it opens up a lot of way more interesting dive sites!

The nightlife in Utila was great - Treetanic is a bar built up in a tree and is a pretty spinny place with lots of little wooden paths going off into the tree, Tranquila was my choice on the island, really amazing location right on the waterfront (where the gents toilet is the end of the pier), and the Bush Bar - a late night venue popular with the locals and where bad dancing is the norm (though keep hold of your stuff - as one of our friends unfortunately found out, resulting in a late night visit to the very unhelpful police station). Not so great is the Pirate Bar, which plays the worst music at ear bleeding volumes but does serve ridiculously cheap alcohol. Met some great people in Utila and had a lot of fun (though the 4 man skinny dipping night raised a few eyebrows).

As has happened a few times on this trip, Caribbean islands have a habit of not letting me go and by the time I'd dragged myself away I'd been there for about 9 days - hence the next part of the trip being very very rushed! Sadly something had to give at this point, I'd allowed myself about 2 and a half weeks to get from the north of Honduras to Panama City which, if you have a look on a map, is a pretty long way to go, so for this trip anyway, Nicaragua was the casualty. We spent one night in Managua on route to Costa Rica which was one of the biggest dives i've ever been to - we stayed in the middle of a ghetto, got accosted by prostitutes (Nik got touched by one, he probably now has aids), and got pointed at by 'policemen' who then went to reach for their guns. Suffice to say we retreated to our hotel very very quickly!

COSTA RICA:

La Fortuna - After one night in San Jose (nothing to write home about) we headed out to La Fortuna, a very touristy town overlooked by Arenal Volcano. It's a beautiful setting, and the volcano is impressive (if a little buried under cloud for most of the time we were there), but I just found the whole town a bit too Americanised - everything was quoted in dollars - always a bad sign! We did a walk out to the volcano, swam in some natural hot springs which was good and did some whitewater rafting which was a lot of fun, but it just failed to grab me as a destination! From here I bid farewell to Niklas for (definately) the last time - he's been a good travel buddy the last 2 months and will be missed!

Monteverde/Santa Elena - A good jumping off spot for Monteverde reserve is the little town of Santa Elena, again very americanised unfortunately. Monteverde itself, a reserve founded in the rainforest by Quakers in the 1950s, is absolutely stunning. I went off on a solo walk around the reserve trying (and mostly succeeding) to avoid the mass guided tours. Unfortunately the wildlife was having a quiet day (it was very windy & rainy) but the scenery was superb. Definately worth a trip if ever in Costa Rica.

Overall however Costa Rica struggled to wow me - I admit I didn't see very much of it, but what I did seemed so influenced by the States! Plus also it's ridiculously expensive, the food was pretty average and the weather a bit crap! Maybe I was just unlucky, I know some people who loved it, but in hindsight (terrible thing) I would have opted for Nicaragua over here - next trip eh?

PANAMA:

Bocas Del Toro - So into my last week in central america (sob) and having been rained on for much of Costa Rica I decided it was time to revert to what had treated me so well over the last 3 months and head back to the Caribbean coast, and to the island of Bocas del Toro off Panama. It really is a stunning place, with beautiful deserted beaches backed up by tropical rainforest. The town of Bocas itself didn't inspire me much, not when compared to Caye Caulker and Utila, but some of the beaches out of the way and on the other islands were incredible! We attempted to get a boat out to Playa Wizard on Isla Bastimentos, but the waves were insanely big so we had to be dropped off in the town and walk, a very interesting, funny(ish) and muddy walk.

The beach was pretty, but with the weather a bit shit and the sea so rough it did make us wonder whether the walk had really been worth it. The beach at Bocas del Drago, about a 30 minute bus ride from town was a much better option, with loads of starfish in the shallows, lovely calm water and plenty of room to escape the masses! There were even pigs wandering around the beach, not what you normally see!

Panama City - Final call in Central, purely to catch my flight. Went out to the Panama Canal which was interesting (in a really boring way). It's worth going - get public buses if you do, i paid $1 there and back, some people who got a taxi paid $7 each way crazy fools - but don't expect to be thrilled. And go early in the morning when you get a better chance of seeing the massive ships going through the locks (really the only interesting bit, the museum and film are pure time fillers waiting for a boat). Had a little explore around Casco Viejo, the old town of Panama city with good views over the new town, which was pretty but not overly exciting.

And so after nearly 3 months in Mexico & Central America it was time to board my flight and head to the next part of the adventure: South America, first stop Ecuador! Stay tuned for the next thrilling installment!

Hasta Luego!

Usual format:

Belize:
Caye Caulker - Go Slow!
Rendezvous Caye - Floating toilet
Tobacco Caye - Rum punch
Placencia - Scary dogs

Guatemala:
Flores - RAIN?!?
Lanquin/Semuc Champey - Luggage rack
Antigua/Earth Lodge - Employ me please!
San Pedro - Yanif

For those with time, read on, for those without, fuck off...

Caye Caulker - It was with quite a heavy heart I left Mexico - it is one of the most beautiful, fascinating & varied places i've ever been! Rocking up in Caye Caulker made any sadness I had about leaving Mexico dissapear. A little island off the mainland, it is the most laid back place I have visited. Days are spent walking bare-footed around the island, occasionally stopping to buy some banana bread from a lady on the street, freshly baked that morning (I mean the banana break, but a lot of the locals are regularly baked, if you get my drift), kicking back at the split drinking rum, relaxing in a hammock, listening to raggae, frequenting 'bars' that consist of the owner sending his 'staff' off on a bike to buy you a bottle of rum from the local shop. It's a very easy place to get stuck, the majority of people I met had planned to go for two days and ended up staying for at least a week (or longer). Randomly bumped into Niklas again (you may remember him from the previous blog) and after a few days kicking back on the island we hopped a 3 day sailing trip to Placencia with a company called Ragamuffin.

Now this tour was way out of my budget, but I'd spoken to a lot of people who raved and raved about it so we decided to spoil ourselves and just go for it - I was not dissapointed! If you ever come here I implore you to go - it is incredible! Though be warned that the staff are normally more drunk & stoned than you are - evident when Captain Jerry managed to crash the boat into the reef - I think we all thought we were going down at this point!

First night we stayed on a deserted caribbean island called rendezvous caye, which consisted of 2 tables and some floating toilets! If you've ever dreamed of sleeping on a deserted island, this is as close as you'll get without either owning a boat or an island! A great night spent round the campfire drinking rum punch with Niklas and two German girls called Maria & Stephanie who'd been following me for weeks (that's right you two, it was you stalking me).

Second night was on Tobacco Caye, slightly more populated, there's a couple of resorts, but it still takes about 3 minutes to walk from one side of the island to the next, and the sunset from the bay was pretty spectacular.

Days on the tour are spent sailing, lying in the sun, snorkelling, listening to yet more reggae. Finished up at the end of the 3rd day in Placencia, a nice little town on the coast. Having narrowly avoided being killed by the angriest dogs known to man (i exagerate of course, but they were fucking scary) we settled down for some food and a good nights sleep before an early start onto guatemala!

Flores - Flores was sadly under a sea of cloud (and torrential, end of the world style rain) for most of the time we were there so plans like kayaking across the lake didn't really come off! It was however our base for a trip out to Tikal, which is a must if you come to guatemala. Now i must admit i was starting to get a bit bored of ruins, this was my sixth lot after all, but these really are something else. Set right in the middle of the jungle they are MASSIVE!!! You can climb a few of them - not good if you have vertigo - which gives you great views over the tops of the trees! We went for the sunrise tour (non-existant due to the cloud) but it was worth it because despite being so popular, the ruins felt really quiet, unlike similar sites at chichen itza and palenque! And there are monkeys and loads of wildlife to see! Go!

Lanquin - From Flores we went to lanquin, a little village used mainly as a jumping off spot to Semuc Champey (in our case seated on top of a van in its luggage rack - bumpy). We stayed at El Retiro which I highly recommend for the all you can eat buffet style meals they do every night - I have never seen my plate of food piled so high, I never had to go back for seconds! From lanquin you can walk to a local set of caves where at sunset thousands upon thousands of bats whizz out over your head into the night sky - quite an experience! Semuc Champey is beautiful - there are a set of caves you can go swimming/wading/climbing through which was good fun, although the big group we had slowed it down a bit. You can climb (and in my case fall down) a waterfall and scale slippery rocks! Semuc champey itself is a series of pools and waterfalls you can swim in & jump off. A great way to spend a couple of hours after doing the hike up to the lookout!

Antigua - Set in a valley overlooked by two volcanoes Antigua is a really nice little town. Some nice old buildings and a good place to stroll around, but the real attraction is the volcanoes. We did a hike up Volcan Pacaya which is still active (the tour guide waited till we were at the top to tell us a tourist died 6 months ago when a bit of flying rock hit him on the head). Although there's no lava, the rocks are hot, proven by throwing some wood into a crater and seeing it light itself. You can also toast marshmallows off the rocks (which naturally we did).

After a couple of nights staying in town me & Niklas went to stay at a place called Earth Lodge, an eco friendly lodge on an avocado farm about a 20 minute drive outside of antigua. This is the place to come if you want to relax! Good food, hammocks, table tennis and absolutely stunning views over antigua:

We decided to go off on a bit of a hike one day with the hand drawn map from the hostel! One word of advice, get better advice than we did! Our 3 hour hike turned into a 6 hour hike, getting massively lost, meeting llamas, gun wielding locals and having a race to get home before the sun went down! We made it with about 10 minutes to spare, having run out of water about an hour before. Definately an experience, but not one I'd like to repeat! I genuinely love this place - I am going back!

After Earth Lodge Niklas headed to the coast for some (unsuccesful) surfing while I headed to Lake Atitlan and to San Pedro. This is a really nice spot to chill out for a couple of days. I needed a bit of down time so I went on lots of walks, read my book, did some writing, ate well and learned how to play an Israeli card game called Yannif - confusing at first but lots of fun once you're used to it! Early morning hike up Indians Nose to see another sunset ruined by clouds!

And from here onto Honduras! Stay tuned for the next installment coming when I discipline myself to sit down & write it!

Hasta luego!

James

It's the 3 month anniversary of me leaving the UK - time has flown!

Some random thoughts!

Modes of transport used so far:

- Plane (obviously)
- Coach
- Chicken bus
- Shuttle bus (mainly on fold down seats)
- Taxi (including a VW beetle in mexico city)
- Train (including a 3 day train)
- Back of a pick up truck
- Luggage rack on top of a van
- Speed Boat
- Sailing boat
- Tuc Tuc
- Golf cart

Modes of transport still to check off the list:

- Motorbike
- Helicopter
- Elephant (it's gonna happen dammit!)
- Jet-ski
- Canoe

Over and out

James x

So I've got really slack with my blog recently so I'm going to try and bring it up to date - but considering I have about 7 weeks worth of stuff to cover some of it might be a bit vague! Here goes...

Usual brief summaries:

Mexico City - Busy
Oaxaca - Dead
Puerto Escondido - Waves
San Cristobal - Cold
Palenque - Monkeys
Merida - KY60
Isla Mujures - Golf buggy
Playa Del Carmen - Captain
Tulum - Paradise

And for those of you who are putting off work or want to kill a few minutes, read on:

Mexico City - So after the sub-zero temperatures in Canada getting to Mexico was a dream! Mexico City is an amazing place, it is seriously busy - over 20 million people live there - so it took a couple of days to adjust to the way of life! Despite its size though and the horror stories you hear about it - it actually feels like a very safe city and the people are lovely! The tube system is second to none - sorry London!

From Mexico City I went on a day trip out to the Teotihuacan pyramids, via the Basilica of Guadalupe - this is the Worlds second most visited catholic church behind the Vatican and home to the image of 'Our lady of Guadalupe' - an image that is said to have just appeared! Apparently professionals have done x-ray tests on it and everything to find out how it was created but all tests have proved inconclusive! The sceptic in me says this is all rubbish of course, but its a nice story! Anyway, approx 8 million people visit in December, particularly on sundays - so me going on a sunday in december was always going to be busy - and it was definately that!

The teotihuacan pyramids are definately worth a visit, if only for the chance to climb them and the view from the top! The history surrounding the city and its inhabitants was very interesting, particularly the parts about human sacrifices, but the climb to the top was definately the highlight! Oh and I succesfully taught various nationalities the joy of lunging!

Oaxaca - Next stop was Oaxaca, much more laid back than Mexico City but depressingly quiet! I actually had a 12 bed dorm to myself, sounds nice but there's nothing worse than sitting in a hostel common room on your own for 6 hours! It served as a good spot for a day trip out to Hierve el Agua - an absolutely beautiful spot up in the mountains.

After Oaxaca I needed somewhere with a bit of life to it, so off I headed to Puerto Escondido, a beach town on the pacific coast. And life I definately found! Staying in the Mayflower hostel (its literally where everybody stays) I met some great people, including a chap from Finland called Niklas who would end up being a regular fixture of my trip over the next few weeks. Escondido is where they have a lot of the world surfing championships, and you can see why, the waves are huge - I opted for the watching option as it would have been suicide for a beginner like myself to try and surf them! Even swimming was a struggle, I got battered the first time I went in, so most of my days were spent lying on the beach recovering from the previous nights antics. It was a much needed relaxing few days after 2 months of pretty much non stop travel.

From here myself & Niklas headed to San Cristobal in the state of Chiapas - a beautiful little colonial town with a real alternative feel to it. There wasn't particularly a massive amount to do here, but it was nice just wandering around, sitting in little bars and cafes! It was however fucking freezing at night time - a massive shock after Escondido. As soon as the sun went down the temp dropped from about 25 to 0! Plus the hostel we were in had no heating so despite sleeping fully clothed, in my sleeping bag and with 2 blankets it was still a very cold night! From here we did a day trip out to the Sumidero Canyon which was good, just cruising through the canyon for a couple of hours while crocodiles chilled on the banks!

Bid Niklas farewell (for now, watch this space) and headed to Palenque via a couple of waterfalls, Agua Azul and Misol Ha. Both are stunning sites, Agua Azul is a series of smaller waterfalls and pools while Misol Ha is a 40m high waterfall that you can walk behind (if you don't mind getting a bit wet). Palenque is home to a stunning set of Mayan ruins located right in the middle of the jungle - I must admit to getting a bit over excited upon seeing a group of monkeys in the trees! Stayed the night in a place called El Panchan, a series of cabins located in the middle of the jungle. Got myself a private cabin for less than a dorm bed normally costs so had a nice anti-social night catching up on some tv programmes - essential every now and then on a big trip! Thought I'd spend a day looking around Palenque town the next day before catching a night bus to Merida - don't bother - there's nothing there so I spent the day sitting in a cafe! The night bus to Merida was an experience, was sleeping tight when I got awoken by 2 soldiers with guns telling me to get off the bus - was just a random check for drugs and guns and the like, but still a bit of a shock to wake up to!

Merida - Arrived on a sunday which is a great day in Merida because they close the main square off to traffic and its lined with food stalls, live music and lots of adorable old mexican couples dancing! Met some real nice people in the hostel, including an english girl called Eirwen who studied at Warwick Uni, lived in leamington, used to help organise the Supercool Discotheque night at Smack and knows most of the chaps from Post War Years - small world! Had a very messy night out at a club called KY60 which was 50 pesos all you can drink. As you can imagine much bad dancing followed! The second night in Merida was the lunar eclipse - a great experience to see, even if I did get absolutely raped by mosquitos!

From Merida I went to Cancun via Chichen Itza, yet more Mayan ruins. If you're going to miss any of the Mayan ruins, make it these ones. They are impressive but it is just so busy and you can't move without people trying to sell you stuff!

Cancun - ugh, don't bother! I drove through it, saw about 15 McDonalds and 20 Starbucks and decided I didn't want to stay there so hopped a boat over to Isla Mujures which is a far superiour choice! It is still quite Americanised but it is so much more laid back and beautiful than Cancun. Stayed at Poc Na hostel which backs right onto the beach. Spent my days cruising round the island on a golf buggy, rescuing sea turtles, climbing rock faces and relaxing on the beach! It was paradise! Met a canadian guy called Mark who was meant to be staying there for 2 weeks, but after a few hours drinking I'd persuaded him to come for his first 'backpacking' experience instead and venture up the coast with me!

Playa del Carmen - Christmas time on the caribbean coast! There are basically two things to do in Playa, drink and go to the beach! It was a good way to spend Christmas. Myself, Mark an english guy called Dan and an Ozzie called Richard spent our nights setting sail with the captain and our days recovering on the beach. Christmas Dinner consisted of Steak - it was pretty epic!

Tulum - The most beautiful place on the Caribbean coast! more mayan ruins here, not the most impressive ruins but the setting can't be beaten, balanced on jagged rock faces overlooking the most crystal clear beaches and sea you will ever see! Met up with Eirwen again here for New Years Eve and had a great couple of days telling bad jokes (Thank Cod I'm a Prawn again Christian), drinking cuba libres and dancing on the beach. A good end to 2010 and the most amazing setting to see in 2011!

And that my friends was Mexico! It is an amazing country, the people are lovely, the food is brilliant, mexican style eggs and proper tacos are going to become regular fixtures in my diet for the rest of my life, and it also felt very very safe, don't let horror stories put you off coming - you will not regret it! Next stop...Belize!!!

So as it's my final night in Canada thought I'd best get this updated before I get too carried away in the Mexican sun and forget everything I've done. Here goes, as before a one word summary for those of you who don't have time to read:

Banff - Karaoke
Calgary - Brewery
Vancouver - Snow?!?
Victoria - Damien
Nanoimi - Take 5

And for those who do have time, read on:

Banff - After a nice few days in the very quiet Jasper and Lake Louise it was a bit of a shock rocking up at Banff HI - the place was packed, mainly with australians who loved themselves very much. The first night they had karaoke in the bar downstairs and despite my initial insistence at the start of the night that there was no way in hell I was singing, once a few beers had been sunk I was soon up duetting Hakuna Matata with Nick and later Sweet Caroline with an english guy who's name now escapes me - i have seen video evidence of the second number, and trust me, it is not pretty!

So the next day there were some tired eyes and sore heads but we eventually headed out for a nice gentle hike up tunnel mountain just by the hostel - some stunning views from the top over the surrounding mountains and the town of Banff.

The next day (nursing slightly sore heads again) we opted for a nice relaxing option and headed out to Banff Hot Springs - minus 10 outside, +38c in the water - lovely stuff. The steam rising from the water made it impossible to see sometimes! It was very hard to get out back into the cold air wearing just swimmers! Melanie & myself followed this relaxing day up by getting needles shoved through our noses - not your average sunday! Bid farewell to Melanie in the evening as she was heading on to pastures new in Nelson. She has been a good travel companion the last couple of weeks and will be missed!

The next day Phillipe headed back up to Jasper to catch a train so I caught the bus to calgary - if you're thinking of going, to be honest I wouldn't bother. Met up with Nick again the next day and, struggling to find exciting things to do and with the temperature approaching minus 30 we opted for a day at Big Rock Brewery which was excellent, tour of the brewery including some raspberry beer fresh from being produced, tasting of all of their draught products (which are mainly excellent) and then a build your own six pack to take home! Suffice to say we were quite drunk by the end of the day. The surprising thing about Canada is how big micro-breweries are - some of the ales being produced are excellent - not what you'd expect for a country that is famed for its 'Light' beers!

From Calgary I did the overnight bus to Vancouver - not fun - 18 hours on a very cramped greyhound. Now despite people assuring me that Vancouver is much warmer and there wont be any snow yet, i departed the bus to find 15cm of snow on the ground and minus 5 temperatures! To be honest by this point the snow and cold was starting to wear a bit thin! Fortunately over night it rained, the snow dissapeared and the temperature jumped to a much more reasonable +10 - hooray!

Met up with Phillipe the next day and with the rain still thundering down opted to spend the day at Vancouver Aquarium - it was ok, some interesting things to see, but definately not the best aquarium i've been to - I would say only go if you have really run out of things to do in Vancouver. Had a Montreal reuinion in the evening with some people i'd met while staying at the HI there, Colm, Miriam, Melanie & Christina - at an irish bar in gastown - live music, cheap beer & many jagerbombs followed (damn you Colm) - it was a lot of fun, wrapped up in Burger King at 4am with the greasiest burgers known to man and a free apple pie which was disgusting.

Went for a hungover walk around Stanley Park with Phillipe & Melanie the following day - so nice having such a massive and interesting park right on the edge of a big city. In the summer it would be absolutely stunning - today it was a bit dull & drizzly but it was still a very nice day out!

The next day got the ferry out to Vancouver Island and headed to Victoria, the islands biggest city. The ferry ride over was beautiful, weaving through some of the smaller islands before docking at Schwarz Bay. Victoria is a real nice city, doesn't feel too big and the view from the waterfront is stunning - took a walk through one of the parks and accidentally came across a stunning beach, all jagged rocks and beautiful views of the mountains across the water. The hostel was possibly the quietest i've ever stayed in - and was frequented by a crazy drunk guy called Damien who did his best to befriend us with wine, weed (98% pure apparently) and beer (at 9.30am) - so most of our time was spent trying to avoid him, sadly not always succesfully!

Had a one night stop in Nanoimi at the Painted Turtle Guesthouse - possibly one of the nicest hostels I've ever stayed in. Nanoimi itself is purely a docking town for the ferry to the mainland - it would be beautiful in the summer but again on a dull drizzly november day it struggled to impress! Had a night in the hostel playing a strange dutch card game called Take 5 before some late night rums at the bar downstairs listening to the worst singer in the world! Then today its been back to Vancouver to get packed up properly and prepared for the trip to Mexico tomorrow (25c and bright blue skies - cannot wait).

So that's been Canada! Next stop Mexico City!

Adios Amigos xxx