More Mexican Adventures..

San Cristobal

Our last sleepless big night out in Puerto Escondido meant one - or I should say several - bad things for me. I arrived in San Cristobal sick as a dog. Riddled with a runny nose, chest infection, sore throat and a fever, I knew I had no choice but to rest up for a few days. This worst thing about this combination is that resting and travelling often don't go hand in hand.

Still, whilst I was getting down the the sickness, I got to explore to some extent the beautiful cobbled streets of San Cristobal. There's something in the air in this gorgeous town that allows you to soak up its serenity in the most ambient way.

Travelling alongside the better half of the Cabo Crew, we set off to explore the local markets. Mesmerised by the selection of unbelievable trinkets, we managed to spend hours on end strolling down each isle, returning to every stall at least three times to make sure we hadn't missed anything.

San Cristobal Markets

Ness and I both decided we would each love a hammock to accompany us for the rest of our journey, so after much deliberation we decided on the most gorgeous natural cotton hammocks - for the small price of $20! These hammocks are to die for. The minute you lie inside it it seems to wrap you up in all it's glory... 10 seconds in and you've already completely melted into it - allowing it to satisfy all your senses the way a good hammock should. Takes me a good hour to get out of the damn thing!

Palenque

On the way to Palanque, we stopped in at Misol-ha to check out the jungle waterfall, and also at Agua Azul to see the stunning cascades and for a dip in the pristine water. We had the most amazing day lounging around in the cool water, and the clear blue skies next to the luscious green trees and stunning aqua water meant it was rather hard to leave this glorious land!

Agua Azul

We eventually arrived in Palenque that afternoon, and settled in quite well to our new forest hideout - the gorgeous Jungle Palace. The six of us booked a cabana right by the lake, and had three days to explore the everything Palenque had to offer.

Unfortunately at this point I was smack bang in the middle of my sickness, but in between countless lie-downs I got to see exactly what this amazing place had to offer... and I think I can vouch for everyone when I say we all loved every single bit of it!

Nestled in the depths of the jungle were Palenque's ruins, with stunning temples set upon the greenest of grass these were some of the best ruins we had come across. We got a local guide, John, to give us a tour through the jungle where we ate termites, climbed vines, swam in hidden waterfalls, and smoked a plant that the Mayans believed was the same as marijuana. Definitely a major highlight of the trip so far!

Tulum

After being told Tulum was home to the one of the top 10 beaches of the world, we knew this was a place we couldn't miss. Sure enough, we were greeted by sugar white sand, jade-green water, palm trees galore and bright sunlight.

Without a doubt, the ocean is the best food for the soul. After a particularly amazing day at the beach, my health was back to top-notch, which calls for nothing short of a celebration! The mini Cabo Baby crew had somewhat reunited, and somehow, after a few too many beers, one of the guys came up with the marvelous idea that we all play spin the bottle.

Six guys and three girls, the odds were on our side, meaning we got to see countless guy-on-guy pashes. Yep, tounge and all! I don't think I have ever seen so many guys get so into a game of spin the bottle, most of them having no qualms about kissing another guy with a lil bit of passion. I don't think I have ever laughed so hard in my life! Simple pleasures in life are by far the best kind...

On our last day in Tulum we spent the day snorkeling at the Grand Cenotes, such a magical place. We had several tea parties on the bottom underwater, and then ventured into the cave area. We found out you could dive under and look for little air pockets (sometimes it would be a trick though, and there was no air, and you'd just come up and whack your head. Then you'd be completely out of breath and have to go back under to find a different air pocket!) Eventually we found a big enough one to host four of us for a mini cave party, plus some bats as well.

Cenotes in Tulum

That's about all I can manage for an update for now! But that's Mexico done and dusted. I'll update on Belize and Honduras another time! Right now I'm in Nicaragua waiting for Ness and Eddie to join me in the pouring rain!

Big love x x x

Puerto Escondido

One of the best parts about Puerto Escondido for me was the arrival. After getting a taxi down to our hostel, I was immediately greeted by a heavily intoxicated old Mexican guy. He introduced himself as 'Indigo' and tried to carry my 15kg backpack down the steps to the hostel for me. Quite a funny thing to watch the little old fella struggle so much with my bag, swaying from a wall to a tree, to almost falling over several times. He didn't speak much english but managed to sign language a bong with his hands, apologising for being so high. HA, such a legend. He then tried his hardest to get me down to his shop to buy some boardshorts, ha ha. ¨I gotsa red ones day same as dis¨ he informed me, pointing to my dress. I wish I had taken a photo of him, such an interesting character.

Walking up the stairs of Mayflower, the hostel, I felt that rush of excitement flow through my blood. Even at a first glance Ness and I could tell this place was going to be amazing. Hammocks, painted walls, and plants galore.. a total Mexican paradise! With double beds and a whole dorm room to ourselves, we both knew Puerto was going to hold us captive for quite a few days.

To top it off, above the hostel there was a fantastic deck area overlooking the ocean, along with a great big table - the perfect kind to drink around... Something we did a little too often really. But one day in and we managed to form the greatest crew - the Cabo Baby crew - right up there on that deck. The amount of absolute nonsense spoken around that table for the days we were there would honestly blow any one's mind.

Another oh-so great thing about Puerto... an ounce of weed was a mere $200 pesos, not even $20 for us. It seemed every time you finished smoking a monster joint someone had already lit another. This sort of behaviour tends to lead to two things: eating, and siesta´s. I must admit, siesta's really did get the best of me, sometimes 'napping' at 5pm would turn into a deep sleep, and I'd often find myself not waking up til 10am the next day. Pretty sure ¨I feel a siesta coming on¨ came out of everyone's mouth at least twice a day.

Travelling during the 'low' season rocks! Everything is cheaper, and we pretty much had the town and the beaches to ourselves. We got to know a few of the locals, and formed a tight bond with our new travelling buddies - Craig, Nick, Alex, Mooney, Eddie and Adam. Two Aussies, three Tassies, and a Kiwi. You can only imagine the amount of sheep rooting/inbred jokes getting around.

Going out in Puerto was always a blast - as long the yearning desire for a siesta wasn't playing on the back of your mind. One of the rather large nights we had out Alex Nick and I ventured off to see what the town had to offer. It's quite easy to get free shots just by getting chummy with every bar tender we came across. Mind you, I am talking about horrible, horrible cheap tequila, so you can imagine what kind of night this evolved into.........

A few friends from back home, Cuss, Jacko and Mal were surprise visitors to the Mayflower the following day. It's crazy how you can be right over the other side of the world and still run into people you know. Nonetheless, a celebration was in order. Ha, actually something that's brilliant about travelling - how you lose track of days, and how you find a different reason why we have to fiesta every night. "It's Nick's last night, we have to have some drinks," or "Craig passed his Scuba licence, we better celebrate," or the old favourite, "It's a Friday night, we've all worked soo hard this week."

Not quite ready to leave this magical place, we postponed our departure for the Mexican holiday 'Cinco de Mayo' as another celebration was in order... ha ha. This was by far the most outrageous night to date. We headed down the road to the most fabulous Mexican Salsa bar, and it seemed everyone from Puerto was there. Dancing in the street, we were approached by what we like to call 'The Rabies Dogs.' Yep, the kind of dogs that come near you, and everyone tries not to look it in the eyes in fear that if you do so it will only venture closer. You're actually even afraid to kick it away. Rabies isn't cool. But we did make a song about it that was pretty cool.. Titled "I got rabies from mah doggie," (actually these were the only repetitive lyrics in the song) and sung to the tune of "la la bumba," it wasn't long before we had bongos as backups, and a rather large amount of people joining in on the adorable sing-along.

Alas, our time in Puerto had finally come to an end, but our new found family was yet to be separated. San Cristobal, Palanque, and Tulum were the next destination myself, Ness, Mooney, Alex, Adam and Eddie were bound for. I'll save all that for another entry however.

More news from over this side of the world... I've had a major change of plans. After some careful deliberation, I have decided my heart just isn't in Europe. The typical sightseeing and the whole European summer thing doesn't quite float my boat they way it does for others. On the other hand, the idea of a proper South America trip really gets my blood pumping. Plus with my budget, I'd be living like a queen compared to Europe! Ness, however, has her eyes on the Europe prize. So after Central we'll be parting ways, which was a really hard decision to make. There's just something about this land that is so completely overwhelming, and I'm not ready to leave. Everything about it - from the unbelievable picture perfect beaches to the luscious mountains and jungles, even the ruins, and the people - there is so much character in everything. Day after day it keeps getting better, just when you think you've reached the paramount. And I haven't even left Mexico yet!

From here, we're heading to an Island off of Belize, where I'm thinking about doing a diving course, then over to Guatemala to eat many 1 cent avocados, and potentially do a two week Spanish course and a home stay. What an experience that will be. Well that's my mammoth update for now!

Adios Amigos xxx

Mexico City

This place is a whole new world. Streets are busier, buildings form different shapes with more vibrant colours, and most importantly - and at long last - we soak up the golden suns' rays, almost overdosing on it in fear that it might fizzle up in any second and leave us in complete darkness.. Quite a step up from America's cold windy miserable weather I must say.

On arrival we head straight out to the colourful Sunday markets that line the busy streets of Mexico. And finally, we are surrounded by so much good food! It's quite an overwhelming feeling, wanting to eat everything this great city has to offer at lunchtime alone.

We made friends with a local Mexican guy, Marco, who was overly helpful and insightful. He pretty much acted as our tour guide for the days we spent in Mexico City. On our second day he took us to Xochimilco, which is a series of extended canals, and is all that remains of the ancient Lake Xochimilco.

Above are some of the boats, or trajineras, that we set sail down the canal aboard .. beer in hand of course. It was such a tranquil, mesmerising experience. A boat full of Mariachi's (Mexicana Singers) was joined to ours, and for a small price of $60 pesos a song, we were serenaded down the river, by beautiful traditional Mexican melodies, unable to wipe the smiles from our faces.

One of the most interesting things about Mexico is that an ancient prophecy predicted that the buildings of Mexico would all sink into the ground, and the temples and other ruins would all rise, and be resurrected. The amount of earthquakes Mexico encounter have led this propecy to come true! Mexico is sinking, and already many temples have been resurrected in their place. Even thinking about it sends shivers down my spine.

The rest of our time was spent adventuring around this glorious city. We explored the Teotihuacan Pyramids, and even managed to climb to the top of the Sun pyramid - extremely out of breath by the time we reached the top, however. Firey lungs aside, it was such a beautiful thing to be able to sit on top of the pyramid in the cool breeze, regaining our breath while we admired the ancient ruins that surrounded us.

Much to our disappointment, our hostel, 'Hotel Moneda' lacked a certain spark that a hostel should have, and our cold ridden bodies were yearning for the ocean. So after what seemed a short four days in Mexico City, we were destined for Puerto Escondido - after a hellish 17hr bus ride of course.

Our view on the bus for 17 hours... sick.

The adventures held in Puerto Escondido so far have easily been my favourite to date. I can't wait to tell you all about it... But right now the beach is calling my name.

x x