We spent 10 days studying Spanish in Antigua, a picturesque colonial town just outside of Guatemala City. It was the original capital of Guatemala until a series of big earthquakes knocked most of it down.

The day we arrived a tropical storm rolled in and decided to stay for the duration of our time in Antigua, and everyday we were impressed with Antigua’s sewer systems capacity to hold water, lesser cities would have sunk!

On our first Sunday in Antigua we decided to visit the famous Chichicastenango market which is a must see on any Central American trip. Originally a hot trading spot for Mayans back in the day, it has continued every Sunday to set up stalls and take over the city. In order to get to Chichi from Antigua you have two options, pay $20 and take a mini bus, or pay $3 and take a two chicken buses… we opted for option B. We started at 5 am and anxiously climbed aboard the decked out school bus. We booked it through the narrow windy streets as dogs and early risers leaped out of the way.

The bus ride to Chichi was fairly tame in comparison to the bus ride back in the afternoon. On the way back they packed 80 plus people into a school bus designed for 40! At breakneck speeds with only flimsy PVC piping to keep us standing upright (we weren’t lucky enough to get seats) did we mention that it was a 3 hour bus ride on a mountainous highway that was under serious construction at the time on a road where solid lines and speed limits seemed to be merely suggestions?

It seemed to us that the name chicken bus must have derived its name, not for the number of people that it packs on, or the numerous animals that share the ride, but rather the game of chicken the bus drivers seem to enjoy playing with every possible vehicle and pedestrian they can! This wasn’t our first chicken bus and it won’t be our last, but so far it has been THE most terrifying thing we have done so far… all for cost of $3!

The main reason for visiting Antigua is that it is famous for its Spanish schools, so we both had 4 hour private Spanish lessons with Pedro switching up mornings and afternoon lessons. With only half the day taken up with lessons we were left with ample time to explore the city, read, nap, develop a caffeine addiction to the most glorious coffee this side of paradise, watch the rain, get a fungal infection in the intestine… etc

During our time in Antigua we stayed with a Guatemalan family. We were pretty nervous at first, but it ended up being one of the best decisions we have made thus far. The family was amazing, they only spoke Spanish but they welcomed us immediately and made us feel part of the family. Patty the mom took us under her wing, made us special Guatemalan delicacies and chat with us after dinner.

At first Claire and I did a lot of smiling and nodding, understanding one out of every 10 words, by the end of our stay however we were making jokes and holding up conversations. The kids were pretty awesome too, we helped them with their English homework, invented snoopy soccer, and teased them about their new haircuts.

In the last week of our stay in Antigua Patty joked that the house was more of a hospital than a homestay. Four of the five students were bedridden (nothing to do with the family, all injuries were self inflicted) Mike the Brit had to have an emergency root canal that put him out for a couple of days. The two girls from the States Summer and Diane went away to the Pacific coast for the weekend to get away from the rain for awhile and came back with food poisoning for Summer and second and third degree burns for Diane from sun exposure. Claire had to top them all and ended up with a fungal infection in her intestine that left her OUT for 5 days unable to keep down even crackers! 300Q poorer, 4 different types of antibiotics, anti nausea etc for 10 days and Claire is now right as rain!

Antigua was beautiful, the family was amazing and Pedro taught us a lot , but after 10 days of rain we were both jonesing for some sun. Before we could leave Antigua we had to visit one of the many active volcanos.

The chance to hike up an active volcano and poke lava was too much to resist. So we managed another early morning rise and long bus ride to the volcano. The hike up was more strenuous than we had anticipated, and halfway up we regretted not opting for the horseback option. The hike took about an hour and half to reach the lava, the summit of the volcano was too active to go all the way up that day so we missed out on the last 200 meters. However, it was hot enough where we were that we didn’t mind too much!

The lava bursting out of the top of the volcano sounded like a 747 passing overhead, combined with the lava oozing only a few feet from us, made us feel like we were on a different planet. Our fellow hikers had anticipated the heat and brought marshmallows to roast on the lava (delicious earth crust taste)

The Moltan rock that we were walking on was only 20 days old and maybe a meter and a half from the active lava below (we could feel the heat through our shoes) As we scrambled over the sharp uneven rock we could see only a few feet away red hot lava oozing down the black crusted rock. It was incredible to be that close, and so hot that we could only spend a few minutes close to the free flowing lava.

Before our climb we bought some hiking sticks from the local kids and when we got the lava field we proceeded to poke the exposed lava, at which point our sticks would burst into flame! SO COOL. The whole experience was pretty damn cool, though on reflection probably not something we would do again…

Once we had seen the volcano and drunk as much coffee as we could handle we jetted off to sunny San Pedro a few hours away to get some sun and lake fun before skipping over to Honduras.

Hey Guys, Sorry for the SUPER LONG Delay in getting this up, but here we are getting back on track this time we promise.

As round The end of May we were Officially in Guatemala now, we stayed on the small island of Flores. Flores is a quaint colonial town with cobble stone streets tightly packed onto a 2 square kilometer island. It is surrounded by clear warm fresh water that everyone from locals to tourists frequently dip into. Aside from the dubious electricity that seems to turn on and off at will, and strange flying earwigs that prefer to attack at meals times and in washrooms. Our alarm clock is the stiffening heat that fills the room after the electricity has cut out, our only source of relief from the heat. Although not even 100m from mainland attached by a single road, there is no access to fruit or vegetables on the island, there is cheese in the fridges a month passed dues date (and lets not forget about the many times the power goes out in a single day), so not much coking happened, only restaurant eating….and even than had its very very Rough patches.

The afternoon we arrived we organized ad early bird trip to Tikal - by early bird we mean the worm hasn’t come out of the whole yet – We talking 3am here people!!! In hindsight we should’ve just stayed up – giddy with lack of sleep the four of us plus our new Norwegian friends Anetta and Peter, all stumbled into the van at 3:20. We arrived at Tikal a little later than expected with a flat tire and while the other groups were driven all the way up to Temple 4, we had to sprint through the jungle – a good 3 km – to beat the sunrise. We made it to the top for a bit of the sunrise. We were at the top of a temple that was built for the King and his queen, a rise that pokes it head out of the jungle. Needless to say the Sunrise was incredible, well what we saw of it anyways, it was completely silent except for the odd opening of a water bottle, or the shutter of a camera trying to capture the impossible true beauty of what was laid before us. Slowly the Sun rose through layers of mist to reveal it’s true rapid speed of movement. The Forest slowly began to awaken with bird calls, monkeys howling and frog croaking. Soon the sun was consumed by the fog again and we continued in silence listening as more bizarre sounds came to life.

Tikal is the center point of all the Mayan ruins; it is the largest national park in Central America and it its day must have been the most spectacular place to see. Temple 4 peaks out the top of the rainforest into a network of 4000 buildings of which only 15% has been recovered from over-growth. Tikal means Temple of echoes or echo of the Mayan Spirits. We were apart of a group which seems silly, but Luis was not only the best but we head the week before a Dutch guys tried to do Tikal himself and was lost for 2 -3 days, they only found him because he ripped pages out of his Lonely planet…so we thought a guide was a great idea, and Luis…he was the cream of the Crop.

We were lead through the Jungle from Temple to temple but none was such a head rush as Temple 6. Almost completely restored to the top, you wonder why it isn’t funny until you get to the top and can’t imagine anything else apart from wanting to get safely to the ground. Before we get to that let’s talk about how to reach the top. Beside the stairs was a “wooden staircase” I’m sorry did I say stairs let me replace that with a series of ladders that has a small platforms now and then with a light tilt forwards. If you’re not scared of heights then clearly you have not been this high and steep and NOT strapped in!!! At the top the view is incredible but the adrenalin is debatable as to whether it was worth the climb and standing at the top. Even with our backs flat against the wall so close we could almost be apart of the wall, you still feel like you’re falling forwards. If you don’t suffer from Vertigo then trust us you will on the small wooden platform at the top. Coming down was no where near as bad as going up you were so focus on hanging on for dear life then you never really looked down. We saw our fair share of wildlife monkeys swinging from branches, various birds (including Toucan Sam), some fuzzy animal related to the anteater and so many other things.

A few hours later we returned to the Van and headed back to Flores. We stayed in Flores for a couple more days then after swimming lessons for Sonya and some relaxing time it was off to Antigua to begin Claire’s and my Spanish lessons.


Thanks for holding, the blogs will be up soon to hopefully be followed by Photos!
Cheers,
Simpson and Claire

Welcome to the Jungle, where…there are crabs?!? Leaves the Size of Claire?!? Sorry that we have been out of contact for so long, but there is no internet in the Jungle and then we have been in constant transport for awhile so Info of the last little while will be filled in slowly and divided into three posts. Palanque was wonderful. We stayed in the Jungle just outside the park(where the Ruins are) in a small community FULL of artisans from jewelry makers and circus performers to Native drummers and fire dancers.

It was full of life, music and a hippie traveling vibe that took over the wholeplace. Claire and I stayed in a small cabin that shared a wall with a Jeweler and her talkative 3 year old Daughter (Who was up until 1 am happily chatting away, every 10 minutes she would be on the shared deck, on our side, shouting "OLA" to the campers 30 feet behind us...it wasn't annoying at all...nope didn't keep us up in the slightest). The first night in the jungle was a little rough... at 3 in the morning I awoke to Claire ...this is how it went....

Claire: (whisper) "Simpson, Simpson are you awake?"

Simp: (waking up) "hmmm? Not anymore, why?"

Claire: "Don't you hear that?...(moment pause to hear a loud demonic roaring noise)

Simp: "what is that?..."

Claire: "How do you sleep through this shit!!!"

It was an eerie noise that sounded like it was right outside our hut…it sounded as if a jaguar were giving birth and everything was being torn up inside by the cubs claws…Claire and I stayed awake for a three hours listening to the terrible noise and trying in vain to fall back asleep. When we asked the hostel owner the next day what had made those terrible sounds we were surprised to find out that it was a monkey! That´s right a howler monkey, just slightly larger than a house cat! Gives new meaning to the phrase Mono Loco! The first full day we just vegged and took in the quirks of the Jungle. Found a tattoo artist that does traditional tattoos, she's well known for her art, and Sonya and Izzy were keen to get some of her beautiful work....but she was leaving for a tattoo conference inHolland and didn't have time to design anything.

The second day took us to the ruins of Palenque, which were pretty amazing.

The Sun was blazing as we walked the 3km uphill to get there and by the time we reached the ruins it was already mid day and we were feeling the heat! The walk was inspired by the idea of saving money which we found out later was only a dollar for the collectivo, but still that's pretty much a beer, we clearly have our priorities in order!! The ruins were surrounded by jungle and were open to be climbed on, which is always fun! After a few hours the sun proved to be too much and our traditional ruin loopyness took over. We found a bunch of bean pods (tamarind we think) and proceeded to swordfight each other in dramatic drawn out fights. The last one with a unbroken bean pod was declared the winner and officially knighted. Did I mention the sun had gotten to us! When we finally stopped after a traditional knighting there was a loud applause and we turned around to see a crowd of about 50 Asian tourists armed with cameras who had stopped to watched the whole thing and found it highly amusing. Highly embarrassed we bowed and then briskly walked away. If you ever see a youtube video of four idiots bean fighting in some Mexican ruin be assured that it totally is not us…

The next day we caught a bus form Palenque to Tulum, a place off the Caribbean coast in the Yucatan province of Mexico. Getting there involved another 12 hour night bus ride with bumps and sharp turns galore, interrupting the fleeting bits of sleep we were able to catch. Tulum was nice, but not the famed town we had been expecting. After searching in town for a few hours we managed to find a nice cheap hotel at the north end, near the ruins. Tulum´s ruins are fairly unique as Mexican ruins go because they are built on cliffs over-looking the sea. Apparently when the Spanish arrived they made mention of what an incredible site it was at night due to the fires that burned at the tops of the temples. An awesome sight I am sure! However, by this point we were a little ruined out and decided not to go. Tulum is a Mayan word meaning dawn, apparently it is spectacular then, not that we were ever up that early to see it, nor it the site even open then. Tulum is an expensive town and our $20 a day budget would not have stretched very far had we gone out for meals, again we were really glad the girls had a stove and pot set. We managed some pretty great dinners and took advantageof the cheap fruit to make massive fruit salads. Cooking in the room was a bit dodgy, I am sure the hotel would not have appreciated it so we took turns guarding the door and keeping a lookout for any friendly staff that might come along.

Our hotel was a 3km walk from the beach, and when we ventured there on the first day after the 12 hour bus ride, all the trouble to get toTulum became totally worth it. The beach was incredible! White sand as fine as flour stretched for kilometers. The turquoise blue of the ocean offset by the white beach dotted with fishermen's boats was the most picturesque beach we had been to yet. Claire was particularly taken with the beach and could be heard muttering ¨this sand is amazing!¨, ¨I love this beach¨ every few minutes.

On the second day we travelled to the local centotes, or Sanatra´s as Claire liked to call them. When we arrived Claire and I were not sure of what we were getting into, all we understood was water and snorkeling… that was enough really! For those that don´t know Cenotes are freshwater caves with tunnels that go on for kilometers. We weren´t exactly impressed at first, but as we swam deeper into the caves light from above illuminated the water, and the lights from the scuba divers below hinted to the extreme depths of the Cenotes. It was AMAZING. Diving down into the caverns as far as our lungs would allow and snorkeling through stalactites. The Mayans believed that these pools were gateways to the other world, it is easy to see why. Four hours later it was only the frigid temperature and pruning digits that eventually pulled us from the enchanting waters of the Cenotes.

Later that night I did a solo trip to visit Chichen itza, It is a magnificent ruin that on the Spring and Fall equinox, at the rising and setting of the sun, the corner of the structure casts a shadow in the shape of a serpent that from the corner tiers slithers down the northern side of the pyramid with the sun's movement...thousands of people gather each year to see this...but unfortunately I missed the bus and ended up taking a taxi. It took 2hr just to get there…and somehow with his broken english and my broken Spanish we were able to uphold a conversation for the whole 2 hours. Unfortunately with province crossing and random police checks I missed my sunset,that I had so desperately want to see…but I arrived for what they call the light and sound show. When I entered the site it was pitch black save for the lights that lit the path. There were school groups with children about 11-13 years old surrounding me asking me questions 5 at a time about where I am from and so on. I posed for pictures with them and signed jerseys (weird!) and felt like a celebrity for a while until we reached the area that we watch the show from that over looks the main plaza of the ruins. The temples were dark shadows against the night sky. Then the path lights went out and the music started and suddenly El Castillo (the main temple) was light up. It was incredible, it was everything I had hoped and more, the stairs rose to a place I found myself only dreaming of. There was a loud booming voice over the speakers as a surround sound as the temples lit up with different colours...all in all it was a bit cheesy (and later I found out that I could have rented a translating devise to listen in english but I think that the spanish was much more powerful and I'm sure I would have been less interested and felt that it was more cheesy). However, there was this Magical moment. The lights all went out and then over the speaker there was this light rumble. Behind El Castillo there was a quick flash of a bright light echoing a hauntingly shadow… then suddenly a loud crack of thunder over the speaker, then the sound of rain. I sat there and watched a fabricated thunderstorm over the ruins and was nearly brought to tears, it was so magnificent, it was as though I had this quick glimpse into the past and how incredible this place must have been.

The next day we headed for Belize where our Central American adventure truly begins. Unfortunately Belize was too expensive for our small budget, so our planned week in Belize was swallowed up by Mexico and instead turned into a corridor for entering Guatemala. We took a three hour bus from Chetumal Mexico to Belize city, then had two minutes to grab our bags, pee and board a good old fashioned cheese wagon to San Ignacio close to the Guatemalan boarder. From what we briefly saw, Belize is a very chill Caribbean country with the friendliest boarder guards in the world! It was nice for a night to be able to speak English and know exactly what we were ordering for dinner, but we were anxious to get to Guatemala. The next day we bussed into Guatemala and got a collective to Flores a small island that serves as the jumping off point for trips to Tikal. Leaving Mexico was more difficult than we had anticipated, and we were sad leave, however, now that we are in Guatemala and officially out ofNorth America we feel like our trip has really begun.

_________________________________________________________________

QUOTE OF THE ENTRY:

(translated from spanish)

Izzy: Pardon, (to the hostel owner), can you tell me what that noise was last night at about 3 am?

Owner: oh it was...um, hold on a moment I have to chance a cat

You would think that by heading south things get warmer right? That by leaving Canada and heading to Mexico you can efficiently say good-bye to ice and snow….well apparently not…we were caught in a hail storm yesterday…that’s right HAIL!!! And not a bunch of Hail Mary’s I’m taking about good smarties (or m&m) sized hunks of ice falling from the sky….just one more element to add to San Cristobel’s CRAZY weather system!

16 days in and we have encountered our first medical situation. Claire awoke yesterday with bites all over her arms and neck. At first we thought the that she just had really bad mosquitoes bites, but as the day went on they got worse. And then we found out that at 2, 100m up here there aren’t any mosquitoes….. after a quick trip to the doctor we confirmed that those mozie bites were in fact bed bugs! So much for sleeping bag liners!

Today was much nicer, aside from the complications of creepy crawlies. We took a tour to a nearby Canyon on the Rio Grand…a day in the boat to help relieve the heat of the day. The Canyon was rather brown as the rainy season is JUST beginning now but you could imagine what it would be like at peak season with lush green walls. The alligators were by far the highlight of the trip, and all for $16!


Returning from our cruise we hung out in the park and watch a celebration of a school that had the kids doing dances and singing in the park. We gave some children our Canadian toys and they LOVED them, Bracelet’s and bouncy balls to the local children selling crafts and it was a joy. It felt like such juxtaposition to see the children on stage in pretty outfits dancing to celebrate their school’s anniversary while other children were selling bracelets in traditional garb. We soon left and watched the sunset from the cathedral.

We will be sad to leave San Cristobal’s quiet charm but tomorrow we are off to Palenque in the Yucatan so we can feed our need to “go jungle”

Cheers

Simpson and Claire

p.s. We apologiose I know that we promised some photos but there have been complications and lack of time...we aren{t sure when we will get a chance next but we are working on it to fill in the previous gaps

P.P.S We met a guy who makes Bamboo bikes....pretty kewl!

Zipolite has been relaxing….sun, beach, beer and swimming (but only when it’s safe and the swimming is a bit more of a rolling in the waves than actual swimming. It has been quiet without the boys yet we are somehow coping. We met a guy named Byron who took us out snorkeling and out into the open Ocean to see the wildlife. We thought HEY THIS IS A GREAT IDEA…it wasn’t until we were out on the ocean in the little dingy, little did I realize just how uncomfortable I was…in fact Claire and I had the ´I am so scared that I am pretending to smile to see if it helps´ expression on our faces. But soon we were calmed as we got into the rhythm of the motions. Although it didn’t help that Byron would say… “See the birds, there is something over there….ooooh and it looks big…..maybe a whale, or possibly a shark” Needless to say this did not help me whatsoever with my great fear of sharks. We saw many turtles, some with birds just chillin on their backs as they cruised along…we caught fresh fish for lunch (which was delicious)…we saw spotted dolphins, and were hoping to swim with them, but when Byron jumped in there were Jellyfish EVERYWHERE, that and the fact that it was in the big wide open ocean. The scariest thing we saw was the sea-snake…did anyone else know about this? They are pure water creatures that are some of the most poisonous snakes in the world [shudders]. Aside from the dolphins our best sight was a 500 kilo Manta Ray…this thing was HUGE and it swum right under the boat revealing its white underbelly. The “wings” I guess you would say, would surface while its body was this black sheet rippling the water around it.

We finally found a quiet beach and jumped in. Claire would a see a small jelly fish and let out a yelp which would freak me out, thinking it was a shark, and all the while Izzy and Sonya would just laugh at us. We saw some great sea urchins but the water was cloudy and aside from that we only saw a few colorful fish ….but it was nice just to swim around a bit. We had the fish that Byron caught for lunch and then returned to Zipolite.

The next day we left zipolite, but not without an experience. While we were waiting for the collective (an open back truck that literally collects people on its route and only cost $1 each) we were hassled by the taxi drivers who wanted take us for a larger fee. The taxi cabs told us that they no longer came to our pick up at that point in the day, and when one came they sabotaged us by telling him to leave and not pick us up. Needless to say we were NOT impressed so what to do…ask a local woman….who directed us to a pick up spot to get back to Pochutla. Two boys followed us who were also waiting for the Collectivo. Finally our Collectivo came and we met an Irish Guy, John, who helped us pack up our bags, it was at this point that one of the boys snatched Izzy´s beautiful camera with all the best photos and took off running. Izzy turned around ask for the camera and quickly put 2 and 2 together.

Izzy and John Took off after them, a motorist turned around and followed them along with a taxi driver (a nice one not from the others that hassled us). Unfortunately Izzy and John returned empty handed, they caught one guy who claimed he was chasing after the other guy with the camera. We got into the collectivo and headed towards our bus station to catch a bus at 7pm….leaving a bad taste in our mouths we were thinking that Zipolite might be forever tainted. Claire and I tried to cheer up Izzy with Stories we had of cameras getting stolen but for some reason the cameras were always returned, this did not help matters. When we were halfway to Pochutla a taxi driver followed our collective and honked frantically “WAIT, STOP, CAMERA” We banged on the Collectivo´s glass and he pulled the car to a halt. Turns out that when we had given up the rest of the folks on the beach chased the guy for four kilometers until they caught him, the taxi had chased after us to let us know that they were holding him the police station and they had recovered the camera. Our faith in humanity and Zipolite was restored. The girls got into the taxi and Claire, John and I took the bags to the bus station. We were extremely lucky and now have one more recovered camera story.
Claire and I waited and the girls made to the bus in time, adrenaline rushing we loaded the bags got on the bus and faced a 12 hour night bus ride which was a bit harsh on the winding mountain road.

We arrived in San Cristobal yesterday at 6:30, it is at a much higher altitude and the mornings and evenings are really chilly! We called up a hostel that would pick us up from the station, when we called they were already standing outside the station. Sweet deal! The hostel has a nice family homey atmosphere will free internet and a cool lounge, it is only slightly skeevy with bedsheets that are so thin you can see through them, Claire and I are really glad to have our sleeping bag liners! Yesterday we wandered through the markets and all the beautiful handmade crafts. At night it gets crazy cold that we need toques and than during the day it warms up to sweltering temperatures that leave us in the shade chugging copious amounts of water. Not to mention that due to the pressure, when we opened our bottles sunscreens, conditioners they all exploded. The best was the sunscreen as we were on the side walk and the locals, including a collectivo had to pull over to laugh at us as they watched us deal with the mess of the sunscreen.

Today is a relaxing day, as San Cristobal is a nicer slower paced place. The quiet colonial town we have been looking for. Today we were hoping to hit up the indigenous market and explore more of the town, tonight we will be hitting up the live music and drumming in the park.

Cheers for now,

Simpson and Claire

P.S The Computer is better here so we hope to add images to our older posts later on this evening.

Hey Kids,

I want to apologise for not keeping up with the blog, I was having internal debate as to whether or not I should continue I wasn’t sure if people were reading and I felt as though those that seemed to be responding only had less than positive views. This is not directed at any one single person but a generalized group and this is not to offended, and I am truly sorry if I have but this is also in response to personal hurt of various comments from multiple people. Luckily someone gave me better insight and helped me to realize Spelling schmelling, There is a time and a place for that, and on the road telling stories in its rawest forms of adventure is not one of those times…so for those who are more interested in the spelling, then my apologies that my grammar and such may not always be correct and I am sorry, but hopefully the content will be more intriguing then the words.

As such we continue from Mexico City….and took a 6hr bus ride to Oaxaca (¨wha-hak-a¨). You would think that the landscape was wonderful and I’m sure it was but unfortunately we were in seats with the bus logo and missed it all! Anytime we wanted to see outside we had to lean into the aisle and look out the front window by the driver…..or we had to look through the tiny holes the logo had to offer which would quickly end in headache. When we recovered from that we were forced to watch horrid B rated 80´s films in Spanish. Well, at least the foreign language made it more interesting….but still…it was rough.

6 hours later we got off the bus in sunny Oaxaca. We met a German, William, who spoke Spanish and helped us get to our hostel. Our hostel was beautiful and quirky. There was a courtyard with green plants and hammocks that gave the place a wonderfully mellow atmosphere….that was until the water ran out, which was often, and the place seemed not quite as great but it did have that vibe that seemed to make it all ok. And low-and –behold we met our American friends…..JOHN AND KEVIN!!!! This aspect quickly increased our enjoyment of the city, as well as meeting up with our British girls (Sonya and Izzy, who are now indefinitely our travel buddies for the next couple months)

The next morning we ventured to Monte Alban Ruins, The Zapotec people, With Sonya, Izzy and William. The place was bigger than we had expected…it held between 20,000 and 30,000 people. They literally cut off the top of a mountain and built their city. We stood at the sacrificial podium and looked out over the ruins, a sight so incredible that surely the people never saw this beauty until they were sacrificed. And what an honour it was to help your people by being sacrificed. The stairs were not meant for little people with their spacing and we’re talking about people littler than Claire (for those that may not know Claire is exactly 5 foot, and a great measuring tool!), For those more interested feel free to look up info on these ruins as our camera’s batteries ran out and sometimes our photos don’t always pick up the true awe of these places. Poor William, the sun soon took over us 4 women and we became silly and loopy….and William is VERY German, and about 6´3. But a quick 3 hrs later we were back down the mountain into Oaxaca…which we didn’t realize until them was a huge city and stretch far and wide….not as big as Mexico city, but still enormous and smoggy. Upon returning down we met up with John and Kevin and ran around trying to find beer…we were intending on climbing a lookout point but complications arose with the girls hostel. So we brought the party to them.
Once we caught up they won us over with intentions of leave the next night for the beach…..ah the beach, get away from the smog, an ocean to swim in when over heated, a beer in hand….needless to say it didn´t take much to tempt us to the idea….unfortunately the boys had left money in Mexico City where they were headed the next night on their way to return home….or so they thought

The next day was spent homeless, we were allowed to keep our bags at the hostel but not much else. We made a wicked breakfast with all of our left over food and were astonished that we both out-ate the boys by quite a bit….but then we began our lazing day of wandering. The four of us picked up beer and Mezcal (a type of tequila specifically from Oaxaca and a drink we shall thank for swaying decision making). Once we were set we picked up the girls and hiked to the top of a lookout point. On the way up John and Claire had a small race up that ended in John´s collapse and the beginning to our sway to bring them to the beach. At the top we watched the sun set, you were able to actually watch the sun physically sink into the mountains and watch the last of the lingering light sway and fade into slow darkness. After this and much drinking the boys (mostly John) were convinced to cancel their plans for Mexico city, throw away their tickets and instead join us at the beach.

After a hectic run around trying to pick up our packs, and convince a couple to give us their tickets for John and Kevin we were all safely on the bus. At which point John had started to sober up and was quite surprised to find himself heading in the wrong direction. SIRENS, SHE DEVILS he yelled for about two hours!

We were supposed to arrive in Zipolite at around 7 in the morning, unfortunately at about 4 am a Corona truck flipped on the narrow mountain road that we were traveling on and we were delayed in the hot, oppressive Mexican sun for six hours, with no food or water. At this point John and Kevin were not convinced that this had been a good idea. After our intense bus ride arriving in Zipolite was like a dream. A fresh sea breeze and a beach that went on for miles. While everyone else searched for accommodation John reunited with the Pacific ocean after 11 years and Claire finally shut up about a place to swim.

It was at this point that John realized the brilliance of our plan and that the whole excursion was worth it. Our title of SIREN was put on the shelf, for the moment. John will undoubtedly shout similar insults when we convince him to come to Nicaragua…. RIGHT JOHN?!?!?!

The boys have finally left for Mexico City, headed towards home. Things are quieter and not quite the same without them, but we cannot really complain with the surroundings we are in. Our time right now is split between swimming, sleeping, and lounging in hammocks, it is a tough life but somebody’s got to do it.

After a frustrating hour on the internet trying to load photos, Claire got frustrated and gave up. We will try again later, but if you are super keen on seeing our smiling faces we have some photos up on facebook.

All for now Claire and Simpson

We awoke Early yesterday morning to prepare for a breakfast date with a contact from Claire´s high school. Monsay is a Mexican mother who´s son, Pedro, is currently in grade 9 at Rosseau Lake College....currently in grade 9 you think...but didn´t Claire graduated 4 years ago? Yes she did... and did she ever meet Pedro....no....so how did we get this contact.....we'll we're still thinking this one over ourselves but regardless it was one of the best decisions we made in contacting her. We officially have a Latin American Mother that we are keeping in contact with our travels along the way, which also has significantly increased both our, and our parents, comfort levels.

Monsay took us out to a restaurant that we would never allow ourselves to eat at (based on budgeting reasons)...the fruit was delicious and the food was amazing, and incredibly filling! We were then invited to a family Lunch....a family lunch, how could we pass up such an offer than to be apart of something so wonderful. So to pass time...and walk off breakfast we were given a tour of Mexico.

DID YOU KNOW MEXICO CITY IS SINKING?.....DID YOU KNOW MEXICO CITY WAS ONCE AN ISLAND? yeah neither did we but once you're told you start to realize how may building in the downtown core are on weird angles. They are sinking a meter a year....INCREDIBLE!!!!

In the center of Mexico City there are some Aztec Ruins, these ruins were found by means of electrical maintenance, they were trying to dig down deeper but hit something hard and couldn't understand why...to they dug and discovered the ruins under the city....now the funny thing is that there are more ruins under the cathedral...however they can't take it down so they won't be uncovered until either the cathedral burns down or by some other means the cathedral is taken out. but there are some excavations that have glass look abouts where you can peer down and see skulls. We learned much about the Aztecs and some of their sacrificial methods and tools....they cut out your heart with a dull sharpened stone and this is an honour to sacrifice yourself for your people so that there can be rain or whatever is needed. Outside towards the main square are traditional Aztec dancers. From there we did a 180 and entered the Massive cathedral.

The Cathedral itself is pretty intense, it is the most important temple Latin America...and the Pope loves it (all of them), it is # 1, until it burns down then there is a 2nd in line that becomes numero uno and so on and so fourth. Inside is all gold and Jade, there are gold offerings which is respected and never stolen or touched by others. Jesus himself is a bit more intense down here and much more graphic that what we are used to back home. It is beautiful and the Organ is breathtakingly massive and beautiful. From there we ventured to the second cathedral in line....this one had a different striking appeal...we made it into a restricted area, a part of the cathedral that is only open Saturdays from 12 until 2 and only 100 people are allowed in during that time period in day. The back part was the Jesuits, The Priests has their own place where they ate and slept and have beautiful paintings that are some of the most treasured items in Mexico. The Jesuits were kicked out of Mexico and were unable to pack up all their things so they rolled up all the painting and hid them under the floors so that they could retrieve them when they were able to return...but they were forgotten over time and when the floors were being done they discovered these historical paintings.....apparently a Japanese guys wanted to buy one for about 6 million and was shot down, and this is only funded by donations alone so you have some perspective as to how important these paintings are.

after that we headed to Lunch to meet the family, neither one of us could imagine trying to consume any more food even with all the walking. We met entered this amazing dinning place where weddings receptions are held and were introduced to Spain dishes. AMAZING, the food was delicious. Although we couldn't always understand what the family was saying to one another the connection between them was wonderful and a bond I feel lacks in our culture. We were immediately accepted with open arms and kisses, even from the wee ones. A warm embrace to being apart of their family, even if only for one meal, it it moments like these that we know are what our trip is about and will stick with us longer than any museum. After lunch we said our good byes.

We quickly toured the museum of anthropology in the last hour that it was open and then walked home passing by a public photo exhibit of Quebec, weird. Upon returning to the hostel we hooked up with Izzy and Sonya (The British Girls) and went for dinner after which they headed out to Oaxaca (pronounced "Wha-hak-a") where we will meet up with them in a couple of days.

Easing back into the couches at the end of the day from our long days trek the guys at the hostel introduced us to the hostels Saturday tradition. You must finish a bottle of Tequila, with the same people that started it before the night is done...."It's TRADITIONS" So the 2 Canadians, The 3 Americans, and the two Mexicans cheersed to a night they will never remember

.....HA HA HA HA ARE YOU KIDDING ME, Claire and I gave up heavy drinking to help fund this trip we can't drink 1.7 litres of Tequila.....but we did end up drinking half a bottle of tequila and some peanut alcohol instead!

Today we are hoping to Meet up with Lucia who we were unable to contact yesterday, a high school Friend of Simpson's. Then we are planning to book it out of the city and head to Oaxaca to celebrate Cinco de Mayo tomorrow and meet up with Sonya and Izzy! It should be good fun! pictures will be up soon on this entry and on Facebook....well that's the plan!

Take it easy
Cheers,
Claire and Simpson

P.S Claire and I were commenting on how this city is not as polluted as we were expecting and told, the sky has been blue (at times)...until someone told us that we are surrounded by volcanoes, and you can only see them a couple times a year when the pollution is cleared out...yikes!

Hey ya'll

Day 2 in Mexico city, and so far so good. The people here are AMAZING and we are having a good go of things.

Our hostel is pretty centrally located with lots of interesting international folks who all follow the travelers code and are super friendly and we have hooked up with some English girls to explore the city.

This morning we had a comical transaction when we tried to buy a SIM card for our phone. Our spanish teacher would not have been proud, but we were succesful in the end and we officialy have a cell, if anyone wants to send us a text message or feels like paying an outragous fee for a quick call our number is 044 55 3046 5541

Tonight we are heading out for some drinks with a few local guys who studied at the University of Victoria. I have to say how conviient it is to buy beer with your veggies in the supermarket.

well there are other folks waiting to use the net, but closing note is that we are having a great time so far and when you are reading this and wishing you were here you should COME!!

cheers

claire and simpson

Hey Gang,
So I see you have located our website....pretty basic but soon it will be filled with awesomeness...and no sarah no shooting will be involved. But we leave at 7:15am this fine Canadian May 1st morning to begin our adventure to Central America. Oh yes for those of you who are unaware, Claire and I are travelling through Central America for 4 months seeking out new adventures.

Claire is....stressing....just a bit... and I seem to refuse to go to bed not really feeling as though this two year long trip planning is finally coming into fruition (WORD OF THE DAY: from dream to reality....and yes I AM a Giant Nerd!). But I know that once that plane takes off that there is no changing our minds, maybe our plans....but we shall see what this place will have to offer us.

So we hope that you enjoy reading about our travels and we hope to hear from most of you and what you're up to this summer!
Cheers,
Claire & Simpson