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