The Caribbean Coast to Nigaragua, down saaf...

Whatever you do when we get back, please don´t mention Whale Sharks to Mark. He is utterly beside himself that we didn´t get to see them while almost every other person staying on Utila spotted at least one to hop off a boat and swim alongside. Unfortunately we were either on a boat that couldn´t find these massive fishes or not on a boat that could. He still cries just thinking about them, so I´ll leave it there, but it was a shame that time constraints meant we had to leave Utila and its sharks of joy and head off to another Caribbean island…. Not that we´re complaining.

Although it´s Utila´s neighbour, you have to travel back to the mainland and catch another ferry to get to Roatan. The journey is far more brutal than the one to Utila, with the ferry bouncing up and down over the waves and ferry staff running about desperately trying to hand passengers sick bags before it´s too late! We weren´t sick but an awful lot of people were throughout the hour-and-a-half-long journey, so it was fantastic to step on to dry land again. Roatan is much bigger than Utila, with a lot more sandy beaches, including the paradise white-sand beach at West Bay (pic above). We spent two afternoons there sunning ourselves and snorkelling on the reef (just 10m off from the beach). It was by far the best snorkelling of the trip; we spotted a stingray, a giant grouper, loads of parrot fish and other tropical pescados, as well as an eel and all the gorgeous coral. Each time we went to the beach we debated staying on the island until just before our flight date and catching a plane from there to San Jose, but in the end we managed to tear ourselves away to make the two-day bus journey to Granada in Nicaragua, where I´m currently writing this as the afternoon rain beats down on the roof.

But before we left Roatan we couldn´t resist doing some more SCUBA dives and signed ourselves up to a total of three. The first was a wreck dive, going down to 110 feet and swimming around and inside the wreck of EL AGUILO. The pictures are from that dive, and as you can see, we were joined by some big old fish – grouper and snapper mainly. The second dive wasn´t quite as spectacular, but there were lots of interesting coral swim-throughs to keep us busy. After that dive we hired a scooter and went off on a trip to the other side of the island and back, along with our pals Fleur and Garret, before returning the trusty steels (aka Blue Thunder and White Lightning) to the shop and jumping on the dive boat for a night dive. Wow, that was something, it felt like we´d gone to another planet – so surreal was it to sit on the ocean floor breathing through a regulator in complete darkness. But the glows underwater were spectacular, little strings of pearls (which are in fact shrimp that swim up and let off a light, then swim up a bit more and let off another light etc etc) surrounded us, and every time we moved our arms we were surrounded by spots of phosphorescent lights. But the piece de resistance was definitely the octopus that we spent a good 10 minutes gawping at as it moved from feed to feed before getting sick of us and seeking sanctuary beneath a rock.

After that fully packed day we got up early in the morning to take the ferry then bus to Tegulcigalpa, Honduras´s rather grim capital. We ventured out of our room for food and then hurried back to hide there for the rest of the night before another early start and bus to Nicaragua. Last night we arrived at Granada, another old colonial city a bit biffed about by earthquakes and civil wars, but beautiful nonetheless. It´s on the shore of a vast lake and is, like the other colonial cities we´ve visited, full of brightly coloured houses and churches. We climbed to the top of the bell tower of one of the churches and took these pics looking out over the city. The people here are probably the friendliest of the central American countries we´ve visited so far, and the women who sell food from stalls all wear the daintiest of white aprons with coloured frills.

We had a good old nose around this morning and have returned to the hostel just in time to avoid the rain. Tomorrow we´re going on a trip to a lagoon before we head off once more to the coast, but this time to the swells of the Pacific.

Sorry this has been such an overenthusiastic essay, shorter one next time! Lots of love xxx

The sun has finally found his hat again...

Happy Tuesday!

Yesterday we returned from a lovely couple of days on Jewel Cay, a teeny tiny island just off the south-eastern point of Utila. Despite its diminutive size, this coral-surrounded cay was inhabited before Utila because it's free from pesky sand flies and was deemed a far nicer place to set up home, of which there are surprisingly many. Houses, a school, hotel and a few eateries take up every precious inch of the cay, and we were lucky enough to sign up to SCUBA dive with a company that operates from the hotel (pictured left) there.

At the end of the long pier at the hotel's front is a tiny stretch of water that the dive co uses to train people and where we did our refresher course before swimming out across the 20 or so metres to another tiny cay (pictured right). The snorkelling and diving around the group of cays is amazing. All kinds of colourful fish can be spotted going about their business, nibbling the coral and algae off the surrounding reef. Because I was a scaredy-cat during the refresher course, I was taken for a short dive just off the reef next to the hotel, where I was lucky enough to spot a turtle.

When we'd finished the course we borrowed the hotel's kayaks and paddled off to the other end of the cay. The sea was perfectly calm and we had great views down to the reef below. A school of flying fish even whizzed past us at one point, zooming across the top of the water so that we expected a couple to wind up in our laps. It really felt like we were in the middle of a David Attenborough programme, surrounded by gorgeous little desert islands, turquoise, fish-filled waters and the mountains of the mainland visible through their cloud cloaks. If only we had a waterproof camera we could have provided some photographic evidence of all this visual joy!

Yesterday the weather finally cleared and we headed out on the boat (pictured above left) for our two dives. The first one was fantastic; perfect visibility and fishies galore. We spotted a huge group of snapper, lots of very big tarpons (they look a bit like tuna) trumpet fish and all sorts of other creatures in a variety of different colours. A hawksbill turtle actually led the latter part of the dive, perfectly at ease with the eight wet-suited, goggle-eyed, bubble-making creatures following it around. When we were back on the boat and just leaving for dive number two, a silver creature leapt out of the water and underneath the boat - a DOLPHIN! - unfortunately it didn't stay to play, but it was great to see one. The second dive didn't quite match the first for creatures, but there were lots of passages through the coral that you could swim through and explore. Dives over with we headed back to the cay and sunbathed on the dock before it was time to come back to Utila.

This morning the weather was glorious so we headed to the beach (right) and spent a few hours sunbathing and snorkelling. Once again it's overcast now, but hopefully the sun will come out again soon.

Bye for now,

Soph and Mark x

The rain in Central America falls mainly all the time!

Hello from cloudy Utila, one of Honduras' Bay Islands,

We arrived here yesterday after a few days of travelling from Antigua, breaking our journey at jungle-shrouded Rio Dulce, then Livingston on Guatemala's bit of Caribbean coast. To the right is a picture of Utila Bay that we took this morning, as you can see it's fairly overcast unfortunately, but at least the rain is holding off for the time being.

We must have swapped weather for the past week because it has been positively monsooning for us, not fun when you're on a two-hour open-top boat-ride up a Guatemalan river - we and our bags got absolutely soaked. Actually, soaked doesn't do it justice. We arrived at Livingston dock looking like we'd swum upriver with our bags in tow, a couple of drowned, feeling very sorry for themselves, rats with dripping backpacks! The weather didn't improve in Livingston, but at least we had a roof over our heads and a couple of cockroaches to keep us company (one of which managed to creep into Mark's backpack and made it all the way to Honduras with us before meeting an untimely end at the hands of Mark's flipflop. RIP Cyril.). We didn't mind so much because there wasn't an awful lot going on in Livingston, apart from take a walk to see the two giant alligators in the park.

Early the next day there was a break in the weather so we decided to make a run for the boat to Puerto Barrios, which was a far more pleasant ride than the previous one, and arrived in time for the shuttle to the Honduran border. Border crossings here are hilarious affairs. Whether you encounter roadblocks, rudeness, unofficial fines to enter and leave countries, have your bags thoroughly searched, or not even looked at, there's always something to make you smile about much later. This one was relatively easy, we had to pay to get into Honduras but not to leave Guatemala and no one even so much as looked at our bags or even bothered to check whether we had any stowaways on board the minibus.

Three chicken-bus rides later and we'd made it to La Ceiba, a largish town on the mainland and stepping stone to reach the Bay Islands. It seemed almost deserted in the evenings, with hardly any tourists to be spotted, and in the dark with the rain coming down it certainly didn't hold much sparkle for us and we were happy to leave early the next morning for Utila. Tomorrow we're heading to one of the little Cays just off the island to do a SCUBA refresher (where are you when we need you Sean??) before hopefully doing a couple of fun dives on the north side of the island. Unfortunately the whale sharks that had been here to breed and frolic in the warm waters abandoned the Bay Islands for fun elsewhere three weeks ago, so we're unlikely to see any; but apparently we should spot some turtles and maybe some eagle rays!

But what of our time in Antigua? Well, we spent a lovely week there while I took Spanish classes with a very nice local lady called Carolina. I was there from 8am to midday every day and we only spoke in Spanish, which was tough but very beneficial. It was a nice school and I made a few pals there that we went out for lunch with on the last day. While I went to school Mark mainly concentrated on admin but went on a tour of a coffee finca one morning and came back with a bag of very tasty smelling beans! On the Wednesday afternoon we rode Miguel and Glenda (they are horses) up to a park to the north of the city that overlooks the city and out towards Volcano Agua, which looms over the south of Antigua. On Thursday afternoon we hiked up another volcano - Pacaya - and stood next to the flowing molten rock (there is no such thing as Health and Safety here, which is sometimes good, but when we heard that two Americans had died there there week before and the guides were still letting tourists stand close enough to the smoldering lava to incinerate marshmallows when we were there, you begin to think that a little bit of H&S wouldn't be a bad thing to introduce). The heat from the lava was incredible, you could feel it from many metres away, and when we were up there the clouds cleared from around the top of the volcano further up and made for some fantastic photos. We heard today though that the volcano exploded a day or so ago and that more people died, so we won't be climbing up any more any time soon.

At the weekend we went to Lake Atitlan, to the west of Antigua (pics to the left and right). The journey there was another hazardous one, but worth it to swim in the cool, placid waters and mosey around the hippy village of San Marcos and visit the market at the larger town of San Pedro. We had a go at kayaking too, which was good fun, but unfortunately didn't have time to go too far.



We were back in Antigua on Sunday night so that Markevil Kinevil (no idea how you spell that) could go off motorbiking in the countryside environs of the town for a (late) birthday burn present. A picture of the gallant rider and his steed is to the left. He had a great day and got to see some picturesque little villages as well as quench his need for speed!



And that was Guatemala.

More updates from Honduras soon.

Lots of love,

Soph and Mark-James xx

From Mexico´s Caribbean Coast to Guatemala´s roadblocks, ruins and monkeys

Hello!

We´ve finally got some time to update the blog after a manic week or so travelling down from Mexico´s Caribbean coast to Antigua in Guatemala. We´ve decided to spend at least five days in lovely Antigua so that I can do a Spanish course in the mornings and because it´ll be nice to stay in one place for more than two days.

So, what have we been up to? Well, after the uber touristy Playa Del Carmen we travelled down the coast to the far more peaceful village of Tulum, where we stayed in a gorgeous wooden cabana by the sea (the view from the cabana is on the left). It was lovely going to sleep to the sounds of the waves and be cooled by the sea breezes in the evenings. We spent a morning at the Mayan ruins just down the road (the pic below left), and then went on a snorkelling trip to the reef, about 10 minutes from the beach by boat, and the second longest reef in the world, apparently. We saw plenty of tropical fish as well as two sunken canons.

From Tulum we headed to the border town of Chetumal before catching an early minibus shuttle through Belize to Flores in Guatemala. We had a hairy moment crossing the border between Belize and Guatemala as the Guatemalans were staging a strike against the government and had decided to set up road blocks at the border so no one could pass through. The immigration workers at Belize told us that a few tourists had tried to walk across but had been sent back, but we thought we´d try our luck, and the bus driver seemed pretty confident so we hoisted our backpacks on to our backs and went for it. We were greeted by roadblocks consisting of burning tyres and branches, a couple of which we could walk around and one that we had to climb over (a branch not a burning tyre, though we did have to walk through the smoke). It was a little scary as the locals were telling us to go back and had sticks. On the whole they were fine, just yelled ´Gringo!´a couple of times, but it was rather unnerving, especially as the driver told us to hurry because the police were on their way there through the jungle... We were in luck as a bus coming in the opposite direction was stuck in Guatemala, and our bus was stuck in Belize, so we just swapped over and had a peaceful rest of the journey to Flores, a tiny island surrounded by the giant lake Peten Itza. In front of our hostel was a little pier that we jumped off and into the serene waters of the lake. We had planned on swimming to the island (pictured, right) until we heard that the lake wasn´t crocodile-free!

During our stay we checked out yet more Mayan ruins, firstly to Yaxha (pron. Yash Ha), the third largest area of ruins in Guatemala. There were five of us on the tour, and we were the only people there, which was just fantastic. We saw Howler Monkeys, a spider monkey and many beautiful birds as well as the ruins, many of which are still hidden beneath the undergrowth. You can just about tell what the mounds represent by looking at their shapes though: great triangular mounds are the pyramids or temples and rectangular ones are palaces. The tour culminated in us climbing up the largest uncovered temple and watching the sun set over the rainforest - it really was quite something.


The next day we took the 4:30am bus to Tikal for the early morning tour of the second largest set of Guatemalan ruins. We had a fantastic guide who had grown up there and pointed out a crocodile, all three types of Toucan resident in the national park, as well as lots of Spider and Howler Monkeys, a tarantula and all sorts of other birds. We hiked for kilometre after kilometre and up and down pyramids for hours. The scariest climb of all was up and down Temple 5 (pics to the right and left). The steepest, creakiest and wobbliest of woooden ladders lead to the top (which must have been 100m above the ground). When we got to the top I had to cling to the back wall and couldn´t look over the edge, despite all the other ruins we´d clambered up, there was something extremely vertigo inducing at that one, and on the way down I couldn´t stop shaking (Mamma, you would have been having kittens - but the brave soldier prevailed). It isn´t something either of us would consider doing again!!


Having gorged ourselves on Mayan ruins and enjoyed a good few swims in the lake we boarded yet another minibus from Flores to a tiny town called Lanquin, about halfway from Flores to Antigua, where we stayed in the ´loft´ of one of the wooden huts peppering the hillside next to the river at the bottom of a valley. A steep wooden ladder lead us from the decking outside the dormitories up to a snug space beneath the thatched roof (still made in the Mayan style with palm-like leaves that they´d learned to only cut during a full moon. Any other time of the lunar cycle and they would break apart easily.) It was tricky for us to get up and down the ladder, so imagine our surprise when we woke up one morning to see a cat sleeping on the other bed! She´d made herself quite at home among our clothes!

From Lanquin we enjoyed a trip to Semuc Champey where we explored just 400m of caves that worm into the cliffside for 11km! We waded through the waters - and often had to swim in parts - armed with just a candle, at points having to climb up a rope while a waterfall pounded down on us. It was such good fun, and Mark did a jump into a pool from a rockface (pic below right). When we finally emerged back into the light we went ´tubing´on inflatable tyres down the river before heading to the spectacular pools at Semuc Champey. We hiked up the cliff to the viewpoint to take this pic of the pools before racing back down to swim in them. The water was beautiful, and at points deep enough to dive into from one pool to the next.






Another long minbus ride yesterday brought us to Antigua. It´s similar to the Mexican towns of Oaxaca and San Cristobal we visited earlier on - cobbled pavements, beautiful old churches and pastel coloured colonial houses - but it´s surrounded by volcanoes. We´re hoping to take a trip up one of them in the next couple of days and have been told to take marshmallows to toast them over the lava (deadly serious - we have seen photos of people doing just that!).

The hostel we´re staying in is very quiet and laid back, but we may move in with a local family while i am doing the course to really immerse ourselves in a bit of Guatemalan culture. We´ll keep you posted as to where we end up. Hope all is well back home. Lots of love xxx

Canyons, ruins, waterfalls and beaches

Helloooo!

Well, it's been several days now and I don't really know where to start... I keep thinking of everything we want to tell you about as we're going along, but the minute we reach an internet cafe it all becomes a blur and i can't remember anything.

We're in Playa Del Carmen at the moment. It is hot, hot hot! The beach is beautiful and the waters are clear and dreamy. Our hostel is in a great location but is probably the grottiest one we've stayed in so far. It's full of mosquitoes who are having a field day feasting on us, despite nets, eating garlic tablets and standing in breezes!! Bloomin critters.

Playa Del Carmen is the most touristy place we've been to, America is well and truly here. There is a Starbucks, Ben and Jerrys, Haagendaaz Cafe along the street parallel to the beach and yankeedoodledandees everywhere! Such a shame such a beautiful place (that used to be a sleepy fishing village) has become so touristy (I know we're ones to talk, but there are jetskis whizzing around the water and a Buger King and Macdonalds within spitting distance of one another, and they don't really fit with the natural beauty of the place). Tomorrow we think we´ll head a little south - to Tulum - to check out some ruins and have a little bit more beach time before heading to Guatemala.

It took us 18 hours to get here on the coach from San Cristobel, where we enjoyed a lovely few days. After a good potter around, nosing in and out of the shops, climbing up the steps to the churches at the east and west of the town/city, going around the amazing craft market with jewellery to die for and eating snacks in the ramshackle food market (a rabbit warren of a place with a corrugated tin roof, full of little eateries selling the scrummiest and cheapest of food) we headed off on a day trip that started at 6am and dropped us back at the hostel at 10pm. First stop on the way was the Agua Azul (pic of me at the top) a 7-km series of waterfalls - absolutely spectacular, but again, a total circus of tourism. Stalls line the route, selling food, jewellery and general bric a brac, it was swarming with people, and you are allowed to swim in some of the pools, which is amazing, but bound to spoil them at some point with the amount of people daily going for a dip there... After an hour or so there we went on to the waterfall at Misol Ha (pic of Mark above) and then to Palenque to see the Mayan ruins.

These ruins are especially spectacular because of the jungle backdrop. Wherever we walked among the temples and structures we could hear the roars of howler monkeys and symphony of chicadas in the trees, and the encroaching jungle scenery added a sense of mystery and wonder to the place. It is totally amazing how these people (with awesomely named rulers like Serpent-Jaguar II) managed to create such buildings and carvings...where did they lug the stones from? and how on earth did they survive the incredible heat and humidity of the jungle?? The photos don't do the majesty of Palenque justice, but here are a couple anyways.

The next day we managed to fit in a boat trip up and down the Sumiedo Canyon. It was brilliant to be on a boat bouncing over the water, and the walls of rock either side were breathtaking. The mountains split some 20 thousand (or million - the guide was at the other end of the boat and speaking in Spanish so i couldn't quite catch which!) years ago to create the canyon, which has filled with deep green waters infested with crocodiles! We spent most of the trip trying to spot one and were rewarded at the very end with one sitting sunning himself on one of the few banks.

A quick turnaround and we were on the coach heading for the coast! It's no wonder Mexico is such a religious country, the drivers (and passengers) have to have a bit of faith and feel that God is on their side when they're overtaking, at speed, just before a blind corner along the moutainous road... lalala.

So I think it's time to leave this lovely air conditioned internet bar and head back into the sun. Will leave you with a pic of Mark Chambers doing his best impression of Daniel Craig and me feeling guilty for eating a 5-pound Haagendaaz ice cream!!

xx

Puerto Escondido and San Cristobal de las Casas

Hi again all,

We made it through the 13-hour night-bus journey and are now in San Cristobal. It`s a really lovely city and we`re staying in a very laid back hostel owned by a Swiss lady and her dog, Che.


Yesterday we went on a little trip on one of the minibus shuttles to San Juan Chamula, an Indian village that hosts a large market on Sundays and where the women wear crazy black goat-pelt-looking skirts held up by bright belts around their middle. The men wear the same kind of material but as sweater-vests, sporting them in white as well as black. We had to pay to go into the local church, and unfortunately weren´t allowed to take any pictures inside, as it was quite a site. Each family files in and throws leaves and grass on the (highly slippery) floor before setting out hundreds of candles and gathering around them to pray. Some families bring in some sort of incense-type burners so the atmosphere inside gets quite hazy. And the strangest part about the whole thing is that they also bring in crates of Coca Cola as drinking it apparently gets rid of the evil spirits within the body - what an evil coop for the marketing team at Coke!

Today we`ve been quietly pottering around the town. It has a colourful market right next to the cathedral of San Domingo, stocking amazing pieces of jewellery and bright rainbows of scarves and clothes. You can pick up corn on the cobs covered in salt and chilli, or chunks of mango with lime and chilli sprinkled over the top as you wander around. We wanted to nose around a few of the museums, but unfortunately it`s Monday and they are either closed or being refurbished here... Tomorrow we're heading off on a trip to see a series of waterfalls (7km long) called Agua Azul, the waterfalls at Misol-Ha and then on to see the jungle ruins of Palenque. We were originally going to go and stay at Palenque town, but are running out of time, so on Wednesday will be heading to Playa Del Carmen on the coast for a little more beach action, before going down to Tulum to see yet more ruins, then on to Guatemala.

The last day at Puerto Escondido was fun - we hired a surf board and gave it a good try... Unfortunately neither of us, or some of our hostel pals managed to stand up, but we all enjoyed running into the waves with our surfboard clasped confidently under our arms!

We're going to post some other pics on the previous blogs if you wanna take a peek.

xx

The Beach!

Hi folks,

Just time for a short message...

We went on a day trip to some ruins just outside of Oaxaca, then to the house of a tradional weaving family, then to the fattest tree in the world - it really is gargantuan, will post some pics next time - then to Hieve el Agua, a petrified waterfall high up in the hills with its very own mineral pool. Its position means that when you´re swimming in it, it feels like you´re in the most spectacular infinity pool. The views were incredible. Again, will post pics next time. The trip culminated in a visit to a Mezcal (a little like tequila) brewer? where we had to sample 7 shots of high strength alcohol - fitting as it was Mark´s birthday.

The next day we hopped on to a minibus for the 6-hour journey to Puerto Escondido on the west coast. It was another fairly hairy ride over and around the moutains, especially as the driver had no fear and our backpacks were tied losely to the roof of the bus! But it was amazing to see the sea after a week of heat in the Mexican cities.

Puerto Escondido has a couple of lovely beaches and we are staying just 5 mins away from one of them at an Israeli hostel called Hostal Shalom, which has its own pool and is very quiet and laid back. You head down a dirt track then go down 150 steps to reach the beach. We´ve had a great few days just lazing around on the sand, swimming, snorkelling and lathering on the factor 50 because the sun is ferocious here! Today is our last day - we´re catching a 13-hour coach to San Cristobal tonight - and i think we´re going to hire a surfboard and have a go at riding the waves here before heading off.

The food on this trip has been amazing so far. Mexicans really know how to create delicious meals without a host of ingredients. We have been filling our boots with chilaquiles, tostadas, nachos, frijoles and molletos... yuuummmmm.

A longer, more coherent post will follow this one when we next get to the internet, and we´ll upload some photos then too.

Hope all´s well at home. Lots and lots of love xxx

Luggage, Pyramids and Oaxaca

Hola de Oaxaca,

Yesterday we spent an infuriating day waiting for our luggage to be delivered from the airport. Mexicana kept promising to have it with us by certain times of the day but didn't show and then stopped answering the phone. So instead of heading to Oaxaca as planned we had to schlep back to the airport in the late afternoon on the offchance the luggage might be there. And sure enough it was there, behind the Mexicana desk. We went Wolverine. But at least we finally got our bags - we've never been so delighted to see our stuff before - and were able to hop on a coach to Oaxaca this morning.

The drive south was breathtaking, if scary - the road snaking its way over and around soaring cactae-covered mountains. Oaxaca is just lovely. We spent the afternoon wandering around the main square, going into a market crammed with little eateries, colourful clothes and fresh fruit and veg. Unfortunately all the museums are closed on Mondays, but it was so nice just to potter around in the sun. Hace mucho calor aqui, but because it's quite high up there's a refreshing breeze to keep you cool.

On Saturday we went on a day trip to the Teotihuacan ruins outside Mexico City, visiting some ruins in the city first then going to the Church of the Lady of Guadalupe (the Virgin Mary) - the second most visited catholic church after the vatican - some 10 million visitors a year.

We had a really yummy buffet lunch at a place just outside the Teotihuacan pyramids that also makes incredible cloth and tequila out of cactae. The guy there taught us how they do it all by hand and then we had to have 3 shots of tequila each! Then we spent 3 hours being guided around the ruins. So interesting. Teotihucan was the 4th biggest city of its time, once having a quarter of a million residents, after Rome and Athens' half million, and i think Alexandria was first... This was over 1000 years before the Aztecs. They don't know the exact reason why the city was deserted but possibly due to the fact that they ran themselves out of natural resources because they were constantly cutting down trees and burning stones all through the night to make concrete to build their pyramids!

They had an obsession with building pyramids - one ruler would build one and then the next one wanted to build a bigger one, so he covered up the first and built on top of it, then the next one did the same and the next. The 65-metre-high Sun pyramid is the top one of 7 pyramids (6 have been found underneath). We climbed to the top of it. It has steps, but they are so steep, when you look down from the top it's almost vertical! Scary going down them. But we got some great pics. The one of us was taken above the Church of the Lady of Guadalupe, another is of the view from halfway up the Pyramid of the Moon at Teotihuacan, and the other is of the Plaza de San Domingo in Oaxaca.

Tomorrow we're off on a trip to see a massive tree, some more ruins and a petrified waterfall!

Hope all's well. Lots of love x

WE ARE HERE!!

Hola de Mexico City everyone!

After an agonising 12 hours spent at Gatwick wondering whether we'd make it on to a flight, we finally got plonked on a plane at the last minute and arrived at our hostel half an hour ago. We're sitting on the gorgeous rooftop terrace having had the obligatory free tequila shot (apologies in advance for any spelling mistakes) and supping on some sort of gigantic corona bottle while we write this. It's a lovely balmy evening and the view out to the cathedral is quite something.

Unfortunately, despite Mexicana's promises that our luggage arrived on the flight (they didn't tell us about) that left yesterday, the bags are still in Gatwick and may or may not be with us on Saturday or Sunday. If only we'd packed those malaria tablets in our hand luggage, not to mention essential other things like underwear and toothbrushes... All part of the fun, hey¿? Que sera....

There is an awesome trip to an active volcano tomorrow, but we are a little volcanoed out if truth be told and will probably need to go shopping for some essentials to tide us over for the next few days, but hope to get on to a city tour and have a good old snoop around this place. We can't believe just how huge Mexico City is. From the plane it looked like a giant selection of colourful pic n mix sweets - the houses are all different colours, with some really rundown looking places and some gorgeous old style buildings worthy of a photo or two - and it just seems to sprawl for miles and miles...

Well, enough delirious exhausted rambles for now, but it is just so nice to finally be here!!!

Bye for now,

xxx

Airspace still closed and we're still in Portsmouth...

The volcano continues to mar our progress and we look set to be stuck in Portsmouth for at least another couple of days. Hopefully we'll be able to have a nine-week trip, still taking in all the sights we'd planned to, at a quicker pace, but it's all dependent on the Icelandic wrath abating, so fingers crossed.

We've been far from idle during our time in Portsmouth, though. I've been jumping around the sitting room to Wii Fit while Mark has been running up and down to the fridge to eat cheese! At the moment he is busy making a trifle worthy of Masterchef, and I'm sure will be way tastier than anything we'd be eating in Mexico (prrrrp!!! - Piggy, that is for you)...

On Saturday had we been away, we'd have gone to see and walk around Teotihuacan, the third largest pyramid in the world. As we weren't there and it was such a lovely day daan saaf, we instead headed for Butser Hill and its heady heights. Here are a couple of pics of us at the top with Mark's mum. Pyramids Schmyramids.

Volcano vendettas

It's funny how similar Mexico City is to Portsmouth; remarkably similar landscape, inhabitants, weather... No, wait... This is Portsmouth, not Mexico City. We had to come back because a volcano in Iceland decided that after 200 years it fancied blowing its top. Cracking. Some say it's Mother Nature taking matters into her own hands and reducing everyone's carbon footprint for them, others that it's time that Northern Europe got a bit of natural fertilisation from all this wonderful ash... Who knows? But I really wish it had waited just 24 more hours, and would like to make it clear that this volcano won't be getting a Christmas card from us.

We've been told to head back to the airport tomorrow morning, but as Volcanos Spoilingus Holidayus is still erupting, it's not looking likely, so we'll probably be taking in some of Pompey's famous tourist attractions for the next few days instead. Mayans Schmayans!

Hopefully the next update will be from Mexico!

We're off...

Hi everyone,

Welcome to our travel blog. We're heading to Central America on the 15th April, beginning in Mexico City and winding up in San Jose (Costa Rica) on the 24th June. We'll try to update you (as non-boringly as possible) on our adventures as we go, and will endeavour to post some pics along the way too.

We'll be missing everyone big time, so please send us emails or facebook messages with news from home: sophie.r.dawson@hotmail.co.uk and markjamesgranshaw@googlemail.com

Hasta luego!

Lots of love,

Soph 'n' Mark