Posada San Andrés (Xela - Guatemala)

Creation

It's beauty lies in the courage behind it.....

So Fear Not...

And let your dreams evolve.......

Mexico/Guatemala photos 2006

Follow this link:

Mexico Photos

Then select:

Mexico 2006 album

Then slideshow

(Be patient, it may take a couple of minutes to load)

Back to Shhhhkoooool....

I just tried to start this with some philsophical spanish phrase, but it's a waste of time.... as my grammar stucks!

On Saturday Hutch and I left the crazy cliff divers of Acapulco and headed East. Our 8 hour bus ride brought us here, to Puerto Escondido. The town is famous for its surfing but we were here in search of knowledge; in the form of the Spanish Language to be more precise.

Armed only with our Trotter diary, on Monday we both took a deep breath then pushed on the wooden gate at institutio de Puerto Escondido. It flung open without resistance and soon after we were both sitting down at a desk like a pair of pre-schoolers waiting for their morning milk. Within minutos we had added "¿De Donde Eres?" (where are you from?) & "Necisito los baños" (I need the toilet) to our repitoir and all was looking up. But as Hutchy put it to me before school:
"Timmy, my brain can only hold so much information. When something new goes in, something old drops out."
And how right he was, for both of us! As after absorbing a day of well taught spanish we down right plain forgot to even take our brains with us on the way out! Getting "muy borrachard" (very drunk) that night as a result. This was followed by a day of truency for Hutch and two very draining solo lessons for me.

But with our plumas in hand, (pen I think?) today we continued the fight, soaking up every little bit of Español that our dried up sponges would allow us. Will we ever gain that cherished pen license? Well based on my poor gramatical skills and Hutchy's ever rumbling stomach (he's had the sh*ts for a week) no es probable, but we're still enjoying the dip regardless!

Viva La Trotter!

On the back of a great day exploring a couple of Mexico city's many tourist sites Hutchy and I settled down (grande "Sol" cereza in hand) into one of the comfortable couches at our hostel. After a few decent mouthfuls (we had earned it after walking a solid 15 clicks today) and chatting with a couple of fellow travellers our minds drifted back, reflecting over the past two days of travelling we have had together. A few more minutes later and we had decided our trip needed more than just simple chit chat accepting the good and bad..... thus with Phillip from Belgium guiding our judgement we devised the "Viva La Trotter" (named after our enjoyable experience visitng the Leon Trotsky museum today) Daily scoring diary.

The way it works is simple, there is a differential of 5 points:

• 2 points for a big win
• 1 point for a win
• 0 points for a draw
• -1 for a loss
• -2 for a bad loss

And we have agreed on 7 catergories (each to be rated as per the above "Trotter" system):

• Ripped Off (Can work in positive if we get a good deal with anything involvling cash)
• Expectation (of an event.... does it fulfill, or do better?)
• Random Luck (good or bad)
• Food (is it tasty or foul)
• Social Interaction
• Local Interaction
• Language (Como mucho Espanol did we prender?)

Each day we are both to "individualy" write up our scores (with a short comment) for the previous day, then we tally it up to get our score for that day....

Every couple of weeks I'll post up the running scoreboard to this blog.

Luego amigos...

PS After day one I'm winning with a -1, Hutchy had a -2 (he didn't learn enough Spanish)

When everything just clicks.....

The other day I got on a train in the town of Los Mochis. It was to take me on a journey through Mexico´s famous Copper Canyon to the small mountain village of Creel. For the journey I hoped nothing more than some good views and to find a nice relaxed hostel..... oh how wrong I was.

For starters the Copper Canyon train ride isn´t just "a" train ride, with no less than 86 tunnels and 36 bridges it is one of the most impressive train rides on the continent. As for the town of Creel where I hopped off, well it´s definately a travellers Mecca. From worldly French vagabonds, to inspirational Japanese cyclists, to brainstorming American inventors, Creel had them all...

I´ll let these photos do the rest of the talking.....

Hot Springs

Some of the Creel gang in one the hot springs pools

Road trip from Creel to Batopilas

Taka taking in the view of the Canyon

The Canyon is 1000 mtrs deep in some parts

Salud to Batopilas

An interesting game of cards

Ryoko tries on the PCG Members Hat

View along the River at Batopilas (base of the Canyon)

The Batopilas team!

Tijuana to Los Moschis with plenty in between....

¿Que Tal?

Hey you know these Mexican guys are a really expressive bunch, really in touch with their infeminin side, as just 20 minutes ago I was sitting in a park here in Los Mochis when two local guys came up to me and started complementing me on my lovely legs. One even carressed my knee? But I figure it´s all normal as last week when I was in Tijuana a pair of cops did pretty much the same thing only they also got me to put my hands on their car bonnett beforehand, but I figure that´s the Baja style.... yes no?

Well it has been an eventful week and just for the record Tijuana isn´t a place I recommend to any solo traveller. It´s a circus act, with Zebra´s and everything... well donkey´s painted as zebras but hey, stupid gringos like me can´t tell the difference right? Actually their main street (Ave Revolución) has still got me puzzled. It lies in that grey area that´s between, "La Rambla" Barcelona (for crowds), the Red light district Amsterdam for sex shows and Kuta beach Bali for street hasslers... truly unique, but also nothing to hang your hat on either.

After Tijuana I took myself to the more "tranquilo locación" of Mulegé. This small quiet town is situated just in from the coast about halfway down the Baja pennisula, thankfully a long way from Tijuana. I spent four days there and loved every one of them, even managed a night scuba dive in the Sea of Cortez; the local plankton living up to their reputation too, lighting up like fire flys when we turned our torches off.... truely incredible.

Amongst all this I´ve also had time to meet the Mexican secretary of Tourism (a very handy business card when dealing with Tijuanian Police), comprender en poco mas español (understand a little more spanish) and lose my camera on the ferry ride from hell.

Hasta pronto amigos....