Un dia mas....

Hutchy is snorring, my head is aching..... I stir a little, scratching the bites on my skin. I slowly open my eyes and make out the time on my watch... 7:14AM. Whoa, that's a little early. I close my eyes.

Hutchy is snorring, my head is aching.... I stir a little, scratching the bites on my skin. I slowly open my eyes and make out the date on my watch, 19/1/07 ..... it's over.

Tomorrow Hutch and I will board a plane in Cancun and head back to OZ, marking the end of our Central American adventure. It has been an amazing two months for me, with many new faces, places and incredible experiences. But I'll preach not about the trip, all I will say is this:

If you give in every moment of your life..... your life's moments will only become richer for it.

My last two months have reinforced this personal philosophy for me.

Well hope you've enjoyed following our travels.

Hasta luego amigos!

Tim B.

PS We kept up our "Trotters" for about 2 weeks then they got lost in a blur of Cuba Libre's...

PPS Tikal is worth the hype.

One night in Puerto Barrios....

Don't you just love seedy port towns. You know, the ones that have a hooker on every corner and hotels that rent by the hour. Anyway that's Puerto Barrios (Guatemala) and me and my new Japanese mate Makoto just spent 13 hours to get here.

It was quite an effort too:

1 dawn ferry fride from Utila to La Ceiba (Honduras)
2 taxi rides
1 first class autobus ride
1 Chicken bus ride (Bus de Pollo)
2 Collectivo bus ride's (One included a free prayer session on route, well almost free I bought a specially blessed pen off the dude for 20 Quetzales afterwards.... couldn't help myself, he said it was blessed!)

Anyway so I'm back in Guatemala now. Yeah I know, I never even said I'd left, well I did... about a week ago. Actually it was just a couple of days after me and Hutch had a news years on Lake Atitlan that neither of us can remember, but neither of us will forget. But blah blah blah.... and I'm back now, with an Advanced Open Water PADI Scuba certificate and one rare close encounter with a Whale Shark under my belt. And now it's time to track down Hutchy who is about one country ahead of me at the mo swimming in Stingray infested waters, yeah he went North when I went East.

Anyway Hutch if you read this, watch ya back as I'm on the Belize border right now and I'ma hot on ya heels!

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....

Who is John Scott?

When I boarded a bus on Hollywood blvd earlier this evening I didn't expect too much from the journey.

But thanks to my larger than life "Franz Ferndinand" T-shirt the bus driver (a now known avid military historian) and I struck up a conversation about the original Archduke himself. A couple of stops later the conversation has transgressed to current world politics soon after moving onto the war in Iraq. At which point an elderly man sitting across from me joins into the conversation and everything progresses along just fine. As we chat I am drawn to a bright Orange Sticker stuck to his breifcase. At the next stop a lady boards the bus, immediately striking up a friendly side conversation with him, it's at that point I know there is something more about him, and there was, he was "John Scott".

Who is that you ask? Well John Scott is no different from you or me, except for one thing perhaps. As John is chasing his dream, and to me that in itself says more about LA than anything. Cause if I've learnt one thing from my short time here its that this truly is...... the city of dreams.

But in saying that... they won't catch me napping as tomorrow I'm off to Tijuana!!!!

Oh I also saw Paris Hilton drive passed in a black Porsche today but I think that John's story was much more "Hollywood".

The PCG Memoirs...

I moved into 168 Page Street about 6 months ago, it’s a pretty run down old place, paint peeling of the walls, palings falling off the fence, vines creeping into the outdoor dunny, to the naked eye not much to look at; except for one feature..... it’s hallway.

To most a hallway is what? A simple indoor stretch of corridor which you use to get from one room to another. But make this stretch a full 25 meters long then ad a 12 foot high ceiling and what do you have? Yes I know, a very long and tall hallway. But to those few dreamers of you out there I know you can see more..... and so did we.

Creating the PCG (Page Cricket Ground) was a team effort, visualised during the consumption of many a twilight beer out in the Page Street backyard. But as Kevin Costner knows they don’t come unless you build it. Thus on the 3rd of October myself and Pauly hand crafted the “Killcunda Super Palmer Scoop” from an off cut of Radiata pine. Aptly named after a Super Chicken Parmigiana that I’d consumed earlier that day down at the Kilcunda Pub, it’s creation marked the dawn of a new era at 168 Page St.

After some basic rules and a quick seam of red electrical tape being laid around 'The PCG pill', the Inaugural Page St Cricket test kicked off between me and Pauly. We both started tentatively not quite at home to the Rico deliveries bouncing in off the walls; but on the back of a nutty 38 in my 2nd dig I clenched the win, my final delivery getting Pauly a beautiful Bowled Rico off the legside wall.

Just like World Series Cricket back in the 70’s, the word spread fast, “What is this new game? What’s this Bowled Rico all about? How does this Caught Boonie work?
Less than 3 weeks after the 'Inaurgural Test' the First Triangular series was held, the results clearly illustrating - the PCG favoured aggressive batting and savy bowling. The next week ‘Triangular’ became Quadrangular, two days after it evolved to Pentagluar there was clearly no stopping this new form of the game.

To date the PCG has hosted no less than 18 series and had a total of 6008 “official” runs scored on it’s hallowed carpet. It’s had no shortage of controversy either with the infamous Lost Series still discussed with much passion.

With myself heading off to Mexico in a couple of days I can only hope that my fellow PCG Players continue diving for catches and striving to win matches on our hallowed PCG hallway.

Tim B.

The PCG Memoirs

A short video of the early memories of our time at the PCG.

The Lost Series

On the 29th of October, the 4th Quadrangular and 1st Pentangular series were played, won by Cashy and Pauly respectively. The following day I entered the Stats into my laptop only to discover the next day that the file was gone, I spent an hour trying to recover it, but to no avail. With myself having a dogged series and Cashy and Pauly posting some very solid numbers speculation spread that it was deliberate, but it is mere speculation, and to this day I still proclaim my innocence.

The only official evidence that the series ever took place were these 2 photos. The series were soon after renamed “The lost Quadrangular and Lost Pentangular”.

PCG Player Profiles (as at 17th Nov)

To Read:

The image will load a little blurred, wait a few seconds then select the 'Expand to regular size' icon box that will pop up in bottom right hand corner of the image.

Boonie

Boonie is a brown cardboard box that sits to one side of the PCG hallway just passed Pauly's bedroom. He has always been a member of the PCG, but he was upgraded to official "PCG fielder" status on the 31st of October after a brief committee meeting between Pauly and I.

He is handy for stopping 4’s & 10’s down the ground and his official status also allows him to take catches.

On the odd occasion that he does hold onto one (he's claimed only 6 catches to date so far) celebration always rings out from any crowd members in the backroom pavilion.

Official PCG Statistics (21/11/06)

To Read:

The image will load a little blurred, wait a few seconds then select the 'Expand to regular size' icon box that will pop up in bottom right hand corner of the image.

Killcunda Super Palmer Scoop

The video footage of the birth of the 'Killcunda Super Palmer Scoop'

The PCG Rules

Scoring:

It’s simple – the further you hit the ball down the PCG hallway (which is about 25mtrs long) the more runs you get, with extra runs on offer for getting it in one of the 4 adjoining rooms and a whopping 14 runs on offer for getting it in the back bathroom. A clear stance was agreed from the outset, no runs are awarded for shots square of the wicket.

Runs are awarded as listed below:

2 runs into front TV room
2 runs passed Pauly’s bedroom door
3 runs passed Timmy’s bedroom door
4 runs into Pauly’s bedroom
4 runs passed Ryan’s office door
6 runs into Timmy’s bedroom
8 runs into Ryan’s office
10 runs into back room
14 runs into the back bathroom

Getting Out:

The rules for getting out are standard to anyone familiar with FYC or BYC, all bar one that is. It's the rule of 'Rico' and its what separates PCG cricket from all other forms of the game. It is inspired by the tight environment offered only by hallway cricket, and at the PCG the savy bowler is allowed to use these unique conditions to ‘rico’ (‘ricochet’ if you are French) the ball off the wall in an attempt to catch his man off guard.

Methods of going out are listed below:

Bowled
Bowled Rico
Bowled Double Rico (aka "Cashy Rico")
Caught
Caught Auto (Wicket keeper)
Caught Rico
Caught Boonie
Hit Wicket

Special Rules:

• The game can only commence after the toss of one of the two official PCG coin’s.
• In One Day games the bowlers run up is limited to starting from Ryan’s Office doorway.
• If a bowler misfires a delivery into a room, the batsmen is awarded the value of runs allotted to that room.
• If a batsmen is out for a Golden Duck he must draw a duck on the score sheet and colour it in with the Yellow marker provided.
• In any match during a ‘series’ the batsmen must retire at 100 runs.

Grand Final Eve Pub Crawl

To those who aren't familiar the Grand Final Eve Pub crawl is a tradition that has been going on for 9 years. I will let the pictures and video tell the story of this years crawl which took place on the 29th of Sept.

And it begins.....

Early days....

Cheers to the two young tag alongs!

Mary and Tegan shining for the camera

Stebbo makes an early move

A moment of reflection outside the 'Wick'

Binny stands strong....

Benny accepts the trolley challenge at Balaclava station

Pub Crawl part 2

Pauly tells Benny he shoulda known better...

Lach beats Stebbo to the digits....

Binny and Benny celebrate Jess' late arrival.

Matty..... never one to 'ponder'

All comments welcome, and if anybody has some more good photos of the pub crawl.
Email them to me and I can post them up with these.

Stagger staggerrr.... crawl crawl....

Ahoy!

And blow me down if it ain’t dat time of year again!

Cause yes me heartys…. today is… International talk like a pirate day!

If ye need more elp on how ta go about celebrat’n this day….. then follow da link above.

udderwise I be expect’n da bunch of ya ta be talk’n pirate till da day is thru…..

Cause if ya don’t! Well…… I’ll keel haul da lot of ya’s!!!!

Reegarrrrrrrds,

Poopdeck Mahoy!