Ethan and I are on our way to the Middle East and had a 14 hour stop over in Frankfurt. When my friend in Mainz heard about it he kindly offered for us to come to his place for some rest and a visit. He was also kind enough to take Ethans Class Afloat stuff from us and store it until our return in two weeks. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Did an overnight to Valparaiso to see what all the fuss is about, UNESCO world heritage site etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valparaiso Spent some hours wandering the streets. Getting there was easy enough with a record time set for how long to find and board a bus (1 minute). Record broken again on the way back since a bus for Santiago was directly through the entrance our taxi dropped us at and its wheels were already in motion (less than 30 seconds). Back in Santiago and our familiar room facing Pio Nono in Bellavista. Interesting to watch a local drug dealer across the street [View Full Entry]

---

---

Easter Island wa amazing, here are some pics... [View Full Entry]

---

---

Trudy and I arrived in Chile this morning. A mixup at our hotel meant we didnt get our room until 5pm, pretty tired. Lots going on in the streets tonight. Temperatures are cool. [View Full Entry]

---

---

We had a great time in Toronto with our friends Ken and Katie and nephew/cousin Jeremy. After over three weeks of Mexican quisine we were definetly ready to dig into the Thai curry and lemon pie Katie had ready for us when we arrived. The next day Ken set us up with bikes and we went to the island, hung out on the clothing optional beach for a bit (sorry no pics) then cycled around. Later we met Jeremy downtown for dinner and refreshments. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Last day in Mexico. We have been taking in some sights here in Mexico City for a few days riding the subway and doing lots of walking. Mexico City has it all. Every day around 5pm the black clouds roll in and it rains yesterday it came down very hard with hail. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Spent a couple relaxing days in Oaxaca City doing some shopping and wandering around. Looked at some old churches, ate some cactus and grasshoppers. Hurricane Dean brought us some rain today. [View Full Entry]

---

---

We arrived in Oaxaca City yesterday on a night bus from Villahermosa. We are out of the way of hurricane Dean up in the mountains here where the weather is cooler and dryer. After we got settled into out hotel and cleaned up we went to see the Zapotec ruins of Monte Alban which are located on top of a mountain (big hill) overlooking the city. [View Full Entry]

---

---

From Palenque we took a short bus ride to Villahermosa the capital city of Tabasco state. Its a modern rich oil town, we saw several Costco outlets and they got all the fast food resturants etc. We stored our bags at the bus station and walked to the La Venta museum/park to see the massive heads and other stone work of the Olmec civilization. Hiedi and Erin, two other Canadians joined us, they had been in Chiapas for a couple weeks staying with the Zapatistas so had lots to tell about that experience. After the museum we went downtown and had [View Full Entry]

---

---

Just got back from a tour of some waterways here in Chiapas. First stop was Misol-Ha where some of Predetor was filmed, very pretty. Then we stopped at a river with a dodgy suspension bridge and last stop was Aqua-Azul with lots of small falls and pools similiar to what we found in Lanquin Guatemala but with a Mexican Disney feel due to the overwelming amount of souvineer stands and resturants. Nice group for the tour everybody enjoyed it. [View Full Entry]

---

---