This has been an interesting leg of my travels through a couple of the poorest countries in Central America. The journey started very chaotically, and has kind of continued that way … the nature of the countries I traveled through I suppose. A van showed up at 5am to make our way to Honduras however it was a 14 seater and we were a group of 16. Thus we kicked off at 6am once the an extra van arrived and hit the Guatemala City traffic; it took around 2hr to navigate through this craziness. After a relatively easy boarder crossing and a short 20min drive we were in the little town of Copan, Honduras, home of the famous Copan Mayan ruins. On the way into the site there were over 10 brightly coloured Macaws sitting near ... read more

I have had a 'fanastico' 2 weeks travelling through Belize and Guatemala with Scott, who joined me in Cancun, I can’t believe all the stuff we have done … kayaking, caving, volcano climbs, walking on lava, sunsets over ruins and more. He joined me in rather a delicate state; I had been puking all morning from a cheap group meal on the beach at Playa de Carmen, not ideal. So we didn’t see much of Cancun, but there is not much too see, large resorts containing large Americans. We briskly headed back to Playa de Carmen and mid morning headed down to Tulum, where there are Mayan ruins situated on the rocks above the crystal clear blue waters, the location of the ruins where what made it, the water colour was amazing. It was a Sunday, ... read more

Dear lord it was 21hrs of travel time to get from La Paz to Mexico City and I really wasn’t going that far, delay after delay, but that is a distant memory after 2 weeks in traveling around Mexico. Sadly I didn’t get to see much of Mexico City; however the reports from the other people on the trip confirm I didn’t miss much. The only thing I am slightly sad about is not seeing Freda Kahlo´s house, but I will just have to watch the DVD again. I really got straight into it, after arriving in at 11pm I was up early the next morning to depart for the short journey to Puebla passing the 2nd and 3rd tallest peaks in Mexico on the way - Popocatpetl and Iztaccihualt - both snow capped. That was ... read more

The drive towards La Paz was spectacular, over the basic houses and fields were large mountains dusted with snow. The arrival into the city was breathtaking for a couple of reasons, the city is the highest in the world (3650m), but only holds this title since China invaded Tibet, and the view of the city sprawling out down the valley below a large volcano was a sight I wont forget in a while. Sadly my first day in La Paz was a bit of a disaster due to some dodgy Turkish meal I had on arrival, so I spent all day rolling around and visiting the bathroom. I did manage to book up my trip to Salar de Uyuni and over night bus for the following evening. The next day I was feeling much better so ... read more

I have been getting stuck into the big ticket items during my last few weeks in Peru - Colca Canyon, Cusco, Inca Trail, Machu Picchu, and Lake Titicaca. The clouds cleared the day we left Arequipa, so there was a stunning view across the city to Mt Misti and other snow capped volcanos. The drive to Colca Canyon was great, finally no more desert. We made our way through the hills, tussock and other grasses with mountains peeking through. Then we hit the snow covered mountains, driving through a high pass of 4800m. Since we all sampled the Coco tea there were multiple loo stops in the snow, yes there was actually snow! The Coco leaf is supposed to assist with altitude sickness… they are very bitter, so I went straight on to the western meds. ... read more

There was a noticeable difference after entering Peru from Ecuador; rather filthy, arid flat land, slums, crazy 70’s American cars. Our first stop was a little beach resort called Punta Sal. We were suppose to camp however I checked into a hotel will a pool, genius idea! The beach was rather wind swept and the surroundings were basically dry rocky hills. Jogging down the beach in the mornings was the highlight as there were billions of tiny little crabs scurrying around and freaky looking red faced vultures sitting on fence poles surveying the area, up to no good I imagine. I spent a lot of time lying by the pool on the first day there, the rest of the tour spent the entire day watching a pig on a spit roast they were cooking for dinner ... read more

It was a grueling 37hrs to reach Quito, yikes and to think I need to do that trip twice more when I return to NZ in March. Although I was rather shattered on arrival I managed to book a trip the following day, and thank goodness I did because it was a real highlight. It was a trip to the Otavalo markets, very famous market of the region. My private tour guide was from Belgium had been living in Quito for many years and very widely traveled so we had much to chat about. We stop at various places; Calderon to see little hand made figures, the side of the road to try some local fruit called Chirimoya, and at Cayamge to try a local biscuit (Bizcochos) eaten with cheese, they were piping hot from the ... read more

My first day in Auckland was really in Wellington, I was up at 4.15am to nip down to the British High Commission as I needed to drop my passport off for my Visa renewal, annoyance. However the process was very quick and they assured me it would be all done in 5 days, it was actually completed in 1 day and delivered back, so much for 10 working days which is what I was originally told. On the plus side I did get to see the Beehive, hooray! After getting back I had a quick lunch with Miss Cassidy before she went back down to Welly. Later that week I met up with Katie and Ants (who’s wedding I am back in NZ for), we dropped my bridesmaid dress in to be altered, and then we ... read more

I made a quick stop in Sydney, to catch up with friends and meet Tommy, Danielle and Jack's new baby. My flight from Hanoi was first class, Singapore airlines rock, I would buy shares in them their service is so good and the airport in Singapore is great for shopping, especially after a few wines on the flight. I have to say I had a very different experience in Sydney compared to the last times I have been there. My last visits consisted of partying and shopping, this time I was living and visiting in the suburbs and I have to say I really enjoyed this side of Sydney. However I did manage to get in a little shopping of course. I arrived in Sydney early doors, on Wednesday 22 Nov, and was treated to a ... read more

That afternoon before heading off for Sapa I managed to do rather a significant amount of shopping, but obviously all justified and necessary. I some how booked on a Halong Bay trip costing US$450 via the Internet, however most people I talked to where paying US$49 for 3 days 2 night, hmmm. So I cancelled that trip and booked myself on a mid priced cruise for US$70. Clearly I was up a few hundred dollars, good news for me. I found a great shop that did custom made and designed dresses, wonderful. So I got myself 3 work dresses all various forms of silk (plain black, black with a bit of red and a green one with flowers), all custom fitted, plus I am having made a black silk evening dress, my design. Each dress cost ... read more