An early start to drive to Agua Azul, a waterfall and river outside of Palenque, Chiapas. The river wasn't blue, but more a shade of brown. The postcards certainly don't look like my photos. We had the option to swim but I didn't take it. We arrived in Palenque in the late afternoon. The heat and humidity here are a killer after having such pleasant weather so far. It's only going to get worse -- we'll be in Cancun this time next week [View Full Entry]

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Today was the best day of my adventure so far. We had a guided tour of the indigenous culture of the Chiapas region. Our guide, Cesar, was wonderful. His grandfather was part of one of the villages we visited today and he spent most of his childhood in the village but did his high school education at a Western school. He has worked for large international corporations but said he gave it up because he couldn't live the Western way of life where family life is sacrificed in order to work. The first village had a special religous day but even [View Full Entry]

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Last night we stayed in Tehuantepec, which is in the middle of nowhere. But surprisingly our hotel was great. The hotels so far have been fantastic, a huge step up from the shit holes GAP stuck us in. We had an early start to get to San Cristobal. We drove through the mountains down to the Rio Grande and took a two hour speedboat ride through the Canon del Sumidero. Some of the cliffs are 1,000m high and parts of the river are 100m deep. Legend has it Indians jumped to their death rather than surrender to the Spanish Conquistidors. We [View Full Entry]

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First thing this morning we stopped at the famous Tule cypress tree. It's apparently 4,000 years old and the circumference is an incredible 60m (164ft). I took lots of photos but I don't think they will show just how magnificant this tree is. We spent the morning at Teotitlan del Valle which is a Zapotec Indian village located outside of Oaxaca that specialises in hand woven rugs. We went to the home of one particular family who explained that the boys and girls from the age of seven years are taught all the skills to dye and hand weave carpets. They [View Full Entry]

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Feeling a little tired from last night's cocktails, we had a 8.30am start. We visited the Monte Alban ruins until lunch time and then it was relaxation time. I'm a little pyramid'd out so I'm going to throttle back on the optional tours of ruins. [View Full Entry]

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Another 7am start for our five hour bus to Oaxaca. I have dreamt of coming here for year!. Oaxaca is famous for cheese, coffee, chocolate and dry roasted grasshoppers called 'Chapulines'. Oaxaca and Chiapas have the largest Indian communities in Mexico. We arrived at 2pm, did a short orientation walk around the city and then I went shopping. I bought some embroidered shirts from the Indian markets. We found a bar that sold 1L cocktails for US$5 so a few of us went there for the evening. I bought some grasshoppers from the markets and we tried them. They tasted like [View Full Entry]

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We had a 7am start today. First stop was Teotihuacan to climb the Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon. I climbed them last weekend with my GAP tour group so I stayed back and helped Lisa buy and prepare lunch. That gets my lunchtime responsibilities out of the way for the rest of the tour. After lunch we took the Tucan bus (it's painted bright yellow with a Tucan on the side so you can't miss it) to Puebla. On the way we stopped and took photos of Popocatepetl, the second highest volcano in Mexico. Our hotel in Puebla is [View Full Entry]

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My latest Mexican tour started today. The taxi driver said the hotel was bad and after the hotel GAP stuck us in, my expectations were low. But the hotel ended up being really nice. So I'm thinking the rest of the hotels will be of a decent quality too. This tour is a more expensive than the other tours I've been on so hopefully that will translate into better hotels. At welcome meeting we got to meet the other tour members. There are 24 on the tour and the majority of us are Australians, mostly couples or groups, but there's another [View Full Entry]

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I have had the most beautiful environment to relax in but the universe is paying me back by striking me down with a stomach bug. I drank a bottle of 'purified'water instead of bottled spring water so maybe that's the culprit. I've managed to swim and relax with a few magazines but I had to cancel my diving. Bummer. I bumped into an Aussie couple asking for directions on the main street. Please don´t let me turn into one of those wanker travellers who thinks they know everything about a place because I've been there overnight. Apparently Cuba is really cheap [View Full Entry]

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I arrived in Puerto Angel, but not after some dramas. To start my adventure I took a taxi to the airport that the hotel organised. They´re a bit pricier but I thought the convenience was worth it. But on the way to the airport we got stopped by Mexican police. Apparently it´s normal for them to stop drivers randomly and to ask to see their papers. When my driver pulled over he said to me in broken English ¨I´m not a taxi, ok?¨ The police asked me some questions in Spanish and even though I could understand bits, I played dumb [View Full Entry]

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