The twelve hour bus trip from Playa Azul to Puerto Vallarta was hell. It was supposed to pick us up at 9.30pm but arrived at 12.30am. The bus was full as we were the second last stop and it reeked of urine. Mexican buses are well known for being overly cold from the air conditioning but the toilet is a steamroom and nobody appears to have hygiene standards. There was no toilet paper when we got on the bus so thankfully I had backup tissues with me. But still, during the stops you'd think the driver would check the status of [View Full Entry]

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We took a six hour bus to Playa Azul which was stretch of beach without tourists but with bars and hammocks. We booked a room for the day to keep our stuff and to get ready that night for the night bus. We should've stayed here for two days instead of Acapulco and I'll be saying that on the GAP assessment sheet we get at the end. The hotel rates were cheap so I don't see why it shouldn't be an option. Speaking of hotels, the hotels we've stayed at have been terrible. Seriously, I've stayed at hostels with better rooms [View Full Entry]

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Today we had a snorkelling tour but it wasn't that clear due to the recent storms. Tiffany lives in a remote town and hasn't seen the ocean since she was nine so it was worth it just to see her enjoy it. We took the courtesy bus after snorkelling to see the rich people's houses, including Sly Stallone's (whose house looks like it hasn't seen paint since the 80s). In the evening we saw the famous cliff divers at La Quebrada. They jump into the water on one side, fight the waves, climb up the cliff on the other side then [View Full Entry]

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This morning we took a six hour bus to Acapulco. It's safe to say this town is very unattractive. Overdeveloped and outdated. We spent most of our day at a bar called 'Pescado a la Tall' which was right on the beach but also had a pool. Ludo was in Acapulco for ten days before this tour so he recommened this place. The bar owner told Sid that Ludo sure could drink. When a barman says that, it's not really a badge of honour. In the arvo we were talked into joining a party boat that sails around the harbour. We [View Full Entry]

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We took a bus from Mexico City to Taxco this morning. As soon as we got off the bus, Ludo took a swig of vodka straight from the bottle. It was 11.00am. Cheers. I bought some jewellery for mum, she likes silver so I'm in the right town. Lots of cobblestone streets and steep streets. Maybe my Cuba weight will come off with all this walking. [View Full Entry]

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I arrived in Mexico City in the arvo and checked into my hotel. There are only four of us on the tour, plus our tour guide. Our tour guide is a 34yo Mexican with a long beard, he said his nickname is Taliban but we can call him Sid. I´m sharing a room for the next fifteen days with a Canadian girl called Tiffany, she´s 22 and we get along great. The other two men are from Belgium (they don´t know each other though). Ben is 24 and quiet. The other guy, Ludo is 48 and looks like an older version [View Full Entry]

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I am the proud owner of a pair of red armadillo leather cowboy boots! I'm going to post them to Libby on Monday. Hopefully they'll get there. I'm staying at a hostel opposite the train station. There are only two dorm rooms and one private room (that's mine). It has a large open plan living room/kitchen and the internet seats are saddles. Interesting place. I spoke to the owner about my Copper Canyon tour. When I told him it cost me $1500 he nearly died. He said you can do it yourself for $500 staying at nice hotels. But he admitted [View Full Entry]

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Today I went on a tour of Creel. I spent an hour yesterday afternoon shopping around for an English speaking tour so I chose this particular one for that reason. But this morning I discovered the tour guide spoke no English. Thankfully there was a Moroccan tourist in the group who works as an English-Spanish-French-Arabic intepreter for Amnesty International. He was on holiday but kindly offered to translate for me. We got along really well and exchanged email addresses. I'm building up quite a list of contacts for when/if I get out of Latin America! The other people on the tour [View Full Entry]

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Our guide didn't turn up for our sunrise hike so I watched the sunrise from my balcony, took a couple of photos then went back to bed. The two hour hike after breakfast was fantastic. There are railed lookouts for tourists in some sections of the canyon but one particular rock ledge is not and there is a loose rock that the some of the tour guides walked out on to get photo ops for the tourists. I thought if they can do it, so can I so I climbed across to where they were and stood 7800ft above sea level [View Full Entry]

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Off to a good start. Not. I woke up at 4am to be ready for my 5am pickup to Los Mochis train station. So I go down to the reception bright as button only to be told it was actually 4am. It appears I didn't ask about the time difference when I checked in yesterday; Los Mochis is behind Mexico City by one hour. With a 3am start, I was afraid I may fall asleep on the nine hour train journey to Divisadero but I didn't! How could I -- it was the most beautiful train trip I've ever taken. There [View Full Entry]

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