fionchadd

Take any architect, anywhere in the world, and place them on a wide stretch of white sand, large expanse of ocean and whispering palm trees, and the response is pavlovian - wooden huts spring up in their dozens, thatched roofs appear, hammocks swing gently and reggae wafts on the breeze. Tulum is no exception to this rule. Arriving, as I did, convinced I was at Death's door, I decided to put off finding a hammock on the beach and check into a hostel for the first couple of nights, until I was feeling better. I never left. The hostel (The Weary Traveller, much-championed by Lonely Planet and indeed weary travellers everywhere) was considerably more than I had been paying in Guatemala, but included huge breakfasts, dinner basics, free transport to and from the beach, and Rob ... read more

...or rather, they don't. I had grand plans of catching the 3am bus to Guatemala city on Monday, getting a long way into Honduras before overnighting, and reaching Utilla on Tuesday with plenty of time to organise diving for Wednesday. When it came to it, however, I wanted to say goodbye to everyone and so I lingered over breakfast, reaching the bus stop with 15 minutes to spare before the 11 o'clock bus. If there had been an 11 o'clock bus. I was told the next bus was at 12, although it didn't actually arrive until 12.40. It then stopped 30 minutes later to tell us that becuase there weren't enough people, we'd have to get off and wait for the 2pm. This didn't arrive until 2.30. We then ran into numerous traffic jams and construction, ... read more

I had uhmed and ahed about returning to San Pedro for the full moon party, trying to reason with myself that I didn´t really have time, and that it wasn´t remotely on the way to the Bay Islands from San Salvador. In the end, common sense could not prevail, and the draw of seeing everyone again proved too great. From San Salvador I travelled to oban, spent a day at Lanquin, visiting the caves before returning to the little bit of Guatemala I had fallen in love with. The grutes at Lanquin were impressive to say the least. As you enter, to start with there are lights and walkways but they gradually peter out until you are scrambling over muddy rocks in total darkness. Knowing my propensity for getting lost in famous places (the Taj Mahal, ... read more

These were the words I was greeted with when Jo arrived back at her house after a hard day´s teaching. I had got there earlier in the day and caused mild panic amongst the neighbours when instead of fetching the key from the maid at number 12, I tried to fetch it from the maid at number 12B, who not only didn´t speak any english, but also (understandably) didn´t have a clue what I was talking about. So, back to the beach. One of Jo´s friends had a cousin who had a second home on the beach who wasn´t using it that weekend. Enter us. Jo, Charlene, Donna and I piled into a 4X4 and drove down there for the night - wine was drunk, gossip exchanged, we swum in the sea (and the pool!) made ... read more

I had paid in advance for 2 nights in hotel San Fransisco, and while it was cheap, ít became obvious that it wasn´t the best place to meet people. For my third night, I moved down the road to trippy´s hostel, and that was when the fun really started. It was almost full (of wonderful people) and everyone seemed to be able to play the guitar - I had one, Duncan had one and Matthias had a Ukelele so there was lots of music happening. I fell in love with San Pedro and instead of moving around the lake visiting the other little towns, decided to stay. I took a total break from travelling, and didn´t do or see any of the "tourist things" they recommend - I lazed around in a hammock, and only left ... read more

My journey to Guatemala greatly resembled my journey to Auckland - Fly from Lima to Cusco, hang around for 3 hours. Fly from Cusco to Panama, run across the airport only to find that I actually had masses of time. Fly from Panama to San Jose - a hitherto unknown break in my journey. Arrive in Guatemala an hour later than anticipated, having missed the last shuttle to Antigua. Luckily for more money I was able to jump in a cab. The driver´s knowledge of the city layout was shaky at best, but he managed to find the hostel I was aiming for - a small door with an even smaller sign and no lights on. I knocked, tentatively, signalling the cabby to wait. Seconds later the door was flung back and an English voice proclaimed ... read more

Arriving in Cusco, I started researching the best way to see Machu Picchu in the time I had available. I wanted to go out on Friday night so saturday was out of the question, and on Monday I was flying to Guatemala, leaving Sunday the only real option. It was around this time the I realised that Machu Picchu was not, as I had thought, just up the valley from Cusco, but just up the valley from Aguas Calientes - a village 4 hours away which has sprung up purely due to the monument and is by all accounts a soulless place. Unwilling to spend a night there, knowing that if I did I wouldn´t get up at 4am and climb the mountain for sunrise, however strong my intentions, I went to the trainstation to book ... read more

Margrethe returned later that day (Sunday) and although we were planning on travelling to Copacabana on Monday, we took little convincing to join Tom and Dave on a bus that same day. Beers were purchased for the journey, and we all fell into a deep slumber - waking up to be told that we were to get off the bus and onto a boat. Querying what would happen to the bus, we wre informed it was being transported on another boat. My brain couldn´t quite deal with this logic, but I meekly complied. Eventually we arrived in Copacabana. Food was a priority, and after polishing off a cheeseburger and spaghetti carbonara I fell sound asleep in front of the TV in Tom and Dave´s room. A little too soundly asleep for Margrethe, who upon returning from ... read more

Nearing the end of our bus journey to La Paz, I woke at 5am to find the bus in the middle of the desert - no roads, no other traffic, nothing. I was convinced we were going to be boarded by bandits. After a while, someone explained to me what was going on - the road to La Paz had been blocked by protesters, and the bus had been trying to find a way around the blockade. It had proved unsuccessful, and the options were to 1) wait on the bus for an unspecified amount of time, or 2) walk aorund the blockade and pick up a taxi on the other side. All the locals seemed to be choosing the latter and so we joined them. 15 minutes later we came across a small group of ... read more

At 4100m, Potosi is the world´s heighest town. An abundance of minerals meant that for a while it was also the worldñs richest. However, the gold and silver have now been largely depleted, and the miners now work 20 hour days for an average wage of 700 bolivianos per month (just under 50 pounds). Tours into the mines are run by a miners co'operative, with a percentage of the ticket price going directly to the miners and the option of buying presents and equipment for them before the tour commences. It seemed like something that had to be done, and arriving on Saturday we booked our tour for monday morning. Saturday afternoon brought the England v France semi-final (a game I was still shocked that we were playing) and at 4pm I set off around the ... read more