Another early start for me again, Can't sleep for some reason up an hour and a half before everyone else. Thank god for the laptop! After breakfast we decided we would head across the border to Tijuana, Mexico and then come back and spend the afternoon/evening at Seaworld. We drove the 20 minutes to the border and parked up then began to walk across before changing our minds and jumping on a shuttle bus. We got off and strolled through a mini shopping centre, then 'OMG' got hassled big time, Particularly Nige and my mum - Cos of her grey hair [View Full Entry]

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Palenque is a fine example of a Mayan sanctuary of the classical period. The city was at its height between 500 and 700 A.D. The buildings are decorated with relief´s showing Mayan mythology. The Palenque temple-complex now is situated in jungle-like surroundings. The numerous (partly restored) remains of the Maya-architecture are quite well-preserved. Only 34 of the estimated 500 constructions in the area have been revealed. Together they give an impression what the city would have looked like during its heydays (although at that time the stones were colored red instead of gray). One of the most impressive sights is the [View Full Entry]

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Chichen Itza was a major regional focal point in the northern Maya lowlands from the Late Classic through the Terminal Classic and into the early portion of the Early Postclassic period. The site exhibits a multitude of architectural styles, from what is called “Mexicanized” and reminiscent of styles seen in central Mexico to the Puuc style found among the Puuc Maya of the northern lowlands. The presence of central Mexican styles was once thought to have been representative of direct migration or even conquest from central Mexico, but most contemporary interpretations view the presence of these non-Maya styles more as the [View Full Entry]

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Spanish classes have been hard. They cram a lot of knowledge into the 2 and a half week course. We have learned 100 verbs over the last week and a half. I have lots of homework every night and often ask myself…”What was I thinking!?” But, even as stubborn as I am getting, every day I am able to understand more and more. Even recognizing words that quickly fly out of my neighbor’s mouths…I am starting to understand and even reply a little. This is what has made the whole studying thing worth it. The other thing that made it worth [View Full Entry]

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Dear family, friends, and loyal fans, A while has passed since I have updated you on the most important aspect of my trip to Mexico, my work at Centro Para Los Adolescentes (CASA). Things are going quite swimmingly and continue to improve as I get to know the organization better and better. For those of you who are wondering what CASA is...let me try to break it down. It is somewhat complicated. Essentially CASA is a non-profit organization that began in 1981 when Nadine Goodman, the founder (an American) came to Mexico to study Spanish and realized there was a profound [View Full Entry]

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We must be honest, we stopped at Tulum for the beach but it is also home to another famous Mayan ruin. So we decided although we had seen our share of Mayan ruins we would definitely check this last one out. Tulum is a funny kind of place being a very small, almost one street town. The beach is about 4-5km away and is really just a long road set almost out of site of the beach with small beach huts and resorts very spread out over 10kms with the ruins lying at one end. The Yucatan Peninsula in some ways [View Full Entry]

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Palenque was the site of these incredible and vast Mayan ruins, a city to rival Guatamala's Tikal, which I will visit at the end of my trip. I got to explore them the first day we arrived, and although it was raining for most of the day, I was still awestruck. I'm afraid I have no words to do them justice, but I spent a good three hours exploring all the ruins and the surrounding jungle, whcih gives some idea of their vastness. I hope my photos will show them off somewhat, but I am too lazy to wait for them [View Full Entry]

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The other water features I visted were Agua Azul and Misol Ha. Misol Ha was a stunning waterfall that one could walk behind and get refreshed by the spray. Agua Azul was a series of falls that was once again set in the jungle. It was extremely dramatic due to the obvious force the river had forming the falls over huge rocks. I loved the huge trees that were groing alongside the bank, and anted to spend more time exploring the nearby jungle, but I someho acquired a friend on the bus there. A guy from Barcelone, who once he discovered [View Full Entry]

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Well I left Nicola in Palenque, so coming to San Cristobal a couple of days ago was my first solo travelling since being in Mexico. Upon arrival at the hostel I joined in on a slasa class, which is my third since being in mexico, so definitely improving. I hope to do a few more as I continue to get to some sort of a standard. San Cristobal is very colonial and reminded me of the north India town of Shimla. Although here it has Spanish influences. It is very beautiful, and very cosmopolitan with lots of international style cafes and [View Full Entry]

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Before we go anywhere, I want you to cast your minds back to a distant tiime in Venus Bay, Australia, when Richard was practising baby care on a joey wombat in readiness for the arrival of our brand new niece or nephew. Well, we´re pleased to say that little Iona Jade is now safely with us. We were in the land of the Mayans when we heard the news and, as jade was the Mayan´s most precious material, her name seems most propitious. But now let us continue our journey onwards from Palenque... The jungle slipped away behind us and we [View Full Entry]

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