Lu and Rosey Brus

Howdy y'all (we do hope you're appreciating our varied greetings) from Guatemala. We escaped Punta Gorda by boat to Puerto Barrios, Guatemala, where we had a rather stressful re-entry to the country. The boat journey was pretty bumpy and for some reason they decided to separate us from our beloved rucksacks by putting them in the other boat, but you can be sure our eyes never parted from that boat for the duration of the crossing. We are aware that going through Customs is a legal requirement for entering a country, yet Customs was nowehere to be found. We decided sticking with the other travellers was our best bet, so we stalked them the 5 minute walk to this hidden building where Customs was hiding. Customs done, we needed a bus outta there. Re-whacking out our ... read more

Whatagwan? We're writing to you from Placencia, which is known for having the best beaches in Belize! We arrived yesterday after spending four amazing days in Hopkins, just further North than here. On our way, we visited Belize Zoo and would have been slightly disappointed had we not seen a real-life Jaguar and Panther, which made the heat and extortionate prices worthwhile. We coped with the Chicken Buses pretty perfectly and met some lovely locals along the way who helped us on with our huge bags in through the back door. After a relatively smooth journey so far, our first impressions of Hopkins were slightly sketchy. We met the lovely local Policeman on the Bus from Dangriga who, along with the Lonely Planet, told us that hitchhiking was the norm for getting from the Junction into ... read more

Greetings from the Caribbean baby! After a touch and go start to the morning (slight miscommunications about where the coach was picking us up from), we finally started our journey to Belize baby. Met a fab girl called Louise and instantly gelled with her big-time. The border crossing was surprisingly easy, another stamp for our passport collection! As soon as we set foot on Belizean turf, we relaxed and felt at home. We arrived in Belize City which looked very run-down and not much to do there, so on a spur of the moment decision decided to head to Caye Caulker wth Louise. It was DEFINITELY the right decision - it's like paradise with perfect white sandy beaches, sun, reggae and amazingly friendly people. We've made some friends for life from all over - America, Belize ... read more

Arrrrrrriiiiighttt! Rose and Lucy here, still in Antigua. After a violent but brief bug we're back in action! We're still taking it slow-Joe by spending the whole of yesterday chilling in a funky cafe/second-hand bookswap called the Rainbow Rooms. We were loving life so much that we went back there in the evening for an acoustic open-mic night which was SO much better than the cheesey ones you get in England. From local Guatemalan and Mexican singer song-writers to a very in-love Swedish couple and some crazily high banjo-playing eccentric. We had a slightly stressful walk home in the rain (how very dare it rain on us) after discovering that tuctucs unhelpfully stop running at night... But all was well due to Rose's fab sense of direction and a helpful Guatemalan shopkeeper. Today was fairly similar. ... read more

So it's 23:44 on 2nd March and I'm counting down the hours until 2am when I leave for Heathrow with my family. I have had some amazingly emotional 'au revoir's with some insanely amazing people including the best leaving party with my lovely work people and I think it's just hit me that this is real. Just been texting Rose as we've suddenly realised we both have the wrong numbers for each other, but that's all sorted now. So the plan is I leave at 6:20am from Heathrow and fly into Madrid - going backwards but oh well - and then onto Guatemala City to arrive at 16:15 local time (10pm English). There should be a cheeky Guatemalan waiting for me with my name on a board which is one of my lifelong ambitions. When I ... read more