Lots of photos with this blog - please check them out! Our next few days were spent in the second largest city in Guatemala - Quetzaltenango or Xela for short. Six hours and two shuttles after leaving San Pedro we arrived at our hotel which was in a lovely historical building close to the main square. The city suffered mass destruction in 1902 when dual disasters, a volcano and an earthquake, hit the city and almost destroyed. We were woken our first morning by an earth tremor - quite a large one we were later told - our first, and not an experience I wish to repeat. It was a disconcerting and weird feeling to feel the earth shake. Everybody thought we were mad to visit Xela but we loved it. It is at an elevation ... read more

It was a six hour mini bus trip from Antigua to Copan Ruinas in Honduras. We were all crammed into the bus pretty tightly. The first couple of hours were terrible - we drove through Guatemala City and the pollution from other cars and trucks was very heavy. We had been warned constantly by locals not to go to the capitol city due to violence and robbery issues - even the residents of Antigua hate visiting the place. Even after leaving the city boundaries the pollution didn’t decease as we were in the middle of a constant stream of trucks belching fumes. We were all pretty pleased to get to our half way point to stretch our legs. Thankfully the scenery improved from there - hilly rural country with lots of banana plantations and tiny dry ... read more

We arrived at the airport in Las Vegas for our flight to LA to find that it had been cancelled. After queuing for an hour we were told that we all had tickets on a flight at 11.10 that morning - except Mum who was booked on the 4.40pm flight! Whilst we were talking to the girl - much to Mum’s relief - a seat on the same flight as ours became available. Los Angeles is an enormous city! You can still say your in LA if your 80 klms from the centre of the city. Devin had booked us a hotel right on Venice Beach - it was close to the airport thankfully. Next day we were to experience LA Traffic and it was incredibly heavy. That evening leaving Mum and Jerry in their rooms ... read more

After our bumpy flight it was great to touch ground and head to our hotel - the Tropicana - which was at the end of the strip. It was after dark and the city was lit up brightly - Las Vegas in all its neon glory. We headed off down the strip to try to catch up with Mum and the rest of the family who were eating at a restaurant in Planet Hollywood. The strip is really long - about 12 klms - and we certainly weren’t planning on walking the length of it during our few days there. The family were just finishing their dinner and it was great to catch up with them. We all wandered across the road to watch the dancing fountains at the massive Bellagio Hotel - though all the ... read more

With a feeling of anticipation we left Toowoomba on the late afternoon bus for Brisbane and a lovely Greek meal with Robyn and Sam. Great company as usual and the best way to start our trip. Next morning the early train took us to the airport and a rather uncomfortable 14 hour flight to San Francisco. The only highlights of the trip were Jerry leaving (twice!) a bag at the security check and me topping that by leaving my passport at the information counter at San Francisco airport….. After a lecture (well deserved) from the airport police upon it’s return we headed off, very tired and jet lagged, into San Francisco centre. The Hotel Vertigo and it’s hot shower were very welcome after the long flight. That afternoon we walked into the Union Square shopping and ... read more