Trek Update 6 (i think...)

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So the morning after we took a helicopter flight around the Grand Canyon. It was 50 minutes long and explored the North and South rim, seriously one of the best experiences of my life, was SO good. We then had a drive ahead of us to Monument Valley where we were trying the traditional Navajo experience and sleeping in one of their houses, eating with them and seeing dance and song. We put our stuff in the Hogan (Navajo house made of mud and wood) and waited for the other trek group (not the one we had been travelling alongside) to come back from their tour. Once we were all there we went to have Navajo tacos, which were really good and then we were sung to and danced for. Sal, Silvia, Kamilla and I joined in a friendship dance which was really fun and when we got back to the Hogans the guy who had sung hung around to answer questions. We went to bed quite late only to be woken at 2am because it was raining, heavily, and Hogans have holes in the top for "ventilation." We got pretty damn wet! Especially me even though my sleeping bag had been covered by a groundsheet, so Army Korea went to sleep in the van and the rest of us slept round the edge as far away from water as possible. As it was so cloudy we didn't get up to see sunrise instead we got up at 7 (good lie-in huh?) and went on a tour around Monument Valley. It was a shame it was so wet but still got some good pictures.

The next stop was Santa Fe and we tried a Navajo/Mexican restaurant there which was really good, if a little spicy. We had a wander round the town and then went back to appreciate the cabins we'd booked into due to the chance of rain. On the way to Carlsbad Caverns the following day we stopped in Roswell, home of the TV series and where they REALLY believe in UFOs. Seriously so many shops devoted to them! We had a quick look in the UFO museum which was... interesting haha and then made our way to Carlsbad. We were about 2 minutes too late to go down into the Caverns by the natural entry so we took the lift and looked around the biggest room. There were some really interesting shapes, and some amusing ones, it was very different to anything else we'd seen on the trip. We stopped by the campsite to set up tents and cook (our turn, was yummier than expected :D) and then went to a drive-in movie which was such fun! I watched Meet Dave with most of the others, very funny. The next day we arrived at the campsite pretty early and got a chance to chill out, I tried to catch up with my journal and watched some of 8 Mile before we drove to the US/Mexican border in the evening. We parked on the US side and walked across to Mexico. It was about a 20 minute walk to the border town on the other side and we got there just in time to do some shopping for our next theme party. After loading up on ponchos and sombreros we went to a bar where they were so keen to have us they kept giving us free glowsticks and masks. After some interesting dancing we walked across to the US side again where they stopped us for about 45 minutes before finally letting us back into the country!

The next stop was also in Texas, San Antonio. We camped at nearby Banderas and went into the town to look around and have lunch. Sal, Kam, Silvia and I found a nice restaurant and then met some very friendly cowboys who told us all about... being cowboys haha! In the evening the campsite owner was so happy to have us (he wanted Trek to come back as regular income) he organised a barbecue for us and the other group which was very nice and in the evening we went to another rodeo with diving mules! I hope someone got a video because it really was something! We went out in Banderas with it's two bars later, which was cheap and interesting, we tried a few variations on square dancing/barn dancing/prancing around looking like fools. The day after we got a lie-in finally and went into San Antonio about midday. Silvia and I caught the bus to the market and had a look around and some fruit for lunch which was refreshing in the heat! We got the bus back and wandered down to the riverwalk which was lovely and went shopping for a bit. At half 5 we went back to see the Alamo before we got picked up to find the Tourist Information centre had been wrong and it closed at 5.30. Back at camp the other group were customising their geek outfits and we got dressed up as Mexicans and stuffed the pinata with sweets. A few drinks later we had a bash at it (literally) and after Darcie had whacked its arm off it exploded. The party continued for a little while and then after we'd got the damned cat out of our tent (seriously) we went to sleep.

Ok i'd better go and find the bus to catch to Sony Studios but I'll be back soon with more!

xxx

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