Chicken busses, Volcanoes and A dodgy drug runner.

Ok, So here I am with a cup of Tea and a Gingernut. At home in front of my Computer still with so many tales of my Adventure to put into words. if only I could Just plug a Usb cable into my right ear and have all of the amazing memories just load straight onto my blog. (not that I don't enjoy writing, actually I really Do) it is just that for the past week since returning home all of the memories seem to have transfered to my "monkey Mind" all disorganized and just spilling out of my mouth in no particular order, just triggered by very simple little situations.
The Good news is, You are going to read of these tales straight from my Mid-term memory. As endearingly pointed out by my Guatemalan Travel Companion Sammy... I am; as the tittle Suggests "a bit of a gold fish" when it comes to my short term memory. every time we would board a bus, boat or donkey throughout central america, I would idiocyncratically stash my ticket in an illogical place, and then moments later start a mild panic when the conductor or the like would start his approach to collect tickets. Sammy, who deserves so much mention as he was such a fun part of my way from Antigua to San Jose, Would chuckle at me each time and repeat "hey look A castle, look a castle, no way... no I've never seen that castle" as if I was a gold fish in a tiny bowl. very funny Sammy. Thank you for teaching me the Art of always putting my bus ticket In the front pocket of my mexican satchel.

Enough of that, where were we?
Oh I had just advised everyone against Utila Island Honduras,
It was from here Basically two full days of travel to get to the destination that is was most excited about, Granada Nicaragua. After a boat and a few buses and taxis, we made it to an overnight stop town Just inside of the southern boarder of Honduras. Comayagua. I hadn't loved Honduras, however surprisingly in that day of travel I was able to start to appreciate its beauty and adorable people. I chatted for a few hours with a local Boy on the bus who told me everything he could to make me change my answer to his question of "what is your favorite country so far?" when I had replied Mexico to this, the Country Proud young university student with Spanish green eyes was determined he could change my mind by telling me all he could about Honduras... pointing out all of the beautiful natural landmarks we were passing. so sweet, and a little annoying.

We arrived in Comayagua in the afternoon, Settled in to the Hotel, and went out for a wander. Comayagua is well off the tourist trail, It was weird to feel like such an alien. The Shouts From men In the streets went from A bit cute to a little threatening, So it was now time for me to exercise some of the Single woman travel Smart info that had been piled onto me back home before leaving. even popping into the Supermarket to get some fruit for the next days Huge Journey was an experience, every single Honduran man in the store was trying to help me, talk to me and I swear the girl at the checkout didn't really know what to do when I approached. Strange!

The nice thing about the town not really being set up for tourists was being able to have a good look at how they all dwell in this tiny city. families all milling in the afternoon around the Circular Zocalo, which had lovely piped in musica coming from the well kept gardens. A few elderly men with their white cowboy hats sat chatting and winking at me. two young lovers sat swirling their toes in the fountain while groups of younger girls teased them and loudly ran away from the subsequent splashes of water that were fired at them by the embarrassed boy.
I chose to eat at the most authentic looking restaurant that evening in the Zocalo next to the Cathedral, I chatted with an American guy, who was working and living there, and was happy to enlighten me on the realities of the area, apparently our rushing through Honduras had us missing some amazing natural springs set in the Volcano that the town was actually built in, also some amazing beaches. he also Spoke of a new highway being built through Honduras the Affect it would have on the city. And trade throughout all of Central America. Very Interesting. I was also happy to hear about his friends who had amazing properties in the area complete with Pet Monkeys. The gentleman that he was payed for my dinner, before I could Stop Him invited me for a Drink. which I declined bearing in my mind the next day would be 16 hours of Chicken buses, and with he recent reality of the state I could get myself into when Drinking with boys from the US.

Chicken

Surprising a 16 our Day with a sore Bum in some of the Doggiest vehicles ever, with a painful boarder Crossing into the poorest country in Central America Can be one of the Best days I had. Admittedly, I am a true Intrepid traveler My buzz always comes from the most uncomfortable experiences, the ones with the most culture shock. where you really get to Live and see the way the rest of the World live.

So how do they Live? ... well these crazy Central Americans have all sorts of quirks to be seen from hard seat of an old American school Bus.

First Of all... It's loud in there, Apart from the roaring old engine operating in a gear far too low the whole way, or the squeaky wheels and shuddering Windows, there is booming reggeaton playing through the very capable speakers at the front of the Bus. I love the Way High quality speakers obviously take Priority over getting the Buses Wheels serviced. You are crammed three to a tiny seat with the locals, With people crammed standing the aisles and the conductor somehow manages to move through all of these sardines, knowing exactly who has already shown there ticket and who hasn't. On one chicken bus just after the Nicaraguan boarder A priest Jumped on, and as the Bus bumpily moved down through the hills still with its pounding reggaeton, he Preached Passionately, everyone's eyes and hearts listening, Him crossing himself, Wiping away the rivers of sweat pouring off of his forehead and holding on for dear life. He was so passionately delivering his words that I swear I could almost understand all of the Spanish that he was speaking. When his sermon was given, he moved through the crammed bus shaking everybody's hands and handing out offering envelopes. To my surprise, once the offerings were collected and the bus had stopped to let people on and off. He started the whole thing over again.

The last chicken bus ride was the longest, I sat crammed against the window on a seat with three local teenage girls each of them taking a turn at sitting on the two others knees, they giggled and smiled at me, and laughed and spoke as if it were all about boys etc. I found it entertaining enough to make me not care too much that I had run my ipod out of battery, but not enough to make me forget just how sore my pompitas was on the particularly hard seat. We finally got off the bus on the side of a highway in Managua, Nicaragua's capital. right at a highway side street food market, all of the vendors shouting "pollo pollo", as they did everywhere in central america, stand there loudly in monotone reciting the menu to passers by. "tostadas con pollo y carne o jamon, flor de jamaica hoy pescado" etc etc

Us with our packs were spotted by a pack of independent collectivo owners who started yelling and circling us, grabbing at our packs to try and secure our business, each of them in fierce competition lowering their prices and offering the world. all we wanted was to go an hour down the road to Granada! huh, the winning gentleman loaded our packs into the van and off we went, the sun was setting so we arrived in the pretty city to see the beautiful street lights dully illuminating the beautifully coloured colonial buildings and cobbled streets. I was excited, It felt San Cristobal or Antigua, I love the Colonial Cities. As always mentioned in any Publication with writings of Granada the locals were all out the front of their casas in rocking chairs or leaning in the doorways, chatting and watching the world go by.

We settled into our Hotel which was very central, across the road from all of the Restaurants and two blocks from the Zocalo and Cathedral.

At dinner that night out on the path outside, we were entertained my groups of break-dancing local boys. who stopped all of the passing cars to put their show on for us. they had no music, instead the group would clap out the beat.

This terrible feeling!

Ok, so... in the past few weeks I have failed to catch up the Blog with stories of Nicaragua, Costa rica, Panama and then the final Hurrah On the Pacific coast of costa rica.

I have the saddest feeling in my stomach now as I pack for the long Journey Home... or is It home? It feels alot like I am leaving my home. When I arrive back to the Mac where this blog began, I feel that I will need to soothe my aching Heart in the form of finishing the Diary... so you will get to read the magnifecent stories of my past three weeks.
even the part about us getting arrested in Panama! "Watch this Space"

NO photos to post today as my USB seems to be dissagreeing!

I Do vow this... Tomorrow morning at 5 am, it will not be goodbye to Latin America, however Au revoir! As all this 8 weeks has shown me is just how much more there is to see, more spanish to be spoken, more Salsa to be danced and more Photos to be taken.

Next Trip Mexico And Guatemala Intensive!

I am going to miss so much the beautiful friends that I have made along the way.
Sol, Panama love ya girl
Sammy, Guatemala my guatemalan twin
David, Sydney See ya there
Eddie, Panama MI precioso amigo
Marco, Antigua My laundry rescuer
Fernando, Antigua the perfect coffee date
Fransisco, Cancun A real Charming Chap
Fransisco, Puebla Spanish tutor, slightly innapropriate groper

Milton, Mexico What can I say! I will miss my locito Mexicano Mogley forever... and Ill see you again!

Honduras,

Copan

This is where things start to slow down for a while, Copan is a beautiful town set amongst the rolling lush hills of Honduras. The main attraction here are the ruins of copan, which were closed due to protesting while I was there, oh well, Im kind of "ruined" anyway.

So I decided to take the first day here easy, I got some lunch in a beautiful garden cafe and strolled back up the steep streets to the hotel where I planned on climbing into a Hammock and starring over out over the lush jungle for a few hours.




This plan didn't quite work out, I came across four American lads drinking Tequilla on the roof top where the hammocks were... Im not quite sure what got into me that day, but somehow I ended up joining them, claiming that any Australian girl could drink the American lads under the table, a pretty funny thing for a girl like me to be thinking, considering I NEVER have more than two drinks. So we demolished the first bottle of Tequilla, whilst talking about Religion, New and Strange art movements, boys, girls and how do we think is the best way to catch dengue fever. AS YOU DO. Then all stumbled down the street to buy another, stopped and ate some Balliadas, the Honduran street food Cooked on a coal drum fire. mmm warm tortillas with Beans, cheese and a very special type of purple pickled onion.
The balliadas here no saviour though, I very quickly disintergrated, walking so crookedly back up the steep street, and drawing quite alot of attention. I ended up having to claim defeat and curl up on my bed, the room spinning! It was only 7pm.





Feeling a little precious, the next day ended up becoming my slow day, the Hammock was very Kind to me. I ate and read and snoozed but then decided in the afternoon to take a stroll up into the village with my Camera. As it does every afternoon in wet season here, the dark storm clouds rolled over very quickly, and the heavy rain started to pour down. It was a really nice experience, sheltering myself from the rain in the door ways of the locals casa's and tiendas. Them all smilling and laughing at how wet I was. Such friendly people. The Children Of Honduras are so so Beautiful.



Utila, Bay Islands, Carribean Sea

Ok. Until this point if you have been follwing my blog, you will know that, every place I visit has something I find incredibly beautiful.

Hmmm, Utila may be a different story. when you think of going to a Carribean Island, well I Dont even have to tell you what I was expecting beacause you already have it dancing around your head. If you are planning a carribean get away.. please dont go to Utila. Now, I am being a little Harsh, I have some very cool things to report from here.. the little very little things that I found!
Utila is a small island, with dive shops and restaurants lining both sides of its one narrow dirt road. It is swarming with Dogs and kids and it smells a bit.

The attraction for hundreds though is the reef and Islands that surround for exploring, We took a small boat out to isla Agua hired some snorkles and flippered our way around the coral spotting some really pretty fish and experiencing the way the water quickly changes from bath tub warm to freezing cold.

after many hours, as requested our boat returned to collect us, the weather had changed alot in the time we were out on the Island. The boat ride home was halarious, the waves were enourmous, our tiny boat threw us about on the wild sea everytime we would go up with a wave, we would cling so tightly to the sides, and wait for the massive forcefull spray of sharp salty water would smack into us. all eight of us in that boat were absolutely loosing it laughing, I think just because we didn't know what else to do. we were getting smashed in the stormy carribean sea, in a tiny wooden boat with absolutely no sign of a life jacket. something I am glad to have lived through.

Nights on the Island were interesting, restaurants and bars out over the water were crammed full of american college folk on dive vacations, all of them doing shots of vibrant liquors that I defiantely snob for the toxicity and oppt for a mojito instead,, I suppose very hypocritically. The bars were cool, you could sit out over the water, throw your head back listen to some very sexy latin and reggae Music while feeling the fresh carribean sea air on your face.
I was lucky enough... not! to be approached by a guy who claimed to be the island rappa! speaking to me in that Creole island speak that can hardly be understood, he decided to hang on to me all night, breaking occasionally into a new Rap.. Bad rap, Like " Im sitting here, having a beer" haha
He was telling me to watch out for his name in my newspaper, because once he goes to puerto rico he was going to make it Big time! good on him I say.

On Utilla, at night if you walk up the dark single road that leads to the centre of the island into the bush, here is where it gets fun.
Threr is a bar named Tree tanic, It is a huge sculpture in the jungle made completely of mosaic'd broken bottles that leads you through well lit mazes over high bridges to a Bar in the trees. Perfect!
A night at Tree Tanic is absolutely perfect walking out of the jungle towards the sea with a street Balliada and a frozen Choco Banano. mmm. especially with sweet thoughts of leaving in the morning.

ANTIGUA. Colour and Coffee.

Much to my Dissapointment I ended up losing a day. My plane to Guatemala City From Cancun was delayed half a day. So not only was I experiencing a broken Heart by leaving Mexico. I was doing it In cancun International! knowing that I could Still be on the Beach. What was funny was that My late flight on a very small plane was holding up a connecting one in flores A Big Full Plane too. When I eventually walked onto the Big plane in flores.. I had a massive crowd of Guatemalans Applauding Me!

This was actually, a little incouraging... Guatemalans seemed to be a softer people than the Mexicans.. and this excited me, as it meant that they may be a little more obliging when it comes to me taking thier Photograph.. something I had struggled with In mexico leaving me feeling as though I had a bunch of Empty Photos to bring Back to you all.

After catching what seemed like a very dodgy Shuttle from Guatemala City to Antigua it was Late saturday night, I was greeted at the Casa by the very Bubbly Antiguan, Karla... who Spoke spanish so fast, but in such an animated way that I knew every single thing that she was talking about. I took Myself off to bed, Exhausted, Lonely and unsure of what the next part of my journey would Bring.

The Next day I took myself and My camera out to breakfast... the walk to the Zocalo revealing some of the most amazing Colonial architecture with a back drop of two magnificent volcanoes. Beautiful!







Breakfast was in a Courtyard cafe, with a big fountain in the middle. Just the kind of place for me to chill out before a wander.

I whent to the Markets and Bargained myself a little piece of retail therapy to soothe my feelings for Mexico.. A beautiful quilt From Chichicastanango... so colourful and handmade. Heavy too.. oops not all that practical for carrying through the rest of Central America.

Afterwards, I sat in a cafe sipping on some fresh organic Central American Coffee, and here I met Fernando, we chatted in Spanglish for quite a while. Swapped email addresses and went seperate ways.

A few steps down the road while obviously appearing a bit lost looking for the laundry I had dropped my clothes of at that morning... I was rescued My Marco, who led me through the cobbled streets, waited for me and then walked me to the casa, which turned out to be right next to his casa. we too swapped emails. and I felt delighted by the Locals I was meeting. Especially them with the Beautiful Latin american tradition of always having the lady walk on the inside of the path. When I asked Marco about this.. he ever so charmingly said "Well, I have a mother you know" I will never forget Him saying this... The latin American men are oh so charming, and it is phrases like this that us girls into way too much trouble.

So long sweet Mexico...

ah.. the Carribean...Playa del Carmen.
The Mexican Byron Bay, as Soon as our packs were in our rooms.. the whole Gang of us headed straight to throw our Clammy travel Bodies into the Carribean Sea. It was so Warm and felt like silk.











We had Travelled the Whole Day from the Yacutan to get here.. with a Stop at the Chitchen itza Ruins, where most of us payed for a guide and Cruised through learning more about the Ancient Mayan Civilisations.. for me this was the First time I had bothered with the Guide.. and it was very worth it. I was very happy to learn that my birthday falls on a very Important day in the Mayan Calendar... Mayan equinox... a time that indicates for Harvesting.. when the sun alines perfectly with a beautiful central Pyramid and forms the Shadow of a snake all the way from the top to the bottom.

In the mid day Sticky Mexican heat, Ana maria and I still had the previous evenings Salsa lesson on our minds and decided to Dance it out in the car park of the Chitchen itza ruins.. attracting quite an amount of attention Including some locals videoing us. the best part was when Ana maria whent off to Do a big goofy aerobics oz style grapevine ans smacked her hand straight to the face of an american tourist and started apologising in evrey language she new how too while the 16 others of us laughed until we cried.

After our long swim In the Carribean Sea, we all ventured back to the hotel and dolled ourselves up for the last supper.

Dinner was great, right on the beach.. with Live drumming and fire dancing and massive cocktails.

I was trying to make myself excited to be getting on a plane to Antigua the next day, but the truth is, I was really sad about leaving Mexico, and all of my new Friends.

Ill see you again Mexico.
And more of you.

Waterfalls, Cenotes and a Dog fight!

Ok so here it is..
as promised I shall tell you all about the Jungle! in the Mexican region of Yucutan!

Its HOT!
So luckily the natural wonders of the area are the Cooling Waterfalls of Palenque and the Cenotes at Merida.
On our first night in Palenque, all 16 of us ended up around the pool of a neibouring hotel, then eating on the balcony of ours. It gets a little mad here!.. firstly Anna-maria, David and I found a particular breed of mexican break dancing bee! thats right, they were spinning on thier backs on our balcony tiles, in a way that I can´t describe any other way than as break dancing, and yes Palenque is the kind of no-where town that has you entertained by insects of an evening in the heat!
But don´t worry, as soon as the break dancing bees lost their appeal something really crazy happened. An Incredibly viscious dog fight broke out in the street, between two dogs on their evening walk with a lady owner, and a big dog with a man.
It was horrible it was as though they were fighting to the death! the poor lady could do nothing to get the big dog from malling her two... we all stood there not knowing what to do. Not David, the crazy man ended up running down with a towel smacking it at the big dog, I ran out close behind to try and get him out of there knowing that he had had no travel shots, Milton close behind me to try and get him out too! it looked as though one of the dogs had died, the poor lady devastated, it turns out her dog was just playing dead. David returned with a blood soaked towel and the new name of Dog whisperer!
that was our excitement for that evening.

The palenque waterfalls

So beautifull.
I have no photos of these, as I decided to have a camera free day and enjoy the falls.
We all swam against powerfull currents to dive underneath jungle waterfalls. We saw Howler Monkeys having a seista in the trees after thier Dessayuno (breakfast). also did a cave walk deep into a cave behind a large waterfall and had Bats poo on us. Do you tink it is good luck?

The last Waterfall that we stopped at on that day was a huge very tourist group of pools and falls, with ropes to swing off and restaurants, there were dogs everywhere and Kids selling Mango and Bananas from the Baskets on their heads. The mexican children I will always remember for their keen sales tactics and persistence.

A local guy at the waterfall Impressed us with his high dives and stunts into a very heavy flowing pool at the bottom of a fall. The loco muchacho was wearing his very heavy jeans and loved showing off for us... no surprises David decided to try and match his stunts, as you can imagine he ended up with a very grazed Pompitas (bum).

The next day we visited the Palenque Mayan ruins. So Impressive to see in real life.
the most Interesting part for me was hearing of the Queens tomb being uncovered reavealing that a servant girl and young child had been trapped in their while they were tending to her grave, and therefore died.
In the evening we went to a jungle restaurant and were entertained my drummers and fire dancers. SO VERY JUNGLE!

MERIDA
Ah, let me tell you of the Beautiful Cenotes. One of the Highlights of my entire trip.
These are Underground freshwater Springs, you get to them behind horses that pull a cart on a track. I can´t remember what these are called, it was a nice experience to travel this way through the jungle, with Butterflies dancing around and seeing local communities of mud houses with not more than a few hammocks hanging inside.

The cenotes are amazing, you carefully make your way down a ladder or some steps, under the rocky earth to find massive Aqua pools, so deep and so refreshing.
with massive roots of trees hanging down to the water, and the only light coming in from the holes in the earth above.
Little Chicken me even Jumped off a high platform into one a few times!

when the perfect day was ending we boarded some Mayan motor, like a tuc tuc peddled my Mexicans, back to our transport.

well, thats about all I can handle of this stinking hot internet cafe.

next update will be gloomy... the Carribean! Playa Carmen... the last stop in my first love...MEXICO!

Upon rereading this, fixing my key board dislexia I realise... I left something so cool out! Our last evening in Merida Milton took us to this great little Salsa Studio for lessons.. It ws Hot and muggy, the rain was pouring outside we had an absolute Ball.. the georgous Instructor taught us some really cool steps, and did the whole thing in Spanish.. leaving the words.. and rythm un dos tres, cinco seis siete in our minds for the days to follow. I wish I had more days in Merida to learn more of this amazing saucy dance.

´´IM A GRINGO, IM A GRINGO´´

Ok just a quick one. Will be running back to catch my bus any minute now!!

But I have to tell you...
The other day I was on a 14 hr chicken bus journey form Comayagua-Honduras to Granada-Nicaragua, thats 6 different crammed crazy colourful ex american school busses with people yelling and Latin music blarring. myself and two locals to one tiny Seat. backpack strapped on top! LUUUUXXURY!

So about bus station number 4, which is just a dirt square in a town.
I jumped off the bus and headed straight to make sure my pack was headed in the right direction... I couldn´t see it anywhere.. getting a little worried, my eyes scan the place rapidly, they stop to see a local boy with my massive Pack strapped on twirling around and shouting ´´Im A gringo Im A Gringo!´´. HAHA



I managed to get a shot of him, but long after my pack was safetly (what is safetly in these parts) strapped on top of the next bus.

love to all.. Im off to isla Omepete lago de Nicaragua, where I will be staying in a hut on the lake. Just me a hammock and long hours of catching this blog up!