Hello there, since we last spoke it has been quite an eventful time. I have escaped the sort-of cold of mexico city and am now writing to you from marvellously hot Mulegé on the east coast of the baja peninsula. So what has occurred between times you ask?
I tell you: I arrived into Los Cabos on the point of the peninsula and immediately caught a bus to La Paz a few hours north to escape the price escalating and Brandon infuriating american vortex that exists around Cabo San Lucas. So, on arrival in La Paz, annoying english girl in tow, we found ourselves a nice little place to stay and booked ourselves in for a trip the next day to the outer islands of a smaller peninsula coming off near La Paz. THE TRIP WAS AWESOME! I swam with either seals or sea lions (I´m still not convinced I or anyone else can tell me the difference) and spent the ay cavorting on isolated beaches with crystal clear water. The seals were amazing and so friendly and curious. One of them spent a little while play gnawing on my flipper just like a puppy would. So cool. On the way back we were escorted by a frienly group of dolphins and also saw a whole bunch of flying fish, rays and some more seals/whatever were thrown in just for good measure. In the end our boat ran out of fuel and we had to be dropped off at a different beach. Shame. The beach itself was gorgeous and so were the beers. Good times. This was then unfortunately followed by a self important canadian ¨traveler, not a tourist¨(his words) who irritated everyone for the rest of the night at the hostel. Oh, and I managed to get two, one litre cups full of beer back to the hostel a good 600m walk away without spilling a drop. If this medicine thing doesn't work out I can probably still get a job as a beer wench in munich. May have to shave off the beard though. Or not I guess, if it's one of a ¨different¨sort of clubs. Anyway, not important.
So, busted a move from La Paz to Loreto yesterday, and then to Mulegé today, because Loreto was overpriced and fairly soulless I thought. Did have probably the most amazing road scenery I have ever seen on its' way in though. Just spectacular.
Good, so Mulegé is a town of about 4000, with an old jesuit mission and is reported to be the prettiest town in Baja. Dunno- it is pretty amazing, but again, that's a pretty big call. Off tomorrow to do more snorkeling (the diving part was full) which should be great too. I am running out of time though. Boo. I need to be in LA on the 5th, and this will either mean one big long haul bus trip from somewhere near here or a few shorter ones with less time in each place. Neither are super appealing but I guess if that's my biggest problem then things are going ok.
I'll try and get some photos up but if I can't, then you'll just have to wait until after the 7th when I get home and you buy me a beer.
Later Dudes
Brandon
Friday, October 31, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Oh yeah...
As it turns out, this blog may actually have something to do with Mr Obama: I am crossing the border on the day of the election. Craziness.
To Baja!
So it has finally been decided and I have now boked it. I have a flight tomorrow from here in mexico city to Los Cabos at the bottom of ´the finger´of baja mexico. I will then proceed to make my way up the peninsula before crossing the border at tijuana/san diego on the 5th. Sweet.
So, what have been doing of late you may ask? Well, here goes,
Arrived into mexico city on friday after a rather uninteresting bus trip from palenque. Mexico city has been amazing and a really interesting city which I would love to have more time in. I don't. The gastro I have had has also been rather amazing, but I am glad that my time with IT is drawing to a close.
So on friday I went to a mexican LUCHA LIBRE wrestling exhibition, and it was AWESOME. Think three big sweaty mexican men in budgie smugglers and masks fighting another three guys who are apparently the bad guys and throw in a midget in a monkey suit who gets kicked in the groin and you are getting somewhat close to understanding the night. It was so ridiculous it was excellent. There are apparently three rules in wrestling:
1 No kicking in the groin.
2 no touching the masks of other wrestlers
3 Something about being out of the ring.
None of these applied at any point during the night. Of course, it is all fake.But, like I said, so ridiculous it was awesome. Awesome!!!!
Saturday and sunday have been spent trotting around town going to various museums and checking out the town itslef which is quite fascinating. There is a real sort of undercurrent of absurdity and bizarreness that makes this place really interesting. The artworks and museums on show too are world class and I wish I had more time here.
2nd of November: Promises to be great. It is the Dia de los Muertos or the day of the dead, and is the day when everyone goes to the cemetary and decorates it with fñlowers and skeletons and mariachis play in the cemetary as well and should be great. I'll let you know how it goes.
Oh, and I went to some more ruins today. Again quite amazing, but not of that much interest in the scope of this blog I don't think.
I don't know if there is much more to add really...
No, can't think of anything more. Hope you're all well,
Brandon
Oh yeah, I need a hat. Not much for you to worry yourselves with though really is it?
So, what have been doing of late you may ask? Well, here goes,
Arrived into mexico city on friday after a rather uninteresting bus trip from palenque. Mexico city has been amazing and a really interesting city which I would love to have more time in. I don't. The gastro I have had has also been rather amazing, but I am glad that my time with IT is drawing to a close.
So on friday I went to a mexican LUCHA LIBRE wrestling exhibition, and it was AWESOME. Think three big sweaty mexican men in budgie smugglers and masks fighting another three guys who are apparently the bad guys and throw in a midget in a monkey suit who gets kicked in the groin and you are getting somewhat close to understanding the night. It was so ridiculous it was excellent. There are apparently three rules in wrestling:
1 No kicking in the groin.
2 no touching the masks of other wrestlers
3 Something about being out of the ring.
None of these applied at any point during the night. Of course, it is all fake.But, like I said, so ridiculous it was awesome. Awesome!!!!
Saturday and sunday have been spent trotting around town going to various museums and checking out the town itslef which is quite fascinating. There is a real sort of undercurrent of absurdity and bizarreness that makes this place really interesting. The artworks and museums on show too are world class and I wish I had more time here.
2nd of November: Promises to be great. It is the Dia de los Muertos or the day of the dead, and is the day when everyone goes to the cemetary and decorates it with fñlowers and skeletons and mariachis play in the cemetary as well and should be great. I'll let you know how it goes.
Oh, and I went to some more ruins today. Again quite amazing, but not of that much interest in the scope of this blog I don't think.
I don't know if there is much more to add really...
No, can't think of anything more. Hope you're all well,
Brandon
Oh yeah, I need a hat. Not much for you to worry yourselves with though really is it?
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
To Baja or not to Baja?
Alright?
Nothing reall of note in the last few days, went to tikal which was a mayan ruin which was awesome, and then again to another in palenque, now that I'm in mexico. Yesterday was another travelling day, and tomorrow I'm headed off to Agua Azul, a waterfally type of thing near here with different levels of waters and blue water and stuff. I would describe it more interestingly if it wasn't so hot in this internet cafe. But it is. Hot.
Anyway, then after that I'll be making my way on a overnight bus. I am told the buses in mexico are the taj mahals of buses so I am quite excited about the comfort in which I am soon to travel. Also a little confused why anyone would use buses and the taj mahal in an analogy. Stupid Brandon.
Anyway, where to after that remains at this stage a mystery. I would love to spend a bit of time on the capital, then maybe head to some of the western highland cities like guanajuato and zacatecas and guadelajara but time is running out somewhat. I think now, as the title suggests that I may get a flight to cabo san lucas at the point of baja california (the big finger looking thing)and then make my way up from there. Which is in itself quite a long way. Early days yet though so we'll just have to hold our collective breaths and see whee I go. I know, again another cliffhanger to leave you with...
Righto then, hope you're all well,
Brandon
Nothing reall of note in the last few days, went to tikal which was a mayan ruin which was awesome, and then again to another in palenque, now that I'm in mexico. Yesterday was another travelling day, and tomorrow I'm headed off to Agua Azul, a waterfally type of thing near here with different levels of waters and blue water and stuff. I would describe it more interestingly if it wasn't so hot in this internet cafe. But it is. Hot.
Anyway, then after that I'll be making my way on a overnight bus. I am told the buses in mexico are the taj mahals of buses so I am quite excited about the comfort in which I am soon to travel. Also a little confused why anyone would use buses and the taj mahal in an analogy. Stupid Brandon.
Anyway, where to after that remains at this stage a mystery. I would love to spend a bit of time on the capital, then maybe head to some of the western highland cities like guanajuato and zacatecas and guadelajara but time is running out somewhat. I think now, as the title suggests that I may get a flight to cabo san lucas at the point of baja california (the big finger looking thing)and then make my way up from there. Which is in itself quite a long way. Early days yet though so we'll just have to hold our collective breaths and see whee I go. I know, again another cliffhanger to leave you with...
Righto then, hope you're all well,
Brandon
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Rainfest 2008
Hello there everyone (or those who are still interested).
As you may have guessed from the title it is raining quite a lot. Blame omar. Tropical storm cum nemesis. He has put the carbosh on many of my plans of late and I am starting to grow quite tired of his tomfoolery.
Kate and I left Antigua on friday in order to visit the caves and waterfalls of Semuc Champey and Lanquin, in Guatemala's middle/north. So we caught a bus at 5 to get there at 1 in the afternoon. When we found out that the caves and the falls were closed BECAUSE OF OMAR, we thought it mildly annoying but nothing to get too upset about. After all, we could just get a bus to Flores to go and see tikal the next day. So we did. Only the trip took a bit longer than expected because the road was flooded and cars couldn't pass. Meaning we had to wait for the bus coming the other direction to come to the same conclusion as us (ie that trying was impossible and that maybe we should all just swap buses on the opposite sides of the river thingy), then cross the river refugee styles with our bags on and our shoes off and our pants looking decidedly like those seen on an afl field. Quite fun really. That and the cold lasagne given us by some lovely guatemalan ladies and the encounter with the french people who had driven their caravan from france to cape town then caught a barge type thing with it to south america and then driven as far as guatemala and we had quite an interesting few hours. Just to add a bit of spice there was also the addition of the always painful gang of israelis in our bus. Fun times.
Oh, the other bit about Lanquin: when we arrived into town there was a large crowd of folks milling around the court house and the police station. Weird. Only when we got down to the place we were staying we found out the real reason: a group of five men had held up a car (we think) and somehow managed to get away with about 10 grand equivalent in aussie dollars, and then three of the guys of the five had been caught. So, the lovely folk were standing around waiting to get their hands on them to beat, lynch and burn them. Which they did to at least one. Grisly. So, needless to say the last fw days have been quite an insight into the place and what can go on. I can´t imagine the frustration some of these people must have with thieves and others who are making their country such a dangerous place to live, because for the most part the people are quite lovely, yet if you read the newspapers the first five pages or so are filled EVERY DAY with stories of murder, rape and robberies. And this isn't just in the capital. It kind of is shocking to sometimes be snapped out of our friendly happy tourist bubble by the things that occur around us and realise just what is actually going on.
But enough about that. The rain, it seems, has made a decision for me. Tomorrow night I was going to have to decide whether to go into mexico north west to San Cristobal or North east via belize and up to the beaches immediately. But, the rain has blocked all roads into belize. So, north west here I come! Kate heads off home on tuesday, so we will need to have a super excellent day tomorrow at the ruins. Hopefully the rain won't put too much of a dampener on things at the site and will encourage the animals to be a bit more forthcoming. Not the jaguars though, if they could perhaps remain in the jungle and not eating me then that qould be perfect.
Alright then! I think I'm done for now, if anyone has any travelling suggestions for southern mexico then please let me know (it won't surprise you to hear dear reader that I haven't really done any research into it the area yet- I'm sure there'll be heaps for me to find up there). Otherwise, next time I will be speaking to you my hat will be considerably larger and I will be strongly considering trimming my beard to a mexican style moustache.
Brandon
As you may have guessed from the title it is raining quite a lot. Blame omar. Tropical storm cum nemesis. He has put the carbosh on many of my plans of late and I am starting to grow quite tired of his tomfoolery.
Kate and I left Antigua on friday in order to visit the caves and waterfalls of Semuc Champey and Lanquin, in Guatemala's middle/north. So we caught a bus at 5 to get there at 1 in the afternoon. When we found out that the caves and the falls were closed BECAUSE OF OMAR, we thought it mildly annoying but nothing to get too upset about. After all, we could just get a bus to Flores to go and see tikal the next day. So we did. Only the trip took a bit longer than expected because the road was flooded and cars couldn't pass. Meaning we had to wait for the bus coming the other direction to come to the same conclusion as us (ie that trying was impossible and that maybe we should all just swap buses on the opposite sides of the river thingy), then cross the river refugee styles with our bags on and our shoes off and our pants looking decidedly like those seen on an afl field. Quite fun really. That and the cold lasagne given us by some lovely guatemalan ladies and the encounter with the french people who had driven their caravan from france to cape town then caught a barge type thing with it to south america and then driven as far as guatemala and we had quite an interesting few hours. Just to add a bit of spice there was also the addition of the always painful gang of israelis in our bus. Fun times.
Oh, the other bit about Lanquin: when we arrived into town there was a large crowd of folks milling around the court house and the police station. Weird. Only when we got down to the place we were staying we found out the real reason: a group of five men had held up a car (we think) and somehow managed to get away with about 10 grand equivalent in aussie dollars, and then three of the guys of the five had been caught. So, the lovely folk were standing around waiting to get their hands on them to beat, lynch and burn them. Which they did to at least one. Grisly. So, needless to say the last fw days have been quite an insight into the place and what can go on. I can´t imagine the frustration some of these people must have with thieves and others who are making their country such a dangerous place to live, because for the most part the people are quite lovely, yet if you read the newspapers the first five pages or so are filled EVERY DAY with stories of murder, rape and robberies. And this isn't just in the capital. It kind of is shocking to sometimes be snapped out of our friendly happy tourist bubble by the things that occur around us and realise just what is actually going on.
But enough about that. The rain, it seems, has made a decision for me. Tomorrow night I was going to have to decide whether to go into mexico north west to San Cristobal or North east via belize and up to the beaches immediately. But, the rain has blocked all roads into belize. So, north west here I come! Kate heads off home on tuesday, so we will need to have a super excellent day tomorrow at the ruins. Hopefully the rain won't put too much of a dampener on things at the site and will encourage the animals to be a bit more forthcoming. Not the jaguars though, if they could perhaps remain in the jungle and not eating me then that qould be perfect.
Alright then! I think I'm done for now, if anyone has any travelling suggestions for southern mexico then please let me know (it won't surprise you to hear dear reader that I haven't really done any research into it the area yet- I'm sure there'll be heaps for me to find up there). Otherwise, next time I will be speaking to you my hat will be considerably larger and I will be strongly considering trimming my beard to a mexican style moustache.
Brandon
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Emo Beach, far away in time...emo beach, far away in time...
Aha! I caught you looking at my blog! (I figured I may as well drop the pretense now and just call it mine, because, in reality, the girls are never going to write in it) So it's mine! All mine! Muhahaha!
Right, so now that I am dictator for life of this amazing piece of virtual detritus I feel a little more free to take part in ¨cleansing¨of the truth in order to make for better stories and ¨truth reallocation¨to allow for less incrimination of your one true leader.
So anyway, we headed down to the beach on thursday and friday nights. Not that interesting you may say... But it was for a number of reasons: (also, it is our new gracious and benevolent leader's prerogative to include more dot points and numbered items to allow for ease of writing).
1) There were fireflies! First time ever the father of this blog has seen them. Pretty damn amazing when you're sitting outside an internet cafe/shed at 6 at night drinking luke warm Gallos in near 30 degree heat and 90% humidity and not expecting them. Not just a few though, oh no, there were many.
2) The sand at this particular beach is black (the author is not racist). The sand is also very hot. Hot hot. The sand's blackness also led us to christen this place emo beach (far away in time...) I hope that song is in your head now because it's in mine.
3) We picked coconuts off trees and then made rum and coconut cocktails. Awesome gear.
4) Mosquitos were plentiful. This is evidenced by the large numbers of bites on both maie and kate's persons. My person however remains unscathed. I am more than a little happy about this. I may however cop some wrath for my gloating. Seems worth it somehow.
5) The guy who was supposed to pick us up was an hour late, not remarkable in itself but leads me onto...
The FOOTBALL!
1) Our man was late. Fine. We had to get back by four to catch the bus with the group of people from the spanish school that we were supposed to go with. We missed this bus because of our man's lateness. Frown.
2) We told the driver to go a bit faster but not too fast. He unfortunately interpreted this as please only drive at 70km an hour. Frown.
3) I think he hated me. That's fine.
4) So we got back to antigua and tried to organise another bus to get to the stadium for cheaper because it was our man´s fault we missed the bus. We got another bus but not cheaper. They don't really care if they keep us as customers, and fair enough too. I wouldn't either.
5) We made it to the football and the atmosphere was great. We had only a couple of minutes before kick off but the crowd was great and we were seriously in the minority by not waering the Guatemalan team's jersey.
6) Nil all draw. Good game though.
7) Riot police. Awesome.
8) Flares. Fun.
9) Calling people Hijo de puta. Fun.
10) Screaming Goooooooooooooooooooooool! Also fun, sometimes misplaced due to offside ruling. Still not unfun.
11) Had to meet up with the people we were supposed to be going back with in order to get back to antigua. Difficult. Anxiety inducing. Guatemala city has a very bad reputation and the prospect of wandering around town looking for a taxi or bus at 11 on saturday night with us three obvioulsy not fitting in was not in the least enticing.
12) We found the chumps. Smile!
So, now we're back here in Antigua for the day before our last week of clinic and lessons before heading off on more trips etc. Maie is heading off home on Friday via San Fran, and Kate is leaving on the 21st leaving your intrepid correspondent to revel in mexico and perhaps even belize on his own before trying to meet up with our kiwi buddies in either playa del carmen or somewhere along the carribean coast for some diving and sun/sombrero time.
Am still yet to get a cool hat though. I tried on a panama hat but wasn't really into it. Just what hat will I get? Tune in next episode, perhaps there will be an answer. (Wow, what a cliffhanger to leave you with...)
I hope everyone is well and I look forward to hearing from you if you get the chance. Can you all also try and rescue the australian dollar? The new exchange rates aren't really doing it for me. Go on, do it.
Brandon
Right, so now that I am dictator for life of this amazing piece of virtual detritus I feel a little more free to take part in ¨cleansing¨of the truth in order to make for better stories and ¨truth reallocation¨to allow for less incrimination of your one true leader.
So anyway, we headed down to the beach on thursday and friday nights. Not that interesting you may say... But it was for a number of reasons: (also, it is our new gracious and benevolent leader's prerogative to include more dot points and numbered items to allow for ease of writing).
1) There were fireflies! First time ever the father of this blog has seen them. Pretty damn amazing when you're sitting outside an internet cafe/shed at 6 at night drinking luke warm Gallos in near 30 degree heat and 90% humidity and not expecting them. Not just a few though, oh no, there were many.
2) The sand at this particular beach is black (the author is not racist). The sand is also very hot. Hot hot. The sand's blackness also led us to christen this place emo beach (far away in time...) I hope that song is in your head now because it's in mine.
3) We picked coconuts off trees and then made rum and coconut cocktails. Awesome gear.
4) Mosquitos were plentiful. This is evidenced by the large numbers of bites on both maie and kate's persons. My person however remains unscathed. I am more than a little happy about this. I may however cop some wrath for my gloating. Seems worth it somehow.
5) The guy who was supposed to pick us up was an hour late, not remarkable in itself but leads me onto...
The FOOTBALL!
1) Our man was late. Fine. We had to get back by four to catch the bus with the group of people from the spanish school that we were supposed to go with. We missed this bus because of our man's lateness. Frown.
2) We told the driver to go a bit faster but not too fast. He unfortunately interpreted this as please only drive at 70km an hour. Frown.
3) I think he hated me. That's fine.
4) So we got back to antigua and tried to organise another bus to get to the stadium for cheaper because it was our man´s fault we missed the bus. We got another bus but not cheaper. They don't really care if they keep us as customers, and fair enough too. I wouldn't either.
5) We made it to the football and the atmosphere was great. We had only a couple of minutes before kick off but the crowd was great and we were seriously in the minority by not waering the Guatemalan team's jersey.
6) Nil all draw. Good game though.
7) Riot police. Awesome.
8) Flares. Fun.
9) Calling people Hijo de puta. Fun.
10) Screaming Goooooooooooooooooooooool! Also fun, sometimes misplaced due to offside ruling. Still not unfun.
11) Had to meet up with the people we were supposed to be going back with in order to get back to antigua. Difficult. Anxiety inducing. Guatemala city has a very bad reputation and the prospect of wandering around town looking for a taxi or bus at 11 on saturday night with us three obvioulsy not fitting in was not in the least enticing.
12) We found the chumps. Smile!
So, now we're back here in Antigua for the day before our last week of clinic and lessons before heading off on more trips etc. Maie is heading off home on Friday via San Fran, and Kate is leaving on the 21st leaving your intrepid correspondent to revel in mexico and perhaps even belize on his own before trying to meet up with our kiwi buddies in either playa del carmen or somewhere along the carribean coast for some diving and sun/sombrero time.
Am still yet to get a cool hat though. I tried on a panama hat but wasn't really into it. Just what hat will I get? Tune in next episode, perhaps there will be an answer. (Wow, what a cliffhanger to leave you with...)
I hope everyone is well and I look forward to hearing from you if you get the chance. Can you all also try and rescue the australian dollar? The new exchange rates aren't really doing it for me. Go on, do it.
Brandon
Monday, October 6, 2008
El Lago de los perros y hoteles baratos
Hello friskies!
UPDATE!
So we took off on friday afternoon from here (antigua) to head up to Lago de Atitlan which is a volcanic lake about 2 and half hours away for the weekend. As we were leaving hopes weren´t high for the weather for the weekend, what with a visibility of around ten metres on the windy uppy and downy road to the lake. However, 2.5 hours and one sleeping japanese gentleman on my shoulder later and we arrived to the lakeside town of Panajachel. Fairly non descript, realy but some glimpses of the lake could be seen and we thought that if the fog/rain did at all lift then it could actually be quite beautiful. Anyway, we took a ferry across the lake to a town on the other side where; one soft drink, a friendly dog and some aimless wandering later we found our hotel. We decided to stay at this place for a few reasons:
1 We saw it.
2 It was in front of us.
3 It looked like it would have lake views.
So, long story short the hotel was gorgeous and we splurged a little and ended up getting a suite with awesome lake views for 20 bucks each per night (ie half the price of the crapulous hostel in LA). Sweet.
The lake was really quite beautiful as it turned out, with three volcanoes on its´shores and clear, if somewhat polluted water (I know that´s a contradiction but it´s my/our blog, not yours. If you want make your own and change it. Maybe put some cowboys in too, because they´re pretty cool).
Anyway, minutiae of our weekend aside- kayaks, hot showers, sleep ins, gin and tonics and fresh air were enjoyed by all. Woo.
Back in Antigua again now but not for very much longer this week. We have wednesday and thursday off from the clinic this week and we´re going to head somewhere on thursday arvo for a few days before coming back to watch the world cup qualifier between guatemala and trinidad and tobago. How three countries are going to be playing at the same time is kind of confusing though... They´re crazy in the tropics.
Right, erm otherwise, some of you have been requesting some Rodney P and I can tell you that as DJ of this blogotron I can program some for you now. So: he´s well and lives down the road (about 100m) from amoeba records. So yeah, but he´s enjoying LA by the sounds and seems to be working pretty hard at shopzilla and is quite happy and settled into the whole place. As any good resident of LA, he also seems to be developing an aversion to walking places. He also bought me lots of beers and then drove me home. Can´t ask for much more really. Except perhaps a bar with more sports screens. There´s not enough of those in LA.
In other news, photos are on their way and should be up about... then. Keep an eye out.
Oh, and I saw a lady today who had been shot through the face and through the abdomen about a month ago, and the first bullet exited through her neck and the second through her back and neither had actually even hit any nerves or blood vessels or anything. It does however appear that she has appendicitis. Way to be incredibly lucky and unlucky at the same time, lady.
In other news, French Canadians still amuse me. They speak all languages funny. Ha.
To follow: a series of dot points for me to wax lyrical:
1 Blogs are sweet.
2 Our driver Victor did very well to get us to the lake and back on what turned out, in retrospect, to be VERY bald tires. Onya Victor.
3 The drinking coffee thing isn´t going so well. I had one the other day and it was burnt, it the burnt my mouth, and then proceeded to leave me jiggly for the rest of the afternoon with what can only be described as arse-breath for company. I´m still, clearly not sold on the whole thing yet. I did have a hot chocolate today though. They´re awesome. But also for six year olds. Damn.
4 Mexico excites me. In a sexy way. Also in a I´m going to go there and drink beer and go to the beach kind of way. Which I think is kind of sexy.
5 My beard excites me. In a sexy way.
6 That´s all for now.
UPDATE!
So we took off on friday afternoon from here (antigua) to head up to Lago de Atitlan which is a volcanic lake about 2 and half hours away for the weekend. As we were leaving hopes weren´t high for the weather for the weekend, what with a visibility of around ten metres on the windy uppy and downy road to the lake. However, 2.5 hours and one sleeping japanese gentleman on my shoulder later and we arrived to the lakeside town of Panajachel. Fairly non descript, realy but some glimpses of the lake could be seen and we thought that if the fog/rain did at all lift then it could actually be quite beautiful. Anyway, we took a ferry across the lake to a town on the other side where; one soft drink, a friendly dog and some aimless wandering later we found our hotel. We decided to stay at this place for a few reasons:
1 We saw it.
2 It was in front of us.
3 It looked like it would have lake views.
So, long story short the hotel was gorgeous and we splurged a little and ended up getting a suite with awesome lake views for 20 bucks each per night (ie half the price of the crapulous hostel in LA). Sweet.
The lake was really quite beautiful as it turned out, with three volcanoes on its´shores and clear, if somewhat polluted water (I know that´s a contradiction but it´s my/our blog, not yours. If you want make your own and change it. Maybe put some cowboys in too, because they´re pretty cool).
Anyway, minutiae of our weekend aside- kayaks, hot showers, sleep ins, gin and tonics and fresh air were enjoyed by all. Woo.
Back in Antigua again now but not for very much longer this week. We have wednesday and thursday off from the clinic this week and we´re going to head somewhere on thursday arvo for a few days before coming back to watch the world cup qualifier between guatemala and trinidad and tobago. How three countries are going to be playing at the same time is kind of confusing though... They´re crazy in the tropics.
Right, erm otherwise, some of you have been requesting some Rodney P and I can tell you that as DJ of this blogotron I can program some for you now. So: he´s well and lives down the road (about 100m) from amoeba records. So yeah, but he´s enjoying LA by the sounds and seems to be working pretty hard at shopzilla and is quite happy and settled into the whole place. As any good resident of LA, he also seems to be developing an aversion to walking places. He also bought me lots of beers and then drove me home. Can´t ask for much more really. Except perhaps a bar with more sports screens. There´s not enough of those in LA.
In other news, photos are on their way and should be up about... then. Keep an eye out.
Oh, and I saw a lady today who had been shot through the face and through the abdomen about a month ago, and the first bullet exited through her neck and the second through her back and neither had actually even hit any nerves or blood vessels or anything. It does however appear that she has appendicitis. Way to be incredibly lucky and unlucky at the same time, lady.
In other news, French Canadians still amuse me. They speak all languages funny. Ha.
To follow: a series of dot points for me to wax lyrical:
1 Blogs are sweet.
2 Our driver Victor did very well to get us to the lake and back on what turned out, in retrospect, to be VERY bald tires. Onya Victor.
3 The drinking coffee thing isn´t going so well. I had one the other day and it was burnt, it the burnt my mouth, and then proceeded to leave me jiggly for the rest of the afternoon with what can only be described as arse-breath for company. I´m still, clearly not sold on the whole thing yet. I did have a hot chocolate today though. They´re awesome. But also for six year olds. Damn.
4 Mexico excites me. In a sexy way. Also in a I´m going to go there and drink beer and go to the beach kind of way. Which I think is kind of sexy.
5 My beard excites me. In a sexy way.
6 That´s all for now.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Ojos Rojos
So, another day, more confusion for my already struggling internal body clock. I was just getting into the whole ¨sleeping at night time¨ bit again when it was time to get back on a plane that left LA at 2 in the morning to fly down to guatemala. So now I think I´m on african time or something. Maybe I´ll buy one of those man dress things they wear. That´d be cool.
Hmmm, anyway, now I´m in Antigua, Guatemala.
Maybe one of those dress thing wouldn´t be cool... I can never tell.
Antigua is the town in Guatemala where we´re staying and it seems really nice, if a bit touristy. But then we are tourists so it should work fairly well I think. The town is set in the middle of three volcanoes, two dormant, one active, and what seems to be a considerable amount of mist. The town was capital of Guatemala quite a while ago but was moved a little bit after that when an earthquake happened at some stage. So there are now some ruins and old buildings knocking about from some time ago. Ish. And yeah, I quite like it so far which is all that really matters. I wouldn´t be devastaed if the rain stopped though.
Anyway, starting at the hospiatl tomorrow which should be interesteing and we´re going to be squeezing some sapnish lesons in amongst things as well which will be great. It´s fantastic to be speaking spanish again and the girls are quite excited about learning themselves. So, not the most coherent, nor interesting post I´ll be the first to admit, but there you have it. It can´t all be mountains and misty old streets. Oh wait...
Brandon, and the other two who are also sometimes present.
Hmmm, anyway, now I´m in Antigua, Guatemala.
Maybe one of those dress thing wouldn´t be cool... I can never tell.
Antigua is the town in Guatemala where we´re staying and it seems really nice, if a bit touristy. But then we are tourists so it should work fairly well I think. The town is set in the middle of three volcanoes, two dormant, one active, and what seems to be a considerable amount of mist. The town was capital of Guatemala quite a while ago but was moved a little bit after that when an earthquake happened at some stage. So there are now some ruins and old buildings knocking about from some time ago. Ish. And yeah, I quite like it so far which is all that really matters. I wouldn´t be devastaed if the rain stopped though.
Anyway, starting at the hospiatl tomorrow which should be interesteing and we´re going to be squeezing some sapnish lesons in amongst things as well which will be great. It´s fantastic to be speaking spanish again and the girls are quite excited about learning themselves. So, not the most coherent, nor interesting post I´ll be the first to admit, but there you have it. It can´t all be mountains and misty old streets. Oh wait...
Brandon, and the other two who are also sometimes present.
Friday, September 26, 2008
The Fat of the Land
Hello friendlies. The first in many amazing blogs to come. I figured that if you wanted to read about our crap and see our photos then you would come here rather than have me bombard email boxes and myface etc with our photos and associated traveeling nonsense. So, if you are here, then this is a good start. If you're not, tell your friends. Or something.
So, the first bit is rather uneventful really. We flew over here to LA. Woo. Kate has tonsillitis. And lots of pus. Boo. Erm, otherwise there was disturbing news when I found out that wall-e wasn't going to be available on the plane for watching. Frown.
So, we are staying in Santa Monica in a hostel one street back from the big bit with the cliffs and the pier and the beach and the breasts of pamela anderson. You know the one.
A numberof observations:
1) There is a lot of excessive fuel use here. Heat lamp use when it's 18 degrees outside so that people can sit and have dinner in their T-shirts: check.
2) The town planners were asleep at the wheel. Space and travelling time were obviously not major considerations for these guys. Neither was planning a metro that was actually of any use to ANYONE.
3) Portion sizes reflect the state of the nations girth. People blow whistles and cheer for your gluttony.
4) Our room is ridiculously hot. And full of french canadians. Can they just decide which they want to be please?
5) Getty centre = awesome.
6) Three hours to get from santa monica to downtown is a little excessive.
So there we go. Tomorrow sees our intrepid explorers heading to Venice and muscle beach, perhaps on bicycles, perhaps not. Who can say? Us probably. Then to Guatemala tomorrow night!
Woo.
Brandon, Maie and Kate
So, the first bit is rather uneventful really. We flew over here to LA. Woo. Kate has tonsillitis. And lots of pus. Boo. Erm, otherwise there was disturbing news when I found out that wall-e wasn't going to be available on the plane for watching. Frown.
So, we are staying in Santa Monica in a hostel one street back from the big bit with the cliffs and the pier and the beach and the breasts of pamela anderson. You know the one.
A numberof observations:
1) There is a lot of excessive fuel use here. Heat lamp use when it's 18 degrees outside so that people can sit and have dinner in their T-shirts: check.
2) The town planners were asleep at the wheel. Space and travelling time were obviously not major considerations for these guys. Neither was planning a metro that was actually of any use to ANYONE.
3) Portion sizes reflect the state of the nations girth. People blow whistles and cheer for your gluttony.
4) Our room is ridiculously hot. And full of french canadians. Can they just decide which they want to be please?
5) Getty centre = awesome.
6) Three hours to get from santa monica to downtown is a little excessive.
So there we go. Tomorrow sees our intrepid explorers heading to Venice and muscle beach, perhaps on bicycles, perhaps not. Who can say? Us probably. Then to Guatemala tomorrow night!
Woo.
Brandon, Maie and Kate
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