Hitchhiking with a substantial moe...

...is possible, but more about that later. So, i know its been a while. HEAPS of you have been emailing me, continually pestering me to update my blog - so here it is.

After spanish school in Xela (the cold place) rach and i moved on to San Pedro (also know as San pedo (by us)) for another two weeks of spanish school. During this time christmas and New years passed by with nothing much of note taking place. However, for christmas we tried to make some bean burgers (veggie special) and despite soaking the beans for 12 hours overnight, it still took 2 hours of ferocious boiling to half cook them (we should have taken the can option)-so we had half cooked/half falling apart bean burgers for christmas lunch. The salad was good though...

Antigua 6/10.

It was the old capital of Guatemala until it got destroyed in the 1700s by a volcanic erruption. The city was rebuilt and is of course older than any building in Australia, so it looks old (to us). We climbed an active volcano which had a massive erruption 6 months before. There is a natural sauna there, and a place you can roast marshmallows (the only person to do so was an american) and a pit which you could throw sticks into and they would catch on fire almost straight away (just to prove there was some heat down there). Other than that, just an old city with heaps of america tourists fresh off the cruise ships...

Monterrico 6/10.

A small town on the coast where people go to do nothing, because there is nothing to do. Actually, you can go on an ecological tour through a mozzie infested swamp, release a baby turtle into the surf for Q10 ($1.40), or burn your feet on the black sand at any time from 8am to 5pm. We also started up afternoon games of waterpolo which got quite aggressive (for some players), it was also the most our soccer ball had been used since its purchase.

ps. soccer ball is the best ice breaker in central america (and maybe about 80% of the world) everyone wants a piece of the action, from the school kid to the guy selling bus tickets. Everyone wants you to throw them the ball and have a bit of a juggle...its great!

Lanquin/Semuc Champey 9.5/10.

The best hostel i have stayed in. In the rainforest, with a river running past it, great dorms, sauna and a communal buffet every night brings everyone together in a really social environment. From Lanquin we did a tour of semuc champey (worth a google) we swam in through some caves (apparently they go back 12km) holding a candle each (mine went out about 15 times) and climbed up waterfalls, jumped off rocks, went down little slides and through random claustrophobic (?) sections, we did it with a group of 27 people which was really fun, made heaps of cool friends there...Afterwards went tubing down the rapids, jumped off a ripe swing and swam in the pools of semuc champey (the ones you are looking at on google right now). The second day we were there a swiss surfing fanatic showed us how the surf in switzerland. The tie a rope across the river, then attach a board (like a door) with a handle on it on a length of rope running down the river (worst description ever). End of story, you can stand up and kind of "surf" the river, it was fun...alos kind of lame, but didnt want to tell the enthused swiss that...

Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras 8/10.

9 bus connections, one ferry and 20 hours later we arrived at Utila. The second cheapest place on the planet (apparently) to do a scuba diving course. Sounded like a good offer, so we did it. Really good fun. Met some cool people on the ferry and one dude from lanquin came with us to form our own little group. Its sounds lame, but it really is another world down there. Everything is silent, you can only hear yourself breathing. Its really calm and peaceful and you can see some amazing creatures down there. heaps of weird creatures as well...We also went to our own private island for another divers birthday. good times. The day we were going to leave the ferry didnt turn up - so we hired bikes and went to find the legendary mini golf in the jungle. A stoned american dude has been building a putt-putt course for 3 years (bad investment i say) and what evolved is an impossibly difficult course which includes a fireman pole, fighting a crocodile, an undergroud cave and "surfing the ball in" on a pivoting board. He also has designed a "thing" to help people swim easily in the sea. It is basically a foam cut out of a whale, with a place for the rider to sit, who then opperates the tail and fins by using their arms and legs. looks like a hard way to swim. He said to look out for it on the internet in the next few months (danoz direct?). I said i would...

Rio Dulce 8/10.

We stayed in a sweet place right on the water, built by a bloke from Australia. We visited the only (apparently) hot waterfall in the world. The water flowing down is from a thermal spring and must be about 80C. seriously hot, and it makes a natural steam room under the waterfall. really cool/hot. Just down the road is a sweet little canyon which you can pay Q15 to have a little kid paddle you down in a dugout canoe. Pretty fun and only locals know about it (apparently) Oh yeah! Off the beaten track!

Tikal, Guatemala 9/10.

Google it. Awesome ruins. (I forgot this the first time and cant be bothered typing anymore)

Caye Caulker, Belize 7/10.

Its an Island and other than snorkel and smoke weed theres not much to do. We did some snorkelling with stingrays and nurse sharks and just lazed around for a few days. We also ate some awesome pineapple and banana cake.

Tulum, Mexico 7/10.

After 8 hours on the bus, i got into Tulum at 10pm. I asked some French dudes if they knew a good place to stay. Before i knew it i was in the back of some randoms ute (re: hitchhiking) and out to this little camp site on the beach. My home for the next few days was a little shack of sticks and leaves which bear grylls (and his 30 strong support crew) could have built is about 7 minutes. So i was living with some cool hippy folks about 9m from the water. Awesome!

I am now in Cancun. Rachel split and is now somewhere in Honduras. Im flying out to Cuba tomorrow, I really know nothing about it - so it should be a fun experience. I doubt il be on the internet for the next 10 days while over there. Then is back to Aus...looking forward to bbqing and playing cricket (not so much uni. ha) Anyway, im up to date - that should fend off the requests for a while. Hope life is great. Take it easy :) andy

ps. the moe is going from strength to strength. I have had 7 photos with people (all girls). Many compliments from blokes, and more high fives than i can count...life is good!