Guatemala.

Soo many puntastic t-shirts in Guatemala, guat a great place.
We've been so removed from proper internet access for the last month that we haven't been able to update the blog sorry. I'm actually amazed that there is cellular coverage at all in the middle of the Guatemalan jungle.
We got into Panahachel on lake Atitlan after managing to figure out that we were on a bus to the wrong San Pedro in Guatemala, being dropped on the side of the road on top of a mountain with some vague Spanish instruction s on how to get to the lake. Two 'chicken' buses (1950's bluebird buses with crazy paint jobs, crazy passengers and even crazier drivers) later, after dark, and with a storm blowing in we went hunting for accommodation in Pana...
The next three weeks were spent living with a local family across the lake in San Pedro while we studied Spanish. Its incredible how fast you can learn a language when its all you hear, speak and study. The family were lovely and so good to us, feeding us well (probably too well...) and really helping with our learning.
All the pics are again out of sync, I can't figure out how to reorganise the seemingly random order the get uploaded in, doh.

Us with the family.

These are little cabanas that we studied in at the school.

Jumping off the viewing platform at San Marcos with our French Canadian buddy Peo.

The view from La Nariz del Indio (the Indian's nose).

The dock at Panahachel, this was our first look at the lake and volcanoes.

Three volcanoes from San Marcos. From left to right, volcanes San Pedro, Atitlan and Toliman.

Another shot from La Nariz.

Laura watching the sunset at San Marcos. 

A 'chicken' bus, or camioneta in Spanish, shot from the back of a ute, the other common form of transport in central America.

Volcanes Toliman and Atitlan from the top of volcan San Pedro.

A nice tree.

Us with Peo above Santa Clara.

View from the top of San Pedro. Its a solid hike, 2km of altitude gained in 2 hours or so on steep nasty trails. The 3.5 km altitude messes with your climbing abilities. Our guide was 71 years old and climbs the volcano every day, drinking nothing but coffee... Mayans are tough.

After the lake we headed to Antigua for a few days. Its a beautiful little city of ancient streets and buildings with the backdrop of a huge active volcano. There's only a few buildings left from the 1600's which haven't needed rebuilding due to constant earthquakes.

Antigua, you can just see the volcano through the clouds.

One of the original buildings still un-repaired.

Pupusas, tortillas made with meat cheese or beans inside. They're awesome, and this lot cost about 2 or 3 dollars all up.

Us in the ruins of the cathedral. Its being repaired but its been demolished 3 times from earthquakes, most 'recently' in the 1700's.

Note the earthquake induced 'al fresco' feel.

For about a month leading up to semana Santa (Easter) they have daily parades which last for hours and stop the whole city. Central America is seriously religious.

Ahm, yep...

Maya-catholic artwork gets a little creepy.

Last destination in Guatemala was Semuc Champey. We spent 15 hours getting there after a demonstration closed the main highway and the bus broke down. On the plus side we spent the time with some great New Yorkers, Ellen and Adam, and a really sweet Italian girl called Stella.

As we only got into Semuc at midnight, one of our first daylight experiences was heading into the caves.

The caving was all done by candle light with a guide and friends from the hostel. It involve a lot of one handed swimming, climbing, jumping, sliding and cursing each time you doused your candle.

Victory!

The view from our hostel.

Some local muchachos.

Cacao. Here's what your fancy chocolate looked like originally.

Semuc Champey is a freak of nature. An underground river feeds a series of huge crystal clear pools linked by waterfalls. Set in the Guatemalan Jungle with amazing animals (including howler monkeys, who were a little camera shy), it's an incredible sight. We spent two days exploring and swimming here.

The river actually flows under the pools. Apparently it was as crystal clear as the pools until a month ago when the government began damming for a hydro plant.

From the mirador.

The hostel, called utopia, was awesome.

Phew, finished, hopefully we can keep up from now on and avoid massive entries like this. Currently in Nicaragua after a week in el Salvador. On our way to pick up our van...

San Cristobal de las casas

After 13 hours on a bus, we arrived in San Cristobal in the Chiapas district of Mexico. This historic colonial town feels like a step back in time and, like many cities of Mexico, is at  a decent altitude (2200m). There is a large indigenous Mayan population in the city and surrounding hills who are beautiful but mostly speak local dialects and little Spanish. We rode up to a village called Chamula in the back of a collectivo (read literally the boot of a kombi, they really pack in the fares). Here we went to church Mayan style. Their faith here is a fusion of catholicism, Mayan rituals and superstitions. They have a  cathedral with a floor of pine needles and glass boxes with wax models saints in them adorning all the walls. The service consists of lighting different candles for specific purposes; illness, fertility etcetera, while a collection of indigenous instruments play and people wave cloistering incense around. At the end a brass band played and a guy set off a bunch of giant bottle rockets. Unfortunately there are no photos from that excursion. The Mayans are very superstitious and believe that a photograph steals a part of your soul. Needless to say, the camera stayed in the bag.

This is the inside courtyard in our hostel. Called La Puerta Vieja (the old door) its an ancient colonial building in the middle of the Centro.

The street outside. All the streets are cobbled, and quite a few are pedestrian only. As all the colonial streets are narrow, most streets in Mexico are one way.

This is the Real De Guadalupe, a sort of bohemian street, full of cafes,   art shops, trendy world people and kids trying to sell trinkets to them. There is actually a variety of good local coffee here, as opposed to nescafe like elsewhere in Mexico.

The local markets are unreal. Vibrant and colourful. A huge bag of fruit and vegies cost us about 30 pesos ($2.50).

In Mexico, If your car runs under its own power, after a push start, its considered roadworthy. At least that's what it seems like.

I've never seen so many kinds of beans. I guess you want some variety when they accompany every meal.

This is San Cristobal's Guadeloupe church. There seems to be one in every city. There are churches everywhere and they seem to run services all day, every day.

They take fence jumpers very seriously. I liked the colours in this fence. Its actually a really common sight to see yards walled in with cement topped with broken glass. Mexican ingenuity. 

I'm actually writing from San Pedro in Guatemala after we managed to find our way across the border and through the Guatemalan mountains to Lake Atitlan yesterday, but that's a whole other story. Bye...

Puerto Escondido and Chacahua

We're writing this one from San Cristobal de las casas, probably our last stop in Mexico but this spot needs a post to itself.
We spent 2 weeks in Puerto Escondido and Chacahua. The nights were hot and the days were stifling if you weren't in the shade. We absolutely loved this part of the pacific coast. Its balmy, friendly and tropical, with raw surf and amazing food and scenery.
The first 4 nights we spent at "La Punta" in Puerto. Then we took a taxi, a collectivo, another taxi, and then a fishing dinghy out to the remote peninsula called Chacahua. Finally we came back to Puerto and stayed on the main Playa Zicatela for a few night in town, on the beach...

La Punta is a really ramshackle surf town, full of taco stands and dirt streets. Every house has reo sticking out of the roof and at least 7 dogs. Needless to say this magnificent castle really fit the scene.

Our ramshackle rooftop lounge, note obligatory reo. We made some good friends here over a few beers and tequilas, eating homemade fish tacos and watching the sunset over the sea.

My new board! Made by local shaper Ody, its a 6'3" shortboard and goes incredibly.

Photos are a bit out of sync now, but here's me checking the surf from the door of our Cabana in Chacahua.

There's mountains for miles in every direction here, but the sea mist makes them hard to capture. The beach at Chacahua is glorious.

The boat to Chacahua. Amazing bird life and mangroves. We saw a big pink bird which I pointed out to the locals. They had no idea what it was either...

The sun set over the lagoon spectacularly every night and rose in the middle of the bay.

Our favourite tacos at the aptly, though perhaps too cryptically named "Fish taco and beer" restaurant in Zicatela.

Breaky at Chacahua. Staring at the sea.

There's a man in there. Zicatela started looking good for the last two days we were there, but I'd been too sick to surf. Then Laura got sick too, doh. Zicatela is hands down the heaviest wave I've ever seen, even at only 4 foot.

Around the corner was this place, Playa Carazilillo. It was absolutely gorgeous.

We will check in next from San Cristobal, seeya.