Monday, July 26, 2010

Oaxaca to Tulum

The overnight bus to Oaxaca was pretty nice actually. Big seats, good aircon and no crying babies. At one stage I woke up and saw this out the window:



Would really like to come back and do a hike through this area at some stage, very nice.

After some more great advice from the tourist info people I checked into the Paulina hostel. Probably the nicest hostel I have ever been in actually, more like a five star resort with dorms. After a great big free breakfast and watching the hummingbirds in the garden for a while I headed up to the Monte Alban ruins in the hills above town with Glendon, a Canadian guy who is riding his motorbike from Canada down to Patagonia.

Oaxaca:
Pretty nice ruins but poor Glendon was having a bit of stomach trouble, and of course there was no toilet paper anywhere, just lots of very rough looking leaves. note to self: buy toilet paper.

Caught a night bus to San Cristobal for a day of wandering around the Spanish colonial town centre and a night in another cool hostel:

Inside the dorm:
Then went out to a local bar with some girls from my room for a few beers and a really good cover band and then back to the hostel for a few bedtime shots of the Mezcal I bought in Oaxaca. (pretty much the same as tequila but because its not from the town of Tequila they have to call it something else).

Palenque was the next stop to see the ruins and spend a night in the jungle hippie camp at Panchan (well it was a hippie camp once upon a time but now its just a collection of cheap cabaƱa places and people with tattoos and dreadlocks). They did have a cool fire and drumming show though:


The ruins were impressive too, though it was so hot I had to rest every ten minutes:



Apparently this is a rabbit. Nice bunny....




Taking an apple break:

Another night bus to Tulum, this time second class to save some money, which I have been blowing like crazy so far. This time there was a baby, no aircon, and frequent "mystery stops" in the middle of nowhere. Also they love their speed bumps in Mexico, are they really necessary every ten kilometres on a highway???



Got hooked up with a nice little beach hut right on the sand in Tulum. Or in the sand I should say:

And settled in for an afternoon and night of shuddering walls and cascading sandshowers......

The ruins above the beach were cool though:


So this afternoon I`m off to go snorkelling in a cenote ( a cenote is a sinkhole in the limestone shelf that makes up the Yucatan peninsular. The whole peninsular is basically a honeycomb of caves and underground rivers, there is very little water sitting above ground) nearby and then down to Guatemala tomorrow for some more ruins at Tikal.......














Monday, July 19, 2010

Venice Beach and Mexico city

Sooooo........

After spending nearly three hours on the computer with beautiful sunshine beckoning me from outside I decided to go out and have a little look around Venice. The beach was absolutely packed and trust me it`s a big beach so that really means something.

I almost Grabbed this without thinking......


Lots of interesting people getting around just doing there thing, all sorts of crazy musicians and street perfomers and a really old guy (he must have been at least 70) riding around on a skateboard like he was surfing and falling off all the time. And also the venice beach freak show:

After that it was back to the hostel after a cheeseburger and fries for some beers with my scottish roommate Billy up on the rooftop balcony, watching the weirdness unfold below. Ended up going out to a club acroos the street for the night which was pretty cool until it closed at 2am, after opening at 11, and we could only get two beers each because the bar was so packed. While we were lining up we could see heaps of cop cars and ambulances down on the beach and a police chopper circling around with it`s spotlight frixed on something, looked pretty exciting.


After that it wasn`t really worth going to bed for two hours before my early flight so we hung out in the common room for some more drinks and some weird little pouches of salty tobacco that you put under your lip. Not the most delicious thing I`ve ever put in my mouth but the guy that had them said they are big in Sweden.


The flight was not fun with no sleep and a hangover but I was strangely impressed with the Pheonix airport that we stopped in halfway, very clean and modern indeed.

Arriving in Mexico city again with no accomodation but this time not really in the mood for adventures other than of the asleep kind I set about finding a place. A really nice surprise to find by far the best and most helpful tourist information set up I`ve ever seen. Got a nicely priced place for the night, info on attractions and sights and directions to the subway and to my Hostel all from the one hotel association booth. No dodgy selling at all, very nice.


The subway was only 30 cents, on time, well signposted (it was in spanish but still made sense) and no hassles at all. That was two ticks for Mexico already.


After a decent sleep (I don´t have a watch but it must have been at least 16 hours) it was up at lunch time for the tourist sightseeing bus around the city. Again I was impressed. This time it was a little more expensive at 11 dollars but it was hop on hop off double decker bus with three different routes, commentary via earphones in english and an open roof on the top deck. Nice.
National Monument
Into the Zocalo


Stopped in the Zocalo central square for a lunch of 7/11 hotdogs (at this stage thats all I`m confident ordering) and a peek in the cathedral and a few other interesting, mostly historical places on the way.

View of Mexico city from the Latin America tower



Feeling like a break from city living so tomorrow I`m off to Palenque (16 hr bus ride) to check out the jungle and ruins.

Adios!

Changed my mind I`m going to Oaxaca










Saturday, July 17, 2010

L.A. and Vegas

I'm currently sitting in my hostel room here in Venice beach, not far from the L.A. centre. Spent a few days in Hollywood and a night in Las vegas and am just chilling and organising before I fly out super early tomorrow morning. And so........






Flew into L.A. around 9 hours before I actually left Fiji (international dateline rocks!) and I kid you not, I could see the brown cloud before I could see land.




Upon landing though and walking around outside it's not really that bad on the ground, no worse than Melbourne on a bad day, and certainly better than parts af Cambodia and Vietnam.



My hostel was in Hollywood right on Hollywood Boulevard with the walk of fame and Kodak theatre (where the oscars are) just down the road.


Jimi you are my god





That day was the premiere of a new Leonardo Di Caprio movie so I trotted up the road as soon as I had a bed and spent the next two hours standing in the sun surrounded by shrieking teenage girls. The great man actually came right over to fence and was seriously like a metre away but of course my camera had died ten minutes earlier.



Anyway here is a limo and some peoples backs:






Early next morning was off to Vegas in a bus with barely passable aircon on without a doubt the hottest day of my life. Not sure what 110 degrees is in celsius but I was melting. At the bus station was a guy from Chicago who did a break dance for me for 2 bucks:







Was pretty pooped when I arrived and it was getting dark but after checking into my sweet pad it was off for a walk around.


The Mirage


With Volcano out the front.....


Fountains at the Bellagio





New York New York






After a dinner of chipotle (sooooo tasty mexican food) It was back out for some beers and to "see what happens".





What happened was that I hung out with wasted Americans in a couple of clubs on the strip opposite the Mirage, drank beers on the street and smoked inside (ahhhhhh luxury.....) and didn't actually do any gambling at all. I kept meaning to go into the casino but just didn't really feel like it after working so hard for my money. Oh well it would have been a pretty dangerous start to the trip that's for sure...............



Another stinking hot bus back to L.A. (It took a whole day each way) and an early night then up again in Hollywood.





The next day I hiked up to the Hollywood sign for nice views and some nature (squirrels, rabbits, a big lizard and two hummingbirds) and back to town for some greasy chicken, only 2 bucks for four pieces, God bless America.








Another early night and down here to Venice. I'm off to Muscle beach in a bit for some freak watching and possibly a swim and then maybe a couple of beers (6 bucks for a six pack of Fosters!!!!) and 4am start for Mexico.


This corner of the world is a pretty full on place and while it would be easy to leave with a somewhat less than complementary impression of the American way of life (massive cars, healthy food very hard to find, homeless people everywhere) I have been urged, almost begged by several of the locals to get out and see more of the country to get a more rounded view, and I really would love to at some stage. What I saw of the desert from the bus was interesting enough to explore further. Still I had a fair idea of what I was looking for in California and I surely wasn't disappointed.


Another place to come back to.........




P.S. Here is Hooters Jen, I popped in but was too hungry to wait for a table.













Fiji

Well this is the first update for everyone back home, hard to think that it was only six days ago that I was nervously fidgeting away in the departure lounge at Tullamarine........

Got to Nadi at 730 in the morning after a surprisingly short flight (who new Fiji was only 4 hours away?) and set about finding a hostel. Ten minutes later I was on a on a bus to well, somewhere, and soon arrived in the town at possibly the dingiest hole in all of fiji. Oh well only 7 bucks, can't complain.

After a day spent wandering around the less than picturesque town centre and finally having a decent nap I headed up to the roof for a few sunset beers and guitar antics with Tomo my japanese roommate.



The beers didn't last long though so soon enough it was downstairs for Kava and more beers with the other guests. (Kava kind of tastes like muddy water that eventually makes your mouth go numb)

Next morning it was up early for a bus and boat out to south sea island. I should have had a biblical hangover after last night but I don't know if it was the hydrating effects of the Kava or what but I actually felt awesome.



Spent the day doing a whole lot of lounging around on a sun chair with a short period of injuring myself on the coral, and made it back to town for a quick dinner and my flight out.




Fiji reminded me a lot of Thailand actually and I'd love to go back and spend some more time there one day. Very friendly people and aside from Nadi a lovely place.
And off to L.A............

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Rough Itinery for the trip

Here is my plan for the time being:

12/7 - Arrive in Fiji for two days of beach including a day trip to an island
13/7 - Arrive in the States for two days in LA and two days in Vegas
18/7 - 25/11 - Arrive in Mexico city to start the 4 1/2 month trip down overland to Santiago in Chile to meet Mum, including:

-1.5/2 weeks in Mexico
-1.5 weeks in Guatemala
-2.5 weeks in Honduras
-1.5 weeks in Nicaragua
-1.5 weeks in Costa Rica
-.5 weeks in Panama
-2.5/3 weeks in Colombia
-3 weeks in Ecuador
-2.5 weeks in Peru
-.5 weeks in Northern Chile

Then 3 and a half weeks with Mum in Patagonia, ending up in Buenos Aires. After that:

-1.5 weeks in paraguay
-5 weeks in Bolivia
-2.5 weeks in Venezuela/Brazil ending up in Salvador or Rio for Carnaval.

After that maybe working in a backpackers, teaching english, heading up to Canada...........

Thursday, July 1, 2010

More booking

Sooooo..... just over a week to go and things are starting to come together at last. Have just booked a reef trip in Fiji (free booze all day, hhmmmm.... is that really a good idea?), Hostel in L.A., Hotel in Vegas (the Mirage, my room has a view of the volcano!!) and a flight down to Mexico city.

My itinery is looking pretty tight at the moment, and I'm sure I'll be jetlagged as a dog to begin with but I really don't want to spend too much time and money in any place other than Latin America. Will hopefully get a rough itinery posted in a few days time to let people know roughly where I'll be and when, even if it's just to show how hard it is to actually stick to one....