Friends, Fiestas & The Grand Finale

This will be the final post of my journey and will cover most of the past month which was spent in Mexico and the US.

After our short stop in Belize we headed over to Tulum in Mexico to relax and enjoy the beach; whilst hoping for better weather than we encountered in Caye Caulker. Fortunately Mexico delivered and we spent three days lounging around in the sun whilst getting our cultural fix through visiting the Maya ruins located just north of Tulum's main beach.

Tulum Beach

On the other hand there wasn't much to do in Tulum so we decided to head up to Playa Del Carmen for the weekend. Playa was undoubtedly a precursor for the US as it consisted of many shop owners who haggled you in English and marked their prices in both US dollars and Mexican pesos. It appeared that these shop owners were hoping to capitalise on some American naivety as the exchange rate they offered for dollars to pesos was approximately 15% lower than market value.

After a big, tiring weekend of partying in Playa (unfortunately I didn't get any photos this time round) we headed off to Isla Mujeres to allow our bodies to recover and get some rest and relaxation for the big few weeks that lay ahead. We spent numerous hours on the beach playing Frisbee and even managed to hire bicycles and do an entire loop of the island and whilst this sounds impressive the entire trip was only 16km.

More Ruins

After a tough three days spent frolicking on the island we decided that we would expedite out return to Playa Del Carmen to ensure that we would be there in time for Valentine's day.

Watch Out Ladies

We managed to survive Playa for another two nights with the partying living up to the high expectations of the week before, however due to our scheduled flight we had to head up to Cancun on the Sunday. This was a blessing in disguise as we managed to book tickets for Coco Bongo; an eclectic mix of shows that happens to be accompanied by an open bar.

Two waters

One of the many shows

Group shot

Coco Bongo brought my time in Latin America to an end and signalled the end of our travels with Doug; very sad for us all. On a positive note it meant that the time had come to meet Harry and Will and spend the next two weeks wreaking havoc in the US. Our first stop was Miami which other than the nightlife and our introduction to Fat Tuesdays was rather underwhelming; I won't be heading back to South Beach in a hurry.

Fat Tuesdays

After Miami we headed over to San Francisco; a city about which I had only heard good things and I'm glad to say that it didn't disappoint. The afternoon of our arrival coincided with Chinese New Year so we caught  up with Shawn (whom I met in Peru 3 months earlier) and watched the Parade as is snaked its way through the city. Saturday night was rather tame which meant that thanks to Shawn we were able to go on a tour of the city on Sunday incorporating many of San Francisco's best locations.

Lombard Street

Fisherman's Wharf

Golden Gate Bridge

Most of Monday was spent milling around San Francisco before we headed about an hour north to catch up with Mac (a friend from Sydney) at St Mary's College. The night was spent culturally embracing beer pong; we seemed to lose most matches as it was clear that our opponents had spent far too much time perfecting their throws.

The following day we continued our cultural splurge and headed up to the Napa Valley for a spot of wine and cheese tasting. Harrison was a fantastic guide throughout the day and took us on a beautiful drive through the Californian back country before safely returning to the city so that we could head up to Twin Peaks for the sunset.

Cheesy I know

Port with chocolate truffles

Twin Peaks Sunset

We concluded our visit to San Francisco with a visit to its most famous landmark; Alcatraz. Whilst usually not one for guided tours, the audio tour was very interesting and outlined many of the mysteries surrounding the prison and the fate of numerous prisoners. The night consisted of a repeat game of beer pong; unfortunately none of us seemed to have made any marked improvement which ultimately resulted in four hangovers for our flight to Vegas the following day.

A Prisoner's Cell

Alcatraz

Looking across to San Francisco

The final stop on our trip was four nights in Las Vegas and apart from four nights of partying we did manage to fit in a round of golf at Las Vegas National although Harrison and I lost to Will and Adam. The night life was some of the best of the trip and was made all the better due to spontaneous appearances from Adam and Clifford; certainly four nights that I can't remember but will never forget.

Caesar's Palace

Dinner with the Whipp Family

The Last Night

Unfortunately my trip has now come to an end and I have just finished my first day in the full time workforce. My entire trip lasted for 170 days throughout which I met many interesting people; the majority of whom I hope to cross paths with sometime in the future. Any of you who read this please know that if you are ever visiting Sydney to please get in contact and I would be more than happy to provide you with a bed for a couple of nights. I must put in a special mention to Alex and Doug who I spent the majority of my trip with; it would have been far less entertaining if I hadn't had you there to lighten the mood and provide numerous stories that weren't appropriate for this blog.

No doubt this isn't the end of my overseas adventures, however for the foreseeable future there isn't much in the pipeline. Thanks to everyone who read this; I hope you enjoyed reading it and gained some insight into my life on the road.

All the best,

Tom

Guat An UnBelizeable Place

After a 17 hour shuttle across Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala we safely arrived in Antigua; another colonial Latin American city very similar to Cusco among others. Similar to a lot of the cities we have visited there wasn't much to do although it is a well known destination to learn Spanish. We stayed in Antigua for 3 days, most of which was spent experiencing the nightlife before we headed off to San Pedro on Lake Atitlan.

Unfortunately for Doug, this travel day was spent with another hangover which resulted in him feeling rather queasy on the bus and subsequently reliving the Caesar salad he ate just before departure. Lake Atitlan is well known for its natural beauty and we arrived with the hope of Paragliding over it (one of Lonely Planet's Central American highlights); however for the three days we were there the wind was too strong so we had to settle for a day of kayaking on the lake.

Stylish Hat I Know

Not Bad

 After Lake Atitlan we headed up to Zephyr Lodge in Lanquin for Australia Day and hopefully to tube down a river and partake in some caving. We arrived there late on Friday, which due to the time difference was just before the Hottest 100 was due to start. The large contingent of Aussies meant that the hostel had agreed to live stream the countdown which was a huge relief for everyone. The remote location meant that the stream somewhat went in and out however at song 76 the manager decided that he didn't like the music and instead put on a Festive 50...not a good idea with a group of drunk Aussies. A few people left the hostel there and then whilst many others let their feelings be known thus upholding the Australian stereotype on our national day!

The View From Zephyr

The following day was spent lounging around in spectacular scenery and generally taking it easy in preparation for the Semuc Champey tour the following day. The tour itself consisted of 90 minutes caving by candlelight followed by a visit to numerous pools with various jumps and slides. It was an amazing day and a must-do for anyone who visits Guatemala.

Caving By Candlelight

Semuc Champey Lookout

After our enjoyable three days in Lanquin we headed up to Flores with the main purpose to visit the Tikal Ruins. It is a major Mayan site and thousands of people gathered there in December to witness "The End of the World". Unfortunately even though we managed to wake up at 2:30 so that we could see the sunrise, the weather didn't keep its part of the bargain so similar to Machu Picchu we were left with a beautiful view of the morning clouds.

Mayan Dancing Platform

We spent the majority of the rest of our time in Flores relaxing at the hostel however we also managed to visit a zoo which had numerous water slides and then later that day a rope swing from where we could get a good view of the sunset.

Flores was our final stop in Guatemala which was definitely one of my favourite countries in Central America. After Flores we headed up to Caye Caulker in Belize due to numerous good reviews from fellow travellers and a desire to explore some of its world famous marine life.

I went to Belize with the intention of diving the Blue Hole, however the high cost and my lack of Scuba experience meant that in the end I decided not to go on the dive however we did go on a snorkeling tour which enabled us to swim with Sting Rays and Reef Sharks.

Scary Stuff

Apart from the day tour the poor weather rather limited our options for activities on Caye Caulker and meant that we left there a few days earlier than we had planned. On a positive note we did manage to have a lobster and crab claw dinner for $6 and to see one Belizean Sunset.

My First Lobster

We are now in Isla Mujeres, Mexico and have just under a week before we head to Miami to meet up with Harry and Will. My next update will come from somewhere in the US outlining all of the havoc we have caused so far in Mexico and hopefully a few final highlights from Latin America.

Flying Down Volcanoes...No Bull

Clearly my New Year's resolution to be more prompt with my blog updates has not come to fruition however I had been waiting on some photos from a couple of the activities we were involved in to appear on Facebook, unfortunately this still isn't the case so a few others will have to do.

New Year's Day saw us head to San Jose with a couple of other Aussies that we met in Bocas Del Toro; Paddy and Moose. Upon arrival it appeared that San Jose had little to offer and they were rather annoyed at themselves for agreeing to head back up to Costa Rica when they were hoping to head down to Colombia as quickly as possible. We spent the day after arrival moping around the city and looking for something to do for Paddy's birthday the following day. As I had been the instigator in their slight detour I was somehow guilt tripped into booking myself in for an 80m bungee jump to celebrate his birthday.

We arrived at the Bungee feeling relatively fresh but rather concerned at what lay ahead as only Alex was the only one who had previously jumped.

Pre-Jump

Mid-Flight

Beer Has Never Tasted So Good!!!

Having previously said that I would never do a Bungee Jump in my life I am glad that I did it and watching other people struggle was very entertaining and in the end the whole group managed to jump which made the whole situation more satisfying.

On the way home we were told that over the Festive Season, Bull Running takes place every night in San Jose and that anyone was able to enter the ring if they were stupid enough to do so. We decided to head over to check out the situation only to find out that we had to sign up right away if we wanted to take part. Under normal circumstances this would have been fine however it was rather concerning when we saw everyone else padded up and wearing soccer boots whereas we would have to take part with no shoes (better than the thongs we were wearing) and in shorts and a t-shirt.

Running With The Bulls Costa Rica

The advantage of being gringos with no shoes was that we made numerous appearances on Costa Rican Television. Whilst I couldn't find any coverage of us, this YouTube video is an overview of the night we went.

In San Jose we met up with Alex Peade and said goodbye to Paddy and Moose who eventually managed to continue their trip down south. The next stop was Monteverde in the highlands where we continued with a few activities.

The first day we arrived we decided to go Ziplining as we had heard that Costa Rica is one of the best places in the world to do it.

Cool As A Cucumber

A Rather Uncomfortable Tandem Line

Ziplining was good fun however the safety standards were not up to what they were in Bolivia especially when we went down the Tarzan Swing which is a death trap waiting to happen.

Where's The OH&S?

We also went on a coffee and chocolate tour which whilst I'm sure is quite interesting for some we found extremely boring with the only highlights being the opportunity to drink coffee and eat chocolate; which somewhat justified the $30.

Coffee Picker: A Career Option If Accounting Doesn't Work Out

After Monteverde we headed off to a San Juan Del Sur in Nicaragua where we spent most of the time relaxing during the day and partying at night. The most exciting moment was actually when we managed to hitch a lift with our hostel owner to Granada; a city about 2 hours away by car. The owner however seemed to be unaware that this is how long it should take and spent the first 20 minutes of the drive flying along the roads. Following the ignorance is bliss motto I kept my head down and read my book until I heard some rather quick downshifting of gears and looked up to discover that we were about to crash into the car in front. The crash was quite serious although fortunately no-one was injured and we managed to find a local chicken bus for a connection to Granada. However, this was not the end of our problems as the Alex's were tasked with watching an American's bag on the bus only to discover as we arrived at the terminal that it had been stolen; we made a quick escape and hopped straight into a taxi and it's safe to say I won't be getting onto one of those for a while!

Granada didn't have much to offer as a city and so we headed off to Leon to take part in Volcano Boarding which involves sledding down the side of a volcano and trying to go as fast as possible with the speed recorded by a radar gun at the bottom.

The Race Track

As can be seen from the score sheet above Alex (Doug) Dixon managed a measly 38km/h only to be significantly outdone by Peade who crawled down at 22km/h, on the other hand I was 2nd fastest and managed to fly down at 60km/h; I didn't realise I was travelling with such sooks!!

We managed to get stuck in Leon for a couple of days more than we would have liked however we are now in Guatemala which has been a lot of fun so far. We are headed to Belize in a couple of days and hope to do some scuba diving and fishing.

I hope you all had a great Australia Day; I will post about how we spent ours in my next post within the next week, although I still can't believe that Thrift Shop won the Top 100...