I like to travel with others but it's sometimes good to travel alone to stay out of bars, etc cuz they're a bad influence and I seem to have no will !

I like to travel with others but it's sometimes good to travel alone to stay out of bars, etc cuz they're a bad influence and I seem to have no will !

Well for the past 3 weeks I've been travelling with Jacob (Jake the Snake or Snake as I call him as it's easier than Jacob) my Dutch buddy, Kramer (Lloyd's from Perth Aussie who looks like Kramer) and Milky (Glenn's also from Perth who wrote this song about Milk that I think is really great). Snake stayed in Antigua cause he met some Norwegian blonde and he'd rather spend time hanging around with her than us. He also wants to go to Guatemala City to get his last Hep Shot. Guatemala City is a real Shit Hole. But then so are all the capital cities of Central American countries. I have no plans to visit any capital city as they have nothing for me. I told him that I have no desire to check out that place so he can catch up with us if he wants. So the 2 Aussies and I took a overloaded mini van at 4 am from Antigua, Guatemala to Copan, Hondorus for 6 hrs. The 3 of us got stuck sitting in the rear baggage seats. I was lucky cuz I got a seat further to the front when one person got off at Guatemala City. Kramer and Milky are both 6+ ft so they suffered the ride.

You know to me Hondorus looks the same as Guatemala so far but we've only stayed overnight at Copan which has Mayan Ruins. The 3 of us couldn't bother checking out the Ruins as have seen enough broken down architecture. We also didn't do the amazing Zip line with the 16 lines cuz it costs 35 USD. Apparently there's a 1 km zip line and one called Superman which u fly down head first. I was dying to go for the Adrelaine Rush but figure my pocket book cpuldn't handle it even if my body could. Have to start watching my expenses as hanging with guys is not a good thing for the wallet. But what the heck u only live once I guess and I'm going to go down in a blaze of glory. But it doesn't seem to impress my family as they think I'm crazy! But no point in talking about that as I probably won't change plus I'm not hurting anyone or myself as just a big Kid enjoying life!

We spent last night in the hostel celebrating this Ben this German guy's birthday. Unfortunately we came on the wrong day cuz they're having an election and the bars all closed Sat and Sun so no one would drink and fight over the election. But the restuarants were selling special cokes and sprite which had rum in them. Then we returned to the hostel and this German guy brought out his guitar and everyone sang. Well except me cuz they were singing in German and Spanish and unfortunately I don't do those languages. I'm just an ignorant English speaking guy who's almost gave my the idea of learning Spanish. But I'm still looking for a quiet village where I can stay with a host family who only speak Spanish and there are no English speaking people in town.
Unfortunately I haven't found it yet cuz I can't talk to anyone about it in Spanish.

We got up at 7 am (hell yesterday it was a 3 am wake up and today a 6 am) to catch a bus. This bus was more comfortable and I could sleep. We were heading to San Pedro (hell every country in Central America has a town with that name). Most of the other travellers were heading to La Cheiba to go to the Bay of Islands to scuba or to chill. I decided to head to the coast to Puerto Cortes to catch a ferry to Belize. I was planning to pass on Belize cuz rumor has it that it's expensive. Sarita a good friend in Vancouver is from Belize and she kept telling me to check it out. But I won't be travelling the entire country but just check out the islands for a week or so. So what the heck I'll head to Placenia which is an island and just check it out! The beautiful thing for an idiot like me is they speak English. Boy I'm going to talk myself silly talking to the locals cuz I really miss that in Mexico, Guatemala and Hondorus (the biggest reason I want to learn Spanish). But time is running out on me as I'm a loser at languages. It's got so bad that I gave my English/Spanish dictionary (cuz it was loading down my pack) to Sara my good Bolivian friend who is living in Barcelona as she knows Spanish cold but needs help with English. It might as well be used by someone as I wasn't and it was getting heavy. Now that may have been a mistake.

So I'm off to Belize tomorrow to check out the beaches and talk to the people I hope. So will post pics and let u know what it's like.

Left San Pedro to go to Antiqua Guatemala to climb a live volcano

Yeah Antigua is a nice city with colonial style made by the Spaniards. There's a 400 year old church which got destroyed by an eathquake. But the main attraction is the live volcano with lava running off it. It was pretty awesome but the last part of the climb was on the cooled lava rocks which was hard to get footing. The lava running down the mtn was so hot we couldn't stand near it for more than 5 mins. Took some marshmellows to roast on the lava. We got to the lava just before sunset and got to see the lava flowing in the dark.

So now that I've seen the volcano it's time to leave Antigua probably tomorrow Fri. May make another stop but my goal is Hondorus.

Stayed in the Black Cat Hostel which is a pretty cool place and for $10 we got a super breakfast. Unfortunately the dorms are small with 6 beds of mixed dorms. The surprising thing there was to meet up with Jolene's friends Conroy, his girlfriend and another guy. It was nice to see him but hoping that he has only nice things to say about how I'm handling myself. Cuz Jolene has this habit of giving me shit about my actions. She told me not to write about smoking grass. She may be right about that cuz she worries about me and is like a mother than a daughter as she remembers our backpacking trip to Cambodia and Vietnam but hey I was harmless there. But lets face it I don't know why there's this stigma by society about smoking. Cuz I'm way better smoking than drinking as I don't argue, vomit and it doesn't cost as much. I think drinking and getting stupid drunk and passing out or driving drunk are way worse. But most conventional people don't think like me. But u know I'm getting to the point that I don't really care what anyone thinks anymore about me smoking cuz I'm not doing any harm to anyone! But I'll try to tone down the stories about smoking cuz no one is interested to hear about it. But u know they also don't have to read this blog or can pass on those parts.



But Antigua was Ok but the thing that got me was that in Guatemala the bars close at 1 am so the party is just starting cuz we're on vacation so no rush to get up in the morning. Hey I'm not a big drinker (as can't drink much also it's expensive) but what else is there to do in the evenings.

Hey I learned a little Salsa so I can do the steps but can't swing my butt like the Latinos here. But I may check out a few more Salsa clubs and learn more.

So saw the amazing lava volcano so any other volcano will be anti climatic so don't have to see another! Spent the last night in Antigua by going to the main square and listening to Christmas Carols with a friend and going for dinner. Hey I have a 3 am wake up call from this friend to catch my 4 am bus to Hondorus. Will add pics of the volcano later when I have time so stay tuned. But check out my stories about Hondorus. Later!

Well finally spent a while on my computer

Hey posted a bunch on the blog but still have to add pics and maybe correct mistakes. But hey it's a start as been in a bit of a fog the past week or more. So stay tuned

The all day trip to Panajachel, Guatemala the place sucks as nothing to do but get blown by the cold wind!

We were sitting around the campfire enjoying ourselves until 3 am and then had to wake up to catch a 730 all day bus ride to Guatamala. Of course Mexican time can mean the bus could arrive anywhere from 6 am to 9 am. Unfortunately as luck would have it the bus came at 6:45 so of course we weren’t ready.

It was like a 5 hr ride to the Guatamalan border which I slept most of the way. It was a mini bus so it wasn’t packed and the ride was good. There were Aussie girl and a Mexican, 2 Guatamalan girls, 2 Japanese girls, Jake and myself. Then when we got to the border we had to go through the Mexican immigration and show our travel card which we got when we entered Mexico. Unfortunately Irene I couldn’t find my card and I was holding up the line and our mini bus. So had to pay the 257 Peso fine for losing it. So if anyone goes to Mexico don’t lose the card or u’ll pay the piper like I did. Actually when I think about it I could have gotten away without paying it. Cuz the lady at Immigration got tired of me standing there going thru all my papers looking for the card/paper to proof entry into Mexico. So I could have boarded the bus and left then with out a stamp in my passport. Cuz we never got stopped and asked if we had Mexican stamps showing we left Mexico. It would have made a difference if I was going to Guatamala and returning to Mexico in a week or month. But shit I’m so dumb I paid it and then tonight when I was checking my papers, |Guess what I found? My Mexican tourist card but shit maybe I’m just a Loser cuz I keep losing things.

Boy it was sure windy here as it was howling and my shorts and t-shirt! I’m thinking I may need to wear more to cut the wind! Hopefully there’ll be less wind tomorrow.

There’s a beautiful lake around this town with a bunch of other small towns/villages to hang out at. But we may stay another night here to chill and catch up on our email writing etc. First day in a week or more that we didn’t drink!!

Will be adding to this posting as still here and haven't taken pics yet

A quick trip to Palenque to see one of the most important Mayan Ruins in the friggin pouring rain.

I was excited to go and see more ruins cuz I’ve seen some before. But thought I should do something touristy. So went with Jake as he wanted to see them. We met up with La Presidente and Gypsy the 2 Soleneian chicks from the Backpacker hostel.

So the 4 of us ended up staying at this village (as they call it cuz it’s in a jungle) where we got our own rooms. It sounds like a nice room but the rooms were early dumpy. But what do u expect for $10 // night
La Presidente and Gypsy had a kitchen and living room with no furniture. They also had the uglist colored bath tub I’ve ever seen it was blue. Why they put a bathtub in there at all is strange. Like who would bath in that dump. But the rooms had hot water in the showers so that was great. It wasn’t cold in Palenque but it was really pissing rain all night.

We had an awesome dinner at the resturant and proceeded to drink for a few hours. There was a live band and dancing but the atmosphere reminded me of a bar at a resort. There were a bunch of Italian tourists there who were out dancing the latino type dances. But the music and atmosphere did nothing for me! There was this overweight drunk Italian girl who kept asking Jake to dance. He kept refusing but it made for a great laugh as she was really drunk and out dancing. Glad it wasn’t me she asked as really didn’t care for the music or the atmosphere. But hey it was the only game in town so we drank there.

Shit it poured like hell all night and we had a tin roof so it was super noisy! Then we slept in till 1130 so we missed check out so had to pay for another night. I didn’t really want to see the ruins and especially in the rain. But we decided to go anyway and leave that night at 11 pm to return to San Cristobal and forfeit our $10 room cus we’d be sleeping on the bus.

We couldn’t find La Presidente and Gypsy as they checked out and maybe left town cuz of the rain. But we bit the bullet and went to Ruins even if I didn’t want to see them. Shit we got there in the pouring rain and like it was raining so hard that water was pouring down the steps in the ruins like a waterfall. Here’s Jake in
flip flops and me in shorts and t-shirt. So we decided to buy a plastic cape to protect our packs which had our camera and my computer. Now why I was carrying my computer puzzles me but lately everything I’ve done puzzles me!

The Ruins were just that Ruins and it was good to my first tourist thing in Mexico so felt the pressure off me that I was leaving Mexico in a day and hadn’t done one tourist thing in a month. Oh well it’s the people in a country and the ppl I meet travelling the reasons that I travel. It’s not to see all the ruins, churches and museums as u see one u’ve seen them all!

So we said piss on Palenque we can’t handle another night even if we paid for the room. So we decided to take the 11 PM bus to get us back to San Cristobal at 6 am cuz we thought the bus would take 7 hrs to get back there as it took to get to Palenque. Unfortunately our trip back took only 5 hrs so we got back at 4 am.
Lucky Jake woke up to notice we were back at San Cristobal or we’d still be on the bus to where ever it went next.

Well did my one touristy thing in Mexico so it was time to get out of Dodge!

14 hr overnight bus to freezing San Cristobal

Jake and I decided to travel together since we were heading in the same direction. We thought about going to Oaxaca but found out that it was more arts and museums and ruins so decided to give it a miss. So caught the same bus as Glen and Lloyd the 2 Aussies. We got on the bus at 9:30 pm and I fell asleep as soon as I saw there was Rush Hour 3 playing as it’s a crappy movie made worse in Spanish. I woke when we got to San Cristobal while the others were having a crappy sleep. I guess the only time it’s good to be short is when u ride on a plane or bus.




San Cristobal is a beautiful city built a few 1000 meters so it’s dam cold there at night! We checked into the Backpackers Hostel which has it’s dorms built around a center court yard. It’s warm in the day but as soon as the sun sets it gets dam cold. The dorms are cold cuz they have no insulation as half the time ppl forget to shut the door and I was in a 14 bed dorm. So every night there’s a bonfire outside for ppl to stay warm as there’s no place to get warm except maybe your bed. There’s a tv area but it’s cold too! But along with the campfire comes the drinking too. It got to be quite noisy around the campfire especially when we had to get more wood cuz the wood was on the roof and ppl would throw the wood off the roof and the guy looking after the place would come running to tell us to keep the sound down. But it’s a great place to meet all the ppl staying at the hostel!

In our first stay all we got around to do was rent scooters to explore places. It took us a real long time to find the way out of the city as we kept going around in circles. But we did manage to make it to these caves. But they weren’t too exciting to see but the scooter ride was great!

Also met some great people there. There were the 2 Solvenian chicks which I nicknamed La Presidente cuz she was 1/6 owner of a multimedia website company called www.test.com or something. There was her friend who I called Gypsy cuz she rolled her own cigarettes all the time, wore some different clothes always with a scarf and didn’t have a real job. They were a lot of fun as we just hung out and laughed. La Presidente carried some Sovenian Snapps that her uncle makes with her. Boy it was powerful shit worse than Mezcal. We spent a few nights around the campfire with them and travelled to Palenque with them.

There were also the German/Erithrea girl named Adyam who was really nice and was hot! She was a lot of fun and drank a couple beers with her. Then there were the Noreigean, English, Aussie, American and other people met around the fire. A couple of Canadian chicks from Vancouver Island even bought some marsh mellows one night.

So after a couple nights around the campfire Jake and I left for a quick visit to Palenque.
Then when we came back we came back at 4 am as bad planning. So we ended up sleeping in the TV room as the dorms were all full.

On our second trip back to San Cristobal we took a river ride up to this canyon which was awesome. Met 2 Aussie chicks that were in the Morelia hostel for Day of the Dead.\







San Cristobal was a great city but cold as hell at night which was the reason for the campfire and drinking.

What can I say about Puerta Escondido? Where should I start?

Got there at about 7 am after a night ride from Acapulco and ended up staying about a week till we took the Nov 12 evening bus to San Cristobal.

Wow found that the Mayflower hostel that I stayed was a real cool place! Everyone was so friendly and easy to get along with. The first day took it really cool and went for a run down the beach to explore what was what! Then had a couple of beers in the evening and decided to blog in the evening. That was the last time I got a chance to blog as shit happened. There was this German chick Nicola who had the same laptop that I had so we started to chat. She was the nicest girl for a German that I had met. She had class so wasn’t in her league but she was willing to drink so that was cool. Next day met Peter as Polish guy working in Germany so him and I were walking on this beach and saw some guys sitting on this big rock playing a flute. So we sat down and had a beer as the guys were playing at the bar. Then Nicola came by so the 3 of us hung out there and listened to a bunch of Mexican musicans playing in this Beach bar.

It seemed to be a tradition that after we were forced to quiet down at 11 pm that everyone headed to the
bars on the beach. So we’d meet others from the hostel and end up at the Sunset Bar a walk up bar with a sand floor and later to a Club. So that was the start of about 6 days of hanging out with the people from the hostel at the beach during day and night.

Then met up with Jacob (Jake the Snake) from Holland again after meeting him in Acapulco. We ended
up hanging around and drinking a lot. He actually rescued me one night as I had been listening to these Mexican musicans jamming and drinking Mezcal (the worse shit a person can drink as it’s strong like tequila as it’s from the same plant but it’s more like moon shine and can blind u). But no one told me so I ended up drinking some and since I can’t drink much I ended up getting drunker than I have since I was 16 years old. We were at the Sunset Bar and everyone was going to this Club across the road. But they wouldn’t let me in as I guess I was too drunk as I was barfing. Jake was nice enough to get me in a cab (it’s usually walking distance but |I was in no shape) to get me back to the hostel. I threw up in the cab and Jake had to pay 200 P (to clean up the barf) or the taxi driver was going to drop us off. So I can guarantee that will be the last time I drink Mezcal!

The next night Jake got really drunk on beer as he can easily drink 15 beers We were at the Sunset Bar (as usual) and I was going to look after him but he disappeared when I wasn’t looking. Glen this Aussie guy also got really drunk so helped him back to the hostel along the beach as he was barfing as he went. Of course he was also drinking Mezcal cuz it’s given to people free at the Sunset Bar. So Glen would go to a Club nearby and run back to the Sunset Bar to get free Mezcal.

Of course don’t get the impression that all we did was drink and party. Everyone did go to the beach during day, play volleyball or went for a run like me. I ran up the beach about 2 miles in the hot sun.
Then there was also a Surfing Competition there cuz the beaches are probably the best for surfing in Mexico. It was odd cuz Nicole this American girl from New York lost her ATM card in Oaxaca and was running out of cash. So she said that we could go into partnership as I could make some stove top cookies and she’d sell them on the beach to have enough money to hang around while waiting for a new ATM card to arrive. But she had a real sweet tooth and ate most of the cookies. Then the funny thing is after we left there they had a bikini contest and she got talked into entering and she won a $1000. So will have to email her to tell her that I thought we were partners and I should get half the earnings or at least an autographed pic of her when she won!
Yeah Jake, these 2 Aussies Glen and Lloyd and I left Puerta Escondido on a night bus to San Cristobal. We were all afraid if we didn’t leave we’d be stuck there for a month! But hey met some cool fun people there as all they did was party at the Mayflower Hostel!

Acapulco is a Shit house so could only stand 1 night

Ye ah I didn’t like Acapulco as it was just touristy for my likes. Stayed at the K2 hostel which had a 4 bed dorm the size of 4 caskets and enough room to stand. Luckily it had an a/c so it wasn’t baking. But it was so dam small u couldn’t move. But the only reason I stopped there was to check out the Cliff Diving. So walked about 4 km / 2.5 miles to get from the hostel to the Cliff Diving as didn’t want to pay 10 Pesos or $1.00 to get there on the bus. Really enjoyed the diving as the guys really know how to dive from 35 m / 115 ft. Heck thought most of the guys diving would be young fit kids. But a couple seemed more middle aged and a bit over weight. But guess they were into diving and hitting up the tourist for some tips. Was with a couple Aussies from the hostel who couldn’t bother to drop them a tip.


Was thinking I wouldn’t mind trying a lower jump just for a hoot. But seeing the tides and having to wait for them to come in before jumping. I thought shit I’d have to be out of my mind to try it! I’m stupid but not dumb!


Saw the diving so what else was there to do but leave as couldn’t take any more of Acapulco even if I paid for the night. So thought I’d take the night bus to Puerta Escondido as it was a cool beach town.

At the hostel was Marianna the first Mexican girl I met who could speak English so had to have a couple beers. She liked meeting foreigners and practicing her English. Then Jacob a Dutch guy came by and joined us. I met Jake the Snake later in Puerta Escondido and became good mates. I had to catch a cab to the bus station with 3Aussie guys so left Marianna in the good hands of Jacob and they hung out for 3 days.

Felt a bit bad as I got on the 11 PM bus to Puerta Escondido and the 3 Aussies didn’t so they had to wait to get on the 2 am bus.

Oh well these things happen which is a good reason to travel alone cuz u get on when there’s only 1 seat!

Got into an US Election Day Party in Zihuatenajo

Yeah, left Morelia on the Mon the 3rd to go pick up my pack there. But knew from staying there the week before that there was going to be a party at the hostel. So didn’t want to miss it so made it back after my Day of the Dead.



Only spent 2 nights in Zihuatenajo cuz I had been there the week before. But had a shit load of stuff to do the one day I was there. I had a bunch of clothes to wash, banking and wanted to contribute something to share at the party! So of course not being a great cook I decided to bake cookies. But of course being in Mexico it can’t be just ordinary cookies but grass cookies. Yeah I know a lot of u are going to say “What a stupid idiot using grass in Mexico”. But that’s why I was going to bake it so no one can tell ur doing it!
So try baking cookies in a hostel when they don’t have a stove! So what I did was get some cooking oil and nothing but the best for me as got Canola oil from Canada! So I boiled the weed for 2 hrs in the oil until all the THC was removed in the oil. So just strained the oil to remove the grass and had cooking oil. Then used the oil to make my first batch of cookies. So went to the internet and got a recipe to bake cookies on the stovetop cuz no one seems to have an oven here in Mexico. So baked my peanut butter, oat meal chocolate cookies on the stove top. But substituted the butter in the recipe with my grass oil. So thought this should be great but unfortunately the cookies dough never got hard so put it in the freezer. But it must have been all the oil I put in the cookies so it never got hard.

So talk about standing over a hot stove! All the others in the hostel went to the beach and hiked up a mtn and did some caving. So if I knew they were going to do that I would have gone to but didn’t want to lay on the beach. So bottom line was it wasn’t a big seller as it didn’t look appetizing but it tasted good. But hey what do u expect from an amateur baking cooking in a hostel.

But we had some great salsa and guacamoli sp? made by Brooke this sweet girl from Boston who’s living in the hostel while she teaches English. Then there was this girl Iko-Sophie who is Japanese American who’s father’s Japanese and mother is French Canadian. So she can talk French perfectly but can’t speak a lick of Japanese cuz her dad couldn’t either. Seems to be a common thing among us Japanese that we can’t speak any Japanese. When I heard the name Iko I immediately thought of the song Iko Iko. Greg the owner of the hostel is Canadian and his wife Angela is Mexican. Plus he had a Canadian friend Mike there too. Plus a couple of other Amercians Nathan and Dutch Jorrit.

Anyway the Election had a great result so that was all that mattered.