Cambodia

The ride into Cambodia was interesting... we had heard that there was a popular scam with regards to the road between Bangkok and Siem Riep, Cambodia (our next stop). Basically the Tourist bus company colludes with the guesthouse in Siem Riep, taking you on a long hard and wild ride taking the entire day in uncomfortable conditions so that when they finally drop you off at their guesthouse in the middle of the night you just agree to stay for the night no matter how overpriced it may be. Well we were in no mood to have the same done to us so we caught a local bus from the Bangkok bus station and headed for the border. After an easy 2.5 hours the real ordeal started.

There doesn't seem to be a single honest person at the Cambodian border, several different guys all tried to overcharge us for a visa but we ducked and dived them until we got to the actual legitimate visa booth manned by government personnel....it was here that we got overcharged and ripped off anyway, the sign says $20 but we ended up paying $25 with the bastards refusing to give us a receipt. Oh well we tried, getting ripped off at the border is as much a part of traveling as having one big bag for all your worldly possessions.

Then we were cattle prodded into a line for the bus taking us to Siem Riep, we tried to get away from this as well thinking that the tourist bus will be far more expensive than the local version and also trying not to fall victim of the Guesthouse scam, but even the police would not let us go anywhere but onto that bus... everyone seems to be in on this one! So the Mavrix like everyone else fell victim to this stupid scam.

We waited around for no real reason (there was a full bus with gas in the tank but the guys didn't go anywhere for an hour) and then proceeded to drive very very slowly on the tarred road and really fast on the bumpy dirt road thereby heightening the discomfort and dragging out the journey. The driver kept stopping the bus to check for flat tyres but after stopping 3 times he decided that he would just fix a perfectly good tyre just to take up some time... when we pointed out to our captors that the tyre was fine they got slightly aggressive but carried on with the farce of changing the tyre none the less. Oh well...since then we have heard that everyone going on that journey has a flat tyre with one guy swearing he saw the driver put a knife into the tyre just so he could change it, we don't see the logic but I guess a bus load of tourists at full price is worth a tyre or 2.

10h30pm came and we arrived in Siem Riep where we were driven straight to a Guest House that was according to the driver really good value and he was sure that everything else in town was full because there was a festival so we might as well just stay here.

The Mavrix bolted out of the bus faster than a post lunch spew from Kate Moss and headed for another Guest House via tuk-tuk. "Amazingly" we found another place in no time and at less than a 3rd of the price. Our first impression of Cambodia and the Cambodian people (Cambodies as we would call them) was not good!

We did however absolutely love the temples of Angor Wat! Angor Wat is Cambodias major drawcard and for good reason, the giant temple system spans kilometers and houses giant palaces and temples with intricate detail thoughout. You could spend weeks wandering the sites and not see them all, we only had 2 days though so we stuck to the highlights.

First we went to the "Tomb raider" temple, named so because this is where they shot the movie not because the Cambodians where really into Angelina Jolie. This site has been given over to the jungle and therefore boasts giant trees everywhere you look growing out of the temple roofs and constructs, ponds and grass make walking through the site tricky at times but really gives the place a sense of timelessness and a wild quality.

Then there is the temple of Angor Wat itself, a giant palace and temple structure surrounded by a moat with walls and passages within yet more passages all decorated with intensley detailed reliefs telling stories of great battles, heaven and hell and the Angor mythology. We spent more than half a day just wandering through the halls of this place and pressing our faces up close to the walls to take in the minute detail in every little figure and relief. We left here awestruck and amazed with little happy traveler smiles on.

We also got to see some of the other larger temples, each with its own character, each with the same high levels of detail throughout and some even with a smattering of monkeys and elephants. During this time we also started to enjoy the Cambodies, namely the kids and their sharp wit. While their initial sales technique is very annoying and very in your face naggy, once told no a few times they settle down to a conversation with you and their humour comes out. They are always ready with a smile or a joke and we were amazed at the number of languages these 10 years olds trying to sell us souvenirs could speak. At one point we decided to pretend we couldn't speak English only Spanish in the hope of dodging their insistent selling, the girl just looked at us funny and then started speaking Spanish instead! These guys are multilingual and multitalented and a lot of fun! We felt sad for them though as Cambodia is a hard country, they havent been out from under the thumb of the Khmer Rouge for too long and there are landmine vicitims and orphanes everywhere serving as a constant reminder of the hardships they have had to and still endure.

Our time in Phnom Phen would look at this aspect of Cambodia more closely as we would visit the infamous Killing Fields where thousands of people were brought for execution before being dumped in the marsh and the governments brutal prison, S21 where all manner of evil was carried out on those seen to be against the "people". It was a chilling and sad experience but gave us an even greater respect for the Cambodies, with all of this in their recent past they still manage to smile while they struggle uphill to survive.

South Thailand and then some...

We caught an overnight bus that took way too long at every stop including the dinner breaks at 12h30am to get to Bangkok and meet our mate Liam. We tracked him down at his guesthouse bright and early at 7am and discovered that he had had a rough night on Khao San rd (most probably with the lady boys) and wasnt feeling too hot. To treat his ailing sore head we went and watched a movie at Bangkoks largest shopping complex zone - Siam Square. It isnt even 1 huge shopping center but rather several large malls all next to each other each the size of Sandton City with the crown jewel Siam Paragon reaching up 6 stories. As big as it was it took us almost 3 hours to find the Imax just because every mall has a cinema and we ended up going to several before hitting gold. Wow is that place big!

That night we hit Khao San rd again and enjoyed Halloween Thai style. Basically that means lots of "buckets", these plastic tupperwares are chock full of spirits and red bull and boy do they pack a punch. Hello Halloween! That night Liam had taken out his brand new camera and managed to take almost 200 photos of himself, us and other random people we met on Khao San, the next morning there were even some pics of him smooching what we all believe to be authentic Thai Lady Boys....oops.

After another day of shopping at what must be the worlds largest market - Chanuckanchuc?sp? We had some sore feet, over worked senses, new outfits and a new piece of art that the V had been dreaming about for almost a month and a very sore and lighter wallet for the Mavrix!

After one more uneventfull day in Bangkok we got on the cheapest night bus we found and headed for the South and Krabi. As the cliche goes, you get what you pay for and in this case they should have been paying us! During the night the M found a Thai guy crawling through the aisle while all on board were sleeping, when the M confronted him he pretended to be trying to sleep as well and at the time this seemed half feesible in M's groggy "just woke up" state, but still M held on. After a mini struggle the Thai left and everyone slept clutching their luggage a little tighter. At 5am the bus came to a sudden halt and everyone was thrown off the bus as we would all be getting connections to seperate destinations from here. The speed with which they did this seemed to suprise us all but made perfect sense once we started searching our belongings. They had rifled through almost everyones big bags held in storage while we slept and managed to get away with Liams phone and many others valuables. They also did the peculiar thing of accidentally putting things into the wrong bags e.g. V found someone ELSE's bikini in her bag and was not the only one with such a suprise. Luckily the Mavrix had nothing taken as our bags were mostly locked (M's lock was mostly broken now though) and our valuables were always kept with us, helps to have some South African paranoia once in a while!

As daylight arrived we started to relax as we arrived near the beach and the spectacular vistas of Krabi. Our destination was the little beach of Ton Sai which we would have to catch a long tail boat to. Arriving was like stepping into climbers paradise and the set of the Beach all at once! Here there were beautiful warm waters, white beaches and huge limestone cliffs rising high out of the oceans waters all around. As you walked on the beach you would see climbers trying out difficult problems with the waves gently lapping up against their shoes, as the sun came down we watched one of the most beautiful sunsets we had yet to see, with people Kayaking in the distance and climbing to our rear. Then once the sun was down and the stars were out, firedancers made their way to the beach and danced to Bob Marley and the wailers. This was our kind of place and the next week would be carried out at our kind of pace!

We spent the next day kayaking round the dramatic limestone karsts scattered around the horizon, it was great fun with many overhangs to chill out and catch a nap underneath and many islands and caves to explore. W paddled back with the sun going down behind us and sat silently watching it dip its head behind the blanket of a crimson sea....poetic no?

Next couple of days were all about climbing, Krabi and Ton Sai specifically are world renowned for their climbing so we had to make a plan and get in on the action. The beauty of the climbing here is that you have massive sheer cliffs falling straight into a beautiful ocean down below, many of the climbs are right on the beach and often the exposure is huge and a little daunting. The Mavrixs that we are loved it and had many happy hours pulling ourselves up the walls. We even organised a day of deep water soloing, unfortunately the V was a little sick so the M went off into the sea himself. Deep water soloing basically involves going out into the middle of the ocean on a boat, climbing up onto one of the cliffs that poke out and then when you are so high that you are pooing yourself you jump back into the water. This was great fun for the M but was a touch on the scary side...even Mavrix feel fear...

During this time (a little over a week) we had become seperated from good ole Liam who had headed off to Ko Phang Nyang for some partying. The Mavrix keen to get on the road again and mindful of the short time they had left in South East Asia went back up to Bangkok and straight across to Cambodia same day.

One night in Bangkok and the worlds your ...... 7 - 31 Oct

So after just 31 hours in transit from Miami to Thailand, we touched down in Bangkok with expectation and excitement for the new adventures that would great us, a new country, a new continent, a whole bunch of suprises. Our first adventure was just getting from the airport to our guesthouse without being ripped off by the taxi driver, he did manage to scam us of 100Baht (roughly R30) but it could have been far worse, welcome to Bangkok!

Our first morning we realised we have stepped into a brand new world, there were food stalls with new exotic smells (not always a good smell mind you, just exotic), pretty girls (some with and some without willies), lost and lonely looking types with a beer in hand at 7am (some also have a pretty girl in hand..once again not certain if they have all the standard equipment), orange robed monks with silver bowls asking politely for "alms", 3 wheeled tuk-tuks offering to take you to ping pong show (dont ask), side walk clothes stores selling the coolest stuff youve ever seen at the coolest prices - "Mr, Mr, how much you pay? Hmmm?" and a real understanding that you are now in Asia!

We soon confirmed that "Yes!" Bangkok is a crazy place but it is also crazy cool and we were having a blast! We checked out the weekend market day 1 and had to restrain ourselves from buying EVERYTHING, its all just so good and so cheap but then again do we really need a live squirrel in dungarees? Or a bigger than life size steel sculpted "Predator" or "Alien" figure? We somehow managed to restrain ourselves though and made away with just a couple bags of stuff and a tattoo for the M. This was also the day that we discovered the street food and just how damn good it was! Plus did we mention its super cheap! At R6 for a Phad Thai (stir fried noodles) we were laughing and our tummies were smiling.

But when you travelling you cant hang around gawking at the city like a country bumpkin on his first trip out of the farm for too long so off to Ayuthaya we went. Ayuthaya is the old capital of Thailand and a city of temples and ruins around every corner. Here we rented some old school bikes with fruit baskets up front and little ring ring bells to tour the city and the temples. These ancient structures are amazing, huge spires set on the water, detailed sculptures and roofs, flights of steps up to prayer rooms and buddhas in every pose scattered throughout the spiritual sites. Walking around these monuments you get the feeling of just how large a civilization and city this once was and how advanced they were for thier time. Very cool! We also cycled out to an elephant camp outside of town and got to play with a bunch of big and little elephants for a couple hours during feeding time. These cute but bristly pachederms are considerably smaller than our own African greats but a hell of a lot friendlier with their favourite games mainly being shove the tourist with your head and look for food all over their person with your trunk. Not to mention the occasional sneeze in the V's face (karma for all the times she has done it to M).

Next we took the train to Lop Buri a city known only for its Monkey Infested Temples. The hotel we stayed at was right across the street from the temple and hence was the playground for the monkeys with them jumping on the buglar bars all day and night much to our amusment. Once you step out of the hotel though you realise just how much the monkeys are in charge. They hang out on street lights and electrical cables using them as jungle gyms, they cross the traffic filled streets in packs like a biker gang causing the cars to screetch to a noisy halt and before stealing sandwiches from overly friendly tourists. Basically they are almost as cute as they are a nuisance. We went to the one lesser visited temple and after 3 monkeys climbed all over Vix and nibbled on her head we ended up hiring a 10 year old with a slingshot as protection from the overly eager advances, it was money well spent as the kid was like Richard Gear in the Bodyguard and kept the monkeys friendly!

After an afternoon of watching Super Sport on the telly (its sindicated out here) we got on the worst night train ever and headed for Chang Mai, capital city of the north. The city is built with a perfectly square moat around the old town like many of South East Asias older cities and would be home for another 3 days. Chang Mai has a crazy big night market which our taste buds enjoyed almost as much as the rest of our senses. We also went and watched a Muay Thai fight in the bar district. A slightly sureal experience really because as a "Farang" (foriegner) you sit on a nice couch at ring side sipping your cocktail while the locals crush each other in a frenzy just off to the side in order to get closest to the action. We would sit back an watch as both adults and kids would step into the ring and throw everything they had at each other while the locals cheered with every strike. Then intermission came and we were "treated" to a live cabaret show by the local lady boys dressed up like Vegas show girls sparkeling from head to high heel, we would later see them leaving 2 by 2 on scooters in the exact same outfit, what a bizare sight. Speaking of bizarre sights this was also our first real encounter with the "beer girls" of Thailand and their much older western patrons. Old men with Euros that translate into a fortune in Thailand with much younger girls (very often they dont have the company of just one) hanging onto them, playing pool, drinking cocktails and then late in the night climbing into a tuk-tuk and heading for the hotel after the price has been agreed upon. Here the roles were reversed from the South American standard the Mavrix had experienced, in South America if the V was on her own she would be hassled continually by macho latinos eager for her attention, here the M was in danger of being jumped whenever alone either by the "beer girls" or the "lady boys". Apart from the mayhem of Muay Thai and Lady boys we also did a Thai cooking course in Chang Mai, it was a great fun day when even the M managed to cook up something not only edible but quite delicious too.

Next stop was the hippie town of Pai. This little town nestled amongst rice fields, waterfalls and green mountains is super chilled and hippie cool. An easy place to get stuck! We rented scooters without a license (a fact that none of the rental agencies seem to care about) and learnt the basics on the roads and green hills around Pai driving to waterfalls and hot springs, dodging snakes and finding elephant camps along the way. It was here that we got our first ride (seat optional, we said no to our bums future disaproval and pain) on an elephant. We got a quick up and down tour of the surrounding hills before heading into the river for a bath with the ellie and a game of "lets soak the Farang" which our guide of midget proportions found extremely amusing. Pai also has a great nightlife, almost everywhere has live music, admitedly it's mostly Thais mispronouncing old Creedance Clearwater and Bob Marley songs but good for a laugh. The night market is also great and was where we would meet the worlds most precocious kid - Ping Ping. Her Mom runs a vegetarian street stall and she kidnaps all the foreigners and takes them all over the market using them as her own private mules to carry her, however once she is tired of being carried she makes a game out of running away and hiding in the throngs of people while she giggles maniacly and you sweat to keep up. Cool kid! But what a handfull!!!

Our next port of call was the city of Mae Hong Son where we planned on going trekking in the hills to visit the ethnic tribes of the area. However we met a Colombian couple (Cedric and Natalia) who were doing a loop back to Chang Mai by scooter and had a spare. The scenery was so beautiful and the offer so inviting that we decided to join forces with the Colombians and ride through the mountains for a few days. It was a really beautiful experience, sure the scooters were slow up hill carrying the both of us but that just gave you more time to marvel at the scenery of endless green mountains and rice fields, plus we got to stop whenever we felt like it and take photos or just chill. Once we got back to Chang Mai we received an email, a good friend of ours Liam that we had met in Nicaragua was coming to Thailand and would be in Bangkok in a few days. "Hell lets go see him!" we said, so back down to Bangkok we went!

Next ... Soth Thailand and adventures of Mavrix and the flying Lemo (Liam)

Welcome to Miami and the beaches...7 - 10 October

We landed in Miami on the afternoon of 6 October 08, after having done what seemed like quite an easy check in considering the high security policies and paranoia of the states (although the customs official did ask M to zip up his hoody to hide the offending Che Guvara T-shirt) we settled into the airport with the view of sleeping over for the night and catching the early flight to Bangkok via the via the next morning.



5am has never been the Mavrix favorite wake up time especially after a night spent on the airport floor listening to the all Spanish cleaning staff talk at the top of their Illegal Alien voices over the sounds of their "Made in America" vacum cleaners. So groggy eyed but excited to start a new chapter in the adventure we went off to check in. It is here that we met a very friendly but ultimately very stupid Delta employee who would determine our future for the next few days, here the American stereotypes would play themselves out loud and clear!



This "gentleman" (I use the term loser-ly) looked at our passports, read the Thai immigration code and decided on the spot that he would not be sending us to Thailand as we did not have a visa. We told hm that we had researched this and that we could just get a visa at the airport on arrival just like everyone else in the free world. To cut a long story short he had determined that because we wanted to go for 3 months and the visa you get on arrival was for 30 days we could not go! Sigh...sniff...woe is us!



Over the next 3 days against overwhelming stubborness we managed to prove with the help of the Thai Consulate, who had "Never heard of anything so ridiculous", that Delta was wrong and we were right all along (1 month down the line we have recieved an apology and $150 credit on Delta flights each in the future...whoop-dee-twang).



This did mean that we would spend 3 days in Miami though so we sought to make good on the time we had there and see some of American life...it's scary...



First off let us say that Miami is an anolmaly in America, while it is very much still America, it is also the most spanish city in all of America and therefore has some cultural differences. It is however very much still America! Everywhere you look there are giant and expensive cars, Harley Davidsons, American flags waving proudly, huge pizzas, Paris Hilton dog parlors, Obama Tshirts, fake boobs, fake tans, fake people, yellow cabs, an arrogance that this is the best place in the world and a sense that this is a first world country without the sophistication of Europe but enough rules to keep everyone heading in the right direction. It was however fun for 3 days even if it did hurt the wallet a little i.e. $5 for a slice of pizza, imagine what the healthy food tastes like, no wonder there were so many fatties.

We did get to walk around South Beach though which was beautiful and dotted with Baywatch towers and volley ball courts all the way down and marvel at the art deco buildings that make up the area.

After our obligatory 3 days waiting for our next flight we spent another enthralling night in the Miami airport listening to the PA system anounce every 5 minutes "Welcome to Miami, and the beaches". This time our 5am start was much easier with a smooth check in and a sideline security search for the M (maybe he looks like a terrorist?).

Goodbye Miami, goodbye the Americas...Hello Thailand!

Guatemala our last Latin American call 25 Sept - 6 Oct

We had travelled all the way up from Ushuia - Argentina, South America's and the worlds most southerly city and had overlanded the whole continent of South America and Central America to get here, to Guatemala, our last port of call before climbing in a plane to Miami and connecting to a whole other world - South East Asia .... this is after all called Mavrix go SOUTH.

But lets not get ahead of ourselves, we still had Gautemala to conquer and see before we jumped over the sea. We had left our little crew behind in Copan and gone through one of the easiest border crossings ever, they didnt even give us a stamp (although this actually sucks as stamps are like souvenirs you can look back on while bored on a 12 hour bus ride, but then again we have our nerd backpacks to remind us of that....we'll tell you about those another time). We had decided to be cheap and hardcore as usual and decided to take the local transport system i.e. chicken buses rather than the Gringo Shuttles that are always faster but 3 times the price. Well not in this case, for once the shuttle would have turned out to be cheaper and 3 times faster! We ended up having to switch between roughly 4 chicken buses until we finally got to our destination 8 hours later, the river town of Rio Dulce (Sweet River). This is the Hurricane season docking station for many a yacht that calls the Caribbean home and therefore a little of a jet set attraction. We thought it was ok... Its really just a Central American version of Hartebeasport with Yachts. There was a really cool hot spring waterfall nearby however that gives you the hot and cold feeling at the same time but that was just good for a day trip really.

So after 2 nights in the worlds biggest dorm (16 people - 1 room) we jumped on the worlds most crowded bus for a 4 hour journey to Tikal. Tikal is one of the most striking and largest of the Mayan cities with a unique setting, smack dab in the middle of the jungle! We had booked the sunrise tour and while we didnt get to see much of a sunrise due to excessive fog, what we did get to hear was the jungle waking up! Especially the jungles loudest animal, the Howler monkey! Imagine that a monkey learnt how to imitate a lion and you are getting close.... only really loud and up in the treesa feminine lion barking long and hard.

As we walked from tree canopy to tree canopy we kept being jumped by giant temples rising into the sky some 60 meters high. We also got to climb a few as steep as they were, with ladders reaching up high and the M got to feel his 31 years coming down and the V's head also...ooops sorry. Your views at the top are truly awesome though, you get to realise how big these cities must have been and how many people they would have housed. The temples themselves are solid, no secret compartments or burial chambers hidden inside these limestone walls, just temples built ontop of temples like Russian dolls. They were built as memorials to the Mayan civilization so that centuries down the line people like us would look at them and remember, the Mayans wanted to be immortal.

While the size and scope as well as the setting of Tikal was amazing, the Mavrix still had a sweeter spot for the smaller and far more detailed Copan in Honduras. No mighty monuments reaching into the sky to be found there but a far finer chisel that recorded history better and the feel of the place and how it was.

Now that we had travelled all the way to the north of Guatemala it was time to put on the brakes and U-turn back down south with our eventual destination being the Guatemala city airport. Hmmm what should we do V? I dont know M, how about some caving, river swinging and general frolicking in Semuc Champe? That sounds great, lets go go gadget! So off the Mavrix went to the very hard to reach but stunningly beautiful Semuc Champe (we arrived in the end in the back of a bakkie under a plastic sheet to shelter from the rain).

Our hostel was in the middle of the jungle here and had a relaxing atmostphere that seeped into your pours. We enjoyed doing pretty much nothing here, but we enjoyed doing the caving even more. Semuc Champes series of caves are best visited with a candle in one hand and the rock wall steadying you in the other. You swim, slide and jump through the cave system with nothing but you and your mates candle to light the way as you go past stalactites, huge underground waterfalls and prey that flash floods (it could happen tomorrow) dont occur! It was great fun and finished with a fun filled bit of tubing down the river right to our hostel, the V did fall off her tube at one point and almost lost her flip flop but thanks to the "claw" (her right toe) it was saved as was she.

The next day we explored the stunningly beautiful pools and waterfalls formed by Semuc Champes underwater river in the national park, not much to say other than its colours are electric, the waters cool and its good for a few hours swimming and cavorting.

Our next stop was Antigua which we reached by Gringo shuttle (we had learnt our Guatemalan lesson by now). Antigua is a another beautiful Colonial town much like Granada and Leon only better, Antigua is an Unesco World Heritage site and has ruins and classic architecture throughout the city, not just in the old town section. Its also flanked by several volcanoes and has the fully active Putaya Volcano just 1hr outside of town...cool.

With our flight in just a week the Mavrix decided to settle down and chill out in Antigua doing very little for a while. Normally our skins start to itch after being in a town for more than 2-3 days but our stay was made infinitly easier by a new made friend Wesley(Weza as his Mom knows him, Sharpy as his mates back home know him and Wesley John Sharpe as the law knows him). Weza is a crazy goof ball that has made "trippin balls" his life motto and daily routine, he's a mechanical engineer working in the Ozzie mines, a graffitti artist working on Melbournes trains and a genuine person made of the good stuff. He would be attached to the Mavrix hip for the next week and we welcomed his company.

One of our first excursions together was to the mighty Putaya Volcano. One hour out of the city and one hour mean ass hiking through the rain, straight up, into the clouds, we reached the volcano with the light starting to get orange but scarce. Cresting the peak we saw the river of lava flowing infront of us, much faster than we would have thought and much brighter than we would have imagined. As you clamber over the rocks to get a better and closer look (no 1st world country would ever let you this close to a live volcano) you start hearing the crackle and hiss of burning rock beneath your feet, look down and you see the burning coals peaking out between the cracks, by the way, dont stand still for too long or you'll start feeling like your feet are pork sausages on the Sunday braai. Get even closer and you forget all about the rain, you feel very dry suddenly and very very hot, the wind changes and the air gets knocked out of your throat, you shield your eyes and take an involuntary step back.... whats that smell? Oops I stood still too long my shoes are burning. Ah - I'm melting! At this point we pulled out our marshmellows (the Mavrix had come prepared), using a very long stick we held the marshies out over the lava and 2-3 seconds later "DING" they were done, sometimes over done or even flaming....yum... nothing like freshly volcano roasted marshmellows on a rainy afternoon.

The rest of our time in Antigua was spent playing basketball with the locals next to ruins, walking the town and generally just enjoying the calm before the storm of our next big jump across the pond to Thailand. It was during this time that an idea was born between the Triopoly as we had started calling ourselves (Weza and the Mavrix). We created a book. This book would contain a story from each of us about our travels or our lives. We would then hold onto the book until we found someone like minded to give it to, they would then write their story and pass it on again, and so on and so on. At the end of the books journey the last person would be asked to send it to one of the Triopoly. Here it would be written out in full and maybe even published with ever member of the "book club" who had contributed to the stories being sent their own copy. In this trip the book would have crossed the world, gone from hand to hand, been read and reread and shortened the distance between all the people who read it. We look forward to getting the book back, whether it be in 1 year or 20 years.

Another goodbye, this time not only to a new friend (a really good one that we will hopefully reconnect with in Oz one day) but also to Latin America our home for the last 7 months. We would also be saying goodbye or rather "Adios" to Spanish but had vowed to keep it as our secret language in South East Asia as we had used Afrikaans in Latin America (lets see if that lasts...). But first we would have to make it through the USA...

Honduras - Copan Ruinas and Utilla in the Bay Islands 14 - 24 Sept

After an eventful border crossing and 2 days travelling made easier by the weight of numbers (we were travelling in a group of 8) we had exited Nicaragua, travelled through the worlds hardest to pronounce capital city, Tegucigulpa (Teh-goo-see-gulp-ah) and landed on the small Caribean Island of Utila in the Bay Islands.

Utila is known worldwide for its beautiful reefs (2nd biggest right after the barrier reef) and super cheap diving. The Mavrix now expert divers after having completed their Open Water course in Taganga Colombia were keen to dive again and with the Welshman in tow (Liam) signed up for a 12 dive package. Nice thing about Utilla is that there is so much competition between dive shops this meant we got our accomodation for free as well as free snorkeling etc, it practically felt like they would have given up their first born son for us to sign up. Utilla is also somewhat of a party island with loads of backpackers walking the streets at night dodging the many daredevil scooter drivers that whip their way up and down the islands main road and ducking into the many bars that accomodate the islands other big pursuit, this meant a few nights fun on the water not of the diving variety for the Mavrix. We think this might be the main reason that so many get "stuck" here, our dive master had come for a week and had stayed for 3 years as do many, we dont really understand it but hey to each their own. Although Utila was great fun and the diving was beautiful it must be said that it is not the prettiest of islands (or are we just spoilt after the Corn Islands???), the beaches are average and the roads too busy for our liking - No go slow on THIS island. Utila also has some serious wildlife going on, namely mosquitos, iguanas and tarantulas. Brad and Ed were to find this out one night when returning to their room, they had already chucked out one tarantula previously only for another to make its home on the wall above their heads. So freaked out where these 2 city boys that they went to managment to get the problem sorted out to which a sleeping soul replied "Its a 3rd world country, deal with it!", harsh for them, hilarious for us!!

After some great diving and good times we decided to keep on moving with our next destination in Honduras being Copan. Copan is an old Maya city right on the border of Guatemala and Honduras. After arriving late the night before we made an early start for the ruins, a short 1km walk outside of town. While Copan is not as big as some other Mayan cities it has an astounding amount of detail still in tact with many sculptures and estellas (like reliefs) scattered throughout. This makes it a beautiful and interesting site to visit, we often found ourselves bending over and sticking our nose in close to get a better look at some of the beautiful works. Also very interesting was the ball court, one of soccers great ancestors where Mayans would play with a ball made out of extract from the rubber tree with the outcome of the game determining life or death! Funnily enough the winner was the one to be sacrificed, much like Muslims believe that they get 40 virgins and a Big Mac if they blow themselves up, the Mayans believed that if they won the ball game they would accend to heaven as kings and recieve a great many virginal wives with a happy ending.

This was to be a quick stop though and also a goodbye to our travelling buddies of the last 3-4 weeks as we were all heading off in different directions :( It was sad to leave our little family but we have done this many times by now and is just a part of life when travelling. Next destination Guatemala...

Little and Big Corn Islands - Nicaragua 8 - 13 Sept

Well no-one said it would be easy, no-one said it would be so damn hard either!!!

We had opted to be cheap bastards and take the long overland route to the Corn Islands using Chicken Buses(public buses that cram everyone in like chickens in the Kernels bucket) as well as boats and ferries as opposed to the super easy but expensive option of the plane. The next few days would be hard! We caught a 2 hour chicken bus to Managua (ugly sprawling Nicaraguan capital city) then a cross town cab for 40 minutes, a 7 hour seriously squashed chicken bus to Rama, slept the night in little Rama, caught the early launcha (speed boat) 2 hours into Bluefields (one of the ugliest and least safe feeling places we have been) only to find out that there wasnt a ferry for another 3 days. It was at this point that we caved in and took the plane the last bit of the journey to Big Corn the next morning. Lets just say that this trip made us hard core travelers but not happy ones.

But hey we were there! Well almost... Big Corn is really pretty, but it wasnt quite what we wanted, the beaches were beautiful however the place was deserted apart from some locals and the rest of the island felt too built up and suburban, we thought we would give Little Corn a try the next day via a short 1 hour speedboat leaving at 7am, after all the guied book said that this was an idylic piece of paradise as yet undiscovered by the throngs of crusie boats.

WOW! Thats what we kepy saying about Little Corn once we got there, this was more our speed! Little Corn is a tiny 1.7km island stuck in the Caribean with pretty, still waters lapping at the white sand of beaches polka dotted with coconut trees, oh and there isnt a car or motor bike on the island but there are speedbumps on the paths just in case you ride your bike too fast - "take it slow mon, take it slow". Some history...While the Spanish conquered the mainlands of South and Central America, the English planted their flags all over the Caribean and transplanted slaves all over the region from Africa meaning that today you have the decendants of those African slaves all over the island speaking a slow lyrical drawl somewhere between English and Creol (although you also have Mosquit and Spanish spoken here too). They are also devoted listeners of the great Bob Marley and in their opinion the even GREATER Lucky Dube (or like they call him Lucky Doobs). It was great walking though the island hearing home playing back at us...

We stayed at Gracies place also known as Cool Spot on the quiet side of the island. Gracie is a super cool Mom type who hands out hugs all day and the occasional free mango or avo (island pear) if she thinks you look too hungry. Our little cabin was literally ON the beach, we had to shake the sand off our feet before going inside and we could spit into the ocean if we were so inclined it was that close. During our stay here lying on hammocks and sunning ourselves we met Brad, Toby and Liam. Brad is a gruff talking, hard edged loud American from Philly but has a sensitive side if you're willing to hear it out, Toby is a Swiss hippy with a girl back home and Liam is the English/Welsh man Commando who served in both invasion forces - Afganistan and Iraq but you would never be able to tell, he has a comical nature and none of the brash crew cut style you would associate with an army man. These would become our friends over the next few weeks and great people to experience the island with.

We spent our days generally just enjoying the island for what it is. We would wake up and go for a soak in the water, climb a tree for a coconut breakfast, snorkel around the reefs chasing sting rays, play frisbee and bat n ball in the water, eat coconut bread and lobsters, bash down dominos with the locals, swing in hammocks, play volley ball and just enjoy being beach bums.... good times. Oh and Vix beat the boys at a game of poker meaning she got a free lobster dinner on us....yum.

By the end of our week in paradise our skins had attained a well tanned if slightly salty sheen, our bodies were relaxed and our hearts happy. We were sad to leave Little Corn, sad to say farewell to Mama Gracie who had treated us with smiles and hugs like we were one of her own (she already has 6, I cant see why she would want more?) and sad to bid farewell to the sand between our toes but we had a flight in Miami to get to and we couldnt dilly nor dally any longer. We organised to meet the boys back in Leon, they would be flying back while we were intent on doing the trip back better this time, so off we went.

First we caught a speed boat back at 2pm to Big Corn, too early we thought but it would be good place to hang around, do a bit of grocery shopping and internet before the ferry left for the mainland around midnight. On our arrival the dock hand pointed out the ferry, a little speck in the horizon. It seems that ferry captains keep their own schedules and he left at 2pm instead of midnight and no way were we hanging around in Big Corn for 3 more days waiting for the next ferry. So with a couple locals alongside us we organised a speed boat to go out and "catch" the ferry which was a high sea adventure in itself. The speed boat had done the catching up in about 10 minutes of wave crashing and now we stood swaying chaotically up and down at high sea next to the much higher ferry, which was more fishing boat meets tug than a ferry. Those already on board grabbed and pulled us and our belongings roughly on board onto the greasy deck of the good ship "smells like fish and guts". There wasnt a chair to speak of but some of the locals in the know had brought their own hammocks, we werent so lucky, all we got was a big piece of cardboard that would be our mattress next to the railingless edge for the next 12 hours through the night. We arrived after a stomache churning and smelly night to the river town of Rama at 3am where a self confessed jail jumper from america showed us the closest ATM, not the best guide but a necessary one. From there we caught the 4am chicken bus and arrived in Leon 9 hours later impressed with ourselves for our resourseful backpacking never say die nature!

Here we would meet up again with our friends from Little Corn, you would think that after 24 hours of rough house traveling we would be baying for our beds but instead we decided to head off and celebrate Central American independence with a party on the beach. After some fun antics including Vix jumping off the back of a moving bakkie for the M and the crew getting a hitch back on an overcrowded bakkie "ow my leg huuurts" :). We fell into bed at the Big Foot hostel and smiled, travelling is hard sometimes but always worth it...