Hello all, hope everyone had a good Christmas. I hope this internet is fast enought to upload photos but I´m going to keep typing anyway. So Christmas Day started with myself and Jess going to a church surface. We thought it´d be nice to experience the local celebration, and it was really nice, a sence of community, with kids singing and readings from the gospel in the Carribean acent. Then we got some kayaks, and paddled out to the coral reef, moored up and went snorkling, then paddled over to a palm tree lined beach and lay there for a while. All that built up an appitite, so we had our Christmas dinner from a BBQ. I don´t have many photos from Utila because I spend most of my time underwater, in a classroom, or sleeping. But here (hopefully) are a few...

Well it certainlly felt Christmasy......and you can forget Santa, even if he is in shorts, in a hamock, between coconut trees:

Me, on the boat, just about to dive:

Jen, my dive buddy for Open Water, (sorry the photo is so bright, it was just too sunny :-)

Fabian, my dive buddy for Advanced:

Sunset, coming home on the boat after a day´s diving:

A hibiscus flower (I think). I love my camera!!!:

Dinner:

Polly, the dive school parrot, trying to eat my camera:

I really enjoyed the diving, so much, that I stayed longer than intended and got my Advanced Open Water PADI qualification. I hope to use it again before the trip has ended. On my PADI card I´ll be wearing a Santa hat as I got my first qualification on Christmas Eve.

After all that, I got a notion to spend New Year´s Eve in a more populated location and chose Granada in Nicuragua. So on the 28th, I packed my bags, hopped on the boat, then bus and met a fellow traveller heading the same way. Brenda, from Canada, kept me company on the very long journey, and it was great to have her in the not so nice capital of Honduras, Tegucigalpa. The trip wasn´t made any shorter by one of the bus tires blowing up!

But here I am, in beautiful Granada, siting in an internet cafe with a good connection, on New Year´s Eve. My self and Brenda bought a small bottle of Baileys at the border and will share it later before seeing how Granada will ring in the new year???? I have no plans where to go after this but I think I´ll spend a little time in Granada and the surrounding area.

Oh, and I met Natalie today, in a market in a town called Masaya. She was the girl I spent my very first few days with in Mexico city. We just literally bumped into her.. Great! That market:

Well, til next time, Happy New Year to all.

Map updated

Well hello again. FORTH COUNTRY!!!! woohooo. And I´m using my border crossing skills to help others now! If they don´t give you a receipt, don´t give them money, the officals just but it straight into their pockets. I learnt that in Mexico, but saw a bunch of people fall for it here. So I crossed over into Honduras on the 19th and stayed in a town just beside the border called Copan. It was a pretty cobbled town and a good jumping off point for the country. The country immediately had a more Carribian feel to it, with relaxed, slow moving people.... and lots more mosquitos! I thought I´d left it all behind in Mexico but I stopped off at the Copan Mayan Ruins , the furthest southerly Mayan ruins, which are famous for their carvings, and very detailed they are two.

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Then I spent a long day travelling across the country, past acres of banana and pinapple plantations, to the coast to a town called Le Ceiba, from where I got a ferry to Utila, where I am now! I´m settled down here for Christmas, don´t know what I´ll eat yet, but I met a American girl called Jess who will keep me company.

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It´s a great place. And the best bit, is the reason I came... the diving! I´m learning to dive and loving it!!! Fantastic tropical waters, coral, fish, pirates wrecks, turtles.... the list goes on.

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I had a little early Christmas present yeaterday as I got to talk to my Simon for the first time since my trip began. Unfortunately, I´m just realising as I´m writting this that the internet is too slow to upload the photos. I guess that´s what you get on an island miles in the middle of the Caribbian. Well they´re beautiful, and I´ll get them up at some point, but I´m goin to be here for a while yet, so don´t hold your breath! (like in diving!)

Happy Christmas to everyone, send me an e-mail, tell me some news, thanks for all who have. Will miss everyone over the next few days. xxxx r

Here is a photo of my host family that I lived with for 10 days in Xela. From the left, Pilar (plus 5 month old bump), Jose and Diego (age 2). They were so patient with my limited Spanish, Pilar cooked the best Guatamalian food and Diego is a dote.Now, I am tired!. Ive just finished a three day hike from Xela to Laco de Atitlan. I went with the group Quetzeltrekkers again. They sure know how to organise a good trip. The three days brought us through varied landscapes and lots of agricultural land. The guides were great at filling us in on random pieces of infornation. I loved all the plants, lots of which were wild herbs and flowers I recognised from The Eden Project in Cornwall. Walking through an area with Alaska Grass. It grows at the same altitude all the way from Alaska to Tiera Del Fuego in Argentia:

No one complained about the weight of their backpacs after this man jogged past:

A village with corn (maize) fields...There was amazing plants but very little fauna. During the civil war, only a few years ago, the government were killing the indigenous populaton, which had to hide in the mountains. The government then burnt all their corn fields, so they had to move deeper into the highlands and relied on eating any and all the animals they could catch. As a result, Guatamalan´s fauna has been drastically depleted. But I did see the caterpillar...We slept in some very strange places. The first night was in a dis-used building complex in Santa Catorina. The town is very rural, with only one white person living there. The building felt like something you see in films like Terminator, or Man of War, when society has crumbled and people are hiding out in abandoned places. We had a really unique experience in this town. We went to a Temescal (not sure of the spelling) but it´s a very small hut that fits 4 people sitting down and is basically a type of sauna. The locals use it to wash in and sometimes prepare bodies for burial. Inside it, there´s a fire with hot stones on top. Its really smokey andvery hot. You wash yourself by mixing water from a boiling hot bucket and a freezing cold bucket and throwing it over your head and body. Kinda hard to explain what it was like and I´ve no photos either. The photo is taken as the guides are waking us up at the crack of dawn... Yawn... The second night was in Santa Clara in Don Pedro´s house. I well off man by Guatamalan standards. We had a great night around the fire, drinking, singing and telling stories. In the photo you can see one of the guides, Mark and a boy called Henry. Henry lives in the home that Quetzaltrekkers supports. He ran away from his parents/grandparents for reasons no child should have to, and he lived on the street until the home was opened up. This was his 25th time on the trek. He was great entertainment.

On the third day we got up rediculously early again and climed another hill and watched the sun rise over the lake. Another beautiful sight.

Here´s one for Dad. This is a pic of Christan, from Dunquin, Co. Kerry.

The homeward stretch. We headed for the town below..

Nothing like a game of frizby in the lake to cool down after the hike...A bus picked up the group and drove them back to Xela, but a few of us stayed on in San Pedro. They are really great people and I had a fantastic time with them. From left to right.. Me, Amir (Israel), Sonja (Germany), Ido (Israel), Michael (Sydney), Magali (France) and Gil (Israel).I´m back in Antigua for tonight and am heading to my forth country tomorrow.

Hi all, well I´ve reached the end of my stay in Xela. I wish I had more time to learn some Spanish and I really wish I had mor time to spend teaching the children, but at the same time I´m excited about moving on and seeing more. I took the camera to school today, so here´s a few photos...

My Spanish teacher Lily and me...

The school yard...

My fellow teacher Monica (from Norway) teaching the class Santa Claus is coming to town...

The 5th graders....

The 2nd graders...

The girls at break time...

Also my bedroom...

And the street stalls I pass on the way to school...

I´m going to hopefully take some photos of my Guatamalian family at dinner tonight. I´m leaving tomorrow early on another hike. I´ve hooked back up with Quetzaltrekkers and am going to hike to Laco de Atitlan (where I was a few weeks ago) over the next three days!!!

hello all. I haven´t written in a few days, I've been pretty busy with Spanish in the mornings, homework, teaching in the afternoons and preparing those classes. It's been a real eye opener being here and living within a community rather then in a hostel. It can be hard to take sometims as you come face to face with more poverty and harsh reality then you would as just a tourist. I've learnt about the coffee exploitation, the mistreatment of the indigenous population, how 40,000 Guatamalian men have dissappeared and the government won't investigate, the corruption in the police... it just goes on and on. It is such a beautiful country, but hard on the people living in it!

Anyway, Last Friday, all the international students/teachers cooked a lunch. Everyone was asked to cook something from their home country, so I therefore cooked some spuds! (with cream and garlic) The meal was fantastic and great fun to cook. (there´s a kitchen at the school)No photos of the children or my host family yet as I thought I´d get to know them a bit more before whipping out the camera. But I did take a pic of the street dogs and a random moth...And one of the classrooms on the roof of the school (space is a problem)...The view from the roof... The road to the school... As you can see, Xela is a pretty dusty, place!Well, this weekend was the highlight of the trip so far. I have the weekends free from school so I looked up an organisation called Quetzaltrekers and went on a hike! Quetzaltrekers are a non profit group, who run a school and a home for street children. The guides volunteer for three months and all the equipment is donated. So the money I pay covers my bus and food, all the rest goes to the children. Their website can probably explain it better: http://www.quetzaltrekkers.com/guathome.html
Anyway, on Saturday morning at 4.45am we met and got a pick up truck, then a very busy chicken bus to the foot of the volcanoe Tajumulco. We started climing at 9.00am and at 3000 metres. After two minutes I was really out of breath and started to wonder if I'd be able for the hike. Carrying a rucsac full of group food, camping gear and my own gear didn't help.Hungry cow on way upWell, I made it to 4000 metres where we set up camp for the night. We climbed to a small peak to watch the sun set. What a view! That night was COLD. I just about managed to sleep in my thermal long johns, trousers, thermal vest, tshirt, three fleeces, hat, and two sleeping bags, in a tent with the bodyheat of 6 people! It gets cold at 3000 m at night! Cold.

So the guides woke us at 4.00am, and we climbed the last 220 metres to the top. And I saw the sun rise from the highest point in Central America (4220m). It rose from behind a chain of volcanoes, while one of them was erupting. It was the most amazing thing I have seen in my 26 years. The photos will never capture the experience, but here's some anyway..

Waiting for sunrise on the top.. coldSunrise..Close up of the eruption..The volcanoe's shadow..Waterfall of clouds (I learnt it was a katabatic movement of air)..Well, back to base camp, I love that I had a base camp, for breakfast, then the decent on very high spirits.
The walk home from the bus...I can't leave it there without mentioning one particular member of our group. Murray, from England, is cycling between the highest points in North, Central, and South America, and climbing each when he reaches them. He is doing it to raise money for cancer charities as he lost family members and friends to the disease. The night before the hike, the guides (over a few beers no doubt) convinced him he would be able to bring his bike to the top. Well he did. I want you all to know, it was not an easy hike, and to manage to carry a bike up took a lot. Big up to Murray!!! Check out his progress at http://www.peaktopeak.co.uk/ and donate if you can.

At the top at sunrise...

On way back down... Well, I detter go do my homework. Photos of my host family and school to come.
xxx Roz

P.s. why aren't my links working???