25th Feb 2005

We have now left Guatemala and have entered the very hot country of Honduras. On one of the last nights in Guatemala 3 of us decided to go to a Guatemalan cinema to watch The Motorcycle Diarys. We each had popcorn too just to make the trip more authentic! No Pearl & Dean, no "Coming Soon to a cinema near you" the film just started on the dot.

We visited our last Mayan ruins in Honduras yesterday at Copan. Now we are making our way to Rotan Islands for a few days. 2 problems here. One is there is no internet access - so no checking out all the major sport results (now back as an optormist after Millwalls win) and even worse - the mosquitos will have competition from the Sandflys as to who has the rights to bite me!

Glad to hear the weather back home is cold and snow.

Have a good weekend to you all.

22nd Feb 2005

Bit boring for posting today as we have just been chilling out in Guatemala. Spent a couple of days down by Lake Atitlan and now back in Antigua.

No volcanos, ancient ruins, not even a mosquitto bite to report. But after the previous few days it's nice just to chill out and relax. Right now I'm off to the pub to watch Liverpool in the Champions League. The excitment is just too much to bear!

19th Feb 2005

Wow is all I can say for what we have just done this morning. We have just climbed up Pacaya Volcano in Guatemala. It is listed on the foreign office as a red zone (don't go there - smacked wrists for all concerned) as it is currently active but 7 of us decided we wanted to do it. After a long hard 4km slog up the slopes, including a really hard km going up the shingles and volcanic ash (every 1 step forward you slipped half a step back) we managed to get to the summit for some amazing views and to watch the lava spurt out of the volcano. Having stayed up there for nearly an hour we then had to get down!!! And I have never had so much fun in doing just that. No one could walk down the shingle part, you just had to slide down and hoped that you only fell on your arse (which yes I did do on more than 1 occassion). When we got to the bottom we all considered walking back up just to slide down again! But our legs had the final say.

Not seen enough of Antigua yet to pass comment but we are coming back here for 2 more nights during the week. Unfortunately this means we are now leaving at 8am tomorrow morning, meaning if the Auld Firm game is on tv I will have to miss the last 15 mins :-(

Glad to see Millwall are doing well without me!

18th Feb 2005

I´m going to start by answering the questions "Big Bro" has posted. First of all the movies, on the 2 coach trips we had Robert Rodrigues The Mask of Zorro and Gothika (nice family film). The shark is well, it has had some therapy and is now happy that it won´t have to see my legs again!

Now on to the main part, me! After being eaten alive for the first 4 days, the mosquitos have decided to leave me alone for the last 2, which is a bloody miracle!

On Wednesday we left the island of Caye Caulken and moved on to the border town of San Ignacio, which again is a really nice and friendly place. Thursday morning was spent getting to the Mayan ruins of (ok I´ve forgotten how you spell it but know it begins with an X). Only 4 of us made it to this trip (it was an optional extra) and I´m glad I did, it was pretty breathtaking but then again, so was the mile up hill walk to it! We had the place to ourselves bar 1 Japanese tourist, who was shouted at every time he was in the picture. At lunch we left Belize to move into Guatemala where we are staying on a small island in Flores. This morning was a stupid early start to go to the famous Tikal ruins. Again we got there as it opened, so had less people walking around but as the site was over 10 square miles and lots of temples to climb there was a lot to see.

Later this afternoon it´s a flight to Guatemala City and a bus to Antigua. Our tour leader says it is the best city on the tour butit is also where 4 people in our group leave, including 1 girl who is into decent music. I know I can watch the Auld Firm game on Sunday as we won´t be travelling but not seen any Celtic pubs listed for Antigua. If it was Chile, Peru, Mexico I´d be ok. Just hoping we have cable in the hotel and it´s on that. How sad am I, all this way out here!

For those emailing me, thank you, I really do appreciate it and I´m sorry if I am slow to respond but time is always a struggle.

15th Feb 2005

Now in Belize, or to be precise, the beautiful island of Caye Caulken which feels more like the West Indies than Central America. It's a laid back friendly island. Played the locals at darts last night and obviously had to let them win to be polite or might have something to do with the Belizian Stout i was drinking (Belizian stout, just what was needed after a long days travelling).
Tomorrow is back to main land Belize and kyaking in the caves near the Guatemala border.
Right now though it's back to the beach and maybe, just maybe, a swim in the caribbean sea :-)

13th Feb 2005

Having survived "swimming" with the shark"s" we have met up with those we will be traveling with to Costa Rica. 14 in total (inc the leader) with most coming from the south east! So much to traveling miles to get away from the people I spend every day with. No Millwall or Celtic fans though. Couple of the statutory Aussies and 1 Canadian.

The island we visited yesterday was good fun, even if the little shark was a bit of a let down. Snorkeling in the coral reef in the Caribbean Sea more than made up for it. Had plenty of free drinks on the trip which also helped too.

We traveled down to Playa del Carmen today, another beach resort but a bit nicer than Cancun. Tomorrow we have to get up at the lovely time of 5am for a 10 hour bus ride into Belize. Thankfully the bus service in Mexico is 1st class. Comfy seats, lots of leg room and they even put a film on the screens, National Express could learn a bit here.

Missing you all. Hope you are all ok.

11th Feb 2005

Well we made it in one piece to the start in Cancun. After what seemed like ages in the air and 3 airline meals later we arrived in Mexico yesterday. Spent today just walking around (and getting lost) so have seen most of the town! Tomorrow we are off to the beautiful island of Isla de Mujeres for some snorkling and swimming with sharks, hopefully these ones haven´t appeared in any Hollywood films!!!

That´s all for now, well we´ve only had one day so far. Good luck to the Lions tomorrow! By the way the weather here is nice and hot but just about right for walking around in ¨:-)