Well we are now in Playa Del Carmen which is a beach town built for Yanks to visit and feel like they've never left home. Kind of like Cancun but a bit smaller I guess. Maccas, Starbucks, Walmart, it's all here. It's also unbelievably hot. Step outside for 5 mins and you are soaked in sweat. Our hotel room has a small overhead fan that gives little in the way of relief and last night, neither Craig or I got much sleep. It's just too damn hot!!! That said, the beach is very nice. It has very fine grains of sand. An important attribute of a good beach.
Over the last week and a half or so, we've made our way through Guatemala and Mexico, seeing 3 different Mayan ruins sites. Chichen Itza, Palenque and Tikal all got a look-in. Afterwards, the judges (all 2 of them) conferred, voted and judged Tikal to be the winner! The reason being that it was wedged deep in the jungle and that it's like taking a bushwalk to see the various ruins. We had to get up at 3am in order to catch a bus that would get us there before sunrise. We then climbed up one of the ruins so that we were sitting looking out over the forest canopy. The tour guide made us all shut our mouths for about 10 mins so we could look and listen and watch the clouds float over a couple of other temple/pyramids poking up above the trees and hear the howler and spider monkeys calling out to each other and the birds waking up. It was pretty awesome. It didn't have people trying to sell you a cheap piece of mayan pottery probably made in China and it didn't have massive crowds. So it won hands down. The other two sites were definitely also pretty amazing too though.
The more time we've spent in the heat of Central America, the more I have become aware of a disturbing custom. Most people deal with standing outside in the oppressive heat by telling each other how hot it is, maybe waving a fan or drinking a cold drink etc. However, for middle-aged men with large pot bellies, the custom appears to be to hike your t-shirt up and over your gut in order to air it out. I've seen it time and time again. The t-shirt just sits there, perched above the gut, in no danger of falling down, as the dude proudly displays his so-called "roof above the tool-shed". I HAVE SEEN ENOUGH BIG GUTS PROTRUDING BOLDLY OUT FROM UNDER T-SHIRTS TO LAST ME A LIFETIME!!!!!
Ok, felt good to get that out of my system.
On Saturday, Craig and I go our separate ways. He's off to New York and I'm off to LA. After 3 months of travelling together, I'm not sure if that's enough distance between us but it's a start. ;) Nah, it's been a lot of fun but I think we are both ready for the next part of our holiday. I'm hoping to get to Las Vegas and also San Francisco in the next two weeks before I then head over to London to see my brother and also my parents who will be visiting at the time. It'll be like a mini family reunion and I'm really looking forward to it.
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9 comments:
See what happens when you leave the country. Sheeds get the flick, Pagan gets the flick, Connolly gets the flick, Steve Bracks resigns and John Thwaites resigns.
I didn't quit though.
Dave, Carlos and I have been cultivating mighty, mighty guts for your return. We finally saved some pizza for Carlos.
Bracksy too now? Who next? Homer quitting the Simpsons to act in a serious daytime soap? Ray Martin quitting channel 9 due to differences in opinion on how he should wear his hair?
Adam lies!.. my pot belly has grown by eating a complex diet of corn chips, salsa and peanuts. After all these years No pizza has been forthcoming.- Jonsey
Add Kouta to the list.
oohhh and Damo, i know your a Harry Potter fan, and can't read the Spanish version of the book, so i thought i'd tell you how it ends.
Harry gets hit by a bolt of lightning, the lightning bolt produces a mini-Harry with a little lightning scar on his head. Harry confesses that all along he loved Ron, and that the girls were a decoy, and Hermini goes on the rebound, and hooks up with Hagrid.
So there you have it. Either way you read it, Carlos doesn't get any pizza. hehehe
I just read this entire blog from start to finish (cos Mary re-sent the link)and I have to say that this has been the best couple of hours reading I've ever done. The pictures help too cos the only book I've ever read is DaVinci Code, and I only got through that because of the pictures. I need closure on the Monkeys though.
Pendles is out for the season and the pies got Carl this weekend minus poor old, decrepid Kouta who did a heart muscle and will never play again. I hope you are proudly bringing Collingwood to the rest of the world - STYLUS
Stylus, don't be shy, lots of Westies get their young children to read to them.
Pfft, heart string, who else has played a senior game with their leg in a massive freakin' cast thing.
Damien, can you ask the locals if they know who Kouta is? Try even Buckley? But i'm sure if you say Sheedy, they'll know.....well if you ask the security guys out the front of Hanger 18, where the Martians that keep costing Essendon games live.
ooohhh and Damien, don't bother updating your blog, its now just become a haven of Comment Squatters, and we may stay here long after you've returned back to OZ.
Just the fact that Mark did some reading is enough for me. Mark, the last two days have involved me heading down to the donut store after breakfast for a glazed donut and a medium coffee. I think of you every time I walk through the doors. It's like if you were dead then I could say that I feel your presence with me. Since you're alive though, it's a tad creepy.
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