Guanajuato

Guanajuato is cool! It took a bit longer to get here than expected, but that's the way it goes in Mexico...

We got up early in Puerto Vallarta for a leisurely breakfast before heading to the bus station. Breakfast was fine, but then we had to wait ages for a bus out to the station. By the time we arrived, we could only get a 12:30pm bus to Guadalajara. It was a nice ride through lovely countryside, very relaxing. We got into the massive Guadalajara bus station at about 6pm and had to find a bus to Guanajuato. This bus station has seven terminals and seemingly millions of different bus lines going to millions of different places in Mexico and the US. It was mental! But we found a bus going to Guanajuato at 7pm, so we got our tickets for it. After some ice cream, we hit the road again. This time we were on a posh bus with loads of leg room and complimentary food and beverage as we boarded. Chris was put out that it wasn't posh enough for a waitress on board to bring us tea and cake! We were the only ones on board for the last hour of the journey.


We arrived in Guanajuato at 11pm, much later than expected. While on the bus, we'd phoned a hostel in Guanajuato to ensure they had a room and would be open late. In the middle of making the reservation, our phone ran out of credit. So when we arrived in Guanajuato we had no idea if that hostel (or any others for that matter) would be open. We got a taxi and luckily had a really nice driver who showed us all the sights as we passed them on our way into town. He also seemed to appreciate our efforts to speak Spanish, which bolstered our confidence.

When we arrived at the hostel, it looked closed. Iff banged on the door, and the taxi driver banged on the door. Finally someone let us in. There was no reservation for us, but luckily there was a room available. Unfortunately, it was on the ground floor. We could hear noise from a nearby club as well as the voices of three French people in our hostel talking right outside our room. But somehow we managed to fall asleep, quite tired from a long day of traveling.

The next morning we were anxious to see Guanajuato. We went out for an early lunch at a place highly recommended in our guide book, and it was ace. Just getting there was an adventure: walking through Guanajuato's lovely cobbled streets lined with old, colourful buildings. So we had our lunch and then enjoyed walking around. We went into a museum dedicated to Diego Rivera, the famous Mexican artist. It has amazing art in it, both by him and by other artists he inspired. We also went into the Don Quixote museum, which is amazing. It's full of various types of art (paintings, drawings, sculptures, ceramics, etc) all of Don Quixote, Sancho Panza, and Cervantes himself. We really loved it.


There are other museums, but we just viewed their incredible buildings rather than go inside them. (We decided not to visit the world-famous mummy museum. It seems in poor taste.) We did go inside some beautiful churches, temples and markets. We sat in gardens and plazas to watch people and dogs go by. We generally soaked up the atmosphere as we roamed this gorgeous city. We also took the funicular up to a huge statue on a hill and enjoyed a wonderful view of all the colours of Guanajuato. It was glorious. We were also delighted to find a vegetarian restaurant here in Guanajuato! It offers a bizarre mix of Indian and Mexican food, and we loved it.

That night we managed to switch rooms in our hostel so we were upstairs (less noise!) and use the free wifi. We also managed to convince the night guy at the hostel that we had indeed paid for our new room. He didn't speak any English, but luckily we had a receipt for the payment. Grrrrrrrrrr. No matter, we got a good night's sleep.

Our second day in Guanajuato was lovely as well. We slept in a bit and then ventured out for lunch at the vegetarian restaurant. Veggie burgers...mmmmm mmmmm!!! We got our bus tickets for the next day's journey to Zitacuero, and we found a huge, wonderful grocery store to stock up on food for the journey. We had a wee siesta at the hostel to escape the worst of the heat and sun. Then we were delighted to find out that the World Rally Championship was taking place here that night. So we went along to the Teatro Juarez, joining hoards of other people to see the racers off. It was mental, a great atmosphere. People were screaming and cheering and taking pictures, and the drivers were loving it! It was exciting to be there among it all.


We then managed to get around all the people to get back to the restaurant we had lunch at the day before. It was so good, we had to go back and try a couple more things. It was gorgeous, and we waddled back to our hostel feeling very happy to be in Guanajuato. What a wonderful place!

Puerto Vallarta (after all!)

OK so it looked for a while that the bus system would defeat us and we'd miss out on Puerto Vallarta - but we made a snap decision on the way to Guadalajara that we'd try to get there after all. So we jumped off in Tepic and managed to find a bus headed to Puerto Vallarta (although it did seem to go all around the houses to get there). So we managed to make it to Puerto Vallarta after all - and we're pretty glad we did because we had a great time!

When we arrived, we thought we'd actually managed to transport ourselves to Florida instead because there were so many Americans of (or approaching) retirement age crowding the city centre. When we finally found ourselves in the right area (our bus driver seemed intent upon showing us as many different districts as possible and the 30 minute journey from the bus terminal took over an hour) we found ourselves a cheap hotel (no wireless internet though - booo!) and checked ourselves in for a couple of nights.


We'd spoken to a few people who recommended Puerto Vallarta as a destination because they'd been there on a cruise and had enjoyed the town and the activities to be found around it. What we were looking forward to were the zip-lines which we'd heard so much about. Laughing in the face of peril and thumbing our noses at danger we set off in search of adrenaline-fueled excitement!

It would have been great to tell you that everything went immediately to plan - but we spent a frustrating half hour or so traipsing around the dusty city streets looking for the point at which we would be picked up by a free bus. Fortune smiles on the intrepid it seems because after a quick trip on a bus (after another trip to the tourist info building) we ran into the public relations manager of one of the zip-line companies who not only gave us a good deal on admission - but also paid for a taxi to take us up there! Muchas gracias, mi amigo Alexandro!


The zip lines were everything we hoped they'd be - fast, picturesque and occasionally scary! Ably assisted by William and Ivan (they are actually Mexican - I think they may have created pseudonyms in case anything went wrong) we negotiated 10 lines in total - from the first easy 'training' line to the monstrous 'I'm not sure I can see the ground' line across a canyon. Both of us were hooting like... well, nothing I've ever heard before. It was over FAR too quickly - unfortunately there wasn't really time to do it again (and, of course we'd have to pay again too!). Afterwards we met up with Alexandro again and he pointed us in the direction of the bus home - via the Don Crispin tequila factory. The star!


We joined one of the tours and watched as Julio and his family (and Pancho the donkey) made the tequila from agave to bottle. He even let us taste some afterwards - salud! He said that he hoped we all enjoyed his tequila but if we didn't we should throw it in his face! Even Trace liked the Tequila (curses - I was hoping she'd give it to me!). After the tour we wound our weary way back to town.

Latin America has a reputation as a barren wasteland of vegetarian food with every traditional dish containing lard, bacon grease or some other animal derivative. However we have come across some wonderful veggie-friendly places - none more impressive than Planeta Vegetariano in Puerto Vallarta. It's a full veggie buffet with several different meals, salads, drinks and even desert. They even tell you if there's any dairy produce in their food too. We wound up eating three of our five meals there. They made lovely garlic-roasted potatoes, stir fries and stews. We were in culinary heaven.

Sadly, it was soon time to move on, but we're certainly glad we jumped off our Guadalaharja-bound bus in Tepic and made the effort to get to Puerto Vallarta.

El Fuerte to Mazatlan

We got to El Fuerte in the dark, later than expected. We had to get a taxi into the center of town, and we wound up sharing it with an American couple. They were staying in a posh hotel, so we parted ways there. Yet again, we encountered a taxi driver who was interested in tourists who make an effort to speak Spanish, and he was happy to tell us a bit about El Fuerte as we drove through it.

We went to a hostel recommended by our guide book, not the nicest place but cheap and with a really nice owner who was thrilled to have guests from a country besides the US (just for a bit of variety) and also who try to speak Spanish. El Fuerte is a small town, and it felt like we were the only tourists there. Perfect!


The next morning we got up early to walk around the town and find some breakfast. We went to mail some postcards and encountered Diego in the post office. Diego is a lovely Mexican man who is determined to live in the US. He was so excited that I'm American and that we're trying to learn Spanish. He encouraged me to speak more Spanish even though I was most likely getting it all wrong! He even offered to show us around, but alas we were leaving that morning. ¡Gracias, Diego!

We wanted to go to Mazatlan, and we had to get to Los Mochis first in order to get there. We got on a bus that turned out to be very slow. We stopped about every 5 feet for people to get on or off, but at least we got to see all of the area! We got to Los Mochis about 2 hours later.

Los Mochis is more of a city, while El Fuerte is a pueblo. There's not just one handy bus station in Los Mochis, so we had to find a bus station with a bus going to Mazatlan. We had to keep asking people for directions, but eventually we got there! Our bus was to leave in about an hour. While waiting in the bus station, I realised how effective a compliment in Spanish can be. There was a snack bar in the station, and when I wanted to buy something, the woman working there was glacial. She was friendly to everyone else, not to me. When I complimented her glittery nails, in Spanish, she became a different person, all smiles. Noted! I've noticed with other people as well that a little Spanish beyond the basics does wonders; people are happy that we're making the effort. People here are also very intrigued about life in Scotland, which is a good talking point!

Our bus to Mazatlan was uneventful. We got to watch a couple movies in Spanish, which is a good learning exercise. When we arrived in Mazatlan, I noticed that another couple got off the bus as well. We needed to get a taxi to a hotel mentioned in our guide book, and the taxi driver asked if anyone else wanted to share the taxi. Luckily for us, this other couple decided to share the taxi and try the same hotel...like us, they were winging it.

They're Barbara and Ken from California, and they are awesome. They've already traveled quite a bit in Mexico and Central America, and during the taxi ride they told us about their travels and local information about Mazatlan. We got to the hotel, checked in (despite the rate being more than in our book!), and wished each other well. Later on, we were wandering around looking for a place to eat dinner, and through a window we saw Barbara and Ken waving at us. They were nearly done with their food, but they invited us to join them. We did, and we had a great time. The food was lovely, and Barbara and Ken told us loads about their travels. What a lovely time! We made sure to exchange contact details when we parted ways; I hope our paths cross again.

The next day we were lazy, and it was wonderful. It's that kind of place, Mazatlan. We slept late and then walked miles along the coastline. There are lovely beaches and lots of pelicans to watch. We wound up having a late lunch at a posh cafe, which we normally don't do, but the food was really good. We were walking along the beaches when the sun set. We didn't manage to see anyone diving off cliffs into the surf, but we loved watching pelicans and even some kittens on the beach! Wonderful.


Our plan was to go to Puerto Vallarta the next day, so we managed to find the bus station to get our tickets for that. Unfortunately, we found out that the bus would leave at 4pm and only arrive at midnight...not ideal! We tried investigating other options, but in the end we decided we'd go to Guanajuato via Guadalajara the next day rather than to Puerto Vallarta.

Our final meal in Mazatlan was dinner at a place called El Tunel. We were the only tourists in there, and it was wonderful. They were nice enough to make their specialty for us with cheese rather than chicken, so we got to have their enchiladas mole. It was cheap and fast but delicious. And we had Tonicol for the first time, a vanilla-flavoured soda made locally. We went to sleep very happy with Mazatlan!

Photo clean-up

I've just removed the following photo links:

• Freighter to USA
  
• Last NZ photos
  
• Northland
  
• Tiri Tiri Matangi
  
• Tongariro X-ing
  
• Dolphin Spotting (CHC)
  
• Dunedin - Queenstown
  
• Deep South
  
• Milford Sound
  
• FJG - Queenstown
  
• Franz Josef Glacier
  
• South Island
  
• Wellington
  
• Rotorua II
  
• Rotorua
  
• Auckland - Raglan
  
• Auckland
  

They're still available on Facebook (along with all the others). I've also posted new Mexico photos and updated the map to show our progress.

Thanks for reading.

Copper Canyon

We woke up sad to leave Chihuahua so soon but very excited about the Copper Canyon railway. We couldn't wait to see the gorgeous views we've read so much about.

The first half of the train journey took us to Creel, where we stopped for some hiking. We didn't just want to see the canyon system from the train; we wanted to see it up close. The scenery from Chihuahua to Creel was nice but not spectacular, especially not when compared with the Copper Canyon area. At Creel is where the canyon system comes into view.

We got out at Creel with a vague idea of which hostel we'd try first (from descriptions in our guide book). As we came off the train, someone from the hostel was there to lead anyone to the hostel. So that worked out well! We went along and paid for one night. It was more expensive than the book mentioned, but it included dinner and breakfast, so we gave it a try.

Our main priority was to find a tour to go on the next day. There's no public transportation for getting into the canyons, and we didn't want to rent a car. There are various companies who offer tours, though, so we were interested in checking them out. Unfortunately, the tours that interested us required at least 4 people, and it's low season for tourism just now. So we hoped that at dinner we'd find some other people wanting to go on a tour. In the meantime, we walked along Creel's main street. It's a small, very peaceful place in the low season, and we were delighted to find recycle bins! Woo-hoo!


Soon it was time for dinner at the hostel. There were lots of people there, but the way it was laid out we were only able to talk to a few people around us. None of them needed a tour, and we ended the meal feeling a bit frustrated. That didn't go as planned! No matter, we hit the streets to find Iff a hat. Success! It's a black bucket hat with no symbols or signias on it! Genius.

On our way back into the hostel that night, we saw several people checking out the tours run by the hostel. We overhead 2 of them asking about a place we wanted to visit, Batopilas, so we asked them if they were interested in getting a tour there. They were! It turned out that that tour needs a minimum of 8 people, though, and the other people checking out tours weren't interested in that tour. The four of us asked around a bit, but we couldn't find anyone else interested. We agreed to meet first thing the next day at a tour agent up the street and see what we could manage.

The next morning, we were there bright and early at the tour agent's. We were waiting for Bernd and Sandra, the German couple we'd met the night before, when someone asked us if were interested in doing a tour. It turned out that this French family of three were in the same situation we were, and luckily this tour agent went to where we wanted and required only 7 people. Perfect! Bernd and Sandra arrived, found out we could go on the tour, and very kindly allowed us to store our backpacks in their room that day. (We checked out of the hostel that morning since we weren't sure if we'd be getting an overnight tour.) Then off we went!


The tour was to various views of the Copper Canyon system, not hiking like we'd imagined but still a much closer look than we'd get from the train. It was amazing. We saw such gorgeous scenery on a beautiful day and with great company. We had a wonderful time. Near the end of the day, we saw some sites near Creel: Cusarare waterfall, a lovely lake and an old mission still used by indigenous people. We resolved to see more of the sites near Creel, preferably on foot the next day.

We got back to Creel having enjoyed the day's tour. We then had to find a new hostel; we weren't entirely happy with the first hostel, and we knew other hostels were cheaper, so we wanted to shop around. We figured we'd stay for two more nights so we'd have a full day for hiking around Creel. We went to a hostel which sounded lovely in our guide book and was lovely in reality. The owner, Luli, was so hospitable and showed us a gorgeous room. Unfortunately, I completely misunderstood when she quoted a price to me in Spanish. We went to pay her and realised she wanted a lot more money than we wanted to pay. She speaks no English, so it was awkward trying to explain to her that I'd misunderstood her and that we needed a cheaper room! In the end, she offered to let us stay for one night for the price we wanted, and in the morning she'd recommend a different hostel for us to try. How nice is that!

That night we decided that we'd leave Creel the next day rather than stick around for a third night. We were disappointed about not seeing the rest of the local sites; the train would leave at mid-day. But it just seemed like time to move on. In the morning, we were delighted to find out that Luli's son would take us on a tour of the local sites as well as to Divisadero, from where we could get the train for the rest of the Copper Canyon rail journey. This was perfect; we wouldn't get any hiking in, but we'd get to see everything we wanted to see without having to rush for the train. Also, we'd get to see the sites in Divisadero rather than settle for the 15-minute stop the train makes there.

This tour arrangement required at least 4 people, but luckily there was another couple wanting to go too. They're a Mexican woman and a Dutch man, and they were lovely. The woman speaks Spanish and English and was nice enough to translate when our tour guide talked so quickly in Spanish that I couldn't follow him. She was also happy to recommend various things for us to do and see in Mexico; advice from locals is invaluable. We had a great time seeing cool rock formations around Creel, another mission for indigenous people, a cave inhabited by a family of 6 of those indigenous people, and then on to more amazing views of the Copper Canyon system.

The Copper Canyon system is comprised of a few canyons, rivers, waterfalls and lots of gorgeousness. There are various lookout points known to be especially striking, and we were thrilled to visit them, especially El Mirador and La Piedra Volada. The word of the day was "maravilloso" -- I couldn´t stop saying it. We got to Divisadero in time to grab some lunch before our train journey resumed (and see the French trio from our tour the day before as they waited for their first-class train; we were on the economy train of course!). The train was late, so we had a couple hours to eat some lovely veggie food from a stall by the train tracks and watch what Chris thinks were condors soaring over the canyons in front of us. There was so much natural beauty right before our eyes, and we couldn't have been happier.


We were probably spoiled by all that we'd seen in those two days. When we got on the train for the rest of the Copper Canyon journey, nothing could top what we'd already seen. The train journey itself is amazing, though. It goes across a canyon system that cars and buses can't traverse. It utilises lots of bridges and tunnels. It's a work of art really, and we're so glad that we got to experience it.

The train terminates in Los Mochis, but we decided to stop before there at El Fuerte, a smaller and supposedly safer town. So that's what we did...more on that later!

Chihuahua

Yes, we did get to the bus station in time for the 5:40am bus to Chihuahua! Alas, there was no room on it for us. :( We did get on the next bus at 6:50am, though. 12 hours and one time change later, we arrived in Chihuahua.

Our introduction to the city was by way of a taxi driver named Felix. On our way to a hostel by the train station, he played tour guide and encouraged us to speak Spanish (brave!). Gracias, Felix! We checked into the hostel (Casa Chihuahua), which is really cool. It was quiet that night, with only one other guest, but we were too tired from our long bus journey to socialise anyway. We met the owners of the hostel, who are really hospitable and happy to give advice about Chihuahua. That first night we turned in early, looking forward to exploring Chihuahua the next day.

We tried to get up at a decent time to explore the city, but the beds were really comfy! At about noon, we ventured out. It was at this time that we realised that Chris's ace hat from Australia was no longer with us. The last time we saw it was on the bus to Chihuahua. Adios, sombrero! A bit sadly, we went to the train station to get our tickets for the next day's journey to Creel, the first half of the Copper Canyon train ride.

We then had all afternoon to check out Chihuahua. There's quite a bit to do and see in Chihuahua. On the one hand, it was unfortunate that the one full day we were there (a Monday), most of the museums and the wonderful caverns nearby were closed. On the other hand, we enjoyed simply walking around the city, checking out buildings, statues, parks, and people and generally soaking up the lovely, peaceful, chilled-out atmosphere.




We were delighted to find a vegetarian restaurant; we managed to have lunch there as well as buy some of their food for the train the next day. Genius!

That night, we spent a fair amount of time with the family who own the hostel as well as a university student who works at the hostel. They told us lots of things about Chihuahua and surrounds that aren't in the guidebooks. Plus they're just really nice people whom we enjoyed talking to. By the end of the evening, we knew we had to come back to Chihuahua someday; if only we hadn't bought those train tickets for the next day! We went to sleep that night really liking the hostel, its owners and Chihuahua itself.

Estamos en Mexico

We've now been in Mexico for over 30 hours, and we're enjoying it so far.

Our journey began when we left Houston on 13 February...on the bus to San Antonio, we were two of only three passengers not fluent in Spanish, and the driver spoke very little English. A good taste of what was to come!

We had two nights in San Antonio and had a great time seeing Ross again, getting 13 hours of sleep one of the nights (a return to form – woo-hoo!!!), and eating some excellent Italian food (including a visit to Mr Gatti's, whose cinnamon sticks with icing were put on this earth to tempt me). Our first night there, would-be USA president Hillary Clinton was speaking at Ross's grad school. He had a class to go to that night, so we went along to St Mary's Uni to see what she had to say. A LOT of other people had the same idea. An hour before the doors were to open, there were thousands of people ahead of us, and by the time the doors opened, there seemed to be thousands of people behind us in line. There were news helicopters overhead and sharpshooters on the roof of the building. It was mental.

Now, I already had in mind to vote for Obama in the primary. I figured this was Hillary's chance to convince me otherwise. Plus I wanted to see her rather than what the media choose to show about her. I also wanted to see her just in case she does become president. In the end, we spent about four hours to hear her speak for 40 minutes (plus some time wasted as people before her went on and on about how great she is). She said some wonderful things, amazing (and very inspiring) goals for her presidency. She did not, however, even once give a CLUE as to how she'll accomplish anything. She didn't take any questions at any point. I was so disappointed, while nearly everyone else there was going mental with applause and cheering for her. Anyway, once the savvy St Mary's security personnel remembered to open the gates of the parking lot (after what felt like an hour of us waiting inside the parking lot), we went and had an excellent Italian meal, so the evening wasn't wasted.

The morning of 15 February, yesterday in fact, we got our bus to Monterrey, Mexico. This time we were two of four passengers not fluent in Spanish. This journey took seven hours, and I spent most of that time relearning Spanish while Iff slept. (In fairness, we only have one Spanish book on us, having ditched the other one to lighten our packs.) We had a wee spot of bother at the Mexico border when we were hassled not by Mexican officials but by an American prat wearing a customs official uniform. He grilled us on our travels, the work that would allow us to travel, our time in the US, our lives in Scotland, even what my parents do. If we weren't so worried about hiding contraband in our backpacks, I'd have taken him out with a sawed-off!!! Only joking. He was a complete prat, though.

We got to Monterrey 15 minutes early! And we were on Greyhound!!! Will wonders never cease? We'd booked a hostel near the bus station, and we found it fine about a 10-minute walk away. Our room is on the fifth floor (good thing we lightened our packs), and at that level there's an amazing view of the mountains around the city, particularly the Cerro de la Silla:

We didn't really fancy roaming around that night, so we stayed in and watched some of the movies Ross put on Iff's ipod. Cheers, Ross!

This morning (well, afternoon by the time we woke up) we slapped on lots of sunblock and walked all over the city. There's plenty to see here, including a giant pigeon:

We found a really cool restaurant for lunch. We were the only tourists in there, and the waiter seemed to enjoy the challenge of finding us vegetarian food. He threw in free stuff, which thrilled us...soup and various drinks he didn't know the English names for. We didn't know the English names either, but we enjoyed the drinks even as we hoped the ice cubes in them were made from purified water! For anyone visiting here, the restaurant is called La Divina, and it's on Diego de Montemayor by the Paseo Santa Lucia riverwalk.

We toyed with the idea of staying here an extra day to get in some hiking in the mountains, but we're too excited about getting to Chihuahua for the Copper Canyon railway. To that end, we're aiming for the 5:40 am bus tomorrow. AM!!! I can hear you laughing maniacally, Mom and Dad...chill out!

Hasta luego!

Waving Goodbye to Houston

I haven't posted in a while! Now that we're leaving Houston, I figure it's time to get back into the habit of blogging.

We've had a great time here. We've used up all our productivity at work, so we haven't learned Spanish like we'd intended or studied up on Latin America like we'd intended. We did have a great experience getting to know my dad's company, though, as well as playing lots of cards with my parents and seeing the plans for their new house take shape. It's all good!

During our month here, we've also gotten out of my parents' house on a few occasions. We got to see an old friend of mine, Nadine, plus her cool family (husband Jon, daughter Aspen, and mini dog Cody); spending time with them was a real highlight for me. We had a great time also with my friend Laurie and her kids Ty and Wee Audrey; the gorgeous Tex-Mex was a bonus! We caught up with my little brother in San Antonio, where we're going again tomorrow on our way down to Mexico. We met some very inspiring world travellers; I hope we'll have seen as many countries as they have after the next few decades! We had an unexpected but delightful visit with one of my favourite teachers from high school, Mrs Sheets (www.susansheets.com). And as for the awesome crew working for my dad, they made our jobs more fun than anything else. (Marty, if you happen to read this, I had a Dunkin Donuts donut today!!! It's all your fault!)

We're looking forward to hitting the road again and starting a new adventure (the one we'd intended to start in January 2007), but I'll be a bit sad to end this time in Houston. I'll be looking forward to getting back someday, seeing my parents' new domicile and catching up once again with our friends here (new and old)! Thanks to everyone who made it such a great month for us...

The Importance of Being Idle

It's now the 10th of February and Mexico is looming large in everything we're doing right now. We have a couple of days before we leave Houston for the foreseeable future.

It's been a fun month, but I think we're ready to leave and start traveling again. That's not to say that we haven't enjoyed our time here - in fact far from it. We've met an awful lot of very nice people in the month we've been here. We've - well, I mean Tracy has - really enjoyed her time working at the office. We - sorry, SHE - managed to get an awful lot of important work done which really helped everyone out during this busy time. What she did was so much appreciated that they threw her a party on her last day.


There was pizza, potato salad, chips & dip, cake, brownies, cookies... in fact everything you might want for a healthy lunchtime snack.

So now, we're no longer having to get up at 7:30 every morning and dragging ourselves into the office.

We're winding down from work this weekend. We met up with Tracy's friend Laurie and her two kids Audrey (4) and Ty (13) last night. I talked football with Ty and crayons with Audrey. We also played hide and seek - which was fun. I had a torrid time trying to find them. Maybe you can spot them in these pictures?


So the rest of this weekend is to be spent seeing people for the last time - particularly Tracy's aunts Bonnie and Connie - and getting ready for our Mexican adventure. We have a list as long as yer proverbial arm to get through so I'm not sure why I'm on the computer - I should be getting some of this stuff done!

Oh yeah - updating the blog is on the list! Phew.

A Flickr of Hope

Just a housekeeping note: I'm going to try using Flickr.com for pictures - see how that works out. Check out the photo link bottom right. There are only a couple of new photos in there, but I figured I had to start somewhere. We've not been particulalrly busy with the camera, so not much there in terms of new pics.

One thing we have been taking pictures of is stuff to sell on ebay.


As mentioned earlier, Trace has really got into the entrepreneurial spirit and has been flogging all sorts of stuff on the worldwide garage sale that is Ebay. She's done so well that she's already over $100 to the good!

In other news, today is "Super Tuesday" where the presidential candidates for the next US election either take a huge leap forward or are cut down to size.


Pic lazily 'borrowed' from BBC homepage
Everyone in the US who cares about politics will be glued to the TV, internet or news source of their choice trying to get the latest on who's up, down or sideways.

Needless to say we'll be out shopping.

Deep in the heart of Texas

Hi again from Houston.

There's not much to report of late without getting too involved in what's going on day to day - but we did manage to get over to San Antonio to see Tracy's brother Ross and how his fledgling counselling practice is progressing (very well seeing as you ask..).

Any other news is pretty mundane - I got a haircut and trimmed off most of the scruffy beard I had been cultivating. Tracy's been flogging off worldly possessions (such as we have left) on ebay - and doing pretty well I must say. Not a minute can pass without another glance at the website. We just came back from an evening at a friend of Tracy's parents'. They had some guests who were very interested in freighter travel - so we told them all about our experiences and shared some of their travel stories. All of this talk of travel is getting us back in the mood to get back out there!

We did manage to arrange some travel recently though - we booked a bus from here to Mexico. We'll be in Monterrey on the 15th of February - all being well. Quite where we're going to stay is another matter - one we'll hopefully sort out tomorrow.

Hopefully news of Mexico organisation soon!