The Ruta... Mmmmm Goodness!

Met my crew in the morning in the lobby of Margarita's Hotel in Cancun. A wild bunch... 6 guys, 2 girls... 7 Brits and 1 Wild Swede. I was a little intimidated... but it was all in vain. From the first day the group showed and proved... a fun bunch of nerds. Here's a quick look into the madness of the Ruta...

The crew on their guided tour of Chichen Itza.

Sitting and waiting for the serpent to appear. Twice a year, during the spring and fall solstice, the sun hits the pyramid (El Castillo) in a way that creates the illusion of a giant snake slithering down the stairs... or so we heard. We arrived at the ruins on the 19th, the day before the solstice, to see the magic happen. It was jam packed with people. We were told to come back at around 3:30 to see the event. We arrived and watched and watched and watched... we sat through an hour of introduction and explanation translated into 7 languages (Spanish, Mayan, English, German, French, Italian and Something Else) and still the shadow didn't slither. It was a bit uneventful. Rather than "sliding" What actually happens is that the sun hits the 9 tiers of the pyramid casting a zigzag shadow on the stairway that (after a couple of hours) alines with the stone head of a serpent at the bottom of the stairs. Although it is really amazing to see how in tune the Mayan people were with astronomy and how they connected astronomical events to their basic archetecture it is really nothing spectacular to watch. I think my group would agree with me.

The Secret Cenote. This is a photo from the stairway that descends into the cenote. I'm not quite sure who first found out about this place but there has been a map in my notes that shows how to get there ever since my first year coming down here. Drive south out of Merida. Take a left towards Abala. Drive through the village of Abala and continue a couple of miles until the high voltage electrical lines cross the road. Take the next left on the gravel path. Pull the mirrors in on your car and drive slow. Take your first left and follow the road until it ends at a couple of big rocks and there you are... the Secret Cenote. It's always a highlight for people. You have to crawl through a small cave opening and down a 30 foot ladder into the crystal clear water. There are some giant stalagtites, roots from the trees penetrating the 15 foot ceiling of solid limestone and a couple of good diving spots. Bring a snorkelling mask and you can see how the floor of the cenote drops off on one side, sliding down into a deep cave where it joins with an underwater river system!

Some underwater glamour shots. Taken with the same camera that the underwater videos were taken with.

Iguana @ Uxmal

Another Iguana

A beautiful sunset at Laguna Bacalar

The peeps at Finca Ixobel. Had a couple of good nights at the Finca. It's always a fun place to spend a couple of days... I can relax while my passengers are off doing activities. Good people, great food and always completely entertained. Especially had fun this time around. Mario (far left) was about to leave after 19 months at the finca so I sold him my external hard drive and gave him 80 gigs of tunes. Spent the day with him, Pichi and Maria (center) drinking beers, listening to music and grillin' out. Then at night met up with the crew for a little drinking session. Joakim and Steve each drank a bottle of Rum and then had a kick boxing session.

Dusk at Finca Paraiso on Lago Izabel

Rasta Dave, our guide in San Ignacio, showing us his scorpion handling skills.

Messing with my camera

Another long exposure

Boxing with myself

We took an all day "Jungle Canoe Trip" with David. Paddled down the river looking for wildlife and watching David smoke phatty afer phatty. Made a stop midway to eat lunch and jump off of some rocks. This is a photo of David giving me tips about how to read the wind before I jump.

Takin' the Plunge. Continued from this spot all the way down river and back into town. Saw some iguanas, toucans and even a couple of kinkajous. After the tour went into Cayo and got some killer BBQ pork... there was still hair on the pig skin! David asked me for a ride home so I dropped off my group and headed off to give him a lift. He had other ideas though. We rolled back to his office to pick up his sidekick who was sleeping on a bench out front and projectile vomited in a ditch before he jumped into my ride... nice! Then we rolled off to take care of some of David's reservations for the next day. Afterwards he said "Let's stop in and see my Chinese girl!". We stopped at a Chinese grocery and he bought me a couple of beers while he chatted up a couple of chubby Guatemalan "Ladies of the Night". I was getting a little impatient so I pushed him to roll. His little buddy was sleeping in the car and David was tanked. I knew how to get to his place so I just drove... it's in the middle of nowhere. David passed out and woke up about 20 minutes into the drive mumbling about how I was going the wrong way and then passed out. When I finally got to his place I woke him up... he said "How did you get here? Why are you driving my car?" I tried not to laugh but couldn't help it... I sent him on his way back through the orange grove, across the river and back to his settlement that sit in the middle of some ancient Mayan ruins.

During our canoe trip we made a stop to grab a couple of beers. We bellied up to the counter at a little cornershop and grabbed a couple of Belikins. I slumped down on the stoop in the shade trying to avoid the midday sun. There were a couple of young girls around the back of the shop doing some laundry by hand. They saw me watching them and giggled. The youngest ran back into the house. When I looked back again she was giving a bath to what looked like her cat. The cat definately didn't like getting wet and was making a screeching howl that definately sounded like the cry of a wild animal. It caught my attention so I went to take a closer look... sure enough it was a wild cat, a baby jaguar. I asked where they had gotten it and they said that their dogs had found a litter of kittens. They left them alone and when they returned the next day the one kitten was still there so they took it. It was really cool to hold a baby jaguar kitten but at the same time the situation was a bit sad. The people in a most of the Central American countries that I visit really lack education when it comes to environmental issues and animal conservation. You can still encounter people trying to sell animal pelts, rare live birds and animals, chucking their trash out their car windows, burning garbage... It's sad. The family that had the jaguar had him in a small carboard box and were trying to feed it milk and water out of a bottle. They were more concerned with having it taken away than having it survive. Sad. Until there is more focus on education about these issues these countries will continue to obliviously suffer the consequences.

Me and the Jaguar Baby

You can tell how much my passengers loved me by the friendly comments that they wrote about me on my van.

We arrived in Xpu-ha and it was the beginning of Semana Santa. The beach was packed with vacationing Mexican families. My friends Cory and Martina invited my whole group and myself to their April Fools Party. They had a huge spread on the beach... enough to feed myriads. They put me in charge of grillin's and I cooked enough arracherra and marinated pollo to feed a small pueblo. They even hired Paco from the famous Tacos Paco to cook up a batch of his shrimp and fish tacos. Had a great night of drinking that ended with drinking bottle after bottle of wine with my new friends on the rack of my van... goodness. Thanks Cory and Martina!

A photo of Anna "Queen of the Beach" doing some hair raising dance moves at the party

Me and my handlebars

Dude... "Sweet Child of Mine" is such a killer tune it can wake the dead (or passed out) and make them jam like a metalhead robot!

The fireshow at the Blue Parrot in Playa. Had a good night jamming with the crew on the beach front dance floor (except for the part when the Mexican girls came up and asked if we were gay because we were 5 guys dancing like robots in a circle).

Alls I got to say is... Thanks guys! I had a blast. It's not that often that you get a trip that seems like a road trip. From Scottish Dave's Borat Impression, to Joakim's "It's raping time" comment, to Steve's bottle-a-rum hoola hoopin' moves... it was a good one. Thanks for making it memorable!

Another Underwater Video

Bear Vs. Pimp World Premiere

That's right ladies and gents... As of Friday, April 13th Bear vs. Pimp has been making tidal waves across the film circuit worldwide. It didn't break any opening weekend records, but it's getting close. But don't take my word for it, check it out for yourself and see what all the hype is about at www.bearvspimp.com.

Fuck! I Got Lebanese Looped!

That's right... the old fashioned Lebanese Loop scam. It all went down yesterday... I have heard people talk about getting got by this ATM scam, so I should have been aware of this... but I guess the surprise factor is what always gets people.

My group and I were in Panajachel, Guatemala... up early and ready to head to Chichicastenango, a nearby market. We cruised into town, some people to grab a bite to eat and others to use the ATM. I had a pocketfull of Quetzales but I figured that I might as well pull out some cash just in case. Three passengers and myself went to the centrally located ATM (one of four in town) and one of my passengers tried to use it but it wasn't functioning. There was a guy sitting on the stoop in front and he said that we had to roll up the street to the other ATM. We went to the one closest up the street and there was a guy out front of that one as well saying that it wasn't working and we'd have to continue up the street to use the one farthest away from the city center.

We walked up the street and to the bank vestibule that holds the ATM. Right as we were walking in a guy walked away from the machine and jumped on his cell phone as he exited the booth. I slid in, pulled my card out and got ready to use the machine. I don't know what it was but I got really bad vibes about the whole situation right before I inserted my card. The primary thing that concerned me was that it was a machine that you have to actually insert your card as opposed to sliding it but retaining it in your hand for the whole process. I had just given my whole group a speech about using the sliding move as opposed to the insertion method (wow, this is starting to sound interesting) and about how I NEVER use the insertion machines... and here I was using it.

Everything worked fine... I put in the card, entered all my info, got my money and then it asked me if I wanted a receipt and.... the machine froze. It tried to spit out my card but on the slot it looked as if something was obstructing it from ejecting. I saw it trying to come out and then it sucked right back into the machine. "Fuck!" I yelled and kicked the wall. Right as I yelled the guy who had been using the ATM before me came in on the phone and said in Spanish "Did it just eat your card? It did that to mine too. I'm on the phone with the bank right now." He was talking to someone on his phone and and telling him how it just ate my card too. I told him that I was a guide and that I needed to get my card out today since we were always on the move. He said that the guy on the phone wanted to talk to me since I was the last person to use the machine. I grabbed the phone and told the guy that I need my card today and that it was an emergency. He told me that I had to type in a code (1234) and then my pin #. I handed the phone back to the other guy and told him that the guy on the phone wanted to talk to him. Whilst he was talking I covered up my hand and tried to do what he had said.... the whole time the guy was looking at my hands. I should have known at this point that shit was sketchy... but I was so pissed about my card getting eaten up that I wasn't paying attention. The guy said that I didn't do it right, that I needed to type the code and then my pin and repeat it 3 times in a row. I covered my hand again and tried it again but nothing. I have a way of punching my pin so that people can't read what I'm typing even if they are watching and this guy wasn't getting anything. All of a sudden he said that the guy on the phone said that I would have to wait until tomorrow (Monday) to get my card and then he took off.

Once he left then I inspected the card slot a little better and my passengers and I started putting 2 and 2 together. Right as our suspicions started to brew a couple of cops walked up from off of the street and checked the machine. They pulled out a bit of tape connected to a bit of really sticky hard plastic and said that the device is used to catch the card so that the perp (sweet word... I watch a lot of Law and Order) can pull it out later and use it with the pin # he watched you type up.

I was pissed off!! I started to think about the whole situation and things started coming together. Everyone was involved. I think that they plant a guy out side of all the other ATMs (which are the sliding ones) telling the tourists that they are broken or actually breaking them so they then have to go up to the only one in town that you insert your card into. They did it on a Sunday which is the only day that the bank is closed and is also a huge shopping day for tourists since the majority of people that come to Pana on the weekend do it to be close to the Chichicastenango market on Sunday. I'm sure that tons of unsuspecting gringos make their way to the cash points to get money to buy souveniers. Then when I got to the machine I should have been more aware of my surroundings... Why didn't they guy warn me not to use the machine if he had just had his card get eaten? Why was there a piece of styrofoam covering up the video camera? Why was the guy changing the code that I had to enter? There were just too many inconsistencies and I should have been more aware.

Anyways... at the end of the day I got got. I doesn't really affect me too much. I was able to call home and have the card cancelled pretty much immeadiately and it doesn't look like anyone had access to my card. I got lucky and the machine actually did eat it. Now I just have the inconvenience of trying to figure out how to get my $ from my Wells Fargo account and into my other account of which I still have a card. Ugh!

If anything I hope that this helps others to be a little bit more cautious and aware. It sucks that situations like this cause you to be more skeptical about people than you already are... but that's the way it is. So be careful and if there is anyone being a little too friendly when the ATM you're using craps out on you... watch out for the Lebanese Loop!

Three Days In Caye Caulker

DAY 1:

9:00 AM – We Cross the border between Mexico and Belize. Corruption is rampant on both sides. The Mexican official charges me a bogus $100 peso charge per passenger to give them a double entry stamp, which I know is bull because they charge me nothing for the same stamp at the border crossing at Ciudad Cuatemoc. The Belizean side is even worse. For years they had a racket where a local border broker told us that we had to go through a cargo import process that took upwards of 6 hours to process.

12:00 NOON – We arrive in Belize City. The passengers are never prepared for the ghettoness of the city. As we unload our luggage, we’re bombarded by dreadies looking for a handout for something to eat (translation – a bag of crackrock). Belize city is drowning in poverty… not much opportunity in a country of 200,000 people where the biggest industries are tourism, sugarcane and drugs. I pass my van off to my guy Dennis, a local taxi driver that parks the van at his house while we’re on the island so that it doesn’t get ransacked by crackies. We had a little time to spare so the group was off for some Belizean cuisine (fried chicken, beans and rice) while we waited.

1:30 PM – 45 minute water taxi ride to the island. Jam packed with locals bringing goods back from the mainland and nervous tourists hoping that they’re on the right boat or that their luggage makes it to their destination. It’s a great cruise weaving through the Cayes in crystal blue waters.

2:30 PM – We’ve arrived. Drag my passengers and their luggage to the hotel and give them the afternoon free to explore the island.

4:00 PM – Stroll up to the Lazy Lizard, the bar at the split of the island, to chill for a hour or so. Caye Caulker is divided into 2 islands, the north and the south, after a hurricane came through and dug a trench dividing the land into 2 pieces in the 1960’s. The south island is occupied and the north is still pretty much uninhabited jungle. Right where the island splits is the Lazy Lizard... a good bar to hang for sunset and some of the best swimming on the island.

8:00 PM – Dinner at Rasta Pasta and an early exit to the hotel room to get some much needed sleep.

Ahhh... Belikin!

DAY 2:

9:00 AM – Roll to the Sandbox for some breakfast. Good place to eat cause it’s right next to Carlos’ office. Carlos Alaya is a snorkeling guide that I roll with every time I go to Caye Caulker. He’s an incredible guide, the perfect mix of professional knowledge and Belizean charm. Funny and smart and the groups really like him. Plus he goes into the water with you (unlike many other local guides) and points out animals that you definitely couldn’t find on your own.

10:00 AM – Gear up with equipment and jump on the boat. Carlos makes three snorkeling stops during the tour and stops mid-day on San Pedro for a lunch break. The trip was great. He made an unexpected stop near the reef so that we could all jump in an check out a loggerhead turtle that had been in the area for a couple days prior. It was really amazing to swim large and powerful. It was just flapping away over a bed of conch oblivious to the swarm of tourists hoping to get close enough to get a good look. Later we went to the Hol-Chan Marine Reserve and swam through a deep channel in the reef. We saw some huge grouper, spotted eagle rays, northern rays, a green moray eel and various other fish. Did some deep free dives (at least for me… I’ve been smoking lately so to be able to suck down one breath and dive down 25-30 feet is an accomplishment). Then we scooted off to Shark and Ray Alley where the group gets to jump in with some nurse sharks and pretty big rays. Carlos cuts up a bunch of fruit and we all kick back as he cruises around the north island on the way back to the dock.

Here are some of the photos Carlos took on our snorkelling tour. First stop - a loggerhead turtle!

A spotted eagle ray

A HUGE black grouper (almost 4 feet long)

Scottish Dave Playing with a nurse shark

7:30 PM – Dinner at Syd’s… the best (and cheapest) fried chicken and seafood on the island (at least according to the locals). Had the fried chicken and it was as good as it’s touted to be. The crew was happy and full. It was one of my passenger’s birthdays so we gave him a cheesy card and a “Carlos’ Tours” shirt.

Dinner at Syd's

10:00 PM – Off to the “I & I” the local reggae bar… basically a 3 story jungle gym of hammocks and palapas. It’s always a good mix of locals and tourists mingling, drinking “Panty Rippers” and Belkins in a haze of Dance Hall tunes and ganja smoke. We hung out on the back porch where we met “Nick-At-Nite” and his little brother “Alize”. The locals all have some sort of nickname that they go by and these guys were no exception. Alize kept going on about how they run the island and that it was his birthday so we should buy him a drink... not uncommon to have the locals try to squeeze a drink (or more) out of you. He kept running his mouth until his big brother Nick-at-Night lambasted him in Creole. All I could make out is “Shut da fuck up brutha… you talk to fuckin’ much. Dey don’t wan hear you. Ya got ta learn to be quiet” after which Alize said pretty much nothing. Nick-at-Nite was an interesting character too. I asked him what he does and he said “I sell drugs man… I ain’t gonna lie”. He told me about how he has an H3 Hummer back in Belize City and that he works for the “Big Man”. He has 15 kids on the island that will do anything he wants and if I ask anyone on the island “Where’s Nick-at-Nite” that they know where he is and he’ll be there in 5 minutes. It’s interesting to talk to the guys that live on the island. Everyone has a story and they all do what they have to to get by. Besides working in a restaurant or bar, there’s not a lot of opportunity on the island… so people are always hustling to make scratch (or to hook up with a foreign girl – the rasta charm and exoticness go a long way). We hung out at the bar until 12 and then moved to the Oceanside “night club” – a small, sand floored shack with a 15 x 15 foot dancefloor where we hung out with Ras Mega, the New Mexican Mustache guy and the German lady that sells necklaces. Lots of rum and tequila led to…

DAY 3:

12:00 PM - … Sleeping late to shake my hangover. Spent the whole afternoon lounging. Went back to Syd’s for a second dose of fried chicken… mmm! Went to the split to talk with Ras Creek about the booze cruise in the evening.

6:00 PM – Meet up with the crew to have dinner. Another laid back BBQ meal on the island.

7:30 PM – Go to the split to jump on Ras Creek’s Rasta Tug Boat for our booze cruise. In true Caye Caulker “Go Slow” fashion we wait an hour for another group to show up but they’re a no show. We’re joined by Lyle, a Canadian guy that we had met the night before and we chug out towards the reef for an hour and a half “Crooze”. Rum and Belkins were aplenty. We spent the night listening to Ras Creek’s radio tuned into a barely audible reggae call-in radio show from Belize City. We were just enjoying ourselves sippin’ on beverage when all of a sudden we heard Ras Creek big upping on the radio. He had called in the radio show and started passing around the phone so we could all have a shout out on Reggae Radio. It was a laugh…

Ras Creek's Rasta Tug Boat

Kickin' it with BC Kyle and Andrea

Coconut Rum Love

The Crew

10:00 PM – Back to the dock and then off to Oceanside for round two. Hung out for a while and attempted to get my groove on to the reggae tunes. Unfortunately my hips don’t lie and what they were saying is “Dave can’t dance!” Ended up rolling back to the room of some people that I met at the bar for some late night hanging and then making my way back to my cabin to pass out.

DAY 4:

8:30 AM – Wake up, pack and drag my luggage down to the dock to catch the water taxi. Try to wrangle up the crew so that nobody misses their passage back to Belize City.

10:00 AM – Jump on the boat and skip across the blue water back to Belize City and the van.

Underwater Smurfin'

Me and the guys on my last trip goofing around with an underwater camera. I don't know why the image that appears on the video screen looks like someone's bum...

The NEW Map

Hey guys... I've made a couple new additions. I've added a couple new links (and there's more to come) the best being Bear vs. Pimp, check it out. Most importantly I've added a new and improved map guestbook that makes it easy for you guys to add your comments, shoutouts, photos, videos and more. So give me a little love... it's what makes me keep writing. Love hearing from you guys and hope you keep it coming

Mayan Explorer In A Nutshell

On Feb. 11th I embarked on a "Mayan Explorer" a 3 week trip that pops into some of the best places in the Yucatan, Guatemala, Honduras and Belize. The group was comprised of:

Kiki - Swedish
Maayke - Dutch
Sheena - English
Adam (aka Texas) - Texas
Nick (aka MC McBasilhoff) - UK
Jon - UK
Dani (aka The Player) - Austria
Maciej and Dorota (The Poles) - Poland (Via Ireland)

The crew was tight and we managed to have a blast. Adam miraculously managed to go out drinking every single night of the trip... others tried but failed. But even thought the crew's personal nightly consumption goal was not fulfilled, the trip was still a success. We hung out with cheesy Cuban lounge singers and his Can-Can dancing coworkers, befriended land pirates in Palenque, guzzled down $90 (read - $35) bottles of rum in Antigua, were howled at by the monkey guardians of El Boqueron, got ticks on our balls (well, some of us), chugged along the Belizian reef in good company on Ras Creek's Rasta Tug Boat and managed to squeeze 6 people into a hammock... overall a successful trip I would say!

The following is an attempt to try to wrap up six weeks of goodness into a couple paragraphs...

Palenque was the second night of the trip and therefore the first night that we cooked. I (almost) always cook the first night when we camp and when in Mexico I like to grill up a Mexi-smorgasbord - Arrachera tacos on the grill with, cebolla, cilantro, morron asado, avacados, home salsa... the works. This is me in action on my makeshift bbq (a grill sleeve propped up on rocks).

Later on during our Mezcal sippin's a grasshopper made it's way to the table and managed to mate with Adam's nose.

After the Mezcal we decided to make our way up to the palapa for "one more beer". As we kicked back to enjoy our beers a stranger stumbled into the room with his guitar. He was very forward and friendly and plopped himself down cross-legged in the center of our dinner table. When asked who he was he responded "Una pirata, una pirata de Palenque"... a pirate. It was pretty convincing I must say, he looked like a genetically mutatated Capt. Jack Sparrow: raggedy clothes, piercings, blond and black dreads and the wierdest edition - completely albino-blond eyelashes and eyebrow on one side of his face. He sang some Bob Marley songs and actually was pretty good... especially considering his admission that he had taken mushrooms... and acid. Just as the Pied Piper's tune lured children from their homes, the Pirate's Marley tunes awoke sleeping palapa rats from their hammocks and soon we had a merry bunch of travellers singing songs and sharing stories until the early morning... or should I say until the guy in the hut next door came out and yelled at us.

Another picture of me and the Pirates.

From Palenque we moved south to San Cristobal. I'm loving the music scene there... always live music and most of the time its really good. Usually reggae or mexi-rap/reggae mix. If you ever go you have to check out the Circo bar for a good night of tunes. We spent an afternoon strolling through the market. Everything and anything you want fresh, fast and good is there... including this heaping mound of mixed beans.

A photo of the streets of San Cris.

Got a couple of photos of some of the locals selling their goods in front of the cathedral in San Cris. Every afternoon when the sun drops the church basking in the purple rays of dusk makes and incredible backdrop for photos. These girls from Chamula (a nearby village) were using their cutest Chiapan looks to try to sell these handmade garments.

Balloon Boy

Met up with another tour guide (Steve Busby) and his group and rolled south to El Chiflon, a series of waterfalls that both of us had been interested in visiting. We all were really impressed. Just like Agua Azul the water is turquoise blue. But instead of 15-30 ft. waterfalls, El Chiflon is a series of falls 10 - 180 meters! The scenery is amazing and standing in the mist of the tallest falls while looking down on the others is a Mexican must do! To top it off, there is a zip line there that shoots you 500 meters across the canyon over in front of the 180 meter falls... Excellent! We spent the afternoon climbing around the falls and swimming in the (cold) pools. That evening both groups set up camp together and we had a waterfall jamboree.

Busby is a diver and a skilled one at that. I've seen him pull off some pretty incredible (and technical) dives. But when I saw him attempt this bomber I almost couldn't watch...

... but I did and took this photo. Class! Steve got 10's from the crew and managed to impress the local Chiapans enough to give him a round of applause.

Steve and I talking to a family from Chamula that came to the falls for the day. It was 2 young women with their 10 kids.

Steve and the Chamulans.
Hi... Meet Stefan from Berlin. Him and his buddy Mark were both on Busby's trip. The first day we walked into the lobby they both were outside chillin' and having a smoke. Pretty intimidating meeting 2 guys that are both about 6 foot 4 - one with matching skull tats on each side of his neck and the other a 250 lb. semi-pro German boxing champ. Mark was a tattoo artist that had the clown from Steven King's "IT" tattooed on his calf and he did most of the work on Stefan. The first day of the trip we went swimming and Stefan revealed his back masterpiece as pictured above... pretty impressive. Both guys ended up being really cool and definately added a lot of flavor to the trip

From El Chiflon we moved south to Guatemala. First stop - Panajachel. Pana sits on the shore of Lago Atitlan, one of the most scenic lakes in the world. Lago Atitlan is surrounded by 3 Guatemalan highland volcanoes which create the backdrop for one of best sunsets I've ever seen. This is the pier where my crew met to watch it.

A couple beers on the pier

Me and the volcano

Getting abused by my group

From Panajachel we moved on to Antigua, another city in the shadow of volcanoes. One of the highlights there was climbing Pacaya, one of the more acessible and reliable active volcanoes in the area. We set off in the late afternoon to hike up the hardened lava flow and watch the volcano at sunset. We were lucky to come when we did because a new river of magma had appeared a few days before our arrival. It was pretty impressive to walk up the pumice and look down on both sides of the "path" (there really wasn't much of a path) and see hot glowing lava sinkholes bubbling up. Almost scary and definately enough to make you respect the power of the place. Really amazing!

I'm definately skipping some days here (about a week), but I'm lacking appropriate photos to show. Towards the end of the trip we moved on to Caye Caulker, one of the islands off Belize City. Everytime we go to the chilled out island we do a Snorkelling tour with Carlos Alaya... a great tour guide with much knowledge of the reef. But this time things went awry and his motor broke down on us. All we got to enjoy on Carlos' boat was the fruit that he had prepared for the end of our trip... but it was delicious. Somehow he's perfected how to pick out the perfect papaya.

Carlos brought us back into shore where we met up with Ras Creek and his Rasta Tug Boat (that's the best way that I can describe it). He saved the day by agreeing to take us out for the rest of the afternoon for a snorkelling tour and it was fantastic. We were joined by a couple of random friendly folk and the first thing that we saw were a couple of dolphins that played in front of the bow of the boat for a good 30 minutes, jumping and flipping, guiding the boat out to the reef.

A good view of the palapa that covers the "VIP section" on the top of the boat

Me and Ras Creek doing some Sting Ray hugging

The reverse oreo cookie (as my friend Patrick in the middle said)

After a good couple of days in Caye Caulker we crossed back into Mexico and made our way to the Xpu-ha bonanza beach camp. Here's a picture of me entertaining my group by dressing up in my Mariachi gear and singing Nortenas.

Arriba, Arriba

Me, Busby and Momo (the husband of the owner) posting up Mexi-style for a post tequila photo shoot.

Busby in prime form squeezing all the girls in my group into his hammock. What would my boss think? Oh yeah, I know... he'd laugh and then take this picture. That's right... big up to my boss Colin for hanging out for the night and showing my group a good time... just like the good old days.

So that's it... 3 weeks in a nutshell. Gotta say, I had a great time. It's a good trip and it makes it even better when you do it with a solid group. Thanks guys! Hope you had as good of a time as I did! Give me a shout and let me know if I missed anything.