ihatetravelling

Our final blog from Guatemala

2006-12-21T00:31:00.000Z

¡Ola! Yes, Em and I are now fluent in Spanglish. So much so that Em was approached by an American lady with the introduction: "So, you´re fluent in Spanish then?" Needless to say this facade was achieved by both of us nodding enthusiastically at our tour guide speaking very slow Spanish, understanding about every fourth word or so...

Righty, and so to the final report. Since Cobán we´ve been herded onto numerous gringo-friendly minibuses and headed south to Antigua. Far from it´s namesake´s tropical beaches Antigua is a bustling city dating back to when the Spanish first settled here. As a result there are numerous crumbling buildings brightly painted in the Catelan style nestled between pleasant piazzas and cobbled streets- a very nice place to finish our trip.

But of course, being intrepid travellers, we weren’t going to stay put in Antigua for a week- we left our big rucksacks with our hotel and headed west to Lago Atitlan. Now this place is incredible. Seriously. Perched between three verdant volcanoes, this highland lake is absolutely beautiful. Clear, blue water laps up against the edges of several small towns all offering their own special tourist-friendly delights with our first stop in Panajachel (or "Pana" to the initiated).

Pana is also known as Gringotenango and is full of American ex-pats with their own stories to tell. A very busy place with a lot of children begging and hassling you for cash. Annoying to say the least. We decided to hot-foot it as soon as possible to the hippy-friendly town of San Marcos, and did so by boat (surprise surprise) taking a mere 30 minutes to cross the lake. If you could find a more holistic, chi-cleansing place I´d be very surprised. This place has it all- yoga, massage and meditation- so we did our best to try our hand at all of the above and managed a two hour yoga session and an hour of serious meditation. (I should at this point mention our friend Ian from Laandan who joined us in our hotel and came along for the above "cleansing experiences". Ian lived in Ipswich for a good few years before moving to London and knows Woodbridge well- talk about a small world!)

Meditation was classic. We arrived outside a large pyramid about 40 feet square made out of wood and slate surrounded by a cluster of European grungy types ready for some "connecting". Our meditator-in-chief was wearing white robes and more beads than Gandhi. She scowled at us to ensure that only ourselves and no bags or shoes come in to the sacred pyramid ("Is CLEAR no?") and we followed her in... Inside the pyramid were a number of burning candles and a small pyramid in the middle covered by a red cloth. On assuming the lotus position (seriously!) she withdrew the cloth with a flourish to reveal a crystal ball underneath (apparently representing our planet and later used to transfer our love and good feelings to the rest of the world...) Anyway, the meditation was very relaxing but bloody painful- it´s really very hard to sit cross legged for an hour without the blood getting cut off to your legs and your back aching. It´s also very hard to keep conscious thought out of your mind, especially after Ian let out a very loud snore from his corner of the room!

Yoga was another karmic treat. This was led by another very supple lady who apparently had tendons made of elastic. Again, sitting in a circle we were made to perform painful and nigh-impossible maneuvers. I even impressed myself when I was able to balance only on my hands with my knees on my elbows. Em got round this by breaking into an impromptu headstand much to the amusement of the group. During this session we had a chance for a lie-down whereupon the yoga teacher whipped out her recorder and started playing something from "Panpipe moods". I tried my utmost not to laugh out loud...

Our next stop for the remainder of our lakeside jolly was the Hotel Casa del Mundo. This hotel has been slowly constructed on a steep cliff on the shore by and American and his Guatemalan wife. This place is seriously cool. Hammocks strewn everywhere and a bathing platform at hand kept us amused for hours as we soaked in the bright sun and clear blue water. The only detractor was that there were 178 (large) steps between our room and the water´s edge!

On our return, we got speaking to a very nice lady who went there 13 years ago and only once returned to the US to sort out her affairs! She said that if you swim in the lake, you´ll never leave. Let´s just hope that she´s wrong and the fog at Heathrow eventually clears!

On our final day we decided to climb up an active volcano. As you do. As we clambered the 3kms to the top, we were greeted by the sight of a steaming crater and streams of lava running down the hillside. Needless to say that the lava has now developed a thick crust but the occasional pop and hiss emanating from below kept us on our toes. The trip culminated in our guide inserting a stick into a crack in the crust and extracting it burning fiercely. It´s also great fun pouring water down the hole covering half the group in ash and tepid water!

So, here we are in Antigua once more. Since it´s been such a hard three and half months, I decided to top things off with a full body massage. Em´s still in her 3 hour pedicure and manicure- well worth it for a combined 20 quid.

Favourable exchange rates and dazzling scenery aside. Christmas songs just don´t sound the same in Spanish- we´re coming home!

Fourth and final country

2006-12-13T17:50:00.000Z

Ben and I have crossed the border and are now in Guatemala. Suddenly, everyone speaks Spanish instead of English and tequila has replaced rum as the local tipple of choice. Unfortunately some things haven't changed; our lower digestive systems remain deeply unsettled, and the often torrential rain continues to fall (so much for my Caribbean tan!). However, the standard of accommodation has improved and the Guatemalans are all pretty friendly. Best of all, I’ve finally found a hot shower.

Anyhoo.

Our trip to Actun Tunichil Muknal, the cave with ancient Mayan pottery remains and a human skeleton, sadly had to be cancelled due to high water levels (all that wonderful rain), but we did go to Tikal instead. Tikal is deep in the jungle and is one of a handful of really impressive ruined cities in Central America which testify to the grandeur of ancient Mayan civilisation. Of course, the day we went it was raining but we still had fun exploring the site, spotting birds in the jungle canopy, and contemplating the realities of a society which practiced human sacrifice. Bizarrely, if you won one of their inter-city ball games then you were a prime candidate for the altar. Not a great incentive if you ask me!

Yesterday we took time out from our increasingly epic bus journeys and went to Semuc Champey, a fantastic natural swimming hole right in the heart of rural Guatemala. Here, a surging river crashes down the valley and into an underground limestone tunnel. Above ground, a series of beautiful terraces have formed and provide a string of pools and waterfalls perfect for messing around in. With encouragement from our adventurous guide we climbed down a waterfall on a threadbare rope ladder and into the mouth of the underground tunnel. It was cold and the water literally thundered by (certain death if you fell in; pleasingly no Health & Safety here!), but the stalactites were unique and it was great fun. On the way back to Cobán and our hotel, we stopped at the Grutas de Lanquin - a huge cave that apparently extends 67km into the earth. Back in Cobán we rounded off the day with a few Gallos (the ubiquitous Guatemalan beer) with two crazy Americans and tortured our poor waitress with our lack of Spanish.

You'd better Belize it!

2006-12-08T18:40:00.000Z

Belize is a mixed up kind of place. With no real predominant caste or colour and a corrupt government it makes for interesting systems and beliefs. Take, for example, their policy on imports: The mantra goes "If we can make it in Belize, we don't import it (but if you've got a load of cash, we can bend the rules, of course thankyou yes please)." There is a trade embargo on beef because you can grow beef in Belize, however Coca-cola somehow manage to import their drinks here even though there's plenty of Belizean drinks on offer. This might have something to do with the fact that Coke owns a significant portion of the orange groves here and the sole distribution rights to said company being owned by one of the four families who run the country!
In the absence of competition, this has led to hugely inflated prices in the country with, for example, room rates being around eight times higher than neighbouring Guatemala. When you look at what you get for your money, it's surprising that the whole country doesn't up root and leave or revolt.
Alledgedly the current government will certainly not be re-elected next year, so they introduced a 10% sales tax to line their pockets before the off. (Harsh you might say, but if you've seen the state of the roads and buildings here you'd understand!)
Aside from this, the people do seem to be genuinely happy here. This is reinforced by the number of ex-pats here (mainly from the US) who, to be fair, are all a little quirky.

Having endured the 'eye-incident' we headed south to Punta Gorda where we enjoyed a little eco-tourism. After getting dropped off by the bus in nearby Santa Cruz, Em and I looked at each other and laughed out loud. With no accommodation arranged, we had truly been dropped in the middle of nowhere- a small village with a few grass huts in the middle of the jungle. Oh- and there's only 3 buses a week that go through it!

We were welcomed into a nearby hut by the Sho family who said they'd 'take us' for the night. Now Mopan Mayan families differ to our own slightly- Marcos and Conceptiona (seriously) live with their EIGHT children and numerous grand-children in a small number of huts with reed roofs and dirt floors. Hammocks are the order of the day for sleeping which are strung up just about anywhere there is space. The houses had only one or two 'rooms' in them and were surrounded by chicken huts, pigstys and the obligatory donkey! I don't even want to discuss the toilet arrangements... let's just say maggots, spiders and flies.

Needless to say we had a truly eye-opening experience. The family were incredibly friendly and accommodating, serving up three hot meals a day largely consisting of freshly slaughtered pig, rice and non-descript sauce. Whilst tasty, this wore a little thin after the third meal!

Evening entertainment consisted of the village men convening at one house with a generator (no electricity here at all) hooked up to a television with DVD player. Em and I were subjected to a pirate Bruce Lee film with no sound, though this did not pose a problem to any of the small group there- they just wanted to see the fighting and general action- the plot was clearly not essential to their enjoyment!

Marcos (the grand-daddy and general household boss) took us for a tour of their farm- several acres of rainforest that are continually worked from dusk till dawn to produce corn, beans, rice, plantain (my new bestest food) and bananas. Each part of the farm had been divided up and given to each son accordingly. The women, meanwhile, washed the clothes in the river, cleaned the dirt off the dirt floors (?!) and prepared food for the hungry workers.

We spent the afternoon teaching their youngest son, Jonathan, to juggle who learned in about ten minutes (it took me several months) - a smart child - too bad he'll inevitably come out of school and work the fields for the rest of his life.

To quickly give a picture of family life, they rise at around 3.30am and bed time is around 7.30pm. This allows them to get to the fields for first light after a breakfast of either rice and pig or tortilla and pig...! Alarms clocks not required of course - their cockerill wouldn't shut up from about 3 o'clock onwards. After two nights with the Sho family, we exhaustedly waved goodbye after many conversations about Osama bin Laden and Tony Blair.

Next on the agenda was Hopkins, a small fishing village apparently built on one road and stretching two miles from top to bottom. I think the town planners were having a day off when they thought about this one! We spent an enjoyable two nights with Oli (an ex-pat German) who welcomed us into his beachside cabanas (huts) with all the windsurfing facilities you could shake a stick at. Unfortunately we'd forgotten to bring enough cash, and with no Visa facilities and no ATM we were royally screwed! The windsurfing will have to wait for another day, but luckily their darts board came in handy.

We are now in the west of the country perched on the border with Guatemala ready to embark on our trip to Tikal, a famous Mayan ruin. More to follow. Before that however, we have signed up for a trip into a Mayan sacrificial cave where you have to swim and trek through the jungle to see the remains of a human sacrifice dating back to around 200 BC. Yesterday was spent kayaking through the jungle, although the limited experience of our guide somewhat detracted from the experience! Guide (pointing): "Over there- iguana," Us: "What kind?" Guide: "Yes, yes." Excellent.

Damn sand!

2006-12-05T21:02:00.000Z

The blog is sounding a little idyllic. It's not all sunbathing and rum & cokes on the beach as the sun goes down. Time to inject a little reality!

Because Ben and I consistently exceeded our meager daily budget in the USA, we're on a very tight budget here in Belize. Consequently, we stayed in a very low-end 'hotel' in Caye Caulker and had the pleasure of sharing our room with swarms of blood-sucking mosquitoes and, even worse, a cockroach the size of a small mouse. The cheapest food around is local-style rice, beans & chicken stew so we've eaten that at least once a day. Even Ben's beloved beer kitty is empty.

However, the worst thing to happen so far had nothing to do with our finances. Ben and I were just walking down the street when the wind blew a grain of sand into my eye. No biggie you may think, but back at our illustrious hotel I began to panic when, after several unsuccessful attempts to dislodge it, it became apparent that I had a tiny, sharp piece of coral actually sticking into my eyeball.

Keen to get me to an eye doctor, Ben ignored my protests about dirty hospitals, and bundled me onto the boat back to the mainland. It took 45 painful minutes and as we approached Belize City we were hit by torrential rain. We checked into the nearest cheap guesthouse and I locked myself into the bathroom with a new plan of attack. For those who like the gory details, I dragged a strand of hair (held taught between both hands) across my eye and managed to catch one side of the coral and pop it out. Hugely relieved, Ben called off his search for an eye doctor, and we celebrated with a cup of tea and some rice, beans & chicken stew.

Understandably, my eye has been pretty tender, but now (4 days later) I am happy to report that it seems to be back to normal. Phew!

Emotional farewell to our trusty Chevy

2006-11-29T23:56:00.000Z

Sadly, Ben and I have come to the end of our epic roadtrip. After nearly 3 months, 11,000 miles, 4 time zones, and about 14 States, it's over, and there are long faces all round. With only 5 days to spare on our USA tourist visas, we packed up, handed back the keys to our beloved Impala, and headed to Belize. And, to be honest, life in tropical paradise is just about making up for the end of our roadtrip. More on that later.

First, I must elaborate on our last week in the USA. We left Santa Cruz much revived after the hospitality and good company of our friends there and headed south down the coast. We've walked on some lovely beaches, notably the beautiful sand at exclusive Carmel-by-the-Sea and the rocky sea-otter filled shore near Big Sur. Talking of wildlife, we've also seen two elephant seal colonies, and visited the fantastic aquarium at Monterey.

Unbeknown to us, many Californians celebrate Thanksgiving by camping (in their enormous RVs) on the beach, so after one night's sleep in the car in a very random car park, we were extremely pleased to squeeze into Carpinteria State Beach Campsite, just south of Santa Barbara. Better still, our friendly American neighbours (who had cleverly reserved their spot in the campsite seven months in advance!) invited us to their huge Thanksgiving banquet. There were at least seven turkeys, with every trimming imaginable (yes, including sweet potatoes topped with marshmallow!), and the range of desserts was equally phenomenal. Despite the number of family members present extending to around 50, plus two English 'pilgrims', there was still lots of scope for overeating. Ben and I put our tinned ravioli on ice, and made the most of their hospitality, even joining them round the campfire later on. Hello and big thanks to Brett, Melissa, Tracey, Tyler, Emily, Ric, Tammy, Mimi, Chris and all the rest of the clan!

Still full the next morning, we headed to Los Angeles where we spent the day looking at all the stars in the pavement of Hollywood Boulevard, and making a huge meal of getting to Griffith Park via bus. Hollywood is a bit run down, but it was cool seeing the hillside letters with our own eyes. Whilst in LA we also went celeb spotting in Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive, and had a fascinating day at the Getty Centre where we saw original paintings by Gainsborough, Van Gogh, and Monet to name but a few. We spent the rest of our time in Santa Monica where we stylishly cruised down to Venice Beach on roller blades, before working out on Muscle Beach. I was way better than Ben at the Gladiator-style rings but, of course, I don't like to mention it (picture, amongst others, here).

We spent our last day in the USA at Disneyland which was excellent fun, especially as we were joined by a crazy Australian couple we'd met in Santa Monica. Matt was hilarious as he screamed like a big girl on all the rides, but it was Brooke who wussed out on the second helping of Splash Mountain! :-) We just had time for the Disney Parade before we hot footed it to the airport. It was extremely lucky that Ben had figured out that 12.30am Tuesday actually meant Monday night!

Now in Belize, we're relaxing on Caye Caulker, a small island surrounded by coral reef. Today's snorkelling trip was out of this world, and as we've got nothing but sunbathing on the agenda tomorrow, we're off to investigate the rumour that the rum is virtually free here...

California Baby!

2006-11-20T18:47:00.000Z

I don't like heights. So why Em and I feel compelled to keep walking up incredibly steep mountains I have no idea. After the rigmarole that was Vegas, we were only too pleased to get back into the countryside and into the wilds of Yosemite National Park. Yosemite is a bee-ute-i-ful park in the Californian hills- autumnal colours and incredible towering granite peaks make this a stunning place to visit. We stayed just out of the park at the Yosemite Bug hostel- a very cool place with live bands and warm beds. They also serve Guiness on tap which was seriously good news (but bad news for my new improved beer belly). To burn off the man boobs, we decided to go with one of the hardest walks in the park- up to the top of the Yosemite Falls. Towering almost 850m above the valley floor, the falls are apparently the second highest falls in the States. (If you come to America, every tourist attraction is the 'biggest' or ' tallest' etc etc- anything to pull in the crowds!) This was a seriously hard trek which, being a mere 3.5 miles, we thought wouldn't take too long... 5 hours later we finally hauled our sorry butts to the top. Unofortunately the falls were dry and they were more like a trickle- oh well! Like I said- I don't like heights, so we spent all of 10 minutes up there, took the obligatory pics and ran the rest of the journey downhill; this time taking just over and hour and a half!
Having rested our battered legs, we set off for San Francisco. We like it here! It's got that 1930's vibe about it with antiquainted trams and cable cars running all over the city's hills. There were three major highlights to San Fran. The first was our trip across the Golden Gate Bridge- boy, did we pick a good day for it... fog. And lots of it. In fact, we couldn't see the top of the bridge struts it was that thick! Of course we opted to do this on bike and when the associated rain decided to fall as well, we wished we'd taken the car! To make things more strange we met up with a couple of BA pilots on stop-over in SF- so there we were, on bikes, in the pouring rain and fog, on the Golden Gate Bridge talking about sailing in Suffolk with two BA pilots. Odd.
The second highlight was Alcatraz. This is well worth a trip- very emotive; and the audio tour of the prison cells is actually narrated by ex-prison guards and inmates. The tour showed you cells which had been escaped from and where prison guards had been shot dead in escape attempts. Nice.
Lastly, the Macy's department store sale was very kind to us. Em and I successfully spent the remainder of our budget on 'luxury items' such as Ralph Lauren suits, Nine-West boots and yet more Ralph paraphernalia!
We are now safely entrenched in Santa Cruz staying some new friends we met in Yosemite. Thanks to Laura, Chris, Cosmo, Anaiis, Ruby, Forrest and Amelia the dog for having us! We owe you one. We even got to see the latest Bond film, Casino Royale, at.. wait for it... a DRIVE-IN MOVIE THEATRE last night! Now, why don't they have these in the UK?! So exciting.

Grand Canyon and Las Vegas

2006-11-11T02:21:00.000Z

America has not been living up to its stereotypes. Aside from a few notable exceptions, the food has been great, and the people have been intelligent, friendly, and geographically and politically knowledgeable. However, when I see signs stating the frighteningly obvious like this, it makes me question whether the sample of locals we’ve met in National Parks is actually representative of the whole country…

We rounded up our tour of the desert National Parks with Zion which was fabulously scenic, and contained the Angels’ Landing trail which was more like a climb than a hike. Ben, with his fear of heights (or as he now likes to call it, “fear of falling”), pushed himself way out of his comfort zone as we picked our way along a knife-edge ridge thousands of feet above the snaking river on the valley floor. We had a certain-death precipitous fall to the left and a certain-death precipitous fall to the right – it was awesome! And, even better, there were no safety barriers / nanny state in sight. As it should be, if you fell and (inevitably) died, it was your responsibility!

Next stop was the Grand Canyon which was big, deep, and swarming with half the population of Japan. Standing on the rim and peering into the canyon didn’t do it justice; it was only when we hiked down that the immense scale became apparent. Camping at the Grand Canyon was a bad idea as it was freezing (reputed -4 actually!). However, we did meet an interesting English couple. The chap, Paul, had climbed Everest and Mt McKinley and is an explorer by trade. He gave me plenty of tips on his specialist subject – keeping warm at night in a tent – which was great and improved my sleep quota no end.

I was really excited about going to Vegas, not least for the novelty of an en suite shower and my own pillow! We stayed at the Luxor and had good times, although Vegas is essentially a bigger, slightly more glam version of Blackpool. We saw the lions at the MGM Grand, the saucy sirens at Treasure Island, the ‘volcano’ erupt at the Mirage, had a cheesy gondola ride at the Venetian, and rode the Manhattan Express rollercoaster at New York-New York. Particular highlights were the awesome fountains at the Bellagio, a delicious lunch at Wollensky’s, and watching the Cirque du Soleil’s ‘Love’. Unfortunately our gambling did not go well, and it was the guy sitting next to us waiting for his wife to come out of the loo who won $450 on the slots. Goddam it!

Down into the Desert

2006-11-01T02:51:00.000Z

So, where have we been? Or, more appropriately, where haven't we been? The last week or so has been rather hectic, taking in more natioanl parks than you can shake a reasonably sized Yellow-bellied Marmot at (more of that later).
It all began in the Grand Teton National Park. This slimline park hosts several huge ice-capped mountains culminating in the 'Grand Teton' peak towering at a height of 13,770 feet. (I'm not sure if this is big in the grand scheme of bigness, but it was impressive nonetheless!) The highlight of this park was a long walk into the Cascade Canyon. Surrounded by incredible peaks, lakes and rivers we were literally breathtaken (I blamed thin air, Em said it was because I'm unfit!) On our return trip we were witness to a 'Yellow Bellied Marmot' that could easily be confused with a skunk. It waddled along for some time before casually turning off the trail and hiding under a bush quite unperturbed by our presence! Later on, Em was almost assaulted by a rogue elk that came out of nowhere and literally jumped over our heads. I, meanwhile, was oblivious to this as I was still trying to catch a glimpse of a bear that had been in the area earlier (don't worry- bear spray in hand!)
Well well, don't some places live up to their reputations? All our preconceptions about Salt Lake City were well and truly confirmed on visiting... Having booked into our hostel, we were somewhat amused to hear that no-one drank coffee, which we later found out is against their religion. Home to the Mormons, this place is a true eye-opener. We went to Temple Square, where it all happens and even had a guided tour. Hosted by two (quite fit, sorry Em) girls we were shown around the temple and all-things Mormon. Basing their religion on some pretty dodgy concepts, we decided not to take their kind offer of a 'visit' from a nearby missionary (plus a free copy of the Book of Mormon) and stick with the more old-school form of Christianity. During the tour we were also shown (subjected to) a short video from their current chief elder which bordered on the brain-washing, and tried not to laugh when our guides sang us our very own Mormon song. Sorry guys- I just don't buy it.
(I should also mention the drunk sharing the hostel who thought London was just great- even that leaning tower thing there..!)
So, on from SLC to Moab, home of general mountain-biking radness. Em and I were slightly cynical about all the gnarly dudes coming into the hostel (private room this time thank God) and professing their best ride ever; that is until we tried it out for ourselves. We kitted ourselves up with some good bikes and our trusty guide Aaran and were converted. Downhill biking is awesome! During our trip we cycled a mere 14 miles but in this time managed to see some incredible sights, witness dinosaur footprints, scope out some radical downhill action (that's lingo) and completely bust the backwheel of my bike. Thoroughly good fun.
After this we checked out the Canyonlands National Park which is certainly unlike anything we've seen before. Rock towers, incredible colours and massive canyons were very impressive- much like the scenery from a Roadrunner cartoon!
The Arches National Park was also a real highlight. The geology in this area is formed by sandstone being eroded by rainwater resulting in big arches of orangey-red sandstone. Our 8 mile walk around the Devil's Garden culminated in us finding some hidden Pictographs- Indian murals dating back 700 - 6,000 years old! (We were tipped off about these by 'a friend', and when we challenged a park ranger of their whereabouts she flatly denied their existence!) We should have some pictures for you soon.
Last, but not least, we were truly dumped in the desert at the Monument Valley Park. Run by a tribe of Indians, the scenery here is straight out of a movie- several famous westerns (including John Wayne's Stagecoach and Tombstone) were filmed here. We literally drove for hours on the straightest roads seeing nothing but sandy soil, brown grasses and the occasional rock formation (I'm definitely not doing this justice!) The only thing that we could see moving was the fuel guage. I should also note that the Indians are doing a fine job of getting their own back on the land-grabbing American pioneers. Having reclaimed their land the Indians are now highly skilled in charging a fortune for just about everything in the area. Our campsite was a complete rip-off and our donation to the museum we visited was all but baulked at by the officious Indian squaw there. Sorry chief, I just can't feel sorry for you anymore!

Yellowstone National Park

2006-10-20T22:49:00.000Z

I love our car. It's got a 3.9 litre V6 engine (two exhaust pipes girls!), it's automatic, and it's got cruise control. It's so cool the radio even tells you the name of the artist playing. My only complaint is that Ben doesn't trust my driving. Even though I've only driven on the left-hand side of the road momentarily and accidentally *once* since leaving New York, he won't take his eyes off the road when I've got the wheel.... So that made it doubly annoying yesterday when I had a small hangover and just couldn't fathom that I was supposed to be driving on the right-hand side of the road. Goddam it!!

Ben and I are continuing our tour of North American National Parks and have spent the last few days in Yellowstone. It's beautiful - a mixture of prairie grasslands, fast-flowing rivers, snow-capped mountains, and, of course, lots of geothermal activity. We've braved the snow to see pretty travertine terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs, been surrounded (in the car!) by a herd of buffalo in the Lamar Valley, seen Old Faithful geyser go off (more than once!), and a huge number of other hot springs and geysers which ranged from explosive to quietly bubbling mud. One of the highlights for me was swimming in the 'Boiling River' hot spring where scalding water from deep underground mixes with the Gardiner River to create a near-perfect totally natural outdoor heated pool. It was awesome, and we even met some friendly Americans (hello Ben and Aaren!) who were excellent company as we sampled the 'Moose Drool' beer in Gardiner's classy local bars (think League of Gentlemen meets the Wild West).

Looking forward to beans again for dinner tonight (the motel room has a microwave and it beats using the trangia in the snow!) then heading to Grand Teton National Park tomorrow.

Back inland

2006-10-17T17:59:00.000Z

Morning troops. Well, the librarians are decidedly normal in Montana. Maybe Canada has particularly strict 'equal opportunities' employment guidelines? "(Act 3, Subsection 9: "All Canadian librarians must have at least 2 very obvious deformities, see subsection 10 for the definition of 'deformity'...") Nothing like a little political correctness eh?!
Since Vancouver we've gone east to Glacier National Park via the Okanagan Valley. The valley is famed for it's warm climate and excellent wines. We naturally spent a long afternoon wine tasting just to make sure that their claims were in fact legitimate. I think we found one that was decent (though Em would argue two), although when we proudly took our bottle back to the campsite it wasn't quite as decent! (I think it was because, try as you might, wine just doesn't taste good from plastic cups!) I soon discovered that I've officially become a lightweight through lack of booze this trip- two cups of wine was more than enough to upset my balance! The weather has since got colder and we enjoyed 18 degrees in the daytime which dropped to below freezing at night.
After spending another night in an idillic campsite in Montana we got talking to a chap in his truck. Our conversation went something as follows:

Hick: "So d'ya see any moose?"
Us: "Not yet- it's very beautiful here though isn't it?"
Hick: "Yeeep. This here is Gaaawd's country. I always said if Gawd had a diallin' code it'd be 406, Montana- yep siree."
Us: "...that's nice!"

This was coming from a chap with a battered baseball hat, a Bible on the dashboard, a large rifle by his side and an unusually quiet wife next to him. We were understandably cordial. After that we headed to Glacier National Park where we spent a few days chillin' with Oliver (another German hostelkeeper!) at the North Fork Hostel and Squarepeg Ranch in Polebridge. It reminded me a lot of the TV show 'Northern Exposure' given that there are only 10 year-round inhabitants of Polebridge! Described as being 'ultra-rustic' in our Bible we did some proper 'ranch style' living 'sans electricite' in Polebridge. However, our book didn't mention that there was in fact an outside woodfired hot-tub there. We spent a very pleasant evening under the most incredibly clear night sky watching shooting stars whilst soaking in the tub. Awesome stuff. (NB- I counted at least 3 more shooting stars than Em..!) Poor Em was mostly ill with a cold for our Glacier trip and we limited ourselves to very short walks and the odd bike ride. I certainly wasn't complaining after our marathon efforts in Jasper! Glacier was a very picturesque place, the scenery of which differed greatly to that of Jasper and Banff before it. We should have some photos for you soon!
So, lastly, we've driven east to Butte (no jokes please) in Montana where we're due to descend upon Yellowstone tomorrow, home of the 'Old Faithful' geyser!

Coast to Coast Completed!

2006-10-06T20:48:00.000Z

At 4.46pm on the 5th October I took this rather hurried shot out of the car window- our first view of the western seaboard of Northern America!

We made it.

Vital stats include:

4,838 miles so far;
31 days;
2 Intrepid drivers;
1 Chevrolet Impala in desperate need of an oil change;
7 Nights spent in said vehicle;
3 Nights in various seedy motels;
10 Nights with friends and rellies- thanks guys!
9 Nights in 'hostels';
2 Nights in our wonderful tent;
8 (A12) Sunsets- travelling west has its advantages;
Hoards of deer and elk;
5 Long Horned Sheep (horns worth $120,000 intact!)
One bear (though Em didn't see it- unlucky!)
And no moose, though we did try!

Jasper and the Maligne Canyon hostel

2006-10-06T20:08:00.000Z

The Rockies are fab – huge towering mountains topped by glaciers and surrounded by duck-egg blue lakes and fast-flowing rivers. Apparently there’s loads of wildlife too – brown and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, caribou and cougars. I have only seen elk and long-horn sheep, but I’m happy to keep the bear spray as a souvenir!

Ben and I had a difficult decision to make in Jasper. Either we stayed at a ‘wilderness’ hostel and went without running water, showers, indoor flushing toilets, and heating OR we had full mod cons but shared our dorm with 42 other people. We decided to go rustic and loved the Maligne Canyon hostel so much we stayed for 6 nights!

Our first night was classic as we made friends with the eclectic bunch loitering in the kitchen and played cards. Participants included Melissa (Canadian relief manager), Arend (hilariously funny Dutch guy who stoically put up with all Ben’s Austin Powers 3 gags), Ori (Israeli with lots of good anecdotes and an even better hire-car upgrade than us), and Esther (friendly German lassie). They were pretty bad at ‘cheat’ (Ori’s question “what do I do if I can’t go?” was a bit of a giveaway!) but they excelled at ‘donkey’ (or as we actually played, ‘ezel’, the Dutch equivalent). At this point I feel obliged to mention that Ben didn’t lose, and I didn’t get any letters (a lifetime of Spencer sailing hols finally pays off!). Anyhoo, the important thing is, it was such a bonding experience that we all went wildlife spotting round the Maligne Lake, and hiking in the Bald Hills together the next day, which was great.

One morning dawned to reveal ice all over the car and thermometer readings of -7 degrees C. The outdoor toilet seat was very cold and I was sincerely regretting having booked to go white water rafting! After a warm and cheerful minibus ride towards the top of the Athabasca River (which is supplied by a glacier!), I nervously donned a shortie wetsuit, waterproofs, fleece, hat, plastic liners and boots, and plastic liners and gloves – and posed cheesily for a photo. I needn’t have worried, rafting was awesome – bright sunshine warmed us and made the fantastic scenery sparkle as we hurtled down the river towards Jasper. It was brilliant.

Other highlights in Jasper included: basking in the 40 degrees C Miette hot springs (much needed after 4 days without a shower!); hiking near Mount Edith Cavell and seeing the Angel Glacier up-close, especially the amazing moraine lake which was full of small icebergs big enough to walk on!; exploring the Maligne Canyon and watching the water powering down through the incredibly deep and thin ravine; close-run games of Monopoly (I’m not bitter); and sharing travelling tales ‘round the campfire with Arend and Volka (the very knowledgeable, friendly, and slightly eccentric hostel manager).

I was sad to leave the Maligne Canyon hostel after having such a good time, but the roadtrip continues and the Pacific beckons!

A belated report from Banff

2006-10-06T19:05:00.000Z

Harro everybody, we are currently sitting in an internet cafe in Vancouver with half the screen covered in Japanese- not sure how to change the settings! Anyway, since our last report we've actually done quite a lot. Our journey from Calgary took us to Banff, home of Canadian skiing and all things mountainous. After equipping ourselves with warm sleeping bags (Em's goes down to -12 degrees so she can never seriously complain about being cold again... ever) we made our way to, wait for it, a 'Youth Hostel'. For the unitiated, these places offer cheap accommodation in 'dormitories' where you get to share your hopes, fears and body odour with several Dutch, Scousers and the obligatory Japanese photographer. I love communal living- no really. Enough of the rant.
We've been incredibly fortunate with our timing- 20 degrees and bright sunshine coupled with autumnal colours has been quite spectacular. We managed to do some serious trekking miles in our new boots and get some incredible pictures. Obviously this is bear country, so every 2 minutes we've had to call out "Hey bear" (which gets a little tiring on a 6 hour hike!) And Gran, rest assured we have also equipped ourselves with 'bear spray'- an ingenious device for repelling even the grizzliest of bears (albeit at close range).
Having spent 3 nights sharing tales of "ooh I went to Thailand too" with several co-bunkees we set off in search of the 'Icefields Parkway' en route to Jasper. This is dubbed as being the "most spectacular journey in the world", and to be fair- it's not far off. From the comfort of your own 3.9 litre V6 Chevrolet Impala (or similar) you can witness countless glaciers, inspiring peaks and the deepest of canyons. Truly amazing stuff. One of the highlights was being able to drive up to the foot of one of the largest glaciers in Canada, the Athabasca Glacier, which is as deep as the Empire State Building is tall. So far, so good.

Greetings from Calgary

2006-09-25T19:32:00.000Z

Calgary appears to be a rather unimpressive city perched on the borders of the Rockies. It does boast a viewing tower much like Toronto, but that's about it. Fortunately they do have internet access in the public library. (We're yet to see a normal librarian- whether it be a sellotaped eye or unfeasibly large breasts for a man, they know how to (in)breed them out here).
Yesterday we checked out Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta and witnessed.. not a lot. Boasting an unparalleled collection of dinosaur bones we managed to see all of one. Potentially. We think it was a leg bone of some variety though it could've been a rock.
Anyway, the highlight for us was cooking our chicken, rice and asparagus (yes respective mothers, we are eating well!) on the banks of a big river as the sun set. Basking in the unusually warm weather our conversation was interrupted by the sound of dogs barking. About 2 minutes later we realised that the dogs barking were in fact wild wolves howling! Stress-ye-not, they were a comfortable distance away but I wasn't about to start doing wolf impressions in case one came over to eat my leg, or worse still hump it. (It's mating season here apparently!)
Our next stop is Banff for three nights and then Jasper for a further six nights. Apprently the views in the Rockies are amazing and there are some incredible walks- we're hoping that the snow hasn't got too deep yet. After that we're aiming for Vancouver, when we will have officially driven across the entire country! Watch this space.

New Photos Posted

2006-09-23T21:29:00.000Z

Apparently it's a little harder than you might think to find internet access here, and even harder to put our new pics on. There are wifi hotspots everywhere but no public computers! (This might be a good excuse to buy a cheap laptop!) Anyway, we've just crossed the border into Canada again and are en route to Dinosaur Provincial Park. This time went better than last time when our salami, two apples and a banana were confiscated by an overzealous borderguard. (He did, however, manage to leave us with a bunch of bananas and the rest of the apples- clearly a thorough chap!) The pictures can be found here, and the updated itinerary here.

PS As of this morning we've done 3,375 miles at an average of 47.7mph!!

Chicago and across the Great Plains

2006-09-22T20:19:00.000Z

After a few days camping, Ben and I were clearly ready for another pampered rest! We headed to Chicago and had a fab time staying with the McKnights. David got Ben into the ‘man food’ (aka giant ribs like the Flintstones) but luckily there was no fighting at the BBQ. Chicago is a brilliant city and the girls were great as we went on the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel then took the architecture tour by riverboat. There were skyscrapers galore, including the Sears Tower – one of the more recent ex-world’s tallest buildings. Over the next few days we were treated to more seafood than we could eat, duelling pianos where amazingly talented muscicians sang and played any song we requested (except Shawaddiwaddi who they’d never heard of!). We were taken on a mammouth shopping trip (Ben had to be dragged from the Ralph Lauren section but not before he purchased 2 jeans, 4 polo shirts, and 3 shirts!), had cocktails at the top of the Hancock Tower glamorously looking out over Chicago, then the next morning Ben caused big raised eyebrows from the other yummy mummies when he helped 'Manda on the school run! :-) We had a great time – thanks very much for having us!!

Just south of Chicago we hooked up with part of the old Route 66 and went to our first proper diner ‘The Launching Pad’ which was classily advertised by a 28ft fibreglass spaceman. We spent the night by the Mississippi before putting some serious miles under our wheels. There are now so many dead bugs on the windscreen I can barely see out. I exaggerate sightly but we did cross the whole of Iowa and half of South Dakota in one day. The Great Plains pretty much do what they say on the tin – they're flat and endless with an awful lot of crops growing. 700 miles later and the plains slowly gave way to grassland; similarly Dolly Parton FM descended into a choice of either 24/7 bible bashing or hard rock. We didn’t stop long. South Dakota was better. They’ve got a speed limit of 75mph, and the very unique ‘corn palace’ (yes - you guessed it - a building genuinely decked out with sweetcorn), not to mention the impressive Mount Rushmore National Monument where ex-presidents heads are carved out of the cliff, and the crazy Badlands National Park which features a lunar style landscape of eroded spires and canyons (it was the setting for bug world in that great film Starship Troopers).

Yesterday we drove across huge grassland plains and visisted Little Bighorn Battlefield, the site of Custor’s last stand against the Plains Indians which was pretty thought provoking, especially with friends out in Iraq. Now heading north through Montana and back up into Canada. Sorry about the lack of photos - I'll have to stick them on next time!

Toronto and the Great Lakes

2006-09-18T15:35:00.000Z

Sorry about the radio silence - Ben and I have just been having too much fun to write any postings. But rest assured, communications should be much better from now on without my awesome cousins and their families spoiling us rotten!

Toronto was fab – it was great to see Robin, Vix, Tris, Ols, lil’ Abi, and the inimitable Fingal. Ben and I discovered our natural trampolining talent (keep working at it Robin ;-) but we need practice at the air hockey. We’ll be back boys!

We explored downtown Toronto and climbed the CN tower which at 553m is the tallest building (arguably ‘tower’) in the world. I was meanly amused by Ben’s dislike of the glass-floor viewing platform which was like walking on air with nothing between you and the ground significantly further below! Will have to dig out a photo… And, spot test – can you (without help from google!) name six of the other seven wonders of the modern world as designated by the American Society of Civil Engineers?

Ben and I dragged ourselves away from the lap of luxury and home cooking in favour of a brief camping trip on the shores of Lake Huron, one of the ‘Great Lakes’. The rain started as we erected our tent, but the ants were glad of the shelter. Not ones to be deterred, we cooked dinner on our trusty trangia and lit a camp fire to ward off the midges.

The next morning was like a scene from Rocky as Ben and I went running on the beach then swimming in the lake. Ben even did some press-ups for good measure. The lake is enormous – much like the sea, it has a beach along which there’s a seemingly infinite view of coastline in both directions, and when you look across the water you can’t see the land on the other side.

Our final night of camping (for now!) was quite exciting. We were too preoccupied with reading in front of our campfire to notice that we’d left a few groceries out of the car boot. That is until the raccoons arrived! They appeared out of the dark and frightened the life out of us! Conversely they weren’t much bothered by us, but we did manage to defend our food supply by chucking it in the car boot and piling loads of wood on the fire to make the raccoons recede with the shadows. After speaking to David (more to follow on the McKnights on our next posting!) we’ll be much less blasé about the raccoons in future – apparently a Chicagoan wildlife handler said he’d rather fight a Doberman than a raccoon. Yikes! And with both bears and raccoons likely to make an appearance next time we go camping, I’m thinking it might be a good idea to sleep in the car!!

Niagara Falls (463 miles down...)

2006-09-10T21:19:00.000Z

OK- so now a proper account of our journey to Toronto. Cunning fox that I am, we managed to pick up a cheap rental car from National from Newark Airport (300 quid cheaper than New York!) Having handed over our 'rental voucher' and been directed to the 'parking lot' we fell into some good luck... Hearing the magic words 'we aint got no economy vehicles left- you can have fullsize' we were close to tears! That's a full 4 levels higher than we bargained for. Our new best friend has cruise control as well as air conditioning and massive amounts of legroom! Unfortunately we're averaging 22 miles to the gallon but, heck, we're doin' it in style!

Having just about worked out driving on the right and the lack of clutch, we hot footed it to Niagara Falls. En route we booked ourselves into the classy establishment that is the "Swiss Cottage Motel" just outside town advertising free breakfast (a mini-donut and a coffee, but what do you expect for $40 for the night?!)

After around 8 hours of driving and 463 miles under us, we pulled in to Niagara at about 10pm just missing the daily firework display over the falls. We headed down to the front to catch a glimpse of the falls at night- very, very impressive! Check out the photos page for our pics. The falls were incredibly loud and you could hear them a mile away- the light show really completed the scene.

On our way back from the falls we had a slight incident with the Canadian border...! Unfortunately I misinterpreted Em's driving instructions and ended up on a one-way bridge to Canada! Lacking passports and sufficient funds we decided it was probably not a good idea to attempt entering Canada just yet, so I had a chat to a guard on the US side. Apparently this happens frequently and he assured me the spikes in the road preventing us from going the wrong way wouldn't harm the tyres too much! So we successfully negotiated a cross roads the wrong way- luckily the other cars were on red!

The next day we intentionally entered Canada(!) and spent the day takinng around 3 million phtoos of the falls. We even took a trip on the 'Maid of the Mist V' into the heart of the horseshoe falls on the Canadian side. I heartily recommend this trip, the feeling of power you get is second to none. That afternoon we experienced probably the lowest budget IMAX film in the world. It also boasts being the "most watched IMAX film in Canada"- not exactly surprising given there's probably only one IMAX cinema in the entire country!

The Boys in Action

2006-09-10T15:09:00.000Z

Em and I have successfully negotiated the US roads, officious Canadian border guards and near death to arrive with family Spencer in Toronto. Here's Tris and Ollie looking mean with Fingal the dog! More to follow soon!

Leavin' for Buffalo

2006-09-08T03:05:00.000Z

Tomorrow we're due to leave New York and start our road trip in earnest. New York has been quite an experience- it's no surprise everyone we know staying here doesn't want to leave! Hoping that the rest of America is not as expensive as NY- our budget will have to come under serious scrutiny if it is! (I blame today's shoe shopping spree...) A big thanks to Jules for today's lunch- the Yanks sure know how to make a mean strawberry milkshake!
Anyway, we hit interstate 81 tomorrow and put some serious miles on the clock as we head towards Buffalo. See our itinerary for more information.

Big Apple

2006-09-07T01:06:00.000Z

The holes in Ben's preparation became apparent at Heathrow. As he'd done the lion's share of 'travel admin' - booking flights, hire car, and travel insurance while I took responsibility for, er, the leaving do, I didn't feel the need to quiz him on exactly what would happen when we touched down in NYC. So, many thanks to Scotty and Dan for Bruce's address and number, and many thanks to Dave for putting us up at extremely short notice! Let's just say that Ben's communication skills need work, but happily I am now ensconsed in the Irish lair while the boys seek out some takeaways.
Heathrow was a joy. The queue for passport control was literally half a mile long - it took 10 minutes to walk to the back which was - i kid you not - out in the car park. Luckily there was a fast-track system that saw us safely onto our plane once we'd sprinted to the correct gate. Unpredictably I got the frisk and double bag search while Ben waltzed through the security checks. Obviously I was a big threat to national security with my Al-qaeda issue lipbalm and aerosol.
New York is great. Kind of like London but bigger. So far, we've made acquaintance with Lady Liberty, seem the enormous hole at ground zero, consumed numerous hotdogs, bagels and giant soft pretzels, been up the Empire State Building, gawped at Times Square because it makes Piccadilly Circus seem small and quiet, recovered in Central Park, sipped the obligatory Manhattan cocktails, and been window shopping in Bloomingdale's.
The boys are back with pizza and chicken wings from 'pluck you'. Catch you soon. Exx

Welcome to ihatetravelling!

2006-08-28T17:44:00.000Z

Well I reckon this is the first time a lot of you will have seen this site, so welcome to ihatetravelling.com! I've added an itinerary of where we roughly plan to go in the links to the right. We'll be updating the itinerary as we go and adding photos on our blog- technology eh?!

Our flight leaves for JFK on Monday 4th September at 2pm and we pick up our 'Chevrolet Aveo or similar' from National Car Hire on the 8th. God I hope it's not too small! From there we're planning to abuse the 'unlimited mileage' clause in our contract and put over 6 thousand miles on the clock...!

More to come.

Not long now!

2006-08-21T18:23:00.000Z

It's only a week and a half before the off- the 4th of September looms ever closer. We'll be flying Virgin Atlantic to New York (JFK) and staying with Bruce for a couple of days before heading to Niagara! Looking forward to being strip searched by nubile Scandinavian airport staff before getting on the flight.

Leaving party!

2006-07-11T22:39:00.000Z

Our flights for the Great North American Roadtrip are booked (thanks MasterCard!) so the slightly premature leaving party is planned for Friday 28th July. We'll be starting the evening in the bar at 'Ev' - a friendly Turkish watering-hole tucked under the railway arches near Waterloo. Click here for address and map.
See you there after work!

The Intrepid Duo

2006-07-09T13:13:00.000Z

That's us!

2006-06-16T21:22:00.000Z

I don't get it!

ihatetravelling back!

2006-06-14T11:23:00.000Z

Yes, after a long while- ihatetravelling.co.uk is back and is even better than before!