Hello, As Dave rightly pointed out on the message board, an update on our travels is long overdue. Mike has started writing one loads of times but somehow he never gets very far (must be all that beer)... A lot has happened since the last postcard. We finished our U.S. roadtrip in New Orleans after surviving the motel from hell (complete with silent phone calls to our room throughout the night) in Baton Rouge. Our time in the Big Easy was fun, the highlights being: drinking "hand grenades" with bar buddies Mike and Steve from Virginia (Mike was later sick in the room bin), and a sunset paddle steamer trip down the Mississippi. Dallas, our next stop, wasn't as good, but we visited the Sixth Floor museum and learned about the assassination of JFK. After the States, Central America was a big shock to the system. Highlights of Mexico were: staying in a cabana on the beach in Tulum complete with resident snake, swimming in a bat poo infested underground lake near Valladolid, visiting the breathtaking Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza, Edzna, Uxmal and Palenque, drinking lots of cheap beer (that was Mike's highlight anyway). Lowlights (if there is such a thing) were: a horrendous horse ride in San Cristobal de las Casas on a horse which didn't understand the universal horse command of "whooa" and with a guide that didn't understand a word of English or my pained facial expressions, frequent wafts of poo from their shoddy drainage system, and chicken (as you all know a staple of my diet) which looked and tasted more like sparrow. Oh, and Mike's pet hate was having to listen to Mexican men coughing up phlegm and spitting it out when we were eating. I was a bit nervous about Guatemala as I'd read about western women being stoned to death for smiling at their children (they thought they were going to kidnap them and sell their organs)! Our entry into the country was a baptism of fire - travelling inland on a "chicken bus" (old U.S. school buses where they cram as many people on as possible and overtake at 70mph on a hairpin bend). We managed to get by on my rusty Spanish though (despite the fact that Mike kept calling Quetzals, their currency, "Pretzels" by accident). Highlights were: haggling in the market at Chichicastenango and seeing the beautiful Lake Atitlan. Belize was different, as the people speak English, although it meant we couldn't pretend not to understand when we were hassled. Caye Caulker, with its sandy streets and golf buggies instead of cars, was really laid back. We got used to being offered weed by Rastafarians on every corner (it made it feel more like Lewisham). After seven weeks in Central America we were glad to head back to the States. San Francisco, with Alcatraz and a day trip to see the giant sequoias, was lovely. I even managed to get a chicken tikka massala - heaven! Mike was really chuffed when he won the beer drinking contest at the hostel, although a subsequent night up boozing with his newpals resulted in him waking me up being sick in the sink!! Ten hours on a bus listening to a man talk about planes and we reached Las Vegas. Met up with my Mum and Dad who were staying in the ultra swish Aladdin while we were in the crusty hostel up the road (although one night we slept on their floor). Highlights were: seeing Destiny's Child, Elton John and Ashlee Simpson live at the Radio Music Awards (Dad didn't like the live rapping by Chingy), watching Mike shoot an M16 at an Osama Bin Laden target in a gun shop, driving for five hours all the way to the Grand Canyon only to find thick snow and zero visibility - but then deciding to take a helicopter ride all the way from Vegas two days later and flying into the Canyon- fantastic!! It was also good to see my parents, despite the fact that Dad kept taking not too inconspicuous toilet breaks (at the South Rim of the Canyon and behind a cactus at a desert ranch), and insisted on taking semi-pornographic escort agency cards from the touts on the street to "build up his collection". So...now we're in Los Angeles. Tomorrow we head to Hawaii and then it's on to New Zealand, which will be good because we are hiring a campervan for a month and will be able to cook for ourselves (my Mum brought me some Yorkshire Tea bags and a jar of Marmite - bliss!!!) Love Claire xxx