The Most Mosts

Tam & Coxy:

• Guanajuato, the town with the most alleyways and tiny lanes, set in a valley surrounded by hills. This is where we chose to stay for six nights, snug as a bug in the prettiest colonial town we have seen yet

• La Casa de Dante, the "hostel" with the most hospitable hosts, the most delicious of gourmet breakfasts served like a fine dining restaurant free each morning. Here is what we were treated with each day;

• Chiles Enrogada (stuffed green chilli with cooked mince meat, raisins, nuts, red onion and herbs sprinkled with pomegranate seeds with a serve of beans and avocado or strawberry)

• Chilaquiles con Pollo (bed of tortilla chips softened with a topping of chicken, cheese and salsa verde served with steamed zucchini and carrot)

• Enchiladas con Pollo (tortilla stuffed with cheese and chicken with avocado and a slice of grilled chicken served with light cream flavoured with nuts)

• Flautas con Pollo (tortilla deep fried and stuffed with chicken served with avocado, tomato and cream)

• Enmoladas con Pollo with a mole sauce ( deep fried tortilla stuffed with cheese and chicken topped with a chocolatey mole sauce and sesame seeds)

• Molletes (toasted bread served with chicken, refried beans avocado and salad on top)

All this proceeded a selection of bread and pastries, a fruit salad, hot chocolate and coffee and a different freshly squeezed juice a day, such wonderful delicious flavours ( some sound not so tasty but mixed with other fruits and milk and honey and lemon really blow Boost Juice out of town) as cucumber, honey and lime, pineapple, beetroot, prune and lastly the discovery of a soothing hot drink called "ponche" a mix of indigenous fruits, honey and lemon. So all in all the hostel with the most exiciting delicious free breakfast

• Still on hostels, the hostel with the most comfortable bed and normal pillows, firm and high just how I like it. The most sound sleep on the trip

• The most amount of stairs climbed in an exercise session (mad rush to get into a bikini again for xmas!). The hostel is up in the hills 7 mins from the center of town, it has 170 steps to climb from the main street. In 5 mins we climbed to the top of the hill making that 360 steps, we went up 5 times and down 5 times and then collected our laundry so went up again 170 steps making it almost 4000 steps climbed in an hour and burning off all the yummy breakfasts we have been eating

•. Still on food, the most exquisite fine dining experience at Las Mercedes restaurant in the "Beverly Hills" of Guanajuato. High in the hills we were treated to exceptional service, personal explanations by the owner Jesus, a lovely drop of a special cocktail (mix of the Jamaica flower juice and mezcal), coriander soup, aztec soup, bacalau with a vinaegerette salad and stewed pear flavoured again with the Jamaica flower. The most memorable and romantic dining experience.

• The most enjoyable and bizarre museum visited yet, "El museo de Mommias". This needs a bit of explanation, you see Guanajuato used to be a mining region, the land is rich with natural minerals and water. The government in this region to ensure that there is enough space for the deceased charges a tariff for the use of a grave, if a family fails to pay their fees after 5 years the body ia exhumed and the grave is used for someone else. When they started digging up the bodies, what they found were naturally mummified bodies ( some perfectly preserved, hair, skin and clothes fully intact). A museum was erected in 2007 and showcases over 119 of these mummies, men, women and children some dating back well over 100 years. Its proud to house the smallest mummy in the world. Fascinating stuff, but whats more, the exhibit had placards telling you stories of lost of the mummies, maybe its a cultural difference in humour or that Mexico really does have a different idea of death to the West, but they we written as if the mummies were talking to you with statements such as;

" Who would have thought I would ever get to travel the world! Look at me now, I have been to France, Italy and America. I am a really travelling mummy!"

Or postcards with a picture of the baby mummy crying out " Mama!"

Or a distinguished gentleman mummy asking an obese naked woman mummy if she would like to marry him and calling her " gordita" an endearing term for " fatty fatty boombah!"

Oh if only we could take photos of them all - we have seen things I never thought I would see! And yes EVERYTHING is preserved and on show so much so that I can tell you that the "brazillian" definitely didnt reach Central America!

• The most draw poker double your wins wins reached in less than a minute at Guanajuato's Casino ( two floors decked out with pokie and games machines). An hour's worth of playing investing (including the card you had to buy to play a machine) $4 and walking away with 50 pesos as a winnings making that an even $4 - no loss.

• The most litres of sweat lost in a singlr session. Haha its not what you think, getting in touch with our spiritual side we bookes in to try the ancient Aztec cleansing ritual called 'temazcal'. This involves being blessed by a local shaman, undressing into bathers and entering a clay igloo ( kiln - coxy's word) with a stools around an open area where hot gleaming volcanic rocks were placed like a campfire. On the floor was a carpet peppercorn branches and every so often there was a terracotta urn containing cold water. We all sat down and listened to our leader chant and mediate whilst he and some young boys beat on drums. We had 3 sessions in the steam bath. One was to invite life and begin, the second was to experience life ( this was the hrdest for me and i almost left - think my worst experience in bikram) and te third represented death or the end / renewal. In our breaks we ate sweet mandarin and drank water. Afterwards i was 100% better from the flu that had kept me in bed for 1.5 days and can say its one of the most memorable experiences i have had here