Our first impressions of Belize were very favourable, there was a chill breeze in the otherwise muggy heat, gospel music and the sound of kids singing was coming from the school next door to our lodgings and there was the ever present sound of garifuna drumming in the air. Everyone seemed very friendly and who knew, but it was Garifuna Settlement weekend so parties aplenty planned - hooray. On the friday we wandered round Punta Gorda and ate some nice rice and ...

(jen) a long bus ride lay ahead of us from Antigua to Rio Dulce to the east of Guatamala, but this passed without much drama. Buses in Guatamala are affectionately referred to as chicken buses, and are all old American school buses painted various colours depending on where they are going. However, great excitement, we were supposed to be on a Pullman luxury coach... well it may have been luxurious when built in 1950 but no longer... and very hot especially when ...

So the journey across the border to Guatamala was a lot easier than the one into Mexico! We were in a van with a french couple, a spanish guy and a mad american lady who didn´t take her earplugs out the whole day, even when engaging us in conversation, and then admitted surprise that we were talking in English!! crazy. Anyway, a passport stamp later and by afternoon we were driving through the impressive western highlands of Guatamala. The difference was imm...

So Jennifer left you on the day of the dead enjoying traditional dancing music and food. The next day we had decided to go and see Monte Alban which is a Mayan ruined temple just near the city of Oaxaca. We were a bit late getting into gear so caught the 11 oclock bus up the hill to the ruins. Oaxaca is very high above sea level already so the bus took us way way up, when we were there you could really see why they built a city up there , the views were amazing a...

Evan I believe left you as we were about to cross the border to Mexico... well this was stressful.. not becuase it was hard, oh no ,but because it was far too easy for comfort. We know from experience that you have to check out of the country you are leaving before getting into the country you are entering.... but non of that here. We had to seek out a USA immigration official, which involved our bus driver marching us to the front of an irate queue of people wai...