Whistle-stop tour of Costa Rica. After the 1.5 hr flight, which we spent in Business Class (the advantage of online check-in) we touched down in San Jose, the capital, and spent an afternoon dodging the crowds in the city centre. The atmosphere was pretty crap...rude, ignorant people, expensive food and drink, Bon Marche-esque shops on every corner and bland museums...we only stayed in the city for 10 hours before heading north to Rio Pacuare to do a day of white...

From Belize we headed south to Guatemala...the land of dreams and dreamers. 70% of the popluation live in poverty in a country that has an incredibly rich government and some of the poorest, sickest children on the Latin American continent. We don´t see all that doom and gloom though, as us travellers just pass on through on our air conditioned buses, giving a little wave or smile to the slightly deranged, bored-as-hell kids who wave madly on the side of the mai...

We arrived in Belize City by nightfall, after crossing the border and travelling down from Tulum, and went straight to a hostel called Seaside Guest House. Mich, the friendly (stoned) American owner, greeted us and showed us around. Turning on a small night light (apparently he was 'having a few problems with the electricity'), he showed us the room whilst donning an unconvincing smile and giving a gracing sweep of his arm. Tired and hungry we took it, dumped our...

As time is not on our side, we whizzed up to the northern Mexican coast, to a town called Merida. The majority of the towns we've visited have been so colourful, the people incredibly friendly and the sightseeing amazing…Merida didn't let us down.It's a relatively cosmopolitan town with heaps to see and do, so we set up camp and stayed for a few days, visiting a new 'Wonder of the World' - the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza (yes, yet more ruins). What a nightmare...

From Capulalpam we headed back to Oaxaca to re-charge our batteries and take in some of the local touristy hotspots, including some Mayan ruins, indigenous tapestry (more interesting than it sounds), and the crème de la crème, Hierve el Agua - stunning mineral formations, framed 360 degrees by mountains - breathtaking. So, from here we headed south to Puerto Escondido, known by the locals as 'Surfers Paradise' - we were craving some sun, sea and sand - what be...