We trundled out of Del Rio after a quick visit to the local Wal-Mart where they had a bikini sale - being the eternal optomist that I am, I was forced to buy a few. They were silly money and I thought it might encourage the sun to shine!

In San Antonio the sun did emerge temporarily to accompany our being very lost. The city has possibly the most complicated road system in the world! We eventually found the downtown branch of the trusty Motel 6 after a tour of many of the city's suburbs, and after checking in, went out for a bit of an explore. San Antonio is a really nice place, and the fact that the sun was shining made it even better! We visited the Alamo (which is what you do when in San Antonio) although not knowing much about the missions or the Texas Revolution, I didn't really find it that fascinating, and so instead we enjoyed the sun in the gardens, which were really lovely.

That evening we went out in search of a place called Sam's Burger Joint, which is meant to serve the best burgers in San Antonio. Unfortunately again we got very lost (only this time in the dark) thanks to the vague directions of the stupid girl on reception in the motel and a map that didn't actually show the street we were looking for! Anyway, our gritty determination (and love of burgers) got us there in the end. And very atmospheric it was too. They had American number plates and memorabilia all over the walls and ceiling and the burgers were served on metal drinks trays instead of plates. It was nice, but perhaps not worth the hour being lost...

The following afternoon we got to Austin which had been recommended for its nightlife and the fact that it had a HI Hostel so we knew we could stay there without threat of smelly mixed dorms. The hostel was set on the edge of a lake just outside the city and was very nice. That night we went to a place called Magnolias, which is a really popular cafe/restaurant and I had the shrimp carbonara - it was delicious! The following day the rain was back with a vengeance and so we spent time shopping for Christmas presents and basically avoiding being outside. Miserable. That evening there were a couple of American blokes heading into town for a night out so we decided to join them, as we hadn't had a drink for such a long time. They were in town to take part in some sort of medical trial which was due to start the following week, and seemed intrigued by our assertion that Welsh girls could drink American men under the table (why do we do this to ourselves?) American men are so intense...far more complimentary than 99% of British men, but horribly full-on. The one actually asked us what our passions were! I tried to explain that British people don't tend to have "passions", as we find them a bit cheesy and we are more inclined to just breeze along taking things in our stride, which he didn't seem to understand, but there we are...Suffice to say, we proceeded to get overly drunk (don't worry mum, we weren't that bad) whilst they were drinking water by about 10:30. Hmm.

The net result of the night out was that we didn't leave Austin the following day as originally planned as we had the hangovers of doom. As if aware that our heads were banging and the we were feeling decidedly queasy (is that how you spell that word?) the weather did a u-turn and was unbearably hot. We decided we needed a room to ourselves and checked ourselves into the local Motel 6 on the other side of town and went into hibernation for a few hours. Determined not to lose the whole day though, I woke Emily up in the afternoon and we went back into town. I had read about a natural spring water mineral pool place (Barton Springs Pool) that I wanted to check out, but I discovered that it was closed until later in the evening, so we decided to go and check out the famous local bats before heading back there for a refreshing dip...Every night at sunset local people and tourists gather to see the local bat colony, made up of 1.5 million of the things, emerge from under the Congress Bridge. Desperately trying to find somewhere to park, we thought we were going to miss them, but in actual fact managed to time it perfectly. It's so strange. You stand on the bridge looking over and they come up from underneath you. You feel like they're going to fly into you, but they obviously know in which direction they're headed and they all follow one another. And boy do they stink! Horrible! So we hung around there until the last of them had gone and then went on a mission to cool off. By this time it was about 8pm and it was still 95 degrees. I've never felt heat like it at that time of night...The hangovers were beginning to fade, but we knew that a dip in this mineral pool would be really nice. When we got there, there weren't too many people there...it's outdoor and it was obviously dark so it feels very strange. It was very quiet with people doing lengths up and down the pool (it's 1.8 miles long) or diving off the diving boards. The water isn't chlorinated, it's really cold and it's not completely clear, so it's a bit like swimming in a lake, but they've made it more like a swimming pool. (I haven't explained that bit very well - sorry!) We had a quick dip, but neither of us wanted to touch the bottom as it was a bit slimy (we're complete wusses!), so after doing the obligatory changing into our clothes under the towel manoeveur, we headed back for something to eat and back to the motel. Only in the morning did I discover that whilst at the pool, I had been massacred by bl**dy mosquitoes. Argh! x