Hello Again Folks, This message graces your screen fresh from Guatemala where the most recent leg of our little adventure has taken us. After clearing up our status as illegal immigrants in Mexico at the border (don't ask) we found ourselves in the 10th country of our trip. Life seems very different South of the border. The roads are infinitely more chaotic with a decrepit buses swerving mangy old dogs, stalls packing the pavement selling all kinds of weird, wonderful (and smelly) wares and children and slightly deranged looking adults making direct appeals to the contents of your wallet. This does however make for an exciting, if somewhat overwhelming travelling experience. Our first stop off was the town of Xela, we endeavoured to adapt our digestive systems to the cuisine of yet another developing country. This however failed spectacularly, at the foot of a 2550m volcano which we were attempting to climb at 6am in the freezing cold and dark! Needless to say, this attempt was abortive. The next day we recovered sufficiently to take our lives into our hands on a long bike ride out to one of the surrounding villages. Life outside of the city is a little less hectic although we did feel a conspicuous as the only pasties amongst all of the indigenous Guatemalans in their traditional traditional dress. Next up we headed to Panajachel, a town on the fringes of the beautiful lake Atitlan. Panajachel is famed for it's craft markets, so naturally we were obliged to do a little shopping. We also spent an afternoon in an amazing nature reserve, which basically gave us the chance to visit the rainforest without actually having the trouble of going to the rainforest! They also had a resident crew of ex domesticated monkeys who obligingly posed for some fantastic shots. We are currently in the town of Coban where we have just returned from day trip to visit Semuc Champey, a series of waterfalls and bright blue pools which you can swim in - truly stunning. We also visited some stinky sweaty bat caves on the way home. Next on the agenda, we are heading South to Flores, where we will spend a week volunteering in a wildlife sanctuary for monkeys, jaguars, racoons and birds, then we head to the Mayan ruins of Tikal in the jungle. What busy bees we are! Everyone here is getting geared up for Christmas, which we are finding a very strange experience. Jingle Bells just doesn't have the same effect when you are sweating your t*** off in a pair of shorts. We are actually starting to yearn for a bit of grim weather to really get us in the festive mood. However, we are glad to be missing out on all of the usual xmas mayhem we would be going through at this time of year - no trolley rage in the wrapping paper aisle of Marks and Sparks for us! Anyway- Hope you are all well. Lots of love, Linda and Paul xxx