March
2006
A
trip of a lifetime with Keira
By
Graham Relton (Christmas 2005)
Nervous
and excited, it’s so hard to express
What
the future has in store is more happiness
So
much to look forward to, so much to see and
do
A
new journey starts soon, a dream come true
Stepping
off the rat race to face the unknown
A
test of each other to see how much we’ve grown
A
lot to leave behind…routine, family and friends
But
lots to discover, new people, cultures, trends?
Creating
memories for eternity, sights, smells and
sounds
It
won’t always be easy; we’ll have our ups and
downs
Going
round the world together, we’ll see it through
But
my trip of a lifetime began when I met you!
This poem was written for Christmas 2005 and sums up quite a few of the feelings we both are having before we leave for our round the world trip.
I would say we are 95% excited, 4% nervous and 1% scared! But as you can see from the picture below we are packed and almost ready to go! Not long now...
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Booked it, packed it...almost f*?ded off! |
3rd
April
At
13:55 we depart on our epic journey around
the world. Starting in Mexico City!
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G
and K Mexico City |
Sunset
Mexico City |
8th
April
Keira's
BIRTHDAY! Yippie we are staying in a 2 star
hotel...luxury we hope.
Mexico
City is much better than the guide books lead
you to believe. We have crammed so much into
the first three days, it feels like we have
been away for at least two weeks already!
The hostel Moneda is great, we have seen our
first cockroach of the trip on our first full
day. Graham ate a relative on our 2nd day
(grasshopper) "It tastes like crunchy
chicken with a seafood kick...Quite nice really!"
(See pic of it´s family) In no particular
order, this is what we´ve been doing
with ourselves since we arrived: Explored
the Zocalo (2nd biggest city square after
Red Sq in Russia which we´ll also see
at end of trip), stumbling across a political
march by the market sellers who are peeved
about new taxes. Guided walking tour, taking
in the most extravagant Post Office in the
world. Went up the Torre Latino (a mini empire
state building) and saw great views of smogville
(actually it wasn´t that bad). We went
on the metro and a bus to Coyoacan and have
discovered we can actually speak a bit of
Spanish (yippie - the weeks of lessons paid
off!). Teotihuacan where the 3rd largest pyramid
in the world is was amazing! Went to the Mexican
holy places including Basilica de Guadalupe
(Mexican equivalent to the Virgin Mary). Also
found that G´s birthady (16 September)
is Mexican independence day. The hostel Moneda
may well be the best one that we will stay
at, it is located off the Zocalo next to the
building where the president has his offices,
it has it´s own terrace bar with great
views of all the tops of the sinking buildings...and
breakfast and dinner/tea are included, yippie!
Look out for the next update (we have absolutely
no idea when that will be as we are heading
out of Mexico City soon).
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Graham's
Grasshoppers |
Cathedral
off Zocalo |
Reaching
to the Sun and the Moon
Earth,
Wind, Fire, Water
Teotihuacan
Where
Gods were once Man
Mexico
City
Despite what they say
Mexico City is not all bad
Once through the smog
There is a lot to be had
The airport taxi ride
Certainly open our eyes
Red lights, kids in bins
Was this really wise?
Warned not to go left
From the hostel, only right
But that´s after sundown
By day it´s a different sight
We soon found the Zocalo
The very heart of the city
Thousands were marching
It´s the President I pity
From what I could see
He is soon for the axe
He has only introduced
A new two monthly tax
With the decor in the post office
The views from the tower
There is something for everyone
Every week, devery day, every hour
The pyramids at teotihuacan
towered above our little bods´
The Aztecs named them
The place where men become gods
We passed the Plaza Garibaldi
Where the Mariachi´s stay
Like prostitutes they wait
Until a customer will pay
We saw the Lady Guadalupe appartition
Mexican equivilent to the Virgin mary
Hundreds worship it evrey day
Religious icons make me kind of wary
But the statue of Pope John Paul II
Brings many to their knees
An impressive statue indeed
Made from lots of left over keys
We took the Metro to Coyoacan
The ´Muy Bonito´ part of town
Walked for bloody miles
We both wore a frown
In the end it was all worth it
It was a beautiful place
I was told I had nice eyes
...that lady was ace!
The gay and lesbian district
They call the pink zone
In our grubby travel clothes
We certainly lowered the tone
I recommend the Floating Gardens
The yearly fesival of the Spring
Many boats and many Mexicans
With a picnic they did bring
If you ever plan to visit
A little jaunt for the hols
Something you should not miss
Is the Museum of the dolls
A scarier, creepier, freakier
place you will not see
Full of maimed and limbless dolls
Not everyone´s ´cup of tea´!
The markets were electric
Keira...you couldn´t stop her
All I was bothered about
Was trying a grasshopper
It tasted kind of strange
The girls refused to have a lick
A bit like crunchy chicken
With a seafood kick
So with 25 million people
And a reputation as a dive
I´d like to beg to differ
...we came out alive
18th
April
Since
we last updated we have left Mexico City,
but before we left we visited the Floating
Gardens (Xochimilco - a series of rivers and
canals on the outskirts of the city) and happened
to stumble across the only day of the year
when they have the 'Festival of the Spring'.
This meant there were many more people and
local Mexicans in gondalas like us, celebrating
Spring with music, alcohol and special floats
decorated with flowers. Once we went beyond
the carnival it was very peaceful...that was
until we reached the 'Museum of the dolls'!
This place is a bit tricky to describe but
here goes...Keira says 'imagine lots of different
sorts of dolls that were once alive but have
now gone to hell, death epitomized'. Graham
says 'A truly creepy place but strangely compelling!'.
The weirdest place we are ever likely to take
a leak in.
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Floating
Gardens Carnival
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Doll
Museum |
On
Keira's birthday we left our first hostel
and headed to the pink zone (Zona Rosa) of
the city, where all the stylish gay people
hang out. To celebrate Keira's birthday we
had our first meal out in a Mexican Italian
restaurant. Graham managed to speak enough
Spanish (sign language) to arrange for a candle
in Keira's 'Postre' (that means dessert!)
and he managed to sing happy birthday in broken
Spanish.
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Doll
from Hell 1
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Smiling
but scared |
After
Mexico City we took the coach to Puebla. We
had fun here! (?) After visiting some more
ruins we tried the local speciality, Mole
Pablano (Spicy chocolate chicken), we had
the traditional dish and chocolate chicken
on a pizza too (Graham was treated to his
chocolate sauce in the 'banos' (toilet) for
the following two days). This is when it got
a bit interesting...we were held up by 50
Mexican bandits wearing sombreros and some
on horseback, thanks to Keira's Taebo DVD
we managed to overpower the majority of them,
unfortunately a few of the stronger remaining
ones scarpered with Keira's purse...okay this
is what really happened we got caught in a
freak rainstorm which turned the roads into
rivers, it got dark and we got lost because
our hostel was just off our map, so we reluctantly
decided to flag down a taxi which took us
round in circles for 10 minutes, he overcharged
us and Keira left him a big tip for his help...her
purse on the back seat. We didn't realise
until the next day on our way to Oaxaca...Keira
was pleasantly surprised that she had kept
her purse for a whole 8 days!
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Feliz
Cumpleanos Keira!
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Mole
Pablano |
The
coach to Oaxaca went through and round many
mountains, beautiful but it was a little bit
scary at times. In Oaxaca Keira cancelled
all her cards and we took an unscheduled tourist
stop to the local police station to get a
police report for the insurance. Whilst in
Oaxaca we also visited a tree which is said
to be 2000 - 3000 years old and at it's base
is 58 metres around. Unfortunately Graham
couldn't get close enough to hug it! We visited
some more ruins, the ones at Yagul were great
as they had amazing views of the traditional
Mexican terrain, cacti, mountains and ruins.
The Santa Domingo church in Oaxaca was pretty
impressive if a little over the top, with
gold gilding covering the interior. The local
market was compact but quieter than usual
as it was Good Friday and many Mexicans are
very religious, we bought a few bits and bobs
plus a new purse for Keira.
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Drenched
and unaware
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Oaxaca
Zocalo Cathedral |
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Inside
Santa Domingo
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Tree
hugger |
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Mexico
Landscape from Yagul
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G
& K at Yagul with cool hats on!
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26th
April
On
leaving Oaxaca we were forced to take the
overnight scary bus to San Cristobal. In desperation,
Graham listened to his MP3 player and found
it to be a good soundtrack to a near death
experience! We arrived in San Cristobal and
headed straight to the hostel (filthy hippy
drug den) and quickly decided to look for
somewhere else. After having found another
hostel, we headed for dinner with friends
we met in Mexico City (Andy & Tamsin as
pictured in doll museum). Unawares to us,
the 50 Mexican Bandits, hell-bent on revenge
for the shame we inflicted on them on our
previous encounter, entered the restaurant
and spiked Keira's "limonada" with
poison! The following 12 hours went something
like this: Rush to shared toilet, vomit, diarrhoea,
(repeat several times) with Graham standing
guard to ensure enough toilet paper, sick
bags & warm clothing. After enjoying the
visit to the Police Station so much, we decided
to check out the local hospital. Keira got
some drugs while she was there (perhaps we
should have stayed at the first hostel?).
After 3 days recovering, Graham decided keira
needed some exercise and took her up (what
felt like) a mountain, but the views were
pretty cool.
The next day we went to 2 indigenous villages
with different time zones, languages &
cultures. Interestingly, they use Coca-cola
in their religious ceremonies to make them
belch! (Thereby releasing evil spirits of
course! - see poem)
The Indian people of Chamula
Say "Kushee" instead of "Hola"
And like many other people
They worship Coca-cola
It's part of their culture
From the workers to the Chief
More than a fizzy pop
Rather a religious belief
In the colours of the corn,
From cans and bottles they slurp
The evil spirits are released
When they belch or burp!
In the 2nd village, we saw them weave and
generally learnt about their traditional,
simple way of life. The following day we took
the bus to Palenque. there we stayed in a
Cabana (fully-equipped hut with shower &
toilet) on the edge of the jungle. It had
beautiful views, with lots of wildlife (inc.
iguanas, lizards, butterflies, cute dogs &
lots of fleetles), plus the soothing sound
of howling monkeys to sleep by! We visited
some Mayan ruins which had a certain charm
because they were surrounded by lush vegetation.
We also visited 2 gorgeous but very different
waterfalls: Misol Ha and Agua Azul. We were
able to swim in both the lagoons they created,
Misol Ha was more peaceful & enjoyable
because there were less tourists but Agua
Azul was more impressive due to its scale.
Next stop Merida!
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Track
Wise? |
Blue
church in San Cristobal |
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San
Cristobal from top of steps
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Chamula |
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Traditional
Weaving
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Indigenous
backyard |
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Cabana
veranda |
View
from cabana |
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G
drawing Mayan ruins
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Mayan
ruins at Palenque
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| Misol
Ha
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G
& K at Agua Azul
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