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Welcome once again everyone to the sunny world of Rob.

I'm still trying to play catch-up with all the places I've been. So here we go again. Having just left Belize and re-entered Guatemala is where I ended last time.

Our first destination in Guatemala was Tikal. This place has to be seen to be believed, it is the biggest and by far the most spectacular of all the Mayan ruin sites. For those of you who have seen the first (real) Star Wars film, it is the location of the Rebel base towards the end of the film. Although I had already been to ruin sites at Palenque and Copan, neither prepared for the magnitude of this place. Some of the largest pyramids are simply awesome. The views from the top are amazing of the other temples, the ball court and the spider monkeys swinging through the trees below us. Hopefully if I can my England based assistant to help there could be some pictures on the web soon.

Next stop was a real backpackers haven. Finca Ixobel is a converted farm now used purely as a place we hippies we stop and chill out. Its not really near anywhere but still draws in the punters. Apart from sitting around and doing nothing, I also managed with a few other travelers to hike a mountain and do another cave tour. This cave was really amazing. Nothing like the professionally run tours in Belize. We had to take our own torches and there wasn't anything like hard hats of safety equipment. I guess that, and a disclaimer, all added to the fun. At the end of the tour there is a 3 or 4 metre jump, in the pitch black, down into a pool. It was quite something. A real leap of faith! The rest of the time at Ixobel was spent being badly beaten at table tennis and monopoly by a German lass ,Claudia, I befriended. Absolutely ruthless!

It was then time to head back to Antigua for a couple of days. Three then became two. After traveling together for just over 5 months it was time to send Mike home to start paying his taxes again. It was a sad occasion, he was a sterling traveling companion. And he must be quite brave to leave me to go traveling with his girlfriend :) After his departure Lorelli and I headed down to Lake Atitlan. We stayed for two weeks in a town called San Pedro. Its another really gringo town as some of the cheapest language schools in the world are there. So it was no surprise that we did two weeks of school. Shame none of it sank in really - much like my school days of old.

Lake Atitlan is probably the most beautiful lake I have ever seen. All around are volcanoes, mountains and the coolest little villages. For next to nothing you can catch a Launcha and go and visit the other villages. Activities I indulged in there include swimming, kayaking, volcano climbing, visiting the huge Chichicastenango market, drinking and studying. The worst part of the time in San Pedro was my birthday. I had a large number of new friends (and nicely some old ones I met in Mexico) all ready to celebrate my b'day with me. Unfortunately I chose this day to get a fever, temperature and a horrible dose of the squits. Great! My chums still went out and had a great time without me it seems - so it wasn't a complete loss.

I should also mention my host family while I was studying. They were the perfect 'temporary parents'. I was well fed and entertained. Shame about waking up and finding bed bugs where a man really doesn't want bed bugs. So thanks to Ruben, Lucia and young Antonio. The little fella was the cutest chap dancing around my room listening to my minidisk player.

Next stop on the journey was Santa Ana, this time in El Salvador. It was a nightmare journey as I a horrific hangover. My friends Ben and Katie, who I met in Mexico, decided it would be right to see me off in style. Ooog. I got so drunk I managed to miss the last boat to Panajachel to meet Lorelli who had left San Pedro the day before. And that took some doing as the bar was right next to the docks. Yo bebo mucha cervezza. Me gusta Gallo. We were now three again. We had been joined by Heidi, who stayed with us for a couple of weeks.

We only stayed in El Salvador four nights. Its not really a country for tourists at the moment. There isn't all that much to do and it is, comparably, quite expensive. Its probably due to the fact that the US is one of the official currencies. The other problem with the place was the locals. That may sound bad, but the men folk in Central America are notorious for being sexist and generally really badly behaved towards women - especially western women. And they seemed to be worse in El Salvador. The girls weren't overly pleased with the place so we left quite soon. We had time to check out Santa Ana, San Salvador and a surf camp on the beach at Playa Zonta. The most touristy thing the country has to offer, which we went to, was the Mayan ruin site at Joya de Ceren. Its like a mini version of Pompeii. A local volcano blew up and covered the village. Its kinda cool how they excavated it and all the artifacts that have been uncovered.

We were thinking at this point to travel by boat to Nicaragua. We then changed our minds and made the decision to go via Honduras and check out the capital Tegucigalpa. It turned out to be a good call as it by far the nicest capital city in Central America so far. Although we weren't there long we were able to check out La Galaria Nacional de Arte which housed some of the countries finest art work. We also had a good look around a got a good feel for the place. One of the funniest things I have EVER seen was in this city. A VW beetle police car. Many of you know about my hatred for those grotesque little cars. I was almost tempted to commit a crime so I could escape the police car by walking away briskly!

Next stop of the journey south is Nicaragua where I am currently residing. I don't think I'll want to leave. It is a fantastic country, really beautiful with really friendly people. I'll tell more another time. I'm pretty much up to date now. I'm really quite proud of myself.

As always I hope you are all well and happy. Take care,

Rob.

xx

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