Travel all over the country side ...

Wednesday 12 November - Teocelo / Texin, Veracruz, Mexico
Today was a huge day. First we went to visit Raziel in the middle of his rehearsal so we could hear the orchestra play. They sounded really good, and it was a certainly a special treat as you don't get to see a guitar orchestra very often. The orchestra has only done one international trip to St Petersburg in Russia, and even though they have had many invitations overseas, the coordinators have not been able to get something organised which is such a shame. We joined Raziel for breakfast along with the orchestra in a lady's house across the road. She cooks breakfast for the whole orhestra and I think they pay her $20paesos each. Most great local haunts.

After rehearsal we started planning to go to see waterfalls and were going to Teocelo first to see friends of Nikki & Raziels, Daniel & Lolo to see if they wanted to come with us. Daniel & Lolo live with Daniel's grandfather. Their house has a beautiful square garden in the centre of it and the house is surrounded by the garden, with Daniel & Lolo living on one side. They grow coffee beans and some banana's out the back, and we were treated to some fresh coffee. Again magnificent coffee and if Melbourne coffee tasted like this I could become an addict. I asked Daniels grandfather if I could take his photo as he was so handsome, and he said that I could but it might take his spirit away - a joke. He was very funny and just asked that he could have a copy of the photograph. When taking the picture he changed into this statue, as he posed for his photo. Later I learnt that many don't know how to be in a photograph, and feel they need to do this special pose. It turned out that Daniel & Lolo were going to visit their property in Texin for the day and asked us if we would all like to join them. It was a lovely offer so we decided to go with them. So another bus and we were off to Texin. Texin was quite a rural area, and Daniels great grandfather had owned much of the land here until the revolution where his land was taken off him. Daniel & Lola were very warm and welcoming to us, and embraced us on our visit to their property. We stopped at a friend of Daniel & Lola's where 2 guys were living Arturo & Carmilo, one was a horticulturist and one made masks for a living. To get to Daniel & Lola's block of land was quite a walk as the block was actually surrounded by other blocks. Carmilo joined us on the walk, it was very hilly but the views were incredible. We eventually got to their block, and Daniel and Lola showed us where they had previously lived for 9 months. They had done an amazing job of building a shelter out of bits of timber and twine. I can't believe they lived here for 9 months! Daniel then took as for a walk to a mineral spring they found and tapped, this is where they got their fresh water from, then onto the creek where fresh mountain water was cascading over rocks in the cool air. There was also a small pool where they would bathe, and Daniel, Raziel and Camilo all went for a swim. By the time we got back to Camilo & Arturo's house it was getting dark and we decided to stay for dinner. Nikki, Raziel & Daniel went for a walk to find food, and came back plentiful with eggs, bananas, some vegetables and bread. Some had been given to them, and some they had bought. The generosity in the mexicans is amazing. For people who don't have anything they are so willing to give and help others. So a feast was prepared and after dinner Daniel read our Pete & my tarot cards. He was pretty good. As time was getting pretty late and poor Raziel was falling asleep, it was time to get back to Xalapa. It was a wonderful day.

Lets Buy A Laptop

Tuesday 11 November - Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico
Nikki & Raziel have been saving for a new laptop as the one that Nikki had is very old, and can't run new programs. So while we were there were able to accompany Nikki to a few shops to get some quotes and see what they could offer. We met up with Raziel again after rehearsal and had some lunch. Some friends of Nik & Raziel's run a vegetarian restaurant, so once again we were indulged with delicious food.

After lunch we headed back to the computer shops and while Nik & Raziel sorted the details out to make their purchase, Pete & I had a walk through the local gardens called Parque Juarez. It is quite picturesque with water features throughout with an enclosed football court.

We then met up again, and headed off to a great pizza place for dinner.

Margaritas, Music and Curvesa

Monday 10 November - Coatepec, Veracruz, Mexico
This morning we met Raziel down the road from his rehearsal hall for breakfast, the place was behind a gate and unmarked so if you didn't know it was there you wouldn't go. Gotta love the local haunts. The breakfast was great with tea, coffee, juice, and what ever you wanted off the menu which was pretty traditional mexican food, all for $40 paesos, about $6AUD. We then went to a coffee shop down the road and indulged in the local coffee. It is so good. It doesn't have that coffee aftertaste, is not bitter, and is so smooth it tastes like it has milk when it is black.

For the afternoon we bused it to a town called Coatepec. It has some beautiful churches and many bars. Maybe you could get drunk, get saved, get drunk, get saved here, just like in Butler? We ended up at bar, that specialised in seafood and had a fancy restaurant out the back. Pete & Raziel had curvesa (beers) while Nikki & I indulged in Margarita's. Before long we had 2 Mexicans beside us who were getting pretty drunk and wanting us to go to their hotel to stay for the night. We think they might have been running a hotel. Then some musicians came around and you can pay them to play some songs. They drunk Mexicans were all for it and were splashing out money for them to play song after song, singing along with them in their loudest voice. Until one song were they both sat down and looked somber and sad. He then told us that the song he just played was the song that was playing when his wife left him. God knows what they were serving with their coke, but they eventually staggered out of the bar, as did we, getting our bus back to Xalapa.

Travel to Xalapa (Al-Up-Ah)

Sunday 9 November - Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico
Today we were on our way to stay with Nikki & Raziel. I completed 1st year Kinesi with Nikki, and Raziel is her partner. Nikki is now studying Homeopathy by correspondence and teaching english, and Raziel is Mexican and a guitarist in a guitar orchestra in Xalapa. When we first sent out a message that we were planning a world trip we received a lovely message from Nikki & Raziel inviting us to Xalapa, so we were very excited to add Xalapa into our travels.

With a breaky of tortillas and omelet we were in a taxi off to TAPO, the bus terminal in Mexico City. It took us a little while to work out exactly where-a-bout's we needed to get a ticket and where our terminal was with our limited Spanish but we eventually got there and were on the 11am ADO bus off to Xalapa. If you are planning on bussing in Mexico - go ADO, they appear to be the most organised and have toilets on their busses too, a luxury. We thought it was going to be a 5 hr bus trip, but ended up being 4 hrs. Nikki met us, and then we got a taxi to her house, about 30min up into the mountains near Rancho Vejico. They have beautiful little house they are renting, with views of Xalapa. Unfortunately their hot water system isn't working so they can't enjoy the pleasures of a hot shower but make do filling a bucket with hot water, boiled on a gas stove. We are so lucky. Their beautiful home is joined by 2 dogs and a kitten. Lucus is a german shepard who is very needy of attention and basically came with the house, the owners pay for part of his food. Wolfy is a white, long haired, medium size dog, have no idea of the breed, but he is a street dog that found his way to Nikki & Raziels house and decided to call it home. He is very independent and he and Lucus get along famously. Then there is the kitten, Lucus brought him home in his mouth, nearly dead with half his tail hanging off and filled with worms. Nikki and Raziel took him in and he is now about 2 months and full of life and energy giving off the loudest purr i've ever heard.

Nikki & Raziel cook at home most of the time and we were treated to a beautiful dinner of blue tortillas, beans, cheese, crickets, worms, soup, and chilli. It was so good. We were then treated to Raziel playing guitar for us for a while, he is a wonderful guitarist!

We had got some ceurvo tequila along the way and pulled it out to share. Nikki & Raziel are very much used to drinking the local tequila which is very nice, but very different to ceurvo as it has more of a sharper taste. Raziel has been learning english off Nikki and his description of ceurvo was that it tasted like oil - a perfect description, as I it goes down very smoothly!

Off To Mexico

Saturday 8 November - Salt Lake, Utah; Dallas; Mexico City
Our day started with a 4am drop off at the airport so we could pay for some changes to our flights. For future reference, when changing one flight on an around the world ticket, it means re-printing all the flights, so the check-in staff get a little nervous. Luckily we had the supervisor, and he only took 30min to reprint the tickets! On our flight to Dallas there were 4 army guys on their way to Fort Worth. It appeared like they were new-be's as their bags seemed brand new. Didn't think much of it until we were flying into Dallas at the air-hostess announces our descent into Dallas along with "and we'd like to acknowledge the servicemen on this flight and the great work they are doing for this country" and everyone on the plane started to clap. Very interesting experience. At Dallas, we were able to go to the Admirals Club as we were flying American Airlines. Couple of glasses of champagne, and it wasn't long before we were on our next flight to Mexico City. Mmmm, how to explain Mexico International? Our bags were fully searched by customs followed by a team of Mexicans coming left right and centre asking us if we wanted a taxi, accommodation, bus ... anything really, but really quite confronting and pushy. We still hadn't booked any accommodation in Mexico as we didn't know if we were going to try and get to Veracruz straight away, or stay the night, but after our long day it seemed a good idea to get some sleep before our next bit of travels. We went to an accommodation booth, but it didn't have anybody there and before you knew it, some guy had grabbed some of our bags and was leading off to a dodgy accommodation booth. Trying to be as polite as we could, we graciouséd and adiouséd our way back to a cafe to take some time out and work out what we were going to do. After a while the lady from the booth came back and we quickly arranged for accommodation at a hotel with a shuttle bus to take us there. Accommodation was fantastic and had a night to relax before our big bus trip the next day.

Goodbye to the Green Back

Friday 7 November - Park City - Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Today was technically our last day in the US and we spent a casual day getting our bags packed, sending a package home of bits and pieces we no longer needed on the trip and having some quality time with Wendy. In the afternoon we had some more homemade cocktails and Wendy took us to dinner again at the Westgate grill which was fantastic, followed by the one hour trip down the 'hill' to Salt Lake where we checked in to a hotel for the night for our early 6am flight. It was sad to say goodbye to Wendy. Thank you for your support, look forward to catching up with you in Melbourne soon!

Long Time No Write

Apologies for not blogging for a little bit, we've been out of touch with the world, but will try and bring you up to speed.

Hello!!!!!

Hello Bec and Pete,

It's lovely to read your news and see the fantastic photos . . . I'm so happy for you both - live it up!

Rob and me went to see your mum's opening last Tuesday (11/11) at 45 down stairs and her work was not showing - was there a change in venue or date?

Melbourne life is ticking over . . . Spring weather is changeable, cold and rainy and warm and sunny, but there are new shoots shooting in the garden.
I have my Awaken Goddes graduation this Sunday and I have finished the crown I began that you saw Bec!
I have tried to email you at absolutebody harmony and both emails have bounced back, can you help me?

Bec's Snow Daquari's

Wednesday 5 November - Park City, Utah
Overnight we had 2 foot of snow dumped, and Park City is looking a bit like fairy land. Drove around with Wendy and did some outlet shopping. Well window outlet shopping, our Australian Dollar is still not very friendly to us. However, Bicardi is relatively cheap and I have mastered a new drink ... Becs Strawberry Snow Daquari (BSD). 6 tablespoons of snow in a martini glass, top with 2 tablespoons of bicardi, and 3 tablespoons of strawberry daquari mix (will melt snow), stir, top with another 6 tablespoons of snow. To get the snow we simply walked out the front door and scooped it up with a jug and came back inside. We had a wonderful day sitting in front of the fire place, sipping on BSD's, and wonderful what the working folk of the world were doing.

Tuesday 4 November - Park City, Utah
'Going to the Matresses' - well our friend in Park City who has some properties, Wendy, has been having problems with property managers, and people using her properties without letting her know. So Pete & I followed Wendy around to help her get to the bottom of things. At the end of the day, Wendy is now recruiting for a new property manager and hopefully things will all be looking up now. Went to dinner with Wendy and her morgage broker Bobby, down to NYPD Pizza, pretty yummy. Night of all nights ended with the announcement of the new president elect Mr Obama! When we got home we were glued to CNN watching the poles, and slowly but surely watched the numbers bypass the essential 270. Well done America, finally, you have got it right!

Snowing in Park City

Monday 3 November 2008 - Park City, Utah

After a very cold rainy day yesterday, Park City was dusted with some snow overnight. The mountains are looking very pretty as is the Main Street. Wendy is due to fly in today so we are really looking forward to catching up with her. Thinking of course about the Melbourne Cup which will be running in a couple of hours. This of course is not on any news in the US as the most important issue here is how Sarah Palin was pranked by a Canadian Radio Station. With the election tomorrow, there are many who are trying to get their vote in early to make sure it is counted. Very interesting time to be here. Most of the people we meet are strong Obama supporters, but as the poles say it is very divided. We hope the American people get it right.

Bryce Canyon

Saturday 1 November 2008 - Bryce Canyon, Utah
It is very hard to explain this amazing scenery. Bryce Canyon is surrounded by a rim which you can drive around to different view points to pear into the amazing canyon below. You can also venture into the Canyon filled with Hoodoo's which are rock formations formed from erosion. Some Hoodoo's are tall and skinny, while some are long and narrow with windows erroded into them. We ventured into the deep canyon and walked to trails back to back taking us about 3 hours to complete. Every bend and turn just took our breath away. Squirrels would vie for our affection, obviously being fed by tourists before (we didn't feed them of course). The climb back out of the Canyon is quite strenuous, with continuous switchbacks, to climb your way back out of the Canyon. An experience that was worth every gasp.

After Bryce we hit the road again, headed back to Park City. Back for the week, then off to Mexico!

Happy Halloween from Zion National Park

31 October 2008 - Cedar City, Utah

Happy Halloween everyone. Today we spent the day in the beautiful Zion National Park. About 90 minutes from Cedar City and absolutely a marvel. They have a fantastic free shuttle service that takes you around the park, where you can get off at points to walk the trails. The bus drivers are really friendly and give you a running history of the area while you are travelling along. Zion is part of the Colorado Plateau which also includes the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and many many more. It is a humungous plateau that spans 4 states, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico with the plateau rising 160million years ago or so from an upsurge in volcanic activity - thats the short story. The area was also home to the Native Americans, and later occupied as haven by Mormans that found refuge from persecution in the 1860's. It was the Mormans that name many of the beautiful peaks and canyons like Angel's Landing, Virgin River, and The Three Patriarchs. We walked also the River Walk and saw the Weeping Rocks where the water trickles over the rocks making them appear like they are weeping. Got back in time to see some trick or treaters roaming the streets. Everyone goes to so much effort, it really looks fun.