Unbelizeable! Parte dos.

So we left Tikal and a couple of hours and rather bumpy roads later we got to the border. Getting into Belize is always a bit of a pain, more formal than the other borders, officers on a complete power trip, and having to take all your luggage out of the car and through in person make it more annoying. Maybe that's something to do with its British history?! Anyway finally got all that faff done and hit the road again through Belize. Driving through Belize is rather different, the roads and indeed the whole country in comparison to Salva seems empty and as I learnt on the journey Belize is only a little bit bigger than El Salvador yet its population is considerably less at just under a mere 300,00 compared to nearly 7 million here. So it seems like a quiet relaxed place and the speed bumps everywhere keep it that way! We travelled down to the south and on the way passed by orange and banana plantations and a lot of damage from Hurricane Richard that hit the week before, lots of enormous trees down. We had planned on visiting one of the National Parks but was closed due to damage. Anyway we arrived in Sunny Placencia (well just outside) and found Jasper and Caroline, (friends from UK) and promptly hit the hotel bar for Happy Hour or rather Happy Evening, Belikins (the local brew) and local rum all round. Think that evening was a bit blurred for everyone!

We spent the next day relaxing and once sun bathing was interrupted by rain headed into to "town" for some lunch, a stroll and sorting out the dive trips. Day after that we were up early for a boat trip up Monkey River which meets the sea a little further down the coast. Our guide Jason grew up around there and had an amazing knowledge of all the wildlife, local history, plants and medicinal jungle plants. The trip was brilliant. From the boat we saw, iguanas, various birds inc lots of herons, crocodiles and bats. Many of them were very well camouflaged but the guide was always able to spot them and then would take us a while to find them! Then we moored up for a little walk in the jungle and were greeted by a group of howler monkeys... this time we could actually see them above us. Amazing. In the jungle he showed us various plants and trees, I only wish I could remember everything he told us about them all. Then back down the river for a tasty lunch cooked by Miss Alice, and back to Placencia through the mangroves and estuary.

That evening we probably drank some more rum and/or Belikin and ate some fish as was the general pattern of most evenings.

Next day was another early start, this time to head out to Glover's Reef a coral atoll for some diving and snorkelling for me. The ride out was fine until we hit a lot of rain and got a soaking, still didn't matter too much as were going to get wet anyway, but once we got to the reef the sun was shining, crystal clear water was warm and the tropical sealife was out and waiting for us. Just snorkelling I saw loads of amazing brightly coloured fish, again wish I could remember all the names but I do remember the ray and turtle that swam just below us and the barracuda who seemed to be following us .The others had a good dive and saw a lot of similar sealife and a shark

We had lunch on the jetty in the sunshine and at this point Ben and I were also pleased to discover that you can get squash in Belize, yes as in the beverage. I didn't think I'd ever miss the funny taste of sugary fruity water but surprising how good and refreshing that familiar acidic taste is in 30 plus degrees when so used to drinking water the rest of the time. Also found Heinz Baked Beans, fig rolls, Rich Tea and Dairy Milk allegedly from Cadbury Brum in the local supermarket so stocked up. Guess this time was grateful for Belize's British influence!

After two busy days of adventures we spent our last couple of days hanging out with Jasp and Caz, reading, beach games , scrabble, uno and of course with our friends Belikin and Rum. The week went by too quickly and suddenly it was Saturday and we had to leave the lovely Caribbean blue skies and sunshine (which had been hiding the day before) and start our trip back. Again it all went pretty smoothly. We made it to Rio Dulce in Guatemala by night fall, spent the night there and had another early start so we were back home by midday and had some time to chill before Back to Skool. We were greeted by the kittens who were waiting for us at the door. We felt a bit bad about leaving them but they were fine and are thriving and getting bigger by the day... though I still can't believe they'll ever be as big as some of the cats we saw in Belize! So... another great roadtrip.

As I finish typing this Ben is strumming away on his guitar, his latest instrument (which doesn't seem to scare the cats as much as the drums and I don't have to move away either!) This week also saw The Maestros' ("The teachers" or maybe homage to that classic British car?) first gig at the school Guy Fawkes night. They were ace and wowed the crowed with some British classics. There's talk of them playing at some bar soon...watch this space. I still find Bonfire Night dressed in a T-shirt and flipflops kind of strange though I did see one kid in a wooly hat which seemed a bit more familiar!

Well think that's probably more than enough to read on a screen....

Hasta luego,

Sim and Ben xx

http://www.flickr.com/photos/benjudge/sets/72157625374002356/

Unbelizeable! Part1

I've probably over used this Belize tourism pun already but there you go. Seeing as I'm pretty much weekly blogging for school, thought it was time I did some of my own life blogging. (and Mr Extra Curricular King has been rather busy this week!)

So half term finally arrived, not before time! The 11 week first "half term" at the beginning of the year is pretty full on so we were ready for the break. As tempting as it was to not get up at 5.30, the first day of the hols we were actually up at 4.30 to hit road for first big stint up to Tikal in Guatemala. Leaving so early meant we missed a lot of mayhem on the roads, got to see sun coming up over the volcanoes and were in Guatemala by 7 am. Journey was all pretty straightforward and calm and we made it up to Tikal by the afternoon.

Tikal is the site of a Mayan settlement that has gradually been restored since the 50s, well I say settlement but in its heyday was more of a city with a population of up to 90,000 (no-one is really sure exactly) hard to believe really, it seems such a calm quiet place in the middle of the jungle...until the bus loads of visitors arrive! Although it's such a big site that pretty quickly you wonder off into to jungle again and seems like no one else is there.

It's very impressive, you walk through the jungle and suddenly you come to these immense pyramid structures and amaze at how back in the day they managed to build them and so deep in the jungle. The first day we wondered around in late afternoon saw the sunset from one of the larger/largest temple (also featured in Star Wars Episode 4 ) over the jungle and strolled and stumbled back through the dark jungle and wondered why I decided not to bring the torch! Luckily the guards were leaving too so made it all a bit easier, who also told us that contrary to what people think it's not the jaguars that are the night time danger but rather the snakes that can cross your path!

We stayed in the jungle at a hotel not too far from the site entrance- the whole area around the site is a protected National park. Was nice not to have to go far and just be in the jungle for the night. After the long day, we conked out pretty early. At some point before dawn Ben was awoken by a rather strange loud animal noise which sounded like was coming from the trees right above our cabana. When Ben woke me up to hear it I was amazed I'd managed to sleep through it! We later found out it was howler monkey/s... my new favourite wild animal. (the kittens are domestic) We woke up again shortly after dawn and went for an early morning stroll around a different part of the site, eyes peeled for jaguars. We finally spotted some spider monkeys playing around and having some breakfast, such interesting animals to watch. I think the kittens have increased my animal appreciation!

We found temple V, known for being the steep one, and somehow despite the vertigo I managed to get to the top via the pretty much vertical ladder. Photos don't really capture the height but was a case of don't look behind or down. The view from the top was amazing, above the mass of jungle treetops even if I was a little wobbly and had visions of having to be rescued from the top. After the initial turning round, going down the ladder was a little easier than going up. By 9am it was getting pretty hot and we were ready for breakfast in the jungle and carrying on with our trip to Belize. We by no means saw all of Tikal- its huge place and wouldn't want to try and see it all at once, especially in the heat of the day and also means we can go back again sometime (with any of you?!)

Photos here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/benjudge/sets/72157625335521346/

Cat update

Really nothing going on at the moment. School has been really busy, we are now in our 4th weekend without the car while the head gaskets get replaced. What is taking them so long? So we haven't been anywhere interesting.

So I thought I'd post a little video of the kittens so you can see how they are growing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyn_aplqMc4

Enjoy

B & S

Weather

Howdy all,

A quick update as we haven't written anything for a couple of weeks. The kittens are growing fast as you might expect and have nearly doubled in weight in just over a week. The cricket season has started and my team the Chiefs won the first game of the season convincingly. My first game as captain so obvioously very pleased.

The biggest thing recently though, has been the weather. The last four days it has been raining almost non stop thanks to Tropical Storm Matthew. This looks set to continue for abolut another week as hot on the heels of Matthew is another area of low pressure that is stuck over the West Caribbean and Central America. People are saying this is the wettest wet season for many a year and we are currently at Orange Alert. No stories of any bad landslides yet and hopefully it'll stay that way, but if this rain continues it's hard to see that happening.

Roll on the dry seasopn and now only 4 and a bit weeks until holidays and road trip to Belize. Can't wait.

Laters

B & S

Kittens

Simmie and I have rescued 3 kittens from certain death. Very cute and very small.

This one is called #46 Valentino Rossi Juez Cleaver or Rossi for short.

On the left is Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz Juez Cleaver or Fidel for short. The one on the right is called Salvador Quebec Pablo Rodney Juez Cleaver or Salvador for short.

Weekend in Guatemala City

Greetings friends,

Well another busy week at school is over and although everyone at school is a little worried about travelling around the country click link to see why http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11253408 We decided to head off to Guatemala City with Carlos from school. He grew up in Guatemala City and proved to be an excellent tour guide. It also meant we had somewhere to stay as his Mum very kindly gave us a bed for the weekend and provided food as well.

It took about 5 hours to get to Carlos' place and after a very nice dinner provided by his Mum we headed out for a few beers at a bar about 25 mins from his house. This counts as local in Guate. It's the biggest city in Central America with a population of 3.5 million and is very spread out, with lots of green spaces.

Saturday was a day of sightseeing. After breakfast in a restaurant offering a fab view of the city, we started out in the civic centre, and visited Guatemala City's now closed railway station. It hosts a museum although trains stopped running in 1995 they were still operating steam trains. Carlos had never been before although as a child he used to take an 11 hour train journey to visit his Gran, so it bought back lots of memories. We had a wander round the area and enjoyed the 1960's architecture before heading to the south of the city for a view of the Pacaya Volcano which we climbed in April and then erupted a couple of weeks later covering the city in ash.

We then headed to the National theatre which is an interesting building, built in the 1970s, which also offers some excellent views from the roof. After that it was down-town to the oldest part of the city, which has been the capital ever since an earthquake destroyed Antigua in 1773. While there a look at the cathederal which is an essential part of any Central American city plaza and the National palace, built between 1939-1943. It it also the home of the national library and on the south side Guatemala's oldest shopping mall. This now seems to consist entirely of jewellery shops selling engagement and wedding rings, and no I didn't do any shopping.

After a small early evening nap we headed out to Zone 10, Guatemala's nightlife centre and after a bite to eat ended up in a very cool bar called retro. Live music and cheap rum, what more could you ask for? Sunday was a quiet morning and after a stroll around Carlos' neighbourhood we headed home to El Sal.

More news tomorrow hopefully. Until then check out the photos by clicking here.

Just back from great weekend in Guatemala City. Was about to blog and I could hear Ben busily tapping away... he's beaten me to it again! Hopefully by this time tomo we'll have some new little feline friends... watch this space!
ciao ciao Sim.

Simone's birthday!!

Hello again,

after no updates for weeks and weeks, here's another just days after the last one. Simone's birthday was on Thursday so we went out to celebrate on Thursday at a restaurant called La Ventana. Lovely food and they do some veggie stuff, had a great night although I probably should have said no when the Tequila started.

Then we went to Suchitoto for the weekend. We stayed in the suite at Los Alemendros De San Lorenzo. As usual it was awesome. We had a lovely weekend, but the highlight was a visit to a number of waterfalls about 30 mins away from the centre of Suchitoto. Absolutely brilliant day and highly recommended.

Check the video here, and the photos here.

B & S xxx

Summer Holidays

Well the time sure has flown by and I can barely believe that nearly two months has gone by since the last post which was an all too brief note saying we were in New York. So it’s in New York that we shall begin.

Amazing place and I absolutely love it. It’s like walking around a giant movie or TV set. Even though I had never been there before it was like I had and on the first day I was like a little kid. Day 1 we spent the day walking round with Steve, who having just finished writing the Rough Guide to New York was very knowledgeable. Having arrived that morning on the night bus from Montreal the night was pretty subdued especially having walked what felt like most of lower Manhattan. Day two started by meeting Ian and Louise and going up the Empire State Building, which was just awesome. Incredible views from the top and an amazing building inside as well.  After, we took in a few more famous landmarks before heading off to the museum of modern art. By this time, it was time for lunch and a trip to Central Park. We hired a couple of bikes in Central Park after all the walking we had already done we felt like it was the best way to see it. In the evening we met Ian and Lou again for cocktails before heading off to Little Italy where we went for the best pizza in New York, according to Steve. I gotta say it was pretty damn good!

Day 3 was more of the same visiting New York landmarks, of which there are many. We took a trip to Harlem, the Ghostbusters fire station, several pubs in various areas, all the while looking like I had a camera permanently stuck to my face. I took approximately 1000 photos while in New York a selection of which can be seen here. That evening we met up again with Ian and Lou and along with Steve and Tiff headed over the river to Brooklyn. On Friday evening they open Brooklyn brewery and we spent a few hours there sampling their wares. We went somewhere else after that, but in all honesty I have no recollection of the rest of that night, but by all accounts I had a great time. Saturday was not an early start, although I did go out and take some early morning (10:30) shots in Battery Park. We spent the afternoon firstly in Chinatown before heading to the meatpacking district to check out this wild garden they’ve grown on a disused bit of highline railway. In the evening we headed back to Brooklyn where I can safely say I ate the best steak I have ever eaten at Peter Luger Steakhouse.

Sunday was July 4^th and as I put in the last post we headed off to Coney Island to witness the phenomenon that is the World Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest. It was a boiling hot day so a great time to be at the beach, but it was packed as you can imagine it would be on a holiday weekend. We flew back to London the next day although we did have time in the morning to walk over Brooklyn Bridge which was, dare I say it, awesome! Our flight home was slightly delayed (4 hours) taking off after the man driving the refuelling truck drove straight into the side of the plane. Lucky I’m not a nervous flyer! If you can’t be bothered to check all the photos I put a smaller selection into this video.

London was brief but hectic as was the whole time in the UK, but it was great to catch up with friends and family even if only briefly and thanks in particular to all the people who accommodated us while we were back or put on BBQs.

We finished the hols with a couple of weeks in Spain which involved some time relaxing by the beach and reading plenty of books. The best of which was Birdsong by Sebastian Faulkes, an excellent read. I also bought one of these excellent Sony e-readers, which I highly recommend. Then we went off to Madrid where I was for my 40^th birthday. Simone asked what I would like to do so we spent the morning on a tour of Real Madrid’s stadium before heading off to Athletico Madrid’s stadium after lunch for the afternoon tour. Brilliant! Even though I had now reached 40 and become a grownup I didn’t let that stop me going out a getting drunk on mojitos and having a raging hangover the next day. I don’t feel like it’s been my birthday if I don’t have a hangover on the 5^th August.  Check out the photos from Madrid here.  After a weekend back in London and a final catch up with people plus a visit to see QPR thrash Barnsley we are now back in El Salvador. I spent my $1000 return to work bonus on new mountain bike and I’ve been out several times already and I’ve carried on with the surfing although the weather has been pretty shocking. Simone’s birthday tomorrow so we going away for the weekend, report and photos to follow and hopefully quite soon I’ll try and get some video of some mountain bike action on here.

Hopefully speak to some of you soon on Skype we are normally online at about 10:30pm UK time, so keep a lookout and give us a call.

Laters

B & S xx

New York

Having a fab time in NYC and hopefully will have a proper post up in a couple of days, but wanted to share a video of a great day we had visiting Coney Island to see the world Hot Dog Eating Contest. It was brilliant!!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZQUoCKU57Q

B & S

Montreal

The first week of our holiday has absolutely flown by. Simmie very happy to be back in Montreal and I’ve really enjoyed my first, but probably not my last visit. It’s got a real European feel to it and it seems to be full of good looking people, so obviously we fit right in.

The World Cup has been in full swing while we have been here and we have managed to see quite a few games. There are bars for every nation here, so it’s possible to get a great atmosphere whoever is playing. Would have been nice to see England do a bit better, but as I get older the less I care. Germany was by far the better team so good luck to them. My second team this year is Chile, although by the time I’ve posted this they may be out too as they play Brazil later.

We have also done quite a bit of cycling while here. They have this very cool system called Bixi, you hire a bike for 24 hours at the cost of $5 and they have docking stations dotted all over the city. You pick a bike up ride it where you want to go and leave it at your destination. You don’t keep the same bike all day, you don’t have to return it to the same spot and you don’t need to worry about it being stolen. It’s awesome!

Yesterday was spent moving furniture. Ged was moving from his old 3rd storey flat to a nice ground floor place with a garden. Getting the larger pieces of furniture down the narrow staircase that led to Ged’s flat was not easy, but throwing it off the balcony would have led to some damage. Unfortunately, we have a bad internet connection here so gonna try and get some photos up soon.

Next stop New York, which I’m very excited about and which we’ll have more about next week. Until then, au revoir.

B & S

Montreal has it's own Nelson's column. Yes I know, I couldn't believe it either.

The view from the mountain. More of a hill really.

Excited by the prospect of another fine England performance. That's right we're about to watch the cricket.

What a beautiful day for a bike ride!

We've entered this pic in a best holiday picture contest. We're hopeful!

I saw this tribute to the late 70's hit TV show Monkey in China Town

Even got to play some football at one of Ged's coaching sessions.

As an international cricketer I'm often asked for batting tips whilst in the park.

The front of our holiday apartment.

Hi everyone,

It seems amazing that I’m writing this entry on the last day of school. It only feels like we’ve been here 5 minutes and already the year has gone. Tomorrow we fly out to New York and then a bus to Montreal arriving Sunday morning for 10 days with Ged (Simone’s brother for those who don’t know). Then back to NYC for some time with Stevie K and old school friend. We are then back to the UK for a couple of weeks before heading to Spain for some sun and celebrate my birthday in Madrid. Very excited about the whole thing and will hopefully see you all soon.




To finish off it was the primary staff talent show today and I did my first ever gig as me and some other teachers did a cover of I love rock n roll. The acoustics aren’t great and I think the sound guy forgot to turn my bass mike up, but it was great fun. The kids make a great crowd and they aren’t too fussy about musical ability.



Watch the video here!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQojbItMxAA

Ben & Sim

Better late than never Roadtrip, Part 3

So weeks have passed by again whilst I’ve been thinking “oh must finish writing about Easter road trip” and now it’s June! And two weeks Friday we’ll have completed our first year the ABC school. How time flies.

After we left the islands we drove up to the northern more mountainous region to a small town called Perquin. The area was once pretty remote, lots of hills and was a key area in the Civil War mainly because it was a guerilla stronghold. It’s now known as the “ruta de la paz” (peace route) on tourist info but strangely only mentions the peace in terms of the nature and serene scenery.

We went round the museo de la revolucion, where former guerillas show you round, tell you what they were fighting for, how they were affected and all the awful things that happened to them and the civilians caught up in it all. Then we went round a guerilla camp in the hills and saw how they lived on the move at the time. Sure, it’s a one sided museum but very informative and a voice of the side you don’t hear elsewhere. The next day we visited the Mezote Memorial to the thousand or so civillians, mostly form the same village and surrounding area who were brutally killed by the army in December 81. After seeing the list of names of children, (some as young as a few days) on the wall of the memorial garden and then the names of all the families and the family member who died, don’t think anyone can leave there without feeling moved. (Google El Mozote for more info- it's a long story and what happened there was denied for years and to some people it still didn’t happen, despite the one survivor trying to tell her story to the world)


We also put Monty’s off road tyres and skills (and maybe kate's and my nerves) to the test again and did a bit of exploring. We had hoped to find some waterfalls but since was still dry season we weren’t so lucky.

After the few days in the mountains, we headed back down to the coast for a last bit of tropical relaxation with Kate and Gav. The usual: beach, beer, books and a little bodyboarding and surfing for Ben. All in all a great roadtrip!

So there you go, all up to date on our adventures. Looking forward to a summer of more adventures and catching up with friends and family. Hasta luego!

Spingtime in Salvador

Greetings!

Well it sure has been a long time since I wrote anything on here. Apologies if anyone has been expectantly looking here regularly only to find nada. Since Sim's last entry plenty has happened so I'll start with my second appearance for the El Salvador cricket team on the Easter tour of Belize. We were soundly beaten in both matches although I was second highest scorer in the team with a mighty 23, Roger high scored with 49 and we were the only two to get double figures so I guess defeat was inevitable. Day 2 out for a golden duck although I did get a mention in El Salvador Cricket's magazine for my efforts in the field. Like a young Jonty Rhodes I was.

Here's the team outside our luxruious team hotel. The tour also included the longest bus ride I've ever been on 17h hours each way. Still it was pretty good fun although I'm not sure I'll be going on tour again it was pretty expensive and it's not like I spent hours batting. Sticking with cricket some more recent news. Last week I agreed to become the new club captain for my league team the Cuscatlan Chiefs, so that will be a challenge.

After returning from the cricket tour Dad and Kim arrived. The last of our visitors for the year. We first headed off to Antigua in Guatemala, the highlight of the trip being climbing up olcano Pacaya. which was spitting flames as we walked down in the dark. Very exciting. See the video on youtube by clicking this link. Pacaya Volcano . Of course this is the volcano that recently properly erupted, covering Guatemala City in ash and killing seveal people, including a journalist reporting for TV. In fact about two weeks after we went up two american tourists were killed when they wandered off from their guide and strayed on to a thin pice f lava rust and fell through into molten lava. Might have been a little less keen to go up there if that had happened before we went up. The fact that it rained all the way up did not dampen this intrepid explorer's enthusiasm.

On the way back we spent a couple of days at the beach, which was a nice relaxing end to the Easter Hols. While there we did some kayaking down the estuary which  was pretty cool but most of the time was spent lying by the pool drinking cold beers and doing a little bit of reading.

Monty shows off his 4x4 skills.

If I sit at the back it's easier to avoid the hard paddling work.

Dad obviously had the same idea.

Unfortunately, the trip to the beach ended in disaster for Monty. Home on the back of a rescue truck.

Obviously the next day it was back to school for Simmie and I . Dad and Kim spent the next 4 days exploring San Salvador before jetting off to New York where they got stranded due to the vocano in Iceland (right next to the frozen peas).

Since then no more guests so the house has been kinda empty. Lots of time to practice my drumming and of course plenty of end of term work to do at school, reports etc... Able to write this blog today because at the end of last week, during which time it seemed to be constantly raining, we were hit by Tropical Storm Agatha. All the schools in El Salvador are closed and although it hit Guatemala worse there has been deaths here unfortunately and lots of people evacuated. Rain has thankfully stopped nowso probably back to school tomorrow. Only 13 day to the holidays and my first gig, which hopefully someone will video. Then off to Montreal, New York, London and Madrid, where hopefully we'll get to see everyone.

More soon, ciao all xxx

Rest of Roadtrip

Hello,

I'm back AGAIN, just deleteted Ben's comments about waiting months for next post! So where did I get to last time?  We'd made it down to the coast closer to Honduras, spent the night at some interesting  accomodation and left early the next morning for La Union, a port town where we would get a boat to Isla Meanguera. So we arrived in La Union in good time. Parked the car up in some bar restaurant car park and eventually walked round the corner to the "port". Luckily I'd phoned the hotel who'd told me to look for or phone "Don Santos" as it was pure port chaos. I say port but more of a little harbour full or smallish boats, kids trying to carry your luggage, lots of kids swimming in the really clean water, lots of shouting, lots of people in boats, lots of people wading out to the boats already full with lots of people and their bags, boxes bags of veg, eggs, ice, chairs and gas bottles and lots of people hovering around selling a variety of snacks for the journey. Or the wait for the journey as it turned out.

The first boat our luggage was lead to looked rather full, was leaving early and didnt belong to Santos and could've been going to any of the islands so after lots more shouting (not by us) the luggage came back.
Luckily around the same time a girl who'd been doing the hotel's weekly big shop  spotted us (4 gringos so not difficult) and told us Santos was on his way. Santos' boat seemed to arrive before he did and we were the first on soon to be surrounded by lots more people, lots more bags, lots more of everything...

so after sitting on the boat for about an hour we finally left and had all the comfort you expect for a journey lasting about an hour and costing three bux. So we reached the island, dropped off a few people and each time we stopped we had the saga of someone's bags being at the underneath everyone elses. So we were quite glad when it was our turn to get off at the hotel.

The hotel was right next to the sea and we spent the next two days doing very little.Well plenty of eating, good fresh fish and drinking (the weekend coincided with Gav's "stagaversary" so of course Gav and Ben weren't going to let that slip by) . We did manage a kayaking trip round the little island opposite which at one point got a little rougher than we'd bargained for but we all made it back without capsising. In the afternoon we got a boat to the beach and spent a few hours there having "beach fun" (see below) before returning for some (stop!) Hammock Time. All in all was a great spot for a few relaxing days doing not much.

 lounging area for hammock time

  playing in the sea                                                      another rammed beach

 a continuacion ....

While the Cat's away...

While the cat's away, Simmie will try and play ... well with the blog at least. So after a few comments about me never blogging (to be fair I think I did once... well maybe  a few lines? was gonna actually do one a few weeks back but Ben still beat me do it. He's more proactive, whilst I am more of a procrastinator (really Sim? I hear you say sarcastically) See I'm already wiffling and over-using brackets. Another reason for Ben to write. But still in the words of Magnus I've started so I'll finish. (whether in one go we'll see!)

So it's April already and time just keeps on flying by. As I write I hear the gentle the sound of rain again, not quite full on rainy season yet but a reminder it's soon on its way, feels like dry season only just began. But makes me strangely nostalgic, like Easter weekend in the UK, dark and rainy, though luckily ( and smugly?) for us, still in the high twenties!

Easter Sunday and I must be one of the few people in El Salvador not "al mar" for the long weekend. Still, having spent some of last week and probably at least every other weekend there recently, I'm not too put out by this. In fact, am enjoying the quietiest weekend I've had in a while, reading, faffing, hammocking and watching really crap TV.brilliant. The house feels strangely quiet and empty. Ben is "on tour", not as an internationally aclaimed drummer, but an an international cricketer again, this time playing Belize. So I'm sure he'll do some blogging about that. Sounds like they've had fun even if the  bus journey was long and a few hiccups along the way.

House also feels empty of visitors as we've been pretty booked up these last few weeks, well months.El Salvador tourism figures must be on the rise as a result. Kate and Gav just left yesterday.
Since Mum and Dad left we've had my mum's cousin Maria Elena here, She was out here for work so caught up with her after not seeing her for a few years. She pretty chocka with work but we managed to show her a couple of sights, well the beach and nice places to eat!

Then the evening after she left Kate and Gav arrived (brummie-brisslers for those of you who havent met them in person) Their arrival also concided with some friends' party so just popped by for a bit  as travelling all day and partying all night isnt really condusive to making it to the beach the next day (well done Kate and Gav for holding out for another couple of hours who by then must've been up for well over 24hrs)
So we made it to the beach and spent the day making the most of the nice hotel facilities,pool, boozie jacquzzi  and Ben and I resented having to go to back to work the next day.  Kate and Gav spent a couple of days there and we joined them after work and then all came back later in the week.

 We did all the usual things we offer on our "first time El Salvador" package. Volcano, restaurant with view of town, local food delights, unlimited use of hammocks and beer fridge and we finally made it to our Easter Hols after what felt like another long and busy term.

Top of Volcan Boqueron

We headed straight off on Friday afternoon to the "Oriente", the coast we hadn't made it too before as quite a bit further down towards Honduras. And after a few hours we arrived hot and tired in el Cuco. It turned out to be quite an experience. We arrived in the middle of a power cut, so was very dark, at a place right by the beach in what was in effect a bungalow with mosquito screen walls and roof (they called it an "upgrade") Sure this was where Gav began to be inspired for his horror film idea. After dinner and beers (well a beer as apparently some group had drank their bar dry at lunchtime,didn't go down too well with the boys.) we were all in bed by 9.30 in our outdoor rooms.
By 6 am we were all awake having been awoken by the crashing waves and dawn though I don't think any of us slept particularly well (crackly plastic under sheets and security guard wondering around with his torch and for some the threat of bugs and creatures who were able to crawl through the gaps) . But short of actually sleeping on the beach it was a pretty unique way to way up, palm trees above your head, sun peeping through them in the distance and hearing the sea. Wondered down to the sea and had the wake up invigorating dip and amired the endless, vast beach.

We left early with plenty of time to get the boat across the Golfo Fonseca.So will sign off there as will be way too much to read in one go... still got another 6 days of roadtrip to cover! Next episode Pacific Island. Hasta luego.

Jules & Rita visit.

Another busy fortnight whizzes by and I think to myself where did that go? Sim’s folks have been here visiting and we managed to enjoy some time down at the beach, a visit to Suchitoto and they made good use of our car and the local “buses” to explore plenty of the San Salvador area. Unfortunately, two weeks just flies by and it felt like they were leaving having only just arrived. They had a pretty good time though. Jules was lucky enough to spend his 60th birthday watching the four best cricket teams in El Salvador battle it out in the end of season deciders for the league title and Rita managed to leave with a better tan than me and I’ve been here for nearly 8 months. No big surprise according to Sim.

The beach at La Perla. I hate it when its busy like this!

Relaxing by the pool.

The hotel in Suchitoto. Slumming it again.

Breakfast in the garden.

Mum & Dad

What catalogue did you say this was for?

Auditions for Pop Idol El Salvador were well attended.

Jules and Rita getting involved in the cricket taking charge of the scoreboard.

And Judge dispatches a short ball toward the boundary. (Unfortunately to where a fielder was stood)

In other news school had their annual Spring Fair a couple of weeks ago. Annoyingly on a Saturday morning and attendance isn’t voluntary. Although it’s only Primary staff, so Secondary staff have no obligation to work on weekends. We’re all on the same contract so it seems a little unfair to me, especially as we had visitors from the UK here at the time. Still it wasn’t the worst day of my life, just inconvenient and by the end I was pretty bored, 4 hours is way too long.

The crowds of people lining up to dunk me in the tank were huge.

Simmie was in charge of a dressing up race. The QPR kit proved very popular with the locals.

I’ve also at long last got round to buying myself a drum kit. Not quite ready for a video performance yet, but hopefully soon just give me some time to practice. It’s been a while.

Hasta luego B & S xxx

Antigua, Guatemala

Hola,

Life continues it's non stop whirlwind of work, visitors and excessive amounts of alcohol and food. Mum leaves on Friday and as I write this Sim's Mum and Dad are in the air from Housten due in about 90 mins.

Spent last weekend in Antigua, Guatemala which is an old Spanish colonial town, not disimilar to Granada in Nicaragura. More tourists in Antigua though and more of all the stuff that more tourists bring. Still a very nice place though with a really nice feel about it. We spent quite a few hours just sitting in the main square watching the world go by. Sim and I will be making another visit in the near future. we'd quite like to climb the live volcano nearby and just spend a bit more time there.

This is the garden of the hotel we stayed in. Very nice.

This is the cathederal in the main square. Interestingly the burial place of the Spanish historian and Conquistador Bernal Diaz. The man who was a member of all three Mexico expeditians, including the one with Hernan Cortes that led to the destruction of the Aztec Empire. 

 

Mum relaxing in the main square.

There were some lovely views almost around every corner.

And again with the volcano.

Antigua was the capital of Guatemala from 1541 until a large earthquake in 1773 destroyed large parts of it. Much of it is now preserved as ruins.

Cobbled streets and a lovely clock tower Tourist heaven.

All the streets pretty much look like this one.

Unfortunately we didn't manage to get any footage of our little gig- ben on the drums and sim singing.