I climbed up a volcano yesterday. It was ripper. I think one of the most adventurous things I´ve ever done. They’d never let you do that in Australia…if we had volcanoes.

It was an hours solid climb to the base and then another 15 minute scramble up the volcanic rock to get to the lava. Insanely, we got about 3 metres away from rolling lava, which I’m sure isn’t safe. But very cool. And the rocks we were standing on, if you looked through the holes, there was lava underneath.

The rock was so brittle, like glass, and hot. So you couldn’t touch it for stability. Most people came down with blood or burns in some place. Nothing fatal. I was feeling a bit woundless until I had a nice little fall and lots some great scratches all over my hand which proceeded to pour with blood and a good solid bruise on my back. (Ryan would have been mega jealous)

I don’t really believe the whole experience when I look back on it. Insane. And so cool.

After a very long 10 hours on a remarkably claustrophobic feeling bus, and a bad sleep Mum and I have arrived in Antigua. The old city of Guatemala. An old town full of ruins and cobbled streets with backdrop of surrounding volcanoes. Hopefully one which I will climb tomorrow and see real boiling lava. How fun.

Our last day in Flores was one for the Lazy Bastards. Swimming, eating, drinking, attempted reading, getting Hep B shots from funny old fat doctors. Fun really. I don’t really know why I loved that hot town so much but I really liked it. I think it was that cool hostel.

People look really different in Guatemala than Mexico. Heaps more than I imagined.

Guatemala is a lot poorer.

People are really friendly.

The water is more enticing.

This morning, as a mad person does, we woke at 3am to go to the ruins at Tikal and see the sunrise. The mist kind of prevented the view, but it was pleasant to experience cool weather for a change.

We spent the morning clambering up the ruins about 40-50 metres high. The view from the top was amazing. All the other ruins poked out the top of the tropical rainforest. It was extremely mystical. Although I think I preferred Palenque. I think Star Wars was filmed in Tikal.

Mum and I made our way from Palenque to Flores by spending a night in Bonampak on the Mexico-Guatemala border. We went to see Yaxchilán, a Mayan ruin only accessed by boat on the border, and then Bonampak. Bonampak is small, but has really well preserved Mayan painting inside which was the most amazing part of the trip.

We stayed a night in an indigenous village with a tour group from Spain. Wow they have strong accents. Anyway, I met this adorable little 5 year old called Rut, who decided she wanted me to play hide and seek. And so we did. And she got lots of people involved. I love kids. I got this scared feeling like a kid does when they’re hiding. It reminded me of playing Sardines in Croydon. Such illogical fear but refreshing all the same.

The next day we crossed the border in a tiny boat. I felt like an illegal immigrant. And then there we were. And now here we are. In Guatemala. The buses are worse and the roads more bumpy. But people are nice. And really friendly. Corona isn’t as common and I keep forgetting I’m not in Mexico.

I arrived in Flores yesterday (Guatemala), a pretty little town on an island with an amazing lake. Gab coincidentally was also in Flores, which resulted in me looking for her hotel and finding her in the street. Yelling ‘Gabitzin, Gabitzin’ and us having a running moment. Such fun to see Gab again. We haven’t really spent a day apart in the last 4 months, so its a bit weird to have been apart for so long.

Anyway, our unanticipated adventure went as follows.
We decided we wanted to swim in the lake. And then decided we wanted to go canoeing. The first place we couldn’t find canoes…only another 2 European boys also wanting canoes. So we 4 went in search of canoes…but alas only to find 1. So we decided we’d share, they’d go for 30 minutes and then us. In the meantime Gab and I found a beer on the wharf and went swimming in the most lovely water.

Eventually the boys returned and we swapped. I have this theory that Gab looks more buff than me. Even before disproving any canoeing ability they were asking if I’d ever been before. Gabbie nevers gets questioned.

So we head off, and then head back. Gab has this desire to tip the boat before we go back (note it was Gabbie who wanted to tip), I was up for the fun, but not the instigater. Anyway, we tip the boat, and for that strange unknown reason of funniness it was funny. But we realise we’ve lost the padlock and chain. The boys come help us swim in the boat.

And then the owner tells us he had a special, American bike padlock. Ooops. But we say we’ll go and buy a new one. Although Flores on a Sunday, nothing is open. So Gabbie and I begin our adventure to the other side of the island for a padlock and chain. We get in a rickshaw, with this other drunk passenger. He must have been real drunk because my Spanish was better than his. We drop him home and continue on our search for an open Ferretería. But there are none.

The rickshaw driver really took us under his wing, asking his friends, but he didn’t live around the area. So in a moment of craziness and desperation I stick my head out the window and ask this random guy on a motorbike if he has a padlock and chain. He says, ‘Yes’.

The next thing, we’re following him to his workshop, where he has his own whole Ferretería, which he opens for us late Sunday night. I have absolutely no idea how I managed to ask a random hardware shop owner, but I did.

And we returned the chain and restored the canoe man’s hope in humanity. He thought we were long gone. Gab and I thought it was totally worth it. Good ol Gabitzin.

I’m not convinced I love travelling. I think I am a settler. I like living. But travelling is so tiring and…place to placey. So lonely. The isolation gets me down a bit.

I can find the day to day boring at the best of times, but I think there is something of me there. I’m at my best when I’m at home. But travelling is amazing. And I am very blessed to able to do such things.

I was reflecting also the other day though, on how much more difficult it is in general to offer hospitality in another culture. I know how to do it in Australia far better than I do here. Harder again when you’re travelling. But I think that’s where I find so much purpose.

It’s also really bizarre being a tourist in Mexico. This southern part of Mexico is really touristy, which I’m not used to at all in Xalapa. You get chucked straight into being a tourist..which I am at this leg, but I don’t really enjoy tourist culture. So observatory or something. I don’t know. My brain just feels a bit numb.

Numb.

Mum and I have spent 2 days in Palenque now. Well, one at some big waterfalls Agua Azul, where the water was perhaps more brown than blue, and today at the ruins in Palenque. We managed to spend 6 hours there which was quite a surprise to the both of us. They are these amazing ruins nestled in tropical jungle. The heat in Palenque is muggy, humid, hot and well hot. Lots of water, lots of sweating and lots of sticking.
Palenque ruins were a nice relief though, because when you weren’t in the sun, the resting in the tropical jungle was cool and pretty. One of those places one has to go to, to feel the vibe.

We’re heading to Guatemala tomorrow.

Mum and I left Xalapa on Sunday evening, on an overnight bus to San Cristobal De Las Casas. A quaint little town, with lots of little colourful houses lining the streets. A bit Oaxaca like, low houses, square, more earthquake proof.

Freezing.

The coolest part was this indigenous-Mayan screen printing company, which does the coolest prints. Since deciding that I am in love with printmaking and thats what I want to do, it was very cool to see. I found this magazine, called El Jicambe, of which they only make 150. It’s this tactile packed screen-printed publication which is full of designerly inspiration. After some umming and ahhing, I bought one which we then promptly posted most cheaply back to Xalapa, with a hope it reaches safely its destination. I never to understand the discrepancies in the Mexican postal service.

I spent perhaps my strangest birthday ever in this town. I’d been so excited about my one and only summer birthday which proved to be freezing, sitting around log fires. We ate dinner at a place called Na Bolom. The house of some photographer/archaeologists (no longer living). We ate at their big old dining table, drank wine and chatted to some Israelis and Americans. I was feeling rather ill, (I think thanks to my latest worms, no longer living) and didn’t eat so much. Birthday’s overseas are weird. I was rather looking forward to a Mexican birthday, but the being on the road took away from that desire. They just end up feeling odd because they should be happy but they aren’t really any different. But one moves on. And we did. To Palenque.

First semester Xalapa is now over. I found it surprisingly more sad to leave than I thought. Me realising I felt surprisingly more settled there than I knew. My last week was marked with Mum scattering about town and checking out places while I sat at my kitchen table writing my essay. Cara and I had some pretty good fun finding some presents for Gabbie. One of which landed me with a new friend. Hopefully a bushwalking friend. But I do sometimes wonder how many empty promises people have here. But it was a nice end to my Xalapa Part I, reminding me of my settling down there. And since leaving, I really do feel like I’m missing home, but home in Xalapa. I think I’ve been feeling pretty happy the last month there. Yep.