mojito

2 sprigs of mint
1 tea sugar
45ml lime juice
ice
60ml rum
soda

bike tours

wandering over 25 days
driving mel to syd
audax reports

pissed off

so, what?
we get an email for technology and electives, with no mention of who these subjects are relevant for. this was days in advance of the balloting time.
but then we get an email about the upper pool studio (which consists of half of the course, or should do when concerned with the credit points) and we get one days notice about the presentations and then another days to ballot! hard luck for anyone who doesnt check their emails for 2 days or doesnt exist for the 18th, and is in transit for the most of the 17th and 19th.
i hate to think i need to be spoonfed, but itd be great to get a bit more notice, and at the top of each email to be notified who the actual email is directed at! i think its assumed that we know when we do each part of the course-i now know we do electives in 3rd and 4th! would ahve been some help to have it mentioned at the top of the email. or maybe the emails could be sent out to those who it is relevant for.
sorry for the rant, just pissed off i missed the deadline and may get a studio im not happy with. whinge whinge whinge.

isla mujeres photos

a towel in the shape of a swan! this was one of the main reasons we moved into this plusher hotel. a swan towel. dan and i quickly worked out how to 'roll', 'fold' and 'squash' (all trade terms that i dont expect you to understand) the 'towel'. we plan to travel the world, feeding the demand for experienced towel folders throughout the world. contact our agent if you're intereseted.
the beautiful sundet on the evening we arrived
after a night swim and a fair bit of ron, we baywatched it away in the tower on the beach (l to r, ben, kati, magda, dan the musche chief)
cop kraut cop kraut yeh! in my hammock on the beach in tulum.

isla mujeres

theres not much to tell! dan and i arrived at isla mujeres with kati and magda *germans*, at about 5, they checked into their hotel, and we into our hostel, poc na. they had lostour reservation and so pointed us to their only free room, a private with a tiny double bed. woohoo. the room was more like a cell though, with no power points, and the windows strangely high, and a concrete floor. we partied with a bottle of our new friend ron that evening and then went for a swim at the beach, a theme to be repeated in coming nights. for the next few days we tended to wake up about 9 spend a few hours at the beach, until it got too hot to handle at about 11 or 12. we had a siesta, more beach from 330 till 6 then dinner, drinks, swim and sleep. an easy life to say the least. dan and i moved into the same hotel as them for a bit of luxury (shower!). dan had his last night party which was a little tame after the previous nights rowdy efforts. we managed a swim before saluting dan off on his voyage to canada (not in the little boat). i spent the next few days with the germans, and then when they left, hung around the hostel as the weather got hotter, talking to teh plethora of israeilis, and the cool new yorkers about the annoying texan. also spent some time with sally and ellie, who we met in tulum. however they left me just a couple of hours ago for cuba. so now it is me, checking up on reality through email, organising more trips, dreaming about places to escape to, just as i'm on my way back to normality. not that i'm dreading it, nothing like it. i'm looking forward to seeing friends and family, listening to mum and dads stories from overseas, and leahs sydney adventures. i want to know how the third north trip to qld went. i want to get back into uni after just having balloted for some amazing subjects. in a way its nice that everyone i had got to knwo well *dan, teh germans, the brits( have all left before me, so that theres really not that much to say goodbye too. it gets to me that people say that they are giving up their freedom by going home. i guess i'm lucky that i haev a lot to look forward to! so i guess this is the last chapter of the mexico travels. but i will endevour to post photos to match the stories on my return. safe travels to all those who have moved on, and to the people in oz, see you soon!

caye caulker

been spending a few nights on the lovely island or cay caulker in belize. belize is a lovely happy place and the cay was no exception. there are so many garifuna-rasta guys and gals and they always have big smiles on their faces. i thought of you, leah, for some reason, because i thought they´d make you giggle. we stayed in tinas hostel for the first night, which has a great atmostphere, and we sat drinking delicious belikin stouts and rum and cokes with the resst of the tinas contigent, on the front deck overlooking the water.
the beach was not actually that good, but there is snorkelling, so we headed out the next day for some fish spotting. the coral wasnt too great but we saw sharks, petted stingrays and barracuda.

that couldve easily been me or dan braving it steve irwin style against the nurse sharks (dont scoff! dan knows some real nasty nurses!)
more germans! (l to r, dan, ben, katrina, sabina) on the boat from rio dulce to livinston, man.
i met this hippy guy aling the way. he knew what it was like to be a whale and to be hunted for your meat. he used to be one. now he travels the globe, lonely, but strangely at the same time, content within his own chi. he wears natural fibres, is vegan and stares off into the distance for long periods of time. he prefers psychadellic drugs to truly expand his mind and examine his consciousness. he asked any hairy armpitted girls to contact him for some tantric, through me. he is the true hippie. and not the money grubbing sort.this guy isnt a hippie, hes just pretending.
the crowd at tinas.

the second and third nights we again had some barbecued belizian specialities and drunk with the tinas crew, even though we´d moved south for some cabana action, cheaper,a nd more private. the rest of the time passed slowly, with hot days spent reading and nights having a few drinks ont he waterfront.
headed off this morning and ended up in tulum, a divey town, but with a lovely beach downt he road, and ruins on a clifftop over the ocean.

playing hacky saqc with ben and toby, english lads, on top of a 2000 yr old pyramid. classy

temple 6 i think, at tikal, lovely.
living dangerously
swimming was awesome at mizansul
eating coconuts (lime in de coconut) at siete alteres outside of livingston. we braved the 7 km walk down to the track, then missed the track, wanderred through the mangroves around the headland (in waist deep croc infested water) to the entrance. was beautiful...

mizan-sul

dan and i at the waterfalls, which we swum in

pics

the feast! for about 15 of us at puerto escondido we headed down to the markets and picked up heaps of vegies for salad and cooking, kebabs, snags (like chorizo), mince for hamburgers, marshmellows, and a whole fish which dan and i specially spiced up. fantastic food! oh, and how could forget the egg salad and rummy watermelon!
another party. following the loss of the mexico from teh world cup after defeat by the dirty argentinians we took solace in generous litre beers and cigars donated by our new american friend. stayed there for about 3 hours just chatting, smoking and drinking (and eating complemeantry nuts) then diverted home past a mezval shop where we met gabi and ana, mexican girls who took us out for the day the next day, to the lookout, icecream, a couple fo shops and a small tour ofthe town. improving dans spanish!
me on one of the beaches (carazillo?) in puerto. lovely water though a little dirty. i dont know whats goign on with the dragon claw there. rarrr.
oh, and my new hat, which has lost its touristy look along with the majority of its ergonomics and shape.

alive

well, in livingston in guatemala, kinda rasta community, will write more from cheaper internet. heading to a waterfll for a swim this arvo.