The Home Stretch!

With eight days left in Central America we were still in Guatemala and had two countries to bounce through. As a result, Belize became a casualty as we wiped off a trip to the mangrove beaches on the southern coast and the Mayan site of Lamanai up north. In P.R.A. speak though, "It all worked out for the best" as Belize never really caught on with us. It was all too weird trying to switch from spanish to english in 3 days and sucking lemons seemed to be the national sport as did swatting gringos with ridiculous taxes. The saving grace, just, was cheap lobster in the chinese restaurants. One night in San Ignacio and another at a chinese hotel in Orange walk and we were gaaawn, racing for the Mexican Riviera to enjoy our last few days of central america.

We were hoping for a few days of sun bathing on the beautiful white sandy beaches of Playa del Carmen but unfortunately it was more like, "quick! throw your towel down on a wet spot on the beach and catch 5 minutes of sun before the next black cloud is overhead!" On the upside, Playa is like Noosa on steroids with enough grockel shopping, mariachi bands, drinking and eating opportunities to keep everyone entertained in bad weather. It already feels as though we have left behind our big backpacking adventure as there are no early wake up calls, chicken buses to crunch our spines or locals, other than those trying to woo us into their store with gems such as "Hey honeymooners!", "Come and look at my crap!", "Amigo!", "80% off everything, or it's free!" What with dodging them and americans clutching their Senior Frog tequilla shooters, it is kind of a surreal ending.
Must admit its nice to finish our travelling the easy way, last minute silly shopping, late breakies at Java Joes, trying tequila everyway possible (Stu is still salivating for a good whisky back home though) and plenty of caffeine hits in between. Flying to Florida tomorrow and already planning all of the yummy things we're going to cook up in our own kitchen - what a change, hope we remember what to do!
Luckily the cooking thing came back to us in Florida, just like riding a bike or driving a car. Actually, it took a bit of getting used to driving on the right hand side of the road after not driving for 11 months but we got there in the end. With the joys of a hot-tub, a long beach, cheap clothes shopping and a spacious apartment to keep us happy, it all went in a flash. Looking back, it all seems like a dream, was it really us climbing Volcan Villarica, chomping huge steaks in Palermo and hacking the Inca trail in Peru? You bet and we have the pics to prove it!

The next blog will be our last, don't miss it ;-)

Love,

Stu and Kaz xx

Bargain of the week: Belizan lobster dinner, $20, closely followed by a litre of corona in Mexico for $3

Arse of the week: Black clouds, black clouds and more black clouds. Waiting at London Gatwick for 8 hours after our flight to Newcastle was bumped!
Meal of the week: Our last seafood extravaganza tonight, see Stu at the top of the blog (wrong end - must be the tequila!)