Two towns beginning with Gua....Tues 5th Oct- Wed Oct 13th

Had a day to fill in in PV, as the guy showing us round a volunteer project connected with the excellent Oasis Hostel was only available Wed. So I had to go to the beach with a bunch of lovely people - an Aussie called Saxon and his Vancouver room mate, Tanya, plus a Brit of Turkish origin, Hakan, and a Swede called Olaf. It was such a nice day that I decided we had to finish it in style with some Ko Pa Ngan-style full moon party buckets and a drinking game or two. Sarah the charming Québuécoise, really struggled with 'fuzzy duck'. Cute buckets, aren't they?

Circle of death is a drinking game which does what it says on the tin. I really hope Saxon found his camera and ipod. It was in his hand here but went missing in the food mission that happened next....Oooops

Next morning, as per plan, I was bright and breezy due to early bed and shower, ready for Art to show me and Clarita (hostel volunteer programme co-ordinator) round his charity, Feed the Children Vallarta. What started off with feeding kids who were arriving hungry at primary school has transformed into an organisation that feeds thousands every day from amongst the most vulnerable poor of the city.

We saw one of the daycare centres for working mums and then the School of Champions. If 14 years ago children were not going to school at all but sifting garbage at the dump, when I was there the school had 60 children not only attending school (prerequisite for all) but getting extra English, Maths and ICT at the School of Champions. They are on the cusp of getting a crop of secondary kids through and that obviously would be the sort of thing that would interest me - curriculum development, delivery, teacher training for locals and volunteers etc. Put simply, the kids who speak English can escape the poverty and unpleasantness of the neighbourhoods around the dump if they choose to, those who don't will probably never leave.

So off to Guadalajara it was. On the advice of Hakan who gave me a flier as I was leaving, I headed to a hostel called Degollado (near the theatre of that name pictured). Was a bit put off by his talk of partying as I was going to Guadalajara for its picturesque centre, as described by other travellers, which sounded like the perfect place to do some study and chill. All this in the new way of travelling which doesn't involve long-term planning and worrying about when I get to which country, but which allows a feeling of what I need next to arise and then chooses the best available option to make that happen. Well, it worked out brilliantly.

Not only was the centre beautiful as promised which I saw on arrival when eating in front of the cathedral (pictured from rear),  but I had breakfast with two Argentinians and two Mexicans. All in Spanish. Pretty tough going but a real bonus that I hadn't expected.

I went out for a toasty morning walk in the sun after breakfast and in the evening the centre was pretty lively too. Got lots of study done but also got invited out to a birthday party by Martín, one of the Argentinian guys. This was my first properly Mexican social evening and it was great. In a Cuban restaurant with a lovely bunch of people and including an hour's dancing to some serenading musicians who'd come in to try to make some cash. Wonderful.

Also went out for drinks the next night, with (as pictured), Martin, David (arg), a french guy, Yugo (dropped us off after the previous night's birthday party very kindly) and Robert, a Mexican student who was also running Martin's short film course at uni. Didn't get to see any filming due to battery probs. Was great night - very much looking forward to meeting up with Martin in Argentina.

The city also afforded me one of my choice travel moments - a swim in a beautiful empty pool surrounded by lush green plants and flowers and with the sun blazing overhead. Yummy. Shades of the drive south from Cairns in 2005. Took me right back...

Again going on recommendations, I moved on to Guanajuato the next day, Sunday 10th. Another really comfortable bus ride, but this time, no blaring film but a much more comfortable headphone setup. Guanajuato is supposed to be the most beautiful town in Mexico, and I have to say that, thus far, I can't disagree.

The main square was quite simply stunning. This was two minutes walk from the hostel. Can't complain. A lot of the tourists were Mexican too, which I was happy about. It's a real town of culture as well. This theatre just on the way to the main square. In fact, as often happens, I was too busy enjoying things to take photos so I took these walking to the bus station!

I actually left the day a major international performing arts festival, the Cervantina, started.

Not very smart you may think, but I'd already had my time in Guanajuato due to the fairly ceaseless partying after the first night where I wondered down into town for 45 mins only to find a rocking bar, Los Lobos, 2 mins UP the street from the hostel on my way back. Once I heard the sound of the Smiths coming out of it, I was in! Made friends with load of Mexicans playing pool.

Attached myself to a pretty girl from Singapore for lunch and a museum the next day and then the party stepped up a gear with Joe from New York, a fellow teacher and traveller, and Josaphat, a dreadlocked Mexican who'd grown up in the States like so many, who was young and full of confidence! The reggae bar, bar fly was absolutely cracking that night and even better the next night with a rather gorgeous Mexican yoga instructor/circus performer and a very pretty Scottish theatre producer, plus some more locals, from Aguascalientes this time. Danced my socks off and had a great time but realised definitely time to move on.

Here I am on the way to the bus station (just to prove I'm not actually living in a tent in Basingstoke and making all this up with the aid of the internet). So set off for Mexico City without knowing whether I would stay for a couple of days to do the things Joe had said were good, or just go straight through to Oaxaca. Definitely feeling the need for another chilled few days of study à la Guadalajara. You'll just have to wait and see what happened? (sound of chair legs scraping, as people fidget restlessly on the edge of their seats :)))))

Ta ta,
love,
s
x

In which Steve leaves beach paradise... Saturday 2nd October 2010

... but not before catching a last pic of Lo de Marcos:

This was opposite the 'Huerto de las iguanas'. Well, I'm guessing the large number of iguanas might have indicated that they were artificially brought in but it was still quite exciting anyway. Other Lo de Marcos highlights included watching Motorcycle Diaries again but in Spanish this time. I also got into the sun lounger on the roof next to my flat. Soooo nice. One day I also ate a pineapple stuffed with other fruit. Very tropical. Carried on reading short stories by Borges. Really enjoying them too. And my first couple of late nights including chatting till late on the beach with a lightning storm in the background. With a guy who grew up in LA and had come back to his native Mexico. Unfortunately he grew up in the gang lifestyle and was down on his uppers back in his village. Was basically sponging money for beer off me. Very sad. Apparently quite a lot of washed up ex-gang members have found their way back to Mexico. After a bit more studying and few more swims it was time to pack up and leave my lovely flat. The first kitchen of my own I've had since Walkden in 2008! Anyway, so like it says in the title, I left beach paradise, to go to...

...a more built-up beach paradise! Complete with nicely done board walk area with a beautiful café just on the left there. Expensive but lovely sunset coffee place.

I wouldn't particuarly go to the luxury port bit of it called "New Vallarta" (nothing to do with fences actually, named after the guy who founded the city).

And I finally decided to ask someone to take a picture of me. As you can see, I've been working on retaining my 'Legs of Mr Universe' muscle trophy.

In fact, this is a party town and that was part of the reason I came here. LDM really was unbelievably quiet. So within 30 mins of checking in to the excellent Oasis Hostel, I was off up a hill at the back of town with two English guys and an Aussie. Didn't find the waterfall we were looking for but we compared itineraries and tips about where to and not to go. Perfect. As I'm travelling without a guidebook, but going by word of mouth, this was just what I was after. We went out to a bar and club on the Saturday night, driven and chaperoned by the incredibly energetic and helpful hostel owner who makes sure his people get a good night out of a weekend! More of Guillermo later. Some lovely French and Canadian girls made for a balanced night (rather than a lads' pissup) which culminated in a 4.30am ocean swim. Not very wise but fun :)) And believe it or not, I didn't drink a drop of alcohol and still had a wicked time :)

Met a guy at the veggie restaurant in town and he recommended me a hike from La Boca (pictured, means "mouth" as in, of this river, presumably) to Las Animas on a coastal path. Great. Started off as a windy path by the ex-pat villas on the far side of the river heading south. Places with their own little quayside, pretty much only accessible by boat. And as you can see, there were zillions of crabs.

Then the trail got a lot more tropical rainforest, and there I was, in tune with nature, walking along like some kung fu master. Obviously I didn't fancy walking face first into a big spiders web, soiling myself, falling down the hill side and breaking my leg, dying of thirst etc

 Any of you who were thinking this was jungle by the way, the guide of an American couple I met at the half way point to Las Animas, assured me jungle has be be thicker and more humid all year round. Felt pretty jungly to me. And I was soaking with sweat from concentrating and it being a challenging path.

Given the very rugged nature of the terrain, I did burst out laughing when I saw this. Still, the American money and mindset have made some beautiful houses where before there was only jungle. Which is fine. After all, houses produce oxygen like trees, don't they.

Quite a few properties were derelict and had become spider hotels, which was quite eerie (that's about 6 centimetres long or so). I also realized after talking to the guide at the beach that he'd taken any spiders off the path, so it would be more difficult later on. Not only that, it seemed to be substantially further than the original hour it was supposed to take and the guide chap said it was another 45 minutes. Not much water left, and then the path started disappearing, so I went along the beach, then into dead end. All the way back, back up cliff side, climbing up quite steep river course to try to find the path again. Found it. Still no sign of destination. Turned out to be a bit more challenging than I'd expected.

Anyway, made it eventually and had food and a snooze at another lovely beach. Unfortunately it was so hot that the aquous humour in my eyeballs made them feel like poached eggs. And as the beach was only accessible by boat, it was a bit of a trap. So I beat a fairly early retreat. Got fleeced a bit for the motorboat ride back, but in Mexico that means 3 quid. Not the 30 quid you'd probably have got stung for in Europe!!

But before I left, ... this:

Tara for now :)