Mexican Mainland Adventures!

Mexico City - What a beautiful city! Our hostel was just beside the Cathedral in the main square with amazing buildings, all on a slights lean from the vatious earthquakes. We wondered around the historic city for the first two days soaking in the history. Next we took a day trip to the hugely impressive Aztec pyramids at Teotihuacan. the next day we relaxed on a gondola ride in Xochimilco and rambled around Frida Kahlo's old haunts in Cayoacan enroute to Ultimate training at UNAM. We trained with the University team 'Phoenix Ultimate'. We blamed our breathlessness on the altitude 'tis a very high city don't you know'. One of the girls and 3 of the guys played on the Mexican team at worlds, nice to see familiar faces. Afterwards we went with the team for flavoured water and then back to one of their houses for a few beers. We had a great time with them and are looking forward to hosting them in Dublin before World Clubs 2010!

Oaxaca - gorgeous town with colonial architecture and relaxed people. Checked out the churches and the local markets, particularly liking the bbq section! The Zapotec ruins at Monte Alban were very impressive. Closely followed by a death trap ride over the Oaxaca state mountains to Puerto Escondido we were ecstatic to arrive intact. The new slogan for the bus company should be - 'We'll get you there quickly or not at all'

Puerto Escondido - Pacific beach town with very laid back traveller (not tinkers) vibe. Days consisted of beach, pina, lunch, swimming, bodyboarding and surfing. Rob and I had our lesson with Godo the surf god who helped us do the standy-upy-thing! We were delighted and rented a board for the rest of our stay, Rob had some joy, I had a wipe-out on a bodyboard and hurt my back so lots my nerve and didn't catch much more. Leaving Al to explore more of southern Mexico Rob and I headed off to Guatemala via LA (long story). See you in Guatemala Al.

Mexico Mainland slideshow

Las Vegas, San Diego and Baja California

Las Vegas - Reunited with Ray and staying in the glitzy Circus Circus things were set for a great few days. Exhausted from the bus we waved goodbye to our news friends and hit the hay. The next day we explored 'The Strip' stopping off at the cheesy hotels and some pretty impressive modern buildings. The slots were a big hit with Al and I whilst Ray and Rob hit the big time at the Roulette tables. The auld free drink whilst you play was the real winner. That night we went to 'Le Reve' and we were all blown away by the water, ballet, acrobatic spectacle!

San Diego - Our next stop took us to Pacific Beach, we had 4 days bodyboarding, organising our next bits of the trip and generally having a good time. Poor Al was finally tamed by the Pacific after much taunting, his poor pretty face!

Baja California, Mexico - Crossing the border into Mexico was a bit of an eye opener, we just walked over a bridge and through a turnstyle??? and we were in. It looked a whole lot different for the larries coming from the other direction. We legged it from Tijuana and were picked up by our hunky host Carlos in Ensenada. Here we wondered around the town and made a day trip out to 'La Bufadora' aka Ray's beloved blowhole; she was a beauty! Unfortunately Ray had to go back to work (fingers crossed he'll be joining us again!)

Next stop, Erendira, a tiny village with a nice hostel. Unfortunately the lads got more than a touch of 'jalapeno belly' and the next few days were sedately filled with table tennis and dvd's close to the bathroom.

A 19 hour bus took us to La Paz next, little did we know that 'Hurricane Norbert' was on his way too. Luckily he transitioned into a tropical storm and we moved to a nice hotel (oh the hardship) to ride it out. The next day was spent in post-storm bliss beside the pool!

Las Vegas & San Diego slideshow
Baja California slideshow