Forget Finding the Perfect Man...Get A Dog

Trudi went home and I had a few days in Quito, the beautiful Ecuadorian capital. The old town is a UNESCO heritage site with bright but tastefully painted old colonial style buildings and rambling streets. There are many splendid spanish churches in the city. They are beautiful but many are built over the top of Inka sites, which is still not openly discussed with tourists unfortunately. I went to the new ecuatorial line which has recently been moved by a few degrees, benefitting from the development and application of satelitte navigation and tracking systems. Once this new position was set, they discovered an Inka site a few miles away, perfectly placed on the correct equatorial position, with monuments set for both equinoxes.

Ecuador is a beautiful country: stunning mountains touching the clouds, rainforests, crystal clear lakes. And so it was with a touch of sadness that I left South America, but eagerly looking forward to meeting up with Susan and Bernie in Guatemala. We had a few lovely days in Antigua (another UNESCO heritage site with bright but tastefully painted old colonial style buildings and rambling streets...spot the theme...) and the magnificent Lake Atitlan. I went to the Mayan site of Tikal, the centre of the Mayan Kingdom. What an amazing site - the top of the Temple of the Jaguar poking out from the top of the humid Guatemalan rainforest.

Central America definitely has a different feel to South America, but one thing remains the same: public transport - there's always a story! First of all, there are obviously a team of people employed for the sole purpose of putting enormous pot holes in roads. This team also creates strategically placed discolourations and lumps which almost totally obscure the hole until you are inches away. They also have specific equipment to put huge cracks in windscreens in the direct eyeline of any potential driver. A second team is designated to try to overcharge tourists and to take them off buses at 4am in the middle of nowhere, pick them up and transport them to a private bus station in an attempt to overcharge them to get over the border. Fortunately, said tourists told them where to go, got a taxi and went to the official bus station, which also tried to overcharge...but let's not 'overegg that theme pudding' by rehashing that story.

Then you get the trial of Belize directions. If you are ever in Belize, lost and thinking of asking for directions from a local...just don't bother. They will tell you to 'gooo straaaight'. We eventually realised that drivers never indicate because they are just 'goooing straaaight'. However, if you look very very closely, as they say 'gooo straaaight' you will notice an almost imperceptible twitch of the finger to Sou'Sou'West, or the raising of an eyebrow by a nanometre due East. This is your clue to the actual direction in which you are to 'gooo straaaight'.

So Christmas Day was spent on Tobacco Cuay - bright green sea and white golden sand(Thanks to Wandsworth lot for cards and the lightweight gifts...the santa socks came in very handy when we had freak winds and drop in temperature!). Peaceful doesn't describe Tobacco Cuay: no shops, no roads, Lana cooking all our meals...I snorkelled every day and saw some beautiful fish, rays and a crab laying it's eggs.

I take up the Kate DB challenge to write a song about the place you are in to the tune of, "Is this the way to Amarillo?". Here's my offering...your turn, Kate.

When the day is dawning
On a Christmas Belize morning
How I long to be there
Tobacco Cuay is waiting for me there

Midday sun upon me
Sand between my toes
Eat my fill at lunchtime
Reading and a doze

Is this the way to Lana's beach shack?
Morning chicken, beans and fried jacks
Is this the way to Lana's beach shack?
A tree slung hammock waits for me.


And finally, Susan and Bernie bought me a silver bracelet for Christmas. It is enscribed, "Forget Finding the Perfect Man...Get A Dog". That's what you get for hanging out with loved up cat lovers... they don't understand that the perfect man will HAVE a dog. Rumour has it that one Mr V Mortensen has a new puppy... yet another spooky coincidence, Maria?

Photos to follow - Happy New Year(Prospero Ano Neuvo)