Antiqua, Guatemala

The first task in Guatamala was to learn some spanish....thus we signed for some lessons.
Ken gave up half way through once he learnt the words for food, beer and free.


Antigua was a nice little spot, cobbled streets, colonial town shadowed by volcanoes. We lived of fresh food from the markets most days.....can you ever get sick of 30c mangos.


The town is famous for its religious momuments....


....some of them have not stood the test of time.....



As it was approaching easter, the town was gearing up for big celebrations, church interiors were decorated...the picture on the floor is made from coloured saw dust.


On sunday, a religous procession marched around town for 16hrs. All the locals made carpets on the cbbled streets....pretty impressive sites....


After all the hard work, the procession (brass band, people dressed in all sorts of old school costumes and bout 100 people carrying float like structure of religous scenes) walk right over them and destoy all the hard work!


I was impressed with this one made of vegetables.....that could of made alot of stirfries for all the hungry people begging on the streets?


After a few days in the town it time time to concur our first volcano....Payaca. Wonder how close we could get to that lava?

The volcanic rock was like a fibreglass layer, hard work on the way up .......however the scree slopes were fun on the way down.

Srouting lava 10m away was very impressive......

Flowing lava under my feet even more impressive (apprently i got ripped off for buying my stick for a dollar.....so i made sure i got my monies worth!)

A beautiful sunset completed the trip.

Hondorus

After a couple of months in the mountains and desert.....the Caribbean was calling. We flew into San Pedro and made our way straight to the Bay Island of Utila.

With a coral reef surrounding the small island, diving was the main activity....so we went diving. After two dives, we managed to see most of the interesting species...eagle ray, turtle, lobster, kingfish......however, we where there to see whale sharks. Unfortunately sightings had been rare and thus we gave up hope of seeing them and saved our money and went snorkling instead.

The snorking was just as good as the diving, the large coral trees and the soft blue coral fans being the highlight of this particular area.


....and what else is there to do on an island in the Caribbean....drink beer and watch sunsets of course!!!The island and surrounding waters was nice, but did not have the x-factor we had found in other locations around the globe...so it was time to make ourway inland to the highlands of central america and look for adventures......first stop, the Mayan Ruins of Copan.

We spent the day exploring the site, the museum and surrounding nature trail.
As with ancient ruins, we learnt some token history and observed the marvels of the past.

Rachel was very good at finding wildlife to photograph.....


Fellow backpackers instructed us to head straight to Guatemala and spend the majority of time there.....so off we went....first stop, spanish school!

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

We asked for the large car.... they gave us a Dodge Charger. Met up with our mate Matt B and headed west for some fun and games in the desert.

First stop, Capital Reef Nat Park. All the rock formations and blue skies we could ask for.

He-man Ken held up this arch for us for the photo. We found a deserted camp site and camped in near freezing temps.

Next day we carried on to Bryce Canyon Nat Park, situated around 6000 feet. Took a walk down amoungst the snow covered HooDoos and spires to appreciate the grandness of it all.

Another night in the freezing temps we woke to a beaut morning at Zion National Park. The walk up to Angels Landing took the whole morning... but was definately worth it. The photo below shows the ridge we had to walk up to get there.

The photos above and below show the views from Angels Landing.

Plenty of beaver action to be seen.... but no beavers.

A night in the hic cowboy town of Kanab felt good after three nights on the ground. The town is famous for many movies. Had a quick look round some of the movie sets.

Picked up two more mates Larry and Sam in Vegas and headed to Hoover dam after a night camping at Lake Mead. Cranked out 2kgs of steak on the bbq for dinner. Fairly impressive accomplishment..... the dam, not the steak.

Unfortunately the weather turned for us and we had near freezing temps during the day at the Grand Canyon... but this did not distract from the enormosity of it all.

And then.....we hit......

Vegas. Stayed in the mighty Stratosphere, but spent plenty of time checking out the other casinos down the strip......gambling..... drink..... etc. Below are some pics of a few of them.

After the wedding party arrived we treated ourselves to the rides at the top of the Stratosphere. Sweet views up there.

Groom and homebrews on the arvo prior to the wedding..... party time.

Only vehical fit for a Vegas wedding..... a stretch hummer.

After all the excitment and "glam" of Vegas we are heading to Central America for some sun and fun.... and presumably a little spanish.... ah.