Caracol Puerto Morelos

... gorge. So buggy that I didn't hang around & luckily got a ride back up the hill first try. Had intended to get up for the 5.20am session today, but as I had slept badly the previous 3 nights, turned over & went back to sleep - will try again manaña! Got in my exercise with a walk to the viewpoint on the top of Cerro de los Serpientes - had some company in the form of a big black hairy dog from the Ashram called Aries - he pretty ...

... m going to keep surfing and possibly host some day. I was hosted by a girl and her family and they accepted me like family. They only let people stay for a day so she said I could stay at her friends house the next day. Her friends house was nice and it had a pool. They ended up taking me out on the town and we had a good time.

... v**meiden wir die Bettenburg Cancun und fahren stattdessen in Richtung Sueden nach Pu**to Morelos, dem wohl einzigen noch ei*****massen authentischen Fisch**dorf in dies** Gegend. Auch hi** hat d** Tourismus all**dings schon massiv Einzug gehalten, und so reihen sich Restaurants und Bars aneinand** und buhlen um Kundschaft. Wir finden trotzdem eine noch ei*****massen guenstige Unt**kunft, die all**dings ...

... vollzogen wurde, um Regen zu **beten. Heutzutage kann man Voladores in vielen Teilen Mexikos sehen, ab** ihr Ursprung ist hi** in Papantla. Die Zuschau** w**den vor dem Start gebeten, ihren kleinen finanziellen Beitrag zu leisten, um fu** ein Einkommen d** Voladores zu sorgen, ab** das Ritual wird nach wie vor **nst genommen. Es ist auch keineswegs ungefaehrlich und es kommen imm** mal wied** Leute dabei ums Leben. Nichts zum Nachmachen also. El Tajin selbst ist extrem gut ...

Written from Jalcomulco, Mexico: A phone call was just received directly from Jordan at 19:35 our time. Joel is awake and recognizes his brother as well as other friends and family. He has little memory of the incident but is making jokes and talking about kayaking. One lung continues to labour but the doctors plan to take him out of the ICU tomorrow. The family will be sending us further updates as they come along.

Written from Esprit in Jalcomulco: 15:00hr We have had a particularly good but particularly long night hence the delayed update. Yesterday evening Joel's condition was trending very favorably and many of his vital signs and organ functions had drastically improved. Joel has displayed normal function of his heart, stomach, kidneys, liver, pancreas..... his lungs are drastically improving but remain laboured and potentially susceptible to infection. Although still ...

We are still in Jalcomulco despite the fact that we should have travelled to Huatulco on Saturday. It started when the bus and van broke down last week and were not fixed by the time we should have left. We had a day finishing our first aid testing on Saturday then a planning day on Sunday for a two day Barranca Grande trip, to be planned and carried out without any instructors, starting on Monday.<br><br><br><br ...

... some coffee which has been dried and husked but still needs roasting and grinding. This was really touching and I will enjoy taking it home, roasting it, grinding it and sharing this with my family at some special occasion in the future. Maybe whilst talking about the village and the museum and the amazing kindness and hospitality of the people who live there. Later in the morning we hiked back via a different route ...

... in action on the river, especially in such a remote location where help was not readily available. Today we had another drama whern one of the raft tubes popped on a rock. Thankfully, this was not the end of the world as raft outer tubes are divided into several sections so that if one pops the rest stay inflated. Jim used the sat phone to get a new raft sent down to a known access point but Karine had to continue to guide the raft with the popped tube ...

... taken care of, we did have a few issues with the staff (i.e. wrong directions given throughout the resorts, room maintenance on several occasions, room service; etc.). We felt that this particular property would benefit from additional staff training. The hotel is given a high rating with many tour operators; however we felt that the Iberostar Paraiso del Mar did not meet the standards that other properties in the same rating have met.