Hotel Cortez Ensenada

... to try the margaritas. They weren't quite so big as the previous bar, but they were strong. There was plenty going on - musicians playing and an artist was drawing customers. Jeff suggested that before they left him and Greg should do some tequilla shots.... that was until a group of ladies arrived at the bar ordering tequilla shots and he saw the size of them. He soon changed his mind - it was no shot glass, more like a tumbler! As we ...

... baited hooks, removed hooks from eager dogs, removed hooks from dangerous puffer fish and sting rays, and had an awesome time doing so. Enjoyed cigars and drinks with the Mexicali crew that night and went to sleep dreaming of Baja even though I was still in Baja. The next day before I left I went up to the manager and asked if I could leave my fishing poles and beach chairs for others to enjoy and he said yes. For me those things are ...

... the opposite direction to where we wanted to head but we needed to head anywhere anyone was going that included a town with a bank) but he would be happy to give us a ride. Big Bill turned out to be a perfect travelling companion, an Californian full of an appropriate level of skepticism, rebellious sentiment and dry humour, we all chatted for the entire 4 hour road trip back about American Mexicans, Mexican Americans and the problems on ...

... My roommate showed up later, Mark Baker, he is from Portland, Oregon and goes to Oregon State University. I think things are going to work out well. I did not know what to expect seeing that I have never had a roommate before. The 1st day was filled with orientation and meeting people. The food is so much better then Sodexho at school. There was a lunar eclipse the first night on the ship. It was cloudy and ...

... views of forests, mountains and volcano's, hot tub, a washing machine! etc, etc. I can definitely put up with this for a week... Alex: The week was lovely and it was really nice to stop for a week. The house was beautiful, definitely a step up from the hostels we have been staying in, for a start we had a king-sized bed! We had a few excursions to Puerto Varas, the lake in Ensenada but not very much really. Me and Mum went to ...

... ask his girlfriend in Texas to marry him or something, but she wasn't there. Seemed kinda sad, but he said he was going to find his way back to her somehow, and for some reason I believe him. I never saw him again though. Went to Ocean Beach where Caleb lives. Had some starbucks coffee cake, which is delicious of course. Stayed 4 nights at his apartment with 3 other guys. One of them was really obnoxious with dirty jokes, but they all seemed like decent people in the end ...

... won't be too heavy for the porter. Our flight out to Kathmandu is a bit nightmare-ish. It's San Diego to Los Angeles to Hong Kong to Bangkok to Kathmandu. Luckily, there aren't any long layovers at each stop. We fly out at 7pm on Friday and don't get into Kathmandu until Saturday afternoon. I wonder if that beats Brian's flight back home from India ... More real blog when I'm actually on the trip.

Yesterday was a long day. Us grown-ups can tell our bodies that, contrary to all logic, it really is 1.30am and not 9.30. When you're two that's just plain silly. We managed to get him to sleep until 3.30. At 4.30 he and I had a tour of the hotel. We had a bath at 5.30. We were waiting for them to start serving breakfast at 6. Eventually we were joined by the rest of the team, and also by a number of people coming on the same ...

... these sausage things in and out all day. I thought it looked a bit boring - wouldn't want that job! We were acommpanied into the base by a security boat and the passengers got on. It was good as we got to see the ships right up close, and could see men with guns following our every move! When I got back I told Daniel and Liam (Perth) about it and they said they had gone to the same place too. There was another pub crawl ...

... there, they were in the middle of the beach and although there was a ladies and a gents surround by walls, the toilets had no doors on them. I do understand why but it was a little strange peeing with other ladies walking past! We returned to the hostel and met a french girl and the lovely David (from Peru I think??). It was his first day at the hostel yesterday and he had to sort out my booking problem and was very apologetic. We were all ...