Motel Sinai El Rosario

... roundtrip. Each time we stopped, we idled and waited sometimes as long as four or five minutes, while a young man (who served as fare collector and official crier) hollered out our destination numerous times to make certain that no one missed their ride. As far as I know, this particular job function is non-existent in the U.S., but once I saw this "Collector/Crier" (who by the way executed his assigned tasks with great responsibility ...

... dinner at. The food was fantastic and the staff and locals were great. We were all watching some Mexican reality show while we ate...laughing the whole way through dinner!

The park is surrounded on all sides by an assortment of farm animals from cows, horses, chickens, dogs and of course the rooster who had us up right on time for our early departure.

Would definatley recommend staying here!!

Day 2, 5 hours to Amatlan following the Camino Real, the ancient coast to coast trading route and a river valley for much of the way, was the most scenic, especially with the spanish moss draped over the trees - some of the stone walls along the path had been used for terracing nearby fields many centuries before. Amatlan was also a scenic spot, perched high on a cliff, overlooking the surrounding hills (now only about 2500m) and an original ...

... to apply to my aching joints later!

Day 1 was 6 hours from Cuajimoloyas (3200m) through moss covered pino (more like spruce!) and then mixed oak forests to Latuvi - the steep descents on needle covered slopes were treacherous, especially on the knees, so was happy I'd borrowed a couple of sticks to take the pressure off. With only a few biccies to keep us going, it got to be a very fast hike by the end as we were all starving!

... unless you can go just for the cliffdivers cos they were pretty cool, diving from at least 35 metres in the cove beneath. But, they're so arrogant and strutt through the crowds in their tightywhities waving and blowing kisses! Puerto Escondido, our next stop, was another beach town. But, completely different. This is a small town that is slowly building itself up due to it being a favourite for surfers. The beaches are natural and long and gorgeous and the one street ...

... and visiting some of the famous art galleries before heading out for the day at Monte Alban, the first ruins we have visited in Mexico so far. A great site with 360 degree views over the valley, the city and surrounding mountains. We found a good trekking company, Terraventura, and went hiking for two days in the Sierra Norte region, starting out at the small Zapotec village of Cuajimoloyas ...

... just meeting other travelers like that! I had chicken tacos again but they weren't like taquitos they were like mini soft tacos and they had ingredients to add to your tacos. So after dinner I met up with Nathan from school to go see the Indiana Jones movie. It was really cheap $3, and the theaters are really nice. The movie was in English with Spanish subtitles. It was actually really helpful for my learning because I would watch the subtitles with English sound so I found out some ...

... again) and went down a dead end street. We turned around to head out and while driving very slow the storage box on top of the camper hooked on to a large old tree branch. By the time we realized it, the branch tore the box off along with the Yakima rack holding it. The crash was quite loud and our hearts sunk. The good news was, no one was hurt and no other cars damaged (this could have put us in jail). We were able to empty the highly damaged box, pick it with the ...

... out at the train station and went looking for the right bus. It was gonna be an 11.20pm bus for 6 hours. But this bus was one that gave me a flash back to my childhood trips to Mayo and Clare on the old Bus Eireann coaches. No leg space, really hot and very uncomfortable! Bill, being a tall chap had a terrible time! We couldnīt sleep at all cos it was so uncomfortable but we got there in the end! At 5am in the morn, we were really tired and groggy so we had ...

on wednesday morning, i went down the beach to spend a few days at another hatchery called el Rosario, located in the village of... el Rosario. creative naming, hmmm?? sort of like the 42 different Long Lakes in Minnesota. anyway, there are many hatcheries along the coast here, although Parque Hawaii, the one where iīve spent most of my time, is the largest and most sophisticated. to get to Rosario i took the chicken bus east (away from monterrico) for about 25 minutes ...