Relaxing after a big drive, the mini Mexico beds are not made for tall boys.

Sandi taking a break from our hike up Cascade Chiffon Waterfall

This is the first of many waterfalls that we got to see.
Just a small part of the 2km uphill hike.
This is the biggest and most impressive waterfall. There is one more observation deck higher up but we couldn’t take any pictures as we were getting so wet.



These are Aztec ruins just outside of Comitan, Tenam Puente. All kinds of amazing history, human sacrifice, massive ball courts and impressive pyramids. This is the view from the hilltop of the ruins looking down on the town below. During easter they march from the town, up to the top of this hill to the cross in the next picture.





After the ruins and before we went to the lagoons the next day we stayed at a little cabana called Pino Feliz, or Happy Pine. There were some really cute kids there and we made the awful mistake of buying them some icecream, they were the most hyper brats after that.
Pino Feliz was also home to some week old puppies we got to play with.
The youngest girl, Papaya.
My favorite puppy, Captain Mo.
The little brats with their icecream.
Sandi having a dance party.
These are the lagoons of Chiapas, we took an hour horse ride around them, ouch, sore butt.
So this is a few days later in Guatemala. This fountain was staring at us as we ate breakfast.
In Antigua, Guatemala we stayed with a family who fed us 3 times a day! It was amazing. This bird of paradise just bloomed while we were staying here.
This is a view from the front of our host house, the busses in Guatemala are a sight to be seen. All old school buses with Jesus slogans and super flashy hood ornaments race through the streets.
The central market in Antigua. The second stall on the left is full of meat, nobody in Mexico/Guatemala has caught on to the refrigeration of meat thing yet…
This is the main cathedral in the central park of Antigua. I’m flanked by our two extremely short Spanish teachers, Rosa and Celia.




This was our dinner table with our family. Thomas, Casper, Maria and Pamila were from Denmark, Areceli our host is at the head. This is Volcano Pacaya just outside of Guatemala city. The hike up this thing is HARD! As soon as our bus pulled up to the base we were swarmed by kids yelling “STICK STICK STICK!” So we felt compelled to buy one, gracias dios (thank god) we did because walking on loose lava rocks is hard.

This was our Valentines day, back in Puerto Escondido. We made a reservation at a hotel for dinner and they gave us fancy baloons and everything. We were very impressed. Here’s Sandi enjoying the wonders of 2*1 happy hour. Yummy Pina Coladas.

We’re currently back in Puerto Escondido staying here for a month. We rented a big fat house and today Ryan Hodgson gets here. In 3 more days Justine and Dustin get here so we’ve got a big month ahead of us.

This first pic is me with Pablo, the self proclaimed king of Nexpa. His brother owns the campsite we were staying at and Pablo spends all day raking the campsite, fishing and fixing surfboards, he fixed mine for $20 and did and awesome job.

This is our campsite in Nexpa, good hammock time.
This is the beautiful point break, perfect waves almost every day.
These next pics are taken at Play Ventura. The kids got really excited when we started talking about fireworks, so I gave them 20 pesos and they came back with a HUGE back of them so we spent the evening lighting them off on the beach.

They were so stoked that I bought them fireworks that they came back later and gave us a picture of Jesus.

This is Playa Surfar, maybe the best wrong turn ever. We were looking for a beach called Chacahua. We saw one sign off the highway and it said Chacahua 35km. It was down a dirt road in farm country and we never saw another sign, so we kept driving. Eventually we came into a tiny town and I saw some kids in the street and offered them fireworks if they told us where the good waves were. They pointed us down another dirt road next to a lagoon. We eventually stumbled upon this beach and camped here for 2 days. We were definitely the only tourists this beach has ever seen. When we set up our tent all the kids formed a semi circle around us and just stared, then all the men came over and tried to help us set up camp.
We were instantly welcomed as we brought out some cold beer, more fireworks and cocacola. They fed us beans and rice cooked over a campfire, taught me how to fish with a net and were generally great hosts.
As soon as we pulled out the digital camera the kids went nuts getting us to take more pictures of them so they could look at themselves in the screen, so we have a lot of pictures.
Sandi was getting anxious to leave because they have quite traditional family values, the men sit in the shade all day and go fishing for a couple hours a night if they feel like it and the women spend all day cooking, doing laundry, raking, spanking the kids with sandals and walking to town for supplies.





There were about 10 – 15 families living on the beach but they all seem to share the parental responsibilities so we could never figure out which kids belonged to who… but this is one of our main hosts Valentin and his extended family.

From Surfar we went straight to Puerto Escondido, some of the craziest surf I have ever seen. This is me trying to make it out, took me almost half an hour and all my energy to make it past the break.
We had lunch one day at an Italian-Mexican place. Handmade pasta with traditional sauces, it was amazing. This is Sandi next to the chef and his daughter/prepcook. The baskets behind them are all filled with fresh pasta.

This is in San Cristobal, the best soup ever. Delicious chicken/rice and veggie/steak.
The main drag in San Cristobal.