Goodbye Latin America

Oaxaca ended up being a great city for eating. We cooked meals for $1 a person, ate 50c tacos, had an awesome BBQ Mexican style at the hostel and had great market grill comida. Glen managed to muster up a bit of energy to ride in the hills whilst I hung out with my UK mates Will and Max. After a few nights we headed down the most twisty road (had to knock myself out with antinausea tablets so I didn't vomit) via Magic Mushroom territory to the beachside village of Mozunte. We are all for peace and quiet but there was literally nothing to do except swim and get skin cancer so we headed West to Puerto Escondido.

We were lucky enough to catch the final of a Redbull surf comp: America Vs The World. America won (Fuck Yeah!) but we were in awe of the waves (apparently it's the Mexican Pipeline). Glen tells me the waves were a solid 10-12ft and we saw at least 4 boards snapped during the comp. Glen was happy to see Rob Machado surfing and I have no clue who else was there but Layne Beachley was a coach for the world team. We needed a bit of RnR so we treated ourselves to a hotel room with cable (the Tour had just started), new towels EVERY day and a pool. We ended up staying for 6 nights and I even went for a few runs. I'm still amazed how many good surfers there are who can handle such huge waves. The break was always packed and there were always a dozen magazine photographers taking pics.

After our little vacation we headed to Acapulco to see the cliff divers. Acapulco was very busy and a little rough (higher crime rate than Mex city) so after seeing the divers we bussed it to Taxco. Taxco is a cobbled streeted city perched on a hill and every 2nd shop sells silver. Its ever so cheap so heaps of retailers travel here to stock up and buy wholesale. We then headed to Mexico City which is a fantastic city.

It is very clean with heaps to do and a bit of a European vibe. We've wandered all around the parks and squares. Caught the metro (20c/ride) to fantastic museums, art galleries, markets and squares to see Mariachi Bands. Yesterday we went to an Alternative market with bands playing, heaps of stalls with goth, punk and skate gear and music. Definitly the coolest market we've been too. I've managed to give my credit card a workout on the bargain clothes in the Centro and we've also caught a film at the Cinema. We've really enjoyed Mexico City but are ready to leave for the UK.

Inspired by our mates Claire and Jo, on our last bus trip we tallied a few stats about our trip. So far we have stayed in 68 hostels/hotels and travelled on a bus for a total of 430 hours (=17 days). By the end of this trip we will have visited 16 countries! I feel tired thinking about it. We have loved Latin America and my highlights include San Blas (closest thing to paradise), Guatemala, Argentina (so many different highlights) and Colombia (unique experiences). Will hopefully write soon about UK and Thailand. As the Ward boys say...Shit on!