My first post from my smart phone. Welcome to the 21st. The youg man has become modern. The idea that echoes to me is that ignorance is adventure. Marina and I have both now been revealed to the zeitgeist, together. So for us the fold is pulled.back again.

they say it is gospel but I know it is only church

http://www.thegridto.com/city/places/hmv-at-333-yonge-an-oral-history/

Well the closer to Christmas it gets I begin to not miss the snow.

I only have just heard about the snowstorms in Vancouver and boy am I glad I am no where to be seen.

We are in Merida now and are in high spirits. It is a beautiful town that Marina and I have really been enjoying. Although we see alot of tourists around it still feels like we are hanging with the locals. The sun is hot and boy have we been eating well. All of our pics are in front of heaping piles of food, and we usually order light.

Today being Tuesday we visited a couple of galleries in Merida, mostly having to do with Mayan civilization and we have been eating it up. We have really enjoyed talking about the Mayans at the galleries and sites we have visited. Tomorrow we go to one of the more famous sites, CHITCHEN ITZA, and there will be alot of buildings and Mayan ruins for us to sink our teeth into. It will be a full day trip after the 1.5 hour bus ride to the ruins and we hope to make it there befor the swarms of tourists descend.

Despite the fact that I fell off a horse a couple of days ag0 and Marina is still in the midst of getting and getting rid of sunburns we are doing just fine.

Chiapas and San Cristobal de Los Casas was amazing. It is a definite return date for us both. Mostly because of the ruins in Palenque.

The horse ride we took was to this town we found in our little sanctified guide book called CHAMULA. We visited a church in the town and i have to say it was one of the strangest things I have ever seen. They brought chickens in for sacraficing, although we did not see one occur it was about to happen right in front of us. It turns out the city has renounced Catholosism and only has Cathloic mass there once ever month. They prey to their own saint and depend on ancient Mayan cures for their ills. We saw families in there lighting candels on the floor in large grroups asking their saint for cures and preying. All the while chanting and drinking from coke bottles that either held coca-cola or a local drink made from corn called POCHE. Marina and I actually had some of this home-made moonshine like stuff before we headed back totown on our horses. The ride was like an hour or two long and my horse was a bit sick so when we started to gallop I have to say it was a bit of a shock to me. All I remember is slowly shifting to the side before falling off the horse. It all happened so slow. I was alright although my ego was bruised.

But that is all for now I hope to make some phone calls to the family before christmas.

hope all is well with you all.

r

We are in Mexico Land.........................

If you click on the map you can see a bigger version. We started in Mexico City which is the place on the lower portion of the country (with the star) MEXICO. Although we went for good tacos with Ulysses (marina{s cousin) it was a really big city, too big.

Puebla which is a two hour drive to the right of MEXICO, was more our speed. It was really friendly to the tourists despite me loosing myself a couple of times. We stayed at the Ritz, we really liked it for 35 bucks a night. It was our sort of town, really good food, lots of sweets, whcih we did not try and lots to see. I think we would both like to go there again, it really reminded us of Oaxaca. But that is a trip for another time.

In Puebla we had the delacasy of the city which is Chili Nogada. Here is a picture of it below. It is kinda like the ones that Marina has made before. It is a Poblano chili stuffed with dried fruit, meat and nuts and it is covered with an luke-warm almond sauce, and topped with pomegranite.

Today we are in Vera Cruz, which is a little bit more to the right than Puebla, it took another 2.5 hours on the bus to get here. It is kinda like a windy and dirty naval town. But we have made the best of it. We went to La Antigua today, which is one of the first colonized parts of north America. Saw the sights had some breakfast and got a tour. But last night we buckled and went to see a movie. We saw 007 Casino Royal the night it openned. We both loved it. For both of us it is the best Bond film we have ever seen.

We are ready to leave tomorrow for the Catemaco and see som shrunken heads.

ciao

Last Post from Panama!!!!A wrap up just would not be right without an Anne report. She narrowly avoided another terrorist threat yesterday by ALMOST swallowing an inch long shard of glass which she found in an innocent little glass of free water. Good on ya Anne.


Goodbye Costa Azul Thanks for the Memories

and thanks for saving out TEACHER.

WWWe are off to the retreat as of Friday morning for an all inclusive treatment at PLAYA BLANCA resort. I dont know how we afford this, considering we are all broke students. But we are hanging in there.

BACHELOR PARTY IN PANAMA

Well I can say i never thought this would happen. I was pleased to be duped by my group yesterday into a surprise Bachelor Party in Panama. I cant say enough of the look on my face when I walked out of the elevator into a mob of my whole PDP group. The elevator opened and I was surprised, but it did take me a moment to realize that the party was for me. Damn.

After being wrangled into going to get an ass shot of antipiotics with my friend Charlotte, I was then brought to my favorite restaurant to have my favorite dish.

It started by being wrangled into going to a clinic with Charlotte and getting a shot in the ass for the second day ina row. Poor girls bum looks like a shooting range, but I have not seen it. So after that I was escorted, still unaware of the surprise that was awaiting for me. Andy, Olivia and Charlotte then went for a great dinner at Restaurante Machu Pichu and had an awsome dinner. Corvina al aijo. Which is Sea Bass in Garlic Sauce. Delicious. With a couple of cloves of garlic and lotsa butter (mantequilla).

Then after a drink or two at the place, we were on our way out the door, and when the elevator hit the bottom floor. I couldnt believe to see the whole crowd there, flash bulbs bursting and a sea of blue and pink t-shirts. It took me a moment to realize that this whole thing was for me, at the time it felt more like a prank. Then when I saw my name on the t-shirts and a couple of tiaras I realized what was going on. It was a bachelor Party and shit I had no idea.

It turns out there were several slip ups in the few days and the day of. People had dropped hints inadvertantly and am sad to say I still had no idea. It turned out, that at the time the whol group had thought that I had caught on. And good on me, casue I tell you I had no idea and now that I look back, kinda like movies like "the sixth sense" and the "usual suspects" I did not catch on till the end of the movie.

So I was given my shotglass on a string, a plastic cup that lit up with flashing LED lights and a t-shirt which translates basically as, actually I forget, a fancy plastic hat and get this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! a PARTY BUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. It is basically a emptied out old-school decommissioned school bus. All the seats are taken out except for a thin bench running around the outside and it is turned into a dance floor, complete with some handles hanging from the ceiling and a couple of poles in the centre. The windows are taken out and the air gets to circulate inside, and the best part was there was a bar inside. It was an all you can drink bar with SECO and Rum on board, with TOnic water and or clubsoda. And as you can see in the pics, the open topped cups we had sucked as the drinks were spilling everywhere. The music was pumping, all good of course, as the bus goes along at about 10 miles an hour as we all danced inside. As Olivia said today, its kinda like an INSTA-PARTY. We had a few people from Panama on the bus too which really upped the stakes, they danced like villans.

It looks like everybody had a good time, and Anne was there too busting out moves here and there.. I had a shit-eating grin on my face for the whole ride. I had never been given a surprise party before and wow are they fun or what.

I have to thank everyone for making it such a fun night. It was great to celebrate together the end of classes, the closing days of our trip together and damn, my upcomming nuptuals. I hope being married is this much fun.

Marina I wish you were here for this one, but then again I dont think you were to be invited to this one.

So after the long bus ride to where we had to go we ended up at a club on the Cause way named Bamboo. For the most part we were ripe for a steady dance floor and more space to dance. I had to really go to the bathroom so the last little bit on the bus was a bit painful. So gettin there was a real relief. We got to the club and turned it up a notch. I danced witheveryone on a crowded dance floor, the mood was great, two for one drinks and salsa all the way. Everyone was looking at us there like we were crazy, all the tiaras the tshirts the dancing, we really sparked it up.

Then back on the bus to drop off some of the crew and we then went to a Karaoke club. Only a few of us made it there because it was getting kinda late and the bevys were plenty.

Again we took center stage as the music began playing. Now I dontknow how we got to the front of the stage but we stayed there the whole night, and as I turned out to look at the audiece at times, I could see them all staring. Looking at us like "what the hell is going on here".

The karaoke was enjoyable but they seemed to be real selective aobut who could sing and who could not. I got on the stage to sing Loosing my religion, I dont think I picked the song. But after a few lines of drunken indulgence, i was gonged off the stage by a hooded MUCHA LUUCHA, with a trumpet. He rang on a little ditty that basically ended the performance. Our whole group was unable to finish even one song. SOmething tells me he had it in for us. We all then went to the casino for food. I had enough by that point and hit the sack. But man what a great time. I have to say there are good parties but the great ones are the one that are in my favour.

Andy: you are a friend that i found in the strangest place, mucho respeto

Charmaine: thanks for all the dancing

Christa: woot, and thanks for retrieving the hat

Carmen: thanks for your questions with Ray, and being so adamant

Kristi: i still want to hear what you said, i couldnt understand a thing

Lyndsay: acrobatic bus dancing, should be a sport and you ought to get a gold

Olivia: thanks for bringing over your liquor and gettin me wasted

Breanne: shits and giggles and someone else who remembers the 80's

Erin: i saw you dance and dance and dance, girl you go

Erika: thanks for the performance, you were plugged in all night

Jen: no t-shirt and a yawn, but hanging in till the bitter end, thanks

Michelle: thanks for the salsa dancing lesson

Charlotte: thanks for all the photos and executing a well-orchestrated diversion

Inya: you were as cute as a button with that tiara on

Evelyn: thanks for all your help with the t-shirts

Anne: thanks for allowing a party bus in the end and dancing up a storm on the bus