Images Of New Orleans

Voodoo, ghosts, Bourbon Street, jazz in the French Quarter and amazing food - gumbo, PoBoys, shrimp creole, jumbalaya, gator sausage, red beans and rice ... and Cafe Du Monde maintaining cholesterol levels since 1862 - with Cafe Au Lait n Beignets ...

The Quest of the Weeping Angel

I was at the markets when I first saw her picture - it was completely captivating. The photographer gave me detailed directions so I dragged Belinda on my Lara Croft quest. We took the streetcar ALL the way to the end of the line and tramped all over the cemetery looking for her mausoleum. Slightly skewed navigation, a helpful maintenance man, a ride on the tail-gate of the cemetery truck and we were there!!
The blue glass in her tomb's window gave her an truly ethereal feel ... Absolutely beautiful.
Lara and her side kick celebrated the morning's success with red beans and rice and shrimp creole ...

New Orleans - Fred and the Swamp

I'm not going into detail about the swamp tour ... I'll just say that the saving grace of the morning was Fred .. the baby gator ... and the occasional glimpse of tree hugging banded snakes and that swamps are not pleasant in thunderstorms ...

Playing on Playa

Backpacks on - Playa del Carmen is an hour away from Tulum - but it could be on another planet, with Starbucks and McDonalds and cruise ships and spring break bringing hordes of partying college kids!
So there was no choice ... when in Rome ... and that's how Fifi's Bar - which started earlier in Central America when I found a 2 litre bottle of rum and the recipe for the group's favorite 'Panty Ripper' cocktail- opened it's Playa franchise - complete with hammock - on Lewis and Helen's hotel room patio at Casa Tucan ...
It was a producive day - exploring, haggling over Mexican 'Luche Libre' wrestling masks, lunching with Coronas and ending on the balcony of Jack Sparrow's Tattoo Shop and Bar above the main strip - just one tequila shot away from an iguana tattoo ... a tempting reminder of the Central American leg on my trip ...

Mexico and Tulum

Crossing the border into Mexico was light years away from the laid back Belizean experience - this time our boat was greeted by trucks of camouflage wearing, machine gun toting, serious looking soldiers with their drug detection dogs ... Welcome to Mexico !!
Three short hours by bus and we arrive at the Mexican equivalent of Fawlty Towers - with ornate bath towel origami but no working showers :-)
It was well worth it though - as Hotel Tulum Riviera is just walking distance to the Maya ruins - so by 8 am I was at the site - complete with impressive towering structures standing on cliff faces and the turquoise Carribbean and IGUANAS ...

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker is paradise - a teeny island, just a few kilometres long - you can see from one side to the other - white sandy beaches with palm trees and snorkelling and sailing and kayaking and great cheap rum!! Of course if there WASN'T a tropical storm for two days then the snorkelling, sailing and kayaking would have been actually possible ... which just left the rum, and swimming at the Split during the sun breaks, with a few drinks at the adjacent Lazy Lizard... just a slightly damp paradise ...

...more Iggies ..

Iguanas!!!!!

The recovery afternoon continued with a visit to the Iguana Rescue centre, where volunteers breed and release these endangered beauties back into the wild. Hayley and I had a cuddle with Gomez and masses of adorable little babies.. we also got to eat termites - which apparently come in five flavours - mine tasted like celery ...

San Ignacio (Cayo) - Belize

A huge Creole breakfast, slow stroll through the Sat market, gentle little break on the grass banks of the river was a perfect recovery plan from the first crazy night in Belize. While it's rumoured that - between the first happy hour rum punches and eating street tacos at 3.30am whilst sitting on the curb outside the Blue Angel nightclub - there was a spectacular kareoke session - I absolutely refuse to concede that I voluntarily sang Careless Whispers ..
Belize is such a melting pot and so different from any other country in Central America. Today I either spoke to / ate the cuisine of Creole, Chinese, Mennonite, Maya, Lebanese and Mestizo .... and finishing with Sri Lankan for dinner - before an early night with no possibility of a George Michael repeat ...

Isla de Flores

The island of Flores sits on the Lake of Peten Itza - you can stroll around it in about 30 minutes even allowing time for mojitos and cafe con leche !
Dinner along the waterfront - Gallo beer, local stalls, latino music blaring, home made fireworks and heart stopping food - tamales, tostadas, fat profiterole pastries with condensed milk, burritos and a cinnamon bread dessert floating in honey syrup ... add a couple of mojitos and a another lap of the island is required ....

Mas Maya en Tikal