HAPPY SUNDAY LIST

My wonderful friend and excellent blogger Karoline, who i miss dearly, is always posting these nice lists so i thought i would copy her and give one a go this Sunday.

1. If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Avocado - I love it so much and it is great for every meal with everything. My favourite is to toast some dark rye bread and cover it with chunks of creamy Avocado, salt, pepper and chilli flakes. Mexico had the best Avocado's i would go back just for that!

2. Travel the world with the same people for the rest of your life or live in the same house until you die?

Travel the world... as if i will ever be able to afford a house in London anyhow!

3. One thing you wish was healthy?

The fam

4. Rain for days a week all year or never again see a cherry blossom?

I think if i expelled the rain i may begin to miss it.... a life with no rain?! How would you value the sunny days?

5. Your favorite blog?

It will have to be you 'if i could choose' never fails to make me smile

6. That movie you watch when you’re home alone and you make hot chocolate and eat toast for dinner?

Little Women every time, i must have seen it about 100 times. Though it has to be the version with Susan Sarandon.

7. The last thing you do before you go to sleep?

Drink a cup of tea even i have been out and its 4am...

8. Why is your best friend your best friend?

Because i never get bored of talking to her and she makes me laugh till i'm lying on the floor. 

It's a never ending show when we are together. 

9. Biggest guilty pleasure?

 Watching Grey's Anatomy in the bath and eating chocolate

10. A life without fruit or never having curtains?

I prefer blinds anyway

11. If you could add a bodypart, what would it be and where would you have it?

I would have gills right behind my ears

TWO SISTER'S REUNITED!

After an epic overnight bus of 13 hours from Palenque to Playa i arrived ready for the reunion day! Sophie's ship docks for 7hrs just off the coast of Mexico so at 6am i rose and went down to the port to catch the ferry to the island.

When we were young our parents planned the holidays and never in the history of the Wilson household were we taken to a resort or on a package holiday of any sort. We were treated instead to the delights of many a spanish urn, the red light district in Amsterdam, Swedish Christmases and amazing holidays to America and NYC which i am 100% in favour of and i like to think my current trip was informed by all of these experiences.  

So to go against the grain of this and as we were in one of the most touristy areas of Mexico we headed straight for a resort, to spend the day drinking cocktails by the yard and listening to loud Americans speak/shout at each other and bounce from ocean to pool. Even though i hate the idea of this kind of holiday i wasn't complaining after 5 months of bunk beds, cold showers and having to get my own drinks! We had a great day and it was wonderful to see my much paler sister for a whole 7 hours!

I blew my daily budget of 200 pesos in about 12 minuted but money bags (the only sister currently working) was there to hit me up with some dollars!

Kisses to you Sophie Wilson xxx

Sophie and her better half...

FLORES

A one night wonder!

The final stop on the Guatemalan tour was delightful, we arrived at our hostel tired and weary after another long and bumpy bus journey and got straight into booking out trip to Tikal the next day, we opted for the sunset tour as there was no way in hell i was getting up at 4am to see the sunrise over the pyramids. This all turned out for the best as a: i got a really excellent nights sleep and b: the sky was cloudy the next morning so we wouldn't have seen the sunrise anyhow. By midday when we were due to leave the clouds had faded and the sky was a brilliant blue, perfect weather for ruins if i do say so.

This was my fourth trip to a set of Mayan ruins and it was by far the best, the guide i had was excellent, the animals really added to the experience and the sunset was perfectly timed. Tikal is the largest of the mayan sites and it is a really peaceful place, barely a homosapien in sight!!!

My final meal in Guatemala was the perfect street food and a cold cold beer. There were even some musicians to entertain me on my final night. Thank you Guatemala you were wonderful! 

Can you spot the monkey?

PALENQUE

Final jungle nights, monkeys included gratis...

The jungle is great, its really beautiful, the animals are amazing and you are literally in another world. On the downside it is SO SO HOT & SWEATY!!! You are always sweating, i mean literally at no point in the day are you not sweating and even once the sun has gone down you are still sweating. This results in a very damp wardrobe. It's ok though because you realise, while sweating, that you are in Mexico and the Jungle and that is awesome!!!

I was only in Palenque for 3 days and it was a grand time, i took a trip to the ruins and watched a group of hippies from afar as they openly jammed and hugged trees. I also spent a whole day in the Jungle looking for, finding and enjoying a waterfall. It was all excellent good fun times and i would highly recommend it on a Mexican itinerary  I think three days was enough plus i was on a strict deadline to get to the coast to see my sister for a family re union on the 20th! 

Just one last overnight bus ahead of me and then NO MORE! In retrospect this was the worst one of all, i chose 2nd class as 1st class was bloody expensive. This meant the bus was packed and there was many a crying child and to top it off the man behind me was sick. Unpleasant but i did make it to my destination and only 2hr late. 

SO HOT! SO SWEATY! 

SEMUC CHAMPEY

Activity central and just all round amazingness...

Lanquin in Guatemala is right in the jungle and nestled in many many a mountain and is the closets town to the eco park Semuc Champey where you can visit the water caves. It was SO AMAZING…. you wear swimmers and trainers and are given a candle on the way in, this is your only source of light and you only have one so hold onto it tight. You only go in about 900m although the whole length of the cave is 11km. It is very physical with sections of climbing, swimming, waterfalls and holes to slide through. All of this must me done with one hand as the other is busy holding your light source. I was a little nervous beforehand but it turns out i loved it and was at the front the whole way. I think it was because it was a lot of swimming which was perfect for me and i had no problem with the tight spaces. I was sad to leave and wish it could have gone on for longer. 

After the caves you go for a pretty intense hike up to the lookout point over the pools of Semuc Champey. These pools flow into one another and are bright turquoise blue, once you have hiked down form the lookout point you go for a hard earned swim and make your way down the pools via jumps and slides. 

It was such an amazing day though my whole body ached for days afterward!

ANTIGUA

It's allllll about Pacaya...

After yet another ridiculously long bus journey we arrived in Antigua. Safe to say the buses in Guatemala are a thousands times worse than those in Mexico but you do get from A to B just a little sweatier than when you started. 

There was simply one goal in Antigua and that was to climb the volcano 'Pacaya'. It is around 50km away from the city and is one of the 37 volcanoes that populate Gautemala. I was a little aprehensive as i havent really climbed or hiked anything properly in the last 10 years but i booked it anyway and hoped for the best. 

Safe to say it wasn't easy and the 1hr 30min climb was enough for me. It wasn't really the hardest climb but the altitude was what got me the most. Ever since arriving in Mexico City and travelling through places that sit high in the mountains i had noticed how quickly i lost my breath. Just walking up the stairs makes you breath a little harder. The effort was 100% worth it though, the view is amazing and our guide was excellent. We took marshmallows to toast on the hot rocks at the top and although we didn't see any lava it was an amazing day. 

At 6pm we all sat at the top and watched the sun go down and then got our flashlights out for the dark descent. The 90s tunes that our driver played on the way back to town had Olivia and i singing the whole way and that night was probably the most satisfying beer of the whole trip. 

Yay to Antigua and yay to Pacaya!! 

You rock and so do we!!!