One day in LA

It's OK, we're back! We've been busy having fun in places where internet access is limited and expensive... OK, on with the travelogue.

We made it out of Los Mochis eventually, thanks to budget airline saviours Aero California, who flew us to Tijuana. From there we took a Greyhound bus over the border to LA - pain in the arse! We had to get off our bus at the border, be processed by the US immigration guys (surprisingly much less hardcore than expected), then get on another bus on the US side, after a 2 hour wait that nobody told us about. Thanks!

We finally arrived in LA at 8ish and high-tailed it to the Autobuses Americanos office to reclaim our ticket cost for the Chihuahua > LA ride that we never took. God bless you Autobuses Americanos people for refunding all but $20! You are nice people, and your guys then helped direct us to a nearby Motel for the night.

The amusingly named Destiny Inn was our bolt-hole for the evening. The best bit about it was its proximity to Dennys, just across the road, where we stuffed our faces with vegiburgers and fries, american style.

What a place! Described as "family-style, fast-food and steakhouse restaurants" - it's more like a safari park where you can observe the american lard-ass in its natural habitat. Thrill - as a rotund family orders enough food to sink a small ship! Gasp - at the mound of fries that accompanies your purchase of a burger! Enjoy - the sight of everyone leaving with a doggy bag - can you guess what's inside?

Seriously, it's quite an experience, and we revelled in a frenzy of over-consumption after a lean month in Mexico. Then we rolled out of the door and went to bed...

...and went straight back to Dennys in the morning for breakfast. Debs was upset that her French Toast was sweet - she thought it would be like straight up eggy bread. Ben, meanwhile, was delighted to get a refill of coffee, just like they do on TV.

Then like a knight on a white charger, Jim Holland rolled up in his Land Rover and, with his wife Diane, treated us to a day of LA fun.

We checked out the amazing Amoeba Records, had lunch in Santa Monica, went for a stroll down Venice Beach, debated the relative merits of bikes with pedal-back versus handlebar lever brakes, bought Ben some new sunglasses, got some healthy snacks at an organic shop whose name temporarily escapes me... something to do with nuts, I think, and finished off with drinks at an oceanside bar.

Super dooper multi-thanks to Jim and Diane for a very relaxing and pleasurable day!

LAX isn't a very good airport, by the way. Nothing to do but wait...

Ben

Up, up and away

Despite Mexico City being the most expensive place in Mexico we decided to stay an extra day here so we could take in the ancient wonders of Teotihuacan.

But before we could climb the third largest pyramid in the world, we needed a hearty breakfast - and Debs found us an absolutely killer 24h diner called Cafe El Popular. Look at how pleased she is with herself and her frjoles revueltos con 2 huevos (beans and 2 eggs, scrambled):

I had the hotcakes, which were similarly sublime, as was the coffee, served chino style - the waitress pours super strong coffee from one jug into your tall glass until you say when, then fills up the rest with hot milk from another. Delicious!

Enough about food. Teotihuacan was suitably awesome, and hot. We didn´t hang around much - seen one spectacular Mexican ruin, seen em all - but we did climb up to the top of the Temple of the Sun, which was breathtakingly enormous:

Shortly after descending, we discovered that the cheap Kodak batteries we bought in a pound shop in Wandsworth (1 quid for 10 AA batteries, what could possibly go wrong?) - were absolutely shit. 1 shot and they´re done.

After all that culture we did bugger all. Sat in the hotel and watched reruns of Law and Order (Have you ever seen this show? It´s balls!), and then Mr Deeds, which was farcical and fun.

The maid in Hotel Isabel was probably completely baffled as to how we´d got through and binned 20 batteries in one day. But by the time she was wondering this, we were long gone, on our way to Guanajuato.

Ben

Thoughts on life on the road

Faithful followers of our exciting nomadic lifestyle are now fully up to date with where we´ve been, what we´ve done there, and what we thought about it. But we haven´t yet told you much about the logistics and details yet - this is the stuff we could only really learn about by doing it - the unknown stuff that made Debs worry and Ben say "no worries".

It seems like we´ve been away for months now, but it´s only been 3 weeks. We´ve been moving around every 2 days or so, packing a lot of places and experiences into a short time. Our friend throughout this whirlwind of travel has been the amazing Mexican bus service, and the Lonely Planet guide to Mexico, which is as enormous as it is useful.

We planned a rough route using the sample itineraries in the front of the Lonely Planet book, and then winged it a bit from there, talking to people as we go along and picking up tips and ideas in hostels - sometimes going on organised tours, but mostly stealing their ideas and doing it ourselves (not always as convenient, but more fun).

One of the things we´ve got used to is not planning too far in advance and not reserving accommodation at all. Debs absolutely hated this at first! But after a few disappointing bookings where we couldn´t cancel a 2 day reservation in a shit hostel, we realised that the random factor often gets us into cheaper, nicer and more enjoyable places. Since there are 2 of us, and we want to stay in a private room, there´s usually something available for us for not much more than the cost of 2 beds in a dorm. Well, OK, sometimes it´s quite a bit more, but then we do get an ensuite bathroom and privacy.

A couple of the private rooms in hostels have been really good for the price. The one we´re in right now - The Mayflower in Puerto Escondido - is $30 a night and much nicer than many Hotel rooms we´ve stayed in.

We´re also a big fan of hostels with shared kitchens, where we can attempt to make delicious and cheap evening meals instead of spending on restaurants. This doesn´t always work out as planned, as local shops don´t always have the ingredients we need (you can only get chicken stock cubes in Mexico), and the cooking equipment isn´t exactly of the highest quality.

Appeal for help! (Dido, we´re relying on you): please give us ideas for simple but delicious recipes you can cook quickly with minimal equipment. So far we´ve done stuff like pea risotto (tasteless; made from a stock of water, salt, pepper and soy sauce, and undercooked fresh peas), pasta putanesca (made with tomato puree disguised in passata packaging) , and tortillas with black beans and a salsa of toms and onion, avocado, and topped with hot pepper sauce (a success!!). Please mail us some recipes! We can get pasta, fresh vegetables, and some tinned stuff, but no frozen, or herbs and spices. Thanks!

Ben and Debs, x

One for Messrs Pollard, Yerruncle, Le Toy and Kursh

We´ve got the huevos!

For everyone else, this is us enjoying our first taste of Huevos Rancheros and Huevos Mexicana for breakfast at the excellent Don Mucho, in El Panchan. Check out the Dogtanian expression on Deb´s face!

Ben

Campeche

We´re in Campeche - town of pirates! It´s lovely here, all cute pastel houses and fortifications against the foreign marauders.

Quite an eventful bus ride down here from Merida, featuring an exploding bus tire! We could smell burning rubber for a few minutes, then a passenger went and told the driver, who then checked it out and saw this:

Reassuring! The trip took 4 hours instead of the billed 2 and a half... and when we finally arrived we had a bit of a mixed reception at Hostel La Pirata. Very friendly people, but they started by trying to gyp us $5 on the room ("No, the deposit you paid on the internet doesn´t count towards the cost of the room" ... "oh yes it does"), then got the tiniest possible room and promptly flooded it.

Once we´d sorted that out, we hit the BEST supermarket ever, stocked up on food and cheap t-shirts, then pulled off a passable pea risotto:

Debs shelling peas there, wearing her newly acquired hippy headband. "A lifesaver", apparently.

Mulching in Moseley

From Ludlow to Birmingham, for a weekend with Chris and Clare. Chris is one of Ben's imaginary friends who he met on teh internets waaaaaaaaay back in the mid-90s. He's also a bona fide pop star... Hoopla!

Before we left there was a 1 day break in the clouds. We capitalized by dishing up a tremendous lunch of mixed up mezze in Ludlow. You can see foody photos - and more! - on our Flickr photostream.

...and then the rain came down hard. We almost got stuck in Ludlow on Saturday. Trains weren't running at all, so Dad braved the rising waters and very kindly drove us to Shrewsbury where we caught a train to Birmingham. We seen flooding on the way!


On arrival in Birmingham we squeezed ourselves and our packs into Chris and Clare's Mini Cooper - no mean feat - and trundled off to Moseley where we got stuck into a weekend of larks.

Saturday was full of booze and curry (see below) with extra guests Dave and Sal. That's Clare and Debs in the shot below:


I had a crippling hangover on Sunday, which could only be alleviated by an amazing - and alarmingly big - vegiburger at the Cross in Moseley.

Then Sunday evening went by in a pleasant daze, monged out upstairs at the Hare and Hounds, King's Heath, watching 7 inch cinema. Highly recommended if they do anything in your area (there's a 7 inch blog so you can see what's coming up).

On Monday the trains weren't running between Birmingham and Reading, so we had to come via London. All in all, not too much extra hassle, although Reading station could do with adding more benches in the main part. Current count: 1.

Ben