Welcome to the Tiller Blog!

PHOTOS - FA CUP FINAL 2006 - Liverpool v Westham

2006-09-29T10:20:00.000Z

PHOTOS - International Festival of the Sea - Portsmouth 2005

2006-09-29T08:21:00.000Z

PHOTOS - Charlie the Cat!

2006-09-25T11:35:00.000Z

PHOTOS - Spring Hills - Views - Harlow

2006-09-25T10:18:00.000Z

More photos

PHOTOS - Spring Hills - My Flat! - Harlow

2006-09-25T10:14:00.000Z

er, this is tidy for me!

PHOTOS - Spring Hills - Staple Tye - Harlow

2006-09-25T09:21:00.000Z

The Shark

Some people might say this is my home!

Andrew and Michelle

2006-09-25T09:19:00.001Z

Andrew and Michelle will be getting married here...

http://www.hotel-atlantic.co.uk/

on 23rd Sept 2007 12.00pm

View pictures of Andrew and Michelle's house on their blog by clicking below

http://michelle-bassett.blogspot.com/

Julie's latest letter - 25th September 2006 - Busy, busy... (Currently living in Singapore)

2006-09-25T09:19:00.000Z

Hi everyone

I will start with 2 apologies.... I am sorry I haven't been in touch for a while, the last week of my course was crazy busy and I was very stressed, then we went on holiday for a week! Secondly, this email is gonna be very long, so you may wanna read it another time if you don't have long!

Since I last wrote, I have finished my Tesol course, and hopefully passed! Then we went on holiday for a week to Indonesia - we started in Lombok and went to Komodo and Flores, then were due to fly back from Lombok. However, due to circumstances you will see later, we actually had 6 hours in Bali and flew back from there instead!

The final exam for module 4 was 2 weeks ago today, then that was swiftly followed by some actual teaching - we had 1 lesson of discussion, then 1 mock class followed 1 day later by the real teaching test so it was a very stressful week! It didn't help that we had had the same lecturer for 3 out of 4 modules, but for the last 1 which is really important for the teaching practice they gave us a different 1 who didn't really give us the same information that our original lecturer, who was marking out teaching wanted us to know. We were also supposed to prepare our lesson plans well in advance for Joe to see on the Tuesday and the new lecturer didn't tell us! So we got given 1 day off, in which we had to complete our lesson plan ready to do a mock lesson each. There were 4 of us and we practiced on each other, then saw what didn't work and had to redo it for the real thing the day after. They also didn't tell us until a few days before that we actually had real Chinese students coming in to teach!!! So basically I spent about 4 days hardly sleeping, then hardly eating as I didn't have time!! On the days of the mock and the exam I felt too sick with stress to eat anyway! But its over, and in the mock I would have got a b minus, however, it had to be reduced because the lesson was only 30 mins instead of 45. After the mock, I took into account the comments and managed to come up with another game, which took me to exactly 45 minutes and included more assessment of the students, so I am hoping I managed to get at least that B minus! The students were great, there were 2 male and 2 female of about 18 years old, with some English knowledge - we tried to make the lessons fun and I think they enjoyed it! Joe our lecturer said we did really well so fingers crossed.... My lesson was all about revision of directions and shopping, so I started by getting them to shout out answers to what types of shops you can find, eg bookshop, supermarket, etc. I then got them to do a worksheet to guess the names of the shops from the pictures, followed by imagining they were going shopping and had to ask directions. They gave me the questions they had to ask and directions they would get then I put up a map on the board, and got them to listen to my directions, the answers which were filled in on a crossword. Then I got them to go shopping! I got my 3 teacher colleagues to be shopkeepers - a grocers, newsagents and book shop and the students had money and shopping lists and they had to get as much as possible on their lists. It worked really well and they got everything! I made all the crosswords myself, the map, the worksheets and even used real books, magazines and food boxes! It seemed to be fun. I couldn't even find any toy money to buy so I had to make that too! You can see why I didn't eat and sleep a lot.... My lecturer had said in the mock he loved the shopping activity, then when I came up with the map and crossword for the real exam he said he loved that too, so hopefully that will push my marks up!

Anyway, I didn't get home until 9.30 that night and had to pack as we were off on holiday the day after! We had to get up at 5 am to get to the airport, and I woke with a sore throat but hoped it would go away. When we were landing in Lombok I had terrible pain in my ear from the flight, but this eased and I didn't feel too bad. We were met at the airport by a guy who drove us to the seafront, which meant driving through monkey forest where we saw hundreds of monkeys with mohikans by the side of the road and in the trees!! We were heading straight to some little islands called the Gilis, so when we got to the water, a speedboat was waiting for us and I have never been on 1 proper before - it bounced across the waves and sprayed us with seawater - fantastic, I loved it!!! However, by the time we got to the accommodation I felt like I was getting the flu! The sore throat slowly got worse so I could hardly drink and for 2 days I could barely eat, I slept loads and couldn't get from the bed to the fridge without needing to sit down!!! Jonny did 5 dives and after each 1 of the first 4 he found me in the same position he left me in - on the bed asleep!!! I did manage to shop on the 2nd day for about 45 mins but it wiped me out and I had to rest for the remainder of the day!! By the 3rd day however, I was loads better and made it to the beach for a sunbathe and a swim. I still couldn't eat much but I felt ok and the place was beautiful.

We had agreed before we left Singapore that the main purpose of our trip was for Jonny to do some diving, and to try to get to Komodo to see the dragons as both of us had always wanted to go. We did some research and found out we could get a 3 day boat trip from Lombok which ended in Flores, or 5 days round trip. However, there was only 1 trip every 6 days and it was leaving on Tuesday, which meant the round trip got back to Lombok about 10 hours too late for us to catch our flight back to Singapore on Saturday at midday. Undeterred, we found out there was a tiny airport in Labuan Bajo, which is where the boat stopped on the 3rd day, and we could fly to Denpasar in Bali then on to Lombok on the Friday, for about 60 quid. The airline was unreliable, and even published on its website not to book with them if you had an international flight to catch as they regularly cancelled flights if they weren't full!! However, we decided we would risk it as we wanted to go so badly....

We left the Gili Isles early Tuesday and had a fantastic 3 days on the boat. The first night was a bit rough, but by the 2nd I was used to it, and we saw lovely little villages, islands, went snorkelling, not to mention some lovely local dancing and not so lovely fighting on the first day. The only prob was they chose Jonny and me to be their "leaders" and told us we had to dance in front of everyone which I hate! It turned out I didn't have to dance, though Jonny did for a few minutes, but they did give us flower lais and got me to present the winner of the fight with his winning hat! The whole of the village and their kids turned out for this event - it was amazing to see us all packed around this little mud square!!

On Komodo we got to see some wild deer, beautiful scenery, pretty birds and best of all 4 Komodo dragons!! They were amazing! The biggest was about 2 and a half metres, although the largest known 1 was over 3 metres I think. Jonny tried to get a bit too close to 1 for a photo and it started running towards him, so the guide warned us to run back up the steps quickly!! They looked like they could do you a lot of damage!

Finally, we arrived at Labua Bajo and got a room with a gorgeous view over the harbour and in the distance we could see the surrounding islands that looked like volcanoes. We saw a gorgeous sunset and got set to leave the following morning. Needless to say, when we got to the airport the plane was cancelled!! We had met 4 Dutch people on the boat who were also flying with us, so we all kicked up a huge fuss until we got our accommodation and meals paid for the night, but there was nothing more we could do - had we got to the airport about an hour earlier we may have got on the other flight - basically 3 companies fly from there but only 1 plane goes every day and they seem to take it in turns to fill up each others with passengers. Unlucky for us there was only 1 seat left when we got there. Instead, that night we went to watch the sunset with the Dutch guys at Paradise bar, and had a really good night.

So the following day, we got our flight out, but it was pointless us going back to Lombok as our flight back to Singapore had left without us. Instead, we got off at Bali and lucky for us the company had managed to reserve seats on a Singapore airlines flight at 8pm that night for us. We had to pay any extra 130 quid one way ( our original return with Silk Air, their sister company had only cost us 120 quid return!) but at least it meant we could get home in time for Jonny to go to work today - other weeks it wouldn't be too bad to be delayed, but this Thursday he has a huge presentation to make, and a busy week preparing for it. In addition, it meant we had 6 hours to go into Kuta to do some shopping and see the beach! We have both been there before, but it was lovely to go back anyway. We saw the monument for the victims of the 1st bombing, and I reminisced by retracing my steps around the bars I went to on my birthday 4 years ago. A lovely way to end our trip!

Needless to say, the post holiday blues are starting to set in now, especially because I have agreed to teach the first module of the course I have just done, starting next week and I barely understand it myself! ( they don't even know if I passed the course yet!) So I have a busy week reading up - it's all about the theory of how we learn language, and the methods used to teach any language, so it shouldn't be too bad. I have to teach for 3 hours a day for 4 days though, so I have no idea how to plan each lesson, it took me a week to prepare a 45 min lesson!!! That was different though, I guess this is more theory, and I don't have to make up any games!

Oh yeah, on Komodo the locals sell wooden carvings of the dragons and I bought a small 1 (even though I wanted a big 1!). However, before we left Labuan Bajo it's leg had got broken! I was very sad... In every bar in Labuan Bajo the same dragon sellers would follow you around, but I resisted by saying I would fix my broken 1, and even had to be strong against 1 seller who came and placed a lovely large dragon by me on the bar and left it there for the whole time we watched the sun set! When we went to the airport the 2nd day, Jonny went for a cigarette and asked if I wanted any drinks or anything. I joked and said I wanted a dragon - and that's what he came back with! The very 1 that had become by "friend" on the bar the night before!! The guy had turned up at the airport!! I was so happy, it's lovely, and will look great in front of my fireplace - if I can ever afford to get my house back!

That reminds me - does anyone know the latest laws surrounding rent arrears for private renters?? I had insured against my tenants slipping behind on the rent but that ran out at the end of August and I didn't renew it as they had been fine. August's rent - didn't turn up!!! Beales didn't tell me, surprise surprise, instead I had to call them yet again to ask where my rent was and at first the girl told me they had moved out!!! I later found out she had made a mistake, but the tenants hadn't paid... They finally paid up last week, but the next month's rent will be due next week so I guess that won't come on time either.....

Right, well I think that is everything! I hope you are all still awake! At least you shouldn't hear too much from me now until I have taught my first real, paid lessons. Wish me luck - I am gonna need it!!

Love Jules

Rachel and Neil

2006-09-24T15:04:00.000Z

Rachel and Neil are getting married here

http://www.thereidrooms.co.uk

on 29th September 2007

Family Photos - Dad with Prime Minister Tony Blair

2006-09-24T13:19:00.000Z

Mr Roy Tiller collecting his "Slimmer of the Year" award

That's a nice pear!

Rachel and her Toaster

2006-09-22T18:01:00.000Z

This is a tale about Rachel, our Graphic Designer
Who bought a really nice Toaster that was none finer
She saw her nice new Toaster in her local superstore
Thinking, that’s a nice Toaster, I couldn’t ask for any more

Rachel Handed over her hard earned money
Wondering why all these people were giving her looks so funny
She collected her Toaster all shiny and Gleaming
Rachel proud, her smile beaming

But it was only when we found out the cost, that people began to ponder
We learnt that it cost ninety pounds and then we began to wonder
“How much did it cost?” Andrew asks
“Ninety pounds” says Rachel, attempting a Photoshop task
“You bought a Toaster for Ninety Quid?
Those shop assistants must have thought you had flipped your lid!”

So Rachel having a day like being on a rollercoaster
Is asked what is so special about this Toaster?
“It will last me a very long time
Don’t go on as if I have committed a crime”

Have you heard Rachel’s bought a Toaster for ninety pounds Andy tells Steve
“You paid ninety pounds for a Toaster, that I cannot believe”
Rachel moving on to a task in QuarkXpress
Was now becoming under some stress

“Have you used it yet?” is the next query
“No”, says Rachel becoming quite weary
“Do you mean it has not lost its virginity”
“No, I am saving it for my new house when I find it in the right vicinity”

“Do not worry
I am in no hurry
My Toaster is under my bed
I am saving it for when I get wed”

“My Toaster is still in its box
It is presently surrounded by Neil’s socks”
Andrew says, “By the time you use it, it won’t be the latest brand”
Rachel getting annoyed, was now struggling with Freehand

Have you heard Rachel’s bought a Toaster for Ninety pounds Steve tells Rosie
“Ninety pounds says Rosie, it must be very nice, I must have a nosey”
Rachel now fearing the worst
Couldn’t help fretting about another outburst

“What are you worried about”, say Andy and Steve, “First night nerves?”
“Shut up you two, you are just a couple of perve’s,
Why did I end up at Akhter?
I would have been better off applying for the Krypton Factor”

“Leave Rachel alone”, defends Rosie
“I for one can wait until the right time when it will be really nice and cosy
What would we do without our favourite Chocolate Chuckle Chimp
Ignore Andrew, and old ‘ears’, for he is just a wimp”

Have you heard Rachel’s bought a Toaster for ninety pounds Rosie tells Anita
“Ninety pounds says Anita, this Toaster must be a bloody world beater!”
Rachel now struggling with the latest virus attack
Was reminiscing about the days when she worked on an Applemac

Have you heard Rachel’s bought a Toaster for ninety pounds Anita tells John
“Ninety pounds says John, in the head you must be gone”
Rachel looking forward to being the perfect host
Was not yet ready to serve tea and toast

Have you heard Rachel’s bought a Toaster for ninety pounds John tells Humayun
“Ninety pounds” , says Humayun, “That’s not cheap. Is it made of gold and iron?”
Rachel now moving on to Illustrator
Was soon thinking this was not a good indicator

“I cannot believe you paid that much
My God, you must be out of touch
Normally that would be quite funny
But I must be paying you too much money”

Rachel retorts, “You lot are becoming a bore
I cannot take any more”
Rachel, fed up with being a Graphic Designer
Left, to find her fortune in the hunt for Osama Bin Liner
…As a Web Designer!

23rd August 2006 - Another Bad Hair Day!!

2006-08-23T14:28:00.000Z

Hi guys

Well I am into my 3rd week of my TESOL course now and its going quite well, so far I think! Only trouble is I won't find out for about 3 months, as they save all 4 tests then send them to London to be marked - I may know my results by Christmas if I am lucky! The group is nice, although we started with 5, then dropped 1 and gained another, then lost another! Kevin, who lasted a week was Chinese-Singaporean but had lived all his life til 3 months ago in London! He was nice, but he got a teaching job after the 1st week, so has left to study part time instead. Then Sarah joined, but Henry who was funny and mad also had to leave as his work sent him back to Cambodia early! Its a shame because it's a lot quieter without him! We have had 2 tests so far on the 2 modules we have studied, and are due to have another 2 then a teaching practice. However, next week's may have to be postponed as today's and tomorrow's lessons have been cancelled due to our lecturer being sick. He had a really bad cold so he had to go to the doctors today - you can't have a single day sick here without an MC, a medical Certificate, crazy huh!

So what does a girl do on her day off? She decides to get her hair coloured, something I had been planning to do for about 3 weeks, and wanted to try a new salon as the last one has only got it right once out of three tries! I had also decided I wanted to get closer to my natural colour, so that I can have highlights every few months, instead of having to fork out every 6 weeks or so - not a good idea!!! The hairdresser persuaded me not to go for the highlights today, it was better to let my hair get back to a good condition, and now I have the darkest brown hair I have ever had in my life!!!! And it doesn't suit me or my skin colour - I look like something out of the Munsters!!! They promised me it will start to lighten after a few washes, but I don't think I can wait that long - I may have to book in for highlights asap! Maybe I will get used to it, but I don't think so! Serves me right for trying something new...

On a brighter note, my "consultancy" contract is ready so it will be interesting to see what it says. I don't remember if I explained in my last mail how my new job is going to work, but from what I know I will not get an employment pass to work in Singapore, instead I am to be "employed" as a consultant to work everywhere but Sing. I think I will be assisting in the promotion of TEFL courses and will be expected to teach the Certificate level students, which is a 3 day course, though I am not sure how good I will be as I have never taught English and that's where your experience of how to teach it comes from! But we will see... I am not about to turn the job down, especially if I get to travel all expenses paid and get paid 25 quid an hour for the hours I work when I am there! If I am crap, they can find that out in the future!! Also, there is the small matter of having to pay them for half my course costs anyway so I have to do it! It'll be fun I'm sure! I hope I get to go to Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia soon because its good for shopping and it is close to the Orang Utan santuary I want to see in Malaysian Borneo - they said that it would be fine to stay on for holidays after doing my work if they send me anywhere I would like to explore.

Anyway, gonna keep it short for a change. I'm starving and as Jonny's not coming home yet I am gonna make some dinner. It's 7.15 and it could be 10 or later before he's home - again - and tomorrow, and maybe Friday too! Every week he promises it will change after this project, then that project... oh well, if I am travelling abroad soon he can sit and wait for me instead!!

Love Jules

PS the telly's broke too, so it's a good job I have a good book! Boo hoo!! I guess I could always study.... ! It's getting damn difficult! We are hoping the landlord will replace the tv but it will prob have to be us.

Have I landed my perfect job?

2006-08-04T14:33:00.000Z

Hi everyone

Hope you are all well and coping with the hot weather! I see it has cooled down a bit though ( well London has according to the internet!)

Well, after much umming, arring and waiting I am finally going to start my TEFL course on Monday, together with 2 guys. However, there is a bit of a twist in the tale, which I am excited about as well as scared and nervous! But I am keen to meet the challenge and am ready to "move with the cheese"!! (for anyone who doesn't know what I am talking about I have just read the book "Who Moved My Cheese?" which is about managing change and is really quite good! )

What has basically happened is that I got a call from the college asking me to come in to discuss "offers" so I thought they were going to persuade me to join the full time course as they were giving a few hundred dollars discount (last time it was about 100 quid off 1400 quid!) However, they wanted to see if I would be suitable for working for them! As I do not have a degree and Asia is all about the highest education and qualifications you can get, they have persuaded me to do the full time course but only pay the part time price. The rest I will then work off by travelling to other countries in Asia, all expenses paid and earning $70 per hour for the hours I work! I will basically be promoting the TEFL/TESOL training courses and doing a bit of teaching so it will mean I will probably work about 6 hours in a day, earning $420 which is about 140 quid! The only down side is that the work will be mostly weekends, which is the only time I get to see Jonny! However, this could be a plus too, because depending on where I am he can fly over to stay with me if he can get a flight there and back on a Fri and Sun night (or take Mon off if its somewhere he is really keen on), only having to pay for transport! They have also said that if I want to take a holiday in the places we go, I can stay on at my own cost, I will just need to delay the transport back so that could be really cool! They have suggested I start towards the end of the course if it is not too much, which is mid to late August, to see how I do! The places they mentioned so far were Kota Kinabalu and Kuching in Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia (which I am a bit scared about going to cos of all the earthquakes, volcano eruptions and tsunamis!!) and maybe even the Phillipines! They have schools in some of these places but are hoping to branch out into some of them, which is why they need us to promote the courses. The other thing is, I was doing this course to teach English, but the end result they want is for me to teach the actual TEFL and TESOL courses - eek!! So I am actually going to study for a Diploma in TESOL (which I had never heard of before!) instead of a Certificate in TEFL, so I hope this is as widely recognised. I have worked it out that if I work for a minimum of 6 hours each time I go away, I will only need to go away for 4 weekends or less and I will have paid it off. The only other downside is I do not get an Employment Pass for Singapore as I will not be working in Sing, I will be doing consultancy work in other countries - they are going to pay me in cashable cheques so I hope it is all legal!!

The other development is that a job has come up in Liverpool for the same company Jonny works for, that he really wants to apply for! The closing date was today, so we talked it over and he has gone for it. It is typical that for ages I have wanted to come home, but now I have something interesting to keep me here, I might have to leave! But he says that the job is a bit of a long shot and he probably won't get it (he said that about the Singapore one though!!). The way I see it, we are in a win-win situation now because if he does get it, then we come home and I will be able to get a job back in Housing if necessary, so he will clear the debt for the TESOL and I will repay him when I can. However, if he doesn't then I wil try to work as much as possible and get to see as many places as I can before we have to come back in Feb anyway. The snag is that the job back in the UK would start on 1st Sept so we would have to pack up our flat pretty quickly and I would have to stay in a cheap b+b to finish my course. Still, its all do-able so I am happy! At last I hear you all say!

I just picked up my textbook and notes today, and its looks very daunting! However, the course is only 9.30 to 12.30 next week, before going til 4pm the following week, so it breaks us in gently! Plus we have Wednesday 9th off as it is National Day - Singapore is 41 years old and they celebrate its birthday bigstyle so we are looking forward to that! (Jonny is off too and there are 4 nights of fireworks in the coming week!) I have an exam a week Monday already! So I will have to learn quick and study hard! Hopefully the fact its costing 1400 quid will focus my mind!!! If I do get to do the consultancy stuff though it should be great fun and will be something extra for the cv - I have been dying to get out of housing for ages so could this help? I sure hope so!

I had a busy week from Wednesday 26th until Wed 2nd cos Jonny's mum and her friend were over. I thought they would want to explore on their own but they didn't, so I had lots of fun being a full-time guide! I got to do all the touristy stuff I love, helped them shop and even got little pressies, plus they wouldn't let me pay for hardly anything! The deals they do here are fab, eg 3 pairs of slippers for $10 and as Elaine only wanted 2 pairs I got the 3rd pair and she paid! I did go out of my way to find some of the things they wanted though, cos if we couldn't find it 1 place I would think of somewhere else until we got it, so I earned it with my knowledge! Another perfect job for me - finding the best shopping!! I even got to go back to the zoo which I adore - you never know, I may treat myself to becoming a "friend" for $70 as it gives me admission whenever I like! Better see how much time I will be working first...

Jonny's birthday surprise was brilliant, he loved it! We all went to Sentosa for the day, and his birthday present (sorry if I have told you all!) was to swim with a dugong called Gracie (she's a sea cow, what they think sailors mistook for mermaids) and to swim with sharks! He actually got to feed seaweedy stuff to Gracie and thought it was fantastic! Then we have superb photos of him holding a big shark! It was fab because they swim in the main aquarium, so he was famous for a day as everyone was taking his picture! I made Elaine and Vee laugh though because when Jonny first came out, I didn't know how long I had to take photos, and as there were loads of people crowding around I started staying "Scuse Me, let me through, that's my boyfriend in there and I need to take photos"! while pushing everyone out of the way!! It worked anyway! Vee actually said that Jonny's dugong dive was the highlight of her whole week!

Anyway, I have rambled on for long enough! Hope you are all well, and look forward to hearing from you.

Love Jules

Now in Mexico... and Things are Not Getting Any Cheaper!!!

2006-07-28T14:37:00.000Z

Hi guys

Hope you are all well and enjoying the summer - if you are having one! I am happy to say that since we left Brazil the weather has been hot (only too hot... am I never happy?!) albeit a bit rainy in places!

I think I sent my last email from Guatemala before we went to Flores. If not, I apologise for any duplication....

When we got to Flores we found a great little place really cheap and stayed 2 nights there. In between though we took a tourist shuttle bus to a place called Tikal, which is Mayan ruins along the lines of Chitzen Itza. Their appeal is that they are taller, and are surrounded by jungle! Oh no I hear you cry! (as I did!!!) not more suffering for poor Jules... but it was ok, it was fantastically amazing!!!! We spent the night at a gorgeous hotel (only 1 of 3, cost about 15 quid each but was the cheapest and only expensive to a backpacker I guess!) and during the afternoon explored the ruins. We were waiting at the one called "The Lost World" for sunset and had been there 2 hours when the guard chucked us out cos the park was closing!! We were a bit upset, but it was fairly cloudy and looked like it may rain, which would have made climbing down dangerous - however, the sunset was gorgeous and we missed it! On the plus side, we saw loads of parrots and even toucans really close up, which made my day! Before then I had only seen them in the distance or in zoos....

The following morning we got up at 4am to climb 1 of the temples for sunrise (along with about 300 other people!) and after a practical jog through the jungle and up about 400 steps (I counted them and knew the exact amount but have managed to block out the pain! We had climbed them the day before too!) we sat and waited and guess what? It was completely foggy and we didnt get to see it at all!! However, it really didnt matter, because the dawn jungle sounds were amazing and unforgettable - we heard howler monkeys in th distance, which sound so like lions or something, and saw lots more toucans and parrots... beautiful!

After Tikal we went back to Flores for a night, then flew to Cancun on Friday 22nd - we were a bit worried as the hurricane had hit just a few days before, but everything was pretty normal where we went, although we did see some destruction, mostly trees and roadsigns. We stayed about 45 mins from Cancun at a place called Playa del Carmen, and the beach was lovely, although the place was quite expensive and full of tourists, especially Americans. The day we arrived was pouring with rain and we thought we were gonna have the Rio experience all over again, and the wind was so strong I was worried they may be about to have another hurricane! To top it all, the hostel we chose (the cheapest we could find!) had an ill-fitting door to our room, so when we got back, soaked, after dinner, our floor was flooded! However, the following day, and the other 3 we stayed, were absolutely gorgeous though I managed to burn a bit on the 1st day and had to cover up for the rest! The best bit was that I chose a room on the first floor for the balcony, and it turned out to be a good choice as it had a perfect view of the beach, and the ferry to Cozumel (an island famous for its world class scuba diving sites)! I spent a lot of time on the balcony, esp as from 12 to 4 it was too hot to be on the beach/walking around, and when we discovered the bars were too expensive (almost 2 quid for a local beer!) we just got some from the local supermarket for 50 p each and sat on the balcony - great!

On Monday we decided to treat ourselves and went to a place called Xel Ha (pronounced Shell Ha) for the day, combined with visiting the ruins of Tulum (another Mayan ruins site). We took a tour as it didnt cost much more, which gave us an English guide for the ruins, then Xel Ha is an all inclusive park where you can snorkel down a river, float in rubber rings, etc. The main reason we went was because it gave me the chance to fulfill yet another dream of mine... to swim with dolphins!!! I was all excited only to be told that it was fully booked that day!! I was dead upset! However, it probably turned out for the best as we only had about 5 hours as the park, and it would have spoiled it for Jonny hanging around to take pics of me with the dolphins (he has done it before, lucky thing!) So instead we spent about 2 and a half hours snorkelling and saw some amazing fish, including some huge ones near the end which I was quite scared of!! The best bit was spotting rays swimming out of the sandy floor (I think they were stingrays according to a poster I bought of Mexican underwater life!). Then we made the most of the all inclusive and ate and drank as much as we could! (not enough!)

Finally we left Playa on Tuesday and headed to a little place called Valladolid. We were so tired from the day before we missed the 10am bus, which made us have to delay going to Chichen Itza. However, this also turned out well because we got there about 3.30, late enough to miss the heat of the day, saw all the ruins we wanted, then got to stay for the evening light show too! As we just caught local buses we were a bit worried about getting stranded in the village nearby, but we got a shuttle bus within 10 mins so it was all good and we were home by 10pm!

Finally, we moved on again today, and spent another 3 hours on a bus to Merida. Its back to Playa prices unfortunately (yesterday was very cheap and we were hoping for the same for the rest of Mexico!) but we have found a hotel to move to tomorrow which has a pool and breakfast included for less than todays. We are only staying til Friday anyway - we have to move almost every day for the next few days, then have 3 days in San Cristobel before heading to Acapulco! Its nice to stay an extra day here as tomorrow is Jonnys birthday, and I didnt really want him to have to spend at least 3 hours of it on a bus! (we cant drink too much tomorrow night though as we are planning to leave at 8am! Hmm, we will see....!)

Anyway, thats enough from me... over to you guys!

Love Jules

Adios South America, Hola Guatemala!

2006-07-20T14:39:00.000Z

Hi guys

Sorry you havent heard from me in a while, I have had lots of probs with internet since leaving Rio, including losing a long mail I had spent 20 minutes on, a frozen system and now today a slow 1! However, I will try to bring you up to date with as much speed as I can muster.... Also apologies to anyone waiting for personal replies, I will try asap....!

Well, we left Rio on Tuesday 13th, almost a week ago, and while we were there we had a wicked time!! The weather didnt really improve until the day before we left (typical!!) except for a few hours on the Saturday, where we went to Ipanaema beach for a few hours and got a little burnt! 2 days were completely washed out so we just sorted our laundry and did next to nothing! So that left 5 days in which we went up Christ Redeemer and had a gorgeous clear view of Rio (really amazing!!) and watched the sun go down/Rio light up from Sugar Loaf mountain on the same day, went to visit one of the largest slums in Rio, risked a night trip to Lapa to go to a samba club and generally met lots of cool people in the hostel bar! The room was really expensive, 15 quid a night for no tv and shared bath, but it was 1 block from Ipanaema beach and the bar was the best thing! It was really funny because it boasted it had a pool, but it was only about as long as me! Indoors too, by the bar! I also made the mistake of suggesting we try the local weekend dish of Feijoader, despite being warned it was made of most parts of a pig, including the nose and hooves, mixed with black beans! It tasted ok for a while but I quickly got sick of the taste, and then when I found a trotter that was the end of that meal!! I didnt feel well for the rest of the day or for 2 days after.... and it had nothing to do with alcohol as I didnt have any!! (for a change, although the caipirinhas were good!! Local rum or vodka mixed with lime, ice and sugar).

We had lots of fun/trouble getting to Guatemala... we had to fly via Miami and we arrived at the airport in plenty of time to be told they had overbooked the plane and we may have to wait another day. I was happy enough with that as the airline would have paid for a hotel and meals. Then they wanted to search our big bags because they saw a lighter on the security camera in my bag and these are banned on American Airlines flights... still mystified by this 1 as I dont have a lighter in my bag and they didnt find 1! 10 mins before we flew we found out we had seats at opposite ends of the plane, then as we were boarding they chose me to check my day pack, take my shoes off to check for bombs etc etc. We eventually landed in Miami at 5.30 in the morning (which was luck in itself I guess as only a few days before other parts of Florida were hit by a hurricane!) and the customs officer was so rude to me I wanted to slap her!! Luckily I decided to cry instead, so when I saw the other customs officer (cos I had to return with a different form) he obviously decided I was trying a cover up and asked lots more irrelevant questions than normal!! We had to have our left and right finger prints taken too, and a photo!

So now we were in a place called Flores, which is small and exactly as I expected the country to be, unlike the other places we visited first. We got to Guatemala City and stayed 1 night (not much to see and not really worth it), which is a bit dodgy, then took a local bus to Antigua where we stayed 4 days. We got up at 5 am on Friday to climb an active volcano, but it was cloudy so we couldnt see anything! We could hear it rumbling, but you are not allowed to climb to the cone anymore as tourists have been badly hit by falling rocks/lava etc! It also used to be risky for robberies and even rapes/murders too, until each tour group started taking armed guards with machetes!!! Then Saturday we took what should have been 2 local buses (affectionately known as chicken buses!) to Panajachel by a beautiful lake surrounded by 4 volcanoes, but it turned out to be 4 buses! Luckily we had only small backpacks with us! Then we took a tourist shuttle to a local market called Chicicastenanga on Sunday (fab but quite expensive as now very touristy, supposed to be the best in Guatemala!) then back to Antigua for Sunday night before catching an overnight bus to Flores, arriving at 6 am today. Phew! The bus was ok, and they even gave us a Burger King as our supper!! The best buses yet were in Argentina, only 20 quid for 24 hours and we got meals which incluided wine and even a glass of champagne to help us sleep!! (I was a bit disconcerted when I woke up still hugging the glass the following morning though, very Ab Fab Patsy style!!!)

We are off to Tikal tomorrow to climb lots of ruins, but it is very hot and humid here, plus we keep getting torrential rain, so it will be fun with all the mossies!!Staying overnight to see sunset/sunrise before flying to Cancun on Firday. Only found out about the hurricane after we booked the flight, but I think things should be ok by then, I hope!

Thats all folks! Look forward to hearing from you all soon.

Love Jules

Now in Peru and Suffering.....

2006-05-12T14:44:00.000Z

Hi guys

....from altitude sickness!! Just kidding, it's not too bad really as we have been taking it easy. We flew into Lima on Monday night and mercifully got safely to our hostel ok - had heard rumours that it was a bit unsafe at night and we flew in at 11.30 pm! Then we got a cheap flight to Cusco on Wednesday as we wanted at least 3 days to get used to the high altitude. Lima was sea level, so having got used to 2800m in Quito, we went back down, then up agian to 3300m - it does play havoc with your breathing and even walking up a small flight of stairs makes you out of breath and dizzy! We are drinking lots of coca tea to overcome this - sounds like a great excuse to have something made from the same plant as cocaine if you ask me!! It doesn't taste of anything particular either so its not disgusting medicine!

Apart from that, I had my first taste of alpaca meat last night, and have bought a nice warm hat and bedsocks with lamas on them, made of alpaca wool! Very sexy!! Cusco itself is really, really pretty, with lots of colonial spanish architecture and the Andes in the background. We only have Friday to get completely used to the altitude, before starting the Inca Trail which I am so looking forward to but dreading at the same time! I know it is gonna nearly kill me, but hopefully it will be worth it!! My back has been niggling a bit, but it tends to just be when I sit for too long, and there won't be much of that on the Inca Trail! So it will be the rest of my body that packs up instead.....!!!

Guess that's all for now - next time you hear from me will be after the Inca Trail, which will mean I have survived!! God willing...! If you don't hear from me straight away it may be because we have taken another tour imediately after - we want to go on an 8 day Amazon trip and had hoped to have at least 1 day's rest, but we may be leaving the day after the Inca Trail, eek!

Thanks for all your mails, I will reply to them individually when I can.

Love Jules

xx

P.s. Just in case you're not sure what the Inca Trail involves (cos I didn't til we booked it!) , day 1 you spend about 7 hours doing an easy climb; day 2 you do a "challenging" climb up to 4200 m, including going over the top of "dead woman's pass" - wonder who they named that after??; day 3 is all downhill, then day 4 you get up about 5 am and watch the sun rise over Machu Pichu, before spending about 3 hours looking around it and then catching a bus back down the mountain. Oh my.....

Now I Have Survived The Amazon Adventure....!!

2005-05-29T14:52:00.001Z

Hi everyone

Yes we are back after 8 days in the jungle, covered in mosquito bites, full of relief there were no fatal incidents, and we even survived a bee sting (me), falling over a tree laden with army ants that bite and escaping being bitten but badly bruising a leg (also me!) and a tick (Jonny - which had to be burned off with a cigarette then twisted so it would let go, yuk! The guide mused that the tick opens its mouth to scream from the heat which is how you can get it out of your skin!!)

Apologies in advance, this is a long email, so you may wanna read it when you have more time....!

I have to say I am so glad the trip is over, though I am glad I did it. Unfortunately I am such a sissy I don´t particularly like the dark, so spending 3 nights in a tent at a campsite where there is no electricity was a bit of an overenthusiastic oversight on my part!! I was so bowled over by the fact we may see monkeys, sloths etc in the wild I completely blocked out the fact that there would be tarantulas (I hate spiders!), snakes (don´t mind them, but these are poisonous and 1 there is no anti venom in Peru for! 1 type will even chase you and can move faster than a man can run....!!), mosquitos (I have so many bites, despite spraying every part of my body with deet, that I look like a dot-to-dot picture!!) lots of hours spent on a boat (bit boring) and even more hours in a bus (even more boring!)....but despite everything it was absolutely amazing and now I have got over the negative I can look at the positive....... we saw about 6 different types of monkey, a sloth, hundreds of beautiful birds, white caymen, black caymen,capybara (kinda like giant hamsters), stunning butterflies that are as big as your hand, giant otters and, probably best of all..... a jaguar!!

Basically, the trip consisted of 5 of us - an Austrian couple who were on their honeymoon (not my idea of a honeymoon for sure!), an American girl and Jonny and me. We started at 6 am on Saturday and travelled by bus for the whole day through the cloud forest, stopping to look at the flora, fauna, birdlife etc, and arrived for our 1st night at a very comfortable lodge (with electricity!) just outside a small town. The next day, we got to our boat and spent the whole day on that, stopping for short walks to see more birds and plantlife, arriving for our 2nd night at a lodge without electricity and with a half mile walk for the loo! Here we also had our 1st night hike - and I vowed it would be my last!! Now call me crazy, but surely most people stay out of the jungle at night in case there are snakes and spiders?? Not us, we went LOOKING for them - aargh!!!! I was so scared... everyone else was "wow look at this lovely plant, wow look at this spider web" I was crying inside "GET ME OUT OF HERE"!!! I did manage to get a pretty picture of a tree frog and a sleeping bird though.... From there on in it was even more down hill for me as night 3-6 were spent sleeping in a tent on a covered platform (I was grateful for small mercies!) where there was the possibility of hearing armadillos outside in the night, then being woken by howler monkeys (this I liked the sound of). However, we were warned to be very careful where we walked in the night as a coral snake had been seen at the campsite a week ago - these are a poisonous variety! Days 3-6 were fabulous for seeing animals, we saw the howler monkeys, white and brown cappuchin monkeys, spider monkeys, even woolly monkeys (the others missed these as I had refused to go on the afternoon hike and they were in the trees at our campsite - haa haa!), giant otters etc etc. But on day 7, just as I was starting to relax a bit, 1 of the major parts of the trip was to walk to a mammal clay lick try to see tapirs - however, I didn´t know it was a night hike of 1 hour through mud up to our knees, to sit and wait for at least an hour in total darkness in a hide, then another 1 hour back!!! I was so close to not going, but I was determined not to miss out.... then after waiting for 80 mins nothing came!!! We did get to see fire flies, an electric eel, an agouti paca (look it up in an encyclopedia, I don´t know either!),a possum and a rat though! I am happy to say we also didn´t see any snakes or spiders (we saw 1 half dead snake that was not poisonous, and the others went to see a tarantula 1 night but I stayed alone in the food hut - then panicked when I realised the candles were burning out and Jonny had my torch!)

Another cool part of the trip, besides seeing the animals, was visiting the "airport" on day 6 to say farewell to Isobella, the American and seeing some beautiful red macaws. They were actually pets and would sit on your arm - in fact, the 1 would not leave Jonny and we thought we would have to bring it home! The departure lounge (in fact the whole airport!) was a hut with a straw roof, and the plane held about 10 people. Before the plane came in, our tour guide and crew were even playing frisby on the runway, then when the plane landed the luggage was taken over in a wheelbarrow! We really wished we had booked to fly out as it would have been fab flying over the jungle then seeing the Andes reappear... but it was $200 more so we opted for the bus - yawn!

Well, I guess that just about sums up the trip for me - hope you get an idea of my living hell!!! Seriously though, you know me, I tell it how it is - perhaps you all won´t be quite so jealous now?! It´s no holiday you know.... :-) However, it was still an amazing adventure and I have no regrets... or any plans to repeat it! (Jonny did reluctantly warn me that most of the Central American part of our trip may involve a lot of jungle travel.....!)

Lots of love

Jules & Jonny

Now I Have Survived The Amazon Adventure....!!

2005-05-29T14:52:00.000Z

Hola mi amigos!

2005-05-10T14:40:00.000Z

Hi guys

Just a quickie to let you know we are well and having an amazing time so far! We have been away for 2 weeks now and already we have done so much! We fly to Peru tonight, arriving in Lima at midnight which I am not too happy about as it is a bit of a dodgy city, but we have a hostel booked so it should be ok...

Meanwhile, we have been to the Galapagos Islands - absolutely incredible, out of this world, undescribable - been to see a glacier, visited Banos which is at the foot of an active volcano and spent lots of dosh at a local market!! The glacier trip was by car 4800 metres up the side of the tallest active volcano in the world, and was supposed to be a climb of about 300 metres on foot to the glacier. Jonny managed it, but as soon as I got out of the car the altitude hit me and I felt sick, dizzy and got a headache! Needless to say, I was advised not to do the climb as it could make me very ill.... so I had to sit in the car for 3 hours, and still felt unwell in there!! The only consolation is that it is the highest I have been in my life, and even the highest point of the Inca Trail is not so high, by which time I will have had 3 or 4 days to acclimatise.

The Galapagos cruise was probably 1 of the highlights of my life so far - the animals are other-worldly, including marine iguanas which are the only ones in the world that can swim, birds flying overhead that look prehistoric, sealions that will play with you while you snorkel, and birds that nest so close to the path you almost step on them! We saw several blue-footed boobies hatch, and got to pose for photos with a penguin and iguanas and sealions... I even got to swim with turtles.

Anyway, I am sure you have heard enough, so that´s it until Peru. Have you got any goss for me??

Love

Jules