In mid January, our crew departed Mexico for a crazy two days of flying to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. Becuse our flight fron Cancun was messed up we had to fly to Los Angeles via Washington DC. ( Check that on a map). We arrived bleary eyed at 3 am then attempted to locate our luggage which was mistakenly sent on the direct flight we originally had been booked on. The luggage was there but every one of our Canadian flag tags were removed from the bags??? Once we checked into our hotel we slept late and got ready for a longer flight to Rarotonga. Before we headed over to the airport, we stopped at a Denny's restaurant for a brunch. After two months in Mexico and eating their cuisine, the cholesterol fest that we experienced here was almost an embarassment to our common sense. Each meal was easily twice the size of a "normal" meal. Not one of us could eat all of our food. I thought about how many malnourished Mexican children our leftovers could have fed. Later we all felt upset stomachs from the influx of grease and overeating.
The flight left at 7 pm and took 14 hours. Along the way we deplaned in Tahiti for a short while then continued on to Rarotonga, where we arrived at 5 am. Here arrivals are not permitted through customs unless they have accomodations already arranged. A collection of guesthouses, hotels and packpackers hostels had booths ready to set up the necessary bookings. We stayed at Vara's, a jumble of buildings situated on Muri beach. This is one beautiful island! The kids all thought it looked like the setting for Jurassic Park, without the dinosaurs. The only thing that took a bite out of us here were the prices. It is a very expensive country, and uses New Zealand currency as well as some of its own. We stayed in the lower level of a house halfway up a mountain. The views of the countryside and ocean were fantastic. Near the end of our stay we learned how to pick, husk,and crack the coconuts found everywhere and were rewarded with bouts of diarrhea that persited for a number of days to follow. There were also chickens everywhere. Wild ones, that appeared as if by magic from the bushes and fields. Are they sacred? Do people not catch and eat these things? A few more days of price gouging would have definitely tempted us to help ourselves to this KFC breeding ground. Although the weather was very hot and humid we only had two rain free days during our 8 day stay. We rented a Suzuki 4X4 for three of those days and really had fun exploring the island's offerings. We found a great place to swim at a waterfall not far from our place. They also have a huge outdoor market on the weekends. We soon learned that ants were the nemesis of the tropics and any food left out was soon covered in them. Geckos provided some entertainment as well, as they were continually zipping around on the walls each evening. When we smacked them, the tails fell off and continued to flail aimlessly for a time. It was freaky!

Cancun November 1, 2004

Our family arrived safely in Cancun and we then began the task of negotiating the guantlet of people waiting past the arrivals area to get outside. It was horrible. Talk about a wild scene as salespeople trying to sell everything from car rentals, hotels, time share tours and who knows what else attempted to get our attention as we quickly srolled through the corridor. Eventually we got to our hotel where we spent one night before heading across on the ferry to Isla Mujeres where we planned to spend the next month. Downtown Cancun is not a pretty place, but it is full of bars, restaurants and a huge market designed with the tourist in mind. The prices were reasonable, however, and bartering is the acceptable protocol when making any purchase.

When we headed across to Isla Mujeres, my first impression was that the turquoise blue waters of the Caribbean Sea were reason enough to come here. There are a number of ferry operators here, and Ultramar is the biggest but also the most expensive. Later, we discovered that the Tintorella ferries, located at a smaller terminal beside Playa Del Nino were considerably cheaper. After spending one night in the main town of Isla Mujeres, we began the task of finding accomodations for the month of November. This time of year, the tourist traffic is slow and the astute traveller can negotiate some excellent deals if patient. The main townsite here on the island is compact and a really great place to enjoy beaches, shopping, nightlife, and dining. We decided to explore further and found ourselves a beautiful condo with three bedrooms at a bargain price. This place was right across the road from a gorgeous beach resort and even had its own swimming pool, something not common on the island. Our condo was on the third floor and overlooked the sea. Each morning I would sojourn on the balcony enjoying my coffee while pinching myself in disbelief that I was really here in this tropical paradise. Since my wife and I were homeschooling our three children, we usually spent each morning doing school lessons, then took in an activity during the afternoon. More often than not the afternoon was spent down at the beach resort where two or three boatloads of tourists would come for a few hours then leave us the entire place to ourselves for the rest of the day. We loved it there at Playa Indios. Sometimes, we took a ten minute taxi ride into town to buy groceries at the Super San Francisco store and to use the internet. Once in a while we ate out or bought some souvenirs at the shops. Fish is the preferred meal choice here and it is very reasonably priced and tastily prepared. Usually one meal cost 50 to 70 pesos. We loved the Sol beer too.

Some activities that are highly recommended are the snorkelling tours which cost between $15- 20 US that last for nearly 4 four hours and include a tasty fish lunch. They provide the equipment. We were amazed at the fantastic tropical fish environment every place we dove. The tours were so much fun that we did one three times!

Garaffon Park is also a great way to spend the day. There is snorkelling, a scenic sea walk, a spacious pool, music, and plenty of igunas.The all inclusive deal is probably the best value. Try the zip line. It is a blast!

For another exciting day, we rented a golf cart, which is used here in place of rental cars. In less than an hour you can drive the circumference of the island, but it is much more pleasant to stop at the many shops or lookout points along the way and simply enjoy the beauty of the island. Punta Sur has some excellent views of the sea and is Mexico's easternmost point.

At the end of the month we were sad to leave our island. Isla Mujeres is definitely worth a visit.

Since leaving our home in Prince Albert Saskatchewan on July 1, 2004, much has happened. We began our journey packed and prepared to tent our way around Canada and the perimeter of the USA. By late July we had passed through 7 provinces and reached the Atlantic coast. My wife Ina and I ran the Barrington Nova Scotia Marathon on July 25 on a sultry overcast day. We thoroughly enjoyed the Maritime provinces and were especially taken with the beauty of Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton Island. Lobster and seafood are to die for in these regions. The people are friendly and very hospitable. We moved on through the eastern US states on our way to Florida during mid August. Boston, NYC, and Washington DC were all stopovers for us. The size and pace of these places was something we were not at all accustomed to. Quite a culture shock. However, having said that, Boston's historic core, and the Ground Zero site of New York were well worth the visit. In Washington, we spent considerable time browsing the free Smithsonian museums, learning a great deal about art, science and aerospace. After a stopover at Murfreesboro TN, where we had an enjoyable visit with a relation of my wife, who had retired there, we carried on to Georgia, and camped in the sweltering heat of Stone Mountain Park near Atlanta. What a great place. We were most impressed with the free laser show against the backdrop of the mountain, in spite of the pro military theme that became more obvious as the production progressed. Next came Florida, and our family spent 4 glorious days in the historic city of St Augustine. By this time, we had discovered the discount coupon booklets that we found at tourist information offices and local restaurants. These valuable booklets contained great deals on hotels virtually everywhere in the south, and we continued to use them all the way across the country until we reached the Canadian border in mid October. This effectively meant that camping was no longer cost effective as a hotel room could be had for as little as $35 while camping was often $25- 35 per night. While in Florida, we anxiously watched the news for updates on the hurricanes threatening the region. Though it was a tense few days we were able to enjoy the huge swells created by the storm and had some most exciting days jumping in the 3 metre waves crashing on the shoreline. But, in the end we decided to leave just as Frances was about to reach landfall. The city was deserted and a large portion of the population had boarded up their shops and homes before heading to safer territory. Early one Saturday morning we packed our things and moved on to Gulf Shores Alabama. A week or so later a new hurricane threatened us here, so we left once more and drove to New Orleans, La. By this time Ivan had struck Gulf Shores and was moving back out to sea. Now ther was talk of a third hurricane aimed at the New Orleans area. Can this be for real! For the final time we drove off to avoid a hurricane. This time we found ourselves in Texas, along with numerous other refugees fleeing Florida and Alabama. By mid September the threat of further hurricanes had passed and we were safely able to maintain a planned itinerary. After stops in Houston, Albequerque, and Flagstaff, we stayed a week at the Grand Canyon. A couple of noteworthy points: near Albequerque we stopped at a place just west of the city called Acoma Sky City. This is a 1000 year old Pueblo Indian community perched high on a Mesa overlooking the valley below. Not to be missed. Also we visited the Meteor Crater on the east side of Flagstaff and it too was a worthwhile attraction. However, the Grand canyon was the best! We camped out for a couple of nights and toured around the area but the lure of hiking down into the canyon finally overcame us. We got a back country pass, bought some supplies and booked into the campsites along the Bright Angel Canyon route. It was amazing! It took us 2 half days of fairly strenuous hiking down the rugged trail before we reached Phantom Ranch, a veritible oasis in the canyon. We spent the night there at the campground then decided to do the hike back up in one day. The distance each way was close to 14 km and we felt we could do it in less than 6 hours. The key was to get up and be ready to hike by first light, and by so doing, avoid the intense heat in the depths of the canyon by midday. We were all up and ready to leave by 5:45 am and even at this early hour more than half of the campers had already risen and some had even begun the hike by miner's light mounted on their heads. we made it to the top in 4:45, well before our 6 hour goal, but not without difficulty. Our oldest son Jordan hit the wall at the midway point and struggled to complete the upward journey, which oddly enough seemed easier to me than hiking down. We were all proud of ourselves for successfully completing the hike and Iam sure it will be one of the highlights of our trip. After a fabulously satisfying shower for each of us we headed off to Las Vegas for three nights of hedonistic enticement. Then we made our way to the California coast and spent time in San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco where we took in the usual tourist activities of Seaworld, Disney, Universal, and Fisherman's Wharf. In SF, we also toured Alcatraz, which on this particular day had a former prisoner autographing copies of a book he had written about his life of crime. Ina bought one and had it signed. Though California was enjoyable we were experiencing theme park saturation and glad to move on to quieter pursuits. In northern California we ran the Humboldt Redwoods Marathon during a torrential rain and found the experience rewarding as well as very scenic. A couple of days later we crossed the border back home into Canada and felt a wonderful feeling of pride as we entered British Columbia. We spent the night with Mary Wong, an old friend of Ina's and the next day continued on to Kelowna, where we stayed at my daughter Vanessa and her boyfriend Blake's place for the next three nights. They treated us very well and it was so great to be able to feel settled again even if it was only for a few days. Our next stop was Calgary, where we stayed in a comfy hotel and visited with my sister Carla. we even got to see our hometown hockey team, the Raiders paly the Calgary Hitmen. The Raiders lost, the bums. Finally we reached Saskatchewan, and Ina's hometown of Shaunavon where we spent 4 night with her parents and had a relaxing time visiting with family. On November 1 we fly to Mexico.

My wife and I are teachers in our 40's from Prince Albert, SK, Canada. This year we are travelling the world with our kids, Jordan 14, Brandon 13, and Morgan 11. We rented our house for the year, and began our Quest for the Globe on July 1, 2004. For the first 4 months we drove across Canada to the East coast, then headed south to Forida and Hurricanes galore. From there we went west to California and then north to British Columbia and back to Saskatchewan. In all 25000 KM, 9 provinces and 24 states. We are now in Mexico for November, December and the first half of January. Next we go to the Cook Islands, New Zealand, Australia and SE Asia. In May we go to Egypt then to Europe, where we will tour around for two months in a motor home before heading back home via Newfoundland by the end of July 2005.