http://blogs.bootsnall.com/michaelloken Me and my gorgeous lady have been away for 9 months. Here's the final two... Sun, 19 Jul 2009 00:58:07 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en A new, non-traveling blog, can be found at http://michaellokensblog.blogspot.com why not come and have a look.  Feel free to add me on twitter; michaelloken http://blogs.bootsnall.com/michaelloken/new-blog.html Must be quick, times about to run out on prepaid internet. LAX is the nightmare is was last time, the unbelivably rude staff almost made me want to kill, including one memeber of the trumped out bouncer squad who stand at the metal detectors being such a Cambridge Universtiy Netball Team ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/michaelloken/lax-the-perils-of.html Some photos for me mam. A mayan lady selling trinkets in Chichicastenango Just a couple of the many masks available to buy at the market. Lauren contemplates the full meaning of the words Rain Forrest Tikal Some bird I saw giving me the eye at Tikal The next few pics are from Samuc Champey, a beautiful ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/michaelloken/my-last-two-weeks-in-pictures.html Spent the last few days up in Flores, a picturesque island that boasts being the capital of the Peten province. It really is lovely and the lake surrounding it is large and clear but it is spoiled slightly by the fact that every third shop is an internet cafe/travel agents, ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/michaelloken/flores-tikal-and-lanquin-yes-i%c2%b4ve-lazily-avoided-posting-for-the-past-few-days.html Much literature has been published from a combination of embassies and travel guides warning about traveling at night. The overwhelming majority (aka all) of which strongly advises against overnught travel even with the luxury ´1st class´busses. Still, what the books dont tell you is that on the whole, these times ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/michaelloken/took-the-overnight-didn%c2%b4t-die.html Yesterday marked exactly three weeks until we step off the plane in England. I´m not sure how I feel about this just yet, it´s been a long time since I´ve been home after all. One thing about knowing I´m home soon, is that, largley due to a severe running out of ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/michaelloken/the-final-stretch.html Visited Guatemala´s biggest market today, it was alright, a little meh. The main problem with markets of nearly any size is that they do their best to imitate an old cartoon show. That is to say, when Scoobie and the gang run away from the crazy amuzement park monster/swamp beast ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/michaelloken/chichitenago.html Totally forgot to mention but on my first night here in San Pedro I survived my first ever earthquake. Alright, so it was so weak that I thought it might have been the people in the room below us slamming their door. (Subsequently disproved when the people below us did slam ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/michaelloken/i-survived.html San Pedro is a pretty swell place. Sort of. There´s loads of bars here and new age things that I know my mum, a reiki master, would love. The locals all say a friendly ´beunos dias´to you as you pass, but here lies the rub. It is pretty difficult to see ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/michaelloken/san-pedro%c2%b4s-hippy-community.html The past 24 hours saw me entertaining thoughts of boiling lake water to use as drinking water, catching fish with my bare hands and having to hollow out a street dog to sleep inside of to fend off the cold of night. I am talking, of course, about being royally screwed, ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/michaelloken/disaster-only-narrowly-averted.html