20/07/2003

hola mum and dad! finally have time and pesos to let you know what I have

been up to! Thankfully we have left the expensive 1st world countries behind

us...from now on we´ll be travelling through the lands of corruption, chaos

and bargains! My goodness, Amsterdam, England, Ireland and ny were such a

drain on the resources. Nevermind, you only live once...

have already filled dad in on all the curries we managed to fit-in in our

short time in London. well and truly jalfrezzied by the time we left. can´t

remember if i mentioned we hopped out to brick lane in the east end? shame

we didn´t do that when you both came over to visit me...would have been

right up your alley, or lane..

Had a fantastic time in ireland. we hired a car for four days and travelled

around the south. we decided we´d had enough of cities by the time we hit

ireland and decide to visit small towns only. we drove through wicklow and

checked out the ol´glendalough hotel. still going strong and probably still

paying their staff a pitence. gorgeous part of the country though. drove

down to the waterford coast and stayed there for the night. Then onto the

dingle peninsular where we stayed in dingle town, a place famed for it´s

abundance of pubs...we did our best to source them all out! Had a good night

listening to a traditional session with the locals. then we went onto doolin

(one of the towns i went to last time) lots of good bands playing there.

great craic was had. back to dublin and more guinness to sample. All in all,

still one of my favourite places on earth. people are a laugh, the stout is

terrific, music´s fantastic and the sausage´s are a treat. You two will have

to get overthere again one day. Unfortunately didn´t have enough to make it

to Enniskillen and trace back the roots - ah well another reason to return?

also, kept my eyes peeled for the elusive Halsall as we passed through

bog-land, but he was not to be spotted.

On to NY, bloody crazy place. hot, smelly, dirty, loud and sickenly

patriotic. Greg enjoyed it more then myself. Though we found the locals to

be really friendly. We meet a guy on the train on the way in from the

airport and he was welll-taken by us ´aussies´. he invited us to stay with

him and his wife for the evening and cook us a bbq. the last place on earth

i expected to find that kind of hospitality. we declined, the tattoo on his

arm of the american flag, the wtc  and ´ god bless america 11/09/01´  was a

bit disconcerting....It truly is one of the insulated  and ignorant places

on earth. the stars and stripes are flying everywhere, from every apartment,

every car, shop and buliding. we spoted a pick-up truck with no less then 10

flags stuck to it , waving in the polluted breeze. You can get ´freedom´

numberplates, complete with stars, stripes and eagle! and EVERYONE walks

around in ´freedom´ t-shirts!! truly bizarre. Nobody picked we were

australian, they all thought our accent was british! and one shop-keeper was

speaking to me as though english was my second language! it was an

experience, but i am not in a rush to return...

now in mexico on the carribean, we have decide to have ´a holiday from our

holiday´ ! we are feeling a bit exhausted after three months of moving and

exploring so we have decide to stay put here on isla mujares for a whole 5

nights and relax!!! have bought a couple of books, booked into a snorlkling

trip around the reef here, have sourced out the various ´happy hours´ in

town. it´s well known that pina coladas always taste better when one is

free....Yep, not planning on doing much at all. Was chatting to a guy last

night who mentioned that you can hire a boat to take you over to cuba from

here - it's an overnight boat and it'a supposed to be cheaper then flying,

so we might look into that. sounds like a cool adventure - almost like the

´revolution days´ but with less gun-fire and obvioulsy going in the opposite

direction...almost like revolution days...Anyhoos, Mexico is great so far, a

bit crazy and I like that. will fill you in more, once we settle in.

hope all is well at home and you enjoyed your trip to sydney! did you go

back to the malaysian restuarant? love to hear all the details. did colleen,

vern  and chris attend again? will try and call you on the 25th, mum. can

you email the mexican country code for me??? i have lost the list!! have

tried to call the telecom international free call number a few times but

it´s not connecting...Also, feel terrible i didn´t get in contact with The

Boy for his birthday (once again connection problems!) - let him know he´ll

get a special treat on my return!

has the draftsman finished the plans yet? do they still think the house will

be completed by christmas? you'll have to scan those colour schemes over to

me!! don´t do anything drastic, we don´t want a repete of the ensuite

disaster!! Also dad, have been meaning to say, the pictures your sending to

me arn´t downloading...can you put them in a different format? also I am

unable to get into the website - can you send another link?

better go and prepare for a siesta! adios and lots and lots of love!!! love

cara XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

22/07/2003

not much news here -we are really enjoying doing nada here on the isla

mujares. Went on a snorkling trip around the reef today - that was really

great  - plan on popping into the book shop on the way home to pick up

another trashy read....haven't looked at the backpacks in four days ...it's

wonderfully relaxing.

apparently they have stopped the cheap overnight boat rides to cuba and

no-one is willing to give us an inner-tube so we may have to fork-out for

this airfare. They're not too expensive and we are determined to get there

before castro drops off..should be a great experience. We'll probably be

flying in a couple of days..I am not sure whether they have the internet in

Cuba ?-  I may be out of cyber reach for a few weeks.

re: wedding dress-wont be  required at my nuddist ceremony on koh chang...

what was it like?

tAlso, tried to call using the mexican calling code - didn't work! bloody

telstra.

all my love. Cara XXX ps- will be on the net for the next ten minutes if you

want to shoot one back to me.