This is the last entry for a while. After seventeen months, twenty-seven countries, fifty-nine books, eight flights, two campervans and one robbery we'll be back home in the UK very soon. The countries you'll know about, the books include three by John Grisham, the flights and vans are self-explanatory. The robbery was an unfortunate end to our time in Latin America at the hands of a gang of mask-wearing, gun-toting Mexican bandits who hijacked our bus in the middle of the night somewhere in the hills near Palenque. Despite scaring everyone on board witless and relieving all of cash and us of our Ipod, the not-very-good robbers managed to miss our cameras, computer, travellers cheques and credit cards which is something of a bonus. The real bonus in this story is my new nephew Luke, who made his entrance into the world in a Cornwall hospital at the exact moment we were being frisked by a man in a balaclava. Here he is at a week or so old....



A week or so later we were pleased to leave Mexico for the US, specifically San Francisco....





After a couple of days in the city we bought a tent and picked up our rental car....



It's a Chevrolet Slow, a free upgrade from the Dodge Small we had originally booked, and comes with a full plastic interior and a clock. We took Highway 1 north up the coast, camping by the beach on the way. Lovely and warm during the day, freezing cold at night...



Once into Oregon we turned inland to Crater Lake....



and the Mckenzie Pass...



then further north to a ping-pong tournament in Portland at the house of Naked Alex, boyfriend of GingerfromMexico, and to camp in the back garden at Jessica and Taya's house.

We don't have any pictures of Naked Alex.

Seattle next...





where we couchsurfed with Jeff and Angel and I climbed the Troll...



before heading further north again and across the Canadian border to couchsurf with Lila in Vancouver...







There is a dog in that armchair...



Then our first proper turn for home as we made our way east to the Rocky Mountains, via a shopping trip for warmer sleeping bags and the Dawson Falls...



Once in the Rockies it was -10 degrees at night, a great view from the tent but a little parky...





The Columbia Glacier around the corner from our campsite...



And generally spectacular scenery...







Latik Lake just south of the park...





Turning south once more we crossed into Montana and the US and then the equally spectacular Yellowstone Park...







Lower Falls...



Elk and buffalo everywhere...







but no bears, despite using marshmallows as bait. Old Faithful...



and other old geysers...





Leaving Yellowstone we stopped for a couple of days in Thermopolis, Wyoming, with Linda and Coulter (thanks Jaime)...



and to see our first homecoming football game...



Next stop Mount Rushmore, smaller than you think but very impressive nonetheless...



Lots and lots of old people there. And lots and lots of prairie dogs in the Badlands...





Having spent too long in the mountains, we had a three-day drive across states that begin with 'I' (firstly flat and slightly dull Iowa, then flat and slightly dull southern Illinois, and finally flat and slightly dull Indiana) to reach Ohio to stay with Marty and Liz (aunt to Sarah). We arrived in time for a party to celebrate Marty's 70th...



Sarah and Liz...



Molly and Collette...



and all of us...



North again and Canada again to visit Chris and family in Toronto and then back into the US to the Adirondacks in New York State to get cold in the tent by a lake for a few days before making our way north again to Montreal. Couchsurfing again with Louis and then on to Quebec City for more couchsurfing with Benoit and a few struggles with the French-Canadian accent. A beautiful city if little freezing cold and very rainy...



With only a couple of weeks left we made our way south through Maine...



to stay with Kim in the north of the state, Elizabeth and Tim in the south and Mark in Boston, all via the magic of Couchsurfing. Then we'll be with Sarah's cousin Ben and family in New York until we take our flight back to London.

We'll be around for about six weeks before we leave again, this time for France to run a ski chalet in the Alps for the winter. A proper job will just have to wait....

This one might be a long one...we have been busy in Central America...sort of...

Just before we left Cuenca in Ecuador we stumbled across a demonstration by a handful of heavy metal fans....the sign reads (roughly) 'Metal is Art and Culture - Respect It.' Make of that what you will...





That's masking tape, not paint. Not painful to remove at all. Onwards to Banos for some mountain air and lying around in hot springs in the rain...





Next we bypasssed Quito for the market town of Otavalo where we intentionally met up with Martyn and Sarah, who we had first met on New Zealand's South island, again in the North Island and then by sheer chance in a pavement cafe in Peru. Funny how you can not see your next door neighbour for six months yet randomly bump into people on different continents. Especially when it turns out there are mutual connections back in sunny Scotland.

We had a very brief look round Quito before flying north for an equally brief look round Costa Rica en route to Nicaragua and then a week at the beach in San Juan Del Sur in the south, before taking the ferry to Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua....





At the north end of the lake is the beautiful city of Granada...







We were there for a week before another bus north to Leon. You wait all year to see a Nicaraguan drag queen and then six come along at once....



We took a side trip to the beach here too. It is rainy season...





which makes going to work interesting for some....





After almost a month in Nicaragua it was time to head further north to Guatemala and meet my (Mike) extended family. Lots of pictures for the folks back home and in Australia in this next bit....

This is Teo III, my first cousin once removed...



and his wife Elizabeth...



their daughters Lila (left) and Xristha with Sarah...



at a party for their son Teo IV, here with his son Teo V, and Nicolle (belongs to Lila) and Ainhoa (Xristha)...



Teo IV again with Jano (husband of Xristha) and Francis (Lila)..



This is all of us, including Teo's wife Jimena...



And again just for the folks back home, Teo III is the nephew of my grandmother Helen...



and grandson of Seton Guthrie....



Hope you're all paying attention. There will be a test later. Almost forgot, this is Goyo...



Teo III and Teo IV took us to their coffee and avocado farm three hours or so out of the city...this is the house, the mill and Sarah receiving her first lesson in avocado-farming...







Good commute...



Next we spent a few days in Antigua, another beautiful colonial city...





where it also rained...(tis the season)...





We also took a trip to Lake Atitlan where unsurprisingly it also rained...



Although a few hours later...





(Thank you Manolo)

Panajachel on the shores of the lake...



On the way back to the city we saw the legacy of Hurricane Agatha....



More of the children and all...

Teo V...



Ainhoa...





Nicolle...



and Teo V telling Ainhoa about the witches under her bed...







Elizabeth and Xristha



and finally...



Eventually we felt we should give Elizabeth her spare room back so we took the night bus north to Peten to visit the Mayan ruins at Tikal. After weeks of being spoilt rotten we ended up sharing a mouldy tent outside the ruins with a selection of voracious insects, got up at 4am to watch the black of night turn to a lighter grey and went off to climb some spectacular pyramids...





Itchy.



Coatamundi...



To recover we hitched a ride across the border into Mexico...



and to the Antigua and Granada-like city of San Cristobal de Las Casas where we have managed to do very little...





apart from the odd bike ride...



and shopping trip woth our new friend Ginger...



The sign warns the bridge can only take five people every two minutes. Mexican health and safety.





We have been in Latin America for a few months now. These are some of the things you think about at 4am in a Mexican bus station:

1. No-one has any change.
2. Shoeshine boys will offer to polish your flip-flops.



3. Avocado goes with everything. So does lime.
4. Chill the glass. Add salt and lime (see above). Add beer. Repeat as required.
5. If the shopkeeper does have change, it will have been kept in her bra.
6. Bank notes kept in a bra go a bit soggy after a while.
7. It takes ages to wash shoe polish off your feet.
8. Louder is better.
9. Gordon Blue is always on the menu.
10. If they say the bus will arrive in 15 minutes, you still have three or four hours to wait.
11. No-one accepts soggy banknotes.
12. Pretending to be a cat is not an effective sales technique. Just saying.

We have ten days or so left here in Mexico before we fly to San Francisco and start the drive in the direction of home. On the way we want to stroke a grizzly. Apparently they like it.