Floating

- Floating from travel sickness because I´ve spent the best part of a day on a coach.

- Floating because I still haven´t managed to eat a proper meal for nearly 4 days.

- Floating because my accommodation tonight looks like this:


The Catamaran Island Hotel

Antigua (former capital of Guatemala) was another beautiful city, nestled amongst the mountains - and some active volcanoes. A bit of a tourist haven and crawling with language students - though if I decided to do an immersion course in Spanish - I think I could just about drag myself over here for a couple of months.

We left there pretty early this morning and drove out to Rio Dulce via the capital, Guatemala City, at rush-hour (not a pleasant looking place with some serious slums in the rift valley running through it) and stopped at some more Mayan ruins at Quirigua. No challenging steps this time - but some of the largest stelae in the Mayan world (and a lot of sun and biting insects).

I´m playing on the internet in our hotel while my fellow travellers have some dinner. I´ve played it safe with a bit of bread and some rehydration salts, as we´ve got a boat trip out to the coast in the morning - and I don´t want to miss another precious sight-seeing day (it´s not like I´m about to waste away!).

Right - I´m off to stare at the stars and listen to the waves glugging around my cabin. It´s a tough life.

Montezuma

Apparently he was an Aztec Emperor from 1502 - 1520.
I´ve no idea what sort of a man he was - pretty evil if he deserves to be attributed to the symptoms I´ve experienced over the past couple of days.

I´m in Guatemala now - and the little I´ve seen of it so far has been lovely. We´re probably being spoilt by only going to the most picturesque sights, but it has a good feel to it.

More later, when I´ve had a chance to experience the place without having to dash to the nearest conveniences every 5 minutes!

Hola!

...from San Cristobal de las Casas.

We´re currently about 2100m above sea level - when it´s sunny it´s roasting, but once the sun disappears over the Mexican hills the temperature drops dramatically.

Anyone who was jealous of my trip to sunnier climes will be pleased to hear that so far we´ve had fog, rain, gales (ok - a strong sea breeze) and I had a near frost-bitten nose this morning, but that´s more to do with the altitude here than inclement weather.

I arrived in Merida on Saturday night in a typically jet-lagged state (not helped by the 6th form Valentines bash which raged on all night at the Gatwick hotel I´d hoped would provide a nice restful start to my holiday). Gatwick itself was also pretty nightmarish - absolutely packed. It´s easy to forget about half-term holiday dates when you don´t have children!

We´ve covered more than 600km over the past few days - with stops at fascinating Mayan ruins (Uxmal and Palenque) and impressive waterfalls (Agua Azul and Misol-Ha) to break the travelling time. The ruins in particular were fantastic - Palenque is my favourite so far. I probably enjoyed it more because I actually went up some of the pyramids this time. My stupid fear of heights got the better of me at Uxmal - considering pyramids feature pretty heavily in this trip it was better to fight my better judgment and go for it. Turns out the climbing isn´t a problem. Pride has so far stopped me from descending on my backside but I´ve been told that Tikal will be steeper...(promise I´ll get a photo).

It´s nice to be in one place for a couple of nights. We managed to have a relaxed night out last night (knowing we wouldn´t need to set off somewhere at 6.30am!) and spent Valentines Day at "Emiliano´s Moustache" - and sank a good number of tequila-based cocktails until the wee hours.

Anyway - I´d best be off. We´re visiting a Mayan village in an hour or so and I´ve finally had enough of the choice of music at this internet cafe (they´re currently playing ´the Eye of the Tiger´)...and the guy in the booth next door has started surfing for porn. Lovely.

Adios!

Truffle Shuffleathon

I’ve hidden this review away to avoid confusing any members of my family, who occasionally browse this site looking for my latest virtual postcard. For context, my cd wasn’t actually sent via tardis - I am actually writing this on (and around!) 8th July 2006.

Just in case there is anyone reading this who has not come here via my friend, Swiss Toni's site – a quick explanation:

A number of Swiss Toni’s readers recently made a cd of 12 songs that meant a lot to them and perhaps conveyed an element of their personality. ST then drew names from a hat and your cd was sent off for review by someone you had probably never met.

I was genuinely excited when the padded envelope dropped through my letterbox. ST had hinted earlier on in the week that I’d got a ‘good one’ (I dread to think what consoling words he had for Ka – the recipient of my cd) – and he wasn’t wrong.

Del had clearly put a lot of effort into the cover:
Is that you, Del?.


1. Junkie XL – Zerotonine
Hmm - it's got strings, it's got a good beat - but it doesn't quite gel for me. I've only encountered Junkie XL on his remix of Elvis' Little less conversation and from his calibre I should like him...but this one feels a bit bland. The singing also sounds like the guy from the Psychedelic Furs and I now can't get Pretty in Pink out of my head.

2. Jackie Wilson – (Your love keeps lifting me) Higher and Higher
Aaah - happy, happy song and infinitely better than Reet Petite, which enjoyed a renaissance in the 80s. With the cancellation of Top of the Pops being recent news, I now can't shake the picture of Dexy's Midnight Runners performing Jackie Wilson said in front of a huge photo of rotund Scottish darts player, Jockey Wilson.

3. Electric Light Orchestra – Strange Magic
One of my all time favourite albums (and embarrassing secrets) is Out of the Blue by ELO. So the inclusion of ELO is a pleasant surprise – not my favourite track but pretty good for a lazy Sunday afternoon (or Saturday afternoon in the case of the first day I listened to this shuffleathon).

4. The Go! Team – Ladyflash
The first thing that springs to mind is 'Soccer AM' and the crossbar challenge (for which this was looped as background music for quite a while before it found success in the British charts upon re-release) which is a shame because this is a gorgeous little pop song with a 60s twist. I've tried (and failed) to see The Go! Team several times. Maybe next tour....

5. Wire - Outdoor Miner
I was under the impression that Wire were a bit more punky than this but this particular track reminds me of the fairly standard indie stuff that was being churned out when I was at university in the early 90s. It's ok. Just ok.

6. Glen Campbell – Wichita Lineman
Beautiful. One of those songs I know by osmosis (parents who listened to Radio 2 throughout my childhood) rather than actually owning anything by him. Really love this.

7. Massive Attack and Mos Def – I Against I
Just when you're sitting down to relax and read the Sunday papers, along comes something which is more appropriate for the early hours of Sunday morning. I love Massive Attack - and chose one of their more obvious tracks for my own cd. I'm pretty sure I haven't come across this track before but it's pretty typical stuff - a nice dirty bass and a nodding beat - thumbs up!

8. Teenage Fanclub – Sparky’s Dream
Don't know how Teenage Fanclub passed me by, but they did. This is a really good, solid indie-pop-guitar song with nice harmonies (always a sucker for a good harmony). I like it - and intend to investigate their work a bit further....

9. Aphex twin – Avril 14th
When I saw this track was coming next I was a bit apprehensive. On first listen I spent the whole 2 minutes of this track expecting something discordant to happen...it didn't. On second listen I could relax and give it my full attention - and it's a sweet little piano track with echoes of Eric Satie. I've never quite got on with Aphex twin and I'm not sure this track will encourage me to listen to more of his work but I'm a piano fan - and this is a pretty little tune for the i-Pod.

10. Jon Brion – Strings that tie to you
I've never heard of this guy - on first listen it's a sweet song but nothing special. Bit of investigation turns out he produced my beloved Rufus Wainwright’s eponymous first album (mildly embarrassed not to know this – there was a time when I would notice these things - along with knowing the lyrics, running order etc. My Smash Hits years!). It also has a slidey guitar, which I can't quite get past. Sorry.

11. Blur – Sing
One of the few tracks I already own – on Leisure. Sparse lyrics and a hypnotic, repetitive background. Not my favourite song but one of their better early tracks. Reminds me of University for many reasons.

12. Stevie Wonder – I Believe (When I fall in love it will be forever)
What a beautiful way to end the cd. Not a song I was familiar with, but one which has jumped firmly into my top 20 (I've been playing it repeatedly since last week!)

Bonus track!
..only that wasn't quite the end. Yes, 29.55 minutes into the final track and a short, plinky piano tune. After the Aphex Twin track I suspected it could have been one of his but the tune sounds familiar (a bit like the Jon Brion track - and if it is then I prefer this interlude). Del has so far evaded my questions regarding the identity of this track – I’m prepared to be embarrassed for not knowing

Phew!
After complaining bitterly to Swiss Toni about having to limit the number of tracks to 12 (that was so hard - and if I made the cd again today it wouldn't contain exactly the same tracklist) - I'm now rather grateful from the reviewer's perspective! At least this proves that my childhood dream of working at Smash Hits would never have happened.

So - the overall verdict: Definitely a keeper – in fact, the whole cd has been transferred onto my i-Pod and has become the soundtrack to my long weekend in London (quite fitting, as I believe this is Del’s stomping ground). I didn’t immediately love every track – but I’ve always been a fan of the mixtape and love to be introduced to new tunes.What does the cd tell me about Del? He's a bit of a soppy, hopeful romantic with an ear for a good tune and an extremely eclectic record collection. A man who isn't afraid to show some love for most genres.

So thanks Del – I’ll be keeping tabs on your site for future podcasts (the current one is already sitting on my laptop patiently waiting for me to get this review done so I can turn my attentions elsewhere); thanks ST for bringing the idea over to your ‘gang’ – and all your administrative effort; and thanks Yoko for such a top idea.

When do we get to play again?

Testing testing...

Just seeing whether I can post a photo in here...










* * * * * * * * * *

Late edit:

Evidently I can.

Blogger broke down on me mid-test so I didn't get the chance to remove this before any eagle-eyed younger relatives were able to spot it. Now, you have the privilege of seeing a picture of yours-truly splashing about in the Indian Ocean at Nungwi on the island of Zanzibar. In all probability I won't get a chance to properly update on the antics of my first couple of weeks off work..
(in summary: couple of excellent 'leaving dos'; continuing to try and extricate myself from work; feeling completely lost without the routine of going to the office every day and finding myself wallowing in bed at midday; snapping out of this in shame after a good friend pointed out that I'd become institutionalised; packing (and unpacking and packing for about 5 days) for my first trip....)

Nor will I have time to write a 'proper' account of the wonderful trip to Tanzania, which also had the wonderful effect of forcing me to finally let go of work....
(no summary this time - I'll try to write that 'proper' account at some point. In the meantime, there are more photos on 'flickr', which can be accessed by the little set of photo tiles that should appear on the bottom right of the blog.

Right. Now for 'La Ruta Maya'.... adiós por dos semanas....

Time flies...

Ok. At least I know what date the Sabbatical was agreed on.

I suppose there wasn't really a lot to write about during November and December as work was just slightly busy, there was a spot of Christmas socialising to do...and a rather large proportion of gigs to go to.

That's all way back in the past though - and the reason I set this blog up was to try and find a way to record what I do with my time away from work - and to give family and friends an easy way to keep track of where I've got to.

I've failed miserably so far - so I'm going to attempt to have a quick catch up on the past month's events (I can't believe 1/12 of this year is already behind me) - and try to work out how to upload photos to this thing before I set off on my next adventure outside of the UK.

More later....