Brits

Two hairy, bearded British boys, who are cycling from one end of South America to the other. These guys are my heroes: really down-to-Earth, really crazy, and doing something really incredible. They started in Ushuaia (southernmost city in the world, in Argentina) in about December last year, and they hope to reach the Caribbean north coast of Colombia by the middle of this year. I met them here at Loki, where they're having a quick break before continuing north.

This nice couple from Manchester — "Home of the Manchester City team, not Manchester United, I'll have ye know" (as Gaz says) — caught the bus with me from Lima to Ayacucho, and we hung out together in Ayacucho for a few days. Gaz is a mechanic for BMW, and Cath is a PE teacher. Like me, they're on a year-long round-the-world trip (except they're nearing the end of theirs); and, like me and every other gringo in Peru, they're on their way to Cusco to do the Machu Picchu hike.

This afternoon at Posada Mexico Hostel in San Cristóbal, we were a crew of six yobboes from around the world, united together to lay waste to the cultural soul of this town. We were: myself; Sean and Lachlan, two more Aussie boys, from Melbourne; two heavy-drinking Scottish girls, whose names I can't remember (hey, I was drinking heavily as well!); and a hippie girl from Baltimore, USA, who had a massive tattoo on her back. Together we sat on the grass, ate BBQ chicken, drank beer and tequila, and wore colourful Mexican wrestling masks. Good times.

I cannot for the life of me remember where I first met Alan. It was somewhere else in Mexico :P. Anyway, we crossed paths again in Palenque, and we ended up hanging out together, along with a few other people, in the jungle for a few days. Alan's in his late 30s, and he's been travelling for a long time. But I felt that all his travelling has kept him young at heart. He's been all around South America, and he has plenty of stories to tell about that.

These three folks were staying at The Weary Traveler in Tulum, while I was down on the beach at Mar Caribe. I met Chris first — on the beach, I think — and then the next day, I met Erica and Laura as well. The four of us ended up going out on the town for a few nights, and becoming real good friends.

These two British lads (both from the London area) are studying at the hotel here in Mérida with me. Karl's just a bit older than me, and is going around the world the opposite way to me: Mexico is also his first stop, though. James is a fair bit older, and is just hanging out in Mexico for a few weeks, while he's got some time off work. Being British and all, these guys were more than happy to go out for some beers, with me and various other people, at whatever pubs they could find.