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Key moments in life don’t come along very often, so when they do happen along it’s time to sit back and think, that was a key moment. Well today we had one. We had of those moments that will stay with us for the rest of our lives. For those of you who have been into the jungle before you will smile at this and remember with a distant gaze just what your own personal memory was, but for those of you who have never been, let me take you though it.

The first thing that hits you is the humidity at 100%. That’s like standing just outside a shower on full heat and almost feeling the hot water in the air, then add Howler Monkeys (who’s job it is to creep up behind you in the dark and make a massive HoooHaaaaHooooHAAAA before running off to tell their monkey mates just how much they made you jump…damn those long armed monkey apes ). To give you a better description of the noise which is stunning is to say the very least, the noise that a jet makes when taking off when it goes raspy, that gargling sound at the back of your throat when trying to clear it, or that sound that a Tube makes just before it pulls into a station. The second thing is the noise of the insects. Okay so the only real way to describe this is to say ‘The Predator’ movie. They filmed that movie here at the Palenque Ruins. Think, screaming monkeys, millions of squeaky insect things, Black and Red snakes slithering across your path, vines hanging from trees like a Tarzan movie and then, suddenly, from out of the trees comes a clearing, and there, as the images show, there it is. Standing well over 100 foot high and about 500 foot long, one of the 2500 year old Mayan Temples To The Gods.

At each turn through the clearings you see another Temple that rises up out of the jungle like a Senior Speilbergo movie set, except these are real and there is no magical cloud making factory behind the big tree, no you are actually in the clouds and that’s what they call the people around these parts, The Cloud People. Very real and hugely humbling. Then it rains and the noise and heat go even higher. We stayed at a Jungle lodge next to the ruins and as you can imagine, wow, incredible sitting there in the dark, drinking a Coke and taking in the sounds. Forget having a wee in a bush as you feel as though a thousand pairs of eyes are all staring at you (and laughing, Damn those night vision monkeys). A troop of Howler Monkeys 100’s feet up in the canopy were making a huge noise and I managed to get some shots, a bit grainy as they were so far off but if you look closely to the top right of the shot, there is mum, dad and baby. Speaking of photos, you will notice that the quality of the website images are now really poor (grainy and so on) I’ve had to do this because people keep taking images without asking. So, please, if you want images just ask and I will email you full size images that are super high quality for FREE rather than nicking a crap low resolution ones. I would much prefer you to have quality rather than ‘borrowed’ low quality.

Well we have now finished with Mexico and have moved into Guatemala and after 2 weeks we have covered over a total of 110,250 steps (we have a pedometer fitted to my pack). I have no idea how far that is? Anyone any ideas?

Mexico has been an beautiful place to start our trip and I would 100% recommend it to anyone who wants more than just sitting on a beach with a book. What we have achieved in 14 days is here for all to see with our photos and is quite well within the reach of anyone happy to go outside their comfort zone. BUT to see these sites, hear the sounds and smell the air you need to be here. Mexico is a 100% Yes and a very big tick in a very big box that we will be coming back to again for another taste.

The thing that you realise as you climb from the coast for the next 6 hours is that 2500m above sea level is very high. As you drive into and through the clouds and carry one climbing you then look back down on the clouds below as if you are flying in a plane to distant land. We still have heights to go to the that are much higher like 4000m and upwards but the AMS (acute mountain sickness) is a real worry. We have both been hit by it and it’s fast acting. Pins and Needles (pots and noodles) in your hands and face, then the tummy craps, then the vomming like and 15 year old drinking Thunderbird, and that is you for 12 hours of head in toilet (Mexican porcelain ‘aint the best, Villeroy & Boch is the only way forward for us, hi Nick & Jonty Green). Then just as soon as it all starts, it ends and you are weak like a kitten for a day, then back on the road again.

Oh must tell you about the people we are meeting along the way. We met an American school teacher at a bus stop at midnight one day, she was about 60 ish and on her back she had a quiver (like for the holding arrows) but in it she had a lump of wood. The security guard was asking to see it and the lady asked me to translate. Now my Spanish ‘aint the best. But it transpires that this is an old Navaho Talking Stick, used for resolving disputes and conflict. Essentially, the person holding said stick is the one who talks and everyone else shuts up or they gets beaten with the aforesaid mentioned stick. (Orange take note, this might work) Well get this, Aunt Rosie, that was her name, had a premonition when it was given to her that she had to take the stick to Chile, from America and return it to some place that she does not know where it is. So she sold her home and has all her possessions in 3 cases and 2 bags, and she is heading south spending 2-3 weeks in every town she stops at, meeting people and ‘healing them’. I asked her why and what prescription medication she was taking? She told me that she did not know why she was doing it but she knew that she just had to do it…….as mad as a box of banana eating frogs on their way to the ice rink for a game of dominos.!! BUT, what a depth in a person to do something that they feel they must do, to have the convictions in confidence and to be the pilot of your own destiny (thanks for that line Polly Cadwallader aged 10).

So all in all just over 2 weeks of packed days doing stuff and seeing incredible places. Do you get ‘Ruined Out’? Is it just another lump of 3000 year old rock? I don’t know the answer to that because every ruin is so totally different. To see this stuff is like taking photographs with your eyes and storing them in your memory banks for later use. Yes, I am a Professional Photographer and my laptop stores 10,000’s of images and we can look at them at a later date, but here’s the bit I like the most, inside my head, I can remember and see millions of images and memories and I guess that’s what travelling is all about. Jono and Maui, Dr Jo and Central America, Simon and South America on a pushbike, William and France, Karl and yachts, and so the list goes on (everyone has their travel thoughts)……truth is, the travel bug is a very hard one to get into and an even tougher one to get out of, and we sure as hell don’t want to.

Best regards to you all from me and her, now appearing live in GUATEMALA (that’s the thin bit between North and South America and it’s hot, damn hot) 

More about living with the local Indians for a night next time, bare wires in showers, mosquitos the size of moths, and chicken bus rides across borders into Guatemala in a dug out canoe!

I hope that you find these stories fun and interesting, as they take ages to prepare and edit. Cheers all.

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Click here for more images (W4 and W5 are the new albums)

http://www.lazyblueskies.com/wp/wpg2-2?g2_itemId=9542

But do read on for some fun, yes indeed ladies and gentlemen we are are back again for another round of stories and adventures. Where on earth do we start with all that we have seen and done over the last days and weeks? Well Mexico City was as described, an incredible place to kick off our round the world adventure. We did suffer from(mountain sickness) which is daft really but they say it’s because it’s at 2500m above sea level and we tend to dwell about 100 foot away from the beach in the UK. True to say, headaches, dizziness, joint pain, confusion and vomming the likes of which are quite surreal (like a 2 bottle red wine hangover), and yes I did go down for 3 days with it and Blondie for 2 days. So you don’t have much of a choice apart from to hold up in the hotel for a few days and watch TV with your head in the toilet, ewww.

But I am glad to inform you all that normal service has been resumed and we are both on track again. Mexico City Zoo was an eye opener. Now if you’ve seen the John Cleese film ‘Fierce Creatures’ where McDonalds sponsors a Zoo, well in Mexico City, yup you’ve guessed it, Ronnie MacDonnie has done just that. Now as you can imagine it’s a bit tacky but, they are actually doing some good. They are a Rescue Zoo and a big one at that. Essentially, it seems that they will take anything, and I mean anything. It is heart breakingly sad to see some of the animals and yes it moves you to tears to see the damage that humans can and do do to these impressive creatures (yes I know I said do do). To see a wild black bear driven mad that all it now knows to do is walk in a circle and then dance like a Ballerina, or the Jaguar who paces around its cage circuit after circuit, very very sad. BUT there is purpose and a good one at that.

People come and see the Zoo, they eat Maccy Dee’s, they see what man can do, then they leave declaring to do better, so I guess the poor few have a safe home for the rest of their lives rather than being dispatched, and in doing so, educate the masses. One funny thing though is McDonalds has obviously thrown a lot of money at this, because you don’t just get Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh no. You get Pandas and Eagles and Silver Back Gorillas and Black Leopards and White Rhino. It’s like the dude said, ‘Hey Amigo, what you want? You want Panda? I get you two Panda for price of one and throw in Red Panda for free!’ Seriously, we didn’t even know there were Red Pandas for goodness sake and it doesn’t stop there as the images in W4 of the album will show.

Next stop was Mexico City Museum of Anthropology. How can we say that you stand there looking at a piece of wood that was carved into a figure head circa 1500 BC….as in Before Christ (that still amazes me), like 3500 years ago but they also have stuff from, get this, 35,000BC. When you see the images from W5 you will hopefully appreciate the intense feeling of, humility I guess is a good word, when you suddenly realise that in the UK we don’t really have a history like this, apart from Stonehenge which is like Canary Wharf and Oxford Street in comparison to this history. Think back even as long as cave paintings and flints and arrowheads. Incredible.

But the road was calling so we caught a bus from Mexico City to Acapulco which was about 5 hours (think posh National Express with reclining seats). The countryside is just so green. Greener in fact than the greenest part of Green Park in Green On The Wold, very green. As the km’s disappeared under our wheels Mexico really started to unfold in front of our eyes and what a beautiful place it is. (more later)

Acapulco was a shock though, hotter than we imagined. 32c in the shade and pushing 40’s in the direct heat. Too hot for even me, and I’m like a lizard. A bit of luck befell us here. A taxi driver named Leo was kind enough to take pity on the stupid English bloke who did not book a hotel before he arrived, so he took us to ‘a friend’ who made us a special rate of 3 nights for 2, et voila…….Acapulco’s very own…..The Hotel Copacobana! Wahoooooo. Cue Barry Manilow, ‘Oooh at the Copa, Copacobana, music and passion were always the fashion, at the Copa, they fell in love’. Yes, Yes, Yes all well and done, but after 3 days of hearing the sodding song in the lobby, the lift, the stairs, the pool, the Jacuzzi, and even the damn toilet enough was enough. But to be honest, sitting there in the Jacuzzi serenity pool with the lights of Acapulco twinkling away in the distance, it was okay. It’s the sort of place you tick off on the list but never go back to. Think Mexico’s answer to Marbella and Estapona in Spain.

Then another bus and 9 hours took us to Puerto Escondido about 300km along the coast east. Think Newquay but 40 years ago and with a very impressive fast right hand beach break that on a quiet day was offering tubes and impressive faces of 7-8 foot. Very unspoiled and very very hot. Cue the mother of all thunderstorms with lightening that was like daylight for 12 seconds at a time and then rain that actually hurt when it bounced off your head. And finally, another 6 hour bus ride through the mountains to a stunning little city called Oaxaca (Wa-hah-ka) and a lovely hotel  www.hotelazucenas.com to give you a clue of the sort of places we try to stay in (it is as lovely as it looks).

So to close for this latest edition, our observations are so far of a hugely friendly and yet very deep nationality with an even deeper history. Mexicans appear as very hard working people who have a solid work ethic no matter what the age(hey Mauricio that’s you isn’t it). The standard was of life seems so much simpler, roof over head, food, water, family. The one thing that really does come over very strong is the whole, use it, repair it, recycle it, weld two together, sell it, buy another one, grow one, sell one, plant one, eat one, go to church, prey, smile, eat, care for your friend, play funny small guitar and wear cowboy hat, drive big 4×4, sit under tree, hose dog with water, buy a donkey, wave sympathetically at stupid English bloke with camera shoved in face. A truly deep and thoughtful race of people who just go about their business without fuss or flourish, smiling as they do so.

More next time about 400 angry naked Mexican/Indian dancers, electrocuting myself whilst naked (ooh yeah that hurt)and terrifying taxi rides.

Saludos from Mexico…… Chris and Karen

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Hello everyone

Click here for Fast Link to W2 & W3 images  http://www.lazyblueskies.com/wp/wpg2-2?g2_itemId=9542

I know its only a few days since the last post but we are seeing and doing so much.

Where on earth do I start about Mexico City. It is a vast, sprawling metropolis that seems to capture ancient history, mixed in with devastating poverty ridden slums next to secure housing areas, stunning architecture, shotgun toting security guards in Domino’s Pizza and a culture and people the likes of which I have never met before. They always say, ‘judge a country by its people and its history’, well we only know one Mexican (hey ?Mauricio que pasa amigo?) and that speaks volumes as the people here as just so friendly and fall over themselves to smile and try to make conversation.

Mexicans as a race like hot food, we all know that. But what you probably don’t know is that they also like food surprises, namely Croissants with cheese and ham……mmm nice, but the surprise (a sodding great jalapeno pepper hidden from plain view for a poor unsuspecting English bloke who on the middle of the Metro thought he was going to die after biting and swallowing the damn thing) - thanks Mexico.

What makes us laugh here is just how the people survive without all the political hairy round things that is currently befalling the entire UK. Yesterday a bloke jumps onto the Metro wearing a dirty black backpack, with wires sticking out of the side and the top. Fixed to the top of said rucksack was a clear glass tube with red and black wires poking out of each side. In his hand he held a red button with black tape wrapped round it. Now in London, I would have had a hot chocolate pudding moment in my sturdy underpants, and of course SO19 and Cressida Dickface would have immediately had the bloke dispatched under a hail of 27 headshots in true Jean Charles De Menez execution styliee.

So we took and deep breath and closed our eyes waiting to meet our maker, but, suddenly music blared out, Elvis Presley to be precise, YOU AINT NOTHING BUT A HOUND DOG proffered on CD for 20p blared out of the backpack, and he went on his way to be replaced at the next stop by a young girl playing pan pipes. What a difference in perception a small button makes.

But the Metro is not the only place where they like to surprise you. Picture this, you are on the Number 32 bus to town quietly watching the world go by, when the bus pulls over and on get 8 Mexicans dressed in full traditional dress, including Sombreros and huge guitar things. You look and assume they are going to a fancy dress party, Oh no! Once one start plucking they all start shouting and whooping and singing/shouting at the top of their lungs. 15 minutes, $2 and 6kms later they get off and sit under a tree in the shade to count my $2. Unreal and very very loud.

The Mayan Ruins that you can see on the latest images are beyond words. The two main temples that you can see are the Sun and the Moon Temples. Interestingly The Sun Temple is the 3rd largest and highest pyramid in the entire world. We have a pedometer working each day and it clocked an incredible 15,000 steps that day!!! To give you a clue of how big this site is, it is 2 miles along THE AVENUE OF THE DEAD, I’m going to suggest that Bournemouth Council twin with Mexico and start naming streets after these names.

Oh one really funny thing that I just don’t understand is ‘Sacrificial Offering to the Gods?’. Now here’s my theory, for as long as can be remembered the people of these parts have, for want of a better word, pulled out live peoples hearts and held them up in the sky as on offering to the Gods. Now Id be pretty pee’d off with that. Imagine, there you sit one day chopping at a stone with a bit of stone making your stone pillow for your stone bed when some dude walks up to you and says, ‘Oih Pedro, need a fav me old matey, bit short on the old volunteers for tonights offerings, do us fav and stand in? Make it worth a new stone for you? Okay you say, and next thing you know some dude has ripped out your heart, chopped off your nads and sends each of your limbs to different parts of town……mmm that would not be a good day.

Yup by the way they pronounce it Tay-oh-titty-cheh-wan. But not as funny as Oaxaca (pronounced Whaca-whaca-whaca)……just make the old Pacman noise from the video game ha ha ha, on which note I had better go. Enjoy the images.

So we leave for Acapulco tomorrow by donkey bus and then we start the trek to Guatemala and Tikal.

Rather than email everytime I post a blog probably best if I just upload images to my front page and you can check when you have time, but Im open to suggestions as this mail goes to almost 200 people (I dont even know 200 people!)

Hugs and Saludos 

Skono and Blondie

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Fast Picture Direct Link http://www.lazyblueskies.com/wp/wpg2-2?g2_itemId=9544 (for those who prefer just images)

“Well my friends the time has come, to raise the roof, and have some fun” as the great Lionel Ritchie once said.

Okay so, here goes….we left Bournemouth on 15th August with two back packs weighing in at 21 kilos and 17

kilos and headed for Heathrow. 13 hours later we got off a BA flight in Mexico City after I managed to put away

6 bottles of complimentary mini Bordeaux, several cans of London Pride Ale, and a damn good measure of Gin

and Tonic. Blondie stuck to the G&T’s. I had no idea how bad that mixture would react with Wind! Oh my God!

On arrival the Taxi ride to the hotel was an explosion to the senses to say the very least. 20 million people live

in Mexico City (the biggest and most populated city in the WORLD!!) oh and 4 million cars…most of whom start

their engines and their horns at the same time. Every other car is a battered out old VW Beetle with no

passenger seat and a driver with no teeth.

Everyone looks like they are Mexican and the dudes in the park even ride horses with huge Sombreros. We

have a pedometer fitted to our boots and today (our first day - we managed 16,731 steps) er… now that’s a

long way in anyone’s books.  Answers on a postcard for how many miles that is. A prize will be given when

we get back for how many steps we cover over the next 18 months and who guesses the closest.

So mail in your guesstimates.

As for Mexico City, it’s incredible. As you can see from the images in the gallery (click on the link) its stunning.

Think that this stuff was here long before the old Jesus dude dissed his mates and got strapped to a tree

thing on Mount Thingamajig for preaching the word of some bloke with a big white beard that no one has ever

seen……..anyhoooo, these dudes here were building pyramid structures and sacrificing virgins to the Gods

long before we even said Amen! Seriously though think 2000 years ago and then add some more…..so these

things in some of the images are over 2000 years old….and that’s older than me and my jokes!!! Seriously,

these artifacts were buried under Mexico City for tens of hundreds of years and only got dug up in circa 1978.

To be able to get as close as we did today was just, incredible. Sights, Sounds, Smells, Senses, Smog.

So do enjoy the images and more will follow when we go to the sites of other parts of Mexico. Comments

and feedback welcome. Cheers and Cheerio - Chris and Blondie

Special thanks to our trip Sponsors - AQUAPAC (for all your waterproof equipment protection) www.aquapac.net

and DWARF 8 (The Newest and most interesting drink in Spain/Europe) www.dwarf8.com

    FULLY COPYRIGHTED IMAGES ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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Nestling about 30 miles due West of Lands End in Cornwall lies a small group of little known islands called The Isles Of Scilly. There are 6 main islands with only 5 of them having inhabitants and that’s a total of 2000 people along with about 200 rocks! The islands have an incredible micro-climate which is more often than not the hottest place in the UK. The islands are stooped in history going right back to the times when the sea was 75 metres lower than it was now and people ran around with spears and seal cloths.

At every turn of the islands there is an incredible surprise with ancient burial grounds ‘Cairns’ and signs of old villages that have been taken by the sea over the years. As time has ticked by over the countless generations the islands have moved through attacks by the Spanish Armada and even tales of Pirates and mysterious sea creatures are still told in the corners of dark pubs.

As you can tell from the images the wildlife is just to wonder at and daydream about mystical towns that quietly slipped into the sea on a stormy night.

Nowhere else in Britain has more ship wrecks than these rocks which deliver from a beautiful sunny flat day through to a force 10 gale without warning. I spent most summers here from the age of 0 up to 15 and it hasn’t changed one bit!

Enjoy the images……..before we head off to Mexico City on 15th August for the first leg of our 18 month round the World Tour

http://www.lazyblueskies.com/wp/wpg2-2?g2_itemId=8889

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Rarely, if ever have we seen such a display of Keystone Copishness to the approach taken by these people to fight a simple and small fire, yet some 20 hours later the fire still burns way out of control.

We sat helplessly and watched as the seat of the fire, some 300 meters from our house was left unchecked until it re-ignited and blazed its way up the mountain until it took such a hold that the fire itself is now some 1.5kms UPWIND from where it stared.

Utter disbelief that no one has been killed and not more property has been raised to the ground.

And why? Why did this happen? Cutting down sap filled trees on the hottest days of the year, not clearing away the fallen debris and then, are you ready for this…..SMOKING IN THE TINDER DRY ground!!!!!!! A group of whooping and yeharring cowboys chopping down trees whilst yelling and thumping their chests, it was incredible and shocking to watch

These are just some of the images I managed to take before it got really dangerous and night fell.

http://www.lazyblueskies.com/wp/wpg2-2?g2_itemId=8786

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Campeonato De Espana De Kiteboard

Lazyblueskies went on a 2500km road trip to bring you the latest selection of images from the Spanish Kite Pro-Am at Roses (on the Southern Boarder of Spain with France). The wind ranged from 2 knots to 52 knots and saw some awesome riding from Gisela Pulido and Jo Ciastula. Alvaro Oneiva arrived late to the competition due to travel arrangement and was forced to endure heat after heat with 3 minutes of rest before 7 minutes of hard riding. The images on the link below speak for themselves, and he won the Senior Males!! Gisela laid down some of the most incredible powered kiteloops which thrilled the eager crowd and saw her taking First place on the podium and a second place on the Racing Podium.

Newcomer to the sport and kiting for only 367 days, yes that’s 1 year and 2 days, Forest Bakker from Flexifoil International and Shapes of Tarifa showed just how much promise and talent he has both during the competition (when the wind was just shocking) and when the wind was gunning and he was just riding for fun. Definitely one to watch in the future.

Gabi from Kitec and Sam from Surfeador both in Tarifa were rescue cover with their super fast and highly manoeuvrable Thunder Cat Race Boats.

A surprise visitor to the event was the incredibly interesting Edurne Pasaban (World Record Holding Female Mountain Climber). Both herself and Gisela Pulido rounded off the event by throwing themselves out of a perfectly good aircraft for a Free-Fall Parachute that landed on the kite beach!!!

Enjoy the images and sign up for updates when we post more events.

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All Rights Reserved on ALL images.

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We are currently shooting for Aquapac at the Red Bull Kite Punks event at La Manga, Spain.

We are testing the new design of waterproof camera SLR bag and are waiting for wind to be able to get into the water and bring you some incredible up close images, like above.

The World Champions of the kitesurfing world are here like Aaron Hadlow, Ruben Lenten & Gisela Pulido to name but a few.

Forest Bakker finally got to meet Aaron and Ruben and got to show his latest ‘4EST’ movie that we have been filming. (as per below)

More images will be posted tonight and hot news - ‘Video feeds’ coming to this site soon!!!

‘Senior Spielbergo’ shows his latest movie!!

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Hi everyone

The last 10 days or so has delivered some incredible shoots for us ranging from capturing the World Wave Sailing Champions from both Kitesurfing and Windsurfing through to days when some of Tarifa’s legends all got back in the water at the same time for their first sail together in 8 years.

Tarifa has also been hit by some quite incredible storms and we were right there to capture these images. For the first time in nearly 20 years we have captured a piece of Tarifa’s history. Every photographer dreams of that ‘One Shot’, the one that everyone wants, well I shot 9 of them and I believe that I am privileged to have done so. These images are being mastered at the moment and will be available for purchase from M Rojas Photographic Processing in Tarifa, or directly from me.

Sizes will range from A4, A3, A2, A1 & A0, also we offer high quality prints, canvasses and a new type of hard backed high density foam print (incredible to hang on walls in any dimension or shape). Images will be available in fully mastered Colour, B&W and Sepia. Also a sequence option is available on all prints. Prices will start from 30 euros per print.

They really do look incredible close up. When you see them hanging on a wall, they stop you in your tracks with open mouths. These images are a true piece of history of what is rapidly becoming the World’s Busiest Watersports destination. Geographically this wave hit the exact southern most tip of Europe.

Best regards as always

Chris Skone-Roberts

Head Photographer

www.lazyblueskies.com 

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