Hola de Cuetzalan

Hi folks,

It´s been a while since the last update - but we´re all here in Cuetzalan - an amazingly picturesque town perched on the edge of a steep mountain. The town is full of very friendly people, good food and has an amazing launderette!!! Which is just as well as we´ve spent the last few days trekking in the jungle and have gotten amazingly sweaty and muddy!!


Our trek took us from the town (imediately after a massive thunderstorm) down a steep track of slippery stones a couple of miles to our "campsite" - a "flat" piece of ground hacked out from the jungle with machetes. We set up camp and Ewan and Tom built a fire then cooked us a tea of rice and stewed vegetables (we have to eat veggie on the treks as meat would go off). We then fought off the mosquitos and went to sleep for the night - a very sticky experience in the humidity.


The next morning we have to climb up the hill we´d climbed/slipped down the night before - a tough challenge but we all made it - although some were more sweaty than others. We then trek to these amazing waterfalls.







At the bottom of the second waterfall we could all swim in the pool and we all a much needed wash!! Thank goodness for biodegradable soap!! Our next campsite was on a football pitch in a village on the banks of river. The thunder storms started again with the most amazing forked lighting and we all got soaked again!! Dinner of pasta and more stewed veg was cooked under a bridge as it was the only dry place.


Yesterday we trekked back to town for much deserved bed in a local hostel and some delicious food. Today we´re off to Puebla and on Saturday we start our biggest challenge of the trek - climbing the 4600 m La Malinche Volcano (we passed it on the bus - it looks big!!!).


All challengers are well (a wee bit of sunburn and a couple of mossie bites, but that´s all) and looking forward to the challenge!!


Hasta luego!