So on the 2nd June, I met up with my final group to Overland through North America. We started in Mexico City and go north, crossing into the US in Arizona before visiting the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Yellow stone and Zion national parks amongst others. We cross into Canada at Banff and visit Jasper, Whistler and Lake Louise before crossing back into the States to visit Alaska, finally ending in Anchorage.
This time I am not travelling with Oasis but with Dragoman. Dragoman are the only overland company that do this route. To comply with US laws, a regular overland truck can not be used. Instead we are travelling on a converted yellow school bus. This means it is tiny and cramped with 18 people inside. All the luggage goes into a locker at the back which means I have to haul my giant backpack into the truck on a daily basis. This will take a lot of getting use to! 
Strangely enough the first thing that happened on the first day of the trip was a free day. This meant everyone went off and did there own thing, so on the first day I did not see a single person that was on the trip! I made the most of my time by revisiting Teotihuacan. I successfully navigated Mexico City underground system, made my way to the north bus terminal and caught a bus to take my the hours drive to these pyramids. This ancient site flourished from 100bc to around 800ad. As the Aztecs founded Mexico City, a lot of people think the site is Aztec but it actually predates them by almost 1000 years. The two main pyramids, the Pyramid of the Sun and the pyramid of the Moon can be climbed up but it is not easy. There are over 250 steps, some steps are waist height, the site is at altitude and it is very hot. You know about it my the time you reach the top. The most visually appealing pyramid however, is the pyramid of the Feathered Serpent which has these amazing carved animal faces lining the main stairs. Teotihuacan was certainly worth a second visit. This was also the last place I would visit that I have been to before.
Mexico City is a huge place, over 21 million people live there. They have impressive buildings, some world-class museums and right in the centre they have the remains of the first Aztec settlement juxtaposed with all the modern shops and restaurants. Despite everything it has to offer, I was pleased to be leaving the big city and heading off into the unknown.
We loaded up the bus and set off at half past 5 in the morning, for a 10 hour journey north towards the tiny town of Angahuan.
We camped at this tiny town so we could have the opportunity to visit the volcano of Paricutin. Paricutin is the only volcano to have been created in modern times.times. It burst into life in 1943 and stopped growing in 1953. It was named one of the seven natural wonders of the world in 1997. 2 local villages were buried under the lava. It is described as challenging to climb so I decided to give it a go. After an hour or so of steep climbing you get to the lava field. Some of these rocks are as big as cars and they are all sharp. It takes a couple of hours to scramble over them. Then you get to the difficult section. The practically vertical cone section. This is loose scree and small rocks. You slide backward more than go forward. At most points you are crawling. Finally you reach the summit and take in the views before you descend down the river of shin deep fine volcanic ash. After a few more hours you arrive at one of the villages. The top half of the church somehow survived the lava bombardment and you can climb through to the altar. After 8 hours and 22 km, we arrived back. I have never done anything so strenuous. This is completely off the beaten track. Very few people in the world have done this and I felt so proud of myself that I achieved it!
After the strenuous activity of Angahuan, a more relaxing activity was needed and we found it in the tiny town of Tequila. I'm sure you can guess what Tequila is famous for. There are many distilleries there and we took a tour of one. Tequila is made from the blue agave plant. The leaves are discarded and only the pineapple looking bulb is used. It is crushed,squashed and roasted before being boiled, fermented and distilled. All that remains is a hideous tasting clear spirit. The aged Tequila is smoother and does taste better but it is still foul. Tequila is never going to be my drink of choice!
Our final stop in Mexico was the beach resort of Sayulita. It was nice to be able to paddle in the Pacific one more time. This will be my last seaside resort. It will not be the last time I feel the sun however. From here, we drive long drive days to cross the American border. We will be driving though the heat of the Mexican desert and then through the Arizona desert. I'm going to be hot!
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