New blog at Cephalopodia

For some interesting science stuff head on over to my new blog Cephalopodia – all about zoology, films, travel, photography and other interesting stuff I find round the internets.

Lone Wolf on Google Video

I uploaded a short film that we made called ‘Lone Wolf’. We made it in an afternoon with not much idea what we were doing, I had recently watched Persona and Breaking the Waves which is where parts are inspired by. All the acting is improv and not scripted as far as I remember. All comments welcome!

You’ve Been Framed and Speeding Tickets

I’ve got some good and some not so good mail recently. First of all a home movie I sent in to You’ve Been Framed, a mouse my that kittens had cornered jumping over both of them, has been acknowledged and is in the queue of videos to watch. Personally I don’t think it’s very funny or well shot but then again they do show quite a lot of rubbish and £250 would be welcome.

I then got a speeding ticket in a village I drive through nearly every day, admittedly at probably this speed every time — only a matter of time I suppose. Still a £60 fine and 3 points off my licence is still pretty shitty.

Hel’s Birthday

Yesterday it was Hel’s 19th birthday. We went to Jalapeno Peppers in Barnstaple for a meal and a few drinks – or in Luke’s case lots of drinks. We then went to the hippest place to be on Monday night – Shout! Luckily for us it was foam night, and retching ensued…

For the rest of the photos (courtesy of Jade, Tim and me) go here > http://picasaweb.google.com/jackhynes

Cancún – Isla Mujeres

We´ve spent the last couple of weeks on the east coast of Mexico. After a 14 hour bus journey to get there we decided to make the most of it.

Cancún is an American´s haven. They can speak only in English, pay in U.S. dollars, eat burgers and the resorts make sure that they don´t have to do anything themselves. They can just wake up and lie by the pool or beach while waiters do everything for them, which most of them do. Which is great, if you didn´t come to Mexico to see Mexico.

Cancún was created on an uninhabited sand spit (a kind of beach) in the 70s. the 12km spit has very pricey resort, a/c´d malls and a continuous white sand beach. The hub of the town is on the mainland and called "Downtown". We stayed in Downtown.

The beach is beautiful although very spoilt by the large hotels so we stayed for a few days then headed out to Isla Mujeres (Jade says a Cancún is "big pair of balls" comparitively).

Isla Mujeres has white sand beaches, warm shallow water and palms trees throughout. It´s not spoilt by development and still has lots of character with it´s colourful Caribbean style houses and relaxed atmosphere. We spent our time snorkelling and relaxing by the beach. We were also invited by some Israelis to go our looking for whale sharks by speed boat. We looked around for about two hours until one of the girls felt really ill and we started heading to the nearest island, then the captain spotted one right next to us. They are massive (biggest sharks and largest living fish in the sea) and are covered in white spots. We could dive in and swim next to it until it swam lower, a really amazing experience! We saw 3 more and some dolphins and then it was time to come home.

It´s a shame that we have to go back now as we´ve missed some stuff but we´ve seen some amazing sights and have got some great memories (Last lines filled with cheese…)

You can see the rest of my photos here http://www.flickr.com/photos/jackhynes/ 

Mexico City and Ruins

We finished our stay in Costa Rica in Puerto Viejo. Nearby the small Caribbean village of Mazanillo had palm-fringed, white sand beaches. We lazed around, we needed to after all the cycling we had done, and enjoyed loads of fresh fruit smoothies.

We arrived in Mexico and went straight to our hostel as we heard Mexico could be pretty dangerous (fake taxi drivers, muggings etc.), then went straight to the Museo Nacional de Antopologia – which had thousands of pre-hispanic pieces including massive Mayan heads and parts of Aztec buildings. Mexico City was amazing, full of green VW beetle taxis, skyscrapers and tunnel porn vendors!

We then went to Teotihucan, an ancient Aztec city containing the third largest pyramid in the world. It was planned in the first century and finished by AD 600 at which point it had already started to decline.

Cholula was next, a small town containing lots of churches built by the Spanish, including one on top of the second largest pyramid in the world, Piramide Tepanapa – although it was difficult to tell as it was almost entirely covered and looked like an unusual hill.

We then went to Palenque, an ancient Mayan city set in dense green jungle. The entire 15sq km of city was built without metal tools, pack animals or the wheel. You could walk though tunnels built into the buildings and see the elaborate decorations and bats living in the walls. One of the most amazing places I have ever been and only took a 12 hour bus journey to it and a 14 hour bus journey out the same day! Next stop Cancun…

For more photos see http://www.flickr.com/photos/jackhynes

Manuel Antonio – Puerto Viejo

We've been keeping busy the last ten days. I did a dive at the Catalina Islands, a small group off Playa Tamarindo. There was a bit of a current and it was difficult to stop myself being swept into the white-tip sharks we were watching. We also saw a large school of manta rays and I got to feel a puffer fish.

Last week we went to a coffee plantation – as Costa Rica has supposedly the third best beans in the world, after Ethopia and Jamaica. We then went to Poas volcano and a hummingbird sanctuary where hummingbirds drink sugar water from birdfeeders. We did another boat cruise and saw howler monkeys, toucans, herons and a large crocodile.

Our next stop was Manuel Antonio National Park – one of the most publicised parks in Central America, which meant 'Happy Hour'and too many gringos! Still, the amount of wildlife and isolated beaches were amazing. We saw massive iguanas, howler monkeys, capuchin, colourful crabs, a coati and a type of raccoon.

We're now in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca a relaxed Caribbean town full of Rastafarians, bikes and trinket stalls. The beaches are empty and fringed with palms. The reason this place is popular is mainly because of a break called Salsa Brava which surfers discovered 30 years ago and now come from all around to surf.

We've rented bikes for the 4 days we're here and have been cycling more than 24km a day along a dusty, potholed track. Our legs and bums are exhausted!

   
See my Flickr photos here

San José – Tamarindo

We arrived in San José, the capital of Costa Rica, after being awake for 22 hours – because of the time difference. San José is largely unremarkable and pretty much just a stop before you get out. We did manage to get out to a Butterfly Farm – which bred and sold butterflies for export.

We decided to go to Tamarindo and gorgeous beach on the Pacific coast first. It's pretty developed and a hit with the Americans. Most of the people here are surfers as Costa Rica is renowned for having some of the best surf in the world. So there's dreads, weed and stinky surfers.

Today was my birthday so we decided to do a mangrove boat trip. We got the whole boat to ourselves and saw plenty of Costa Rican wildlife. First there's so many birds that I can't name, crocodiles and iguanas. Our guide stopped the boat and we wandered into the jungle and looked up into the trees and saw howler monkeys lying in the trees. They all seemed to be having a siesta.

Costa Rica's pretty amazing so far – everyone is really friendly (the country doesn't even have an army), the scenery is amazing and there's loads to do and see.

For the rest of the photos see my Flickr page