The Trip 2013 - Playa del Carmen to Tikal

Note: This is a condensed version of the pictures I took with some added narrative. The rest of the pics can be viewed in the album The Trip 2013 - Playa del Carmen to Tikal. Each picture can be clicked to see a larger version and comment / like.

After the wet and long trip from Chichen Itza we were all thoroughly ready to party it up in style in the party town of Playa del Carmen, Mexico.



We rocked up to our hostel which was a really cool place where all the rooms surround a central space filled with tables, benches and hammocks. We had a great time that first night drinking great quantities of Tequila, Mescal and Corona.



We spent the rest of the night dancing without our sandles on in a club right on the beach, no photos of that particular debauchery unfortunately.

The following day we hit the beach. I remembered to remove all electronics from my pockets this time before going in the sea.



The following day we made our way for the tiny island of Caye Caulker in Belize.





We had a great time in Caye Caulker. It was a tiny play with a really cool laid back feel to it.



We spent the first evening there sampling the local food and drink.







The following day we took a day tour out on a boat to explore the reef. On the way out we had a small bird problem.



When in the water we saw all manner of things, from Manitee's..





.. to turtles...





.. to fish on the reef







The following day we had to say a font farewell to Belize and make our way into Guatemala. First up in this beautiful country was the stunning lost Mayan ruins of Tikal.







We had a great time there climbing up the various temples.





Temple 4 was the largest temple there and offered incredible views over the jungle, including this one. Points to anyone who can guess which movie this view was in:



There we also saw loads of animals including some monkeys..



.. and some of these cute things







We also saw some not so cute creatures









I really enjoyed myself at Tikal, a truly magical place...







.. I cant believe that less than 1% of this place has been uncovered, I can just imagine the treasures just waiting to be uncovered below the jungle.



Needless to say Tikal for me is definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me... so far!

NHS Social Innovation in Salford Competition

Before leaving to go on my trip I entered a competition being run by the NHS called "Social Innovation in Salford". The intention of the competition is to find people with ideas for how to solve some issues currently facing the NHS in the Manchester region.

The competition is split into several parts with the brief for the first part being:

How to give older people greater control and enable them to have more meaningful and fulfilling lives and in so doing reduce demand on the health and social care system

Its a really nice idea and a clever way to try to bring in new ideas to solve challenging problems that the NHS currently faces.

To enter you had two write a short (300) word proposal. If your proposal was short listed and you participated in the subsequent meetings you would win £1000.

My proposal was predictably related to technology and games. I suggested that mobile devices with games loaded on could be given to the elderly so they could keep their minds active by playing games. I also suggested that if tablets were used then other apps could be installed such as Skype that allowed the elderly to keep in contact with relatives.

During the early part of my trip I received an email announcing that I was short listed and invited to attend the meetings in Salford. Unfortunately because I was in North Carolina at the time I couldnt attend physically, instead they asked me to attend via Skype and create a video which details my proposal in more detail:



As a follow up, I was asked to create another video that answered some questions:



The leaders of the competition now have the option to select mine or one of the other proposals to take further and potentially develop it into an actual scheme.