Upon saying our toodaloos to Leanne and Calvin in El Tule, we tootled off with the mountains and volcanoes flirting in our periphery onto Puebla—70 miles southeast of the capital. As well as the city, Puebla is also a Mexican state and the Spanish word for ‘seed that a gardener sows’. Might as well kill three […]
14-15 Aug 2015 – Manmade shooting stars and firework-fraught fiestas!
Back in El Tule for the start of the town’s bi-annual fiesta celebrations, a religious celebration had commenced in honour of Saint Mary. Leanne and Calvin, owners of Overlander Oasis, chatted away to us in their usual style; unhindered with a lifetime of hilarious stories. Some anecdotes never failed to reach new levels of crazy, […]
29 Jul-2 Aug 2015 – Little old ladies, royally ruined and hostel heaven!
Despite the decent enough recommend through someone’s write up on iOverlander about Anita’s Campervan and RV rig campground, set inland in Campeche, we should’ve given it a miss and headed into pastures new. Just 50 kilometres up the road to the nearest coastal town would’ve been wonderful. As a starter for ten, we paid over the […]
28 Jul 2015 – Scratching a Chichen Itza and soothing it at Dzitnup’s sinkhole
While the mozzies and no-see-ums sucked my blood, the heavy heat was sucking the life force out of Jase. Impeccably located, the Piramide Inn Resort on the Yucatán Peninsula gave us respite from the heinous level of humidity alongside a reprieve from the unyielding insects—cue an air-conditioned room. Who knew, you can even haggle over cold […]
21-27 Jul 2015 – Tending to more monkey business in Belize, hello Mexico and fun’derwater!
After the climatic visit of Tikal’s omnipotent temples amid the omnipresent monkeys, a warm goodbye from Guatemala’s border officials led to an immediate culture shock in Belize. Simply, the widespread presence of English felt odd to say the least. Especially after 17 months on the receiving end of almost unadulterated Español. I’d acquired a taste […]
19-20 Jul 2015 – The mother of all Mayan sites: Tikal
Gruffly waking up at 5am to the distinct growls of the howler monkeys, our alarm clock became their curiously deep throated bellowing, as I blinked in the faint light of false dawn. I closed my eyes for a moment, savouring the last strands of sleep as they parted company and shook the final filaments of […]
16-18 Jul 2015 – Road blocks, baby bumps & blubbering: drama drama drama!
All else had faded into the oblivion of a person pushed to the edge of her daily endurance; moto-wrecked from the joyous amounts of gnarly off roading, hugging the outskirts of Parque Nacional Grutas de Lanquín all morning. And would’ve done anything to make contact with soap and cold water; I was filthy, stinking hot […]
10-16 Jul 2015 – “This must be underwater love, the way I feel it slipping all over me…”
An elevated 80 miles saw our sorry excuses for bodies, sore muscles that’d ache for some time to come and seized legs—on a less than welcomed ride—taking leave of Antigua’s stunning architecture up through the nippy Guatemalan Highlands and into the Sierra Madre mountain range. Ordinarily happy to earn the magic moments that often ensue post […]
7-9 Jul 2015 – The Fandango with Acatenango: a footslog not for the faint-hearted
With a week’s worth of rest and relaxation under our loosened belts, the physical and emotional reserves were as stockpiled as they were ever going be for the two-day volcano trek. Having recently scaled Cerro Negro for an hour, a modest volcano in Nicaragua; climbed Tongariro for two hours in New Zealand six years back and motorcycled up […]
1-6 Jul 2015 – Through a portal into the age-old Guatemalan city of Antigua
I’d grown quite fond of Nicaragua for the segment of it we experienced. Not least for its volcano sledging and studded landscapes, colonial jewels of the Spanish-American culture and corkers on the hostel scene, but also the food. Tasty fare from the Caribbean creole to the Maya-influenced Spanish style cooking was noticeably lighter on the […]