It has been a surprise to see the number of children and adults out selling trinkets on the street and the number of elderly who sit palm out begging. This has been of epidemic proportions in some tourist places and is likely to discourage tourists, as you feel constantly harassed. The adults are a different […]
The road through the western part of the Yucatan peninsular to this mountain town was a wonderful winding route, through many villages that were already dressed for Easter. We looked out for, but didn’t see any, Judas burnings that are a part of the Easter Saturday rituals in very catholic Mexico. This little mountain town […]
Not talking about the people – they’re great, but man this peninsula is flat! One bloody great limestone plain just 5-20 metres above sea level. No rivers or lakes but these huges caverns called cenotes where the rainwater collects (rains start in May). Had a swim in one yesterday to break the heat that was […]
We’re in Mexico, the last but largest leg of this South of the Border trip. Been a bit reticent about returning to this fantastic country in view of all the reported violence and will be doing all possible to manage the risks of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Read this morning […]
Forget Belize City, get out to the Cays that line the large lagoon off the coast of Belize. It’s a different world from the decrepit streets of the largest city (60,000 people) in the former British Honduras. Indeed most tourists fly in and transfer to the Cays immediately. Out there it’s obvious why – the […]
The queues at the border from Guatemala to Belize left us feeling wrung-out from heat and chaos and then a chemical spray team targeted us and demanded BZ $10 each bike. Next time I’ll do a runner as the receipt means nothing. So east through a flat, almost sea level Belize. We saw a poor […]
Up in the northeast of Guatemala and into the region known widely as the Yucatan, we’ve a day at Tikal, a Malayan site deep in the jungle where once 100,000 folk lived. Formed firstly around 700BC and lasting 16 centuries until around 900AD when, along with many other lowland Mayan city states, it collapsed. It […]
I had never heard of Dr Ropata before I came to Guatemala and now I can’t get away from the comments. Dave was the first to let us know about this piece of NZ TV history. It even has a facebook page. We have had a few days of cutting out the miles, Nicaragua, Honduras, […]
We are on the road to Neuve Ocotepeque and have to get across a mountainous divide, but the GPS and map have a line that should indicate a road. We turn off the ribbon of seal onto corrugations and ruts, pea gravel on top of hard clay and huge boulders imbedded in the clay from […]
These steel covers must be a very sought after commodity as there are so many missing. I didn’t realise how many there are until they were gone, and you peer 5m down into the depths of infrastructure as you drive by. Would they be used as BBQ plates or some other use? Trucks cars and […]
