It’s like the whole place came to a stop and then went backwards after the Cuban “revolucion” in 1959 and the evidence is there for everyone to see and dare-I-say enjoy, because Cuba’s is about music, salsa dancing, awesome cars ‘n cigars and a crumbling world that’s trapped in its communist era ideology. Read more
Each year leading up to the Day of the Lady of Guadalupe, on the 12th of December, groups of mostly young men head towards cities that have cathedrals dedicated to the Lady of Guadalupe to celebrate the event. Read more
Of all the countries we have visited the greatest contrast by far is between Japan and Mexico. Design in the Land of the Rising Sun was meticulously crafted over centuries, it eliminates waste and strives for perfection where as Mexico has created style out of chaos, colour and imagination, the result leaves you begging for more. Read more
Isla Mujeres (Island of Women) is a colourful island with plenty of history, it got its name when the Spanish slave trader Francisco Hernandez Cordova on his way to Cuba arrived on the island to add to his human cargo but found no inhabitants only statues of nude females. No coincidence as the island was a Mayan sanctuary to the goddess Ixchel, the goddess of love, fertility and medicine. Read more
Leaving Mexican Hat we went to Santa Fe and Taos in New Mexico, both very stylish little towns, engulfed in history and art, many artists moved into the area a long time ago and as a result have become big tourist attractions. Moving further south the look changed and cowboys are everywhere, in the southern parts of New Mexico and in Texas stetson hats and cowboy boots are now the norm. To date we’ve sampled the cheese-melt steak and beans sandwich with the “lot” (check my waist line) but we are still hungry for something more traditional with a taste of the real west; the answer came to me as “Rodeo“.
These are some the photos from Bryce Canyon and Monument Valley that were left out of the original blog, plus two photos from Gooseneck Canyon which were totally missed, obviously not impressive enough at the time, though unlike anything else I’ve ever seen.
I have added captions to tell the difference between Hoodoos, which we only saw at Bryce Canyon and Mesas, Buttes and Spires that were so amazing at Monument Valley. The latter three are the names of the formations at various stages of change, starting as Mesas, which are flat or table top mountains, as they weather they change to Buttes and eventually become Spires.
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There are much better photos we could have used as an opener, but then why not keep the best for last. We left San Francisco intent on getting to warmer weather, we’ve had a few beautiful sunny days but since departing Shanghai there haven’t been many really hot days. We packed our summer clothes on top and the winter gear at the bottom of our bags and headed south to the wild wild West where my teenage heroes roamed Yeehaaaa…… Read more
So we arrived at the terminal in Shanghai and were rushed on board. To give you a taste of what we were confronted with have a look at this video, after dropping our bags in the cabin we took some video through the porthole then rushed outside and stood on our deck “F” to see what we had let ourselves in for. I hope the height and feeling of being exposed comes across, that is something I had to eventually overcome because of my fear of heights. The ship loaded / unloaded and as soon as it’s over it’s on its way, that is how it was at all the ports we stopped at. Read more
As you can see from our opening shot there was something unreal about the whole crossing. The 17 days on board went by in a flash and by the time we made it to Prince Rupert in Canada, which was on the 15th day, we were taken by surprise, we’ve arrived!! On a daily basis we had plenty to do, from day one we put in place a strict regime and what follows are just some of our the highlights. Read more