Welcome to little Britain

London is so familiar to both of us, Malene and I having spent a good few years living and working here, pretty much in the centre. But visiting is different from the daily drudge of getting up for work, it could be dark, it could be warm, it could be cold – depends on if the central heating is on, you have breakfast, then get the paper and the train for work. No not us, not this time. Sandra, Malene’s friend who we met up with in NY and who lives in London, kindly put us up for the few days we were there at her top floor apartment in Maida Vale and we got up at 10am most days. But we had stuff to do and as with TV game shows where people race about our tasks for London were not too different. Read more

The Big Beast

It can eat you up and spit you out just like that and you can scratch your head wondering what to do next. But the Big “B” is not as scary as one might think, it’s a big teddy bear with lots of honey jars and goodies. Go 50 meters in any direction and there is food and lots of it, all kinds of donuts, bagels, juicy sandwiches, restaurants and bars, fresh food supermarkets and of course coffee by the gallon.  This is……. Read more

We ❤️ Mexico City

I want to live in Mexico!! All the places we’ve visited from the beaches in the east to the desert in the west have been fantastic and Mexico City is the icing on the cake. We’ve had such a great week here soaking up big city vibes and catching up with old and new friends. It has changed a lot and seems cleaner, friendlier, trendier (and safer!) than when I travelled here a few times for work in 2003-05. Also, I was probably overwhelmed by the chaos and noise back then whereas now we are used to it. But it’s not all big city chic – the first night we donned our masks and went to a Lucha Libra match. Read more

A dose of Holbox

Warning: This blog contains material that could be detrimental to your mental health and overall well-being. View the photographs with caution and if you experience any symptoms of lightheadedness, malaise, speaking in tongues or an urge for an ice cold Mojito contact you travel agent immediately. Failing do to so could lead to hysteria, chronic incoherence and in extreme cases much worse. Read more

No Country for shrinking violets

We arrived in La Paz (Spanish for peace) which is almost at the bottom of Baja California, the long narrow strip of land which runs parallel to the west coast of Mexico. It’s a rough desert landscape with steep mountains, dry plains and a diversity of beaches but I should have realized something fishy was afoot after previewing our first photo. We assumed the cacti were friendly but just look at the one in the background giving me the finger and probably having a laugh at my expense, they must have seen us coming. Read more

Montezuma’s revenge

I guess it was inevitable that the germs lurking in many corners would get us at some point and we were only just back in Mexico when Montezuma struck! Hence the delay in posting photos from San Cristobal de Las Casas and Oaxaca. Montezuma was an Aztec emperor with a fierce reputation who has given name to what is known in other countries as Delhi Belly or the Cairo Twostep. My attack was not sweet but at least it was short whereas poor Nick has been on & off for the last 3 weeks, possibly suffering multiple attacks. Once you’re affected you are probably more susceptible and he also suffered some ill-advised medicine which only made things worse (PS he is better again). Enough of that… In between days spent indoors we did see some lovely places. Read more

Atitlan – Chichicastenango – Quetzaltenango – Fuentes Georginas

It’s been a tongue twister of a week! These are some of the places we visited – no wonder we often struggle to remember and / or pronounce them all!

The road to San Pedro at Lake Atitlan was slow and hard-going. There was a little tarmac between the potholes with hairpin bend after hairpin bend, both uphill and down, but we got there in the end about 3 hours late. We took a tuk-tuk through the narrow winding roads of the village to where we were staying which was a bit further out than we wanted but the little chalet was nice, very comfy and had hot water. San Pedro is a party town but after El Paredon we were all partied out and would have been happy to stay in one of the smaller villages scattered round the lake, but San Pedro it was and we were finally there! Read more

What happens in El Paredon, stays in El Paredon

Halfway through our stay in Antigua we decided to go to El Paredon, a surf beach 2 hours away to stay at a hostel called Driftwood Surfer. Malene made the booking after seeing the poster which looked idyllic and  really chilled – a bit of a party place but also time for yoga. We arrived at noon and expectations unraveled as we got off the bus and were ushered into a scruffy back-door entrance, our room was like a goldfish bowl with 3 walls of windows but at least the bed was good . We can do this we agreed, so we made our way the pool area, what was going on there set the scene for the next four days. I counted about 10 girls ………. Read more

A postcard from Antigua Guatemala (updated)

Guatemala – another place we didn’t know much about… The shuttle was taking us to Antigua Guatemala, a small town located 1500 metres above sea level and surrounded by mountains and 3 volcanoes. It was just getting dark as we arrived and from the car we saw Volcano Fuego erupt and the glow from a bit of lava flow. The town is brochure-pretty with cobblestoned streets and cute little colourful houses and it was love at first sight. Read more