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
We saw so much on this trip through Yucatan. Nick already wrote about Valladolid and Izamal, the small towns we very much enjoyed, and we also visited two of the best known Mayan ruins: Chichen Itza and Uxmal.
In the souvenir shops in Playa del Carmen and Isla Mujeres we have seen endless rows of plastic pyramids and colourful skulls. Now having seen these ancient Mayan ruins and learnt about the history we have a better understanding of the meanings of these symbols. 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
As we are learning to live this travelling life, we find that every so often we need to stop and rest. So after travelling around the US and Canada for 6 weeks and covering huge distances, we were looking for somewhere warm by the beach where we could do a bit of home cooking and exercise more regularly to recover from all the melted cheese we had enjoyed! Enter Playa del Carmen, a small town on the Caribbean Sea south of Cancun, Mexico. Read more
Over 10 days in Collingwood, north of Toronto, we’ve seen temperatures ranging from +25 degrees to -1. First we spent Canadian Thanksgiving weekend with Gill (Nick’s sister-in-law), Al and Adam in glorious late summer heat. The foliage had turned and was beautifully set off by blue skies. The following weekend we got an early taste of winter when we stayed with Gillian and Kevin (an old colleague of Nick’s) in their cottage. As most of you will know, we plan to follow summer and avoid the cold so to see snow without having to wait for the middle of winter was an unexpected delight… 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“.
As we left Mexican Hat and Monument Valley we wondered what we would see that we hadn’t already seen. The landscapes and scenery until now had been so dramatic that it would be impossible to top! As we drove east the surrounding mountains changed to blues and greys and the desert looked much drier in yellows and dusty olive greens. Ship Rock followed us part on the way and we realised how it got its name. Depending on how the road wove its way through the hills the rock would appear and sail past us back and forth. And when we got to Santa Fe we found that the city’s unique qualities are man-made: adobe houses and art, art and more art… Read more