The last few weeks of our travels have been a slightly odd period. A mental battle between enjoying the last drops of our walk-help-roam experience and wanting to get home and put in place our next chosen acts. So it was with a certain relief that we entered Mexico City our final stop. This fabulous journey of experiences, many that we will be dissecting and analysing for some time, was drawing to a close with our minds now almost fully focused on new horizons and challenges. Mexico City is big, twenty million people big. It’s much calmer and quieter that we [View Full Entry]

---

---

We didn’t accomplish a lot on our first day in Oaxaca as we were still feeling the effects of our turbulent mountain traverse the day before. Upon first pass the city of Oaxaca seemed a pretty decent spot. Its Zocalo, the square at the centre of the city, was impressive with its colonial architecture and a teaming crowd of people either enjoying a drink in one of the multitude of cafes or strolling about soaking up the atmosphere. One thing worth noting that was immediately apparent was that for the first time on this journey we’d met our walking match as [View Full Entry]

---

---

Apparently the best way to get to Oaxaca from Puerto Escondido was on one of the frequent express van services. These went straight over the Sierra Madre del Sur mountain range rather than taking three hours longer going via the highways and avoiding the high peaks. It was a pretty straight forward choice as we had already clocked up over 25 hours on Mexico’s buses so unnecessary extra hours was certainly not desirable. If the Americans are in search of an alternative form of torture to the much condemned practice of Waterboarding then we’ve discovered it. Neither of us are easi [View Full Entry]

---

---

We arrived bleary eyed in Puerto Escondido after completing our thirteen hour overnight bus journey from San Cristobal. Having had a decent amount of kip between us on Mexico’s comfy, albeit a little pricey, first class bus service followed by a quick stop for breakfast and we felt ready to commence the accommodation search. Not wooed at our first stop with its brash American owner trying to pressure us with promises of ‘nice sheets’ and ‘a great time’ instead we plumped for our second stop which looked to fit the bill. Hostel Puerto Escondido was a pretty barebon [View Full Entry]

---

---

The promise that San Cristobal would be sat beneath cloudless strikingly blue skies was fulfilled. At over 2100m above sea level the air was clean and fresh with the only draw back being that once the sun went down it become fairly chill. Upon arrival to a new place we’ve enhanced our accommodation search tactics. Heading straight to look at potential hostels laden with all our stuff always seemed to put us on the back foot for negotiation and force us into a quick decision anxious to get settled and relax. The revised tactics were to first hall-up somewhere for a [View Full Entry]

---

---

Mexico is a country that conjures up lots of associated imagery from brightly dressed Mexican’s sporting vast sombreros to its famous cuisine including tacos, enchiladas, burritos and quesadillas. This imagery brought with it the expectation that when we crossed from Guatemala into Mexico we would likely experience the same clear material wealth difference as Nicaragua to Costa Rica. However, it was not so and instead we could barely notice the join apart from a bit of a step up in transport comfort. The border was very low key and almost completely unmemorable apart from the slight shoc [View Full Entry]

---

---

Our last stop in Guatemala didn’t quite work out as planned. Having discovered that one of our debit cards had been cloned and so the account suspended until we return home we rather lost confidence in Guatemala’s sketchy looking and apparently insecure cash machines. Without wanting to risk our second and now only debit card we totted up our remaining Quetzels (the local dosh). With minimal cash-in-hand we decided to give the Mayan ruins of Tikal a miss and instead cross into Mexico a little early than planned and so avoid any further Guatemalan cash machine incident. It was indee [View Full Entry]

---

---

The transport links in Guatemala got a little more complex from Xela. The options were a two day six bus combo or a long day with Guatemala City bus changeover. Whilst not ecstatic about heading back through Guatemala City, Guate as the locals call it, it seemed the best choice to get to Coban. Between Guatemala City and San Salvador (El Salvador) it’s a close call as to which is the most dangerous Central American capital city. As we crossed Guate for the second time in a taxi to switch between bus depots it once again appeared calm and up together [View Full Entry]

---

---

Xela (sh-ela) is at around 2200m and gets very chilly at night. The big draw that brought us to Xela was to hike up the dormant volcano Santa Maria which stands at just over 3700m and peer down upon the active volcano Santiaguito (2500m) to watch its hourly eruptions. Eduardo was our man to lead this compelling adventure. Apparently he’s a famous character as he was proudly telling us of the personal mention he gets in the tours section of the Guatemalan Lonely Planet. It was a convenient 5am start as Eduardo and his wife Marta also ran the hostel that [View Full Entry]

---

---

Lake Atitlan, once said to be the most beautiful lake on earth by Aldous Huxley, offers up an array of lake side town options which you can make your base. We opted for San Pedro as the main alternative San Marcos was billed as Hippie Ville. Rik the slightly Bohemian, and highly fascinating, Welsh potter we’d met a few days earlier whilst hiking up Volcano Pacaya had even given San Marcos a bad billing dismayingly telling us about the various places selling the opportunity to communicate with aliens via telepathy. Not having anything seriously against Gringo Hippies on tour (we’re [View Full Entry]

---

---