The sterile glitz of Vegas was replaced by the gritty reality of Los Angeles. The old and rattly taxi had a divider to protect the driver from his passengers. We stayed downtown at the Hotel Figaroa where we had a pleasant room on the first floor in colourful Moroccon style. Had a bath which was great and the lovely lady at the desk gave us maps of the area and the metro system. With an hour or two of daylight left we whizzed off to Hollywood. We had already seen the sign on the hillside in the distance and it was [View Full Entry]

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We booked the Luxor hotel. Less than US$100 a night and pretty cool to stay in the pyramid. Somehow it was not as big as I expected but, by crikey, it was busy. Huge queue at the check-in and people everywhere. The casino was massive and there was an atrium complete with fast food joints, IMAX theatre and museum. Our room was on the 15th floor and we reached it via an inclinating elevator which tended to knock us off balance. While exploring the hotel we were collared by a lady promising free gifts. Only at the last moment did she [View Full Entry]

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We crossed over into the USA at Nogales. We knew we had reached the border when we hit traffic and crept ever so slowly forward for over an hour. It was snowing and sleeting outside. We had been dreading the crossing but it was painless. Customs and immigration were pleasant. We saw the high wall that tries in vain to keep illegal Mexicans out of the USA. On the other side we instantly noticed more order, more cleanliness, and a more modern environment. We passed through Tuscan where we dropped off most of the Mexicans (they need special permission to go [View Full Entry]

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It was a long day on the bus from Los Mochis to Hermosillo. We were finding more and more Mexicans who spoke English since we were getting closer to the USA so managed to spend some of the time chatting. The scenery got pretty as we passed the coastal town of Guaymas and headed inland again where lots and various cactus grew. We also saw a convoy of perhaps 20 Canadian mobile homes. Most were big monstrous vehicles with more space than the average London flat and the family car was being towed. At Hermosillo we arranged our bus to the [View Full Entry]

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It was an icy cold morning as we boarded the firt class Copper Canyon train. The conductors were beautifully dressed with the traditional square hats. We found ourselves seated in the emergency seats on the left side of the train. We had asked for the left side (for the best view) when we booked but thought we only got right side seats so were pleasantly surprised. Opposite us were a Mexican couple and in the carriage were a few other Mexicans, a group of French tourists and a group of American tourists (Gerard's group - see the previous blog). Both groups [View Full Entry]

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We had a real problem in Chihuahua. We could not find good accommodation. At the cheap end there seemed to be a couple of rat infested holes so we decided to stay somewhere more expensive. But the three big hotels we tried were full. There was something going on in town. So we ended up at the Hotel Plaza which was a meager P$135 (US$13) for a large room with a shabby bed, missing electric switches and holes in the walls where the switches should be. The next morning we found the railway station and brought first class tickets for the [View Full Entry]

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We had arranged to stay with a Couch Surfer in Durango. But foolishly we ended up in the city of Durango rather than the town of Gomez Palacio in the state of Durango. Gomez Palacio was a further 3 hours away but our host Jose happily retrieved us from the bus terminal at 9 pm. Jose was lovely and we ate some fantastic tacos at a local restaurant before heading to his house. The next day Jose took us with him to work. A lab manager at a dairy company, we got a tour of the labs and were taken out [View Full Entry]

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After over a month in Mexico we are now officially sick of the buses. Always with movies being played but often competing with the drivers radio. And frequently we are arriving at our destination before the movie is finished. Hmm. Zacatecas is set in the hills at around 2500 meters but it was surprisingly warm. We stayed at the Hotel Condesa which was quite pleasant. Unlike Guadalajara this town had a lovely feeling. The streets were busy with vendors and the stone buildings ranged in colour from orange to pink. The cathedral was particularly spectacular. We found a lot of upmarket [View Full Entry]

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So far in Mexico we had very few issues with taxis but in Guadalajara we found a taxi rank at the second class bus terminal that wanted P$50 for a short ride. We just walked on a bit. A taxi was dropping off so we asked what the ride would cost and he said P$35 but pointed us back at the taxi rank. We just carried on walking until the taxi driver felt comfortable about taking us out of turn. We tried 2 other hotels before settling on the Hotel Posada San Pablo. The price was OK at P$350 and the [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Guadalajara at 12 noon. Big city and very smoggy. Pieter had the idea of moving on to Tequila so we did. We found the Tequila Plus service at the Antigua Central Bus Terminal and off we went. It took close on an hour just to get out of the city again and 2 hours to get to Tequila. Towards the end of the trip we started to see lots of the pretty pale blue agave plants used to make tequila. The town of Tequila was quite tiny and we only had to walk a couple of blocks from [View Full Entry]

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