draak

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 metion the timeshare tour we would have to endure in order to get our gifts. For US$75 in gambling vouchers, tickets to the Tournament of Kings and a Bahama cruise we decided to go. The ... read more

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 USA and had a taxi take us to the Colonial Hotel. We didn't like the look of it really, being on a busy road and very motel-like and overpriced. The taxi man could see our ... read more

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 next day for the Copper Canyon. Nearby we found Quinta Luz, which used to be the headquarters of Pancho Villa, Mexican Revolutionist. It was a very reasonable P$15 entrance. The house was very busy. There ... read more

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 shopping and didn't see any other foreigners. We saw some people protesting outside the government buildings and guessed that the tractors we had passed heading into town had something to do with it. And sure ... read more

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 the bus stop to find a hotel. The Hotel Posada del Agave was beautiful painted in green with the agave motif appearing on the bathroom tiles. We got a comfortable quiet back room for P$300 ... read more