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Elvis Lives Tour
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May 2016 – Aug 2018

Elvis Lives Tour

May 2016 - April 2019 Read more
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    Patzcuaro

    January 29, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    Patzcuaro is a beautiful old colonial town, and we had a lovely tranquil camp site just on the edge of town. We're still high at around 2,000 metres meaning its gorgeously warm in the sun but drops down to a few degrees overnight. This doesn't bother us as we have an electric heater (thanks for buying that on your trip mum & dad!), as well as a gas heater for when we are camping without a hookup, so we are nice and toasty overnight.

    We spent a couple of days exploring this large town and its multitude of plazas and artisan craft shops. We managed to buy lots of pressies, promptly filling the space we just created by sending a parcel home. We even found a Chinese restaurant, which made a nice change from tacos, tacos and more tacos, and cost us a whopping 3 bucks for a huge plateful!

    On the 3rd day we drove a few minutes to the dock and caught a little boat over to the island of Janitzio. Our boat was worryingly called the Titanic, but it managed to get us the 25 minutes over to the island. We wound our way up the small island, with large steps covered on all sides with stalls selling mostly tack. At the top was a cool monument which you could climb to get great views over the lake and beautiful rolling hills.

    We could have easily spent longer exploring the area but we felt we needed to keep momentum otherwise we will never reach Guatemala.

    We heades towards the butterflys (check next blog post) and decided to make a stop off at some hot springs. There are great roads here, but they are tolled and boy are they expensive. We've paid 30 bucks for an hours drive before, so we decided to take the Libre (free) roads. This can be a bit of an adventure, with rough surfaces and hundreds of topes (speed bumps) suddenly appearing on 50mph roads. Sometimes you do get to go along some beautiful sections, particularly up in the hills, which (just about) makes it worthwhile. As we were drawing near we started heading up a windy road, which went up and up until we leveled out about 3,000 metres. The whole area is geothermal and we found a great campsite with amazing hot pools, and spent a lovely afternoon lounging around. We had a camp fire to keep away the cold, and we could hear the nice white noise from the steam power plant next door.    Read more

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    Monarch Flutter Bys

    February 1, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    We couldn't resist another dip in the hot pools before we left, then we drove a couple of hours to the Cerro Pelón, a place famous for its butterflies. Each year they gather here and 2 other places nearby to mate in their millions. The males then die but something truly remarkable happens; the pregnant females fly north in March and lay their eggs in southern eastern USA, their offspring metamorphose in May and then fly all the way to the Great Lakes where they breed and then the next generation starts the whole process again - a journey of some 4,500km over 3 generations.

    We again declined the use of horses to get our lungs and legs back in shape, and set off up an extremely steep and incredibly dusty trail. An hour and a half of hard slog up to 3,000m and we saw our first butterflies fluttering by. Another 5 minutes further on and our guide Emilio stopped us and pointed at the trees - at first you just see a few hundred butterflies sunning themselves on the branches, but then you realise that what you thought was normal tree was in fact millions and millions of butterflies crammed together and weighing down the branches much like frozen snow does. We sat there and watched them in wonder for half an hour, before making our way back to the community campground and a meal in our guide's aunt's restaurant (in fact the only restaurant in town).

    It was an amazing experience and the photos/videos don't don't come close to doing it justice.    Read more

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    Teotihuacan

    February 3, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    It's definitely a bit of a tongue twister, but this place is AMAZING, and worth the $30 US in toll roads around Mexico City to get here. After a morning of catching up with a Bulgarian family we'd made friends with back in Etzatlan & one false start (as no pets allowed - even though there are stray dogs evereywhere) we made it into the site.

    The city was established around 100 BC and lasted for about 8 centuries until its demise. At its zenith it was the largest city in North America & about 6th in the world at that time. There are two massive pyramids, the Temples of the Sun & Moon, although these were named by the Aztecs who discovered the abandoned citadel and they know almost nothing about the people who lived here or their culture.

    We spent a good few hours exploring and climbing the pyramids in the hot afternoon sun, and a great deal of time trying to understand where to pick up our tickets for the evening show, which incredibly and infuriatingly was only available on TicketMaster (which has wasted days of my life in the past trying to get Glastonbury tickets!)

    Eventually we figured it out and returned that evening to be issued with an iPod (remember those? Basically and iPhone without the phone). The 2km long Avenue of the Dead was lit up, and we wandered down to the Temple of the Moon listening to the interactive show. We then settled on the steps opposite the larger Temple of the Sun and were treated to an amazing light show which was projected onto the pyramid as the backdrop. Being high (~2,500m) the temperature dropped quickly but the light show was so incredible we barely noticed.    Read more

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    Cuidad Del México

    February 4, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    México City is a sprawling metropolis of 20 million people & twice the size of London, and everyone said not to drive in. That's without considering the 'Hoy No Circula' traffic restrictions that prevent foreign plates driving on Saturdays, as well as a different day of the week depending on the last digit of the license plate, plus some other random rules that completely baffled us! As Maya wasn't allowed on the buses or metro we had to cab it in, but fortunately Uber are here so an hours plus drive only cost us 15 bucks. We were definitely splashing out on our trip into the capital, and we stayed in a posh 5 star hotel - although this only cost $20 in taxes thanks to loyalty points left over from all that work travel :)

    We got dropped in Zócalo, or the historical centre. Mexico City really isn't dog friendly, and we had to tag-team it to visit the amazing Templar Mayor, which is the site of the ancient pyramids, but age is all relative and these were many centuries after the incredible Teotihuacan. Unfortunately most of it is still under modern buildings, or churches the Spanish built on the sacred sites.

    We checked into the hotel then squeezed in a 'quick' 2 hour visit of the jaw-dropping Museo Anthropologica, where we could have spent the whole day. They had fantastic displays of the entire history of man's journey around the world, as well as many amazing stone carvings from Teotihuacan and even a scale reproduction of one of the most ornate pyramids, complete with the long disappeared carvings and paintings.

    That evening we checked out the swanky Polanco district where we were based. We had an incredible burger and fries, complete with curry sauce. We found out about a secret club, and strolled down the street until we found a burly bouncer guarding an unmarked freezer door, and we knew we'd found the right place.

    In the morning we felt bad for Maya cooped up in the hotel room so took her through the massive park over the road, conveniently ignoring the no dogs sign (really, in a park?). We were planning on hopping in a cab when we noticed the main road was shut to traffic and was full of cyclists and runners, so we decided to walk the 6km instead taking in many sights on the way. By late afternoon we were dead on our feet so Ubered our way back to Elvis.    Read more

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    2

    Pain In The Ass

    February 8, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    A few times when we've done really long hikes with heavy rucksacks in the states, when we come to set up camp I've had really bad pain that stops me from straightening until it passes. Strangely it's manifested itself again over the past few days when we've walked a long way (10km+) but over easy ground and without bags so I figured I'd better get it checked out.

    I found a chiropractor that spoke English and got myself a few x-rays (by strolling into the x-ray shop of course!). They clearly showed a displaced vertebrae at the bottom of my spine, apparently from an old injury, as well as a not very curvy curve. So for the next 5 days I trotted down to the doc and got my spine 'adjusted'. It wasn't particularly unpleasant, but a little strange when he dropped the table and my back clicked.

    Fortunately we had a lovely camp site and cool young doc, there was also a great ice cream shop in town so the whole experience wasn't as bad as it could be but we did start to get a little stir crazy as I don't think we've stayed in one place for over a week before. We ended up visiting the pyramids again (the 3rd time!) & spent another enjoyable couple of hours checking out the less visited corners.

     At the end of the week I can't say I felt any better than normal, maybe even worse to be honest, but I did compress a month's worth of treatment into 5 days so it's not really a surprise. Hopefully it the long run it will prove worthwhile as for the first time in my life I've actually felt old.    Read more

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    A Church A Day Keeps The Devil Away

    February 11, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Hurrah - we finally managed to leave Teotihuacan (after over a week!) & headed for Cholula. This is an interesting town which was an important spiritual place for the pre-hispanic indigenous people & there are layers of different pyramids which they've excavated. Sadly this was also the site of a massacre of the indigenous population by the Spanish & they either utilized the materials from lots of the 'pagan' temples to build churches, or simply built on top of them. Supposedly there is a church for every day of the year, although fortunately we only saw a tiny fraction of them.

    Two volcanos, one if which is currently smoking,
    tower over the very elaborate church perched attop a huge pyramid (bigger then the eygption pyramids) does make it a spectacular city.

    We took it in turns to see the pyramids as no dogs allowed - but Phil was happy as he got to sit in a bar watching England vs Wales in the rugby. We were then delighted to find Pakistani restaurant run by a Sri Lanka who used to live in London! Excellent curry and even pakora & naan, the owner also sold us some good tea which he gets imported. So not only a day of culture & history but rugby & a cuzza as well :) This country is still surprising us!    Read more

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    Monte Alban

    February 13, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    We weren't originally planning on visiting this site, but when we saw it was founded before Teotihuacan and outlasted it by a century we figured it had to be something pretty special.

    We found a beautiful area to camp half an hour to the north of Oaxaca, and cruised down to Monte Alban early (for us!) in the morning. It's on much smaller scale than Teotihuacan, probably as it's built on a mountain top with tremendous 360 views over 3 valleys, but they have a lot crammed in. It's an incredible spot and apparently the earliest form of written language in meso-america and they had a solar calendar too. They had some really impressive engravings showing castrated and decapitated leaders of the tribes they had conquered, and even one of an Asian guy from before the time of Christ.

    After a couple of hours we headed back towards camp, but with a diversion to a glorious swimming pool complex to while away the afternoon (oh yea, and apparently exercising my back!). We also visited an arts centre in an old warehouse which had some very modern sculpture & some beautiful water features.    Read more

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    Frozen Waterfalls

    February 14, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    We bypassed Oaxaca city and headed east, with an infuriating stop at a shopping complex where I managed the lose the parking ticket and we had to pay a whopping 7 dollars fine!

    We arrived at Hierve el Agua, which translates to 'boil the water' but were a little disappointed that the pools were cold! Still the view from where we camped, looking down onto the pools and cascades of mineral deposits was unbelievable. We spent a lazy afternoon exploring and soaking, then sunk a few beers as the sun set amongst the mountains.

    We even had a little camp fire perched on the cliff edge, cooked some amazing burgers and had a lovely night chatting with the young French couple in the van next door. This reminded us of American wilderness camping and its not something we've done a lot of since we left the Baja. What a blissful place.    Read more

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    Holy Mole

    February 17, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ 🌬 30 °C

    We headed back towards Oaxaca City but we had to stop off to have a bit of work done on Elvis's very noisy front shocks. They replaced them in a couple of hours (and incredibly cheaply) so went to see the widest tree in the world - which is also amazingly about 1500 years old!

    After a night in a campsite outside of town we headed into the centre where we were treating ourselves to a night in a hostel, we had a private room, free parking and free breakfast for about $23 - they even allowed dogs!

    We loved Oaxaca city, it was great for strolling around with beautiful old buildings, lots (& lots & lots) of artisan markets & excellent food & drink. The highlight food-wise was a lovely restaurant where we had a plate of Oaxacan specialities, including chilli relleno stuffed with shredded pork & nuts & a plate with 3 different types of mole sauce. Mole (pronounced mol-é, not the blind rodent way!) is a local speciality and there at least 7 main different colours (aka flavours), with mole negro containing up to 34 different ingredients including chocolate. We even got to stir some of the mole cooking in a huge earthenware pot over a coal fire, which layered a delicious aroma over the while restaurant.    Read more

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    2

    Life's A Beach

    February 20, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    We left the beautiful city Oaxaca - probably our favourite in Mexico as it's stuffed full of old buildings, artisan wares, and incredible eateries. Before we could leave I had to make a mad charge to an artisan market on the far side of town to buy a painted jaguar head, which we both wished we bought the day before.

    We headed pretty well due south, aiming for the beach. Progress was a little slow as we had to stop at every major artisan market on the way, buying some beautiful black pottery that only comes from one small area. We also visited an incredible workshop where the guy has won awards for his wonderful wood creations. Although they were a bit out of our price range, the family was lovely and gave us a guided tour.

    Despite the early crazy traffic (standard fair for a large Mexican urban area) the road was pretty decent and we made good progress before we hit the hills separating us from the coast. We were fairly tired after quite a wild night (in a club mixing a live band, singer DJ in a cacophony of noise) so we stopped off at a little mountain village for the night. Something was pretty weird about the place with a lot of very grungy travellers, which we haven't seen anywhere else on the trip, but we had a quiet night parked up at the town hall with fantastic views across the valley. We later learned the place was famous for its magic mushrooms, which explained a lot of the glassy eyed gazes!

    The next morning we lost over 2,500 metres in a windy 100k or so, and despite being in first gear a lot of the time the brakes were smelling pretty toasty. We stopped for an early lunch at an Argentinian parrilla (grill) place for fabulous lunch then cruised into the surf town of Zipolite. The waves were 12 foot plus at times and a huge undertow meant you were taking your life into your own hands if you ventured into the water, so we spent a lazy couple of days relaxing by the pool and on the beach.    Read more

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    11

    I Feel The Earth Move ...

    February 21, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    We visited a community co-op eco-tourism where they are trying to preserve the mangrove forest and all the associated flora & fauna by taking people on tours. Our boat weaved through the mangroves and saw parrots, herons, turtles & huge iguanas, which were orange due to it being mating season. We then landed on the island & were slightly alarmed when our guide started to lure a huge crocodile out of the water - it was over 4 metres long & there was no cage or fencing between us! We were really impressed with the efforts being made especially since a storm a few years ago destroyed 80% of the mangroves, so they even had a mangrove nursery which volunteers use for replanting.

    After giving a few backpackers a lift back to town we headed down the coast to a beach which promised to be less developed and have calm seas for swimming and snorkeling. Oh boy did it deliver - San Agustín is a stunningly beautiful bay with commodores (rustic restaurants) strung along the sand and a massive shallow coral reef. Nothing much happens here, a few buses bring in Mexican families and a few gringos are boated in during the day, but by sundown everything closes down and there's just a couple of gringos in vans and the locals.

    The biggest drama was sitting outside the van having breakfast one morning when everything started shaking - we were having an earthquake! We also realized that there had been one in the night which had woken me up but I had thought someone was shaking the van - I had even checked no one was trying to steal the bikes off the back!

    We've been away from the coast for quite a while and as this is one of the most idyllic beaches we've stayed on. It's a perfect blend of little restaurants and locals living a happy life. The snorkeling is amazing and we had a fantastic experience watching mini explosions of fish mating, all the time surrounded by larger fish looking forward to some tasty caviar!

    We had no choice but to stay as long as we could before our supplies ran low and we were driven from this fantastic hidden spot. Definitely on our 10 ten beaches in the world, and considering our itchy feet tendencies that's some list!    Read more

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    I Know a Dead Parrot When I See One...

    March 4, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    (If you don't recognise the Monty Python skit, shame on you!)

    After tearing ourselves away from the beach we spent a day restocking our dwindling supplies of food, water, beer & petrol. We then headed inland, crossing an incredibly windy estuary that logically was home to a huge windfarm and made for an interesting drive.

    We wound our way up to about 600m above sea-level & headed 3km down a dirt road to a community cooperative-run area of natural beauty, Cascadas El Aguacero. After over 750 steps down into the sandy bottom of the deep canyon we had a wonderful natural shower under the cool waterfall & lounged in the more bath-like (albeit a lukewarm one) river. The carpark gradually emptied & we spent a lovely quiet night with electricity from their incredible solar power set up with just the resident cat for company.

    Despite the temptation to descend back to the lush waterfalls we headed on another couple of hours to another eco-tourism place, Sima de las Cotorras (aka Sinkhole of the Parrots). I don't think I need to explain much more about this place, but we spent a lazy afternoon watching them sweep down x-wing stylee to their roosts on the cavernous walls to a raucous screeching from the existing inhabitants. We even got up at sunrise to see them spiralling out for the day too.

    We then cruised an hour or so down the road to El Cañón del Sumidero (Canyon of the Drain!), and took a couple of hours boat trip into the national park. It was a fun ride on a fast boat and we saw plenty of crocs sunning themselves on the banks. After such an early start it was only early afternoon so we decided to plow on to our next destination, the much anticipated San Cristóbal de las Casas, climbing from a few hundred metres up to over 2,000 in only 40 minutes (fortunately it was a decent road, albeit a toll one).    Read more

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    San Cristóbal De Las Casas

    March 9, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Although it's not Christmas we made straight for San Nicholas, a nice forestry area at the edge of town with great camping. We spent the first night partying around the pool table with a bunch of local lads and met a bunch of nice people some old friends and some new, including Josh, Chantelle and MK their dog (Maya's new bestie) who we would travel with for a while.

    As we are soon leaving Mexico we wanted to take advantage of the cheap but top quality dentistry and one quick check up visit soon led to the inevitable follow up cleaning, extracting and patching. I had an incredibly uncomfortable extraction of a rear molar, due to it having a twisted root (I declined the x-rays to my error!), and spent the next week munching painkillers.

    The rest of the time we spent exploring the labyrinth of markets selling an amazing array of artisanal products, and eating from a huge range of cuisine - highlights include an authentic Thai and Pibil Cochinita (slow cooked pork from the Yucatan area).

    We visited Cholula, the next town over, but there are no photos as there were strict rules about protecting the indigenous culture who live here & still wear traditional dress. The church was unlike any other I've been in, for example there was a disabled boy being blessed with a chicken, that was subsequently sacrificed on the candle and pine needles covered floor, whilst the rest of the family drank coke (to burp out bad spirits) and pox (pronounced posh). Quite an experience!

    On our final night in town the camp site got invaded with kids, and a dozen tents sprung up outside the van. Bizarrely enough their teacher had a pretty broad Barnsley accent and the kids where impressively clever & polite, so it was actually pretty cool to chat with them. We headed for slow Thai (it was worth the wait!) then drinks at Funky Burrito, whose owner rented an airstream on the camp site. We had a fun night hanging out with him and (repeatedly) sampling his own brew mezcal (little known sister of Tequila).    Read more

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    6

    Revenge of the Topes

    March 13, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    We headed out of San Cristóbal, with the obligatory splurge at a supermarket, on the most infamous road ever. Everyone was taking about this horrible road that was littered with topes (speed bumps) and wound around mountains curves. It's only 200km (84m) - how can it possibly take 6 hours?!

    We stopped off at a little amber shop en route and ran into Josh & Chantelle again, and then we both jarringly made our way to Tonina. By my reckoning we had been over 240 topes in under 100km, and considering the speed we were driving it ended up averaging one a minute! Some aren't too bad and you can cruise over, but some (and you don't know which until after you have gone over them) even if you crawl over them everything in the van crashes around. It was worth it, as we had a beautiful camp spot overlooking glorious green countryside, that made one person leave the comment it looked like England!

    In the morning we explored the spectacular site of Tonina, a rival to the more famous Palenque. It was a really impressive site with 2 huge pyramids at one end, and I got some amazing drone footage with me standing atop of one.

    We then made a quick dart (80km, 2 hours, 120 topes!) to Agua Azul. We weren't expecting the amazing milky blue cascades winding their way up the river, with tantalising rope swings and lush swimming areas. We camped there for the night, and the for the first time in months the heavens opened.    Read more

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    Welcome to the Jungle,..

    March 15, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    We scooted the last hour or so up to Palenque, collecting another hundred topes or so. I guess we can't really complain that it's raining in the rainforest, particularly as Elvis hadn't had a shower in 3 months (yes, he does smell a bit now!). We relaxed under the awning and it cleared up enough for an afternoon dip in the pool.

    The place is surrounded by jungle and the howler monkeys came into the trees, just out of sight but create an enormous racket by grunting out some primeval taunt. It was pretty scary to hear the jungle roar like that. These sounds combined with the firefly light show almost made you feel like you were in the 'upside down' (Stranger Things fans will know what I mean.)

    In the morning we headed into the archeological zone, only a few metres up from our camp site. As dogs are never allowed we very luck enough to leave Maya with Josh & Chantelle. Palenque is special as it's the local capital of the more northern Mayan ruins, and it's set deep in the jungle. We nearly didn't come here (we had changes to plans because of dental work) but boy are we glad that we did.

    We started exploring small clusters of housing and pyramids as we wound our way up the heavily rainforested hillside, and at the top there's an impressive set of temples. These are Mayan style and have some amazing engravings still intact. The beauty of this site is added to by its lush environment and its view over the flat jungle rooftop and of course the Howler Monkey sound track.    Read more

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    Guatemala (nearly)

    March 16, 2017 in Guatemala ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    As we had some time before we needed to be back in San Chris, we avoided the bumpity road and headed south-east. This road wound through beautiful rainforest, often with the Guatemalan border on one side and a bio reserve on the other. It was a quick road and barely a tope in sight (then inevitably you hit one way too fast!). We paid our 3 bucks entry fee for Bonampak park, but then they wanted another 15 bucks for a ride and entry to the sight itself. As we were tight on time we gave this one a miss and nipped over to Yaxchilán, which is truly unique situated on a peninsula on the river that divides modern day Mexico with Guatemala.

    We haggled the outrageously expensive boat ride down to something more sensible and set off down the river. It was a pretty cool boat ride through deep jungle on a large river, and we saw crocs on the banks and monkeys in the trees. The site wasn't the largest we've seen, but the setting on the river and the temple at the top of the steep steps that people apparently used to self-sacrifice down were pretty cool. As we were leaving we got heckled by a group of howler monkeys playing around in the tree tops.

    On the way back our driver spotted monkeys on the Guatemalan side of the river, and we even hopped out the boat for a couple of minutes - I certainly couldn't see any wall!

    We spent the night by the river, again surrounded with a roaring jungle.    Read more

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    11

    Clouds and Lakes

    March 18, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    The road winding through the jungle along the Guatemalan border was really a strange one. Gone were the accustomary corners/topes and instead there was a long straight road. For most part the surface was excellent and you could fly along at over 60mph, until you suddenly hit some massive broken up section where you would drop a foot or bounce over the rough road worse than a bucking bronco.

    As we had over 4 hours drive to cover going slow wasn't much of an option and we hit a few things way too fast. Then when we were on the gravel road down to our camp spot we heard a loud clunk and Elvis had a new rattle. It didn't take me long to realise one of our brand new front shocks was hosed, and without the dampening effect it was a bit bouncy onward journey.

    Fortunately we didn't have far to go to get to Las Nubes. The name 'The Clouds' comes from the white spray kicked out of a pretty small but ferocious waterfall. We had a nice walk through the rainforest, including navigating the labyrinth of large rocks some of which you had to crawl under, and took in some amazing miradors (viewpoints). Maya absolutely loved it and was haring around like a dog possessed! We rounded it off with a cooling dip in the river, a safe distance away from the falls and the scary whirlpools that drained some of the pools.

    The next day we continued to limp along, and decided to spend the night at the beautiful National Park of the Lakes of Montebello. We camped right on the waters edge, but the weather was a bit iffy so we whiled away a lazy afternoon. In the morning it brightened up and we did a short hike to the 5 Lakes area. It was a gorgeous walk through the rainforest, punctuated with incredible views over the lakes from high up on the limestone cliffs. The calcium makes its way into the water and gives the lakes an sumptuous milky blue glow when the sun reflects off it.    Read more

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    Poorly Elvis :(

    March 20, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    So Elvis has had a few problems recently - some small, some not so.

    We had a weird problem a few weeks back when we woke up to find our coach batteries run down to zero, and over the past week we've been seeing weird readings on our battery meter ranging from 14V (charging) to <11V (less than empty). We had just spent a week in the back of beyond and had nearly made it back to civilisation when the engine died. After a bit of messing around (we even had a helpful tractor driver try to jump start us but to no avail) I pulled the coach battery out of the back, which allowed us to limp 10km into Comitán, a decent sized town near the Guatemalan border.

    We spent the night in a Walmart car park and the next day was a bank holiday so we weren't holding out much hope but the first mechanic shop we came across just happened to be an alternator specialist. In 2 minutes he had it diagnosed and in under an hour it was fixed for 20 quid!

    We decided not to try and sort the broken front shock there and limped back to San Christobal, where we were going to be staying for a few days. The front shock is only a month old too, but the roads and topes (speed bumps) are pretty evil around here.

    The good news is the battery problem appears to have fixed the highly worrying propane alarm going off. I just need to fix a leaking indoor shower, wire in a proper volt meter so we can see what's going on in more detail, and patch up a bit of paint work that blistered in the rainforest heat/humidity...

    We're actually pretty lucky that this happened in Mexico, with a plethora of good and cheap mechanics and also we weren't hundreds of miles from a big town.

    Fingers crossed this is the last of Elvis's health problems, but I wouldn't lay any money on it.    Read more

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    Montezuma's Revenge

    March 21, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    So we got back to San Chris without any further issues, and had a much needed decent night's sleep. In the morning I had another dentist appointment, where Doc Pepe scanned my teeth with some hi-tech tool which enabled them to mill my porcelain crown in front of my eyes. Jo also had her first ever fillings (!!).

    Next job was sorting out the suspension, after a bit of driving around we found a place that looked half decent (i.e. they weren't just repairing cars on the street!). These were the friendliest & most cheerful mechanics I have ever come across. They got straight to work & found out that the new suspension wasn't broken but the bolt had just come off so it was a super easy fix. After they'd also done an oil & air filter change, before we said our goodbyes they asked for a photo of us all with the van, & we were of course happy to oblige! 4 men working for an hour cost us a massive 350 pesos (about 17 bucks!)

    Other chores before we head over the border were a vet health certificate for Maya, filling our water tank with potable water and some stocking up on essentials from the supermarket. Guatemala here we come!

    ... Almost!

    We went out for the evening and tucked into a tasty burger then enjoyed a glass or two of the local spirit pox (pronounced posh, but think pocheen) listening to excellent live music. All was good until about 4am when my stomach exploded. This then killed the next couple of days and delayed our departure south.    Read more

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    Gut Feeling

    March 27, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    I was laid out for a day with my stomach problems and then we had a couple more days finishing off the dental treatment, but we were lucky it was such a nice town to hang around, and a fantastic campsite where we met so many wonderful people.

    Eventually we got on the road and finally left San Cris, albeit with a sense of deja vu as we headed back towards Comitán (where we broke down a week previous). We did our final stock up at Walmart and cruised on to Lagos De Colón (I guess because the myriad of lakes and rivers looks a bit like your guts?).

    We drove past a lake crowded with people and shops, through a few shallow fords, and found a fantastic camp spot by a gorgeous, crystal clear gurgling brook. As we were sleeping in our car they only wanted one dollar for parking, rather than the 5 bucks if we had a tent?!

    In the morning we checked out the archeological site, which had renovated (rather than restored) structures resulting in some pretty unique droopy pyramids. There was something special about the site, and we decided if we were ancient Mayans this would be where we lived!

    It was only a small site so we were finished early, and we headed straight back to our previous camp spot where we whiled away the day alternating between the hammock and stream. It was so hot Maya even had her first self-initiated swim, and we felt like proud parents! This place was truly blissful.    Read more

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    Adios México. Te Amo!

    March 28, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    We came into Mexico a bit apprehensive and thought we would continue at a similar pace to the US, so we would be through and into Guatemala in 6 or 7 weeks, yet here we are nearly 4.5 months later!

    We loved the Baja California for its deserted beaches and dry dessert climate. I'll never forget my birthday where I spotted a large fin from my hammock strung across our palapa (palm shelter), and our friend Andre whisked us out in his small boat so I could chase whale sharks without a tour boat in sight.

    The journey across to the mainland was way better than we were led to believe, and immediately the hot and humid climate hit us. We spent more time on fantastic beaches, but also half our time up high in the mountains. We climbed volcanoes, soaked in hot pools, saw millions of mating butterflies, and swam in incredible lakes and rivers.

    We visited dozens of pre-hispanic archeological sites, some of which are so awe inspiring they barely seem possible. Teotihuacan and the structures smack in the middle of Mexico City were just amazing, huge cities with massive pyramids and tens of thousands of inhabitants. Monte Alban is one most people have never heard of but it's 360 degree vistas over 3 surrounding valleys made it a truly special place, and Palenque embedded deeply in the rainforest with a howler monkey soundtrack was just awesome.

    The climate has been incredible, with the only real day of rain coming in the rainforest. Down by the beaches it's stinkingly hot but generally with a nice breeze, and up high its hot in the day with a cool night.

    What makes the country so really special is the people. Even though most of them don't have much by our standards they are happy people and are so friendly & just genuinely want to help you out. As a foreigner you are not treated as a walking cash machine or as some sort of alien, and we've met so many amazing people, both locals and travelers alike.

    We've been surprised how much we love this country, and we're now planning on coming back this way before we head home, and maybe even keep the van somewhere so we can explore more in the future.    Read more

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    Bienvenidos A Guatemala

    March 31, 2017 in Guatemala ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    The border crossing wasn't as bad as expected. There was no queues of cars - in fact I think we were the only one I saw. We got sprayed (no idea what for), got our passport stamped, and got our vehicle import licence all within an hour. Tried to buy insurance but the guy said not to bother :l

    From there we drove through a narrow and deep valley into the mountains and to Huehuetenango (all the big towns seem to end with ~tenango around here) and started to find our feet. We were told there weren't any supermarkets here but immediately we found one, and we're surprised to see it a lot more expensive than Mexico. We got ourselves a local SIM and made our way to a strange little campsite on the edge of a football field.

    Over a week on and I'm still not feeling right, so we decided to head to Lake Atitlán for a few days R&R before we head to our volunteering place. To get to the lake you summit at over 3,000 metres which was thick with fog, then head steeply down to 1,800 metres in only a few miles.

    The lake is ringed by high classically shaped volcanoes, one of which is active. Unfortunately clouds are sitting on the lake so we only get a few tantalising glimpses of these majestic peaks. We mooched around the main tourist town of Panajachel and jumped into the back of a pickup to visit a small artesanal village further around the lake. We even got invited to a baptismal ceremony held at the campsite, and got called out by name by the priest buy fortunately we avoided the dunking.    Read more

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    Xela

    April 3, 2017 in Guatemala ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    We headed back around the top of the lake to Quetzaltenango, fortunately known as Xela (meaning surrounded by 10, referring to volcanoes). We were supposed to be volunteering here, leading treks up the volcanoes, but within a few minutes of arriving they were pretty clear the dog was going to be a problem. We were a bit confused as they trotted out wierd reasons like dogs wouldn't be allowed on the buses (they are), couldn't go into the restaurants (we've only come across a couple of our whole trip, and they were posh ones), the guests might not like it (really? Who doesn't like puppies?!). They wouldnt even let us go on a hike with them.

    Anyway we soon gave up on the idea, and we are actually pretty glad. The town itself was pretty grotty without much to keep you interested for the 3 months we would have had to commit to. Also I couldn't believe they were preparing things like tomatoes and cucumbers for food - when we hike we go as weight-light and carb-heavy as possible, with things like pasta & noodles.

    Although we don't really have much of a plan for our trip, this was the one thing we were basing things around so it had thrown us into disarray a little, and we felt a little let down that day. To cheer ourselves up we had a nice lunch of ribs, and they spent an hour checking out the town.

    We do have two other ideas - the sister charity in Nicaragua seems much more well organised and were very receptive to us (and the dog). Also we love scuba diving so we could possibly look for somewhere to do our Dive Master certification, which basically means you lead the dive trips underwater.

    To sum up this town, the only photo we could find was of a bin lorry that we got stuck behind for 30 minutes. I think we dodged a bullet here!    Read more

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    Volcán Santa María, Guatemala

    April 4, 2017 in Guatemala ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    After a night (or half a night in my case, due to a severe case of my indigestion catching up after weeks of painkillers and antibiotics) in the Xela McDonald's car park we drove down a dusty dirt road until it turned into a rough track. Knowing we couldn't cheat and gain any more altitude we pulled into a farmers front yard. That left us with over 1,300m to climb, and we know from experience that 1,000m is a tough day in the saddle.

    Despite much differing advice we decided to go without a guide, mainly as this was the one volcano with a Google Map route and we weren't overly concerned about the vague reports of robberies. The trail started easily enough and wound upwards reasonably gently through some impressive farmlands etched into the lower slopes.

    After a couple of hours of reasonably hard slog we reached the shoulder, where the nice old man on a horse waited for us to make sure we took the right route, although it was hard to miss the massive conical peak towering above us. The trail soon got even steeper & dustier, and I was glad of my newly acquired hiking poles (which I was hoping would help me avoid my back issues) . We really felt the thin air as we slowly ascended, and needed to stop to catch our breath at almost every switchback turn.

    After 4 really tough hours we finally reached the summit at over 3,700m, and found it covered with flowers and indigenous shrines. It was a truly stunning 360 degree view, with a thick layer of clouds several hundred metres below us. We were expecting cold & windy but it was a glorious day and we spent a good while up there enjoying the view and tucking into lunch.

    Coming down was a breeze as the thin air didn't matter and we were down in about half the time. I was pretty amazed I made it considering how rough a night I'd had, but my back was in good shape, although the rest of me was pretty beat. Unfortunately there was no hot shower to sooth away the ashes and pains, and we had to make do with an authentic farmers shower from the plastic tubs in their outdoor sink.

    Cleaned and fed we collapsed into a blissful sleep, proud of having summited on one of the harder hikes we've done. Fortunately you tend to remember the amazing views rather than the slog it was to get them.    Read more

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    Trust me, I'm A Londoner...

    April 6, 2017 in Guatemala ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Rather than head back to the gorgeous Lake Atitlan, we thought we should get our asses in gear and headed straight for Antigua, the old capital before a big earthquake destroyed much of the city and they moved it a whole 50km down the road !

    Talking of distances, we had a whopping 60km as the crow flies to travel... and Google says 2.5 hours! As it happens it was an easy drive down the Pan-American highway, and barely a tope (or tomulo as they are now called) in sight. On the way into town we called into the badly named Agua Caliente, which we found to be barely lukewarm let alone hot.

    We got to Antigua, and parked up at the Tourist Police place. It might sound a bit weird but it's FREE camping and it's actually a lovely tree covered garden... plus the security is amazing! Also we ran into a lovely Bulgarian couple we first met many months before back up in Mexico, and it was really nice to chill out with them and their home schooled kids.

    The town itself is a lovely old colonial place, with cobbled streets everywhere and loads of collapsing churches. It's loomed over by the massive Volcan Agua, which seems to get into very photo you take.

    It's pretty touristy, which we haven't seen much of and we would normally avoid, but after so long on the road we are absolutely loving it. In the first 48 hours I think we frequented 2 Irish bars and an authentic English pub (The Londoner, run by full on cockney Martin from Rotherhithe).

    We somehow blew through the 5 days we are allowed to stay at the Tourist Police place but just milling around town and enjoying the perfect climate (~1,500m).    Read more

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