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2024/25 Fox Family Gap Year2024/25 Fox Family Gap Year
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2024/25 Fox Family Gap Year

December 2023 - April 2024
We are the Fox Family from Devon, United Kingdom. Sold everything we own and have quit our jobs to explore more of the World with our young family (E, 5 and A, 2 years old). Latin America, southern Africa and Australia in 2024 and into 2025. Read more
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  • Traveler2024/25 Fox Family Gap Year
    Day 1–6

    Mexico City

    December 30, 2023 in Mexico

    So our journey has begun, after some final farewells to our family and friends we consolidated our lives into three and a half bags and headed to Heathrow. First stop Mexico!

    The flight went well, it took around 11 hours so from an entertainment perspective it was manageable between meals, movies and a nap. Elana spent a big chunk of the journey studying the live map to work out exactly where we were and when we might arrive (in between asking when we would be fed again)! Bert did surprisingly well, the last time we did a long haul flight was a year ago when he was less mobile!

    We left behind a rather damp UK, albeit rather mild for December it was the typical grey. We arrived in Mexico City early evening, the light had drawn in but the temperature was much more pleasant (average 20 degrees C during the day and 12-14 degrees at night). Mexico City was to be our base for five nights to give us time to acclimatise and see some of the sights in, and surrounding the City.

    We stayed in Mexico City ‘Historical’ (the old town in the centre of the city), and had the first day, New Years Eve, to ourselves. Sleep patterns were well out so we spent the day gently mooching around the Downtown area and discovering what it had to offer. We didn’t really know what to expect but we were pleasantly surprised. Whilst it’s rough round the edges, it’s relatively low-rise (Helen’s GCSE Geography came bounding back to her – Mexico City is built on a massive dried-up lake bed of unconsolidated sediment and the City lies close to several tectonic plate intersections, experiencing multiple tremors a month so caution around earthquakes is taken extremely seriously with two devasting quakes occurring on the same day(!!) on 19 September in both 1985 and 2017), clean, friendly and welcoming. We found the city safe, although having armed Policia on each street-corner. We were only a couple of blocks from the main square (El Zocalo) where the Presidents Palace is, they certainly go to town with their Christmas decorations with lots of Poinsettia’s throughout the city (it’s indigenous to Mexico) amongst other Christmas displays.

    Just off the main square are some Aztec Ruins (Templo Mayor) and the ‘Cathedral Metropolitana’ which were interesting points of interest. The square is alive with a variety of hustlers, people dressed as eagles (we think they were witch doctors as they were performing ceremonies on members of the public), shoe-shiners and various street-food options. Post-lunch Mark took Bert for a walk around the city, venturing into some of the less-busy spots where we took in the various ventures that occur off the main-drag as well as stopping to listen to some great street music which Bert bopped along to! Something we have already noticed is that Bert gets a lot of attention, blonde-haired, blue-eyed and looking cute gets him a long way. He’s followed about by calls of ‘bonito’ (if only they knew looks can be deceptive!).

    New Years Day - Teotihuacán pyramids and Guadalupe Shrine (see separate post).

    2nd January 2024
    The following day we had to ourselves, first thing we decided to take a trip up the ‘Torre Latinoamericana’ (The Latin American Tower), it was Latin America’s tallest building when constructed in 1956 and is a great way finder when strolling abut the City as it can be seen from most places. As we mentioned before, the City is relatively low-rise due to risk of earthquakes, so this building stands out! From the observation deck at the top we were able to take in the scale of the city and appreciate just how it is surrounded on all-sides by mountains, and one active (steam and sulphur) volcano.

    After this we spent the rest of the day mooching, including finding a play area in a shopping centre that entertained the children for a chunk of time, this trip needs to balance time for them and us so I am sure play parks will become a regular stop on our days out!

    3rd January 2024 - Xochimilco, Frida Kahlo museum and Coyocan (see separate post).    Read more

  • Traveler2024/25 Fox Family Gap Year
    1
    Day 3

    Teotihuacan Pyramids & Guadalupe Shrine

    January 1 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    New Years Day
    We had an early start today to get out to the ‘Teotihuacan Pyramids’ an ancient city (100 BC to AD 650) north east of Mexico City. Described as a ‘Mesoamerican city’ it is a vast complex of pyramids that have been partially restored demonstrating the size and scale of the historic site (which lies only partially discovered). Interestingly if local residents find remains of ruins whilst building or extending their properties the government will give them half the value of the land/property and move them out. This has led to a ‘nothing to see here culture’, understandably!

    It was a hot day and we did a lot of walking, Bert had the honour of being carried on Marks back but Elana walked it all, probably around 5km in all and up and down a lot of steps leading to the pyramids and along the ‘Avenue of the Dead’ which is 2km in itself and so-named as it is believed it was lined with tombs.

    It was a really interesting insight into some different pyramids and a great morning spent getting to know a little history of Mexico. The pyramids themselves are built-up of layers from different eras, a bit like Matryoshka/Russian dolls.

    After a spot of lunch, where various entertainers were paraded in front of us (mariachi bands, dancers etc) in exchange for tips (we ran out of loose change by the end of lunch) we headed back towards Mexico City. Our next stop was the Guadalupe Shrine, this is a really important shrine for Catholic pilgrims with over 20 million visitors a year. Approximately, 90% of Mexicans are catholic. There are several churches around a courtyard, we visited the ‘New Basicilla’ which was consecrated in 1976. It was built to house the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe and allow more visitors to worship. The old Basilica was a lot smaller and had become unstable due to earthquakes (you could see the cracks in the wall and the building physically slumped to one side!). On entering the new basilica it was rammed (albeit our guide said it was quiet! There was a service underway, we were ushered to the rear of where the service was ongoing and made our was across a travellator, I realised after that this gives pilgrims the opportunity to worship (if that’s the right word) the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe without creating massive queues – forced encouragement to keep your prayers short and sweet! After a final tour of the courtyard admiring the externals of the other basilicas we headed back to our hotel.

    Our guide pointed out the cable cars that link the hillside residential areas with the transit system closer to the city centre, this is a relatively new addition to the City. Pre-covid it could apparently take anywhere up to 4 hours to commute 20km and, much like our tube system, peak hours can be unpleasant on their transit system. Something we decided not to experience!    Read more

  • Traveler2024/25 Fox Family Gap Year
    Day 5

    Xochimilco, Frida Kahlo museum & Coyocan

    January 3 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    First-thing we headed out to the floating gardens of Xochimilco on the fringes of the city. We jumped on a boat for a tour of the canals that meander through this area. Xochimilco is significant as they were once connected to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City) by a causeway and is where the Aztecs grew much of their food due to the fertile nature of the land. Now the canals are lined with modern properties and a LOT of tourist boats (although locals also hire them for various parties). The trip was a little underwhelming, we expected to see vibrant colours of flower growers and all kinds of activities going on but there wasn’t much of interest apart from seeing the ancient canals which I am sure have been modified heavily since the Aztecs were about (we’re probably spoilt by previous experiences of floating markets and gardens in SE Asia and India)!

    Moving on we headed to Coyocan, a suburb on the outskirts of Mexico City. The vibe here was completely different! It’s a colonial village which has been absorbed by the city but the Spanish influence was abundant in the architecture. Coyocan is an artsy location, our first visit was to a renowned Mexican artists home, Frida Kahlo. Now a museum it has been left almost as it was the day she died with rooms dedicated to her life and art. She was a real troper, at a young age she contracted Polio and at 18 she was severely injured in a bus accident which left her largely bedridden. Whilst this caused her many challenges through life her love of art persisted. It was nice to slow the pace a little and wonder through the museum. Unusually Bert fell asleep on Marks shoulder so he had to lug the dribbling dead weight about and Elana enjoyed the gardens, self-portraits and paintings of fruit and veg!

    After the museum and a spot of lunch in the local market we had the chance to stroll the streets of Coyocan, whist enjoying a spot of lunch in the local market, taking in the architecture and admiring another Basilica. Elana enjoys going in, looking at the artwork and observing people at prayer. Perhaps it gives her the opportunity to gather her own thoughts! Alas another day complete and back to our hotel in the centre of downtown, tomorrow we head to Oaxaca!    Read more

  • Traveler2024/25 Fox Family Gap Year
    Day 6–9

    Oaxaca

    January 4 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    After a short but very scenic flight (views from above of Mexico City, the surrounding mountains and a spewing volcano), we landed in Oaxaca, a mecca for Mexican culture and food. Oaxaca (pronounced 'Wa-haka' - some of you may be familiar with a small UK food chain by a Masterchef winner with the name 'Wahaca' which was inspired from Oaxaca) is a lot brighter than Mexico City, both the buildings and the sky. Oaxaca is renowned for its art and food, not to forget Mezcal (made from agave but a different process to tequila). They pride themselves on having fully independent shops and restaurants, in fact McDonalds did manage to set up a chain in the city in the early 2000's. I protest local street-food vendors set up camp outside the doors of the restaurant, eventually unable to compete (and run a commercially viable operation) McDonalds shut up shop! It was nice to escape the franticness of Mexico City, Oaxaca was a lot quieter with a chilled vibe! We had the afternoon to ourselves on day one, the hotel had a swimming pool so rather than explore we spent the afternoon around the pool (it was actually nice to unwind and chill out after a busy first week).

    The following day we headed up to the Monte Alban ruins (separate post).

    On our third and final day in Oaxaca we joined a walking tour of the city and quickly wished we’d squeezed it into day 1 as it showed us so much more of the city to explore. The old part of the city, where we were staying, is a UNESCO world heritage site, the buildings are very Spanish and brightly coloured. In any one street colours are not repeated, a requirement of the UNESCO status (and we are led to believe this is robustly enforced). The 2.5hr tour took us through areas we would never have discovered on our own, significant buildings, a variety of basilicas (including the first established when Oaxaca was formed). Outside of the UNESCO area many of the buildings are covered in fantastic artwork. We were introduced to a great little organic market that had a variety of street food stalls, we’d re-visit this in the evening for a meal. We finished the tour in a food market (one of several, but quieter than the others), where we stocked up on fresh fruit and grass hoppers (boiled with limes and garlic) – Mark and Elana enjoyed them as a snack, they are the future after all!

    In the evening we had a walk around the main square. In Mexico they seem to continue celebrating Christmas into the new year. The 6th January (today) is ‘Three Kings Day’ in Mexico and is a day when children receive gifts. There were lots of children playing in the main square, dressed up for the occasion, music being played on a stage that had been erected and people dressed up as the three kings who you could have photos with (and their model camels)! We also had the privilege of experiencing wedding celebrations outside Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzmán (catholic cathedral) where they had giant replicas of the bride and groom, music and dancing. Watching the buzz around the square and cathedral and taking in the ambience was a great way to finish our trip to Oaxaca, we only wished we had planned more time to explore this quaint little city.    Read more

  • Traveler2024/25 Fox Family Gap Year
    Day 7

    Monte Alban

    January 5 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Similar in nature to the Teotihuacan Pyramids, Monte Alban, just outside Oaxaca, was the capital of the Zapotec people until 950AD. The impressive aspect of these ruins was how it was built on top of a steep hill with the peak flattened and terraced to accommodate the expansive site. There were a lot of artifacts preserved on this site particularly stone reliefs that remain detailed and clear – its impressive to get to view the ancient workings still present today. In common with all such sites there is also a well-preserved ball court. Shaped like a capital ‘I’ the rules of the game differ depending on who you talk to (few scriptures have been found to back anything up), however a consistent ‘fact’ is that the captain of the winning team is sacrificed which was seen as an honour at the time (a tongue in cheek reason why Mexico don’t win many competitions)! After the hot and dusty walk of the ruins it was back to the hotel for us and a couple of hours in the pool, which was quite chilly but the children insisted we join them in the water! A couple of Mezcal based margaritas helped!Read more

  • Traveler2024/25 Fox Family Gap Year
    Day 9–11

    Puebla

    January 7 in Mexico ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Next stop Puebla. Puebla was planned into our trip as it is renowned for its food, as is Oaxaca, which we enjoyed very much. The drive enabled us to take in the dramatic mountainous landscape that exists between Oaxaca and Mexico City. The roads tended to be lined with Agave plantations or corn and further into the mountains, tall cacti. As has become our tradition when we arrive in a new location, we had a wonder around the city. Puebla isn’t notable for anything in particular, apart from Mexican delicacies, but there were continuations of the street parties we had witnessed in Oaxaca. We also visited the Biblioteca Palafoxiana in Puebla, the oldest public library in the Americas, containing more than 45,000 books and manuscripts, ranging from the 15th to the 20th century! Elana was initially surprised by the lack of colour but then started to appreciate the age and importance of the books on display.

    Puebla isn’t as quaint or sleepy as Oaxaca, but certainly isn’t as busy as Mexico City.

    The following day we spent the morning at a wonderful park (Parc Ecological) on the outskirts of the city. We mainly planned it in to give Elana and Bert some time to let off steam at the park (or lots of parks within a park!), but it was actually lovely to spend time away from the hustle and bustle, there was certainly significant investment with sports facilities, boating lake, zip wires, running and cycling tracks which were well-used. In the afternoon we did a guided food tour, taking in five different eateries with our guide we had a taste of what Mexico had to offer from street food to a contemporary bar putting their spin on Mexican specialities. The highlight was the ‘cemitas’, they’re basically a massive bread roll lightly fried then stuffed with a host of ingredients, one is enough to serve a family of four! The food in Mexico hasn’t been as vibrant as we expected, and after a while it has become a little ‘samey’ (and we’ve been adventurous). There’s a lot of corn, whether as a main ingredient or the tortillas and they go heavy on the meat – the don’t understand vegetarians and we’ve struggled to find vegetables when eating out (a tricky one for Helen)! We have been taken by their guacamole and moles (kind of a refried bean dish with many regional variations and served with most meals), avocados abound roadside stalls and are the best you can taste!

    The food tour opened our eyes to a wider variety of food but the jury is still out!    Read more

  • Traveler2024/25 Fox Family Gap Year
    Day 11–14

    Palenque

    January 9 in Mexico ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    Today we journeyed back to Mexico City airport (3 hour drive with traffic) for onward travel to Palenque via Villahermosa airport, in the middle of the jungle and a change of climate from dry and fresh to hot and humid. Our accommodation was a little bungalow surrounded by the flora and fauna you’d expect in the jungle. We could hear the calls of howler monkeys in the distance, parrots overhead in the trees, geckos and iguanas as well as some big spiders! We arrived late in the afternoon during a tropical downpour, whilst we were checking in Bert and Elana danced in the rain ending up soaking wet-though but happy! Our hotel was located right next to Palenque archaeological site, historic Mayan ruins in the middle of the jungle, on our first full-day we spent the morning exploring the site. We’ve found that there is limited knowledge surrounding exactly how these cultures operated as, unlike the Egyptians, few scriptures have been found. The ruins were again much the same in nature as the other sites we visited, however it felt a lot more atmospheric being surrounded by the jungle with many of the ruins absorbed into the jungle. They also looked more untouched, however this is only due to the effect of the location and plants that quickly take a grip of the structures. This is the first time we were able to go inside one of the main pyramids to view the chamber that the ‘red queen’ was found with two further chambers that two of her servants were discovered (a lady and child), Elana found this fascinating. It is thought they were sacrificed and buried with her when she died. The site was built on a hill, we were able to get a great view of the site (and across the jungle) when we climbed one of the pyramids.

    On our second day we headed to the Agua Azul waterfalls about an hour from Palenque. The waterfalls cascade down the hillside and there are several pools that you can float about in. It was a really hot day so we took the opportunity to snap some photos and take a dip in the refreshing waters. You have to pay for entry to the waterfalls twice as one of the communities that the river flows through cut the supply off as they saw it as unfair that they didn’t see any of the revenue. Bizarrely rather than working together you have to stop at two different checkpoints about half a mile apart to pay the fees! The drive to the waterfalls gave us a really good insight into a different landscape in Mexico. The fields surrounding the road were predominantly planted with corn in between rainforest vegetation and the communities looked a lot poorer. We had however noted a lot of new construction projects ongoing, the Mayan Train (a 966 mile intercity railway in Mexico that traverses the Yucatán Peninsula) is under construction here with a new station, new highways projects and there was a lot of activity around a new airfield in preparation for a presidential visit that day. Apparently the new president lives in Palenque and is making efforts to invest in the poorer southern states in Mexico. The new train line would certainly have made our journey around Mexico a lot more accessible and perhaps a nicer way to travel rather than road.

    Anyway back to the waterfalls, they were pleasing, not the most dramatic or sizeable but the colour and clarity were amazing. It was nice to see and experience something different for the morning and the children really enjoyed paddling around the pools of clear water.    Read more

  • Traveler2024/25 Fox Family Gap Year
    Day 14–15

    Campeche

    January 12 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    On the 12th January we moved on from Palenque, stopping at Campeche for a night. Although the distances we’re travelling by road isn’t excessive it can take a chunk of time to get places due to the quality of the roads and huge number of speedbumps! Campeche was a stopover to break the journey to Merida. It is a coastal town, our first experience of Mexico’s coast, the Gulf of Mexico, and what we saw of it in the short time we were there was quaint and atmospheric, especially as the sun was going down,Read more

  • Traveler2024/25 Fox Family Gap Year
    Day 15–17

    Merida

    January 13 in Mexico ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    We made it to Merida on the 13th January where we’d base ourselves for a couple of nights to do some tours. Merida itself is a colourful and pleasant place, we arrived during ‘Merida Fest’. The main square was lively with a live music stage and plenty going on around the fringes, a great opportunity to people watch! On our first full day we headed to Celestun Biosphere Reserve, famous for its pink flamingos – Elanas favourite! We took a boat trip up the mangrove lined river and got to witness hundreds of the majestic birds in their natural habitat, it was quite a spectacle and Elana was in awe!

    The skipper knew how to handle a boat and took us at speed through some narrow channels adding further excitement to the trip! Prior to heading back to shore we stopped at a fresh-water lagoon beside the tidal river fed by a cenote which bubbled-up through the ground, normally they’d be an opportunity to swim in the fresh waters but a crocodile has been spotted frequenting it in recent times so we politely declined! The water was very brown but only from the tanin leached from the local vegetation.
    Flamingo excitement over we took the short drive to Celestun beach (the other side of the sandspit creating the lagoon) where we ate, sunbathed and frolicked in the warm seas for the remainder of the afternoon, Bert was in his element digging holes in the sand for the majority of the afternoon!    Read more

  • Traveler2024/25 Fox Family Gap Year
    Day 17–19

    Chichen Itza

    January 15 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    We started early to head to Chichen Itza our next port of call, heading back into the jungle. On route we stopped off Yokdzonot cenote, a sinkhole in the middle of a small village where we were able to take a dip. From ground level to the water was about 18 metres and around 40 metres in diameter. The sinkhole is nestled amongst trees with roots tumbling down into the water - Tomb Raider style! The water is unbelievably clear with a cool aqua glow, and it provided a refreshing break for us from the 30 degrees Celsius we were experiencing.

    The highlight for our evening was Helen almost stepping on a scorpion that appeared on our terrace whilst we were enjoying some sundowners (children safely tucked up in bed). We had been warned about these and it was quickly moved on by the hotel staff.

    On the 15th January we headed to Chichen Itza ruins, these are the best known and busiest set of ruins in Mexico given their proximity to Cancun. We managed to arrive before it got too hot or busy. The site is extensive and magnificent, they’ve certainly been able to invest in some significant restoration of the site, probably off the back of the entry fees! We weren’t able to climb any of the pyramids at this site unlike our other visits so it was a matter of wandering around and taking it all in. We did witness a couple of the structures being restored, they had partially deconstructed sections of a pyramid and were painstakingly reconstructing it. This had a rather negative effect of making everything look a bit new leaving one to question the true authenticity of the site. Interestingly the main building of the hotel we were staying at was built using blocks from the ruins, engravings still present on some of the pieces. Of course when the Spanish settlers arrived the importance of these sites probably wasn’t their first priority. A feature that set this site apart was an area that had a few hundred columns standing, it is thought this was a temple for pilgrims and also a market place for the ancient city, as well as a sauna tucked away in one corner! After a hot a sweaty morning it was back to the hotel for an afternoon by the pool.

    The following morning (16th) Elana’s front tooth came out at breakfast as she chomped on pancakes! This meant a potential visit from the Mexican tooth fairy that evening. Once we’d safely stored the tooth we headed on a 4-hour drive to our next destination, Bacalar.    Read more

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