It may not have Mayan ruins but it does have volcanoes, memories of a vicious civil war and some very pretty colonial architecture. But it also feels nice here - not as desperate as Guatemala or as potentially violent as Honduras.

We set a record for number of meals in a row with fried bananas today at 3. For some reason, they're served with savoury ( Read more... )

To the sounds of Billy Bragg, we have made it to the last and most anticipated of the countries on our tour. It's been a long driving day on shocking roads and with confronting poverty in Honduras in particular. I won't soon forget the ugliness of Tegucigalpa, nor the sight of 6 year olds flagging down moving cars (by standing in the middle of the ( Read more... )

You know you're in a scary city when... Your tour guide advises you not to walk out of sight of your hotel.

It's our last afternoon in Guatemala and we're having a siesta before heading out to the Mall(!!) for a look around later tonight.

The last couple of days have been uncomfortable because the itinerary kept taking us to subsistence Mayan villages, showing us things like the children's cemetery and then, after the obligatory craft market, saying ( Read more... )

After visiting a plantation today, we have all now picked coffee beans in Guatemala

Sitting in the lobby of our hotel in Antigua which is a truly lovely little town. It was the original capital of Spanish central America but was abandoned for 80 years after one too many earthquakes.

Think brightly colored single stores houses, cobblestone streets and ruined churches and you'll get the idea. It helps if you imagine that every house ( Read more... )

The last 2 days have seen us swim in waterfalls, get stopped by bandits blocking the road (our guide simply found another bus on the other side of the block) and, today, visit the Mayan city of Palenque. Only 5% of the city has been excavated with the rest still covered in jungle. The excavations are amazing but the rainforest walk, where every ( Read more... )

We are in Chiapas in the high country tonight and tomorrow and will be visiting Mayan villages. Saw crocodiles and vultures today on a boat trip that usefully interrupted a long drive.

SC is very touristy - picture postcard colonial buildings full of handicraft shops. Lovely for a holiday, in other words!

Back online today after 2 days in a hotel in Oaxaca without wifi.

We have seen Zapotec sites, corrupt Dominican churches and Mezcal distilleries. We've eaten grasshoppers (greasy) and not enough vegetables and we wish our guide would realize that we're not American.

Into Chiapas tomorrow via a boat trip down a canyon.

Tenochtitlan, museum of Anthropology and Pujol - the best restaurant in Mexico - what's not to like? Try 4 hours in appalling traffic. It's an organic being and must be experienced to be believed.

Tenochtitlan was utterly amazing. Climbed to the top of the pyramid of the Sun and Moon.