Turtles and Timing: Chiapas to Oaxaca

As the crow flies, it’s only 420km through the central highlands from San Cristóbal in Chiapas, to Oaxaca City, but the only feasible routes detour way-down to the coast. Pacific or Caribbean – either way it’s around 800km. A potentially jam-packed arribada turtle beach on the Pacific side lures us in that general direction, but we’re torn with our timing… torn between lingering in places of beauty, or rushing in the optimistic expectation of resolving our on-going windscreen saga. Such are our daily overlanding dilemmas. In the end, we find some (non-Mayan) rubble and a lotta, lotta baby turtles….arribada turtle beach Continue reading →

South Chiapas: The 570km Detour

Route planning can be carried out in meticulous detail, or extremely vaguely, or anything in between. Generally, we favour the ‘extremely vaguely’ option, but travelling Chiapas State in south Mexico is an exception to this randomness – a bit of route-planning caution is required. With Mayan ruins planning on the other hand, we’ve developed a reckless tendency to live life on the edge, running a real risk of ‘overload’ and becoming ‘Mayan’d Out’.palenque Continue reading →

Exploring Yucatan… with a freaky twist

Just over five weeks ago we cruised into Mexico from Belize and started our quest to replace Cuthbert’s cracked windscreen. We hunted across the Yucatan peninsula… Chetumal, Cancún, Mérida, wherever… and whilst waiting for replies, we had plenty of time for exploring Yucatan. The Yucatan peninsula is dismissed by many as “too touristy” and “full of cruise-ship visitors”. Well… it’s true, we cannot tell a lie… it does have its ‘mega-hotspots’ to which many thousands of tourists fly or cruise in every week. But that’s not to say there aren’t great places to explore away from the mass tourism. And we have a rather freaky sequel to our Day of the Dead experience too!!!exploring yucatan Continue reading →

Mexico’s Day of the Dead

Mexico’s Day of the Dead is gaining in global notoriety in recent years. Mexican and international media is ‘bigging-it-up’ to the world. It’s been on our radar over the last couple of years as we’ve travelled up through South and Central America. This year, we’ve reached Mérida, Yucatan at just the right time. Day of the Dead Mérida is marketing itself as a tourist destination city for the event. We’re excited to be here, but it actually turns out to be not entirely what we expect. First, we learn how that James Bond chap has a lot to answer for. And secondly, we find it something of an Emperor’s New Clothes experience.day of the dead Continue reading →

Yucatan: In Limbo

“Ándale, ándale!” says Speedy Gonzales with gusto. “Arriba, arriba!”. So far, we’ve found that Mexicans are lovely people but aren’t all quite as ‘speedy’ as the iconic mouse might imply. After three years in Latin America we’re used to the mañana approach. But even by the standards of the region, things are slooow here. We’re in Yucatan, in limbo. How so? Read on…
las coloradas yucatan Continue reading →

Un-Belize-able?

Quite a lot of stuff packed into such a teeny country. Belize has a lot going for it. It’s quite different to all the other teeny nations of the region. We’d go so far as to say that you haven’t really ‘done’ Central America unless you’ve at least had a brief look at Belize. Its British heritage and English language, for a start, set it apart from its neighbours. After our last blog where we scouted around the inland Cayo region, we now check-out the bit that it’s famous for… the Belize coast and Cayes. Is it, as the locals like to say, un-Belize-able?belize coast and cayes Continue reading →

Belize: Cruising through Cayo

It’s amazing what an easy border crossing, a great first camp-site and a fabulous restaurant meal can do for your first impressions of a country. All of this, plus the fact that everything here is in English so (I don’t have to translate everything for Marcus 😊) puts our initial view of Belize, high-up on the official list of ‘Tucks’ Truck’s Nice Places’.  It rained on our first afternoon here, it’s hot, stiflingly humid and we fail in our several attempts to extract spondoolies from the ATMs. Nevertheless, first impressions are favourable. Here’s our cruise through Belize Cayo …

Belize Cayo Continue reading →

Guatemala Lowlands: Jungle, Vuvuzelas and a Gunman

It’s difficult to put Guatemala into a pigeon hole unless, of course, you have a hole for an unfeasibly large pigeon… then it might fit. It’s a small country, but its variety of cultures, regions, climates and experiences is way too big for your average pigeon hole. There’s no shortage of things to see and do. Descending from the cool highlands to the heat of Guatemala lowlands we find great kayaking in the Tarzan jungle, a hot water fall, a cacophony of vuvuzelas, some stacks of ancient Mayan stones… and a scary man with a gun!

guatemala lowlands Continue reading →

Guatemala – Taking the high road

Surprise! Central America isn’t all low, flat, hot, humid and jungly! Until we came here, we never really thought of it as having a ‘highlands’, but blow me down with a feather… it does! Some parts are well over 2,000m amsl and it’s a fabulous climate up there: warm, sunny days and cool clear nights. It’s one of the reasons we’ve lingered so long in these places. Most tourists in Guatemala take in some highlands, maybe Guatemala City, definitely Antigua and Lake Atitlan. Fewer visitors explore the more remote Guatemala highlands. One reason is possibly because the media-machine of touristic publicity for these parts has yet to reach, shall we say… peak efficiency. Another reason is that the high roads are often just downright dreadful.guatemala highlands Continue reading →

Boaty does Atitlán

Guilty as charged. We have been down-right lazy recently and haven’t done a blog for a while. Truth is… we haven’t been doing much adventuring. We have been, as the cool kids say, ‘chilling-out’ in and around the beautiful town of Antigua. But we do have one little piece of exciting news to report…. kayaking lake atitlan

kayaking lake atitlan

Boaty’s maiden voyage

Ladies and Gentlemen… (dramatic drumroll)… please be up-standing and raise your glasses to toast the newest member of the Tucks’ Truck Team… Mr Boaty McBoatface!!!  Continue reading →

Guatemala: Volcanos and Plazas

Some countries come highly recommended by fellow overlanders and Guatemala is one such country. What should we expect? Well… apparently, we’ll find a beautiful country, friendly people, pretty town plazas, lots to see and do, reasonable prices, but bad roads. And volcanos. Lots of volcanos. These are very scenic, but they do have a tendency to be rather active here. So active in fact, that Volcán Fuego catastrophically erupted just a few weeks ago with a tragic loss of life in surrounding villages that has reached hundreds. Travelling Guatemala, we (briefly) encounter a new kind of fear and a sobering reality-check to respect nature.

travelling guatemala Continue reading →

Honduras: Mayans and Macaws

Sometimes, we get it wrong with initial impressions of a country. Sometimes, it takes a while to get a feel for a place. Sometimes, we change our minds after a couple of weeks. Bolivia was like that. We absolutely loved it… eventually. But Honduras? Well… our last blog concluded that Honduras is nice. Not amazing, just nice. We rather wanted to like it more and hoped that by doing a bit more Honduras travel, it might grow on us. So did it? Eventually?…

Honduras travel Continue reading →

Honduras: Nice

Honduras is one of those countries you’ve probably heard of. Remember? Central America… right?? Maybe you could name the capital city (it’s Tegucigalpa, in case it slipped your mind). But what’s your opinion on Honduras? Have you even got one? We didn’t, at least not until we reached here. And even after three weeks here in places like Tegucigalpa, Roatan, Utila we still don’t have any strong views. It’s just nice. Let’s explain… tegucigalpa,roatan,utila Continue reading →

Overland El Salvador: Seriously

Overland El Salvador? Seriously? Yes. It’s a gem. An un-cut diamond maybe, but nevertheless, still a gem. Beautiful country, plenty to see and do, tasty street-food, reasonable roads and a welcome which trails a very close third behind the legendary friendliness of Colombia and Brazil. In our last blog we climbed volcanos, lounged on beaches, wondered at ancient ruins, hiked around crater-lakes and visited interesting museums. All very fun and fabby-doo, but then there’s the ‘seriously’ bit of El Salvador… the ‘elephant in the room’. El Salvador is more famous for its 1979-92 civil war and its current crime problems than its tourist attractions. So let’s check these out…
overland el salvador Continue reading →

El Salvador: Not what you might think

It doesn’t have the best reputation does it, El Salvador? Travel in El Salvador conjures up stories of civil war, drugs gangs, high crime levels. Not a place you’d think to buy a cheesy fridge magnet. We could skip El Salvador, go through Honduras and by-pass it completely. But we’ve spoken to enough travellers who’ve spent time here to hear that these days, it’s not what you might think… it’s not that bad. El Salvador these days, they say, suffers from a poorly funded PR Department. Use a bit of common sense, avoid the inner-city deprived areas and El Salvador is an undiscovered gem. Okay…. we’ll check it out.travel in El Salvador Continue reading →

Wrong time to drive across Nicaragua

Oh dear! Sometimes we just get our timing wrong. This time it’s very wrong. So wrong that it would hands-down win the Eurovision Wrong Contest. Why-o-why-o-why couldn’t we have got to Nicaragua a few months before the rebels decide they want regime change? They’re having a bit of bother there and we find ourselves hanging around in Costa Rica waiting to drive across Nicaragua … Continue reading →

Costa Rica – The Pura Vida Thing

Costa Rica’s ubiquitous mantra – Pura Vida (‘pure life’) is on everything here: t-shirts, hats, cuddly toys, hair-clips, flip-flops, wooden turtles, plastic dolphins, pots & pans… you name it, it’s got a bit of ‘pura vida’ scrawled somewhere across it. It works too. The tourists lap it up, so we can’t blame the Ticos for flogging it. But it can give a rather cheesy impression of the country. So far, we’ve toured the south/west of Costa Rica which is just a bit less popular with the ‘pura vida set’ than some other parts of the country. As we head now into a more touristy part of the country, we find some extraordinary wildlife, but still ponder whether this cheesy image of Costa Rica, generated partly by the ‘pura vida thing’, is otherwise justified.
sloth Continue reading →

Costa Rica – Jungle, Wildlife and Beaches

Costa Rica generates mixed reviews from travellers: jungle, wildlife, beaches… but two words crop-up with some regularity: ‘touristy’ and ‘expensive’. Not the most enticing adjectives. But even if it were possible to avoid the country on our way through Central America, which it isn’t, we still wouldn’t want to miss checking it out for ourselves. So here we are… just checking it out…jungle, wildlife, beaches Continue reading →