What with over five years on the road, 46 countries, 180,000km ‘n all that… we think we’ve seen a fair chunk of the world. But rarely have we come across an area so jam-packed with things to see and do as middle Mexico. Around almost every corner is a new chance to marvel, sense, taste, smell, gawp, laugh or smile. I hesitate to offer one of those ‘we went here, then we did this…’ list-type blogs…. but here’s a teeny little insight into our whirlwind of activity…
Driving in Mexico City is a doddle any time… any time that is, provided it’s a Sunday. After our drive up to central Mexico from Acapulco, we shuffled our schedule to drive in on a Sunday, mooch around the capital and see the legendary Lucha Libre fight-night. Then we went to see where a man tried to plug an erupting volcano – how do we think that worked out, eh? We saw a few ‘Magic Mining Towns’ and… oh yes… we also got lost underground!
Central Mexico, mid-late winter… it’s the baffling Monarch butterflies migration season. No exaggeration… millions of them. These little chaps are a Mexico bucket-list item for us and a prime example of the inexplicable natural world. In any case, we’ve got a bit of time on our hands still waiting for a new windscreen, so we do a 1,500km loop to see them. While we’re at it, we include a short volcano crater hike at over 4,200m asl (breath-taking in more ways than one) and we follow the trail of Mexican revolutionary hero, Emiliano Zapata.
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.
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.
Continue reading
Ecuador has its fair share of volcanos and an even greater share of active ones. In our last blog, we saw Chimborazo and Tungurahua. Now we’re moving on to the hyperactive Volcán Reventador. On the way, we see some jungle critters, spot a rare bird, walk to some pretty cool waterfalls (yes… more waterfalls) and end up with Uncle Sam’s ‘Man in Quito’.
Continue reading
Physically speaking, we’re doing some ‘highs’ and ‘lows’ in Ecuador. We enter from Peru across miles and miles of banana low-land. Then we climb up-high. We get lots of cheese and chocolate, and spend a night closest to the moon. After that, we do a quick swing off a cliff (as you do) then it’s back down-low on the other side of the Andes, to the Amazon (again!).
Chile is rather famous for its volcanos and has quite a few of them, particularly gathered around the Lake District to the north of Puerto Montt. Now in our view, lakes are lakes. There are many around the world and although often very beautiful, they rarely fascinate in the way that a volcano can. So we found ourselves driving through the Lake District largely ignoring what would otherwise be notably scenic lakes and focussing on the volcanos – several of them very much still active. The most recent eruption was Volcan Calbuco which popped-off less than a year ago on 22nd April 2015, so these aren’t merely relics for geological historians. Here’s out Chile volcanos travel blog…
High on the list of ‘World’s Most Iconic Road Trips’, Chile’s Carretera Austral is a long, scenic drive down the western side of the southern Andes. It runs some 1,200 km south from its start in the city of Puerto Montt. As with Ruta 40 in Argentina, you can’t really say that you’ve ‘driven Chile’ unless you’ve done ‘The Carretera’. So here we go… starting our Carretera Austral Blog, where else, but at the end.
Stunning views along The Carretera
