Time to trade in that cushy graphic design job for a job unloading trucks in Guatemala.
Our previous trip to Belize was filled with islands, beaches and ancient ruins. Also some dead butterflies. What else could this magical country provide?
There were two options to renew our soon to expire Guatemalan visas. Apply for quick and easy visa extension in Guatemala city Make a border run to Belize or Mexico Guatemala City is located an easy one hour’s drive from where we were staying in Antigua. Option one. Clearly too simple. A cross-country, multi-day road trip to Belize sounded like more fun. A lot more fun. Option two it is!
The weather became increasingly grey during our second visit to Belize. Nonetheless we found ourselves as in love with the country as we had been on the sunny beach side town of Sarteneja. But not Placencia. We still didn’t like that place.
The crumbling, earthquake ravaged churches of Antigua are a photographer’s dream (and quite possibly a civil engineer’s nightmare). I wouldn’t go as far as calling myself a photographer, but I can categorically state I am not a civil engineer.
It’s no secret that we’ve been pretty slack with the blog posts of late. We’ve been busy, busy with many projects and of course, most of all—adventuring.
A short drone flight from the outskirts of Nazca, Peru.
We’ve never been accused of driving the most direct route to get somewhere, so why would this be any different?
When your brakes fail, it might as well be on a winding mountain pass with sheer drop offs and hairpin bends. Even better if it is a pass that climbs from near to sea level up to almost 3000m, before dropping back down to below 1500m. (That’s pushing 10,000′ before returning to less than 5000′ for those of you who have not gleefully embraced the metric system.)
Starry skies over Baja
Calvin laughed. “Everyone says they are just stopping by for a day or two, but then they stay for several weeks.” “Well, we’d like to stay for three weeks, so does that mean you’ll never get rid of us?” No truer words have been spoken.
Oaxaca state is the home of many talented artisans. We were luckily enough to visit the weaving studio of two of these artisans. Rosario and Ernesto have mastered the art of weaving with wool. Since we were lucky enough to see all of this first hand. We thought we’d dedicate a blog post to sharing their process so that everyone back home can get a glimpse into the process of some talented Oaxacan artisans.
There was one time, way back in Belize when we were very nearly in Guatemala. Location: El Pilar ruins, Belize. Distance to Guatemala: 615.18 m (2018.32 ft) But ultimately we decided not to go, and returned to Mexico instead. We then of course faffed about for quite some time in Mexico. So long in fact that many of the friends we thought we would see again in Guatemala were, by this time, in Costa Rica, Panama, and even South America. Whoops. The rumour going around was that we were going to apply for Mexican citizenship. The thought did cross our minds. We love […]
There we were in San Ignacio, Belize, on the border with Guatemala. “You know, I’m really looking forward to going to Guatemala…”
Sunset over the town of Guanajuato
After a somewhat snap decision to leave Belize, we found ourselves back in Mexico sooner than we had planned.
After our time in Durango, we were craving a little outdoor time, some peace and quiet to enjoy the clear skies and solitude. Luckily, in Mexico, you are never far from a national park of some sort. The Sierra De Órganos National Park was a short drive south of Durango in the state of Zacatecas.
We left with a Map. Well, OK, that isn’t entirely true. We left with a scrap of paper with the names of a couple of towns we would need to drive through written on it.
Sometimes we find ourselves standing in places which really remind us what an amazing journey we are on. In these moments we stop, we take a deep breath, we look at each other and agree that we are truly fortunate to be here. That the decision to quit our jobs, sell our stuff and move into a 4Runner with a roof top tent was the best decision we have ever made.
Our holiday from our trip hadn’t gone exactly to plan. But here we were, back in Mexico and ready to give the Yucatan another go. It might just be a mosquito infested swamp, but we knew there were still some hidden gems out there for us to discover. Including a grand monument to one of the most dramatic events in the history of our planet.
After a late night arrival on the Mexican mainland, we were slow to get started on the first day of the New Year. It took a quiet New Year’s Day in Los Mochis before we were ready to start thinking about the next stage in our journey.
“Things won’t get any worse than here, other parts of Cuba will be much more enjoyable.” “Don’t say that, you’ll jinx it”
Not a lot can be said to enhance the awesomeness of a surrealist sculpture garden in the jungle. So we’ll just launch straight into some photos.