Travel to Mexico, Baja California Sur.

That particular William S. Burroughs quote sticks into me like a thorn. I'm at a crossroads in my life, and I don't know what to do. Weird dreams plague me as of late, vivid I picture a withered man sitting alone in the shadows of a Tangiers cafe in the sweltering stink of the midday. His playful old eyes gleam as I approach. For some reason, he's privy to my destiny.

This causes me strong intrigue, so I ask if I can join him and we spend the afternoon chatting about this and that, mesmerized am I by the swirl of his brilliance as it pours from the top of his head like smoke off a corncob pipe. I sip burnt espresso from my minuscule cup with pleasure. Behind him, veiled women drift down the cool cobblestone passages seemingly undetected. Our conversation stays friendly but vague, so impatience gets the better of me and I rudely interrupt. “William, you were going to tell me what I’m supposed to do with my life.”

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Travel to Mexico, Quintana Roo, Isla Mujeres.

When I first woke up I felt really sick. I started to feel slightly ill before leaving the states and it got worse when I got to Mexico. I really wanted to go to Isla Mujeres but felt so rough. Anyway, I dosed myself up with Paracetamol tablets and decided to go for it.

I got a taxi from my hotel to the ferry and was over in Isla Mujeres within 15 minutes. When I first got to the island, I decided to walk around and explore, and felt like I was the only tourist on there, but never felt unsafe. After about an hour or so, I decided to do a boat tour which involved 3 different snorkelling locations, seeing a turtle farm and having lunch.

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Travel to Mexico, Quintana Roo, Playa del Carmen.

The Riviera Maya is becoming prominent in the world for deep sea fishing. Most people know about its fantastic world class diving, ancient ruins and cenotes, so for some it's a big surprise to hear about the deep sea fishing which is considered a highly ranked destination by anglers all over the world. The Yucatan waters are where big game fish love to lurk and if you're lucky, you can see runs of Blue and White Marlin, Dorado, Sailfish, and Yellowfin Tuna which tempt anglers from February through September with some of the boat tours. Marlin and sailfish migrate through Cozumel in the spring & summer months so another attraction to be found in Playa.

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Travel to Mexico, Sonora, Puerto Peñasco.

It's Sunday, June 16, 2013 - Church in Mexico. We worshipped at Mark and Karen's church "La Samaritana Buena" the Good Samaritan. We met Pastor Edgar and his wife, Alma, and their kids. We also met Eneida, who works at the Center, and her kids - Alexia, Rodrigo, y Zabie. Pearl and Zabie were fast friends - both 2 and 3 years old. Pastor Edgar preached about Joseph, Mary's husband, being a good father who loved God and obeyed him. It was really great to be worshipping all together on Father's Day, but what's even extra cool is that Geoff and Kai and I had just learned about Mary's husband last week in Youth Group. Our summer 5th/6th Grade Youth Group series is "Unsung Heroes from the Bible". Last week I chose Joseph, Mary's husband, to teach the kids about how Joseph believed God, listened to God and obeyed God.

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Travel to, Mexico, Chiapas, Puerto Arista.

Ok, so here is the story, last night we decided to change of our plans. We have decided to head somewhere that is out of the mountains and closer to the coast. We loved San Cristobal, but the city sits at 6,000 feet. That translates to warm days and chilly nights. After several chilly nights (low 50s or high 40s) we decided it was time to adjust our plans. So we are not going south to Comitan. I got out the book, did some reading and figured out how to get us to the coast. So the question became, is it the northwest coast or the southern part of the coast? After some discussion, we picked Puerto Arista, this location is just about 125 miles north of Tapachula and the Guatemalan border, which is on the Pacific Coast. It is a very small community that is a bit difficult to get too. We will take a small bus (hold 10 people) to Tuxtla Gutierrez. Then we will take another bus to a very small city by the name of Tonala (3 hours). From there we can get local transport (pick-up) to the beach community (20-30 minutes). Here is what
Fine Dinning
The only place open after 8 pm!my book says: "This one-street town has a handful of basic hotels and simple palapa restaurants......it makes it a mellow place to kick back for a day or two." One of the hotels was recommended to us by my teacher. So the plan is to stay at Hotel Lucero. It has a pool and sand floor restaurant. Should be fun for a couple of days!

We arrive in Puerto Arista! It was a bit difficult to get here but not too bad. About 90 minutes in a small van (collective – stop whenever some waves their hand); followed by a 3 hour bus ride to Tonala. We arrived later than we wanted to, and all of the local transport has stopped for the night. I exit the bus and get us a cab -30 minute later we arrive in Arista. We arrived at 8 pm on Thursday. The city was dead. We find the hotel, Lucero and decide to stay, we check in. We are both hungry. I asked about a restaurant. He kept saying “in el centro” (in the center of town) and I kept saying give me a name. Finally I realized that I was not getting
Puerto Arista.waiting for breakfasta name.

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Travel to Mexico, Yucatán.

Wednesday 6th February: without wishing to appear overly biased on account of Caroline working for Virgin Atlantic[VA] our Virgin Holidays vacation to Cancun has got off to a terrific start.

With our VA flight from Gatwick leaving at 12.30 pm on Tuesday 5th February we secured an excellent deal at the Ramada Hotel near Gatwick for the Monday night which included two weeks' free parking. When we arrived at Gatwick Airport our holiday package included access to VA's Vroom lounge which was better than any business class or first class lounge that I've ever used before. Then when we boarded the flight we were upgraded to Premium Economy [thanks to Caroline]. Eleven hours later we landed in Cancun and were met by a Virgin rep at the airport and were effortlessly transferred to our hotel in Xcaret (pronounced with a hard X and a hard C), the Occidental Grand Flamenco, which seems to be a sort of Club Med on steroids: all-inclusive [including drinks] but without all the sporting activities. The hotel is vast, spread over a very large area of what appears to be primary jungle bordering the rocky cost. There are about 20 accommodation blocks spread amongst the
Beach at hotel
Great weather, warm seas. Life is tough.extensive grounds and several bars, restaurants and cafes to choose from. Great if you're not on a diet.

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Travel to Mexico, Baja California Sur, Cabo San Lucas.

January 30 – College Station to Cabo San Lucas – Only slept a couple of hours last night and then woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep. Finally got up around 3AM and did a little homework on the internet till I suddenly realized at 5AM that my plane was leaving at 06:40 instead of 07:40. So I loaded up quickly and went to the airport. One thing about B/CS is it doesn’t take long to get anywhere. I got checked in and got my boarding pass and went through security in plenty of time.

I really do believe that they use the flights out of College Station, Texas to train pilots or to break in new ones. We just about ran out of runway before the plane finally went into a very steep climb off the ground. Same way landing…the plane was tipping up and down before finally stumbling onto the runway. And just about used up the entire runway landing as well. Then the plane was making all kinds of sounds like some kind of wounded animal as it made its way to the terminal. Maybe the guy burned up the brakes or broke them or something.
The Cabo Inn

There was a 2 hour layover at D/FW airport. When I got to the boarding gate there were FMM cards on the counter. I took one and filled it out while waiting on my flight. There are two parts the visitor must fill out. One on the top and the other 2nd from the bottom. The other parts are to be left open for the immigration officials to fill out. One part if for the inbound flight to Mexico and the other for the exit flight from Mexico.

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Travel to Playa De Carmen, Mexico.

Country/Town visited: Playa Del Carmen, Mexico
Date of stay: Oct 2011
Where you stayed:  Hotel Playa Del Karma
Travelled with: Wife
Tour or pre planned: Pre-planned

While Cancun is more of a household name when it comes to thinking of a beach paradise in Mexico, Playa Del Carmen will impress you more as it contains a little more charm and hasn’t quite yet been completely concreted over with beachfront all-inclusive hotel resorts.

It’s also very well situated, as you can easily do day trips to Cozumel, Tulum and other beachside towns further south.

The hotel we stayed in was called Playa Del Karma which was a great place in a brilliant location (just a short walk to the beach) and good value for the money. The staff were a highlight as they were very attentive and helpful; I honestly cannot commend them enough. However, there were a few things to nitpick: The pool was dirty and never cleaned so we couldn’t really use it, the wifi almost never worked and there was a lot of work going on around the hotel while we were there. Having said that, these were most likely because of off-season improvements so I’m sure things will be better off in future.

In Playa you will find a huge range of places to eat and drink at. So much so that you are spoilt for choice and will have a hard time deciding where to go. Here are a couple of places we ate & drank at that we can highly recommend:

100% Natural (5th Avenue)
Great fresh and filling food. Out of this world smoothies.

Tropical Café (5th Avenue)
Good breakfasts here. 70pesos will bag you a traditional egg breakfast with fresh fruit, coffee and glass of OJ.

La Patrona de Playa (right opposite Coco Bongo club)
Near where we stayed and it was so good we ate here 3 times. Great simple Mexican food, cheap, and good service. The bottomless complimentary tortilla chips, salsa, beans and sauces were a real treat.

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Travel to Palenque, Mexico.

Country/Town visited: Palenque, Mexico 
Date of stay: Oct 2011 
Where you stayed: El Panchan, Margarita & Ed's 
Travelled with: Wife 
Tour or pre planned: Pre-planned

Palenque is such a unique experience when compared to many of the other places you visit on a trip to Mexico. It is set deep in the jungle and offers some of the most raw and spectacular Mayan ruins in all of Mexico. Sleeping in the jungle itself provides an atmosphere that is something not to be missed, especially when you often hear the symphony of birds and insects at night which constantly remind you that you are far far away from home.

You have the choice of staying in Palenque town, which is about a 20min drive to the ruins and is home to all the shops and restaurants etc. (although the choice here is not that great). OR, you can stay much deeper in the jungle in one of the many places situated along the road to the ruins (I highly recommend it as there isn’t much to do in Palenque town itself).

The best pick of these in my opinion is by far, El Panchan.

El Panchan is a sprawling rustic jungle bungalow backpacker paradise situated literally in the middle of nowhere (although only 10 mins from the ruins). There are many different areas to stay in El Panchan, but I can highly recommend ‘Margarita & Ed’s’. They offer pretty decent bungalows that cater to all, and they are very friendly and helpful to boot.

Set amongst the El Panchan area are several restaurants serving up fantastic food and great live music at night. The ‘resort’ (if you could call it that) attracts many travellers, musicians and also archaeologists so there is quite a diverse bunch of people for you to meet.

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Travel to Oaxaca, Mexico.

Country/Town visited: Oaxaca, Mexico
Date of stay: Sep 2011
Where you stayed:Hotel Los Mirasoles
Travelled with: Wife 
Tour or pre planned: Pre-planned

Oaxaca feels like the real Mexico. It’s big enough to give you a ton of things to do but feels like it’s a lot smaller than it actually is. This is a good thing; as it gives you that ‘small-town’ feel and you can just about walk everywhere you want to go.

We stayed in the Centro Historico area of Oaxaca which is easily walkable and full of colourful houses and art galleries lining every street.

I can highly recommend the place we stayed at, Los Mirasoles. It had cool natural surroundings, very spacious rooms, a huge comfortable bed and a great location right in between the bus station and Zocalo (main square). At 400 pesos per night, you can’t complain either.

Before I get into what there is to see and do in and around Oaxaca, let me just tell you about the food (you knew this was coming). Oaxacans LOVE their food. And it clearly shows. Their signature dishes contain one of the seven ‘Mole’ sauces available, and they are all lovingly prepared in various ways, offering you seven different ways to experience it.

There are many places that offer these locally prepared dishes, but I can heartily recommend a place called Terranova, located on the south-eastern side of the Zocalo. Downstairs they do basic quick dishes and snacks with drinks, but upstairs is where they pull out the big guns and give you a huge range of dishes to choose from. I can’t remember the name of it, but there is one which allows you to try four of the seven Mole Sauces. Do it. Just do it.

If you want a great place to drink, you can’t go wrong with El Olivio. A very funky place where all the locals go for a chilled out Mezcal or beer.

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Travel to Merida, Mexico

Country/Town visited: Merida, Mexico
Date of stay: Oct 2011
Where you stayed:  Hotel Las Arecas
Travelled with: Wife 
Tour or pre planned: Pre-planned

I must admit, there is not a whole lot to see and do in Merida, but it is a perfect stop off point to see the ruins of Uxmal and Chichen Itza.

The hotel we stayed in was called Las Arecas. A rather decent place, with crazy cheap rates (280pesos p/n), great location, good air con (which you’ll need) and helpful friendly staff. It wasn’t the best place we’d stayed in, but it did us nicely. Note: if you’re going to stay here, there isn’t a sign on the street for the hotel so just press the buzzer on no. 541 (Calle 59).

Merida town is nice enough, with the Zocalo being the most happening place. There are several good markets around and many places selling quality hammocks. If you want to buy a hammock, then this is the place.

I can highly recommend a restaurant called Panchos to eat at. They have fantastic food (get the guacamole, it’s all made right in front of you) and the surroundings are quite pleasant indeed.

Most nights of the week from 9pm there are free live music and dancing shows in several squares in the neighbourhood. One such great spot is in Santa Lucia Square.

As mentioned before, there isn’t much else to do in Merida, but the following two sites make your reason to stay here a damn good one:

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Travel to Mexico City, Mexico.

Country/Town visited: Mexico City, Mexico
Date of stay: Sep 2011
Where you stayed: Casa Comtesse
Travelled with: Wife
Tour or pre planned: Pre-planned

It has always been a dream of mine to go to Mexico. I’ve always admired the culture and its rich history, and I’ve always felt a deep love for Mexican food and Tequila in particular.

Not to mention all the ancient Mayan and Aztec treasures littered throughout the country, which, when I was a young boy, inspired me to be one of the world’s greatest archaeologists (I’ll have to settle for sales & marketing instead).

Upon descending into Mexico City, you get a good glimpse of the grand scale of just how big this city is. For miles and miles all you can see is house after house after house, without much room to breathe in between. It is the largest city in the world, and is home to some 22 million people.

A taxi from the airport will cost you around 300pesos, depending on where you are staying.

We stayed at a place called Casa Comtesse, and I have to say that this is one of the best backpacker places I have been to. It is well designed, has comfy rooms, friendly staff, awesome breakfasts and is supremely located in the Condesa area, which is quite central and is a popular area for the locals as there are many good restaurants around.

The Casa is only a short walk to either of 2 metro stations, and I can honestly say that the Metro rail system here is one of the best I have used. It’s really easy to get around as everything is well signposted, tickets only cost 3 pesos (making it one of the cheapest in the world to use) and several stations smell like melted cheese, which is just totally awesome.

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