Travel

Mexico is more than sombreros, masked heroes and margaritas

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P1140214 (2)Mexico abounds with world heritage sites. It’s easy to take it for granted, and at times, be a little blasé about it, but its importance should be recognised and protected. I’m talking about our world heritage.   From UNESCO’s website, “World Heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to future generations. Our cultural and natural heritage are both irreplaceable sources of life and inspiration.”

P1140250 (2)Whilst in Mexico City, we found ourselves at the centre of Aztec and pre-Aztec (Mesoamerican) civilisations, dating back to 100BC. Mexico City is the oldest capital city in the Americas, and was originally built on an island of Lake Texcoco by the Aztecs in 1325. We had the privilege of Continue reading →

Fuelling my Papier Mâché fantasies in Mexico

Anne4 Comments
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Mexican Day of the Dead papier mache sculptures

About three years ago I started making papier mâché “things”.  First I made a small garden dweller, then a larger fortune teller that I titled “Looking for certainty in an uncertain world”. Next came a range of fantasy type plants made predominantly from newspaper and discarded nepresso pods because I love the colours they come in.  Until three years ago I had never done anything artistic and my work is very “primitive”.

P1140379 (2)I still don’t really understand why I ended up doing papier mâché but I love the process of taking what others see as rubbish and making Continue reading →

Winning with Airbnb in Mexico City

Anne5 Comments

Screenshot (32)Whenever possible we stay in apartments in preference to hotels, and over the last six months we have used Airbnb for accommodation in Phillip Island, Australia, Long Island and Manhattan, USA, and our current five night accommodation in Mexico City, the last stop on our trip. Airbnb in Mexico City we love you.

P1140098 (2)Airbnb offer three types of accommodation, shared rooms (too old for that), private rooms where you share communal space with others (probably too old for that) and private houses or apartments (perfect).

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Screenshot (26)An apartment offers much more space to relax in than a hotel, more privacy (no house staff interrupting), a washing machine, better wifi and you can eat breakfast in your pj’s instead of sharing it with Continue reading →

Just a little about Cuban life – a socialist country

AnneLeave a comment

Cuban Life - cuban pesosCuban life is delightfully complex. Money in Cuba is more confusing than anywhere I’ve ever been as they operate two currencies at the same time, Cuban Pesos (CUP) and Cuban Convertible Pesos (CUC).  The CUC is what most tourists use and are valued at 24 times the value of the CUP, though tourists can use CUPs and Cubans can use CUCs…. confused yet?  The Cubans use CUPs as their currency to buy food and shop at the government-run stores, which offer a very limited range of products. I believe that the dual currency system is a hangover from the days when Continue reading →

It’s all about the Cuban Music – Son Cubano and Havana Club

Steve4 Comments

Cuban music and danceA number of years ago, Anne and I took salsa lessons and had our first taste of Cuban music. Whilst we enjoyed ourselves, we never really mastered the art. It’s like anything…..if you want to be good at it, you need to practice. Sadly, we didn’t. Now, after watching the Cubans on the dance floor and in the streets, I wish we had kept it up. It seems that they are born with rhythm running through their veins (as well as their hips and backsides). For them, when hearing any “son” style music, and, no matter what time of the day or night, they are soon Continue reading →

Staying in Cuban “casa particulares”. At home in Cuba.

Anne1 Comment

P1130546 (2)The most enjoyable aspect of travelling in Cuba is the opportunity to engage with the friendly, humorous and gregarious Cubans. During our fifteen day tour of Cuba we stayed predominantly in “casa particulares”, which simply means private houses and this maximised our opportunity to meet Cubans.

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The family live in the house however they have rooms that are let out to tourists.  At any location our group of 9 will be split over a number of casas within the same area, with one house acting as the main house where we reconnect. Most of the houses probably started as a one room building and over the years rooms have been added as needed. Continue reading →

Moving through Cuba

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Moving through Cuba is a travellers delight. In Cuba the humble horse and cart are not relics from the past, they are part of the daily urban and rural transport system.

Moving through Cuba

Saddled and bare backed cowboys, some with family groups straggled along the horse, ride through the town, hooves clattering on the cobble-stoned streets. In Trinidad, cowboys congregated to Continue reading →

Cuba’s Classic Cars – The Yank Tank

Steve3 Comments

When I first thought of traveling to Cuba, like most other males born in the 1950’s, my initial vision was of those classic old American cars gliding down the boulevards of Havana.Cuba's Classic Cars After only a few days of being here, I can tell you that there is a lot more to Cuba than those American cars, but Cuba’s Classic cars are a great place to start. According to Wikipedia, “Yank tank or máquina” are the words used locally to describe the many classic cars present in Cuba, with an estimated 60,000 of them still driving the roads today. I did confirm Continue reading →

Niagara Falls…and the crazy cat lady.

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Niagara FallsNiagara Falls are actually three waterfalls, The Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side of the border, The American Falls, strangely enough on the American side of the border and the much smaller Bridal Veil Falls also on the American side.*

Niagara Falls - Annie Edson TaylorNiagara falls have a long tradition of daredevils trying to go over the falls but if you assume that those daredevils are all fool hardy young men think again. The first person to go over the falls in a barrel, in 1901, was Continue reading →