Day 375-380, 21-26July 09: Interviews, fever, topes, laguna: down to Belize

Happy B-day to me! My 2nd one on this trip and likely not the last… But there were a lot of things to do, no time to celebrate. I woke up with a very sore throat, but reckoned that it was he airco’s fault and did not think much of it. Ivana & I took our [...]

Day 368-375, 15-21 Jul 09: Mums in Mexico pt.3: Isla Mujeres

The Island of Women The ‘Isla Mujeres’, the Island of Women, could have been named after the wives of the pirates that frequented the seas and left their women on this safe island, or after the Mayan Goddess Ixchel, who has been worshipped here. Nowadays, it can refer to the ladies living or the many visiting here, [...]

Day 361-367, 7-14 Jul 09: Mums in Mexico pt.2: Playa, more ruins & Isla Cozumel

As mentioned in the previous post, we have parked our bikes for a few weeks as both our mums are visiting us on the Yucatan Peninsula. After the ruins of Chichen Itza & Ek Balam, it is now time for the beach! Playa del Carmen, overcrowded and overrated “Don’t go to Cancun, move to Playa de Carmen!”, [...]

Day 354-360, 30Jun-6Jul 09: Mums in Mexico pt.1: Ruins & Cenotes!

Photos: relaxing in Cancun We started our holiday with a few days in a Hostel and some visits to the beach as well as the nice local park. The park is not visited much, but is basically a part of original jungle in the middle of the city. It has some great trails, a turtle pond, [...]

Day 346-353, 22-29 June 09: Chillin with Hector & Veronika in Cancun

Meeting old friends in Cancun A few years ago, I was on my way to run the Amsterdam Dam-to-Dam run. Ivana was joining me to the start when we saw two biketravellers pass by; loaded bikes, with a Mexican flag on the back. While I went to run, Ivana caught up with the cyclists and asked if [...]

Day 342-346, 18-22 June 09: Elections, downhill and to Cancun: World-in-a-Truck

18 June 2009: Election tricks, graffiti & handwork We did a quick tour around the central Plaza in Tlachichuca for some Wi-Fi search and some posing for pictures. I noticed a huge truck unloading hundreds of boxes with a growing crowd gathering around. The boxes contained live chickens and were handed out to the villagers. The magazine [...]

Day 338-341, 14-18 June 09: Pico de Orizaba, summit of Mexico

14th June, From Puebla to Tlachichuca: dust devils and up the slopes of the volcano. 52km, about 500m up After our goodbyes to Hiram’s family, we found our way through the busy streets of Puebla, heading North East to to the exit of the city, the main highway towards Veracruz on the Gulf coast. Our mums [...]

Day 336-338, 12-14 June. An impression of beautiful Puebla.

It was less than 10km from Cholula to Puebla and the cities are basically connected. With 1.5 million people the city is huge (3rd largest of the country), but the historic centre has remained largely intact and is very attractive. We had been invited by CouchSurfing host Hiram and his family, who own and run a [...]

Day 332-335: 8-11 June: Mexico City-Cholula, canals, interviews, city and volcanoes

Cycling through the outskirts of Metepec was still ok, but when we reached the main road from Toluca to Mexico, we had to use all senses we had to stay alive. We stopped at a gas station 20km out of town, as it was no use to try to cycle into the city any farther. [...]

Day 325-331, 1-7 June 2009: highland magic in Morelia

We were dropped off in the morning at our favourite pick-up spot: the tollbooth of the quota. For once we were not the only persons there without a car, as a demonstration of angry teachers was about to commence. The toll roads in Mexico are very expensive, most truck drivers and definitely the underpaid teachers cannot [...]

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