Mexico & Cuba 2017

What a name!  Doesn't roll of the tongue easily. But apparently the central pyramid The Pyramid of the Plumed Serpent is the most well known Prehispanic building of Mesoamerica.  It was constructed around 650 A.D. and includes many Mayan features. It's a huge archaeological site of around 10 acres set on a hill top with 360 degrees of spectacular views - typical of the whole of central Mexico.   The most interesting thing about this culture was their homage to the sun.  They believed that the sun went away every night, and the only way to bring it back was to make offerings to it - often human sacrifices.  Men would compete in a ball game, a bit like basketball, for the honour of being sacrificed.  The winner was sacrificed, not the loser!  How odd is that?! We finish off the day at what the guides describe as a very good restaurant serving local specialities.  Served with beans, of course.  Despite the fact that it was a roadside cafe, they ...

Now, we can't blame anyone but ourselves for this one I guess.  Our guides didn't pre book our accommodation in Taxco. Where would you like to stay they asked.  We replied - well we have no idea, we'll leave it up to you.  So we arrive in town totally knackered - we could have slept on a plank, or so we believed.  So, standing in the incredibly picturesque town square they point to 2 tiny hotels - this one or that one?  Up to you we reply. So they chose, then took us in.  We were shown several rooms, so at least we got to choose the best. Our final choice had views, but with views of course comes lots of steps ... ... The fittings need a little updating! Cost us about $36 for the room.  Thrown in for free was the noise: traffic, music, dogs and fireworks.  Don't know how we managed it, but we actually slept. The city, the friendly locals, the views, the atmosphere were all priceless. We felt disinclined to sleep in the next morning despite the tem...

It's not all condos and tacos!  Thank goodness for that! It seems we really should have spent a few days in Mexico City before coming to Acapulco.  There's not that much to do here apart from play by the beach and eat tacos.  The things we were more interested in seeing are a 4 hour drive away close to Mexico City.  So rather than do 2 one day tours, a local guide has cobbled the 2 together with an overnight stay.  Have to say we felt a little uncomfortable with the arrangements because it was all done "under the counter" so to speak through our little man at the desk: Ellied (pronounced Elliott).  He gets commission of course from this "off site" operator, and it seems this is the way the economy works here!  We had to meet the guide in the local Farmacia car park with cash up front!  Mm mm .. Wouldn't have surprised us if we never saw them again.  But no, everything was ok. We were picked up at 6.30am in a latish model Toyota Camry by 2 ver...

We feel like we've dived into the deep end ourselves - just arranging for the outing to the Divers!  Told the little man at reception about some sights we wanted to see and in broken English he said "let me get a better price - leave it with me, but don't let the boss see me.  I get a good price, better price - trust me."  Oh dear what are we letting ourselves in for?! Anyway, long story short, and I mean a very long story, a local taxi picked us up spot on time at 7pm.  The driver spoke very little English, and no one at the Diving place spoke English either.  But he got us there in time, escorted us to the ticket desk, and even directed us to our waiter.  After it was all over, there he was waiting for us, and dropped us back on our doorstep.  Seems we CAN trust our little man.  Just as well, because he's arranged for a private 2 day tour as well! Anyway, back to the divers.  There's an open air restaurant tiering down the cliffs surroundin...

Wow! How spectacular is Acapulco!  Photos we've seen so far haven't done it justice. Stunning from the start, the plane approached over the mountains from Mexico City through a storm, shaking the plane all over the place.  Amazingly the flight attendants continued preparing the plane for landing through it all - one even got thrown into a seat, but she just laughed and continued with her job!  We landed safely in bright steamy sunshine to a small airport, then driven over hills around a small bay studded with multi-million dollar mansions that commanded  spectacular views. We are staying around the main bay that, yet again, is dominated by time shares and condominiums.  At the furthest reaches of the bay is an area dominated by older condos used mainly by the locals - locals mostly from nearby Mexico City which is just a 4 hour drive away.   By the time we had unpacked and popped around to the corner shop for a few provisions it was dusk and time to sit on ...

Can't beat down the adventurers in us - we decided to brave the heat, leaving the oasis of our resort behind us we headed for the hills.  Albeit in the air conditioned comfort of a well appointed taxi! Drop us at the Town Square please!  In the middle of the day, in 35 deg of sweltering heat.  We made up our minds that this was not to be a sight seeing expedition.  We were just going to buy a few provisions for a week of breakfasts, then have lunch in an air conditioned cafe before heading back for another swim. It's a quaint enough little town - but the locals aren't daft - we'll hide the grocery shops from tourists so they'll be forced to eat in our restaurants! But we would not be beaten.  We've checked the Internet - we know there's a Walmart here somewhere!  Ok.  So their next ploy is to hide all the street signs!   They still didn't beat us hardy Aussies!  We traspt everywhere in the midday sun until we eventually found it.  Now al...