When I finally limp into Alajuela, Sarah and Tom still aren’t there. I check into a hostel and make the trip by bus back to Liberia to pick up my mail. Liberia happens to be home to some very fine bike shops and so my first purchase with the long awaited bankcard is a new […]
Also tagged costa rica, friends, rainThe reality of travelling on dirt roads, generally, is that if they are not muddy then they are dusty. Most of the roads that we traverse in the Guatemalan mountains show evidence of the exceptionally heavy rains of the previous wet season – whole sections of road have been swept away by landslides – but […]
Also tagged guatemala, ordinary angelsAfter a year and a half on the road, a lot of my equipment is getting a little tatty. My Big Agnes Emerald Mountain tent has some very positive features but robustness is not really one of them.
Also tagged gear, guatemala, things breakMy map, it turns out, has a few inaccuracies and, somewhere south of Granados, these vagaries get us embroiled us in a extremely convoluted discussion with a motley crew at dusk in a desolate riverside settlement: the cast of characters range from a couple of sleazy policemen and a number of cowboys to a mute […]
Also tagged guatemalaIt is the middle of the night…
Also tagged mexicoWhen I finally drag myself away from the cooling waters of San Juan my next real destination is the Bahia de Conchinos, the infamous Bay of Pigs, but reaching the bay means heading east back through Havana and then crossing Cuba from the north coast to the south coast of the island. I don’t really […]
Also tagged cubaI set off from Playa Jutias with my new French friends, Sylvia and Regis, but our ways diverge soon enough – at the end of the causeway I turn west while Sylvia and Regis head east towards Vinales and Havana. The Gunahabibicanes Peninsula is still a couple of hundred kilometres away so I have a […]
Also tagged cubaI ride until dusk on the lookout for a likely camp spot without seeing anything that really looks like it would work. I am slightly nervous because I am in a new country and everybody keeps repeating black stories about what they feel might be in store for me in Guatemala. It is almost dark […]
Also tagged guatemala, peopleWe wake in a field, where we have all fallen asleep under a starry sky, encrusted in ice and set off again. Our aim now is to reach Zacatecas, as quickly as possible, while travelling on as few paved roads as we can manage. Our maps are all but useless for this endeavour and so […]
Also tagged dirt roads, dirtbag gang, fish, mexico, mountains, snow and ice, winterWe set out from Guachochi towards Sinforosa Canyon on foot and cover the 20 odd kilometres in a few hours with the help of a couple of lifts from locals in the back of pickup trucks. We hike down to a suspension bridge that marks the end of vehicle roads and camp for the night […]
Also tagged a place to stay, copper canyon, dirtbag gang, mexico, mountains, off cycle, walking, wild places, wildfood, wildlife