This page is currently complete and up-to-date.
My apologies if you have come here with a not unreasonable expectation of posts about the USA and Canada, but the only North
American country we have visited since I started this blog is Mexico – and the
only Caribbean country is Cuba.
We did spend a year in Washington (the north-western state, not the eastern city) 1983-4 when I did a job swap and taught in a High School
for a year. We are still friends with Joel and Lucinda our job swap partners
and last met on their 2017 visit to this cool, damp island.
Part of that visit and a little background can be found in:
One post has a ‘USA’ label (among others) and another a ‘Canada’ label, the first from our 1983-4 visit, the second recalls weather events on a school ski trip to Quebec in 2000, We have visited neither country since 2002.
Enough (too much) of what is not here, so let’s start with somewhere we haven’t been. We have booked three times to go to Costa Rica,
but three times we failed to get there, so I wrote a post about what had gone
wrong and about what we had hoped to see if it hadn't.
Costa Rica 2023
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13/03/2023 |
Cancellations: lockdowns, heart problems and a cough. Costa Rica: San Jose, Tortugeuro, Arenal
Monteverde and Samára. A (very) brief history of Costa Rica. |
Our visit to Cuba would not have taken place if the COVID lockdown had started when it should have done. We were not privy to the epidemiological information the prime minister was ignoring, so we went with a clear conscience. Our trip was truncated by one day (fortunately the least important day) and we returned on the second day of the first lockdown.
Cuba 2020
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15/03/2020 |
1st Impressions. A walking tour of the old city. Plaza Vieja, and the Viaje Fantastico
(fantastic journey). Cuba’s two currencies the CUP & the CUC. The
Caballero de Paris. Bodega El Caridad Consejo Popular. El Templete and the
founding of Havana. Mass at the he Cathedral. The Capital and old American cars.
La Floridita and a daiquiri with Ernest Hemingway. | |
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16/03/2020 |
Touring around
Havana to pick up other passengers. The, Autopista Este-ouste, aged Chevrolet
& Cuban belly palms. The Helms-Burton Act. Pinar del Rio. Vinales, Casa
Basita, a mojito and dinner with Basita |
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17/03/2020 |
Start to our walk
with Julio interrupted by Covid communications. Tobacco drying shed and
making cigars. Mogotes. Veterinary inspections. Grassquits and todays. Mamey
and crescentia, The Botanical gardens. Dinner cocktails and Ropa Vieja (Old
Clothes) |
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18/03/2020 |
Leaving Viñales,
Viñales to Cienfuegos, Cienfuegos, Cuban-American Relations. The Caribbean.
Arriving in Trinidad, Rickshaw to Hostal Maidys, More Covid interruptions.
Dinner with Maidy |
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|
19/03/2020 |
Self-guided
walking tour of old town. Plaza Mayor, Church of the Holy Trinity, Brunet
Palace, Museum of war against bandits, St Francis Bell tower, Plaza Sta Ana.
Lunch with band and power cut. Afternoon walk in new town. |
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|
20/03/2020 |
Valle de los
Ingenios (Valley of the Sugar Mills), S Isidro de los Destiladeros, slavery, Trapiche,
Jamaican Train and slave quarters. Slavery and Cuba heritage. Manaca Iznaga
and its tower. Cane juice. Lunch at Colonial Restaurant. Walk round Trinidad.
Trinidad | |
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21/03/2020 |
Trinidad to
Santa Clara, Che Guevara Sculpture Complex, Memorial, museum and mausoleum. The
life of Che. Matanza and on to Playa de Jibacoa | |
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23/03/2020 |
Life in an all-inclusive resort as it closes down for Covid. Sea, sun, sand & pool,
cocktails, and dining opportunities. Wildlife. The Cuban Missile crisis. A
strange journey home to lockdown |
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| Bar Floridita, Havana |
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| Viñales town square |
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| Further out of Viñales |
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| Hostal Maidys, Trinidad de Cuba |
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| Across Trinidad to the Caribbean |
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| Manaca Iznaga |
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| Ernesto Guevara Sculptural Complex, Sta Clara |
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| The pool area from our patio |
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| Where are they all? Coming home for lockdown |
Cuba is also labelled in
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14/02/2023 |
A collection of
largely plinth-free statues from three continents. In this less deferential
age it is good not to be looking up to people all the time. Cuba’s
contribution is El Caballero de Paris in Havana. |
In 2017 Lucinda and Joel, who have lived and worked in Mexico, suggested we visit and explore some of the country. We wasted little time in taking up their suggestion, and we are glad we did.
Mexico 2017
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South East from Mexico City 2017
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18/11/2017 |
Bidet Incident. Monumento a la Revolución, Avenue Juarez, Almeda Park. A walking tour which never
happened. Pulqueria las Duelistas, Cerveceria lunch, 1911 Revolution Day
Parade, | |
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19/11/2017 |
Tenochtitlan, Al
Pastor kebabs. Templo Mayor, Mexican flag, Calle Moneda, Sink Holes, National
Palace, Rivera Mural, Cathedral and a blessing from the Archbishop. To Teotihuacan,
chicken fajita. Ancient site: Avenue of the Dead, Pyramids of the Moon and of
the Sun. | |
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20/11/2017 |
Problems with the Mexico City-Puebla bus. Lunch in Puebla. To adjacent city of Cholula, World's largest pyramid? Pyramid Museum, A walk inside the pyramid and around the excavation. Market and grasshoppers. Modern City, and earthquake damage. San Gabriel. Back to Puebla via Angelopolis, Puebla's newest quarter. Margaritas, Mole Poblano and Talavera pottery | |
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21/11/2017 |
The characterful Hotel Meson Sacrisitia de la Compania. Fort Loreto Park and the Battle of the 5th of May (1862), Xanentla and its solution to the graffiti problem. ‘Secret’ Tunnels. Street Food, the Artists Quarter. Centro Hitorico, the theatre novel ice cream flavours, Santo Domingo, the Zocalo and the Cathedral. | |
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23/11/2017 |
A bus ride from Puebla to Oaxaca. Cassiano Conzatti hotel and park. Up to Monte Alban Zapotec site. Little known of how site was used, the Danzantes. Walk to central Oaxaca. The Green city. The cathedral, shoe shines and earthquake survivors in tents. Day of the Dead decorations. Tasting pulque. | |
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24/11/2017 |
Meeting chef Gerardo at Merced Market. Corn dough, Oaxaca cheese, smoked chilis. Preparing tacos, tamales and mole negro tacos. Drinking mezcal, Santo Domingo de Guzman, museum & church | |
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26/11/2017 |
Oaxaca-San Cristobal. San Cristobal main square and a mole in a chilly restaurant. Walking Tour, Cathedral, graffiti, Market. To Chamula, Tzotzil traditional dress The Mayan Cross and Chamula Church with a thin veneer of Christiantiy Chamula Markett. Zinacantan, brighter clothes. Weaving and tacos. Pox pronounced ‘posh’ | |
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27/11/2017 |
By boat through the Sumidero Canyon: crocodile, spider monkeys, garbage slick in Rio Grijalva.
Lake Chicoasen, michelada. Chiapa de Corzo: parachicos, Portales, la Pila | |
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28/11/2017 |
Leaving San
Cristobal, Roadblocks at Oxchuc & Cuxulja, men wielding machetes. Ocosingo and the Zapatista Army of National
Liberation. Tonina, the ballcourt and climbing to the top of the ‘acropolis’.
Misol Ha waterfall. The Chan-Kah Resort, Palenque. | |
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29/11//2017/ |
Palenque, the
Chan-Kah Resort and Howler Monkeys in the morning. Palenque Mayan Site,
Lakhamha: Temple of Inscriptions, the Red Queen, the Palace, Temples of the
Cross. Agouti at Chan-Kah. Palenque to Villahermosa airport. Popocatepetl from
the air. Dinner in Mexico City | |
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01/12/2017 |
The Coyoacán district of Mexico City. La Casa Azul, Frida Kahlo’s birthplace and Museum. Her medical problems & marriage to Diego Rivera. Trotsky’s visit. Trotsky’s house & assassination, Dolores Olmeda Museum, Xoloitzcuintli dogs, her Diego Rivera collection and Pablo O'Higgins exhibition. |
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| Revolution Day Parade |
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| Temple of the Sun. Teotihuacan |
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| Cholula |
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| Artist's quarter, Puebla |
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| Monte Alban from the south platform |
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| Oaxaca cheese in Merced Market |
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| Tzotzil hairy skirt, Chamula |
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| The Sumidero Canyon |
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| Misol Ha Waterfall |
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| Temple of the Sun, Palenque |
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| Trotsky's grave, Mexico City |
USA
The United States is labelled in one post:
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27/01/2013 |
A collection of (pre-blog)
scenic bridges connecting people together. The American representative is the
Crooked River High Bridge in Oregon. The other bridges are in France (two),
Germany (see Western Europe Page) and Armenia (See Former USSR page). |
Canada
Canada is labelled in one post
|
27/11/2011 |
A brief look at how three different countries cope with adverse weather condition. The
conclusions attempt to avoid the usual lazy cliches. |
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