In Oaxaca
It takes a stubborn cyclist to tour through Mexico without taking in the city of Oaxaca de Juárez. The alternative routes through the country to the north are apparently a bore, while bypassing the city to the south requires an extended visit to the troubled state of Guerrero. It’s not quite correct to say that...
Month 16
10 October – 9 November 2014 Countries El Salvador, Guatemala & Mexico (both of us), plus Nicaragua & Honduras (just Ruth; total 16) Distance 1,404.50km (total 19,103.84km) Climb 14,647m (total 185,653m) Longest day 152.92km, Chablé to Francisco Escárcega in Mexico (longest so far: 160.11km) Top speed 64.6kmh (fastest so far: 67.4kmh) Punctures 3 (total 28;...
Snaps – October 2014
One month, five countries, 16 point-and-click snapshots. Past entries in this monthly series can be found by clicking here. The visitors’ centre at the Masaya Volcano National Park is a joy, lined with lovely, hand-painted dioramas and displays that attempt to explain how Nicaragua’s array of volcanoes came into being. Further inside the...
Come the revolution
The Museum of the Revolution sits in a plum location opposite the cathedral on the main square in León, Nicaragua’s second city. Designed in the 1930s as a telecommunications centre, the building was later used as a judicial court under the US-backed dictatorial regime of Anastasio Somoza. Between them, Somoza and his two sons ruled...
Month 15
10 September – 9 October 2014 Countries Costa Rica & Nicaragua (both of us), plus Honduras & El Salvador (just Will; total 14) Distance 1,692.18km (total 17,699.34km) Climb 15,879m (total 171,006m) Longest day 119.12km, Masaya to León in Nicaragua (longest so far: 160.11km) Top speed 67.2kmh (fastest so far: 67.4kmh) Punctures 1 (total 25; Will...
Knowing when to stop
On a long bicycle tour, some bike-free breaks naturally suggest themselves. There are cities in which to pause and explore (Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, La Paz, Quito and Medellín, among others). There are diversions, best visited on there-and-back trips aboard trains and boats and planes (Iguazu Falls, Argentine Patagonia, Santiago and Valparaíso, Peru’s...
Snaps – September 2014
Yet another month’s worth of touring reduced to a dozen or so rotten photographs. The other pages in this ‘Snaps’ series are lurking, a little sheepishly, behind this link. Half the rooms at the Paradise Inn, where we waited out a day of storms, are named and themed after countries, with garish murals...