Getting Over the Jitters At about 9:30am on Sunday, February 14, Valentine’s Day, we arrived in the small hill town of Llano Grande. We feared we might have made made a big mistake. Would the cabins we’d been promised be liveable? The bathrooms clean? Would our guide be there as promised? Would there be any…
When my internet search uncovered a 7-day hiking trip that involved walking from Zapateco village to Zapateco vilage in the Sierra Norte in central Oaxaca, I thought: This I have to try. Signing up seemed way too easy. Within minutes of entering the offices of Expediciones Sierra Norte, the tourism arm of a community…
I knew the Tule Tree was the widest tree in the world before I visited it yesterday evening. But nothing prepared me for a tree that is over 14 meters in diameter – think about it: 14 meters, that’s 46 feet or 552 inches. My house in Belfountain sits on a lot that is about…
After too long walking on cobblestones in the graceful old colonial city of Oaxaca in the south of Mexico, I was pleased to feel warm sand between my toes and cool surf my feet. Better yet, the sandy beach in the small village of Mazunte on the Pacific Coast, a stomach-churning 6.5-hour bus ride…
As some of you know, Alex and I spend winters in warmer climes. Since Alex’s lodge – The Lodge at Pine Cove – is closed for winter, and winter hiking isn’t the best, we head for points south. We’ve been favouring Argentina these last few years, but this winter, we’ve returned to my favourite country…
Hiking in La Gomera Our first day, when we woke up to the sun climbing over the ridge, we explored our temporary home. Later in the day, we set off to walk down to the ocean, about a 45-minute journey along a dirt track that weaved its way through terraced fields that were mostly…
La Gomera — La GoWherea? When we arrived in La Gomera on January 5, it was about 10pm and we’d been up since 3:45am. We’d caught a cab in London to take us to the train station. Then the express train took us to Gatwick Airport where we caught a 4-hour non-stop BA flight to…
We celebrated Julio’s 65th birthday with his family and friends. Julio is taking the picture. Believe it or not, but this shot is taken inside his stable. In Hindsight and on to the Future The horses are on the range for winter; our saddles have been stored, and I managed to wash the dust…
Behind Every Good Story in Cholila is a Gun “The going price to hire a killer in Cholila,” our dinner companion tells us, “is 5000 Pesos (about $750).” We are learning that despite starting to feel comfortably at home in Cholila, there are some major cultural differences between what we know in Canada and…
There’s No Place Like Home — Almost Yesterday, I rode Judy down to Cholila from the lakeside farm of Ivan Hueche, the young guide we hired to take us (successfully this year) up to the Tigre Glacier. It was a destination that locked gates and, as we learned last week, a circuitous and challenging route…
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