Progresso It was exciting to see the sublime azure ocean come into view as you drive in to Progresso on the North coast of the Yucatan. We were here is 2008 and it was just a small fishing village with a beautiful miles-long sandy beach and clear aquamarine water. As we drove… Continue reading
Everyone knows Venice, but who knew that there were over 100 other islands all around Venice? These little-known islands of the Venetian Lagoon are fabulously interesting, and kind of kept a secret by the locals. Some of the islands are uninhabited, some have only a few dozen people. … Continue reading
The Blue Mansion We took the free shuttle, another nice touch from Le Dream Boutique Hotel, to the famed Blue Mansion. The Blue Mansion was carefully planned and designed by the owner, Cheong Fatt Tze. Some of the original rickshaws and carriages were outside the building. … Continue reading
Walking around Old Havana is like being in a toy shop. The sounds, the colours, the smells whirl around you in every direction. There are things tinkling, and rumbling, and whizzing. Brilliant colours fly past, beside, and in front of you. Along with the luscious smells of food, there… Continue reading
While I screamed and hollered and swore at my computer with the new hard drive that would not load emails from the external drive back-up, T went merrily off to the Merida Zoo. He has been into long walks lately, so he walked. It was a long walk on… Continue reading
Of course we had to go see the magnificent Panama Canal while we were in Panama. Maybe I expected too much or maybe I didn’t really understand its purpose or maybe, dare I say it – it’s something more appreciated by men, but for me it was quite plain… Continue reading
Borneo Jungle Walk It was time for the Borneo Jungle Walk in Sabah, Borneo. As we entered the jungle, the first thing to walk across was a swinging rope bridge, which David managed with ease. I won’t say how T managed on the rope bridge, but I… Continue reading
As people kept referring to farms in the Azores – often right in the centre of towns and villages, we would look around expecting to see an expanse of field, and never find it! All we could see were houses, and trying to be polite (and not wanting to… Continue reading
Birds are not a big attraction for us, but we were a little curious about the Yucatan flamingos. We thought $100 was a little steep for the Flamingo Boat Tour out of Celestun, so we declined several offers from local tour operators. Since there was a large… Continue reading
At Orange Walk, in Belize, we stayed at the Orchid Palm Inn, a lovely inn filled with – you’ll never guess – orchid plants. Reasonable rates and very nice rooms: Orchid Palm Inn. The owners of the Orchid Palm told us about the Lamanai Jungle River Boat, so the… Continue reading
Tonga: Going to Ouleva Island We were flying from the Vava’u Group in Tonga to the Haap’ai Group, where we had arrangements to take a boat to an uninhabited island, Ouleva. At the airport, as we walked out to our small 8-seater plane, I noticed the pilot was actually… Continue reading
Louisiana and the Canada Connection Louisiana: there is a strong connection between Louisiana and Canada. A good number of people in the Louisiana area came from Canada! We recalled learning this in history at school, but had completely forgotten about it, or at least I did. French-speakers… Continue reading
Today we cleaned out the chicken coop at our house sit in Clairac, France. Yup! Easy Peasy. Only problem was that fat Old Momma Chicken would not move. She’s nesting again! So we had to work around “Ms. Precious”. The other 3 chickens had already been let out in… Continue reading
What a thrill it was going to be to actually stay in a real castle! We were excited. After spending a few days in Limerick and driving out to see the Cliffs of Moher, we were on our way to our first castle – Ballynahinch Castle. We drove… Continue reading
Some people find history fascinating; others find it completely boring. I used to be the latter, finding all those dates absolutely meaningless (stop scowling). Random dates and events seemed like completely useless knowledge. I wanted to know what was happening today! Not 500 years ago. In high… Continue reading
Belize is a tiny Central American country on the Caribbean side, so that usually means amazing turquoise waters, white sand beaches, and Spanish-speaking people. Because I have wanted to go to Belize for about 10 years, I could hardly wait, but to be honest, it was a tremendous disappointment. … Continue reading
The day after we arrived at Isla Mujeres (Island of Women), a tiny island off the coast of Mexico near Cancun, we were all set to enjoy a lovely afternoon at the gorgeous North Beach, when the rain started. A downpour filled the streets to overflowing within a short time,… Continue reading
Our helpful Panamanian friends in Tonosi had recommended that the best way to get to the paradise San Blas Islands of Bocas Del Toro on the Caribbean side of Panama, was to take the new highway across the mountains of the Palo Seco Reserve. Lucky To Be Alive … Continue reading
The first thing you need to know if you’re driving around Ireland is that there are no traffic lights. That’s right, no traffic lights. Instead, there are 50 million roundabouts. On arrival the ten or more roundabouts just to get out of Shannon airport caused us great anxiety…. Continue reading
Ever since taking an anthropology class at university, and reading about the Kingdom of Tonga, I had longed to go there. Kingdom of Tonga Anthropology of the Kingdom of Tonga Reading that the bigger you are in Tonga, the more prestige you have, shocked me. There was… Continue reading
