Leaving Jardin, I’m tailed by a bashful teenage boy. Eventually, he gains enough courage to greet me and then we ride side by side.
His bike is borrowed: no gears, but here single speed isn’t hip – it’s just what there is. Never mind the mountains. The boy is shy but he has a number of [...]
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Also tagged fish, panama, santa catalina, scuba coiba, the seaJust in case you’ve been wondering what has been keeping me, this is where I’ve been.
Sadly, I don’t have an underwater housing for my camera and since the one that fits my camera costs about $800 it’s unlikely I’ll be getting one any time soon. So I am reduced to scrounging photos from [...]
The road from La Tinta to Tactic is a long hot, steep dusty affair. It is dusk when we reach the junction with the main highway between Coban and Guatemala City but it is only 15 kilometres to the Quetzal Sanctury and I am keen to press on. My bike has been struggling toothlessly since [...]
Also tagged guatemalaI had been expecting to return to Carmelita the same way that I arrived but I learn that there is an alternative route which will not only take me past two more archaeological sites but is also in far better condition since it doesn’t get the same amount of mule traffic as the trail to [...]
Also tagged guatemala, injury, jungleLooking at my map, Isla Jaina catches my attention, for some reason. I know nothing of the place but the map indicates that there is an archeological site on the island – which is part of another biosphere reserve – at the end of a twenty kilometre dead end track.
I take the turnoff towards Isla [...]
The Yucatan Peninsula is topographically pretty bland, which is a polite way of saying flat (and, to some, verging on dull), but what it loses in terms of terrain, it more than makes up for it in terms of biodiversity. The coastal regions are made up of extensive wetlands which are home to an incredible [...]
Also tagged mexico, wild placesI finally reach the Gunahabibicanes Peninsula and head straight for the National Park Ecological Station for information.
The station manager opens our exchange by offering to buy my bike. I explain that without a bike my life wouldn’t actually function and that it wasn’t really just a bike but also my companion and friend. He looks [...]
Belize hasn’t entered my plans at all until now and the only thing I really know about the place is that it is nominally an English-speaking country and that Belize City has something of a nasty reputation. Casting my eyes over my map, I see about three major roads marked in the whole country and [...]
Also tagged belize, border crossings, dirt roads