Heading north from Taxco we passed through lovely, cool pine forests – a landscape more reminiscent of BC than any I’ve seen so far.     The area is sparsely populated, comprised mostly of small parcels of land where families grow a few crops and keep small herds of cattle, goats, and sheep.    We spent New Year’s Eve in a very small mountain town, Zitacuaro, best known for its proximity to the spot where millions of monarch butterflies come each year, carpeting the trees, the ground, and even the skies in a sea of orange.  But that’s not until March.     Now Zitacuaro is a sleepy place, even on New Year’s Eve.  There are no other tourists here, which is nice, and very few people even around.  We strolled around, stretching our legs and getting a feel for the town.  There were plenty of shops and eateries.  The biggest problem for me here in Mexico, when it comes to eating at both cafes and street stand...

Ken drove me to the Guadalajara bus station early in the morning of January 4 th , and with a honk and a wave he was off.  My departure was considerably slower, after waiting for all the passengers, with all their bags and bundles, to be loaded on the bus, and then waiting for the driver to get his coffee and pastry... .  It was a long-ish ride, with one stop at a place where we all descended to use the facilities and grab a quick bite to eat.  Slim pickings here so I settled for a ‘cheese sandwich’ on dry, tasteless white bread.  Luckily I’d brought some oranges with me... .   We got to Guanajuato in the late afternoon.  After buying my onward ticket to Mexico City I found a decent hotel not far from the bus station, got a quick bite to eat and crashed, feeling sore and tired from too many hours on the bus. I made the most of the next day, heading first to the main city market.  It’s a massive indoor market – maybe the bi...

  This one shows the cities better..... This one shows the topography...

I arrived  in Guatemala on January 7 th , spent one night in Guatemala City (a dirty, dismal, depressing place), and caught a bus to Antigua.  I started Spanish school – a two week intensive total immersion course – on January 8 th .  I’m living with a young Guatemalan family – Rafael, Olga and three children – Juan, 8, Carlos, 6 and Suzanna,4.  I believe both Rafael and Olga speak some English, but they don’t speak a word of it to me, which is great.  I’m already learning fast.                                   Olga and the kids, with a previous student, back for a visit Like many families here, Rafael and Olga run a little ‘tienda’ (store) out front, from which they sometimes sell something from the odd assortment of goods they have ‘on display’ – various dried soups and frijoles, some ancient cauliflowers, a couple of mol...

The bus ride from Antigua to Panajachel was relatively short – 3 hours or so – with a change at Chimaltenango, a little town I’d like to get back to... .  We traveled through a landscape of rolling hills, virtually all of which are cultivated (it is truly amazing how anything can be cultivated on such steep a slopes!) by indigenous farmers.  Their homes – little adobe or cane (grass?) walled huts with corrugated tin rooves – or no rooves at all.   The bus – an old Bluebird school bus, no longer considered fit for use in the USA, and so shipped to this and other countries where they ‘enjoy’ a new life, at least of sorts.  As usual the bus was just packed with gringos and Indios.  The indigenous men and young boys were clad in brightly coloured (mostly red and orange-striped, with some purple, blue and green) shirts and pants, red woven sashes at the waist, and a heavy brown and black houndstooth-patterned wool skirt, about 18” wide, wrapped ar...