Category Archives: travel

I’d dreamed of visiting the Copan ruins in Honduras since I was tiny. (Ok – I’m still tiny but I mean really tiny. Well, it’s not like I’d had a growth spurt since the original Sonic the Hedgehog came out.) But my youthful dreams didn’t bank on my encounter with the most powerful, demonic jungleContinue reading “Day 31 – Indiana Jo and The Curse of Copan”

Due to my crappy sleep pattern of waking up every few hours during the night, getting up at 3:30 wasn’t actually that hard. My gear was mostly packed already and I was down in the foyer with about 5 minutes to spare. Out of 16 new comrades, I think only two were present and accountedContinue reading “Day 30 – Copan Ruinas and Hot Springs Infernal”

It was time for a sombre(rero?) Mexican wave goodbye. My flight from Cancun to Guatemala City was scheduled for lunchtime with my transfer booked for a 9:30am pickup. Plenty of time for a final visit to the breakfast buffet with its omelette flipping and plantain delights. I’ve described this buffet in the past three posts.Continue reading “Day 29 – Mexi-go and a Blink-and-You’ll-Miss-It Tour of Antigua”

I was King Pakal of Palenque’s girl. I knew my way around his palace, I wore his symbol around my neck and I carried a portrait of him in my bag (safely protected with the 90% cotton buffer of my cheap Mexican turtleneck). So I felt like I was cheating on him by visiting EkContinue reading “Day 28 – Wham Bam Ek Balam”

Excellent news hit my inbox overnight. The Scooby gang at Qantas’ fraud squad cracked the case of my missing cash!!! Well, Fred didn’t unmask any actual thief under a white bedsheet and Velma didn’t solve the puzzle of how the criminal mastermind who probably spent 1k on Havana Club and cheese Pringles managed to getContinue reading “Day 27 – Museo de My oh Maya Cancun”

Welcome to a brief intermission in our HockTales adventure. Let me dump the giant blue rucksack and red backpack bulging like fat wrap-your-own tacos for a sec. I am safely back in Australia. I managed to finish my entire trip on schedule without any requests from Australian DFAT to get dfuq back home with aContinue reading “Special edition – HockTales marked safe”

My double room (extra comfort for all my bags on that second bed) in the Royal Islander Resort in Cancun was super comfy. I even managed to sleep in until a whopping 7am. I did not miss those urban chicken 4am wake up calls in Cuba!!! I had selected the Royal Islander Resort not forContinue reading “Day 26 – Raising the Cobá”

I awoke on tenterhooks. Well, awoke was a pretty loose term as it implied sleep. Anxiety ran high; I was on edge about my missing ATM card and my account that was cleaner than a unit before a landlord inspection. My flight to Cancun was in the afternoon. I was Castro fleeing Cuba for Mexico,Continue reading “Day 25 – Exile from Cuba”

I awoke knowing the day was mine and mine alone. No Barbara, no Hector, no bus. I knew the rest of the group was up there devouring their last guava, rolls and questionable coffee though so up to the rooftop terrace I went for the goodbye desayuno (breakfast). Brij, a nice Irish girl, kindly donatedContinue reading “Day 24 – Havana Do It Myself”

Aside from buzz on the street about a new bread shop opening, it was an uneventful morning. We piled into the van for a pretty silent few hours to Havana. Barbara normally played a DVD or talked, but we knew about Havana so it was silence. Hector gunned us through to a refuelling stop. ThatContinue reading “Day 23 – Return to Havana”