Uxmal (OOSH-mal, or OOCH-mal) is just over an hour's drive south of Mérida. It's a classic Mayan city, dating from perhaps 500 AD and thriving through until around 1000, when the city may have been occupied by invading Toltec forces. Colonial documents suggest that the city was still inhabited at least into the 1500s; some time after this the city was finally abandoned. The site is large and especially well-preserved. However, compared to some others, much is still unknown. Even the dates above are sketchy. For instance, UNESCO's heritage listing for Uxmal suggests a later date of foundation ..read more

Chicxulub is one of the places I’ve always, always wanted to visit. If you’re interested in: History Geology Evolution Astronomy Meteoritics Dinosaurs (and who doesn’t love dinosaurs?) ...it should be a go-to destination. If, like me, you’re into all of those things, it’s pretty much unmissable. Chicxulub ('chick-shuh-loob') is a small, working town on the north coast of the Yucatan peninsula. (Actually, we're in Chicxulub Puerto. Chicxulub the town is a few miles inland. The entire surrounding municipality, Chicxulub Pueblo, has a population of around 4,000 people.) Why would you want to t ..read more

In a previous post, I covered the history of daylight saving in Mexico. On a lighter note, over the time I’ve been living in Mexico I’ve discovered a number of other… cycles of time. Circadian rhythms, maybe. You can’t help noticing that certain things tend to happen around the same sort of time… and they’ve now passed into the travelling lexicon of Mrs Wench and myself. Everyone's heard of Beer O'Clock - and it's true, Mexicans enjoy their beer as much as anyone else - but here are a few such markers you may not have encountered before. There are plenty more, I’m sure - feel free to suggest a ..read more

Mexico is a big country. To misquote Douglas Adams, you might think it's a long way down to the chemist's - or even the next city over - but that's peanuts compared to Mexico. It's just shy of 2,000 miles from northwest to southeast tips, and about 1,200 miles across at the border with the USA. That's a lot of territory. And a lot of time zones... as I've travelled through the country over the last year or so, I’ve discovered that time in Mexico runs a little differently to what I’m used to in the UK. Some aspects are fairly standard, if a little quirky. Some are more ethereal; some are just s ..read more

Oaxaca was one of the destinations on our shortlist when we were researching Mexico. I knew it was up in the mountains - about the same elevation as Guadalajara - had a warm, steady climate (apart from rainy season) and was set in a beautiful mountain valley. The state has a high proportion of indigenous residents; at least a third, perhaps half of the 3.5m inhabitants speak a pre-Hispanic language, and many don’t speak Spanish at all. Getting here… Wow. It’s even more beautiful than we expected. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Leaving Guadalajara We’d planned to stay in Guadalajara for 3 mon ..read more

People are always going on about coffee. I've tried it. I don't like it I've tried freeze-dried, powdered, filtered; rich, mellow; full-strength and decaf. I've tried it with milk and without, with cream; with no sugar, two sugars, 4 sugars. I don't know if it's a genetic thing or if I'm just weird, but I was never able to get my head round the taste of it. Now, if you live in Latin America and like coffee, you're in luck. Half the countries in this part of the world produce the stuff, and I'm reliably told that it's some of the best in the world. (Although I think even my most caffeinated fri ..read more

In the previous post I talked about the Top 10 things to do in La Paz. But those were really experiences - tours, hikes, bars and restaurants. In this article and the next, I want to talk about the thoughts and feelings that really stuck with us, the quirks of living in La Paz - for good and bad. Top 7 Things We Love About La Paz, México: 1. The Lack Of Tourists - And Gringos If there's one thing I've never understood, it's why so many people want to travel the world and recreate what they've left behind. When I was a kid, package holiday tours to places like Spain and Greece were just becomin ..read more

In previous posts I've discussed the best things to do in La Paz, and the things we liked most. But as Jocks Away is an unbiased travel blog, it's important we also cover the bits that aren't so much fun. Top 7 Things We Didn't Like About La Paz, México 1. The weather Yeah, we love the weather in La Paz. Most of the time. Here's the thing though. If you build a city in the desert, you don't necessarily invest a lot in edge cases of weather. In the UK, famously, the transport systems collapses if the temperature rises above about 30°C. Or drops below freezing. Or rains a lot. In the desert it d ..read more

Do you love Zumba? Are you in, or visiting La Paz? Are you interested in dancing with the stars? If you answered yes to any of these questions, I implore you to read on. I love Zumba. Zumba changed me from a hugely overweight, unfit person who hated even the idea of exercise, to the type of person who will seek out a three-hour Zumbathon on a Sunday morning - and enjoy it. It worked for me, when so many other things didn’t, because it is fun, it’s like dancing and it’s really welcoming and inclusive.  It allowed me to get to the point I could start boxing, and between the two of them, for ..read more

Today we've added a Members Area to the blog. If you're already a member, you can go to your Account page and edit your public details such as name, avatar and notification settings. If you want to join as a new member - welcome! You can do the same! Site members get updates on new blog posts, the chance to personalise their comments and replies, and access to any future members-only pages on the site. Once again, welcome ..read more