Picnics, flowers, music, death.
Swim review: Zacapulco, Chiapas
Not a single cruise ship docks at Zacapulco, a spot on the sand-spit between the mangrove estuary and Pacific on the Chiapas coast. It’s similar to Boca del Cielo in that it’s got the delta on one side and fierce ocean waves on the other, but it’s closer to Tapachula. To get to Zacapulco, first…
Swim review: Lagos de Colón
Head to Montebello instead.
Run city review: el Lagartero
Don’t go out of your way for El Lagartero.
Climbing a volcano
Normally I’d never consider hiking up a 4100-m volcano, but both my travel companions were so enthusiastic about the prospect of climbing Tacaná on the Mexico-Guatemala border that I agreed grudgingly – provided we could rent a mule to carry the heavy stuff. Three of us, fairly fit people in our early 40s, did this…
It stirs!!
Very satisfying to unlimber my Kiswahili after five years in the deep freeze. In the sediment of the Mariana trench. In the folder at the bottom of the pile.
Books list Q2 and Q3 2018
Pure by Andrew Miller. This actually came about because of a pub-conversation argument, which I lost, about which literary Miller was married to Marilyn Monroe. (It was novelist Henry. Arthur being the playwright of “The Crucible”.) But in the googling I came across contemporary novelist Andrew Miller, and his book “Pure”, about the clearing of…
Cycling the archipelago: tips
Want to bike the loop? Don’t bike the loop. Take the ferry to the good bits.
Cycling the archipelago 5: Nådendal to Åbo and home
A piffling 16 km back to Turku and a morning at the castle!
Cycling the archipelago 4: Nagu to Nådendal via Själö
Up a hill, down a hill, repeat, reach Nådendal, have pint.
Archipelago 3: Nagu island
Lost in the forest, stumbling upon an ancient maze!!
Cycling the archipelago 2: Pargas-Nagu
Heatstruck bike zombies hit Nagu.
Cycling the archipelago 1
This summer I fulfilled a medium-term dream and cycled the Archipelago Trail, a loop through the southwestern Finnish archipelago Åbo Skärgård (as it’s called in Swedish). I’d imagined cruising along next to the sea by the smooth rounded cliffs of the local geology, beach grasses swaying and maybe salt spray cooling us off. I recruited…
Books list Q1 2018
My friend Asbestos Bitch only blogs once a year, to publish her “books read” list. I thought it might be nice to try the same, actually writing down the titles I’ve read. Over 30 years of near-constant reading I’ve never made the attempt. Here’s Q1’s list, whose winner is…. Running in the Family by Michael…
