It’s not difficult pretending to be a local in Juarez when the neighbourhood you’ve lucked into is so well appointed and welcoming. We’re in a loft on Havre, the heart of what’s called the Zona Rosa where all of the streets are named after European cities – Londres, Hamburgo, Niza, Florencia, Marsella, Varsovia, Liverpool….to name…

The omnipresent Frida. We naively thought we could saunter up, buy a ticket and wander around Casa Azul on a quiet Tuesday morning, surely it wouldn’t be that busy. However, the cult of Kahlo is alive and well, where the queue to buy a ticket went around the block (and some) – and the queue…

I find it fascinating to think that the heaving heart of Mexico City sits on top of possibly hundreds of pyramids, temples and palaces of the sophisticated Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, largely destroyed by Cortes and his gold-hungry (and self-interestedly righteous – Ant’s bit) Spanish Conquistadors in 1521. Pounding the streets of downtown as we were…

What a glorious smash of cultures, both ancient and modern is Chapultepec – the good, the bad and well, the truly tacky, wacky kitsch. It’s a kaleidoscope of colour everywhere you look – from mono-eyebrowed Frida Kahlo puppets to the ubiquitous Mexican wrestling masks, there’s everything here you pretty much would run a mile from….

Day 2 Mexico City and we’re really easing into local life – exactly what we hoped for. We’ve taken a loft on Calle Havre, a quiet tree lined street in the Zona Rosa. Ants reckons that the bird song in the trees sounds exactly like a snippet of Art Garfunkel’s The Waters of March, ‘a…

At 300 metres, the Costanera Centre is the tallest building in Latin America and the second tallest in the Southern Hemisphere after the Q1 on the Gold Coast in Australia. You can pretty much see this building from everywhere in Santiago, often with the snow-capped Andes in the background. Pretty rainy day here, so one…

Farewell Chile (for the time being) as we head northwards overnight to La Ciudad de Mexico (CDMX). Scored a (bid for) upgrade on a Dreamliner, so should have a good night’s sleep before arriving at 5am at a head-dizzying 2,250m above sea level. Meanwhile, just negotiating through Santiago Airport has been a headache (second experience…

We discovered the most delightful museum of Pre Colombian artefacts in Santiago de Chile. A seriously good collection set over just 2 floors in the centre of town, just off the Plaza de Armas. Strangely, when asking locals where we could find such a museum, not one person seemed to know of this place. Check…

Explored the delights of the Santiago Mercado Pescado, with some produce more appetising than others. For example the Congria (Conger Eel) – not exactly to our taste – whilst the Ceviche was absolutely delicious!