Twins from a parallel universe

In today’s installment, Emma rides a magical unicorn through a field of butterflies and some north going Kiwis meet some south going Kiwis for some classic Seussian confusion. More or less, anyway. Back when we first started our trip. (This is sounding like a long post now, isn’t it?) Our first stop had been Overland […]

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Crossing Mexico, the fast way

It took six days of driving to cross Mexico from Huehuetango, Guatemala to Laredo, TX. There are two long days but the rest is chill. I drove relaxed at 90-95 […]

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Heading south again—for a change

It isn’t often in this journey that we simply head south like we are supposed to. We tend to get distracted, make detours, head back north and hang around interesting places. We generally take our sweet time about actually heading towards Argentina. Making our way south from Álamos to Mazatlán was one of those few occasions […]

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The Copper Canyon with questionable maps. Part three.

The Copper Canyon had provided its fair share of ups and downs. Both literally and figuratively. This graph plotting the altitude recorded by our GPS  tells the story best. The lowest points on the drive were close to sea level, with the roads reaching the altitude of 2500m above sea level (8200 feet). Combined with all the […]

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The Copper Canyon with questionable maps. Part two.

So how far can two overland monkeys with no maps get exploring the infamously labyrinthine roads of Mexico’s Copper Canyon region? It turns out that they can make it pretty far. The Copper Canyon region actually consists of several different canyons covering an area approximately six or seven times larger than the Grand Canyon in the United […]

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The Copper Canyon with questionable maps. Part one.

We left with a Map. Well, OK, that isn’t entirely true. We left with a scrap of paper with the names of a couple of towns we would need to drive through written on it. Since we were in the neighbourhood, we thought we might as well pay a visit to the famous Copper Canyon […]

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The sun sets on our time in Baja

We expected to spend a couple of weeks exploring the southern end of the Baja peninsula and planned to arrange a ferry ride for ourselves and our Four Wheeled Ticket to Freedom sometime in January. First on the itinerary for our remaining time in Baja were the clear waters that lap the shores of the Cabo Pulmo National […]

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Four days on a beach

As usual, we had hit the road without much of a plan. People we had spoken to had suggested several great places near to Loreto which sounded like fantastic next destinations. However, hindered by our near complete lack of maps, Agua Verde was simply the place on that list that we accidentally stumbled upon next. We […]

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How we ended up not really giving the Pacific coast much of a chance

We were starting to feel like we didn’t really like the Pacific Coast of Baja. I know that sounds a bit rough, I mean we live on the Pacific Coast of New Zealand, you think we’d have a soft spot for its sister coast in Mexico. Perhaps it wasn’t that we disliked the Pacific Coast, […]

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More cacti, more sand, more stars… more of Baja

After a brief stint on the narrow and shoulderless Highway 1, we took our first opportunity to get back to the peaceful coast of the Sea of Cortez—via Bahía De Los Ángeles. It was here that we spotted our first roof dogs of the trip and started to really feel like we were in Mexico. As we […]

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Unwinding on the coast

After all the driving around we’d been doing in the USA, followed by some off-road adventuring around the mountainous back roads of Baja. It was time to slow down and enjoy the beach again. There is very little to report about our time in San Felipe. We simply spent several mornings and evenings on the beach, watching […]

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Mexico

Our final morning in the USA was not off to a great start. “So. Have you seen the passports?” Well, the last time either of us remembered seeing them was two days earlier in a hotel room in San Luis Obispo. Several hours drive away, on the other side of Los Angeles. Several deep breaths […]

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Finally—Heading south like we’re supposed to!

When people enquire as to what we are doing as we aimlessly drive around the Americas we tend to respond with: ‘We’re driving from Alaska to Argentina’. Those in the know often respond with ‘Oh, so you are driving the PanAmerican Highway then?” To which we typically respond with a shifty sideways glance and say […]

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Go West

By this point we were clearly not strangers to the Interstate Highways of the USA. We wished we were, because, let’s face it, they make for some dull driving. But they are also the most efficient way to get from A to B when A and B are a long way from each other. That […]

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That time we drove to Canada when we were supposed to head for Mexico

What is the shortest way from New York City to Tijuana? Well, aside from flying, it still probably isn’t via Canada. But that is way we went. As it happens, even driving straight to Canada from New York City seemed far too straightforward. So we started by driving the scariest roads New Jersey had to offer. First stop—Shades […]

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a precursor on driving in mexico

just in case you decide to drive a car in mexico. We currently have a friend in route to visit us in baja, and it dawned on me that when trying to describe safety on mexican roads, there was a bit too much to cover in a text. We certainly …

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A small bite of the Big Apple

We made it to the East Coast and New York City was in our sights! Before we left New Jersey, we picked our way through rubbish, used hypodermic needles and other delightful beach debris so that Emma could triumphantly plant her feet in the Atlantic Ocean. We weren’t sure what the deal was, but New Jersey […]

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Utah. Definitely another planet.

Our initial plan to take a detour south through Escalante—Grand Staircase National Monument was foiled—by torrential rain washing out Cottonwood Road. We formulated ‘Plan B’ when a couple we spoke to in Kodachrome Basin State Park motivated us to pay a visit to Capitol Reef National Monument. A quick look at a map showed an […]

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Monument Valley

After the surreal landscapes of Utah, it seemed like an obvious choice to take a detour through Monument Valley. It turned out to be one of the most memorable drives of our journey so far. Wave after wave of storm clouds swept through. Some of them bringing thunder and lightning. As a result Emma was […]

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Semuc Champey: Gnarley roads and Bat Poo

Dan We arrived in Nebaj with every intention to do a little hiking, but the weather had other plans. The […]

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