Sep 2006

Arrived here on the evening of 26 September from Chihuahua (flew down for MX$1300). Staying at Hostal de Maria on Nueva Galicia 924 (entre Calle Colón y General Rio Seco) in Barrio de las 9 Esquinas. Nice hostel. Poor ventilation in my dorm, but will manage to live with it. MX$150 per night. Free internet access. Located in Centro Historico.

Just a brief note to give some advice about accommodation in Chihuahua.

On Calle 22a & Mendez, opposite Chepe (the ferrocarril station that takes you on La Barranca del Cobre/Copper Canyon train ride to Creel & beyond to Los Mochis) is an excellent hostel called Casa Chihuahua. It's four months old and managed by a Mexican-French couple - Loly & Philippe) and their two gorgeous children who are multilingual! (French, Spanish & English and Loly also speaks Italian). It is quiet, extremely clean and the beds are very comfortable.

Cost is MX$120.00 (120 Mexican pesos) a night in a shared dorm or MX$240 in a twin room. Showers and toilets are of a high standard. Towels and bedding provided.

There is a large Maytag washer & dryer and you can do your laundry there for $MX50.00. Breakfast is also available for $MX20.00. However, Philippe & Loly have many recommendations for breakfast, lunch & dinner. There is a fantastic little place called "O'Camps" which do great tacos de carne asada.

Loly & Philippe have an extremely wide range of information on things to do and see in Chihuahua and can provide recommendations for accommodation elsewhere in México.

The hostel is within walking distance of el centro historico but on a hot day you may want to take a bus - although I have yet to do this, preferring to walk around town.

Oddly enough this place doesn't get a mention in any of the travel guides (Lonely Planet etc.) - although it is the best hostel in the region!

I give this hostel 5 stars!

I stayed here for two nights. MX$1100 per night. Which is too expensive for the quality of the hotel (and two expensive for a mochilera like me!). The shower was terrible (like a fine mist that went everywhere except on me) and the bathroom needs a bit of an overhaul.

However, the bed was fantastic as was the airconditioning. There is also an excellent business centre and although I'm no longer staying in the hotel, the concierge has permitted me to use it to check my emails & write this post! If you need to do any online banking (which I needed to do today) this is probably the most secure place in Chihuahua to do it.

There is a restaurant downstairs called Degá where you can get a discounted buffet breakfast. They also do lunch and dinner, but I only ever ate a very light breakfast there.

This hotel is primarily for business people. I met Mexican rancheros from El Paso, businessmen and - the piece de resistance - a couple of Mexican Policía Federal Preventiva who were escorting the relics of a French saint around Mexico. Long story, but you can read about it on my other blog, here.

I moved out of here on Sunday morning to Casa Chihuahua which is a backpacker hostel, but has a nicer atmosphere than San Francisco Quality Inn - oh, and the showers at Casa Chihuahua are fantastic!

I definitely recommend going with Amtrak to El Paso from Los Angeles. Trains depart from Union Station in LA. You can get a FlyAway bus for US$3 from the Airport to the Station. Note that the train doesn't run to El Paso on Thursdays. Make sure you book your ticket at least the day before. I did this in person at Union Station.

When I bought my ticket I was told that I couldn't have any liquids or electronic equipment in my checked luggage which proved to be a real problem for me as I have a lot of electronic equipment for my camera/iPod/CD player/Vosonic X drive. So I had to buy a separate bag and transfer all this stuff over and carry it on the train with me. However, when I arrived at the station on the day of departure (Wednesday 13 September) and after I had checked in my luggage and boarded the train I realised that no one does this! Very few check in their luggage and those that do don't take notice of the no liquids/electronic equipment rule.

There were very few people on the train so most of us had two seats to ourselves. The food on the train is pretty horrible. Pizzas & fatty fried food. I would recommend taking along your own food.

The train leaves at 2.30pm and is supposed to arrive in El Paso at 8.30am the following day, but we had a delay of approximately 4-5 hours due to a freight train in front of us!

The Number 2 train is cheaper than the Number 1 train. There is a difference of nearly US$100. I don't know why, but the Number 2 train is really comfortable...almost like first class in an airline

The scenery is absolutely magnificent and a really nice way to travel from LA to El Paso. It also gave me an opportunity to meet some interesting people on the train - especially a couple of elderly sisters from New Mexico who were sitting behind me whose conversations with each other were hilarious. Particularly when they were talking about me: "Oh, I think she's going to the Military Base in El Paso... she's probably a nurse or a teacher...oh she's so cute... oh look, she's wearing socks to keep her feet warm..." Hilarious!

Upon arrival at El Paso train station you need to take a taxi to get anywhere... but you need to ring the taxi company to make a booking.

I arrived in LAX today, following a long flight from Melbourne, via Auckland.

The added US-government requested security turned into an interesting spectacle. At Tullamarine Airport we were requested to ensure that we had no liquids, creams or gels in our carry on baggage, however our carry on luggage was never inspected - so I was without lipbalm for no reason at all! I was however, thrown into a "Border Security"-style scene whereby I was searched for explosives using that same contraption that the Border Security folk use to test for narcotics!

The flight to NZ was interesting as I was seated next to a Melbourne lass on her way to Chile for a five week trip. It was great to have some good conversaton for the short flight.

At Auckland security was stepped up and our carry on luggage was searched when we re-boarded the plane. My empty drink bottle was confiscated, as was my half empty (half full) drink bottle. The rest of the flight to LAX was okay - even if I didn't manage to get any sleep.

I arrived in LAX on the same day I departed, although 15 minutes earlier (time difference!). There was about an hour and a half wait to get through US Customs which was more painful than the long flight from Auckland! When I finally was called to be finger printed and photographed the Customs Officer was intrigued that I was going to México alone for two months!

I made it through customs without a drama and caught a courtesy shuttle bus to the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 5985 Century Boulevard, which is very near the airport.

Rooms at the Crowne Plaza start at US$189 including breakfast. The hotel is close to the bus terminal where you can get a ride Down Town. There is also a "Flyaway" bus service from the airport to Union station. Cost is US$3.00.

If I were wanting to see the sites in LA I wouldn't stay at this hotel as getting Downtown is not so simple without a car and the bus journey with the locals takes about 45 minutes (cost is US$1.75). However, if you need a hotel just for one night in between connections, I highly recommend the Crowne Plaza.

The food is excellent at the Crowne Plaza if you are interested in stereotypical rich-carbohydrate-fat-loaded American food. There's no bircher muesli here! However, the buffet breakfast is good as it has a whole array of fresh fruit and even porridge! Alternatively you can do what I saw most of the guests doing - loading up plate after plate of crispy fried bacon, sausages, greasy scrambled eggs and something that looked like a potato tortilla. The dinner menu is virtually the same type of food - rich & heavy, but excellent. I simply couldn't stomach such heavy food after the long Qantas flight. In addition, the heat and humidity removed my appetite fairly quickly.