Mary Jane Walker's Blog: Adventures at Snow Farm Part 1 – Skiing with a broken shoulder! , page 6

Magical Mexico City

My first time in Mexico's capital city. I go on a free walking tour of the downtown area, exploring historic buildings and checking out the famous murals of Mexico's revolutionary twentieth-century artists.

Oaxaca

Mexico's most indigenous state and perhaps its most artistic as well, popular with tourists and remote��workers.

Chiapas

From Yucat��n into Mexico���s southernmost state, to view the pyramids of Palenque and the historic city of San Crist��bal de Las Casas.

Cities and Monuments of��Yucat��n

A tour around Mexico's Caribbean peninsula, another land of the Maya, which is getting a train to make travel��easier

El Salvador, Part 2: From Santa Ana to Surf City

There is still a chance to ���travel back in time��� in El Salvador, but perhaps not for much longer. With a travelling companion, I visit the historic city of Santa Ana, the food markets of Juay��a on the 'route of flowers', the Santa Ana volcano, the Mayan ruins of Tazumal, the beaches of western El Salvador, and the Tamanique waterfalls.

El Salvador: Small but Marvellous

There is more to this country than its sunset-facing beaches (but I get to them in the��end!)

Tikal and Uaxact��n: Among the Mayan��Pyramids

I head for the northern Guatemalan town of Flores and two famous Mayan temple complexes deep in the��forest.

Quetzaltenango: Cradle of Culture and Revolutions, also known as Xela

I arrive in Quetzaltenango, a high-altitude city of around 200,000 people, also known as Xela or Xelaj��. It has the most fascinating history, as the capital of a formerly breakaway region known as Los Altos, and is renowned for its intellectual culture as well.

Acatenango and��Atitl��n: The Mountain of Fire and the Most Beautiful Lake

After Antigua de Guatemala, I climbed the Volc��n de Acatenango, which gives a view of the continually erupting and very aptly named Volc��n de Fuego, which has a Mayan name of similar significance, Chi Q'aq'. From the volcanoes, I headed to the fabulously beautiful Lake Atitl��n and its picturesque surrounding communities.

Holy Week in Antigua Guatemala

Where life remains old-fashioned: Antigua served as the colonial capital of Guatemala for 230 years, from 1543 to 1773, and still bears many of the hallmarks of its past, in customs and in architecture.