Angel at Vancouver Airport

Angel in Houston Airport

Angel with Vincent- met on the Airplane, very cool, he used to fly for the Snowbirds!!

Angel at Vancouver Airport

Safe in Mexico City Nov 2009

Well it´s a new year...sort of ..a new adventure...we arrived in Mexico city after flying from Vancouver to Houston to Mexico City...we had a 3 hour layover in Houston but it was okay, we rented a cart to carry my packs and angel could ride on it, and i just pushed her around to pass the time. We met Vincent on the flight down. That was very cool and interesting. He was on his way to a flight simulation thing, and he told us he flys for Virgin now but used to fly for the Snow Birds. Now how cool is that!!! i took a photo of him and Angel and i´ll put it up later. Lalo´s daughter picked us up at the airport in Mexico city, we were so exhausted. They spoiled her rotten with gifts-Thumblina and took us out for cake and coffee and bought her a colouring book and gave another gift at home. we had a good sleep and yesterday we went to the zoo. i was so impressed. we saw a rhinoceros, my first time...he was gorgeous and i got great fotos, and giraffes and a hyena, it was really amazing. i will put up the photos when we get to huatulco. we will leave soon and take the 16 hour bus ride. yikes. okay, that´s all for now...muchos besos. p.s. Angel is having lots of fun getting to know her sister and nephew. pretty cool, she´s an aunty at 7 and he´s her nephew age 12.
hasta luego amigos.

Welcome to the Adventures of Angel!!

Click map to enlarge

Adventures of Angel Bienvendos! Hola!! The Journey began November 4/2008 and ended Apr 2/2009.From Vancouver B.C. Canada we flew thru the U.S. to Mexico and then bused from Cancun on the east coast , down thru the central Mexico to the Zipolite and up the west coast Bucerias. We covered a ton of territory, 61 hours of bus rides, not to mention all the caminetas, taxis and just walking.

We enjoyed swimming in the ocean nearly everyday and meeting people from all over the world. Angel learned Spanish, and mine improved but still needs a lot of work. (hopefully next year...)

Below is my favorite video from the trip!



This blog features over 400 entries of photos, videos and travel logs. It was a wonderful enlightening super educational experience for my 6 year daughter(mi hija) "Angel"and I. We are working on a DVD/Book and live presentations. If your are interested in attending a live presentation please send us a note so we can contact you. If we met you on our journey please email us. tina_winterlik at yahoo.com and put a little reminder in of where and when, we would love to hear from all of you and keep in touch. We met so many wonderful people.Gracias de Tina y Angel

Just some after thoughts!

I realized that it may not be obvious here but we did this trip on an extremely tight budget. We only lived on about $300 a month. $200 was rent and $100 for food...we didn't budget enough...should have been more like $150, but with the help of friends we made ends meet by cooking at their home and other little things. You definitely can't eat out...or if so only for a piece of pizza or a half a chicken both 25 pesos($2.50)...and that was a big treat for us

Our bus rides were very economical, cheaper than anything in Canada...and the buses are awesome. I highly recommend traveling by bus. We took a taxi maybe 2 times in Zipolite, the rest it was a collectivo (shared taxi) or the camineta...a little truck...about 50 cents a person. But it was a long bumpy ride...nice and open air though...which Angel needed as the widey fast ride from Pocuhtla to Zipolite or reverse made her woof her cookies every time we tried.

I believe that taking kids to Mexico is a very important way to learn about other cultures, and imprint them. They might not remember it all but it will have an impact...I believe for the positive. It will open their minds...it will open anyones mind. I truly hope you will visit Mexico, especially Chiapas and Oaxaca, they are very beautiful and filled with beautiful people

Take care, and bien viaje, happy travels, safe journey!!
Love Tina and Angel.
P.S. I want to point out that while we flew into Cancun and out of Puerto Vallarta, that you can just fly into Mexico City and bus down...there are very reasonable flights, but the trick is to hunker down...stay in one place and rent long term and take side trips...it's most economical, and will allow you to become more of the community...especially if you plan to stay longer than 3 months.

Blog Navigation

Our blog is so big, it's hard to navigate, so I have created these links here(below), they should make it easier. They let you see many pages at once. I hope they give you more insight into our journey so that it's faster and more enjoyable.(Just one glitch they read from bottom to top!) Still visually it's more appealing.

Sept 2008 Preparing for Journey
Oct 2008 Still preparing
Nov 2008 Leaving, Start of Journey, Vancouver- Cancun, Merida, Palenque, Agua Azul, San Cristobal Las Casas, Zipolite
Dec 2008 Living in Zipolite(Christmas)
Jan 2009 Living in Zipolite- Karma Cleansing Celebration, Tina's birthday...
Feb 2009 Living in Zipolite
Mar 2009 Leaving Zipolite, Acapulco, Zihuatenjo, Bucerias, Puerto Vallarta

Hurray! We're Home!

We are safe and sound and home!!

Ta daa! After 61 hours of bus rides, and traveling from
Vancouver B.C Canada via Houston, Texas, to Mexico by Air, we started in Cancun and travelled by bus to Merida, Palenque, Aqua Azul, Agua Clara, Misloha, San Cristobal Las Casas, Zipolite, Huatulco, Mazunte, Acapulco, Zihuatenejo, Puerto Vallarta, Bucerias and then back by air thru Houston, Texas and finally Vancouver B.C.

It was a long haul, 5 months, 148 days!

It was a very successful journey. We were on a mission to meet Angel's dad for the first time, but also for her to learn about her culture.

I wanted her to learn the language, but also about this beautiful country, the people, the ruins and the culture. I wanted her to see the pobre gente, the poverty so that she would be grateful for the things we have. From the palm trees to the pine trees, from the beach to the mountains, from the chilangos to the indigeous, from the scorpions to the butterflies Mexico is full of the most amazing sites, smells, and everyday is an adventure!.

It wasn't an easy journey. There were ups and downs and hiccups. The bugdet was very tight, but we survived like good little Mexicans! I will post our budget later but the whole trip including tickets, food, rent, buses, internet, batteries for the camera, Christmas, and everything was about $5000, but really we survived off of about $300 a month.

We travelled very quickly from Cancun to Zipolite, Nov 4 to 16/2008.;">

Adventures of Angel A blog featuring lots of travel logs entries, beautiful photos, artwork and videos of Mexico starring Angel a curious, funny, typical, talkative 6 year old. Coming Soon Video DVDs, photo Cds, photo books, calendars, fine art prints, cards. Note: Just recieved these photos(above) that were taken by Sarah while in Zipolite. If you have photos of us, please send them, we'd love to see them.