Freedom again in Belize/Guatemala

Absolutely great time was had in Guatemala/Belize and felling of absolute freedom was amazing. It felt like being back backpacking again.

We were away from the 15th of October and arrived back on the 1st of November. We flew from Dublin via Newark and Houston with Continental to Guatemala City and the way back we flew from Belize City via Houston and London.

We started off on the holiday thinking we were a small bit mad going to Guatemala seeing as almost everyone we told reacted to us as if we going into a warzone. US Immigration in Dublin didn't help by saying I was going into a drug war when I didn't have a day by day timeline of where I was going and doing at all hours.

We arrived into Guatemala City and we headed straight to Antigua as we had heard bad reports of Guatemala City and generally there's generally not huge differences between Cities. We stayed in Villa Esthel in Antigua booked via Hostelworld. It was a small bit outside town but I found the hostel very good. We stayed here for 3 nights and it was a great base for exploring Antigua. We generally just rambled around Antigua. Cerro de la Cruz had great views of the city. Antigua has alot of old Cathedrals that are well worth looking around. We did a tour to Volcan de Pacaya from here. There wasn't a huge amount of Lava here as there had recently been an eruption but it was still well worth seeing. The natural heat from the Lava is unbelievable and the landscape is like what I'd imagine the moon would be like. We met a great crowd on this and headed for the square outside La Merced off Plaza Mayor for Pupusa which is cheese cooked inside a Tortilla. Chile Relleno were absolutely fantastic here. I'd certainly recommend eating from the street vendors as much as possible while you're here. There were a huge amount of Israelis both here and in Guatemala in general.

We headed for Lago de Atitlan from here which was 3 hours away. You could see alot of the roads had been washed away on this trip. We headed for Panjachel on the banks of the lake but we (Caroline might say I) thought here looked very touristy so we instead headed for San Pedro. We stayed in Casa Maria Elena which had hammocks out the front and was very good. We paid 100 Quetzales here and it was well worth it. The town here is very laid back and it is very Western/tourist focussed but I loved the place. From all reports San Marcus seemed to be set up similarly although some people reckoned it might be unsafe but only one person said that. We climbed Indians Nose from here to watch the sunrise and although the Sunrise wasn't great it was still well worth it. The guide we used Johan has his office across from Casa Maria Elena and I would certainly recommend him. The View from the hospital up the hill in San Pablo is well worth it also.

After here we headed for Lanquin and Semuc Champey. Unfortunately we had to head back to Antigua which was 3 hours away where we had to wait for almost 2 hours before heading on to Lanquin which was another 7 hours away. We stayed in El Retiro which was good and I met some great people through here but I'll sound like an auld wan saying the music was very loud. As the Guatemalen guy on the tour said the Scenery was the music. El Portal might be another option worth looking at. From here we did tubing down the river which was brilliant followed by swimming through a cave with only candles to light the way. There was a swing over the river also which I made a mess of myself on. There's a photo of my belly from after this but I'm not sure they do justice. I think it was the first time to get a tan from a belly flop. There were a few bats in the cave and it was great. Part 2 of this was a climb up to see the lookout over the Limestone Pools of Semuc Champey and then we headed down to swim in the pools. The photos don't do any justice to the views but it'll go alot further than my words. We stayed 2 nights here.

We headed onto Flores after this which was a further 7 hours away. This town is on an island in a lake and although it is small it was a lovely spot to walk around. Villa de Chef was a great spot for a feed and a couple of Botella de Dorada Ice. It was very touristy here and the businesses here are definitely more money conscious while it seemed better off than other places we'd been. We stayed in Los Amigos here but found it very hot and wouldn't recommend it although the crowd running it were very nice.

We headed to Tikal from here. The one thing to say is to book the bus out to Tikal in plenty of time as San Juan pull the busesif they can't be filled. I had been in Palenque and Chichen Itza but I still found Tikal very impressive. We stayed in the Tikal Inn out beside Tikal to take advantage of the sunrise and sunset. This cost $55. If you get your ticket after 3.30 you can get your ticket for 2 days. It was worth it for the sake of seeing the sunset but if you look into this you might be able to do this from Flores depending on the time of sunset and time of last bus. There was a storm the morning we were meant to get up for the sunset so we left it as it would be cloudy anyway.

After here onwards to Belize City which took 4 hours after the border in Guatemala took 20 Q from us to put directly in their pockets. If you're asked for this you shouldn't pay it but it depends on how far you can push it with them. The crowd in San Pedro Water Taxis are very good and we got the boat with them out to Caye Caulker. Caye Caulker was very laid back and we stayed with Chilas Cabin which was a lovely spot but the air conditioning wasn't any good. There was a good breeze which looked after us most of the time and also ac doesn't seem to be very common. The snorkel trip from here was amazing and we saw Nurse Sharks, Turtles and Sting Rays. They filled us full of Rum on the way back in also which was a plus. If you do a bit of looking here for food you can get decent value for money but it can be quite expensive if you go to the wrong places. There's a FAT guy on the strip that does amazing sea food. Caye Caulker was amazing and very relaxing and would certainly recommend it to anyone.

Last day in work for the week tomorrow. It's amazing how quickly a holiday becomes a dream.

Photos are here:

Guatemala,Belize 2010

Home again

Last couple of photos from Rio are from here on:
http://picasaweb.google.com/thesupersaints3/RioDeJaneiro/photo#5215250157879685698


The trip to the favela was very worthwhile and also Cristo Redentor (Christ the redeemer). All that remains is the depressing task of finding work.

Iguazu and Rio

Well anyway we arrived into Sao Paulo from Caracas and thingsinstantly became all the easier. People were friendly. Colombia would be my favourite place in South America but I'd love to have more time to see Brasil. From our limited time here it has been amazing and so easy to get around in with the helpfullness of the people.

Anyway we did an overnight bus to Foz de Iguacu which was meant to be 16 hours (I think) but we did it in 15. This is more or less on the Brasil-Argentina border. From here we headed to Puerto Iguazu in Argentina via both border checks. If anyone is lanning on doing this I'd recommend a taxi as the bus doesn't stop at the border checkpoints. We relaxed the first day and headed for the falls the following day. We did the boat ride under the falls which is a bit of a ripoff and not worth doing at all but on the other side the park is very good value. On the Argentinian side you really get close to the falls and the views are amazing. We headed for Catarata on the Brazilian side the following day which amazingly was even better than the Argentinian side. The pictures do more justice than any description I can give you. We headed to Parque de Aves after the falls after this which was really good as well.

Well onto Rio that night on another night bus of 24 hours. After all the travel the first couple of days were fairly uneventful. Caroline came to the Macarana to watch Fluminese draw 1-1 against Santos (Pele's old club). It was great atmosphere even with the limited crowd. Fluminese were poor considering they're in the Copa Libertadores final against LDU Quito. It's also strange that they're currently bottom of the league. Last Saturday we headed for Flamengo against Sao Paulo which was absolutely amazing atmosphere with it being like a nightclub inside a football stadium. Flamengo lost 4-2 though although they still top the league. Caroline had alot of beach time here while I don't know what I did. Pao de Asucar was the only thing I went off on my own doing. The views from this were amazing. Today we did a favela tour in the morning and just rambled around the Centro in the evening. The favel atour was very good with some of the proceedsgoing to different projects here such as a nursery. The gap between rich and poor here is astounding.

Well 25 hours to go to my departure now. See you all soon. The weather better be good.

Slan,
David

Salto Angel, Iguazu Falls, Rio De Janeiro

Latest photos from Rio are here:

Rio de Janeiro

Also finished adding the remaining photos from Ciudad Perdida along with Salto Angel and Iguazu Falls:

Cartagena, Taganga, Ciudad Perdida, Salto Angel, Catarata Iguacu, Rio De Janeiro

Anyway as I said at the end of the last post we headed for Venezuela. We had been warned that Venezuela was a dump and more trouble than it was worth by almost every traveller we met bar maybe 1 or 2 but with Chavez's high profile and it being a socialist state I wanted to see it for myself. From the moment we got into the country it was nothing but trouble with our bags being x-rayed twice, being asked for our passport 3 times and Carolines bag being searched before we got to our chosen destination which was Ciudad Bolivar via Caracas. They also have a double economy going on here with a black market operating at a rate of 3000 Bolivars to the US Dollar whereas the cash machines give you about 2100. This is designed to keep inflation down for the poorer population but in my opinion what happens is that anyone reasonably well off has access to the american dollars so it's only the poorer people that lose out. One thing Chavez had done was giving a handout to the Indigenistas of $150 a week we were told but on the downside they aren't growing crops or farming animals due to having this free money. For those that don't know it the country is the third highest producer of oil worldwide. I'd be very worried what happens here when the oil runs out as the people here have forgotten how to work and are extremely unfriendly for the most part.

Oh and while I think of it those that say FARC are all bad must have a look at this link on Alvaro Uribe, the leader of Colombia whose father was heavily involved in the drug business:
Alvaro Uribe's links to drugs

Having said that Colombia was absolutely amazing and would definitely recommend it.

Anyway back to Salto Angel. We did the tour with green Iguana in Ciudad Bolivar. It cost 600 Bolivar Fuerte which equated to about $430 with the preferential exchange rate. The sites on the tour were absolutely amazing but the guide left alot to be desired. It doesn't really matter quality wise which group you book with as all the tour companies are lumped together when you arrive at Canaima. It's strange in Venezuela that nearly every tour is run by German ex-pats which even the Germans refer to as the German mafia due to their wheelings and dealings. We were really lucky as we saw Salto Angel without any mist which I think is fairly unusual not that you'd get any info out of the tour operators. Also on our first night we were only 5 minutes from the falls but our tour guide neglected to mention this simple fact. On the last day we saw Sapo falls and went right under them which was brilliant. We flew back to Ciudad Bolivar from Canaima in only a 5 seater Cessna plane which was very good. The trip here is very overpriced but it is absolutely amazing to do.

We headed back to Caracas on the overnight bus that night and stayed around the hotel for most of the day mostly because we were shattered and we had also been warned that it was unsafe. We went out for food that night which was as usual overpriced. Venezuela left a very bad taste in our mouth compared to the friendliness in Colombia. English music was very prevalent here but from our observations most of the time the people couldn't be bothered making the effort to try to understand you.

We flew to Sao Paulo the following morning and as per the norm in Venezuela only one of the cash machines in the international airport accepted international cards. Was a disaster but we'd come to expect this in Venezuela. I'll have to tell you about Iguazu and Rio later as I've run out of time but I promise it has a much happier ending.

Cartagena, Santa Marta, Ciudad Perdida

Hello all,

We flew up to Cartagena and we ended up spending much more time there than we intended. It was a lovely city and the real narrow streets and the generally laid back atmosphere reminded me of Cuba an awful lot. The first 2 days we didn't get up to a whole lot bar just strolling around the streets otherwise known as bumming around. I think we might have been a small bit shattered from all the bus trips before this. After 2 days of this we reckoned we should get our act together and the following day we headed for Isla de Rosario and Playa Blanca. I didn´t think much of the tour and we probably would have been as well just heading straight for Playa Blanca. The nhext day we headed for Volcan de Tolcan which is a volcano that is filled with mud from it bubbling. It was really good surprisingly. We met a crowd on this trip from Brasil, Germany, America and Switzerland and ended up going on a Chiva bus around the town that night with them to be dropped at a nightclub later. It was a ripoff though if any other travellers are reading this. It was 25 mil for just over an hour whereas it's advertised as being 4 hours and most of this time wasn't spent on the bus. Very good sport and got a fair bit of free rum into us.

The following day post champions league final we headed for Santa Marta via Taxi to bus station via Bucaramanga (Shakiras birthplace by the way but sadly didn't get the photo of her statue) via station in Santa Marta to Taganga. Taganga is a great little coastal town just outside Santa Marta but sadly infiltrated with scores of Israelis and every restaurant seems to cater for that. I wouldn't be surprised if half the town is Israeli owned but that's pure hearsay. We only nbummed around here for 2 nights and then we did penance on the Ciudad Perdida trek.

I´d recommend the trek but you would definitely want to be in some sort of condition. I´m in the prime of my life at 29. If there´s anyone reading this blog and you´re touch and go whether you´ll actually do the trek you can post comments here and I´ll get my girfriend Caroline to get back to you on how hard the trek was as her and my opinions would differ a good bit and she read alot of blogs before she did it as she was unsure of the difficulty. The first day had a hard first hour but the other 2 hours were ok. Day 2 I think was 5 hours walking but it was easyish. We got there when we thought we had at least 1 more hour of walking left. Day 3 I think was the hardest with 8 river crossings which I did in my bare feet but you´d probably be better off if you had flip flops or sandals. After this there were 1350 steps to the top to Ciudad Perdida. We only spent 1 day in Ciudad Perdida and to be honest this is enough. Day 4 was long enough but from here on in each day was a repeat of what we´d done before. 5 was fine but 6 was tough as there was heavy rain with about an hour to go. Was very testing but I thought the hike was very good. Our guides Gabrielle and Alberto were excellent. I think magitours in Taganga was the name of the tour company we did it with.

After tonight we´ll have spent 3 nights in Taganga post tour. Just relaxed for most of it as well as catching the Ireland V Colombia match here, Ireland jersey and all. Today we went to Parque Tayrona. This was well worth a visit. It´s about an hour from Santa Marta so if you´re going you should go early as there´s a bit of walking to get to the beaches even when you get the jeep from the front gate.

Early start in the morning to head into Venezuela. The only thing we´ll see will be Angel Falls here and after that we´ll be heading for Sao Paulo followed by Iguazu falls. Hope the sunshine is lasting at home. 16 days to go.

Here are the latest photos:

Cartagena, Taganga, Ciudad Perdida

More photos to follow as they´re not loading very fast for me tonight.

Medellin, Bogota

Medellin wasn´t great at all. The city has very little to offer but I´ve heard that maybe the highlights are to be seen in the countryside outside it. Zona Rosa is the main area with nightlife but it´s like going for a drink in Cafe en Seine or Ron Blacks with a similar pricing structure. It was 5000 for a beer here compared to 1800 everywhere else and the accommodation in Casa Kiwi was 60,000 compared to 40,000 here in Bogota which is the highest we have paid. The exchange rate here is 1800 Pesos to the dollar so we generally just half and take away the 000 to convert to dollar. The dollar is generally our benchmark here to decide whether we´re paying alot. Colombia has been the dearest country we´ve encountered so far. The lonely planet doesn´t give an honest reflection at all on prices and we´ve heard rumours that the lonely planet writers weren´t even in Colombia and judging by prices and the errors I wouldn´t find that hard to believe.

Anyway we headed for Bogota after here and naturally the 9 hour trip took 12 hours but that´s to be expected. We were very pleasantly surprised by Bogota. It´s the nicest capital city we´ve encountered so far. We arrived in late the first night so didn´t see much. we stayed in Hostel Sue which was really lovely near Platypus hostel. The first day was filled with museum visiting with us seeing the Museo del Oro (or Gold museum), Museo Nacional and also Cerro de Montserrate which gave a great view of the city. Plaza Bolivar was also very nice to see. Today we headed to Cathedral Sal in the morning which is a church-cathedral built into a hollowed out salt mountain and this afternoon we headed for the Museo de Policia which was very good. The sound guides here as much as the material made it. It was really interesting talking to the guides covering a broad range of topics such as FARC and cocaine production.

Tomorrow we´re headed for Cartagena on a flight. Santa Marta is our only other planned destination in Colombia but I´m sure we might stop in between somewhere. After that we´ll head for Venezuela where Maracaiba, Caracas and Angel falls are our planned destinations. If time allows we might also head for the Orinoco delta. We´re planning on being down to Manaus in Brasil to catch a flight to Sao Paulo on the 5th of June from where we´ll head towards Iguazu falls. That´s the plan but it´s open to change.

The latest photos are here:

Salento, Medellin, Bogota

Buenas Noches from Medellin

We headed to Armenia the following day and it was another hour from here until Salento. Salento is only a snall town but it was great here. The Salsa music and dancing was really cool not that we partook much with our limited talents. We planned on spending one night here but ended up staying 3. We trekked in the Cocora valley the first day. You can catch a jeep to here from the main plaza for 3000 pesos. We headed up to the lookout at Montana here which was amazing. I'll add photos in due course. The second day we headed for 2 coffee plantations which were really different with one being a modern mechanized one with the other being very traditional with everything manually operated. These were really good. We had planned on heading back for Armenia in the evening but the weather and the atmosphere in the town we stayed on for the third night. Was great atmosphere on the plaza with it being mothers day here. They had all tents set up on the plaza for food and drink as they do every weekend but it was probably busier again due to Mothers day.

We headed to Medellin today which took the 6 hours plus the extra 2 that always seem to be added onto any transport in Colombia. Here is the home of Pablo Escobar, the drug lord but that's a long time ago now. Looks a fairly modern city. It's meant to have one of the best metros in the world. To be honest I'm looking forward to getting back out of cities again. Probably spend 2 nights here before heading for Bogota. Piping hot here. Hope the weather has remained good at home.