New York, New York

On thing we've found on this trip is that Central Americans like nothing more than a queue. This trend certainly continued into South America as well.

Colombia - Part 3

...Cartagena, Bogota, and the return of The Mack


After leaving Tayrona we returned to Cartagena to meet up with The Mack - Tony/Anto/Amp...whatever you choose to call him.

Colombia - Part 2

After Taganga, we headed to Parque Nacional Tayrona for what turned out to be the highlight of our trip in Colombia. The park is located about 5 hours north east of Cartagena; along the coast.

Colombia - Part 1

We flew into the coastal Colombian city of Cartagena at the end of May. We only stayed here two days as we were coming back for a week a little later on (so we will post more about Cartagena later), before moving on to Santa Marta.

Beats Playing At Lutwyche

...or Darra, or Greenbank

Tayrona Nacional Parque, Tayrona, Colombia

Montezuma, Costa Rica

When it was first discussed going to Montezuma, I really didn't fancy going to a shitty Mexican restaurant; I suppose I just didn't want to get mud guts. When I finally worked out that it was a small seaside town near a national park, my interest started increasing.

Nicaragua, Part 1

After finishing up in Antigua, Guatemala, we headed to the airport at Guatemala City for a flight to Managua, the capital of Nicaragua.

Guatemala: 30 April - 8 May

This is the first of two blogs that will be backdated somewhat, as we haven't covered Guatemala or Nicaragua yet and we are running a little behind on updating everyone on our progress.


We travelled to Lago de Atitlan (Lake Atitlan) in Guatemala after several excellent weeks in Mexico. We weren't sure if Guatemala would top Mexico, but were really looking forward to this part of our trip - particularly as we didn't really know what to expect.

Santa Elena, Costa Rica

...spending time in a cloud forest



After leaving La Fortuna, we headed to the town of Santa Elena, which is surrounded by the 'cloud forest' of Monteverde - the place that came in at number 14 on Newsweek's "100 places to remember before they disappear.

La Fortuna

...16 May, 2011


After unknowingly leaving San Jose $3,000 lighter, we headed north to the town of La Fortuna. La Fortuna's claim to fame is that it is located at the base of Volcan Arenal - which is considered on of the ten most active volcanoes on Earth. The town itself is nothing special, effectively a small town on a busy highway, however the area surrounding the town is spectacular.

Travelling to Costa Rica

...15 May, 2011


The trip to Costa Rica from Nicaragua was supposed to be easy and uneventful.

Getting Things Up To Date

We've found that since having a month in Cuba without internet access has left us behind the eight ball with our blog updates, so here's what we're going to do.


Since leaving San Cristobal in Mexico, we've travelled south through Guatemala, Nicaragua, and now we are in Costa Rica. We'll start doing regular updates from Costa Rica onwards, and we'll fill in the blanks (Guatemala and Nicaragua) a little later.


Hopefully this makes sense. Feel free to email us or leave a comment if you like.


e and d

Mayans

…The Maya

The indigenous Mayan population in this region extends from all over southern Mexico to Guatemala, Belize, and parts of northern El Salvador and Honduras, and like many indigenous populations worldwide, a lot of Maya face constant discrimination, poor health, and poor education. And also like many indigenous populations, their history is ancient and extremely interesting. 

Mexico: 15 – 25 April, 2011

…The Chiapas

Our next destination in Mexico was Palenque – our first stop in the Chiapas region. This region is largely made up of indigenous Mayans, many of whom still hold on to their ancient traditions of things like unique natural medicines, ancient tattoo’s (and tattooing techniques), and most widely seen, their language.

Mexico: 15 - 25 April, 2011

…Part 1 – Cancun to Campeche.

Mexico is a brilliant country. When we left Cuba, we flew to Cancun on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, and travelled West to Merida, Campeche, Palenque, and then finally San Cristobal in the Chiapas region.

Trinidad - the best place in Cuba

We arrived in Trinidad from the bore that was Cienfuegos to be greeted by a beautiful little colonial town, and about 70 Casa owners holding up signs trying to get us to stay at their place. Fortunately, Rita, our lovely old Casa owner in Cienfuegos, had organised a place for us to stay right in the middle of the town with a guy called Rafael (who looked a lot like a famous Republican from Ireland called Brendan Hughes – look him up on Google images or Wikipedia if you don’t know of him, I’m sure you’ll find him there somewhere). 

Cuba

…Cuban Cuisine

Do you like rice, black beans, cabbage, tomatoes, ham, cheese, pizza, and ice cream? If so, you’ll be in heaven in Cuba. 

Cuba

…Casa Particulares

In Cuba, there are only really two types of accommodation available to foreigners – Casa Particulares and Hotels (state-run). Hotels here are the same as anywhere, except that they are all very expensive and not all towns and cities have them; so for most tourists (like us), the only real accommodation option available are Casa’s.

Cuba: 21 March – 15 April, 2011

…Part Two: Cienfuegos and Santa Clara.

Just to expand on the Cienfuegos comment from the last post: we went to Cienfuegos for three days, and unless you like water bottling factories and shipping ports, you won’t like Cienfuegos. Every Cuban we had spoken to about going there all said that the city was ‘tranquil’. Aburrido is the Spanish word for ‘boring’, so we’ve got no idea what they were talking about…

Cuba: 21 March – 15 April, 2011

…Part One: Food rations, quality healthcare for no cost, quality education for no cost, poverty, and old Chevy’s.

Cuba really is a country of contrasts. On one hand a population that largely earns less in one month than we do in one hour, but on the other hand receives top quality healthcare and education for absolutely no cost. As well as this, the cost of living is relatively low for locals: food is cheap, public transport is cheap, and entertainment (e.g., bars, museums, galleries) is cheap as well. If you’re a foreigner however, things are considerably more expensive.

Playa del Carmen, Mexico: 17 – 21 March 2011

…Spring Break!

Ah, the good old American “Spring Break” – a time when booze-guzzling university students terrorize various sunny parts of America and beyond, en masse and on holiday. In Mexico, they traditionally descend on Cancun. However, in recent times, they have started venturing further South to places like Playa del Carmen – and we were caught in the middle of it. Add to this St Patrick’s Day, and we were in a place like Schoolies Week, just without the 17-year-olds (but plenty of “Toolies”…).

Isla Mujeres, Mexico: 14 – 17 March 2011

…and let us introduce “Meester Wheeskar’s”

After travelling from Brisbane to Sydney to Los Angeles to New York to Cancun to Isla Mujeres, we were ready for a bit of a break – and thankfully we came across the beautiful Mexican destination of Isla Mujeres. The “Island of Women” is a 30 minute ferry ride from Puerto Juarez in Cancun (“Spring Break!!”) through the most turquoise waters you could imagine, and is only 8km long (North to South) and at most 800 metres wide (at its widest). The ferry had the Mexican version of Jim Morrison playing guitar and doing all sorts of The Doors and Rolling Stones covers throughout the short trip – so we knew early on that we were on a winner.