Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama

San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua, is a nice little town but it's mainly a hang-out for surfers. I headed there on my own as Dave was going to spend an extra couple of days in Antigua and, as much as I liked it, I was getting cabin fever. So I got a few days to myself and really just sat around on the beach, drank smoothies and killed time. Kinda what I needed though.

Dave joined me and we had a couple of days here before I set off again. We needed to get the boat from Panama and there was still a lot of ground to cover so I headed to San Jose, Costa Rica, to break up the journey to Panama and also because I was keen to do the bungee jump there. It was one of the things I really wanted to do on the holiday, so I was glad it worked out.


In the end I arrived in San Jose at 10pm, did the bungee jump the next morning and left for Panama at 11pm the same night so it was a fair detour just for a jump but definitely worth it...

Once in Panama we had a couple of days to get ready for the boat and (thanks to the folks) I got a shipment with my iPod and Kindle. Got stung $72 customs tax which really pisses me off and I will try fight it when I get back.

Went to see the Panama Canal, mainly because I thought I should because I was in Panama. It's just a big canal.

The rest of Guatemala

Cotinuing in Guatemala...

So we left behind the stunning Semuc Champey and headed to the town of Antigua, about an hour outside of the horrific, busy capital, Guatemala City.  This town used to be the capital but earthquakes caused damage and it was decided it would be best to change. What's left behind is a small town with cobbled streets, colourful buildings, traditional architecture and ruins that are now tourist attractions. Surrounding the town are dominant volcanoes that sometimes spit lava at night, creating a bit of a show. Overall Antigua feels safe, friendly and relaxed and I really like it there.

The drive to Antigua was horrific. The shuttle bus turned up at Semuc without a seat for me and I had to half-stand, half-perch on a metal bar while we went over mountain roads, but after around 2 hours we stopped in another town where a couple of people were getting out and I had a seat for the remainder of the journey.

Although we mostly just enjoyed the town and spent time wandering around we also went to one of the volcanoes that I mentioned. It wasn't too difficult a climb although the heat made it feel worse than it was, and I'm probably not going to climb too many volcanoes in my life so it was good fun.  There weren't brilliant views at the top, and it wasn't the crater filled with lava that I maybe hoped for but we did toast marshmallows from the heat of the volcano which was pretty unique. We also got to crawl into a hole in the ground that was hot and cramped, but all good fun.

We ended up leaving Antigua and returning a week later as we headed to San Pedro on the banks of Lake Atitlan to do a Spanish school for a week, and once we had finished there needed to come back briefly before moving on again. The Spanish school was great, really got me going with things but it's all pointless if I don't now force myself to do more, to get out there and chat to people. So we'll see how that goes...

So Dave stayed in Antigua for a couple of days longer than me, but I set off on a 30 hour trip to San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua. At this point we are in a bit of a rush to get to Panama as we've got the boat to Colombia booked for 25 August and need to accept that there are places I just can't visit. So the bus took me straight to Nica, meaning I missed Honduras and El Salvador completely and only leaving time for a few days in San Juan (a little coastal town that's a surfer's hangout). Shame, but I think that's going to happen more and more from this point on. 3 months to go at time of writing...

Some random thoughts

We're coming up for the 7 week mark which is about 1/3 of the way though the trip, so I thought I could post a couple of general observations so far.

1. I don't like Israelis, or at least I don't like any of the ones that I have met so far. They act as if they have a birth right to be served by you - there is rarely any chat, usually they only speak to you if they want something, for example when they accuse you of stealing their dirty laundry. They hang around in large groups, they take up most of the hostel, they are loud, they move your things and sometimes when you say hello they don't even respond. Not even a hint of anything, just blank faces.

2. The 3 Israelis that have spoken to me, (and I mean a couple of minute conversation - don't think that this contradicts point 1), have all watched Braveheart repeatedly. It seems to be their favourite film. The guy this morning told me he had seen it over 15 times. Bully for you.

3. I'm still learning Spanish and sound as if I have the unfortunate combination of a really bad stutter, crippling shyness and food stuck in my throat. I end up pointing at things and being generally worse off than I would have been if I hadn't attempted to speak the Spanish.

4. Mexican food goes right through me. I mean they could re-serve the stuff.

5. Everything Dave does is in slow motion. I want to smash his face in.

6. My moustache is growing nicely but I don't know what to do with it. I am annoyed that people don't comment on it because that means they think it should be there and they don't treat it as the joke that it's supposed to be. Have they not read my blog?

Guatemala: Tikal & Semuc Champey

First stop in Guatemala was Flores which is the most popular place to stay when visiting the Mayan ruins of Tikal. Flores in itself was a beautiful wee town, well it was an island really, and had a lovely feel to it. We both instantly liked the place and thought we could have spent time there even if we weren't going to Tikal....

This is proper Indiana Jones type stuff - look it up online, the place is incredible. We had been to Chichen Itza in Mexico but this place was so much better in every way. The scale of it, the trek through the jungle, the lack of people selling tacky items, being able to explore the ancient sites and at times feeling like you were the only people there, surrounded by wildlife.


After Tikal we headed to a place called Lanquin / Semuc Champey. We had never heard of Semuc Champey before but someone in Belize told us about it and had shown photos that looked good. It's a big national park and when staying at the local hostels you can arrange to go tubing (literally floating down a river drinking beer), and caving / hiking. The place was beautiful, but we hit more drama. I can't be bothered going into it, but essentially Dave fell into a bush and ended up with thorns stuck in his hands, causing muchos pain and preventing him from moving some fingers. We went to a local doctor who cut his hand open but didn't actually help the situation (at time of writing, in Lake Antitlan, I think Dave is now better. Either way I am over it).

Tubing was great fun, just lying there while the current carried you downstream and calling for a beer when you ran out. Happy days.

We both really like Guatemala - everything about it so far (minus poisonous plants (note that I am ok with the poisonous plants)) has been great. The temp at night is just that bit cooler so we're sleeping well, we've seen some amazing things, the people are friendly and it's the first country where we've been to a few different places so I'm getting a good feel for it overall. Next stop, and blog, is Antigua, Guatemala.

Mexico and Belize

Ok, so let's do this! 

I've now discovered how to do an apostrophe which has made me feel a lot better about the whole situation. Because that's what I'm here for, good grammar. 

Anyway. So we returned from Cuba into Cancun, Mexico, feeling pretty sorry for ouselves. Dave spent 2 days moving between bed and the toilet and shortly after I took up a similar routine. Turns out Cuba had one last treat for us and that was a free internal detox. Thanks again, Cuba. 

We were only in Cancun for a couple of nights to regroup and then headed to see Chichen Itza - an old Mayan site with temples and other such things to 'ooh' and 'ahhh' over. 

This was pretty amazing to be fair but it did feel like it was the sort of thing you had to go see and it was quite touristy so there was no chance to feel lost in the site. You also couldn't touch any of the buildings or go inside them which was a bit of a disappointment.

When you buy a ticket to get into the site you get to use it that night to return and see a bit of a show (in Spanish), with a couple of the main temples lit up dramatically. We didn't pay to get a headset with English translations and were happy enough to just watch some flashy lights, and I probably enjoyed this more than the daytime event.

At this stage we were kind of planning as we went, although we knew overall that we were going to keep heading south through Central America. We decided to catch a bus from Playa Del Carmen to Belize City and met with Dave's cousin who was on honeymoon with his wife. I was still needing to go to the toilet every 30 minutes which was grim and the idea of an overnight bus was filling me with dread too.

So we catch our bus and I'm able to drift off to sleep but we're awoken at the border of Belize to be filed through immigration control. Dave and I realise our problem when we're told that it costs $25 to exit Mexico and we have no money on us. Dave inexplicably has 10 Euros in his trousers and hands it over, while I dig through my stuff and find 30,000 Chilean Pesos (Craig Fisher - I owe you a massive beer for this!). 

This comes to around 40GBP so I hand them over to the guy in charge expecting some sort of calculation of exchange rates, maybe some change in Mexican whatevers but he just takes them and shrugs his shoulders and tells us to leave.

He remembers to fling our passports at us but when we are then queing to get into Belize we notice that he's given us someone else's passport and they have mine. I mean the guy has one job to do and managed to mess it up...

We arrive in Belize 'City' around 6.30 am and have no idea where we're going or what to do, and on top of this we've heard nothing but bad things about the place so aren't keen to be wandering around. We try find the main street and end up by the water with people trying to sell us water taxis to Caye Caulker - a nearby island - and instinctively we respond with 'no' and 'leave us alone' etc. But about 5 mins later we think, actually, why not just go to Caye Caulker? Belize City looks crap.

Off we go and so glad we did! A few days on a tropical island where life is slow, food is good and the beers are cold. It was exactly what we needed, and this time we were happy that Cuba had provided us with a bottle of rum that we happily drank one night sitting next to the water.

So that brings us to Guatemala and I'll do a separate post about that. I still find Blogger really difficult to post photos but I'm getting slightly better.

Oh, and I should also post a rolling update on my moustache, which was 4 weeks old yesterday.

Cuba. What a dickhead of a country.

So, Cuba...might as well get it out the way - we had a bag stolen and lost the following:

2x ipod
1x iphone
1x kindle
1x camera
3x credit cards
1x driver's license
£100

Luckily we have a way of getting cash and still have our passports so we can get off this rock, but it's a real kick in the baws nonetheless. We keep getting ripped off, it seems to be our thing. People in the street here just come over and get up in your business, they want to know where you´re from, why you are visiting etc and at first you respond to them because it´s hard not to when another human being is asking you a direct question but in the name of the wee man, they have no idea what you are saying when you reply and they don´t care - by that point they have you in communication and from this point on you are giving them money one way or another. It´s not small amounts either, it´s like 10 squid at a time and we really can´t afford that.

So, I´ve always wanted to visit Havana and had pictured little cafes on busy streets with old american cars driving by, maybe some Buena Vista Social Club in the background and me drinking cheap rums, mojitos and daiquiris. Unfortunately Communism doesn´t cultivate cafe culture, there is no incentive to be better than the competition, no need to offer a good service and no reason to try. What you end up with is a few bars, each charging foriegners 2+ (I have no idea how to do a pound sign, cleverly disguised as squid in the previous paragraph but now I have to admit I am lost) for a drink. So you go in because you want to experience Havana, you want that Cuba spirit, and all you get is a pretty piss poor drink in a crap bar and people constantly coming over and asking for money.




You can´t buy decent food, bottled water is hard to come by, officials and tourist info guides try steal from you, the country is a joke. And did I mention they stole all of our stuff? Bandits.


It´s a shame, I was a big fan before going but I guess this is the point as I couldn´t explain why I was a fan and at least now can say that it doesn´t work, in my experience. What I don´t get is the complete apathy of the people - they are either happy with the situation or just too damn apathetic to do anything about it. Stop asking me if you can have my trainers, stop stealing my branded pants and bartering for soap and overthrow the government! It seems ironic that in a land known for revolution the people are as downbeaten and pathetic as I have ever known.


Vive la status quo.


P.s. Oh, I should try post some photos. I have been saving them all to an online storage thing which is why I´ve not posted much on here but might as well get some on the go.

P.p.s It might make Cuba look ok. All lies.

Cancun

My blog isn't working out as i planned. It's just a bit shit really, apologies to anyone who has checked in expecting interesting stories and pictures...

It's just been a bit harder than i thought - struggling to get my photos off my camera and onto the world wide web. Will get into a routine soon enough and get better at this.
From now on i think I'll write what I've been up to, so that I've got a record of it. Here goes.
Cancun is a cool enough place and it's starting to sink in what i'm doing out here. Slowly getting that this isn't just a holiday...

We arrived and started getting ripped off right away by a guy getting us to pay $16 for a taxi when we could get a bus for $3. He told us the next bus was in 3 hours (lies) and although we knew there should be one sooner we weren't well prepared and had an attitude of 'ach, i'm happy to pay just to make life easier'. We need to get out of that thought pattern, can't afford to think it's only a few extra dollars - over 5 months that will really add up.

We hit the beach yesterday, absolutely stunning and it will get better as we go. Can't wait. But for now some cold cervesa will do just fine. We got overcharged for them btw.

Last night we went to a big club night and i had a good time but just because it was fun to meet a few people, the actual club was empty and cost us $45...ripped off again. See a pattern with Mexico?
We've started to try learn some Spanish, I'll see how that goes.

Oh, and i started growing the moustache on Monday so it's on its way.
Off to Cuba tomorrow :)