Happy New Years - 31 de Diciembre 2010

It has come at last, the final day of the year. We are now in Antigua Guatemala, after taking an 8 hour minivan ride from Lanquin. We are staying at a place named Antigua Orquideas, placed adequately between the major plaza and the giant market. We came yesterday 9 strong off of the microbus. We are staying with 3 germans (Jonathon, Eva, Hannah), 2 from Denmark (Simon and Maya), 1 guy from Spain (Alex), 1 girl from Holland (Annamikea), and Mari and myself.

Tonight we plan on cooking a large meal together and spending the New Years night on the outdoor terrace upstairs. Simon already told me they bought rum, vodka, and two bottles of wine. Plus, I am sure there will be plenty of beer. We are ironing out who is making what, but i plan on making a giant vat of veggie soup. I heard pasta salad, guacamole, chips, spanish style tortilla, and a few more things still being worked out.

In the central plaza there will be music, dancing, fireworks and more festivities. I think this will be a great place to be for New Years. Mari and I wish everyone a happy New Year. Take care, be safe, and see you soon.

I also want to wish my father a belated Happy Birthday. Sorry I wasnt home to give you a call and say it in person. Hope 64 is the best one yet.

28 de Diciembre 2010

We arrived safe and sound from our 7.5 hour trip from Flores to Lanquin, and I have to say it's quite amazing here. It's mountainous, jungly, vibrantly green and lush. On the trip out we passes green mountain sides with farm plots And small villages and houses interspersed. It's by far the most beautiful bus trip we have taken to date. We are staying at a hostel named Zephyr, set on a mountain side with amazing views in each and every direction. There are several people here from Flores that makes traveling feel somewhat like an ever changing family packing from place to place. Friends come and go, but they are all interesting and from all over the globe. We are sitting outside on a terrace talking to A guy from Spain, two girls from Holland, and a couple from Germany. Plus there are more than 30 more people sitting at other tables around us. It feels lively here, and the surroundings and atmosphere are awe inspiring.

It's times like this that make me thoroughly enjoy what we are up to right now. Sometimes I question the travel bug, but today I can embrace it and accept the joys it can bring. We arrived a little too late for exploration so I can't wait till we can get out and about tomorrow. We will be exploring some local caves, and visiting a local river that looks similar to aqua azul in Mexico. I will be taking photos.

Ciao for now.

27 de Diciembre 2010

Today we visited Tikal. I must say, its a pretty amazing ruins site stuck right out in the jungle. For the first time in our trip, we had a tour guide - and I found him pretty amazing. He was full of good information and he had a great charismatic and energetic way of talking. Tikal differed from the sites we visited in Mexico by the expanse and breadth of the site, as well as the density of the jungle between temples. Tikal is spread out, and has the feel of a days nature hike out in the jungle as we walked between locals and not just a parking lot leading into a site of ruins. Not to belittle the other ruins, they were all great, this one just had an air of mystery a bit more. The guide said that 80% of Tikal is still untouched in the jungle, but it looks to my untrained eye that all the major buildings have been unearthed.

I have provided only a few photos here, and most likely not the best of teh bunch. But enjoy.


Welcome to Tikal - great list of prohibited items



Tikal Temple - Mari near opening on top



Tikal Temple - Close up of Mari near opening


Tikal Ruins - Travis in the plaza on top of temple seen above



One great thing about traveling is the signs you see everywhere. This one is supposed to mean do not sit on certain ruins, but looks more like no pooping on the ruins.

We met a great girl from New York on this trip named Stephanie. We hung out all day today, but she took off tonight headed to Antigua. Mari and I purchased tickets to head out at 9 am to Lanquin. The asked some people staying at our hotel how long it took to get there and they said around 3 hours. Then we hit the first ticket office to check on ticket prices and times, 100 quetzals (Q) each and 5 hours. We hit another ticket office to compare, and they told us 130 Q each. After talking to a woman at an information booth, we hit still another ticket off. Here we bought tickets, 75 Q each, and the trip is 7 hours. Now I know what you are thinking, we bought the cheap tickets that take longer to get there. But you would be wrong. Welcome to the wonderful insight of Central America, where its hard to get good information. After purchasing our tickets, we finally went out to have a beer with Stephanie and send her on her way, when we saw a board advertising trips all over Guatemala - which said our trip would be an 8 hour bus ride. Luckily, we ran into two Germans just arriving from Lanquin today that verified this info. We paid 75 Q each and the 3 hour trip we were hoping and expecting, miraculously turned into an 8 hour trip. Shitty for us. But oh well, Lanquin here we come.

By the way, we are staying at an okay, mediocre at best hotel Doña Goya. Not great at all. We stopped by Los Amigos Hostel to pick up Stephanie, and were blown away by how cool that place was. If anyone is coming to Flores in the future, check out the Los Amigos Hostel. It is beautiful. I kick myself for believing advice I recieved to not stay there without checking it out myself. By far one of the coolest looking hostels I have seen in Central America.

T

26 de Diciembre 2010

Well, last night was quite a Christmas. The hostile sorta banded together later in the evening and had some fun together. We played several rounds of a game called Werewolves, a murder mystery type game where a group of 8 or more draw cards and play against each other, werewolves vs. villagers to see who will survive. As people got bored and left, we adapted into another group game called Assessin - sorta along the same principle, a group has one assassin and one cop and as people die in the group the cop needs to figure out the assassins identity. Anyway, it was pretty fun, especially considering the motley crew assembled in Caye Caulker on Christmas night.

As little groups took off to bed or headed to bars, there was a small bunch of us who stuck around to play a bit of cards. Because we all didnt understand the rules 100%, we played one open hand to illustrate the rules before setting into the real game. Just as we were starting the game, a massive wind swept through - overtaking the island and gaining in intensity. The problem is the hostile wasnt equipped with real walls, they are constructed out of chicken screen and mosquito netting, so when the wind picks up its more like a wind tunnel. Seeing as cards was out of the question, I stepped outside just in time to feel a few rain drops coming down. I ran to the clothes lines, grabbed the freshly washed (and dried) clothes, just as it started to unleash a massive downpour - dumping rain. I ran back to my shack listening to the rain and wind howling and wondering if my little structure would sustain the force.

Mari and I packed our bags that night during the storm in preperation for our early morning departure, and laid down to sleep just after midnight knowing we had to be up before 6 am to eat and catch the 7 am ferry. Inevitably, it was a restless, sleepless night as the rain and wind pounded and tortured our little structure. It was a beautiful display of force, and an interesting insight into island weather.

In the morning, we:

• Caught the 45 minute ferry from Caye Caulker to Belize city ($10 each)
• Then split a taxi with another Seattlite towards the Belize City Bus Terminal ($1.50 each)
• Bought tickets for the 3 hour bus ride from Belize City to the Belizean border town called Benque Viejo del Carmen ($4 each)
• Crossed the border - (Belize exit fee = $20 each) (Guatemala entrance fee = $2.50 each)
• Caught the 2 hour shuttle from the Guatemala border to Flores ($3 each)

We are officially in Guatemala! We rolled in after a long day of traveling with little sleep. Found some food (Burritos and Enchiladas and beer), and are getting ready for bed. We have an early morning scheduled for tomorrow as well. At 4:30 am, a shuttle is scheduled to whisk us away to Tikal first thing in the morning. Hopefully we can catch a sunrise, and if that fails at least we beat the crowds. It wasnt my prime choice for a departure time, but it didnt seem like we had a ton of options.

Wishing the best to you - Travis

Christmas in Belize

Mari and I are still in Caye Caulker, just off the coast of Belize City. We decided we better stay put for the Xmas rush, as hostels fill up around this time of year. Last night there wasnt a ton going on, but there were several other hostelers (Sweden and Holland) cooking holiday meals to remind them of home. Mari and I prepared a Spanish style tortilla, kidney beans, and a fillet of fish we threw on the grill. We walked down to a local pier later in the afternoon when the fisherman are returning and bough a fresh fish right off the boat. It took a bit for us to fillet it, but it worked out.

We were flirting with the idea of taking off today, Christmas morning, on our way to Guatemala on the 7 am boat off the island. But, knowing this place is packed, we decided it might be a better idea to stay put and travel afterward. We really didn't like the idea of showing up this evening in Guatemala to full hostels and no beds.

This island is beautiful, rustic, and very interesting. We are staying at a place named Bellas, run by a guy from Federal Way (near Seattle) of all places. His mom is Belizean, and he moved back here 8 years ago, buying this hostel somewhere along the way. We have a super rustic, cute tiny room, sort of a shack, with a tiny bed inside and not much else for 15 bucks a night. There's enough of a kitchen in the main building that we have been cooking meals, and there are two boats for rowing around the island.

A few days back we took one of the little boats out into the open water towards the worlds second largest reef for a bit of snorkeling and an adventurous open water trek. I pushed Mari to the limits with a few hours of hard rowing, and we were both a bit sore after. On the bright side, we weren't swept out to sea and we were able to view some beautiful underwater specimens. Looking back it wasn't the brightest idea, but we did extremely well with a little dingy in the windy and chopper current. Luckily, I just recently read "In the Heart of the Sea", a shipwreck survival story, so I was prepared for the worst if it came to pass.

Now, its 11 am , and its already getting hot. The earlier cloud cover is waning and the sun is creeping out from its hiding place. We already took the boat out and paddled around, looking at fish, dropping anchor to float, and paddling around with hands and feet dipping in and outta the water. The Caribbean water is incredible. Azul and clear and wonderfully refreshing.

We will spend Christmas night here, and plan on leaving on the morning boat tomorrow headed towards Flores, near Tikal. Mari is really apprehensive about entering into Guatemala, and has been trying her hardest to convince me its not that great of an idea. But, seeing all the travelers flooding out of there, I know the horror stories are few and far between, yet still possible. We will try our hardest to pay attention to our surroundings and play off our good spirited vibe.

Merry Christmas to all! (and to all a good night)

T

21 de Diciembre 2010

Here we are on a beautiful morning in Tulum. We spent the night in a place called Rancho Tranquilo - a very nice place with little individual cabañas with a large bed and mosquito net. It has a large shared kitchen facility, couches, tables, and the largest book exchange I have ever seen in all my travels anywhere. A wall full of books available for exchange. Its totally wonderful. Mari and I awoke, are drinking coffee, and waiting for our complimentary pancakes for breakfast.

Today, we will be heading out of Tulum, out of Mexico, and into Belize. We are catching the 10 am bus from Tulum to Chetumal (180 pesos each), the border town between the two countries. From Chetumal we hope to catch a water taxi ($35 each) to Caye Caulker, a small key just north east of Belize City. As we have been told, Belize City is no where for anyone to be, and there are two keys that are spectacular, and Caye Calulker is the cheaper, backpackier of the two.

Belize (and Mexico) have the second largest reef in the world (after Australias Great Barrier Reef), and the snorkling and diving are supposedly spectacular. We hope to see what some of the fuss is about. Its exciting to finally be moving forward. After all this time, its hard to believe we are still in Mexico. Its time to take the next big step.

17 de Diciembre 2010

Today we returned from Havana, or La Habana, as it is referred to in the Spanish speaking world. Wow! Where to begin? Cuba is a world apart, no doubt about it. It is a shining gem in the distance for those brave enough and fortunate enough to venture forth to seek its beauty. Before heading there, Cuba was a bit of a mystery to us, as there isnt a ton of information available to the average person. I hope our time there helped us understand our place, their place, and our common place in this world. But I digress, lets take it a bit slower.

Why did we return to the armpit of Mexico (Cancun) you may ask? Well, unfortunately traveling in Cuba turned out to be a little more expensive than we had hoped, even though we sorta expected it. Our initial month in Mexico we were budgeting $50 dollars per day, where as our time in Cuba was running us around $92 per day. Roughly double the costs associated in Mexico. Although we had budgeted this amount for the trip (we roughed out about $90 bucks per day), we were actually hoping it would turn out to be cheaper as we had budgeted kinda worst case scenario prices. But, as it turned out to be a bit more costly than we had planned, we decided to cut our trip in Cuba a little short so as to extend our journeys through other lush and beautiful countries and landscapes.

Okay, I said a lot so far. What do I expand upon? Armpit of Mexico? Yeah, Cancun kinda sucks. If you want to fly to the Miami Beach of Mexico and be surrounded by Americans and Europeans and pay too much for everything and get ripped off half the time, well this is the place. You are a walking wallet in a world of greed. Its a bit sickening. If you want to experience Mexico - the language, the culture, the sites and the smells, well..... you get the point - don't come here. This place is an amusement park - abusive to the senses. Okay okay, I see what you are saying. Perhaps Travis is a little harsh on Cancun. Perhaps I am, but its a bit more transparent stepping back into this setting fresh from Cuba where the citizens possessed far far less, but still treated you as an equal. Cubans are very generous, helpful, courteous and kind. As we took a collectivo today upon our return from the Cancun Airport into downtown Cancun, we watched, a bit helpless, as a young French girl paid (got ripped off) $15 dollars for the same ride that Mari and I paid 50 pesos for ($4.16 USD). We discussed it, and decided that this type of injustice just didn't happen in Cuba. Not to say it 100% couldn't happen, or doesn't happen, all I can say is it never happened to us. We were always quoted fair prices and never felt like anyone was raising prices on us solely because we were tourists. Returning to Cancun, I see that Cancun is a bit of a game. How much can they charge you, how much can they add to the bill and still get away with it. Cuba is more along the lines that they charge you, but no one is getting rich. Its a subtle, yet bonding and identifiable difference. As Dorothy once said, we're not in Kansas anymore. Well, as Mari and I now say - we aren´t in Cuba anymore. No more instant security and ease of mind. We are back in the battle.

As for Cuba, I hope to be posting more on that soon. I need to outline several threads. Food, housing, cities, people, ocean, money etc. But for now, what I want to say is that it was eye opening and spectacular. What I am about to say is a generalization in the larger sense, but for the most part is true. Of course I am sure there are exceptions, but from what I am told - not many. In Cuba there are no guns, no drugs, little violence, no rape, little petty theft. Amazingly, by law, all children go to school. Thus, there are no poor needy kids begging for change or candies or looking poor and desperate. They all walk the streets in their tidy school uniforms looking sharp. Because school is mandatory, and college is free, Cuba is a very well educated city - although still a bit shut off from the world. At night, we would walk down the creepiest of creepiest looking streets in downtown Havana, with light bulbs burnt out and crowds of people here and there in the shadows while slowly making our way back to our casa particular. Anywhere else in the world a dark, seemingly dangerous looking street world would have scared the shit out of us. Yet in Cuba we walked with security and little to no fear - because it´s safe. It´s safe for tourists, locals, women, children and all. Totally amazing. Mind blowing if you really really think about it. I dont know what Fidel did, but in this respect something really worked to create an honest, respectable society.

I hope to expand on this topic in the next couple days. As for now, I need to plan. Its 10 pm, Mari is up in our room sleeping, I am finishing a rum and coke, and we should really start discussing our future plans. Originally we were to return to Cancun on the 25th, and stay a week here in Cancun between Christmas and New Years. But, with a quick call to my travel agent (my mom *thank you) we blew off the scheduled week in Cancun and have set our sites on juicier destinations rather than spend another 15 days in and around Cancun.

T

4 de Diciembre 2010

We stayed last night at the Backpackers Hostelling Center in Cancun and I have to say, it is the worst place we have stayed so far. We stayed in the dorm room and there were two snorers in the group that snored so loud Mari and I had a hard time sleeping. So this morning we awoke in search of a new place to stay and we found it. We moved locations, and are now staying at a place called Hostel Laurel. A drastic improvement over where we stayed last night, but at a steeper price as well. Last night cost us 110 pesos a piece, where tonights accomodations is 300 pesos for our own room with private bathroom. A good investment for a better nights sleep.

Today we took care of some business necessary for our trip to Cuba. As many of you probably dont know, correct and verifiable information about Cuba is hard to come by. So we have been researching things like Visa costs, exit fees, housing costs, food costs, and tips and tricks and warnings and stuff like that.

Heres some facts:

Return tickets from Cancun to Cuba - $8128 pesos

Also, we paid 710 pesos ($59 USD) for two visas, and two 5 days alottments of medical insurance. We heard and read that its recommended (or required?) for foriegners to purchase medical insurance during their stay in Cuba. We were quoted somewhere between 2 & 3 dollars a day. The tip from our travel agent was to purchase a few days of insurance so that when Cuban customs ask the question "Did you purchase insurance for your vacation" when entering the country we can answer with a whole hearted yes. Therefore we are proud owners of a 5 day medical pass. As far as I can make out, our Visas were around $18 USD dollars each, and the medical insurance was about $10 USD each.

Surprising to us, Cuba is a relatively expensive country for a foreign traveler. Within Cuba, there are two types of currencies. Foreigners use a currency called the Covertible Cubanos, or C.U.C. The exchange rate is rougly $1.00CUC = $1.08 USD. The Cuban people that live within Cuba use the peso, which exchanges atroughly $1.00 CUC = 24 pesos. Thus you can see how the foreigner exchange rate is much higher than the local exchange rate. The key to budget traveling is watching the locals. Do as the locals do. Our prime goal is to locate how to get on the peso budget, thereby stretching our budgets. Its gonna be a good time for sure.

From what Ive heard, there are not hostels in Cuba. There are hotels in Cuba, but I hear they are quite costly. The method we will be using during our stay is Casa Particulares. The Cuban government has allowed licensed houses to open bedrooms for travelers to rent and use during their vacations. For this priveledge, the owners of the Casa pay large monthly fees to the government. Anyway, it works out to cost us anywhere from $20 - $35 dollars per night to live in house with a cuban family. The real question is how we locate and move around between these casas. We have a lot to learn along the way, and we are on the cusp of a major cram session. Its funny to imagine our stay in Mexico is almost done. But its nice to know we will be heading back this way in the near future.

Mexico is wonderful. It has gorgeous weather, beautiful landscape from beachs to mountains to jungle, and most of all. The Mexican people are very warm and graceous. Our time here has been a wonderful experience and we are both excited, and sad to be moving forward.

I assume there will be no internet while we are away. Thus, I hope everyone has a wonderful buildup to christmas. We will be returning to Cancun on the 25th, and wish everyone the best. We miss our family and friends and want to let you all know you are, and will be in our thoughts during the upcoming holidays. I will check back in when internet and time allow. Cheers!

3 de Diciembre 2010

Our week long vacation within a vacation ended this morning at the Mayan Palace and we are quickly reminded of our humble vagabond lifestyle. Currently we are staying in Cancun at a place called the Backpacking Hostelling Center, more bar and restaruant than I would say hostel, but its cheap and....well, not much else so far. Just stopping off here in Cancun for 2 days before we venture forward.

As many of you might have heard, the COP16 - The United Nations Climate Change Conference - is happening right now in Cancun, running from Nov.29th through Dec. 10th. So...you know what that means! Mari and I are gonna have pretty hectic schedules over the next two days meeting with world presidents and elected officials. But its something we are willing to do to save the planet.

Hope all is well with everyone back home, and its nice to be back somewhere with affordable internet. We have some stuff we need to look up and sort out in before we head outta Cancun.