TravelStream™ news feed for member domkop on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/domkop en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 18 Aug 2006 00:04:23 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/domkop/leaving_sydney/1155355380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/domkop/leaving_sydney/1155355380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/domkop/leaving_sydney/1155355380/tpod.html Fri, 18 Aug 2006 00:04:23 -0400 After living in Sydney for 3 years, its time for me to go to some places old and some places new......

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Sydney, Australia

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Santiago, Chile

So my budget was going pretty well until I got to Santiago. I'm not sure if it is the fact that I've been staring at bare shelves in Cuba for a couple weeks, but being in Santiago's shopping centres is like being a kid in a Candy store. Its a bit like Buenos Aires, a fairly modern city and very westernised. The best thing though is their ski season is ending, so most stuff is reduced. Once again I got lucky and there was a Swiss guy who had been snowboarding his whole life with nothing to do, so yesterday after seeing a few of the sights of Santiago we headed to the ski shops where he explained all about the boards and helped me pick the best one. The other great things about Santiago are the fact that there are snow-capped mountains towering 3,500 metres above the city (you can ski in summer and surf in winter all within 50 km of the city!!) and the bus buskers - I've seen many buskers before, but never on a bus. Anything from reggaton and rap to Latin folk. Very entertaining!

So after buying a snowboard and bindings (thanks mom and Tanya for the birthday present), some sunnies and some clothes, the last thing I have to worry about is getting on the plane under the weight restrictions. That will be tomorrow night, and I'll be back in Sydney on Friday.......
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/domkop/leaving_sydney/1154558040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/domkop/leaving_sydney/1154558040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/domkop/leaving_sydney/1154558040/tpod.html Tue, 08 Aug 2006 20:27:05 -0400 After living in Sydney for 3 years, its time for me to go to some places old and some places new......

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Havana, Cuba

Cuba was the first country that I was worried about the passport control, and it was justified. It took almost 2 hours to clear customs. First of all the immigration wanted to know my life history, and that of my family's (sorry if you get a knock your door from the Cubans family) all in very bad Spanish (to be fair to me Tanya is fluent in Spanish and when she phoned Cuba for me she didn't understand their accent). Then I had to get my bag inspected because their x-ray detected a bottle, which turned out to be my jar of vegemite. I tried to convince the 2 guys to taste it, but after they smelt it they weren't having a bar of it. I guess you either love it or hate it.

The first thing I noticed about Cuba in the airport and the taxi ride from the airport was the propaganda everywhere. Billboards and adverts of people smiling and waving Cuban flags at Fidel Castro. This is something that I saw everywhere on my travels through Cuba.

As those of you who were on my mothers e-mail looking for me, I spent the first week in Cuba not feeling too good, which I think affected the way I felt about the first few places I went. Even though I was sick, I still tried to keep to my plans and see some towns in Cuba. I found it pretty difficult though because the buses are more difficult than most places I've been and people weren't terrible helpful. Anyway I managed to travel to Cienfuegos, Trinidad and Sancti Spiritus. All three towns were fairly similar - old colonial towns with a nice town square, but not much else. In reality I think I could have spent an hour in each and been happy (admittedly I was doing the bare minimum and sleeping the rest of the time). Instead it took me 8 days with busses being full and a little stint in the hospital.

After that I felt alot better and enjoyed the town of Vinales alot more. Cuba really has a beautiful countryside, with Vinales being my favourite. Its in a green valley surrounded by farms and villages, with pincushion mountains or hills popping up everywhere. I took a tour of the surrounding valley with a tour guide that spoke pretty good English, and it turned out to be one of the highlights. Other than explaining about the hills, he also explained how socialism worked in Cuba. We just sat in the tobacco drying huts (to escape the heat) and discussed what life in Cuba was like. This was the reason I wanted to learn Spanish, but I ended up getting the story in English. It was very interesting to hear a Cubans view on life, the revolution, socialism, the US embargo etc. Definitely worth the trip, just for that.

Finally I visited Havana, which I decided to leave to last. I had heard that its possible to spend weeks there and not get bored, and how true that is! Havana is a very interesting city, where everybody warrants a look (OK the girls especially), every street scene and plaza (of which there are many) warrants a photo and every building and car tells a story. Unfortunately I only had 4 days in Havana, so I set about reading my LP and organising each of my days to try and see everything. So for the next 4 days I walked Havana flat, visiting museums (the Museo de la Revolution and the Museo de la Ciudad were the highlights), visiting cathedrals and climbing their spires, sitting in the plazas and people watching drinking coffee and the odd Havana club, walking through the barrios and going into many of the other old and beautiful buildings that Havana has.

Alas it was time to leave Havana, and after a flight delay and night in Havana airport it was time to leave and start heading home.....
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Vinales, Cuba

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Sancti Spiritus, Cuba

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Trinidad, Cuba

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Cienfuegos, Cuba

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Isla Mujeres, Mexico

After: 7 countries, 9 border crossings, 64 days, 100's of new people (some for a day, some for a week and hopefully a couple for alot longer than that), 73 bus rides, 10 taxi rides, 13 boat rides, 2 tuktuk rides, what feels like 1,000 mozzie bites, 1 bed bug incident, 5 volcanoes (1 climbed), 2 volcanic lakes, 3 Mayan ruins, 11 cathedrals, 4 hot springs (not counting the Caribbean at Isla Holbox), 8 beaches (2 Pacific, 6 Caribbean), 4 snorkelling trips (1 with sharks, 1 with whale sharks and 2 with turtles), countless hours spent relaxing in hammocks and more pollo, arroz y frijoles (chicken, rice and beans), cervezas and ron y cola (cuba libres) I ever care to remember, my Central American adventure has finally come to an end.

I have seen everything I wanted to see, done everything I wanted to do (and more), gone everywhere I wanted to go and achieved everything I wanted to achieve.

Tomorrow I achieve a life long ambition and my ultimate reason for being in this unforgettable part of the world. I go to Cuba.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/domkop/leaving_sydney/1153170780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/domkop/leaving_sydney/1153170780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/domkop/leaving_sydney/1153170780/tpod.html Wed, 19 Jul 2006 18:13:29 -0400 After living in Sydney for 3 years, its time for me to go to some places old and some places new......

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Isla Holbox, Mexico

After another big night with the people from the hostel in Playa del Carmen, I promised to go with 2 English girls to Akumal again and show them where the turtles were. However in the semi-sober light of morning I realised I was running out of time and after giving them directions I started on my way to Isla Holbox. Unfortunately by the time I got to Cancun I had missed the last bus to Chiquila (where the Isla Holbox ferry goes from) and so spent the afternoon in Cancun sleeping (I didn't get any the night before) and reading. I am finally getting stuck into my Ernesto Guevara book and am loving the history I am finding out abt Cuba as well as the whole region.

The next morning I started the trip to Isla Holbox. This island isn't in the book and was recommended to me abt a month ago by an English/Dutch couple in Semuc Chempey - but I didn't have an idea how long it would take. It ended up taking abt 5 hours to get there, not too bad. When I got there I hired a hammock and explored the little town and island. Isla Holbox is very similar to Caye Caulker in Belize - white sand beaches, clear blue water and a small laid back town - but not quite as laid back as Belize though. I spent the afternoon reading, lying on the beach and swimming - not that the water provided any relief from the heat as it is the warmest water I have ever swum in (I'm guessing abt 30 degrees).

The next day made my very short trip to Isla Holbox became worth while. The reason: Nado con el Tiburon Ballena!! - I swam with whale sharks!! (For the Spanish people out there I realise my Spanish was in the present tense, but I only do present tense in Spanish).

It was truly incredible, one of the best experiences of my trip. Whale sharks are the biggest fish in the world, but being plankton eaters are completely harmless. They grow up to 12 metres long! It was great getting in the water with this giant, its true size only really realised when I was under water with it. As for the whale shark, it carried on its feeding as if no-one was there. The photos don't do the experience justice (and I'm guessing not even an underwater one would have).

I would float in the water at the mouth (wide open - abt a metre) of this 8 metre shark who would just glide by, and when its tail (taller than me) slowly flicked past, I'd make pace to the front again and just gaze in awe as it sailed past again! Wow!

After a couple of hours we headed back to the island, where I caught the ferry and a bus back to Cancun, and then another boat to Isla Mujeres........
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/domkop/leaving_sydney/1152573900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/domkop/leaving_sydney/1152573900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/domkop/leaving_sydney/1152573900/tpod.html Sat, 15 Jul 2006 20:14:04 -0400 After living in Sydney for 3 years, its time for me to go to some places old and some places new......

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Riviera Maya, Mexico

I was warned that Mexico was hot by a few people in Belize, but I thought it was hot there, so Mexico couldn't be much hotter. I was wrong. It seemed that as soon as I crossed the border, it was 5 degrees hotter. I'm guessing it was in the late 30's.

I was on my way up to Tulum on the Yucatan Peninsula, but after a long hot day I regretted leaving Belize and didn't really like Tulum. It was town built on either side of a massive highway and was packed with American and French families on their 2 week summer holidays and all the shops and prices reflected this. However I was in Mexico to stay and I knew I would have to adjust my attitude otherwise I wouldn't enjoy it.

That happened to be very easy, when the next day I went to the Tulum ruins with Xavier (a French Canadian guy I met in Caye Caulker). It was stunning! The 1,000 year old Mayan ruins are perched on top of a cliff overlooking the crystal clear blue waters of the Caribbean. I reckon 1,000 years ago King Big Jaguar Paw saw these beaches and ordered his subjects to build him a penthouse with ocean views. And that's what they did. I spent a few hours looking around the ruins of Tulum and then Xavier and I went down to the beaches. And here it was: the reason people come to Tulum. Not the crappy transport hub of a town, but the white beaches and beautiful blue water. The next night Xavier and I rented a cabana on the beach and it was paradise.

I went on a snorkelling trip on the reef a few hundred meters off shore with a few other randoms. At the first stop we didn't see much because the water was pretty deep and murky. We then moved to a much shallower and calmer part of the reef. And there it was. A turtle!! I swallowed a mouth full of sea water I was so excited. It was the first turtle I had ever seen and it was incredibly beautiful and elegant. Unfortunately the small turtle (abt 30cm long) had other things to do than hang around and pose for a tourist, and made off across the reef. That sighting definitely was the highlight of Tulum!

That night we had a few beers with the other people from the cabanas on the beach. Unfortunately I didn't get much sleep that night because of the incredible heat (I woke up thinking I must have sleep walked and gone for a swim in my clothes, but it was just sweat!) and the voracious mosquitos. It was a tough choice between sweating to death or exposing your body and being eaten alive.

The next day I carried on north to Playa del Carmen, another touristy place even more packed with summer vacationers. However I got lucky. The hostel where I stayed had mainly Mexicans staying there and they were a great bunch. I'm pretty sure this can only happen in Mexico: Last night we went out (Me, a French girl and abt 6 Mexicans) and on the way out Xemena (Mexican girl) got stung by a scorpion! because she wasn't wearing any shoes! After a couple minutes discussion between the Mexican experts it was decided that the best cure was Tequila! We had a great night because one of the guys (the hostel owner) is a Playa resident so he took us to all the best and hippest bars and clubs (and for free too! - saving $25 US entry at one place alone. And we didn't have to queue up.) even though I didn't even have shoes (I chivalrously had given my thongs to Xemena, admittedly after the horse had bolted). I spent most of the night treading very carefully. Eventually at abt 4AM when half her body was numb, we decided it was probably best to take Xemena to the hospital, but they didn't provide much help and she decided to sleep it off. (For those of you that are worried I saw her this afternoon and she's alive).

Today on Miriam's (French girl) advice I headed to another beach abt half an hour south of Playa del Carmen called Akumal. It was absolutely beautiful with the white sand beaches and blue seas. I hired snorkelling gear and went in, not expecting much. But there it was again! Not one, but 4 full grown loggerhead turtles (almost a metre each), just hanging about. Once again I swallowed a mouthful of sea water. These are such beautiful, serene creatures, that don't have any natural predators (apparently) and that's why they are so docile. The most incredible thing was when one of the turtles surfaced for air, he swam straight for me and was a mere 30CM from my face, looking straight at me when he took his breath of air. It was defiantly one of the highlights of my nature watching career. I spent absolute ages just floating on the water, watching these gentle old men of the sea go about their business (which involved eating sea grass and surfacing for air). In the end I think I saw abt 10 or 12 turtles, a 1 metre barracuda and a sting ray!

Unfortunately it was time to go - I had seen a man braaing chicken on the side of the road earlier and I was hungry....(best chicken of Central America so far). Tomorrow I'll leave Playa del Carmen, but I can guarantee it wont be far from the beautiful beaches and sea.......
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