TravelStream™ news feed for member erikandtalor on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/erikandtalor en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 06 Jul 2008 23:05:07 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/erikandtalor/1/1215399600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/erikandtalor/1/1215399600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/erikandtalor/1/1215399600/tpod.html Sun, 06 Jul 2008 23:05:07 -0400 Central American Slugs.

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Buenos Aires, Argentina

Hello to any poor souls following our long, slow journey.

We´ve moved our blog to another site now. You can follow our continuing travels and see our photos here:
Blog: http://eandtontour.blogspot.com/
Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/erikandtalor

Thanks, and as always, we´d love to hear questions or comments from any of you.

erik and talor.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/erikandtalor/1/1213975920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/erikandtalor/1/1213975920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/erikandtalor/1/1213975920/tpod.html Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:18:18 -0400 Central American Slugs.

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Buenos Aires, Capital Federal District, Argentina

Erik's entry:
After much consideration and debate, Talor and I finally decided that we'd had enough of Central America, the heat, the mosquitos, humidity, unchewable beef, etc.. As much as we loved the Corns (I'd actually considered staying 6 weeks longer to do my dive master training on Little Corn), we needed to move on. We'd planned on breezing through Costa Rica to get to Panama, and making further plans from there. After some research, though, we found that one really needs to fly to get to South America from Panama - there are no convenient, nor safe, overland routes into the continent. Further research revealed that flights were more expensive from Panama than from Managua, which makes no sense at all. That got us thinking, and finally we abandoned our Panama plans altogether, which also allowed us to avoid the 25 hour bus ride to Panama City.

But where to go? A whole new continent was open to us, but we didn´t know much at all about South America, and Big Corn Island doesn´t have any book stores, much less a guide book on South America (um, do you have one in English, please?) After 5 months in Central America, we were craving a large, cosmopolitan city with cool temperatures, good food, and wine. (Wine! I never thought I´d get tired of beer, but when it´s the only option, it can get tiresome.) So, with all that in mind, Buenos Aires seemed the place for us. It also didn´t cost much more to fly there than to the other countries, so we went ahead and booked a ticket from Managua to B.A., via Miami, of all places. How can it be cheaper to fly 2.5 hours north to catch a connecting flight south? But, hey, we wouldn´t mind a few hours layover in Miami so we could get a quick fix of American food before heading off for more months abroad...

After a bit more research, we found that hotels and hostals in B.A. were expensive - a cheap room with private bath began at around $40, which is half of our combined daily budget! Hmmm...maybe B.A. wasn´t such a great idea after all. We´d heard it was cheap since the financial collapse in 2001, but we´d also heard along our travels that inflation was out of control. Apparently so! I remembered my cousin, Lauri´s story about renting an apartment in Buenos Aires for her stay a few years ago, so we began searching around on CraigsList and elsewhere, and we ended up finding an affordbable loft apartment in the San Telmo area, which seemed nice. So we had an apartment, and a ticket, and were all set to go.

The evening before we left, we had (yet another) farewell drink with Ike, Kevin, Merle and the gang. We were smart and packed ahead of time, as the drinks went later than expected. Early the next morning, feeling a bit green from the rum, we heard shouting and honking from the road. "Huelga! huelga!" a group of men in the back of a pickup truck were shouting. "Strike! Strike!" Shortly thereafter, Ike came up to our room and said we should leave early, as the island´s fishermen had just started a strike, and they might disrupt car or even plane traffic. Nicaraguans love to go on strike, I guess. We hurried up, said our goodbyes (Cordell, Kevin and Merle were gathered at Ike´s to see us off), and headed to the airport. We saw the beginnings of a few strikers' roadblocks (big rocks strewn across the road), but got to the airport just fine. An hour later we were on the plane and on our way to Managua. We learned later from Ike that we actually got the last flight out the Corns, as the strikers managed to shut down the airport just after, and things had gotten quite bad. They even succeeded in shutting off the island's power and water for a few days. We got out just in time.

The flight to Managua via Bluefields was eventless, except for some tubulence, which didn´t help our hangovers at all. We were both a bit nauseous during the flight, but we arrived right on time, and had about 4 hours to kill before our flight to Miami - so we thought. Turns out that bad weather in Miami had delayed our plane, so we had another 2 hours to kill. 2 hours turned to 3, but our plane finally arrived, we boarded (very slowly, as TSA was making AA personnel re-inspect every single carry-on by hand...) We found some empty rows of seats in the back and were able to nap a little during the flight.

Having been so delayed, we knew that our dreams of a nice, juicy burger in Miami were shot. We weren´t even sure at this point if we´d make our connection. A friendly flight attendent allowed us to move to the front of the plane just before landing so as to rush through immigration. That plan worked well until we got to customs, and waited for our luggage. And waited. And looked at our watches, and waited some more. Our bags were pretty much the last to come out (first on, last off). Normally we take our backpacks carry on, but with so much time to kill, we´d thought we´d check them through. Bad idea! Once they were spat out onto the carrousel, though, we rushed through customs and ran to our gate, making our connection with a hefty 15 minutes to spare.

The fun continued on the flight to Buenos Aires. We pulled away about 45 minutes late, and then waited on the tarmac for another half hour. (Some story of a man who´d deplaned because he was worried about his dog in the checked baggage...) We had our own little TV´s at each seat, and I succeeded in watching all of Casablanca before the plane was in the air. In the end, though, the flight was fine, if very late. After so many bus trips, our welcome back to the world or air travel wasn´t the best.

On the ground in Buenos Aires, after more than 25 hours of flights and airports, we encountered a new problem: we couldn´t withdraw money from any of the ATM´s. We had enough US$ on us to pay for our apartment, but we needed some Argentine pesos to pay for the cab ride into town. Finally we cashed a couple of traveler´s checks, and were happy that we'd carried them and the US$ with us for months in case of just such an emergency.

The cab ride in was fine, though we´re pretty sure we got ripped off a little by the cabbie. We were so tired at that point, though, that we didn´t care. We were let in by Ana, who cares for the apartment. The poor woman had been waiting hours for us, but she was still very nice to us. The apartment is wonderful, with a sizable sleeping loft, kitchenette, bathroom with jacuzzi, computer with internet and cable TV. Wow! And this was half the price of a room in a cheap hotel.

We were exhausted and cold, but excited to get out into the city. Could there be a bigger change than going in one long day from a tiny, hot Caribbean island with our daily choice of what to drink: beer or rum, what to eat: fried chicken or fried yellow tail fish - to a cosmopolitan capital of 13 million people in mid-winter, with myriad choices of bars, restaurants, night clubs, parks, theater, cinemas, etc.?
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/erikandtalor/1/1213660200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/erikandtalor/1/1213660200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/erikandtalor/1/1213660200/tpod.html Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:41:56 -0400 Central American Slugs.

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Big Corn Island, Nicaragua

Talor: Ummm... oops, we're still here. We tried to leave, really! Had our return reservations set, and were getting ready to go, but then Cordell, Kevin and company decided to send us off in style with a BBQ party at Cordell's. It was supposed to be a farewell that turned into another, "Why don't you stay a little longer?" party... so yes, we're still here.

Then a couple days later, Ike showed off his cooking skills by putting together a fantastic lobster dinner for us. Making it really really hard for us to leave... think I'll start calling this place "The Hotel California."

... but in the end, I am a creature of seasons. After 5 months of heat and humidity, I am craving a little cold. So we are heading to the cooler climes of Buenos Aires on Thursday after one last farewell on Wednesday... uh oh it's a full moon! But this time, it won't be "farewell," just "hasta luego" ("see you later") because we will surely be back...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/erikandtalor/1/1212287760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/erikandtalor/1/1212287760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/erikandtalor/1/1212287760/tpod.html Sun, 15 Jun 2008 09:07:28 -0400 Central American Slugs.

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Big Corn Island, Nicaragua

Talor: What do country music, softball and Sunday nights have in common? They're all huge on Big Corn...

... and so is the hospitality. We took the ferry back and Ike (the wonderful owner of Vientos del Norte where we stayed before) came to pick us up, and greeted us as if we were old friends returning. The first thing he told us was that the power/water situation had been pretty stable, but guess what, it was out again at the moment... figures! It took several hours, but it did come back, and has been pretty good since... uh oh, hope I didn't just jinx it.

The plan was to spend a few days getting to know Big Corn, and then back to Managua and on to Panama or somewhere in South America. Well, a few days turned into two weeks...

From the beginning Ike went out of his way to make our stay comfortable. His air-conditioned cabanas are big and comfortable, and he equipped us with a fridge, microwave, toaster, coffee maker and coffee. He is truly a generous host offering us help with anything. Situated on the north side of the island, you get a constant breeze and a gorgeous view of the water. You can see the sunrise on the right and the sunset on the left. But more than that, it's really his friendship that we enjoyed the most, and his wonderful friends. We enjoyed getting to know everyone... Kevin and Wanda, Lib, Cordell, Merle and others. We would sit down to an impromptu party, sipping beer and rum and hearing about their lives. They reminisced quite a bit about Marvin, a much-loved and respected friend who passed away two months ago. Hearing the stories about him made me wish I had known him. Kevin was lucky (or unlucky?) enough to inherit Marvin's 95 year old Indian.

Ike is the man on Big Corn... everyone knows Ike and Ike knows everyone and everything. Born and raised here, he can tell you where to go for a haircut, who has the best cocobread or who can sew a ripped backpack. And the man can dance! He took us out on a night on the town... live music at Anastasia's then dancing at Nico's, a local joint on the beach... on a Sunday night. We had a blast!

Sundays are big here. Everyone goes to the softball stadium to play, drink beer, eat fritos (a mound of deep fried strips of plantains with a piece of fried chicken, topped with a tangy cabbage salad), "watch the game" and listen to music. Yes, there's a DJ who brings a sound system and blasts Caribbean and country music. It's quite the social scene. In the evening, you see the same people dancing up a storm at Nico's.

You hear country music everywhere... in bars, restaurants, homes and cars. Still not sure why, but it kinda makes sense... Caribbean music and country music are both laid back like the island. Gotten to the point where I'm beginning to enjoy it too. We find ourselves humming or singing along to the popular oldies. (Erik's comment: One local theory to popularity of country is that many years back, the only radio station they got here was broadcast out of Houston, Texas, and the fact that all the country they play here is 20 years old or more tends to support that. Hard to tell, so we'll just leave up to a fun, quirky curiosity.)

Food here is uninspired, unless you want to eat fried chicken all the time. The exceptions are Ike's big breakfasts (fruit, toast and heaping servings of eggs with gallo pinto), Kevin's bbq wings (served up with macaroni salad and okra in tomato sauce... wow, it's been forever since I've eaten okra!) and meals at Comederia Maris, where Danette, the owner, serves up a nice chicken or pork out of her own home. Other than that, we've been making good use of the toaster (cocobread, johnny cakes and cinnamon buns) and the microwave (instant noodles and boiled beans). But all is good when you are surrounded by beautiful blue water and a friendly island vibe.

And then there's LuAnn... a stray dog we petted a couple of times while hanging out at Ike's and now she follows us everywhere! Unlike most dogs on the island that are unapproachable because they just run away from you, she is really affectionate and has the most soulful eyes. We've taken to feeding her leftover chicken bones, cocobread or whatever we've got and now she just sits outside our door. If it weren't for the fleas, I'd invite her in. If we were going home, I'd do anything to bring her back with us. If, if, if... gonna break our hearts when we need to leave her... and the Island... sigh.

Erik's addition:
Man, the men here can drink! Not the beer-slugging kids, but the men. We've wandered innocently by Cordell's little club house (a cement shack with a beautiful patio over the water) early afternoon, waved "hi" from outside, and then all of a sudden we're inside, it's dark out, and we've all polished off 3 or 4 bottles of rum (drunk on the rocks with a splash of water.) I've held my own for several hours with them, and they've accepted us both as part of their group now, which can be a pretty dangerous thing! They are so welcoming and generous, though, that we had to stay another week just to enjoy the hospitality a bit more, and try to pay them back a little.

After one Sunday of drinking beer at the ballpark with Ike, Kevin, Lib, etc., Ike took me around to see his mother-in-law, who must be 70 or 80, and he tried to pawn me off on her as the promised "rich american" for her to marry. Luckily she thought I was too young for her. What a funny, nice woman she was, though. Everyone here has an unpretentious, natural sense of humor about life, it's hardships, etc.

(photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/erikandtalor/BigCornIslandNicaragua)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/erikandtalor/1/1211229720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/erikandtalor/1/1211229720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/erikandtalor/1/1211229720/tpod.html Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:38:00 -0400 Central American Slugs.

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Little Corn Island, Nicaragua

Erik's entry:
The panga ride to Little Corn was good fun. The boat is small, able to hold about 15 passengers and a bit of cargo. It's open to the elements, and prone to leaps across the waves, throwing you off of the hard bench seat, and then slamming you back down harder than you might wish. It was a nice day, though, and we enjoyed the 40 minute ride.

Once at Little Corn, we were met at the dock by a welcoming committee comprised of staff from the dive shops and hotels, with handy brochure/maps of the tiny island. There are no roads on the island, so we took a wander over to the far side (20 minutes away), to check out the beach bungalows on offer there. In the end, they were a bit too rustic for us (though quite welcoming to all the mosquitos and sand flies), so we headed back to the main side of the island and checked into the nice Delfines hotel. We negotiated a good, off-season deal on the price with them, based on paying in cash and staying at least 4 days. We've definitely let ourselves slip a little in regards to comfort, budgets, etc., but I think that the heat and the strike finally wore us down and we needed a vacation from our travels, and Little Corn Island was the perfect place for that.

I spent my first 4 days doing my Rescue Diver training with Dive Little Corn. It was very hard work, and I finished with a split lip, bruised knees and a sore back for all my efforts. It was well worth it, though. I feel much more confident diving now, and can provide help in emergency situations, though I wouldn't wish my novice CPR skills on anyone! The staff at Dive Little Corn are all very nice, and good fun to have a beer with after a dive.

Talor spent this time getting to know just about everyone on the island. She and I would walk around after my training, and I'd be amazed at how many friends she'd made in so short a time. Small islands are that way, but so is Talor.

Talor's Take: Y'all, I almost don't even wanna tell you about Little Corn... well, ok but promise you won't tell too many people about it. It really is one of the most beautiful, unspoilt places I've ever been to. Tourism has been building up a bit with a smattering of places to stay and eat, but for the most part, it is not developed at all... no cars, resorts, Mickey-D's or even a Domino's Pizza. You can literally walk along stretches of the most gorgeous beach and not see anyone... no beach chairs, umbrellas, nothing! And the only footprints you see on the sand are you own.

The island is really small... you can walk from one end to the other in less than an hour, but try walking down the "main road" just to buy a loaf of fresh-baked cocobread... it will take you more than an hour cause you gotta stop and say hi to everyone. This is the friendliest place I've ever been to... seriously! And the people are always happy to share their knowledge of the island, and point out who's who and what's what. When you walk through the interior, on the muddy paths, through the woods, you see how most of the folks live... it's really rustic, basically 4 walls with a rusty tin roof, no electricity or running water, some living in real poverty struggling to survive, but the moment, you walk by, they will smile and wave hello. And it's just to say hello... never putting a hand out asking for anything. After Granada, I found it really refreshing, and it didn't take long before I found myself smiling all the time too.

The downside is that food, and just about everything else on the island, is expensive (relatively) since it all has to be shipped there by boat. A meal cost at least 100 cordobas (about $5). In the cities, we were used to spending far less to feed the both of us. But we managed by eating lots of cocobread (13 cordobas), mini-beef patties (5 cordobas) and all the free mangoes we could eat. Mango trees are everywhere. A 5-minute walk into the woods and paths would be covered in sweet, juicy mangoes waiting to be picked up and eaten. Also, we were lucky that our hotel bungalow was just underneath an avocado tree (which the locals call pears). When we heard them dropping with a bang on our roof, we'd just walk behind the bungalow and pick them up. Add a bit of local goat cheese and a tomato and we had a meal.

The other downside was the weather... this is the rainy season, need I say more? The first 3 days, it rained almost non-stop, and we were convinced we brought the bad luck with us. After that, it rained on and off, with the sun making an appearance now and again. It got to be that I felt I had the power to control the weather... every time I put on sunscreen and stepped out onto the beach, it would rain, but as soon as I put on my rainjacket to go for a walk, the sun would come out. When the sun was out, the water was absolutely crystal clear and inviting. One day, we woke up to a beautiful morning with the sun shining, by noon, it was dark and overcast, by late afternoon, the winds came and it rained buckets. We holed up in the room, turned on the news and found out it was because Hurricane Alma was on her way. It was only a category 1, but it was slow moving and headed to Leon where it rained and rained causing lots of damage. We were lucky though cause she died down before reaching the Caribbean side, and by evening, the weather on the island was already calm and the skies were clearing up.

Twelve days passed in the blink of an eye, and it was time to leave. We had planned on 10 days, and managed to stretch it to 15, counting the 3 days we spent on Big Corn. Sadly, we were out of cordobas and there are no banks on Little Corn. We had just enough to get on the lancha to return to Big Corn where there is a bank. We said good-bye to everyone with a heavy heart, but in my mind, I thought this isn't good-bye...

Paulie, hope you're gonna keep your promise and look for a piece of land for us to build a house when we come back...

(photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/erikandtalor/LittleCornIslandNicaragua)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/erikandtalor/1/1208725140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/erikandtalor/1/1208725140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/erikandtalor/1/1208725140/tpod.html Tue, 10 Jun 2008 23:33:15 -0400 Central American Slugs.

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Rais Ta, Honduras

Talor: So, once again, got up early to catch the pipante (boat) back to Rais Ta. Had just enough time for pancakes with beans and a swig of coffee before we had to run to the other hospedaje where the boat was leaving from. Rushed to get there by 6:45 for a 7:00 departure, but of course, it didn´t leave until an hour later. No matter, we got a ride back without breaking the bank. Three and a half hours later, we were dropped off on the beach at Rio Platano, and were told to walk about 10 minutes til we saw the pailas (pickup trucks). They would normally come out to the beach to pickup passengers going to other villages, but it being Sunday, we needed to go to them. We had no idea where we were going so we just walked along the beach hoping to see something that resembled a settlement.

We saw a group of people walking in our direction. They looked to be coming from church so we asked them about the pailas. They said there were none, we needed to go back to the beach and hire a pipante to take us to Rais Ta, or we could walk and get there in 3 hours. Ummm... walking 3 hours with our backpacks and frontpacks on the beach with the sun beating down on us was not an option so we followed them back to the beach. One of the women actually waited with us while someone else went to tell the guy with a pipante that we needed a ride. Waited about 45 minutes under the shade of a large tree and chatted a bit with the woman who was being very kind. Finally, the guy with the pipante came and wanted to charge us 600 lempiras to take us on a half-hour ride... ridiculous! Especially since we just paid 800 lps for a 3 1/2 hour ride. We talked him down to 300 lps and I grudgingly got in the pipante.

It seems like they really try to stick it to the tourists here. Their argument seems to be that everything, especially gas, is very expensive because it has to be brought in. This is all true, but not as much as they are saying. I think they have found tourism to be a good source of income for them and assume all tourists are rich and can pay alot of money. Rather than try to be reasonable and encourage and grow tourism, everyone seems to be out to make as much money as they can off of anyone who needs a ride, a room or a meal. Even the grocery stores way overcharge for everything. Our experience in Honduras up til then had been really good, and we didn´t have to constantly negotiate everything or pay a "tourist" price, so this was a surprise.

Anyway, all I could think was how nice it was going to be once we were back at the Ecolodge and under the care of Dona Elma. Finally got there, let out a big sigh of relief then showered for about an hour scrubbing ourselves down. Dona Elma fed us well... huge portions of fish, rice, beans, maduro (sweet plaintains) and cabbage salad with cheese and a yummy drink made from tamarind. All was well in the world again. Now all we had to deal with was getting a flight out of the Moskitia...

It being Sunday, we weren´t sure if we would be able to. Went in search of Estella, the person we needed to make the arrangements with, but she wasn´t there so we gave up and decided to try early Monday morning. Had dinner, then read by candlight before passing out.

Monday morning, got up early and went to see Estella again, and actually got to speak to her. She said there might be a flight later we can get on, but she would have to check. She would let us know by radioing the Ecolodge within the hour. We had hope. Went back and had coffee and waited and waited... had breakfast and waited and waited... 2 hours later, no word. Elma tried radioing them, but no answer. We gave up on a flight for the day and talked to Jorge about maybe taking a day trip to Plaplaya, another village about a half-hour boat trip away. Plaplaya is Garifuna rather than Miskito, and apparently, it is one that is truly Garifuna, unspoiled by tourism. Thought we would go and walk around and maybe have lunch... give Elma a break from cooking for us. Jorge said he would find out for us. Then we decided to walk over to see Estella and try to confirm a flight for Tuesday morning. It was close to noon and as we approached the airstrip, a plane came in... huh, what timing. And, it would be back at 2:30 and can take us to La Ceiba! So we cancelled our plans for Plaplaya, had lunch, packed up, paid our bill, and gave Elma a great big hug and said good-bye... but was it really good-bye?

Got to the airstrip and waited an hour before they told us there would be no more planes coming. The next flight out would be Tuesday morning 7:30. The guy who told us explained why, but I was too pissed to understand. We walked back absolutely fuming, and it was a little late to even do Plaplaya since there would only be about 2 daylight hours left, plus having to pay another night`s lodging and meals, we would have just enough for the flight the next day... crap!

Back at the Ecolodge, they welcomed us back. O well, at least we were stuck at the Ecolodge and not at Las Marias.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/erikandtalor/1/1208469660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/erikandtalor/1/1208469660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/erikandtalor/1/1208469660/tpod.html Tue, 10 Jun 2008 23:28:17 -0400 Central American Slugs.

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Las Marias, Honduras

The colectivo was about an hour late - 9am, but it finally showed up. Bonifacio was our captain, and the ship was a large (ish) dug-out canoe with an outboard motor. We managed to talk the price down from 700L each to 500L each ($27) for the 5 hour ride. There was another gringo with us, Steve, an Englishman who´d been pretty much all over the world and who was going up to spend 3 weeks fishing the Moskitio. The canoe had 3 small chairs for us, a bit like tiny Adirondak chairs, but with all comfort removed. We headed off through the tiny canals and picked up a man who´d been in hospital for 2 weeks, recovering from a bite from a "Fer de Lance" snake, which may be the same as a copperhead. He still couldn´t walk and was apparently very lucky to be alive. (See entry about our jungle hike, where Erik nearly stepped on the same snake.) After much effort getting him into the canoe, we then picked up a woman and her daughter who had been in the boat we´d taken from Palacios to Raista - despite being vaste, the Moskitia is a tiny place. Finally, after getting gas, we finally set off up river. The going was slow, and Steve and I had to get out and help push the boat a few times when we became stuck in sand bars. The chairs became increasingly uncomfortable, but the scenery became more and more interesting, with the jungle getting taller and denser with each passing hour. We saw loads of turtles, herons, egrets and the ever-present vultures, as well as loads of tiny, colorful birds. We spied a toucan flying overhead at one point as well. Talor spent much of the trip up playing with the young girl, who was very, very cute.
In the end, with all the extra stops for passengers, the trip took a bit over 6 hours. We were so happy that we´d taken time to buy wide-brimmed hats for the trip, as the sun was powerful! We arrived at Las Marias late in the afternoon, and walked with our bags a good distance to the Hospedaje Dona Justa, where we found very basic accomodation: small, foam beds with mosquito nets, large buckets of water for bathing, outhouse toilets and no electricity. Apparently this was the nicest of the "hospedajes" in Las Marias.
It was getting dark, so we bought a few supplies for our jungle trek from a tiny shack down the dirt path from our new home, and then met Julio, the "sacaguia" - head guide, to plan our trip further upriver and through the jungle for the next two days. We arranged everything, and would need one guide and two boatman to take us further upriver (they use poles to propel the canoes upriver..) and do a deep-jungle trek the following day. We paid a fair sum, 1400 Lempiras ($80) for the two days. Dinner was simple - spaghetti and beans, but we were so tired that we didn´t care much. Eating in the dark takes away your appetite a bit. After that we finished repacking by candle light the things that we would take with us early the next morning, and then went to bed at the the late hour of 8:30pm.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/erikandtalor/1/1208515680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/erikandtalor/1/1208515680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/erikandtalor/1/1208515680/tpod.html Tue, 10 Jun 2008 23:26:11 -0400 Central American Slugs.

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Las Marias, Honduras

Talor: Woke up 4:30am to have coffee and breakfast before leaving at 6:00 on our 2-day tour. Dona Justa was kind enough to get up early, feed us and even packed a lunch for us to take! Julio (the head guide) showed up at 6:20 to take us to the boat. Walked for about 25 minutes through the village trying not to step on horse and cow manure which was everywhere. Had wondered why everyone walked around in galoshes... that explained it.

Met our lead guide, Ricardo, whose father owns the hotel we would be staying in that evening. The two other guides were primarily working on the pipante (boat), "pulling" us upriver with long wooden sticks and paddling us downriver. The pipante ride was really quite beautiful... nothing but dense woods, butterflies dancing... and, oh yeah, mosquitos buzzing. About an hour later, we arrived at the site of our first hike. Took about an hour and a half through an established trail, and there was even a look-out post with magnificent views in all directions. Emerged from our hike further up-river, right across from Hospedaje Don Bernardo's... how convenient.

Thought Dona Justa's was basic as far as the facilities go... at least there was a bathing area and toilet paper. At Don Bernardo's, the tub of water in the outhouse was both for bathing and flushing the toilet. We chose to bathe in the river... was far more refreshing and fun. The facilities weren`t all that, but the view was beautiful from the hotel, plus there were very cute puppies running around.

Anyway, took an hour`s rest then got back into the pipante to go a bit further upriver to see the petroglyphs. The setting was very pretty. The petroglyphs, which are a bit of a mystery because these curious images were carved into these stones a long long time ago, but they`re still not sure who, when or what it means. I found them to be unremarkable... one looked like a smiley face... guessing someone was having a good day?

Back to Don Bernardo`s cause we were done for the day at 1:00 in the afternoon. Ate the lunch Dona Justa packed us, which was rice and beans with sardines and a pancake. Sounds like a strange combination, but it was pretty tasty... well, anything`s tasty when you`re hungry. Afterwards, took a swim/bath in the river, rinsed out our musty clothes then just relaxed and did a whole lotta nothing, because there is absolutely nothing to do, until it was time to eat dinner. Ricardo was showing off a fancy fish "gun" that he made himself so we were hoping for some fresh fish for dinner. Instead, one of the ladies came up to ask us if we wanted to eat meat. A bit disappointed, but ok, whatever. Little did we know, it would be a few bits of deep fried beef with a mound of rice, beans and fried plantains. Everything was really dry, but we managed to choke it down by candlelight. Think it was good that we couldn´t see that well.

After dinner, read a bit by candlelight then went to sleep. Day 2 of the tour was going to start at 6:30am...

Once again, coffee and breakfast at 6:00 before leaving. Breakfast consisted of a mound of rice, spaghetti and fried plaintain chips... yes, three carbs/starches heaped on a plate. Ate as much as we could choke down then paid our bill. It was a lot more expensive than Dona Justa`s... 200 lempiras for the room and 70 lempiras for each meal... what a jip! Then we headed out for our hike to Cerro Mico, which started from the "backyard" of the hotel.

For the next five hours, we traipsed through thick jungle as Ricardo created a path with his machete. Thought it would be more of what we had done the day before, through an established path, but this was very very different. It was dank, dark and slippery. Ricardo seemed to have no problems with his galoshes, but we had to be careful with every step because there were rocks, twigs, branches, twines, just about everything you can imagine beneath a layer of leaves trying to trip us up. About an hour into it, I was already exhausted... mentally and physically. Then the "fun" really started... had to cross ponds with slippery rocks and our shoes were sopping wet. It wasn´t long before I could feel the blisters starting to form on my feet. Then we started our ascent up Cerro Mico climbing over felled trees, walking up muddy hills, etc. Erik discovered a snake that Ricardo hacked up with his machete because it was poisonous. He explained that he almost died from a bite 11 years ago and thanked Erik for spotting it. Then we got eaten alive by fire ants, and we were only half-way there. When we stopped to take a rest, I looked up and thought, "Wow! So this is the rainforest!" It was gorgeous, lush, dense and full of life. The problem was that during the entire hike, I didn´t dare look up because I had to be so careful with every single step we took, and even then, we constantly twisted our ankles, banged our legs against broken trees, tripped over vines. The descent was even worse. It started to rain and made everything slippier and muddier. Fell twice and just wanted to sit down and cry. Erik fared a whole lot better than me, but think he was almost as miserable because he was so worried about me. Plus we really didn´t get to see any animals unless you count puppies, chickens and pigs. Erik thought he saw a monkey`s ass but wasn´t sure. We heard howler monkeys, but didn´t see them. All I could think was how much I wanted it to be over...

When we finally emerged on the other side and saw the pipante, I was so relieved, I almost cried! All I could think was "NEVER AGAIN!" No more jungle, woods, forests... ever! Should this experience get blurry with time, and I ever speak of taking a hike again, someone please point me in the direction of the nearest city park!

Anyway, a half hour pipante ride and a 25 minute walk through the fields and we were back at Dona Justa`s thinking how luxurious that was compared to Don Bernardo`s! Absolutely everything is relative. Now we had to work out our ride back to Rais Ta. Jorge, one of our boat guides, was very pleased with the generous tips we gave them, said he would go and tell Olvideo that we needed to talk with him about our return trip. Got out of our very funky jungle smelling clothes and picked off all the ticks off our bodies. Then we bathed as best with could with a plastic tub of water and a metal bowl. Waited for Olvideo to show, but didn´t and we wondered if we would be able to leave the next morning.

About 6:00, dinner was ready so we went down to eat. Rice and fried fish heads and tails... wondered what happened to the bodies. Just as we were finishing up, Olvideo showed up with another man to talk to us. Said he could take us the next morning, but it would cost 2500 lempiras because he had no other passengers nor cargo to transport. When we explained that we didn´t have that much, he just laughed. He seemed very different than the really nice man who brought us here. We had heard there were a couple of people going to Brus Laguna the next morning, so we asked them if they knew anything about that. They said that there were two American tourists who had hired a private pipante through the Impresa Tour Co. Then Dona Justa and Mariano explained that they may take us, but it wasn´t good because it doesn´t support their community. We realized there were a lot of politics going on between villages and even within the villages.

When Olvideo left, Dona Justa and Mariano told us that we may be able to leave if we were willing to take a tuk-tuk (a boat with a louder, noiser, slower motor), which would be cheaper, possibly 800 lempiras. Of course we said yes. He went out into the dark to go talk to them to see if it would be possible. Returned a half-hour later and said yes and a man would be coming by to work the details out with us. There were two men, and one spoke English. Turns out they were the men with the Impresa Tour taking the Americans to Brus Laguna. Told us they could take us as far as Rio Platano then we would have to take a paila (pick-up truck) to Rais Ta. Whew! So we got our ride. We realized that although Justa and Mariano were not happy about Impresa, they helped us to get on that boat because it was important to them to support and help their clients. All they asked in return was to recommend them to anyone who is going to Las Marias.

With that worked out, we went to bed smiling dreaming of the luxury we would have once we got back to Rais Ta...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/erikandtalor/1/1207686060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/erikandtalor/1/1207686060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/erikandtalor/1/1207686060/tpod.html Tue, 10 Jun 2008 23:18:37 -0400 Central American Slugs.

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La Ceiba, Honduras

After two morning dives, I raced to the 2pm ferry to meet Talor in La Ceiba. We´d agreed to meet up at 4pm at Cafe Giarre, which as luck would have it, was closed. At least the ice cream store next to it was open, and Talor was waiting for me there as I got out of the cab. It was nice to have a break and be on our own for a little while, but it was great to be back together as well.
We booked into the Banana Republic Guest House, with a large room with balcony overlooking a busy street. The house is a bit run down, and the shower didn´t work so well, but the room was very nice and only$13/night, so we were quite pleased. We also found and excellent local fast food place, Super Baleadas, just around the corner. Baleadas are Honduran street food, much like a californian style burrito, except on a much thicker flour tortilla (grilled as you watch), but folded over more like an enormous soft taco. They are really good, and really cheap. There is a place across the street selling ice cold 60 cent beers as well - a perfect set up. La Ceiba is nice, but we weren´t in love with it, no matter how good the baleadas were. It´s a fairly large city, and the jumping off point for the Bay Islands, but we didn´t find it too compelling.
During our stay in La Ceiba, we pondered our next step in the trip. We were torn between continuing southeast in the wilderness of La Moskitia (Honduras´s version of the Amazon, with virgin rain forest jungle, wildlife, etc.), or heading west to Tegulcigapa and down into Nicaragua from there. In the end, we decided to test our off-the-beaten-track travel skills and push down into La Moskitia. The first step for that was to head down to Trujillo (so we thought), and so we were off after just a few days in La Ceiba.
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Big Corn Island, Nicaragua

Erik's entry: Too much agressive panhandling and too much heat/transit strike forced us to make a desperate plan to get out of Granada. We hired a car to drive us to the airport, and bought tickets out to the Corn Islands, Nicaragua's little piece of Caribbean island culture. It actually wasn't that expensive in the end, though we'd originally planned to bus/ferry our way to the islands, which takes about 1 1/2 days and costs about 1/2 the price of flying. Transit strikes can be quite useful excuses to spoil oneself a little...

The flight was easy, with a short, 5 minute layover in Bluefields. Big Corn Island has one paved road which runs the periphery of the island. A cab from anywhere to anywhere costs about $.60/person, and you can walk the entire island in 2-3 hours, that is if you can hold up that long in the heat/humidity. (There are plenty of places to get a cold drink along the way.) We stayed the first night in Sweet Dreams, which unfortunately was a misnomer. The bed was uncomfortable, and I had to do battle with a huge water bug in the bathroom in the middle of the night.

The next day, I was off for some scuba diving in the calm, clear waters. Talor took a walk to the north end of the island, which is less inhabited and gets a stronger, steadier breeze. The diving with Nautilus Diver Center was excellent (if you go here to dive, make sure to pay the extra money and go out to "blowing rock" - it's well worth it.) Meanwhile, Talor had scoped out a good number of the hotels on the island and suggested we stay at Ike's Place (AKA Cabanas Vientos del Norte.) Ike Siu is Nicaragua/Chinese, and has been living on the island most of his life. His cabanas are simple, but very clean, with A/C. He also supplies you with a little coffee maker and very nice coffee to go in it, a big bonus for us, as we've been getting up at around 6am each day and having to wait an hour or two until cafes opened to get our fix. The biggest bonus of Ike's Place, though, is Ike Siu himself. He is one of the nicest, most generous hosts we've met in our travels. Nothing is too much trouble for him, and he knows everything about the island. He's also very well respected on the island, and throwing his name around can open doors sometimes.

Unfortunately, the one thing that Ike couldn't hook us up with was a steady supply of electricity and water. They were changing over generators on the island, and the power would go out for hours or days at a time. And without power, the water failed to work as well. No AC, no fan, no shower, and at the same time the nice north winds quit on us as well. After trying to grit it out for a few days, we finally gave up and headed to Little Corn Island. Ike Siu did right by us, though, and gave us a healthy discount for the inconvenience and even drove us to the port to get the panga (mini ferry) over to Little Corn.
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