TravelStream™ news feed for member goyo1980 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/goyo1980 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 24 Aug 2007 12:24:19 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1187971440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1187971440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1187971440/tpod.html Fri, 24 Aug 2007 12:24:19 -0400 Three months, two backpacks and six Central American countries and countless busses...

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Suchitoto, El Salvador

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After a nine hour bus ride to San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, and wandering around the city for a while, Carrie and I found that the restaurant we were going to eat at was closed. However, next door was a hostel and we figured they could give us information on where to eat as well as how to use the local busses to go up north to another town the next day. After about two minutes of talking, Dionorra (the woman who came to the door) offered to give us a lift. She then invited us into the hostel for dinner and conversation. It turned out that she and her husband, Jose, had just sold the hostel and were moving to Barcelona (where Jose is from) later in the week. Well, needless to say we accepted the ride and met up with them the next morning.

Upon arriving at the hostel, we saw a pickup truck with the back completely filled with household items including plants, a dresser, a table, a washing machine and bags of clothes. As there were four people in the family travelling (Dionorra, her mom, Jose, and their little niece), it was Carrie and I that had the honour of sitting on the back of the truck. Carrie's seat was on top of a bag of clothes while mine was on top of the table, above the top of the truck.

Needless to say, I was a bit nervous but what else could we do. It didn't help that Jose was speeding along at speeds up to 75mph and much of our trip involved windy roads with Carrie and I holding on to whatever we could. The dresser kept getting blown forward onto us so we spent half the ride pushing it back with our backs...I would have to imagine if we were not there it would have blown away into someone else's windshield. The best part had to be some of the looks we got from people driving by us. While driving through one random little town, an entire school full of children leaving for the day all waved to us and said hi. I'm sure that every one of them went home and told their parents about the crazy white people they saw riding on the back of a truck.

Two hours later we arrived, none-the-worse for wear, and found ourselves at Dionorra's mom's house in a little village called Chalatenango, not too different from much of Nicaragua. It was there that they were leaving all the things from the truck as well as the car. Shortly after, a little bus with Dionorra's entire family arrived for what turned out to be their going away party. While the women were cooking food, Jose, Carrie and I went for a tour of the area including stops at two beautiful lakes including Lago Suchitlan and the small old town of Santa Cruz. We hung out in the shade, drank a few beers, talked a little politics and religion (well, they talked...I listened) and got a great tour of an area that few tourists get to see.

Upon returning to the house, most of the family had to leave to catch a boat and we stayed behind with the folks we came with and had a delicious meal. Many tears were shed as Dinonorra's mom was not going to Barcelona with them and they had to say goodbye. Finally, we headed down the hill by foot and hitched a ride in the back of a melon truck to the dock in Chalatengo where we caught a boat across the lake to the San Francisco and then hiked up a massive hill to the beautiful colonial town of Suchitoto. However, we could not stop and admire it (Carrie and I would return a few days later and spend the day) as we had to power-walk up a steep hill and through the town to catch the last bus of the day back to San Salvador . All in all a crazy day...the wildest part of it was the fact that we were there for so much personal family stuff on their part and they didn't think twice about inviting us after knowing us for a whole two minutes. Once again, the cultural differences towards strangers are amazingly different.


EL SALVADOR THIS AND THAT
San Salvador has one of the biggest malls I've ever seen. The national currency is the US dollar...very weird. You think we have it rough paying for gas...a LITER is $2.75 here. Busses are much cheaper...they average 40-80 cents per ride. While going to a place called Lago Coatepeque we had to walk on the side of a highway, go up an onramp and walk over a car-overpass to transfer to the next bus we needed. The countryside and houses outside the capitol look a lot like Nicaragua. Jewish stars and menorah images are everywhere...the funniest is when they are next to Jesus pictures and Christ-related slogans. Lastly, while El Salvador is a beautiful county, one week was more than enough time there...it doesn't help that everything is pretty much closed except on the weekends.

To view more photos and read more stories, visit Adventures of a GoodMan
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1187970360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1187970360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1187970360/tpod.html Fri, 24 Aug 2007 11:51:00 -0400 Three months, two backpacks and six Central American countries and countless busses...

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Hopkins, Belize

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Moments after we got off the bus in Hopkins, Brad, Lisa, Carrie and I were greeted by Brian, a super-friendly local who was talking to us about how cool and fun his town was. He continued to escort us to the Kismet Inn, where we heard we could rent a mini-condo with common area, two bedrooms and a kitchen. On the way we encountered Dorothy, who ran the drumming circle place we wanted to visit. She warned us not to go to the Kismet Inn, telling us, "I can't tell you how many people have gone there and walked back the next morning with their backpacks basically fleeing Hopkins." To this Carrie replied, "don't worry...we promise that won't be us. One of the main things I want to do in Belize is take drumming lessons from you." And with that we headed to the Kismet Inn where we found exactly what we were looking for and checked in.

Shortly after, we learned that there were many little problems with the house including no hot water, mosquito nets that didn't cover the bed, overpriced and not tasty dinners that we agreed to in a moment of severe hunger, and a sketchy Rasta named Elvis who was Trish (the owner)'s lover/cook/employee. Later, while wandering around Hopkins we ran into Brian again who told us he was not happy because Trish had "dissed him" by not paying him his $5 finders fee. She claimed that because we had heard of the place before that he did not "find us" and got no money. Therefore, he decided to corner us on the street and ask for money. Rather than give it to him, Carrie made him realize that his problem was with Trish, not with us. We all returned to the Kismet Inn where he basically fought with her and tried to get Elvis on his side until she gave in and paid him.

Dinner was another interesting experience, as the supposedly "freshly caught seafood dinner" was obviously frozen for days, my shrimp had fallen on the floor during preparation, Brad got the wrong dish with no apology or explanation, and Elvis, who was eating with us, drank half of Lisa's beer. Despite all this, we still agreed to go with Elvis, who was a member of the drumming circle, to check out their nightly performance. We were shocked when we came in the back enterance and he told us that it was $25 per person. There was no way that was true, but I guess after the Brian incident and due to the fact we were white and therefore must be rich, he basically made it so we could not go in without paying. We later learned that there was actually no entry fee.

Other drama that night included Brian basically following us around and deciding that I was now his best friend. He continued to complain how "Trish dissed me" and that he still wanted more money from us. Finally, after feeling uncomfortable and unsafe enough for one night we returned to the Kismet Inn to pass out. Our sleep was short lived, as in the middle of the night we heard Elvis return with some other locals, all loud and quite drunk. As our door had no lock on it, all four of us basically laid in bed half-expecting them to come bust in and rob us or worse. Needless to say that didn't happen, but sure enough we were the people walking down the road the next morning with our backpacks vowing to never return to Hopkins.

View more photos and read more stories at Adventures of a GoodMan
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1187970180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1187970180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1187970180/tpod.html Fri, 24 Aug 2007 11:45:40 -0400 Three months, two backpacks and six Central American countries and countless busses...

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San Ignacio, Belize

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The next morning we left Blue Creek on the last bus of the day...aka, the 5:30am bus...and headed up north. On the way we wandered around Dangria (a costal city) looking for a hotel, got on a bus then quickly off it when we found out we could stay at a beautiful lodge by the Blue Hole park, ran back to the hotel to get our bags and make up an excuse and headed to the Blue Hole on a later bus. Of course, about 30 minutes into the ride our bus broke down on the side of the road for a few hours, during which the Mormans who lived on the other side of the road came out with water for all of us who were baking in the heat. Not wanting to wait anymore, Carrie and I hitched our way up to the Blue Hole then decided that it was too late to even enjoy it and just finished our commute to San Ignacio, where we were going the next morning anyway.

Once we got to San Ignacio we headed right for the guest house we had planned to stay at and checked in, treating ourselves to a room with a private bathroom and TV. However, we didn't anticipate the sweltering head and even two fans on us all night could not keep us cool, so the next day we really treated ourselves and moved hotels to one with AC. Brad and Lisa were also supposed to arrive that day so we hung out and didn't do any tours (we were saving them to do together) until checking our email an hour before they were supposed to meet us and finding that their flight had been cancelled. Not wanting to waste any more time, we booked it over to Belize City the next day to meet them and head to Hopkins, a little costal fishing village where we heard we could snorkel, scuba dive and take drum lessons from locals.

View more photos and read more stories at Adventures of a GoodMan
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1176996540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1176996540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1176996540/tpod.html Fri, 24 Aug 2007 11:45:02 -0400 Three months, two backpacks and six Central American countries and countless busses...

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Punta Gorda, Belize

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After a quite Easter Monday arrival to Belize (during which nothing was open), Carrie and I headed off to Blue Creek: a Mayan village where we were going to experience "typical Mayan culture, meals and more." First, getting there was a chore as we had to take a bus then wait on the side of the road for around two hours hitching. Once there we quickly found that we would be staying in a wooden guesthouse in the village, but not actually with the locals. However, the day started picking up when we headed off to find this local cave that you could swim through to get to a waterfall. Using only a headlamp to guide us in the pitch-dark, Carrie and I swam for around 3 miles in each direction, navigating over rocks and up mini-waterfalls before finally reaching our destination. While scary at first, the entire experience was way cool and by far one of the highlights of Belize.

Upon returning, we saw a bunch of people crowded outside someone's house where three men were playing the Marimba, a local instrument that looks almost like a giant xylophone. (Check out the pics and the YouTube video). We watched them play for a while then we were invited to return that night for a party and more music. Dinner was an odd experience as the food they served (a chicken and veggie soup with tortillas) seemed a bit more like what they thought we wanted to experience rather than what they usually eat. Also, dinner was advertised as the time when we would get to know the family we were eating with and talk about Mayan culture and they would share traditional stories with us. Well, all that happened is that we ate at a table with a few other white people and no one talked.

Well, never ones to pass up a local party, Carrie and I later headed back up to the house where we were invited back in. However, shortly after sitting down one of the guys pulled me aside and basically told me that this was a private party for his family and that they had paid to have these famous Marimba players from Guatemala flown in to perform at a competition the next day. They were also not happy that I had taken photos during the earlier practice session...despite the fact that we had asked permission. Needless to say, they asked for money...even after I explained that Carrie was a Peace Corps volunteer and that despite the fact that we were white, we did not have much money. While our invitation to stay at the house was not rescinded, we did not feel especially welcome and left shortly after. Oh well, at least we saw the cool practice session!

Read More and See Photos at Adventures of a GoodMan
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1187630220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1187630220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1187630220/tpod.html Mon, 20 Aug 2007 13:22:52 -0400 Three months, two backpacks and six Central American countries and countless busses...

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Flores, Guatemala

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The Mayan ruins at Tikal are amongst the most famous in the world and we wanted to do them right. So, along with our new friends Andrew and Lucie, we got up at 2:45am to go on a sunrise tour of the ruins. After our bus finally showed up at 3:30, we had to wait another 30 minutes while the not-so-competent folks who run the tour got their act together. Then, when we were about 20 minutes outside the ruins we had to pull over to fix a flat tire and everyone had to get out of the bus. Once it was fixed and we all piled back in, we were told there was another flat and we had to all cram into another nearby tour bus. Carrie wound up on the floor going over bumpy roads and I was crammed into a seat with five other people...not the best start to the day.

Once we finally got to Tikal, we basically sprinted through the massive jungle that the ruins are in to get to the sunrise lookout point in time. Meanwhile, the sky is getting brighter and brighter...an obvious sign of us missing the sunrise. However, it really didn't matter, as it was a cloudy day and we never saw the sun anyway. We sat there for a while and listened to the sounds of the jungle as birds called each other, howler monkeys asserted their dominance and animals all around woke up to start the day.

After some time passed we finally began the tour and all problems from the morning slipped away. We hiked up five different temple ruins getting amazing panoramic views of Tikal. Our guide pumped us with more information than we could possibly remember and we had a great time walking around. However, when it came time to head back to our hotel, we managed to get on the slow bus that couldn't go up a hill faster than maybe 10mph. It was hot, we were exhausted and the trip took twice as long. Just another day in Central America...but man was it worth it for those amazing ruins!

See more photos and stories like this at Adventures of a GoodMan
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1187630100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1187630100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1187630100/tpod.html Mon, 20 Aug 2007 13:21:07 -0400 Three months, two backpacks and six Central American countries and countless busses...

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Guatemala City, Guatemala

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Somehow the first part of our trip was relatively free of transportation-related issues. This all changed our first night in Guatemala when our 6 hour bus ride turned into a nearly 10 hour ordeal that got us into one of the most dangerous capitals in Central America after midnight. Thank goodness for kind people on the bus who helped us make hotel reservations from their cell phone. On another leg of our journey, I was stuck in the front of the school bus getting my feet trampled by everyone who walked by, every minute or so. There were four of us crammed into a teeny seat and the guy next to me spent half the three hour ride sleeping on my shoulder.

While the front of the bus is the worst because of all the constant commotion, the back is no bargain either as it is usually hot, stuffy, smelly and the bumpiest part. We've spent many rides back there as well. One cool part about these horrible rides is that we were often surrounded by indigenous Mayan people, all dressed up in their traditional clothes. Unfortunately, these clothes are made of thick material and they didn't smell too good!

In addition to school buses and the occasional nice coach bus, the other main form of transportation in Central America is a microbus. This is basically a minivan that you can cram up to 20 people in. These are not too much fun, but we did get a huge laugh when we rode in one that had a pig tied to the roof and every time we took a turn it would slide around and squeal. Guatemala also uses pickup trucks that cram in nearly 40 people in the back...that can't be safe.

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]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1187630040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1187630040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1187630040/tpod.html Mon, 20 Aug 2007 13:20:52 -0400 Three months, two backpacks and six Central American countries and countless busses...

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Livingston, Guatemala

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Two of the things Carrie was most excited about on this trip were learning how to play drums and taking a beautiful boat ride down the Rio Dulce. As you may remember, our first attempt at the drums was ruined by a bad experience with the locals in Hopkins. So, in an effort to still make it happen, we headed way out of our way to go back to another town right by Belize called Livingston, which had drumming and was right next to Rio Dulce. After a six hour bus ride complete with people trying to rip us off, we got to the dock in Puerto Barrios right as the last ferry was leaving. We then had to wait 1.5 hours for a water taxi to have enough people to make it worth their while to take us to Livingston.

Well, history has a way of repeating itself as moments after we got off the water taxi in Livingston we were accosted by a rasta trying to get us into a hotel. He was not doing this out of the kindness of his own heart, however. Much like in Hopkins, the locals are given little tips by the business owners for every person they bring them. This leads to them following you around and harassing you until you get to a hotel or restaurant and they can get their tip. After we finally shook the first local, another one came up and when I tried to get rid of him he basically yelled at me and threatened me...not a great start to our Livingston experience, especially after our 10 hour trip to get there.

Later that night, while at dinner, the first rasta decided to stand outside the restaurant because we did not tell the owner that he had recommended the place to us despite the fact that he hadnt. Well, between that and the fact that Livingston was the hottest place ever and the hotels had terrible ceiling fans that did nothing to cool us down, we headed for Rio Dulce the next day. This led to more frustration as despite having reserved our spot on the boat we had no seats. Carrie got stuck in the front where she couldn't even see the beautiful boat ride and I was in the back, hunched over as the captain was driving the boat directly above me and the motor was blaring in my ear the whole time.

After all this we decided that we were done with the area and headed up to Tikal first thing the next morning. This became another ordeal as the bus that we paid top-dollar for was full and we, along with our new friends Andrew and Lucie, had to stand for four hours. Along the way we all had to get off the bus for a police checkpoint and for a fruit-inspection where they made sure we were not carrying any fruits infected with bugs that could hurt their crops. Making matters worst was that there were around 25 other people standing in the aisles, so we were crammed the whole time.

Read more stories like this at Adventures of a GoodMan
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1187629500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1187629500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1187629500/tpod.html Mon, 20 Aug 2007 13:13:38 -0400 Three months, two backpacks and six Central American countries and countless busses...

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Chichicastenango, Guatemala

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Everywhere you walk in Guatemala you see indigenous people dressed in typical Mayan outfits: colorful and hot! However, the best place to see these people is in the marketplace and we made it to ones in Antigua, Solola and Chichicastenango. These markets are like nothing you have ever seen back home: imagine a flea market on a bad day and multiply that by 100. The first type of market is the local one, where people are selling foods, housewares, beans, machetes, furniture and anything else you might need in your daily life. These are loud and chaotic with people yelling and bartering everywhere.

The other market is the tourist one, where there are usually neatly arranged stalls each selling the same blankets, bags, tee-shirts, traditional Mayan clothing and all sorts of Nick-knacks. Here, any time they tell you a price it's a safe bet you can get the item you're looking at for half of that and that new price is still probably double what it cost to make the item. The merchant usually asks, "What are you looking for? I can give you a good price. What do you want to pay?" All of this comes out in one stream of talk as you begin to leave their stall to find a better price. It's very intimidating at first but becomes a sort of a game after a while.

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]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1187629200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1187629200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1187629200/tpod.html Mon, 20 Aug 2007 13:05:04 -0400 Three months, two backpacks and six Central American countries and countless busses...

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Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala

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Since learning about them in elementary school, I have always been fascinated by volcanoes and lava. Despite hiking one in Nicaragua, I had never actually seen lava with my own eyes. All that would change when Carrie, Melissa and I hiked Volcano Pacaya, which is just outside Antigua. The hike began with a tough climb through a forested area during which children on horses were offering the people having trouble making it up the hill a "taxi ride" on their horse. However, once we got above the canopy the real fun began...we got to hike to the actual lava flows!

After walking over hardened flows from previous eruptions for a while, we made our way up towards the cone and immediately began to feel the heat coming down the volcano. You could see the whitened areas that literally were hardened a few feet above underground lava rivers. Our guide only needed to touch a branch with dead leaves to the rocks and they caught fire. As we continued the hike the sulphur smell began to mix with the scent of the burning rubber of the bottoms of our sneakers. Our final reward for our hike...we literally were 10 feet from active lava flows! Carrie got to roast a marshmallow over a lava jet and I pretty much stood there awestruck and taking photos when I remembered. All in all, one of the coolest experiences of my life!

See more photos at Adventures of a GoodMan

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1178297580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1178297580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/goyo1980/central_america/1178297580/tpod.html Mon, 20 Aug 2007 12:59:17 -0400 Three months, two backpacks and six Central American countries and countless busses...

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Panajachel, Guatemala

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After saying goodbye to Melissa, Carrie and I made our way to Lago Atitlan, a beautiful lake in the middle of the country. Our first stop was Casa del Mundo, a gorgeous mini-resort that our guidebook referred to as "the most magical place in all of Guatemala." For a mere $25 per night we got a beautiful room overlooking the lake, four volcanoes and a dozen other towns. During the day we relaxed, swam and hung out in a hot tub that as heated by burning wood. Normally it required a day's notice and hefty fee to use, but being the friendly people that we are we managed to spend both nights getting to know new friends in the hot tub. The place was honestly so amazing that we recommend it to anyone looking for a nice few day getaway. Not to mention, the chill town of San Pedro and the yoga/meditation/hippie village of San Marcos are a short boat ride away.

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