TravelStream™ news feed for member njarraud on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/njarraud en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 25 Apr 2009 20:37:03 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/njarraud/2/1240093680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/njarraud/2/1240093680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/njarraud/2/1240093680/tpod.html Sat, 25 Apr 2009 20:37:03 -0400 A couple more months off...in Central America...and South America

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Galapagos, Ecuador

Here are the pics as I have had so many requests. There are too many, so just scroll through them quick if you're bored but I thought my family would have liked to see them all.It was a fantastic day indeed.
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Galapagos, Ecuador

Life here is very "tranquilo" as they call it. Everything normally happens manana and that makes the entire day absolutely stress free. A great environment to live (contrary to what my parents are thinking) a completely normal life.  I personally have been working a lot taking on miscellaneous jobs in various fields. I have even cooked French food for Roberto Cavalli ! No matter what the job is, it is always with fantastic people and that is what makes it a real pleasure. There is no competition, no judgment, no fights and a lot of heat and help from everybody to make you feel welcome. Everybody is a friend. When walking down the streets, you feel so famous with all the hola, Buenos dias, buenas tardes that you can hear all around you. They are extremely welcoming. As for the landscape; well, I am in the Galapagos National Park. I can't describe it, you really have to see it to believe it as I do not think it can be imagined. White sandy beach, coconut trees, mangrove trees and the fantastic fauna both on land and in the sea. When going for a run on the beach, you jump around to avoid iguanas and crabs. To refresh after your run, you carefully avoid rays and sharks. No matter where you are, you always swim with cheerful sea lions which comes and play with you. As far as the weather is concerned, needless to talk about that, it is easy to imagine.  This place simply seems the perfect spot to get married. To answer the numerous questions I had, yes my future husband is a Galapageno and you are all  invited to the wedding : this weekend, on the beach, in the Galapagos islands. I wish you could all be here with me !  
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Cartagena, Colombia

Colombia is synonymous with long bus rides, and I mean very long bus rides. I started with the trip from Quito, Ecuador to Pasto, Colombia that took about 12 hours. It was about 7 hours of an old crappy buses from Quito to the border, over two hours delays at the border for processing and formalities, then another 2 hour minibus ride to Pasto, (not counting the hour wait at the bus station because all the buses were full). The Lonely Planet clearly specified that it was unsafe to travel at night, but with such long bus rides, I had no other choice. I finally arrived at my destination very late in the evening only to bump into some friends that I had met in the island of Ometepe in Nicaragua! That was nice> It made me feel welcome.  Though not a beautiful city in itself, Pasto has several fine colonial buildings as well as a bustling downtown area. What was more spectacular were the surroundings and the seven hour road trip to Popayan with adorning vertiginous valleys and volcanic peaks. Known as the "ciudad blanca" for the stunning uniformity of its chalk-white facades, Popayan is a small gem. Churches after churches then cathedrals and monasteries; all imposing white buildings concentrated within a few blocks of the city center. The following seven hour bus trip led me to Armenia, home to the 'Parque Nacional del Café', a great park with attractions, museums, shows, forests, lakes, a very pleasant place to spend a relaxing day. I also wanted to get to the 'Parque Los Nevados', a park of snow covered volcanic peaks but it was really cold and I was tired of wearing my hat, gloves and scarf all the time. Most of my backpack contained summer clothes, so I already had a hard time staying warm so I decided to head towards more temperate climate instead. On my way to the Caribbean coast (definitely a far more temperate climate out there)  I stopped in Medellin, the city that was once the headquarters and principal killing grounds for Colombia's cocaine cartels.  That was true at one time but it is now one of America's safest big cities and also one of the most pleasant. The narrow streets of downtown are supercharged with pedestrian life, especially at night and I arrived right in the midst of it! Indeed, I had to wait a few hours as all the Medellin bound buses were full, so once again I arrived at night and struggled to find a hotel. I went to three different districts because I thought the first one was kind of 'red hot'. This means that all the hotels were full...until 10 pm or 11 pm. They were charging by the hour in such places. But all suburbs were the same! So I finally crashed into one of those hotels - needless to describe the room in such a hotel - only for a few minutes however because the police came over and nicely asked me to leave because I was not Colombian. Whatever that was for, I had to find another place to stay. Well I finally did in a crappy, old expensive hotel very north of town.   Apart from that, what I really liked in the town was the museum of Antioquia (name of the region were Medellin is situated) which retains a fantastic collection of Colombian artist Fernando Botero thanks to its donation. In front of the museum, on the Plazoleta de las esculturas, there are about twenty Botero's bronze sculptures lying in the plaza and are great places for taking pictures. Besides this Plazoleta, numerous other Botero sculptures can be seen all over town in front of churches, banks, parks or in the middle of roundabouts. All cafes and restaurants hold at least a few paintings from the artist, so you can not spend more than ten minutes without encountering a piece of art from Botero.  Medellin isn't perfect by any means, and even if surrounded on all four sides by rugged peaks that offer stunning views, the slopes around the city are crowded with makeshift slums and garbage, a constant reminder of the inequality that plagues not only Medellin but also all of Latin America. Because I have been travelling mostly at night so far without any incidents and because the bus rides were so long, I decided to take a night bus to make the 13 hour trip from Medellin to Cartagena. Cartagena de Indias is a beautiful city listed as a Unesco World Heritage site. In response of pirate attacks, the Spaniards built up a series of forts around the town and surrounded the city with thick walls. The heart of the city is the old city, particularly the inner walled town, is absolutely gorgeous. It is a real gem of colonial architecture, packed with churches, monasteries, plazas, palaces and mansions with their overhanging balconies and shady patios.  I rented a room, which was more of a studio flat with kitchen, TV, living room, and was a pleasant place to stay which made me feel at home. The place was not even a hotel really but it was the only place that had room available at 7 am on a weekend in Cartagena. I found it thanks to a guy who helped me out after seeing me walking from hotel to hotel, apparently looking desperate and tired after the night in the bus. I stayed a few days in Cartagena and hooked up with some New Zealand guys and a Colombian girl who happened to have lived in England and France, she was awesome. We went to the beach, discovered the old city, we had to dinner in my "flat" as I was cooking French food ( with South America ingredients) and last but not least, we went to the mud volcano of Totumo. It is a short ride north of Cartagena and it is an intriguing 15 m mound, looking like a miniature volcano, but instead of lava and ashes, it spews forth mud. The crater is filled with lukewarm mud with the consistency of thick cream. I went for my first volcano-dipping; having a refreshing bath in that soft, dark grey mud. It was quite an experience at first going in being all white and clean to dark and muddy but also the sensation of floating along in that thick liquid. Look at the pictures, I am not saying nonsense, well maybe I am, but it was real.  After that, I went straight to Santa Martha, only a five hour drive from Cartagena. The beaches were supposedly beautiful out there, well, I guess they were, but having been spoiled for months, encountering amazing beaches during my travels, I did not find them that great. I hiked from beach to beach and there were some great views from the path and even if I was a bit disappointed with the beach itself, it was still a hot, beautiful day in the sun in the middle of January so no complaints. I hooked up with some friends who were on the Friendship boat with me in the Galapagos so I had a good time anyway.  After that, the logical route would have been to cross the border to get to Venezuela but not for me. Instead I took a 17 hour bus ride to Bogota, the third highest capital in South America at 2,600 m. No regrets, it was a great place and the bus was kind of comfortable so I could sleep a bit. I stayed in the historical district of Bogota and walked absolutely every single street there. It is a very pleasant place to stroll around filled with coffee shops, restaurants, art galleries, museums.  My favourite one was the museo historico de la policia as, as its name indicates relates the history of the Colombian police and what they accomplished over the years, focusing on the drug issue. There is an entire room dedicated to the 499 day hunt for Pablo Escobar. The featured item there is Pablo's bloody jacket worn the day of his death. There are also comparisons in between the different periods and the different countries as far as firearms, communication devices, clothing, badges are concerned. It is nicely presented in the former police headquarters built in 1923 which was converted into a museum in 1984. One part of the building remains in use for the police, so going in is quite intimidating with all the policemen hanging out. The bonus however is the free, guided tour in Spanish and English by one of the police officers.  Of course, the museo del oro ( gold museum) is also a must see, displaying over 34 000 gold pieces on three floors. There are so many golden pieces that you do get tired of gold after a while.   And last but not least is the Botero museum created thanks to a donation from Fernando Botero himself. The collection contains over 100 pieces of Botero's own work, including his painting, drawings and sculptures, plus about a 100 works by European artists such as Picasso, Chagall, Dali, Renoir, Matisse and Monet. It does not really seem right to assimilate Bogota as a part of Colombia as it is very different from the rest. I also went out in the Zona rosa, which is nothing else than chain restaurants, boutique hotels, luxury shops and fancy places for tourists and rich Colombian kids. It was an interesting sight though to sit around and watch the crowd pass by in that area. I did feel like I was in New York at some point.  And then, it was time to make up my mind in between going to Venezuela and then take a flight back home from there or going back to Ecuador that I liked so much in order to spend a few more months there. As most of you know me well, you know which path I picked. I am now on my way to the Galapagos where I am going to spend the generous three months of my 'tourist visa' in Ecuador, which, if I work hard at it, should not prevent me from getting a job there. I guess this concludes my travelling adventures, but is definitely not the end of my adventures as it seems like a completely different life is starting right here for me. All the best to all of you and lots of love to my family whom I do miss terribly. PS: even in Colombia, the coffee was still not good.     
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Banos, Ecuador

On my way back from the Galapagos, I stopped in hot and humid Quayaquil, but this time it was planned, so I was able to get my suitcase out of the plane. The city is mixed. Beside the amusement park-like development along the Rio Guayas, there's a historic barrio of Las Penas that perches over the riverfront - looking like a cross between a Mexican and Greek fishing village - and boasts a lot of happening restaurants and bars. To get to Las Penas, you can only walk and it is all uphill...or downhill on the way back but still pretty high. Last but not least, Guayaquil; the biggest town in Ecuador - even if not the capital -is the commercial center of the country hence the big corporate buildings in the new town. I went to Banos to meet my Friendship friends from the Galapagos. Banos is the town of all the attractions, and we did it all. From rafting to cycling, hiking smoking volcanoes at night, soaking in hot thermal baths, and riding ATV's. I really had a good time there and stayed nearly a week. The rafting was up to class IV and that was shaky. The weather was not with us as it was mainly raining but it did not matter since we were in the water splashed by the waves. The cycling day was a tough one. Banos being in the mountains meant that cycling included a lot of downhill but have to say a lot of uphill strenuous and long rides as well. I left with four friends and only two of us made it all the way to the town of Puyo, 61 km from Banos. We had to take a bus back and stuck the bikes on the roof. The ride was beautiful though, right along the river, stopping at waterfalls, telefericos, and vista points. It was definitely worth it. It would have been better if it did not rain that much, especially towards the end, but that made the experience more challenging.  The volcano night hike was very disappointing because it was very foggy and we could not see a thing, but having a drink at the top all gathered around the bonfire was really something. The ATV's ride the next day onto the volcano was a real treat. I had a blast. The road was a dirt path, sometimes muddy and always beautiful. There are also lots of hot springs scattered around town, loads of very good restaurants from all over the world (oh yes, I enjoyed my cheese fondue very much) and cool bars to keep us entertained till late. The hostel I stayed at was extremely nice with a great restaurant on the roof terrace overlooking the regions landscape. It was busy with fellow backpackers from all horizons so it made it a pleasant place to hang out at. In a nutshell, I do recommend Banos if you are visiting Ecuador. Continuing my way up, I stopped in the Andean region of Quilotoa. I was with some Ecuadorian friends and after spending the night in typical town of Zumbahua and a ride on the back of a pickup truck, we walked the five hour trail from the laguna of Quilotoa to the town of Chugchilan. It was gorgeous and very cold but well worth it. Transportation is tricky but the rewards are abundant: landscape, traditional highland villages, indigenous folks, fauna and flora represented a trip on its own. The departing point of the famous volcanic-crater's green lake seemed unreal. We then walked through sand, rocks, forests, corn fields, canyons, and rivers to arrive in the even more typical town of Chugchilan. Our only way back was a six-hour hike back or to hitch a ride to Latacunga. We managed to get a ride back in a beer truck (empty beer bottles though)  and I froze my ....off in this nearly four hour drive to the biggest town. It was a really uncomfortable, open air truck driving on very bumpy, windy, dirt roads in the cold of the mountains at 4,000 m altitude. The occasional views were breathtaking when there were breaks in the fog. Now I was back in Quito to properly visit the town. I stayed at my Ecuadorian friends' place, so I could enjoy the comfort of a real home and some nice dinners and night out with them. Apart from that, Quito is an interesting town, different from the others, mainly because of its hills. At 2,850m, Quito is the world's second highest capital, after La Paz and let me tell you, it does affect your breathing a lot. I did read that in the book, but did not think too much of it. Once there, the slightest movement became a series of heavy breathing and difficult exercise. Getting up one floor on the stairs made me out of breath for a good two minutes. I had a heavy headache for about two days but that was apparently altitude sickness and was completely normal. Glad to know it.    The old town of Quito was absolutely amazing with its narrow streets, restored colonial architecture and lively plazas. I have never seen such a concentration of beautiful churches, most of them with altars entirely covered in gold. There was a teleferico that brings you 2.5 km up the flanks of volcan Pichincha to the altitude of 4100m for amazing views of the city...when clear of clouds, which is rare at such an altitude. Once at the top, you can then hike up to the summit of Rucu Pichincha to a mere 4680m and it was a strenuous hike not because of the paths but because of the altitude and lack of oxygen. For another picturesque view of the city, I climbed the stairs up to the Virgen de Quito which is nothing more than a huge statue of the Virgin of Quito with a crown of stars, eagle's wings and a chained dragon atop the world. After all those strenuous climbs, I sat and had the most wonderful time in the Plaza Grande, simply watching the people and since it was sunday, it was a very busy and pleasant atmosphere to enjoy. Last but not least, I spent some time at the Mitad del Mundo, at latitude 00 00'00". The museum out there was wicked with outdoor exhibition, a solar chronometer that shows the precise astronomical and conventional time, as well as the month, day and season.  But the real reason why I went there was for the water and energy demonstration. You really have to see it and experience it yourself to believe it but they were mind blowing. I witnessed water go down the drain clockwise in an hemisphere and counter clockwise in the other as well as completely straight on the exact equator line. I also made an egg stand up on a nail. It required intense concentration but was so rewarding when I saw the egg up and standing by itself.          
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/njarraud/2/1230898860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/njarraud/2/1230898860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/njarraud/2/1230898860/tpod.html Sun, 11 Jan 2009 23:01:21 -0500 A couple more months off...in Central America...and South America

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Baltra, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

While in Quito, I stayed at the best hostal I have been in so far. It was called the Belmont hotel and was taken care of by an extremely hospitable family. Even the very young son was so helpful and polite and sweet. It was a real pleasure to stay there and be with them. On the 24th of December, they invited me for a typical Ecuadorian Christmas dinner and I had one of the best meals I have had for quite sometime. It was not anything fancy but it was typical and it was nice to be with them for Christmas. I got them some presents and they were psyched to open them. Especially the little one, I could tell by the look on his face. He was so cute.  After that, I started another vacation within my break, as I was to embark on the most incredible boat trip to the Galapagos Islands. This boat trip was all about who I was with on the boat and what I was about to see and in both cases. And I was not disappointed. The crew was superb, the passengers were so much fun, the landscape was amazing, the animals surprising.  The Galapagos Islands do inspire you to think differently about the world. It looks unreal and I felt like I was on a different planet. What was truly special was that the animals that call the islands home acted as if humans were nothing more than slightly annoying paparazzi. Most of the islands are devoid of vegetation and human presence is surprisingly kept to a minimum.  Only five of the twenty four islands are inhabited. About half the residents live in Puerto Ayora, on Isla Santa Cruz in the middle of the archipelago. The Galapagos Archipelago, 1000km of the coast of Ecuador, was discovered by accident in 1535 by the first bishop of Panama who drifted off while sailing from Panama to Peru. It is possible that the people were aware of the existence of the islands before 1535 but there are no definite records of this and the islands didn't appear on a world map until 1570 when they were identified as the "islands of the tortoises".  For more than three centuries after their discovery, the Galapagos were used as a base for buccaneers, sealers and whalers. The islands provided a good source of food in the forms of the tortoises which could survive over a year on the boat and thus provided fresh meat for the sailors long after they had left the islands.    The Galapagos most famous visitor was Charles Darwin who spent weeks on the islands, making notes and collecting specimens that provided important evidence for his theory of evolution. Ecuador officially claimed the Galapagos Archipelago in 1832, some islands were declared wildlife sanctuary in 1934 and 97% of the archipelago became a national park in 1959, the remaining 3% being for the towns. Tourism did not start until the late 60's and has not stopped growing since then but in a very well preserved way. Nobody is allowed in the designated protective reserve area without a guide, which obliges you to book a tour but keeps it secluded and wild.  The islands were formed roughly five million years ago by underwater volcanoes erupting and rising above the ocean's surface. The region is volcanically active today, the most recent eruption occurred in 2005 on Isabela Island. As far as the flora and fauna is concerned, most plants and animal species arrived in the Galapagos from somewhere else after journeys of thousands kilometres on wind, air, and sea currents. Of course, some of them have been brought later but settlers and others visiting the islands, that is why just before landing, the stewards sprayed the entire plane cabin with chemical stuff (making hard to breathe for a second) in order to avoid insects or bacteria to come into the islands. Finding no competition, the few species that survived the sea crossing came to dominate the island ecosystem and evolved to fill every available ecological niche.  To only name a few of the birds, the most comical one, despite its name is the Booby bird. The most common one is the blue footed booby that lives at sea but breed on land. They are so funny to watch because of their amazingly blue feet. Another interesting bird was the Frigatebird which can reach a wingspan of over two metres. It is mostly identified when the courting males inflate their balloon-sized flap skin under their bill. Also the penguins are astounding. Snorkeling with them is the best way to appreciate their skill underwater to compare with heir clumsiness on land. I also saw more wonderful birds such as pelicans, albatrosses, great herons, colourful flamingos but also endemic birds like the flightless cormorants,  the Galapagos hawks, doves, mockingbirds and of course the Darwin's finches. As far as land is concerned, nowhere else on earth do tortoises, the most ancient prehistoric looking reptile, reach the sizes they do in the Galapagos. They hang out in the fields nonchalant, the way our cows hang out in fields. There are also some sea turtles such as the leatherback and the hawkbill and they are mostly seen while snorkelling, which means you get to swim with them. There are also man species of lizards but the most commonly spotted are the marine iguanas, land iguanas and lava lizards. All of them being very colourful, they are a pleasure for the eyes. The marine iguanas have otherwise blackish skin and feed by grazing seaweed underwater, so once again you can see them while you snorkel. Speaking of colourful, the Sally Lightfoot crab is a delight to see it when they adorn the rocks where they scavenge anything and everything edible washed up on the tide. As for the sea, the most curious ones are the sea lions which you can find absolutely everywhere. Most of the time basking on beaches, but you can also swim with them as they are as curious about us as we are about them and sometimes, you have to walk around them when they stretch out on the landing steps or waiting benches... normally provided for tourists. Sharks and dolphins are seen everyday, either while swimming or snorkelling. Dolphins mostly surfing the bow waves of the boat while cruising. You can also view them jumping out of the water and turning their whole body around in a gracious way as if you were watching a documentary on TV or a well prepared spectacle at an aquarium. Dolphins can also be spotted at night when they cause the ocean to glow by stirring up thousands of tiny phosphorescent organisms that light up when disturbed. The rays have the same pattern as well except that when they make giant leaps out of the water. They normally end up on their back and when they are giant manta rays, it is a spectacular show. As for the sharks, I have to say, it makes your heart beat to jump off the boat to go for a dip and glimpse at a shark swimming right underneath you, when you are already in the air with no other alternative than ending up in the water with them. There are different species of sharks and some of them are pretty big and dangerous... mainly at night when they go hunting. So the midnight swim we did for new year's eve may not have been the smartest idea, but it still was memorable! Apart from that, the boat trip was something. The engine had a lot of trouble. Sparks were coming out after a difficult start and an incredible, unbearable smell that was engulfing the boat all day and all night. Let's not mention the noise. The captain was a complete asshole and the guide had the energy of a sloth and absolutely no sign of enthusiasm whatsoever, but all those little things made the trip even more interesting and today get to laugh at some of the incidents that happened on that boat. That really complemented the trip.  
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Jaco, Province of Puntarenas, Costa Rica

 After a few days of mountain weather, we were ready to go back to the beach. We splurged the rest of my mum's vacation on the Pacific coast where it was a hot and humid 33C with clear blue sky and beautiful beaches. We spent some time in Jaco which used to be a quiet surfer town but has since been taken over by foreign investors and is pretty much built up. Costa Rica in general has a huge American influence with influx of expats, US retirees and foreign travellers. It has become the tropical backyard of Gringos, as they like to call the Americans.  We then moved down the coast to Manuel Antonio. The whole coastal way is scattered with hotels and the town itself is even more of a tourist trap filled with street vendors but also home to a beautiful national park. We spent an entire day in the park enjoying the most beautiful beaches, hiking in the dense jungle and spotting animals. In fact, our lunch even got stolen by coatis while we were on the beach. There were sloths, monkeys, iguanas, agoutis and I am sure many more that we did not spot. It was now time to drive to San Jose and for my mum to take her plane back to freezing Europe...meanwhile I was stuck for two days in San Jose.  Indeed, I was simply hoping to show up at the airport to accompany my mum and get a same day flight for anywhere in South America. It did not happen that way due to my plan not taking into account one very important piece of data: it was Christmas time which meant all the flights to wherever were fully booked! At the airport, I was told that I would get cheaper flights by calling instead of buying at the airport. So I got a flight on the internet but for two days after. Ideally, I would have liked to go to Guayaquil, south of Ecuador but the flight I found was for Quito... and with a connecting flight in Lima, which was not a problem seeing that I had the luxury of time. And I am sure there are worst things than being "stuck" in Costa Rica for two days: especially since I hooked up with some friends that I had met in Nicaragua. They had been living in San Jose for the past two months so they knew all the best places to go and see. I had a great time and took advantage of being in a capital by visiting museums learning more about the country's history and culture. In general, Costa Ricans, Ticos, as they call themselves, are extremely friendly and helpful. Costa Rica is the most developed and stable country in Central America. The president Jose Figueres Ferrer abolished the military and transferred the army budget to education. He also granted full citizenship and voting rights to women, Blacks, indigenous groups and minorities. His decrees taxed the wealthiest, nationalized banks and built a modern welfare state. All this has been done in 1949 at a time when other Central American countries were still at war.  Last but not least, I also took advantage of the big city by going to see a doctor because I did not come out totally safe and sound from the Guatemala jungle hike. To make it simple, I caught a 'larvae migrans cutaneo' in my foot, which as its name indicates is nothing else than a worm growing and migrating under your skin. It was not pretty to see -I have included one picture for you to get a better idea- and was starting to be painful after a while. I first thought it was a bite of some sort but then I could clearly see the shape of the worm. Luckily, or unluckily, it is a quite common thing in Central America and I only had to swallow drugs to kill it and get rid of it. I was ready for a doctor to cut my foot open to take it out and was relieved such a painful experience was not necessary, even if I secretly wanted to face that worm that had been living inside me for a few weeks. By then, I was ready to leave Central America and eager to get to South America. The journey there was full of surprises. First of all, the security norms did not appear to be nearly as strict as say in the United States. For example, while in the aiport terminal, I guess I went the wrong way and ended up in a plane with only a bunch of trash piled up and ... the cleaning lady. It was a weird feeling to go straight ahead and be on an empty plane that was obviously not a place I should have been in. Also during take off and landing there was no enforcing of the routinely no electronic items, nor having the seat back up, the armrest down, the window blind open, the table up and the bag placed well underneath the seat in front of you or in the overhead lockers. So, as I like to live life dangerously, I did everything that is normally forbidden in other countries; such as having my seat reclined listening to my ipod while taking off. What I still do not understand is that how something that can be dangerous for American people is not dangerous for Costa Rican people. Shouldn't they all follow the same security norms? Or else what kind of security are we talking about? While talking about security issues, this was the reason why we were not able to land in Quito; the visibility was reduced. In order to wait for the weather to clear up. we instead landed in....Guayaquil! When the pilot announced that we could not land in Quito and would have to go to Guayaquil, all the passengers sighted with anger...while I put on a big smiley face...wasn't Guayaquil the place I was trying to reach to begin with? That was awesome, as long as I could recoup my backpack from the plane. Well, it ended up that I could not no matter how much I sweet talked every single person who was working in the airport at that time of the night, it did not work. I then wondered if my bag was really in the plane anyway.  The problem about waiting in Guayaquil was that when you already waited two days in Costa Rica and seven hours in Lima, you do not really feel like waiting at Guayaquil's airport, especially when the flight was scheduled to land in Quito at midnight, which means that I was about to spend the night on a bench at the airport. At 3 am, we got a 'refreshment' and a 'snack' nicely offered by the airline and at 5 am, we got upgraded to the VIP lounge, which with a fully booked plane was no longer a VIP lounge. Needless to say that all the seats were taken, all the coffee was drunk and the cakes eaten in seconds by my fellow passengers walking through the door. I can only imagine how the 'real VIP'  people felt when they walked in to spend some peaceful and quiet relaxing time! Finally at 6 am, we boarded the plane but only to wait another two hours before we could make our way to Quito. Let's be positive, I did not like the idea of arriving in dodgy Quito at midnight to look for a place to stay anyway, so 9 am was a more reasonable time to get started.  
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/njarraud/2/1229217960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/njarraud/2/1229217960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/njarraud/2/1229217960/tpod.html Thu, 25 Dec 2008 21:24:12 -0500 A couple more months off...in Central America...and South America

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Puerto Viejo, Province of Limon, Costa Rica

As usual, getting to the border was a series of many different buses. I had been told the border crossing was long and difficult but did not experience any of that. I got dropped off right at the border, paid the fee to enter the "border area", then walked to the Nicaraguan side and walked another 500m to the Costa Rican side. Because it was already late in the afternoon, I could only make it as far as Tamarindo, on the Pacific side of the Nicoya peninsula. The bus from the border to Liberia (100km) took an hour less than the bus from Liberia to Tamarindo (50km). One reason being the state of the road and the other being due to the bus stopping at every single beach town on the way down. It did not matter if the beach town was 10km there and back on a dirt road, the bus was still driving there to see if there was anybody to pick up or drop off. This appeared to be a never ending bus ride.  Once I arrived to Tamarindo that evening, I went to the first hostal I could find and it ended up being the best and cheapest one. I was given a twelve person dorm to myself that was a pretty big and then decided to go out quite late with the Australian guys that I had met in the bus. I also made friends with the lifeguard who showed me the best places around town and really had a good time. We even went dancing salsa in the local bar. Tamarindo was one of the most American places in Costa Rica with luxury hotels, big air conditioned shopping malls and fashion boutiques. The beach there was beautiful. It is no wonder there were so many tourists. Actually, most of them were not tourists but expats who moved to Costa Rica in search of 'pura vida' lifestyle.  I had to be in San Jose by 10 pm the following day because I was meeting up with my mum who was flying from France for a week of vacation with me. The trip from Tamarindo to San Jose was a painful nine to ten hours ride. I had the choice of a 'direct' chicken bus at 3:30 or 5:30......am! Or a series of different buses from town to town. The main problem was the bad state of the majority of roads from Tamarindo to San Jose. As I knew mum wanted to rent a car anyway, I created a new option which was driving to San Jose with a rental car. It also allowed me to give a ride to a friend of the lifeguard who was going to a friend's funeral (who had been shot dead ...as a security guard). I was really glad this guy came with me when the car stopped working an hour after we had left Tamarindo! He did all the talking to the mechanics next door, then to the emergency assistance and two hours later, we had another car brought to us...and a much better one! The next time we stopped, I did the talking but it definitely helped to have a local with me: I got pulled over by the cops for "he said speeding". I still doubt that as I was being very careful to avoid ending up in this situation and I was following a car that was going much faster than me. Anyway, after a little bit of talking and I got away with a small bribe. Next was the work on the road, which made us stop for a good half hour in the middle of nowhere. Then last was an accident that created heavy traffic right outside San Jose. All in all, the trip that was supposed to be five hours by car compared to the ten hours by bus, ended up being ten hours. I was just on time to meet up with my Mum, whose flight was delayed anyway.  Like when she came to visit me in Thailand, it was a week of nice hotels and good food to take me out of my backpacking routine, if there ever is a routine when backpacking. We left the dirty, filthy town of San Jose the next day to make it to the Caribbean coast. It was a long but beautiful ride through the forest and volcano parks, sometimes on paved road, sometimes on dirt paths. We took our time to stop here and there to visit a few towns and the only ruins in Costa Rica, Guayabo. Of course, those are extremely disappointing, especially when you have seen the magnificent Maya ruins in other Central America countries,   but the set up and the landscape was very nice...let apart the dirt rocky road that leads to it. We sometimes wondered if we were on the right road, thinking that this inconvenient path could not be the way to a national point of interest. That happened a lot during our trip but we only had to remind ourselves to think Central America, the land where bus terminals are empty parking lots, restaurants are little carts on the streets and roads are narrow dirt paths. It is just a different way of seeing the things we are used to in our modern countries. We arrived on the coast at dark but drove along the beach and guessed the lines of palm trees thanks to the very bright moon reflecting on the waves. The road had a few holes but was nothing compared to what was in store for us for the rest of our trip. We could not drive fast anyway due to the numerous animals that were crossing the road. In France, they are deer and rabbits, in Costa Rica, they were turtles and crabs.  We casually spent two relaxing days on the beach, enjoying the tranquillo Caribbean vibe of Cahuita and Puerto Viejo de Talamanca before making our way to the highlands. We started with La Fortuna under fog, rain and cold (18C). La Fortuna was home to Costa Rica's most active volcano, producing ash columns, explosions and red streamers of molten rocks almost daily for the past forty years. Well that is according to the book because all we could see was dark grey clouds. We could not even distinguish the swimming pool of the hotel that was 200m from our bedroom, never mind fancying a dip. No wonder the Lonely Planet mentioned that it takes time for Volcan Arenal to peek out from the cloud forest!  We gave up on La Fortuna and drove to its neighbouring sister town, Monteverde. The town neighbours on the map, but not in actuality timewise. In fact, the drive from La Fortuna to Monteverde was a forty-kilometre three-hour trek on dirt paths scattered with holes filled up with rain in the fog. Where the view was supposedly magnificent, we could not see 100m across, but we stopped to imagine what it could be like. Monteverde was the first North American Quakers (religious group also known as the 'friends') settlement in the 50's. As pacifist, four Quakers refused to be drafted into the Korean War. They were jailed in Alabama in 1949. The incident ignited and exodus and members of the group came to dairy farm in these greener pastures, eventually conserving them. Tourism grabbed hold when a 1983 National Geographic feature described this unique landscape, and subsequently billed the area as THE place to visit. It was really well preserved, there was no easy access nor paved road in order to keep it secluded and most of the houses aroused Swiss wooden chalet charms.     Once in Monteverde, we got lucky, the rain stopped so we could visit a coffee plantation and processing mill. The guide was brilliant and we got to taste many different sorts of delicious coffee. At dark, we went on a jungle night tour and here again, if the animals we saw were not the biggest nor scariest ones, the guide was very good at explaining everything about them. Basically, we saw nothing more than worms, ridiculously small frogs, grasshoppers, crickets, sleeping birds and two tarantulas, but the thrill of walking in the jungle at night was something on its own. We also visited a cheese factory and the ranario, frog sanctuary along with the butterfly garden. We had the most knowledgeable and interesting guide hence we had the best time there. As part of the numerous amazing things that I learned out there, did you know that there were over 40,000 species of butterflies all over the world? And did you know that as frogs do not have any genital parts, their reproduction consists of the male, always smaller than the female for that particular reason, hopping on the female's back and giving her a back massage for two weeks non stop? So the female just walks around, eats, sleep and carries out its normal activities with a guy on its back for two weeks straight. Cool or not cool? 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/njarraud/2/1228621440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/njarraud/2/1228621440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/njarraud/2/1228621440/tpod.html Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:31:02 -0500 A couple more months off...in Central America...and South America

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Granada, Nicaragua

At the border, there was an amazing number of trucks stationed for about a mile before and one after. It was the first time that  a chicken bus actually dropped me off right at the border. I was able to walk across in less than a minute. The Honduras exit and the Nicaragua entrance were 50 cm apart, so close that the Honduras officer gave my passport directly to the Nicaraguan one. The bus to the next main town is right at the end of the street. It took me seven different buses and a little under six hours to go from Tegucigalpa, Honduras to Somoto, Nicaragua.   Somoto had a beautiful canyon that can be entirely visited if you take a six-hour tour, which I did, not knowing what I was getting myself into. Indeed, the first two hours were about rock climbing, not very steep but still going up and down the rocks to walk along the canyon. The next two hours were about swimming down the canyon where the Rio Coco, Central America's largest river (originates?). Because I had been told I could take my camera, I did and ended up carrying my backpack on the top of my head holding it with one hand and swimming with the other one. That was ok for a few meters, but not for two hours. This was when I understood why the lovely planet mentioned that we had to be in good physical condition for this trek!  Fortunately, another group caught up with us and those ones were definitely prepared. They had proper shoes, life jackets and ... a little inflatable boat to keep their bags dry! The following two hours were a mix of them both: walking on the rocks and swimming. There were a few pretty high jumps to do from the rocks into crystal clear water. I really had a hard time but a beautiful one at the same time (a bit like the hike in the jungle). At night, I got invited to a party by the people who caught up with me in the canyon. They were from Somoto and had been living in the States for the past ten years. It was great to hang out with a local family and discover more about the authenticity of Nicaragua. I got introduced to the entire town, the fishmonger, the baker, the banker, the hairdresser and felt like a movie star the next day walking around town with people shouting my name to say hello from every store. As it was difficult to live a normal life being so famous out there, I moved onto the next town. Esteli was an artsy place that played an important part during the Sandinista-led revolution and later the contra war. As now, it remains one of the Sandinista's strongest support bases in the country. This sentiment was expressed thanks to its beautifully painted murals all over town. On my way down to Leon, the country's original capital, I made a few more stops in beautiful misty and untouched villages further up the mountains, nerve centre for Nicaragua's coffee and cigars industry. Leon was a volcanic and intellectual home to Nicaragua's best museums, oldest universities and finest churches, including the grandest cathedral in Central America. It was the hottest part of the country with daytime temperatures in the low 30C. Leon was surrounded by the Maribios chain, epicentre of one of the most active volcanic regions. There were twelve distinct volcanoes, including San Cristobal (1745m), the tallest volcano in Nicaragua with streaming grey smoke from its smooth cone and Telica (1061m) which remains very active. Also right next to Leon was the Cerro Negro (726m...and growing), one of the youngest volcanoes in the world. It first erupted in 1850, and its pitch-black, loose gravel cone has been growing in spurts ever since. Three more recent eruptions in 1992, 1995 and 1999 have destroyed crops for kilometres around and opened three more craters at its base.  It was a steep, shadeless two-hour climb into the eye-watering fumes of the yellow streaked crater. Then, it was a faster way down if you go volcano surfing on sandboards! Which I did of course. It was brilliant yet but very different from snowboarding. The gravels slowed you down (a bit like heavy fresh powder snow), but if you went straight, you could still get a good speed and enjoy the views of the sunset while sandboarding down. Finding people to do it was not easy and as the tour required a minimum of four people, I had to wait a few days to be able to do it. I kept on enquiring, advertising, talking to people to do it and before I knew it, I was on my way to the volcano with four good looking Californian surfer dudes. I guess it was worth the wait. In the meantime, I visited Leon and its churches, I could even climb on the top of the cathedral for spectacular views of the city and smoking volcanoes. I also had a stroll in the 'museo entomologico' with a large collection of insects, beetles displaying ferocious-looking pincers and heaps of butterflies and critters to peruse. The most interesting part of that museum was not what it was displaying but the fifty year old bubbly owner that was passionate about his job. I actually felt like being in the movie "the diner de cons" with this big well groomed moustache man frenzily explaining to me how he was picking insects, catching them, shipping them back, conserving them, examining them and displaying them. It was the type of discussion I have never had before in my life and have actually never thought I could have one day. In the end, as I knew very little about the Lucanidae insect of Nicaragua, he taught me a lot and just seeing how passionate he was about all those insects made it  a refreshing experience. On my way to Granada, I hooked up with a bunch of people to form one happy big group of seven: an interesting combo of six girls and one guy. We all shared a dorm and had a great time together. We even hooked up with some more people along the way and it was easy to share things, taxis, rooms and book tours or go places as a big happy family. Granada was very touristy as it was truly beautiful and had a lot to offer. I walked around town, climbed its churches and fort, hiked the steaming Masaya volcano, which was not an easy one because of the sulfurous toxic gases that you can smell and taste! If you visit it at night, you can apparently see the lava. I also went to the crystal clear laguna de Apoyo, visited a ceramic school, and tried to make a vase but only succeeded in making a plate with a lot of help from the students. Last but not least, I got all my Christmas presents at the indigenous market of Masaya.  As a group, we moved onto the island of Ometepe that could come straight out of a fairy tale with its two volcanic peaks rising from the lake of Nicaragua and forming an hourglass of beaches and jungles cinched to a sinuous isthmus between them. The place we were staying at was a gem. Right on the beach (or what was left of it after the rainy season), it had hammocks dispersed among a beautiful garden with little cabanas. We met two other guys who were actors and acted as such. Every night, they were mocking around, dancing and singing for us, it was magical. Out of the two volcanoes to climb: gently smoking Concepcion (1610m) and inactive Maderas (1394m), we did not pick the twelve-hour hike up loose volcanic stone of Concepcion but the eight-hour muddy slog through a misty cloud forest of Maderas. It was truly hard, but amazingly beautiful. Not only because of the views - except the view at the top as we were deep into the cloud forest - but because of the diversity of the climb. The scenery was changing all the time from big fields to deep jungle to cloud forest and rainforest. The trek was made of simple walks to rock climbing, steep trekking, trees climbing. The surface was extremely slippery and as muddy as during the jungle trek but that is what made it challenging. The boys were singing and with the jungle noise and the peace of the mountain, it made this hike a magical time.  At night, we had the choice of going to bed early as extremely exhausted or partying as overtired. We chose option number two and the two actors made sure we had an enjoyable evening. The next day, we rented bicycles to drive around but seeing that the roads are very basic, it was more a trek in the dirt than a relaxing bike ride. It was all about hanging on the handlebars to go down hill riding over rocks and stones and pushing hard on the pedals to go up hill...over the rocks. Apart from the road, the scenery was beautiful though with kids playing in the fields, old men waving hello sitting in a chair in front of their houses, women washing their clothes in the river and cows making up the pace of the ride. A well deserved hot springs swim into 'the ojo de agua' was literally needed after all this activity. I found it hard to have a better feeling than the one I had while swinging in the incredibly comfortable hammock having a foot massage after hot springs and all day intense exercise. My last stop in Nicaragua was in the beach town of San Juan Del Sur close to the Costa Rican border on the Pacific side. San Juan Del Sur was the most touristed destination in Nicaragua as the gateway to the most amazing white sand, excellent surfing and dry weather beaches. The town itself was a surf and party town full of amazingly good looking people from all over the world. I do not think I have ever seen such a concentration before (maybe apart from my trip to Sweden). It looked like there was a beauty contest of some sort because everybody, boys and girls were absolutely outstanding, The surf vibe helped as well and it was common to come across a tall blond tanned girl with a perfect body, a surfboard under her arm wearing nothing else than a small swimming top and ...a thong. It was unreal, yet it was true. I was wondering what I was doing here and it was impossible to keep up, so after a few days and nights of enjoying looking around at the beauty of the beaches and the people, I took the next bus towards Costa Rica. 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/njarraud/2/1227664560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/njarraud/2/1227664560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/njarraud/2/1227664560/tpod.html Sun, 30 Nov 2008 21:45:44 -0500 A couple more months off...in Central America...and South America

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Tegucigalpa, Honduras

There was only one afternoon bus to go to Honduras from Perquin, El Salvador, so one better not miss it. I asked around to inquire about when the bus arrived and always got an answer starting with "como a las ..."  which means "something around" whatever time, I took the earliest time that I had been told by one of the locals and went to a special "bus stop" at the road intersection to wait for the bus. An hour later I was on the road to Marcala, Honduras in a chicken bus. To be honest, on the road was a big word as literally there was no actual road but a winding dirt mountain path on which I was very surprised the chicken bus dared adventuring. It took us two and a half hours to drive the 26 km to the entrance to Honduras. This border was by far the easiest and fastest crossing. The bus pulled over on the side of the road next to a little house outside of which two officers were loitering. The bus driver stepped out, shook their hand and had a chat while some people went out of the bus to get pupusas from the back of a pickup truck next to the "immigration office". After five minutes, the driver came back in and we droved off. That was it, we were in Honduras. Wasn't that cool? The road on the other side of the border was the exact same and it took us another two hours to drive 20 km to the town of Marcala. The infrastructures in Honduras are much less developed than in any other countries I have been to in Central America. Most of the time, I found myself in a chicken bus on some hard core dirt road and Marcala was a dusty place with a flea market in every street.  From Marcala and on my way to the ruins of Copan, I stopped in Gracias which was for a brief time the capital of all Spanish conquered Central America. Therefore, remains of centuries-old buildings such as the Castillo San Cristobal (a bit similar to Versailles but a smaller version, the picture speaks for itself) and numerous colonial churches. I also spent a night in Santa Rosa de Copan, a cool mountain town with cobblestone streets and a large coffee factory (of course) but also a cigar factory. The processing plant of the coffee was interesting but the best was the Flor de Copan cigar factory. I could not take any pictures inside, which is a shame because it was very impressive. Over a thousand people worked at this manufacture and it was amazing to see every single chair occupied - I am used to visiting glasses factories where this is not the case. With the smell of tobacco all around, the employees were working hard, doing everything all by hand, and rolling every single cigar with a lot of care.  For those interested in tobacco and to give you a brief overview of the cigar making, the tobacco leaves are stacked in piles, sprayed with water and left to sit for several months. Because of the chemical reaction in the leaves, the piles literally cook themselves, reaching temperatures over 45C.  After leaving the piles, workers remove the veins by hand in a separate room and the leaves are again sprayed and stacked. Rolling is accomplished in two stages: first the filler leaves, usually four of them, are rolled and cut into shape, and then put in a mild overnight. The next day, the wrapper leaf is put on, and the cigar is moved into the humidor room for storage and packing. Everything is done by hand from start to finish. I stayed a few days in the beautiful city of Copan Ruinas where I met a very funny Dutch couple and went horseback riding with them. After the El Salvador experience, I finally made it on a horse. We went to a very remote community village that lives off making straw dolls and selling them to tourists at the ruins. With nearly 100 kids in a village of 140 people, no wonder the kids are the ones to go out and sell the dolls. They were all very cute and it reminded me of the orphanage in Cambodia. I also went to a bird sanctuary with mostly Honduran birds. They were all very colourful. Toucans, macaws, owls; it was great to be able to interact with the birds as some of them were out of their cage.  Of course, I went to visit the ruins as well. They were magnificent. I found them very different from all the others I have seen in the way that there were no tall, impressive pyramids, but the sculptures and hieroglyphs were awe-inspiring. The remains of 3450 structures have been found surrounding the 'Principal Group' and in a wider zone, 4509 structures have been detected, which indicates that at the peak of Maya civilization, around the 8th century, the valley of Copan had over 20,000 inhabitants - a population not reached again until the 1980s.  Today, archaeologists are continuing to explore and make new discoveries, even within the 'Principal Group' itself as buried underneath the visible ruins are layers of other ruins which are explored by means of underground tunnels (some of them now open to the public.)  Their history is also inspiring. The city of Copan was founded around 426 AD by a mysterious king named Mah K'ina Yax K'uk' Mo'. Then Smoke Jaguar (628-695) was the one who consolidated and expanded the power of Copan. He might have even taken over the nearby princedom of Quirigua and most of the monuments have been constructed during his reign. But the one that  made Copan famous is his successor, 18 rabbit, who was a warrior, always seeking further military conquests until he was captured and beheaded in 738; then starting the beginning of the end of Copan's heyday with 18 rabbit's successors Smoke Monkey and is son Smoke Shell who nonetheless commissioned the most famous monument, the Great Hieroglyph stairway which bears the longest inscription ever discovered in the Maya kingdom. Yax Pac and U Cit Tok were the last rulers of Copan's dynasty around 822 before it was abandoned and reclaimed by the jungle.  The ruins were first found in 1576 but the discovery was not pursued until three centuries later. The ruins became known to the world when John Stephens and Frederick Catherwood published the book Incidents of travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan in 1841. As part of the story, Stephens was actually able to buy the city of Copan for a sum of $50 and had dreams of floating it down the river and into museums in the United States. After all that... do you remember the names of the kings who ruled Copan  ? What about the name of  the founder? (without going back to read it)  After Copan Ruinas, I took a long bus ride (well many different long bus rides) but mainly on paved roads this time in direction to the lake of Yojoa. Unfortunately, the weather was not at its best and when I tried to go and visit the north waterfall, I got surprised by the dark and got stuck with no buses to get back to my hotel twenty km away. Everybody in town was telling me there was no bus after dark but I kept on seeing a few buses here and there, but they were apparently 'special' buses. Special or not, I did not care, I needed to find a way home. So I tried to stop a bus waving on the side of the road as I normally do but none of them were willing to stop. I started to walk and waited at a speed bump. The next bus inevitably had to slow down to go through the bump and I jumped in. I got yelled at by the bus driver, but as I asked nicely to get to the next town, he let me in. There was no light but I could guess there was not a single woman nor kid in that bus. I believe it may have been a soccer team or something like that as they were loud men shouting and singing the whole way. Never mind, I made it back safely to my hotel and that was all that mattered.  The next day, I visited some nice caves on the way to Comayagua where an important US military air base is stationed. While wandering through town, it was not hard to spot the American army guys. Then my last stop in Honduras was Tegucigalpa which is a typical sprawling Central American (and very American) capital. The streets are snarled with fume-belching traffic, while the crowds are thick and the pace is frenetic. However, at an altitude of 975 m, Tegucigalpa is nestled in a valley surrounded by a ring of mountains and has a certain chaotic charm. I spent the night in a very secure hotel right in front of a police station. I ended up not closing an eye as the police station became alive at dark with people going back and forth all night.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/njarraud/2/1226711340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/njarraud/2/1226711340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/njarraud/2/1226711340/tpod.html Tue, 25 Nov 2008 20:41:35 -0500 A couple more months off...in Central America...and South America

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san miguel, El Salvador

After San Salvador the next place I ended up at was the beautiful town of Suchitoto. Like so many other towns in El Salvador there were beautiful Spanish colonial style buildings and a mini carnival in the square. Whenever I arrived at a place during the weekend there always seemed to be some kind of party. The hotel I stayed in was situated on the side of a hill overlooking a lake filled with lily pads. So many of them that, at times, as I found out the hard way, the ferry going back and forth to the surrounding towns simply never arrive or never leave.  I immediately wanted to view the popular waterfalls of Los Tercios before sundown and was told to ask the local police for an escort. At first I felt like I was an imposition but they were more than happy to have the tourist police guide me to the falls. I felt like a movie star with my two bodyguards and rather silly but in the end it turned out to be the best way to go. The policewoman used to be a tour guide and she took me through shortcuts and paths that I would have never found and when we arrived at the falls, it was nothing short of spectacular. The water spilled over the most unique rock formations that, at a distance, resembled wooden logs. I have never seen anything like it. In fact, I repeatedly had Suchitoto residents proudly mention how the falls were a one of a kind in the world.  I had booked a horseback riding tour on the highest road near town for the next day. As instructed, I waited and waited for my bus number 163 until finally giving up after a two hour wait. For those who know me well, yes, I have learnt patience. Sadly, I decided to call it quits and salvage my day by travelling north a few hours away to hike up to the highest point in the country, El Pital at 2,790m. I reached San Ignacio, only a few kilometres from the Honduras border before sundown. This was fine since there was absolutely nothing to see nor do in the tiny town so went to bed as early as I did when camping in the jungle. The next morning, my bus mishaps continued for the bus that day decided to leave three hours later than usual so I had no other choice than to hitch a ride to where I needed to go. After receiving a hospitable ride in the back of a pickup truck, the owner of the car strongly refused to take the money I offered as thanks. He told me he would come back down to San Ignacio around 2 pm and would be happy to give me a ride back if I needed to, which I did indeed. He pointed me in the right direction and off I went to reach the top of El Pital, up, up and up again for about an hour and a half. I kept wondering why the Lonely Planet did not mention how difficult the hike was for it was very steep but beautiful nonetheless. I finally reached the top where a monument indicated where to stand to be in either El Salvador or Honduras. After enjoying the spectacular vistas from the peak and briefly setting foot in both countries I made my decent back to the main road with my hitched ride back. Still wanting to go the on horseback riding excursion, I returned to Suchitoto and this time I actually made it, however, not without problems. As it turned out the tourist office was not notified of a very recent change in bus routes and I actually had to take bus 107 as the 163 was no longer existing. Finally on my way, I met with our tour guide who was an older dignified rancher by the name of Don Jose. As we began our ride, we were stopped by undercover detectives who insisted we turn back for the road was not safe due to suspected drug traffickers in the area. After many attempts to find a way to complete the tour to no avail we were forced to turn back. I guess Suchitoto was just not meant to be...and besides, I hated my slow disobedient horse. After some stops and hikes in a couple of different cities my last stop in El Salvador was in the town of Perquin, headquarters of the Frente Marti de Liberacion Nacional (FMLN). It was here and in nearby villages where significant battles and the infamous massacre of El Mozote took place. In 1981, the US trained elite exterminated 757 people: of the 143 victims uncovered, 131 were children. As many as 300,000 citizens fled the country. Perquin itself is tiny and non-descript, however, the local war museum is hugely important to the country as a whole. Being so involved during El Salvador's civil war of the 1980's it provided a wealth of information about the history of the war and actual displays of the weapons used on both sides (the U.S backed government army and the revolutionist). Behind the museum was a huge crater from a bomb and an army helicopter that had been shot down killing the high ranking officer responsible for many atrocities. There was also the studios of the FLMN's clandestine station 'Radio Venceremos'.r The museum tour guide was a former FMLN soldier and was very dedicated to honouring those who died as heroes and martyrs during the war.  Last but not least, what made my stay in El Salvador that pleasant were the people. They are extremely friendly and are often looking out for tourists' best interest with no strings attached. You can feel they genuinely want to help you, always smiling, happy to do something for you. I have a couple of examples which are going to explain to you exactly what I mean. Once, I needed to make a phone call to make a booking for a tour. I walked into the first store I saw and asked if they had a phone. Unfortunately, they did not but the owner offered me his cell phone for me to make my call. I had to call a couple of different numbers to finally make my booking and handed the phone back to the guy with some money. He strongly refused to take the money and was simply happy to have helped me. On the side, the person for the tour called the cell phone back with a question and the store owner came to look for me in the streets to hand me the phone. I also mentioned the free rides I got from people with pickup trucks. I had a few and they were all absolutely free and with a smile. I received help in the street numerous times when needing to find hotels, restaurants or points of interest. When they help, they go all the way for you. It was not rare that I asked directions of hotels to somebody and they stopped whatever they were doing and actually accompanied me to the hotel. On buses, I have always been helped with my bag, with getting off at the correct stop or with finding a seat. It made the whole chicken bus experience a completely different one.  Interacting with absolutely everybody in El Salvador has always been a pleasure and made a big difference. I also wanted to add a little paragraph about the food and coffee. For all those that have asked, the answer is no, I do not drink any good coffee. Most of the places I went to, I received instant coffee. Nearly all the coffee that is made here in Central America is for exportation. As for the food, it is not the best either, refried beans, fried plantains, fried eggs, tortillas and cheese but only one type of very white, feta looking, tasteless cheese. Needless to say that after three months of this three times a day, I had enough of it. Occasionally, I can order pupusas, depending on the country, but pupusas are nothing more than thicker tortillas filled with beans, cheese, plantains to suit your taste! Nevertheless, every weekend was a food festival, no matter which city I was in there were stalls in the street and women cooking...tortillas but also barbecuing meat or French fries. Nothing very exciting compared to Asian food - or French food - but that was my only chance for a change.    
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