TravelStream™ news feed for member travelbee on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/travelbee en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:00:48 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1252716744/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1252716744/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1252716744/tpod.html Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:00:48 -0400 Adam and Stacy's World Wide Excursion

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San Andres Island, Colombia

HE SAID:We arrived at our hotel; Casa Harb. It used to be someone's home so there are only about 5 rooms here. The place is a nice retreat from the craziness of town. Our first night we had an excellent meal at La Regatta. This restaurant is at the end of the dock and the view was as good as the food (although pricey). Colombia is definitely not cheap, and this island's prices are very similar to what we pay back home. The next day we hired a boat to take us to Haynes Caye. An island about a 15 minute boat ride from San Andres. The water is more beautiful here and there is a restaurant on the very small island. It was nice but the boat dropped us off for too long. We had someone call on this mobile and they said they would be here in 30 minutes as opposed to an hour as we previously agreed upon. They didn't come early, as a matter of fact, we hitched a ride with another boat since they were about 25 minutes late and we were the last tourists left on this island. We ended up on a crowded boat when the ride there was plush. Lunch at Casa Cecilia's was good to sample some local food. We had crab stew and crab soup.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1252716203/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1252716203/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1252716203/tpod.html Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:51:42 -0400 Adam and Stacy's World Wide Excursion

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Cartagena, Colombia

HE SAID:We arranged for our car yesterday for our 4+ hour drive from Tayrona National Park to Cartagena. What showed up was a truck. At least it had a decent sized back seat but we weren't thrilled and our bags were exposed in the back part in a country whose reputation is that of crime. Cartagena is really a special town, one of my favorites (if not my favorite) Spanish colonial town. We had some good food at La Perla and some bad food at Enoteca (but we really were craving Italian that night). The best meal was out our hotel (Hotel LM). We hung out in the kitchen and watched the chef prepare delicious fish ceviche and our main course of lobster, shrimp, and fish. It was a highlight of the trip for sure. We went to Boca Grande where supposedly the wealthy people from Cartagena visit. It's on an ugly beach with shops that weren't worth going in. We stayed there for less than 45 minutes before catching a taxi back to the old city. It seems as if there are very few tourists in town. The restaurants are near empty and we may have only seen one group of Americans cruising around.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1262304180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1262304180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1262304180/tpod.html Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:42:48 -0400 Adam and Stacy's World Wide Excursion

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Oaxaca, Central Mexico and Gulf Coast, Mexico

A few days ago we ventured out to Monte Alban. It's considered the best ruins in all of Mexico. It was quite big compared to other ruins I have been to. It would have been so much nicer if the grass wasn't brown. It's one of the few ruins up on a hill giving it a nice view of Oaxaca. My favorite ruin in Central America is still Tikal. Oaxaca is really a charming town with multicolored Spanish colonial buildings and excellent detailed stone churches spread throughout. The food so far has been outstanding, one of the main reasons we chose to visit. Our nearly daily breakfast at La Olla has been a highlight. padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">I researched a little bit about the events in town for New Year's Eve and quickly learned that the main place to be is in the main square (Zocola). I read online that there were fireworks and quickly confirmed this with our hotel staff and tourist information booth in town. We saw a stage setup a few days before new years and were surprised that when we arrived on New Years that the stage had been taken down. There were people everywhere but no music, no stage, no nothing. We watched a sign that was counting down the hours and minutes but it wasn't for new year's eve, it was for another event happening a long time from now. Anyway when the clock reached midnight Stacy and I had our excellent seats for the fireworks. All three of them. There were only 3 fireworks that would have all been considered duds when compared to the fireworks we were used to. I was more impressed with Stacy's sparkler. So at 12:02 we decided to get some food only to discover that the restaurant was now only serving drinks (they must have stopped serving food at midnight since we were there at 11:45 when food was still being served). 2 waters and some chips and salsa and we were happy. Of course the initial chips weren't enough so when the waitress took chips off a different table that was done eating, I told her that we would take those. She looked at me like I was crazy but I said 'No problema' and she laughed and put them on our table. Service was slow that night so it was our best bet.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1252549095/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1252549095/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1252549095/tpod.html Wed, 09 Sep 2009 22:19:07 -0400 Adam and Stacy's World Wide Excursion

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Santa Marta, Colombia

HE SAID:Today we had one of the best horseback rides I have been on. Single track paths in the thick of the jungle. We stopped at Arrecife, which is a nice beach and then the beautiful Cabo Beach which was unfortunately too crowded. The hotel staff told us there would be towels at Cabo Beach, but we found out there weren't and so we decided to eat lunch and ride back to our hotel in time for some more R&R at the preferred beach near Eco-Habs Resort. Had a good dinner since we now know to order fish and then spent some time watching fireflies & lightning from our hut.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1252548878/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1252548878/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1252548878/tpod.html Wed, 09 Sep 2009 22:17:25 -0400 Adam and Stacy's World Wide Excursion

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Santa Marta, Colombia

HE SAID:Just a few days prior to our trip, we were looking at slides that my mother sent me of beautiful places in the world. To my surprise, many of the places I couldn't recognize. There was one picture of tall building on a thin strip of land that I was especially curious about where it was. I didn't know that I would see that exact same picture out the window of the airplane. It was Cartagena. That was coincidence #1.#2 was Stacy mentioning that she wish she had one of those umbrella hats that we haven't seen in years. The same day, on the beach, was someone wearing an umbrella hat.#3 In our room we were watching Michael Jackson's thriller video. After the video, we changed the channel and watched 2 minutes of a movie that showed the character in the movie watching TV. She was watching the Thriller video.#4 On the way to breakfast, I commented on how the trees were blocking the view of the ocean. Stacy said they would never cut these down in a national park. Minutes into breakfast, we heard a machete cracking at the trees and the trees falling. By the time we were finished with breakfast, we had an impressive view of the water. I'll back up. Booking the Eco-Habs hotel was very difficult. No emails returned and initially no one spoke English on the phone. I emailed our hotel in Cartagena to have them book the hotel for us and they told us that we would get an email from the company that books this hotel (Aviatur). Days later, still no email. I had a friend of mine call Aviatur directly and he was able to book 3 nights for us. Next time we called to confirm they said they only had 2 nights reserved. We added another night after several more emails (I now had someone's personal email address). Our transportation from the airport to EcoHabs was reserved the same day as our flight. Talk about last minute. Our red eye flight was terrible. We had the middle row section of seats and in front of us was a wall so there was no place to put our bags or stretch out our feet. We were directly next to the bathroom and the TV was too close and so bright it made it more difficult to sleep.We eventually made it, got our bags, and met the Aviatur person at the airport to take us to the hotel (about a 4 hour drive). There must have been 15 check points on the way to the hotel.The hotel is nice but a bit rustic. The scenery is really incredible and there is an excellent swimming beach near the hotel. The worst thing here is the food. I had the worst shrimp cocktail and steak in my entire life (at least the fish here is good). Eco Habshttp://www.concesionesparquesnaturales.com/portal/Ingles/Tayrona/Tayrona.htmlSHE SAID: Getting here was an ordeal. Out of all our travels making arrangements to tayrona was perhaps the most difficult. But after 19 hours total travel time, I can easily say it is all worth it. Tayrona national park is amazingly beautiful. Tall sierra nevada mountain range, covered in a lush dense bright green forest, staggering coast line with blue/green crashing waves... wow. After we check in to our little hut we start our trek to our room, and I mean trek. It's 230 uphill steps to our room from the only restaurant and another 102 to the beach. But hey its a work out and the views are outstanding. As you are climbing the stairs you have to carefully watch your step as to avoid the huge red ants, lizards, geckos, frogs, centipedes, etc. And at night its totally dark. They gave adam and I one flashlight to share and the bats fly over head. I can't stop along the path, I just need to keep walking or I get a little jumpy with all the bugs/bats. We spent the first two days here laying out on the beach and swimming it the ocean. A nice little paradise.......
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1252291057/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1252291057/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1252291057/tpod.html Sun, 06 Sep 2009 22:57:39 -0400 Adam and Stacy's World Wide Excursion

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Santa Marta, Colombia

HE SAID:Just a few days prior to our trip, we were looking at slides that my mother sent me of beautiful places in the world. To my surprise, many of the places I couldn't recognize. There was one picture of tall building on a thin strip of land that I was especially curious about where it was. I didn't know that I would see that exact same picture out the window of the airplane. It was Cartagena. That was coincidence #1.#2 was Stacy mentioning that she wish she had one of those umbrella hats that we haven't seen in years. The same day, on the beach, was someone wearing an umbrella hat.#3 In our room we were watching Michael Jackson's thriller video. After the video, we changed the channel and watched 2 minutes of a movie that showed the character in the movie watching TV. She was watching the Thriller video.#4 On the way to breakfast, I commented on how the trees were blocking the view of the ocean. Stacy said they would never cut these down in a national park. Minutes into breakfast, we heard a machete cracking at the trees and the trees falling. By the time we were finished with breakfast, we had an impressive view of the water. I'll back up. Booking the Eco-Habs hotel was very difficult. No emails returned and initially no one spoke English on the phone. I emailed our hotel in Cartagena to have them book the hotel for us and they told us that we would get an email from the company that books this hotel (Aviatur). Days later, still no email. I had a friend of mine call Aviatur directly and he was able to book 3 nights for us. Next time we called to confirm they said they only had 2 nights reserved. We added another night after several more emails (I now had someone's personal email address). Our transportation from the airport to EcoHabs was reserved the same day as our flight. Talk about last minute. Our red eye flight was terrible. We had the middle row section of seats and in front of us was a wall so there was no place to put our bags or stretch out our feet. We were directly next to the bathroom and the TV was too close and so bright it made it more difficult to sleep.We eventually made it, got our bags, and met the Aviatur person at the airport to take us to the hotel (about a 4 hour drive). There must have been 15 check points on the way to the hotel.The hotel is nice but a bit rustic. The scenery is really incredible and there is an excellent swimming beach near the hotel. The worst thing here is the food. I had the worst shrimp cocktail and steak in my entire life (at least the fish here is good). Eco Habshttp://www.concesionesparquesnaturales.com/portal/Ingles/Tayrona/Tayrona.htmlSHE SAID:
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1230501480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1230501480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1230501480/tpod.html Mon, 29 Dec 2008 17:00:36 -0500 Adam and Stacy's World Wide Excursion

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Puerto Escondido, Mexico

HE SAID:The highlight of today was our boat excursion to check outsome of the other beaches nearby.  They were all ok (just like PE).  On the way to the beaches, our driver spotted a turtle and then jumpedout of the boat to catch it.  Thisturtle was about as big as my outstretched arms.   Seconds later, the turtle was pulled up onto ourboat!  Then they put the turtleback in the water for Stacy and I to swim with it.  So much fun!   After a few days in PE, we are definitely ready for a new town and looking forward to Oaxaca town tomorrow.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1230415020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1230415020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1230415020/tpod.html Mon, 29 Dec 2008 16:58:04 -0500 Adam and Stacy's World Wide Excursion

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puerto escondido, Mexico

HE SAID:Another day of lounging by the pool.  The town here seems to be moreauthentic Mexico than most tourist destinations without a TGI Friday's insight.  The town is a bit run downbut it's still good for a stroll along the shops and restaurants.   We ate at Charlies restaurant and I had a 1 and a halflobsters for about $22 USD.  Not abad deal and it tasted so good.  After a couple of margaritas and some live music we decided to call it anight.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1230328440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1230328440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1230328440/tpod.html Mon, 29 Dec 2008 16:56:13 -0500 Adam and Stacy's World Wide Excursion

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puerto escondido, Mexico

HE SAID:We left on Christmas Eve to catch our midnight flight toOaxaca.  Unfortunately I had to buybusiness class seats (with miles) since no coach award seats wereavailable.  Not a good use of milesfor a 3.5 hour flight.  The pluswas that no food was served on the plane and fortunately we gorged at thebusiness class lounge.  2 glassesof champagne each, some sandwiches and also plenty of chips stashed away in ourbags for eating later on.  Ourflight left on time but circled around the airport of Oaxaca several timesbefore landing.  We landed at about6:20AM and had a 7:00 flight to Puerto Escondido.  I was a little nervous.  The line for customs was slow and huge but since we were thefirst ones off the plane we made it through quickly.   Good thing I passed on the hotel arranged 5 minute $25taxi ride as we made it to our hotel for $6.  We spent the day lounging by the pool and relaxing since wewere so tired from the flight.  That night we had an outstanding Mexican meal with the best tortilla chipsand salsa both Stacy and I have ever had.  We also ordered unidentifiable fish that huge huge scales that resembledteeth all over it's body.  It wasdelicious.  
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1211005140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1211005140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelbee/travelbees/1211005140/tpod.html Sun, 17 Aug 2008 00:14:26 -0400 Adam and Stacy's World Wide Excursion

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Laguna Beach, California, United States

Living at dad's house for 2 months, just like old times.
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