TravelStream™ news feed for member woody0198 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/woody0198 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 22 Feb 2009 12:26:25 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/15/1234016040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/15/1234016040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/15/1234016040/tpod.html Sun, 22 Feb 2009 12:26:25 -0500 Corn Islands - Nicaragua

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Big Corn Island, Nicaragua

Wow there's a lot of trash here. They just do not have any appreciation for the litter they create. All the roads have litter on the sides, and only the top beaches that are raked are clean. Arenas beach is the best on the island, so we hung out there most of the time. The hotel was supposedly booked, but we there was usually only one other couple even on the beach. Not sure where everybody went...

The plane ride in was a little dicey. I'm okay with rocking wings and big elevation drops, as long as we're far away from the ground. Well, just as we were about to touch down, the winds gave the wings a little (okay, big) tip to each side, making the whole plane gasp. These guys do this every day, and this plane had obviously seen some cycles, so we shouldn't have been surprised.

Casa Canada is a fantastic place, worth every penny. We ate here a few times, and the food was actually pretty good. We ate at Seva's twice, as it was probably the best food on the island, though we didn't frequent the non-gringo places that left sanitation to question.

The first day we arrived it was raining slightly, so we put on our shorts and Keens and rain jackets and went for a walk. By the time we got to the other side of the island, it was pouring, and we flagged down a taxi to take us back to the room for a nap. It rained the next two mornings for a couple hours, but always got sunny and nice by about 10. It was dry after that. The locals were saying that the reason the storms came is because somebody died and hadn't been properly laid to rest yet.

Beach time, walks, and one snorkel trip filled up the days. We snorkeled around two wrecks- one a steamer from the 50s that was really neat, though not many fish. The other, a pirate ship that had all but disintegrated except for the 16 cannons on the sea floor. The waves were really rocking, so it was a little scary snorkeling around the smoke stack of the steamer when you could get thrown into it at any minute. Our guide kept us clear by using the current to our advantage.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/15/1234361760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/15/1234361760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/15/1234361760/tpod.html Sun, 22 Feb 2009 12:17:22 -0500 Corn Islands - Nicaragua

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Little Corn Island, Nicaragua

Ah, this is better. Little Corn is cleaner (not saying much) and nicer than Big Corn. Wish we knew that before I booked 4 days on Big and 3 on Little. They don't really have any nice places to stay, but everything else is better- especially the food.

The boat ride from big corn would be harrowing for all but the most seasoned travelers. Carrie and I were smiling of course, but some blond gringo on the same row as me had her head between her knees and white knuckled the seat in front of her the whole ride. She had an emery board out for the ride, but didn't get a chance to file her nails like she expected! The sea is rough, and you're only in a 25 person boat. It's not covered and powered by twin Suzuki V6 outboard engines that launch the craft off the crests of the waves, only to SLAM back down with a violent slap.

Reviews of establishments frequented:
Sunshine Hotel: Carrie booked here ahead of time, but they didn't have room when we arrived, so we had to hike around the island looking for a new room. Thumbs down for the Texan schmuck who was in charge when we arrived.

Lobster Hotel: Tiny rooms, goofy bathroom ensuite, rough bedding, and no cross ventilation. Hot! At least the price was right- $20 a night. Breakfast was pretty rough. We left after one night to get some elbow room.

Hotel Los Delfines: Service not too attentive, and the room we got was a little smelly when we first opened it- I think it hadn't been used in a while. It was a good sized room with a bathroom and AC, but it was still an "island" room, if you know what that means. If you don't: some bugs, poor construction, no hot water, older furniture. We had a nice view of the laundry service next door. Never did eat here.

Habana Libre: Hands down the best food on the islands. We ate here 3 times in 3 days. The first day we had lunch (mojitos!) of lobster and fish with a Cuban sauce. Carrie's grilled lobster tails were the best yet, and the cuban sauce on my filet was out of this world! We made reservations for the next night. They needed advance notice to prepare a special vegetarian meal for Carrie (some stuffed baked squash and beans) and I had umm... Baked Cuban (?) which was ripe plantains, marinated pork, rice, raisins, all baked together. She also serves a yummy salad with fresh veggies and perfectly cooked rice- not leftovers from the day before which are so common. The last lunch Carrie had lobster with garlic sauce and I had pork curry that was to die for. Cannot recommend this place highly enough.

Casa Iguana: We had a lunch wrap (hummus and roasted veggies) that was excellent, french toast made with coconut bread and coconut maple syrup (twice) and the family dinner with sausage penne. Everything is great, and they make a drink called a Basil-jito, that is a mojito made with fresh basil instead of mint. Yummy!

Elsa's: Our borrowed Footprint Nicaragua book says Elsa is the best cook on the island. I have to wholeheartedly disagree. I had shrimp in a red sauce that was bland, forgettable, and rejected by one beach dog I tried to feed it to. Carrie had lobster that's hard to screw up, I guess, but I went hungry. The beans and rice cooked in coconut milk (staple for nearly every Nicaraguan meal) had crunchy bits of rice that told me it was pretty old. At least it was entertaining to watch the coals from the grill spill out the back of the kitchen and the little local boys playing with fire.

Mango's Pizza: cheap, and lots of food, but the pizza sauce is a little lacking in flavor. Fresh dough for the crust, and it's nice and hot, but it won't satisfy your pizza craving.

Dive Little Corn: probably the most professional dive outfit we've ever used. Run exclusively by ex-pats, they give a briefing before you head out, the boat is ship-shape, and they're very safety conscious. Got kind of blown off my Dolphin Dive, as if they didn't really wanted to be bothered by a customer trying to book a trip, so we went with Dive Little Corn for two trips.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/15/1234621200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/15/1234621200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/15/1234621200/tpod.html Sun, 22 Feb 2009 11:48:27 -0500 Corn Islands - Nicaragua

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Managua, Nicaragua

We had dinner at Dona Haydee, just a block away. It was Nicaraguan specialty food, including Nacatamal. It's only served Fridays and Saturdays, and is a giant tamale with pork, potatoes, onions, and raisins inside. It's just okay- could use more pork and maybe some hot sauce. Nothing an ice cold beer can't help. On the taxi ride from the domestic terminal to the hotel, we picked a new taxi driver (our scheduled one was late) who wasn't quite a slow speaker, and I asked if he knew where Casa Naranja is. "Si, si, senor. Son dos, pero conozco lo donde esta." Or something like that. As long as he took us to the right one. Well, we're cruising along, and Carrie and I both notice we pass the turn that we took last week when we stayed here. I have the guy stop, we get out and look at the address I had in the trunk with our bags. A look of surprise washes over his face and he says "Aha! Son TRES Casas Naranjas!" So, beware when you try to find the place that there are 3 of them in Managua! They have a breakfast every morning, but our flights left too early to partake. Coffee and empanada at the airport is all we got.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/15/1233929820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/15/1233929820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/15/1233929820/tpod.html Sun, 22 Feb 2009 10:37:41 -0500 Corn Islands - Nicaragua

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Managua, Nicaragua

... one small step to go to the Corn Islands.

It's just not possible to get to the Corn Islands in one day, so we had to stay in Managua overnight. The city has about 2 million of the country's 6 million inhabitants, so it's decent sized. Had a really great taxi driver to our hotel who spoke nice slow Spanish so my one-semester-of-Spanish could keep up. Gave us a recommendation to try the fin de semana dish Nacatamal, a Nicaraguan specialty. We landed too late to partake this night, so walked a couple doors down and had ceviche and some beers.

Local beers are primarily Victoria and Tona, with Victoria having a Premium and Frost version, too. Tona is supposedly a lager, but Carrie preferred the Victoria because it's like having sex on the beach: f***ing close to water!

Managua's a typical "second world" city, with nearly all buildings in disrepair, aesthetics and "code" nonexistant- decrepit signs for auto repair, a general grunge about the place, inconsistent or no sidewalks, no evidence of success or wealth. It's all have-nots here, people. Which is fine, but it would be hard to proud of a home like that. We weren't here to spend time in Managua, however.

Casa Naranja ( www.hotelcasanaranja.com ) is a fantastic little place in a colonial Nica home. Soft beds, hot water, excellent service. Highly recommended.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/14/1211024880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/14/1211024880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/14/1211024880/tpod.html Tue, 27 May 2008 09:58:56 -0400 Culebra Getaway

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Culebra, Puerto Rico

Nobody was at the service counter for Flamenco Air when we arrived, nor when our flight was supposed to leave. I guess the check in agent slept in, so they rousted the manager out of bed and he checked everybody in. After some mental gymnastics of putting the right people on the right seats to balance the plane, everybody loaded up onto this ten seat twin turbo prop piloted by a 12 year old.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/14/1210975500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/14/1210975500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/14/1210975500/tpod.html Tue, 27 May 2008 09:48:37 -0400 Culebra Getaway

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Denver, Colorado, United States

Flights to Cancun were either $1000 or took 12 hours, and I figured if we were going to fly that long, we might as well go someplace cool. Europe is expensive with the dollar, and we hadn't explored the Carribean much, so I consulted my list of places to go, culled from hints, suggestions, and tips from all over, and Culebra rose to the top. First step: a redeye flight to San Juan.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/seasia07/1198633560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/seasia07/1198633560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/seasia07/1198633560/tpod.html Mon, 07 Jan 2008 06:38:44 -0500 Thailand, Take 3: A base layer of Vietnam, a filling of Angkor, and a fat dose of southern Thailand!

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Ao Nang, Thailand

Today we decided to do the ubiquitous 4 Island Tour, but didn't want to be hampered by the regular tour boat schedule. It was cheap enough, so we hired our own boat for the day and did the same itinerary, taking in Ko Si, Ko Gai, Ko Poda, and Ko Tab. The snorkeling wasn't much good at Ko Si, so we bailed early, and the tide improved access to sand bars at Ko Gai, so we went back later. Tons of fun, really relaxing, though the snorkeling wasn't as good as I remember it. If you like convict fish, it's probably fine, but they get a little aggressive and boring, beautiful as they are. After cleaning up and getting a proper Wat Po massage from our hotel, we hit O'Malley's Irish Pub, run by Thais of course, and serving good draught English beer. We got free Santa hats and a free Singha as a door prize, which, coupled with the beers and cocktails we already ordered, put us in a state not fit to drive, and it wasn't even dinner yet!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/seasia07/1198546500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/seasia07/1198546500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/seasia07/1198546500/tpod.html Mon, 07 Jan 2008 06:38:15 -0500 Thailand, Take 3: A base layer of Vietnam, a filling of Angkor, and a fat dose of southern Thailand!

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Ao Nang, Thailand

This morning we took a long tail over to Hat Ton Sai for a 1/2 day rock climbing course. After getting fitted for rock shoes and meeting our guide, we boated over to Railey West beach, then hiked across the headland to Railey East beach. At the end of the beach is a wall called One Two Three Wall, at the bottom of which were piles of classes going on. It was a bit crowded, really, but all the guides from the different rock shops cooperated with each other, sharing ropes, belaying each other to set up routes, and coordinating who was climing what route next. We started with a 15 meter 5.8, got time on a 10 meter 5.7 next, hit another 5.8, and then two 5.9s. Carrie got up 3 of the 5 with no problem, and on the final 5.9, was so spent getting past the crux on the first move that she finally got to see what it's like to really need the rope! I'd done a fair amount of climbing many years ago, so had good luck getting to the top of all of them, and our guide set me up to do a 40 meter 5.10a. I got up to the top and hit the ring to signal completion, really surprising since I have only climbed once in the last 10 years or so. We booked a guide for a couple days later since we had so much fun. After a pitcher of Chang beer at Bobo's bar and some pad kee mao and duck curry, we lazed on the beach at Railey some more before heading back to town on a longtail.

Everybody was setting up for Christmas eve parties tonight, many with special meals at the restaurants, or big gala buffet dinners. We got a rotten massage at a place that was doing a promotion, and could hear the cheesy music from the resort next door. It sounded like bad Vegas lounge acts. Maybe the food made up for it. We went back to Lo Sputino, the italian place we liked so much a couple nights ago. Once again, it did not disappoint.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/seasia07/1198365720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/seasia07/1198365720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/seasia07/1198365720/tpod.html Mon, 07 Jan 2008 06:36:07 -0500 Thailand, Take 3: A base layer of Vietnam, a filling of Angkor, and a fat dose of southern Thailand!

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Ko Phi Phi Don, Thailand

Today we took a boat tour to Ko Phi Phi with... Ko Phi Phi Tours. They had a pretty slick operation, running many speedboats to many different destinations. Rather than try to pronounce the names of everybody, they just used your hotel name and room number. Pretty smart, as at the end, they know just what hotels to drop you off at when the boat unloads into a minibus. Anyhow, first stop was Monkey Bay, with some good snorkeling, but bothered by sea lice, our nemesis from Ko Phangan that sting as you as you are swimming. Does not feel too good, so we opted to soak up some rays. Next stop was Maya Bay on Ko Phi Phi Leh, which is where the movie the Beach was shot. Pretty nice beach if there weren't 50 million people there. We couldn't figure out why so many people were shooting photos at this spot, and then realized where we had gone after we left. Around the corner to another bay for snorkeling, and some minor sea lice irritation, then past Viking cave, where they harvest bird nests to sell to the Chinese as a delicacy for 1000 baht per 100g. That is about 120 bucks a pound. Big money, here. A quick open water dive before lunch on Phi Phi Don, which is overrun with tourists. Not such a nice place, which is too bad because the island itself is beautiful. They sell postcards with pictures of what it looked like after the tsunami. A stop on Bamboo island for some resting and 180 plus degrees around the small island of beach before heading back home.

We snuck in dinner before the election day-imposed liquor sale ban that started at 6pm. We ate an Italian restaurant, of all places, that had absolutely fantastic food. I had the 2nd best lasagne I have ever had; second, that is, to the one I had in Menton, France, on the Italian border. The house red was even pretty good. Bruschetta with gorgonzola was tops, and Carrie had a mushroom pasta that was out of this world. Yummy.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/seasia07/1197930540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/seasia07/1197930540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woody0198/seasia07/1197930540/tpod.html Mon, 07 Jan 2008 06:11:57 -0500 Thailand, Take 3: A base layer of Vietnam, a filling of Angkor, and a fat dose of southern Thailand!

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Ko Lipe, Thailand

I guess we brought the bad weather with us, as a guy on the bus said that the weather is sunny and beautiful on Ko Lipe. It's been a bit drizzly and overcast, but still warm. Today we walked around the island, had a Thai massage, chilled out under the palms, and Carrie had spicy squid again at Pattaya Song. It is great squid, even by my non-seafood-loving estimation. The snorkeling off the beach is exquisite! Tons of anemone with clown fish, a lion fish (poisonous- had to swim fast to get away), an ocotpus, plus the usual assortment of king angels and parrot fish. We were probably in the water an hour in one stretch. New snorkel mask makes a difference, along with shaving my mustache for a clean surface to seal the mask.

Our bungalow isn't the nicest we've stayed in this trip. In fact I'd say it's the not-nicest. They put linoleum on the floor to cover the gaps in the floorboards, and there isn't even a sink in the room. We spit our toothpaste in the toilet. The walk from the restaurant/ reception goes over a nasty smelling inland canal with lots of trash and debris in it. You'll see a picture of no shower, too, but that's typical. Most Thai bathrooms just have a shower head on the wall, and the whole bathroom is a "wet bathroom", tiled so that you just shower in the middle of everything. Just be careful not to aim the shower head at the roll of toilet paper. Oh, well. We're not here to hang out in our room, so it's all good.

Our bungalow's restaurant is staffed by a couple of Thailand's third sex, the ladyboy. They're men, with broad shoulders, tall stature, and adam's apples, but have no facial hair, long hair, makeup and decidedly female-fitting jeans. Nobody knows quite why there is an abundance of transvestites in Thailand- perhaps the open mind, culturally, of the Thais. But this island has just a few hundred permanent residents, and here there are two ladyboys. Seems like a high proportion, and we didn't exactly canvass the island to get a total count.

Thin update, but it's pretty slow on these islands...
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