TravelStream™ news feed for member yoni on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/yoni en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 13 Sep 2009 12:09:58 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1185332160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1185332160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1185332160/tpod.html Sun, 13 Sep 2009 12:09:58 -0400 Arvid and Irina leave their jobs, pick up their pensions and hit the road for an epic journey to the fountain of youth. Around the world, following the sun.

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Ulan Bataar, South Hangay, Mongolia

July 24, 2007Beijing to Ulan Bataar by trainOur train tickets to Ulan Bataar, which we bought at the CITS office on the mezzanine at the International Hotel in Beijing, together cost us 1998 yuan. We have the deluxe soft sleeper which means we have one compartment all to ourselves. This train is often called the Trans-Siberian Railroad, but more properly called the Trans-Mongolian Railroad. Many, if not most, of the people on it are headed to Moscow. So we can still get away with telling people we rode the trans-Siberian. The trip took about 30 hours. We'll just let the photos tell the story.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1191922020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1191922020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1191922020/tpod.html Fri, 28 Nov 2008 08:56:47 -0500 Arvid and Irina leave their jobs, pick up their pensions and hit the road for an epic journey to the fountain of youth. Around the world, following the sun.

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Mazar-i Sharif, Afghanistan

October 9, 2007We had to get up at O' early hours to catch our bus to Mazar-e Sharif which leaves at 5 AM. Kabul is getting cold and the Mustafa hotel had no heat while we were there. They do provide heaps of heavy blankets though. We were looking forward to getting on a nice warm bus. But the bus had no heat either, in fact they opened the vents on top of the roof right above our seats. We should have planned ahead and dressed more warmly, but now all the cloths we have that we aren't wearing are in the luggage compartment under us. Arvid's kameez and shalwar which was comfortable in the heat of Lahore and even Islamabad doesn't help much. Irina is only a little better off because she has a shawl which she, out of love or pity, shares with Arvid. An Afghani across the aisle sees our distress and offers his blanket, which we gratefully accept until the sun begins to warm up the bus. By the time we arrive in Mazar-e Sharif eleven hours later we both have colds. Sure it's just a common ailment, but it sure takes the glow off our heroic crossing of Afghanistan. On our long ride we crossed the Hindu Kush through the famous Salang Pass and the Russian built Salang Tunnel; it's three kilometers long.We are staying at the Mazar Hotel for $50/night. Our room is really a cavernous suite with a bedroom, living room and bath. Our suite is at the end of one of the hotels two long wings. The ceilings must be 15 ft high. It is a huge place built in the 1930 and it doesn't look like any of the furnishings or fixtures have been changed in all that time. The electrical wiring is screwed up and the fuses keep blowing and there is no hot water. When Arvid makes the long walk to the office to complain the three men dressed like cadres of the Northern Alliance who had been there when we checked in are gone. We are the only guests in the building. There is a large dining room or rather banquet hall but it is closed indefinitely. This place is really strange . . . it could be a movie set for one of those European art films where there is no dialogue or plot. There is only one person here who speaks any English and that is Kareem. In fact with the exception of when we checked in with, he is the only one we see here. Kareem is in charge of us. After we settle in Kareem shows up and apologizes about the electricity goes to reset the fuses, but the water heater still doesn't work. So he unlocks the room next door and with gestures and one word shows us we can use the bathroom there to "douche". Later he returns to see if we want him to get us some food. His English consists of less than two dozen separate words, each one of which he pronounces earnestly and properly. He uses no phrases, conjunctions or articles. He will say something like, "You eat, I come, you go, you no go." So rather than chance what he might bring us to eat Arvid said "Ibn Sina Restaurant" which was a name we saw in our LP guide. His face lit up. "You go, I go." So Arvid and Kareem went off to get diner while Irina nursed her cold. On the way Arvid told Kareem we wanted to go to Balkh in the morning. Kareem was really excited, "I house Balkh, I wife Balkh." "Okay, but can we take a taxi to Balkh." "I speak taxi, you no speak taxi. What clock Balkh?" Eventually it was understood that we were all going to Balkh at 9AM tomorrow. October 10, 2007Ancient Balkh, the mother of cities, it's older than history. Can you believe we are going to Balkh? So that doesn't sound very exciting you say. How about this: Can you believe we are going to the birth place of Zoroaster and the Zoroastrian religion, and the tomb of the man who invented hashish? Balhk is where Alexander defeated the Persian Darius and married the beautiful Roxanne. It was called Bactra back them. Lots of Alexander's men settled out here and Balkh (or Bactra) became the capital of Bactrian-Greek Empire which we first learned about when we visited Taxila in Pakistan. So the Bactrian-Greek thing is starting to come together. It was such an important city that Tamerlane had himself crowned Emir there. The legends have it that the town is so old that it was founded by Noah after the flood. It certainly looks that old. We spent hours climbing around, up and over piles of dried mud to look at more dried mud. All this mud has a long history. It's the remains of the unbaked bricks which we still see being used in Afghanistan. We saw some new ones being made: wet mud is mixed with straw and placed in wooden frames to dry. Tomorrow the taxi driver who took us to Balkh will drive us to the Uzbekistan border.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1164409920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1164409920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1164409920/tpod.html Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:02:43 -0400 Arvid and Irina leave their jobs, pick up their pensions and hit the road for an epic journey to the fountain of youth. Around the world, following the sun.

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Pacific Harbour, Fiji

November 24, 2006 Early this morning we traveled by bus from the Coral Coast to Pacific Harbor to spend the day at the Arts Village. This is a good place to see a portrayal of original Fijian culture, although totally make believe. It's like the Greenfield Village of Fiji. A man made lake with a man made island, is the center piece of the complex with restaurants and craft shops around it. A temple and chief's house dominate the island. Performers recreate scenes from indigenous village life before Christian Missionaries arrived, which wasn't all that long ago. They also perform the firewalking. Fijian firewalking is done on white hot stones packed into glowing embers. Traditionally, the only Fijians who firewalk are from the village of Navakaisese on nearby Beqa island. Fijian Hindus also firewalk but on hot ash over glowing embers. This night we were invited to stay at Stella's place, also know as Hot Stone Villas. This is a Friars recommended accommodation. We are here as guests of Ratu Tavita Mara the great chief of Lau, which is a group of islands on the eastern edge of the Fiji. He inherited the position from his late father who had also been the president of Fiji until the 2000 coup. He's home is on the chiefly island of Lakeba, the traditional seat of the high chiefs of Lau. As chief he owns the whole district, and is a member of the Great Council of Tribal Chiefs, of which there are 13. Stella is the owner of Hot Stones Villas, and Ratu Tavita is her friend. It's just one of those things that happen when you're traveling. The accommodation is first class to say the least. Stella's place is at S. 180degrees 14.844' latitude and E. 178 degrees 04.086' longitude. Cut and paste 18 14.844S 178 04.086E into google earth. Tomorrow we move on to Suva the capital.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1216134840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1216134840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1216134840/tpod.html Sun, 03 Aug 2008 11:28:43 -0400 Arvid and Irina leave their jobs, pick up their pensions and hit the road for an epic journey to the fountain of youth. Around the world, following the sun.

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Northern Michigan, Michigan, United States

July 15, 2008Michigan, USAAfter 20 months of travel we have finally come home. We are exhausted but had a wonderful time. Thanks for following along. We hope to complete this blog later with some financial summary so you can see how much a trip like this actually costs. If you are interested in that sort of thing check back in a few months. In the meantime we're going to take a long nap.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1215699180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1215699180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1215699180/tpod.html Sun, 03 Aug 2008 10:50:31 -0400 Arvid and Irina leave their jobs, pick up their pensions and hit the road for an epic journey to the fountain of youth. Around the world, following the sun.

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Mexico City, Mexico

July 10, 2008 Pochutla, Oaxaca, MexicoWe left Zipolite by taxi to Pochutla ($10) and at 5:15 PM bordered a deluxe executive sleeper bus for Mexico City. It was pricey at $75 each, but oh so luxurious. Huge seats that reclined to almost horizontal. July 11, 2008 Mexico City, DFEconomic index: Exchange rate: $1 = 10 pesosCan of Modelo beer at a 7-11 store costs 7.5 pesos Big Mac Sandwich costs 20 pesosWe arrived in Mexico City at 7:30 AM and took a taxi from the northern bus station to the Centro Historico for 85 pesos. Our hotel of choice, El Roble, was full so we took a room at the nearby Hotel Castropol. The room cost $36 per night and is not bad and is not far from the Zocalo. The first order of business is to get to the Vaio repair shop and get the laptop fixed. We waited while the technician went through some procedures with the machine and after an hour or so we decided to take a walk. When we returned a few hours later the computer was ready, but they had had to wipe everything out and reinstall Windows. Later we go to Sanborns for their enchilada suisa; delicious. July 12, 2008 Mexico CityArvid had at one time wanted to complete the trip home, to Michigan, by land. But now he is too tired and the idea has lost its appeal. The last destination on Irina's itinerary was Zipolite and now that she's been there and done that she is ready to go home as well. While strolling down the Paseo de la Reforma we walk into an Air Mexicana office and buy two tickets to DTW leaving on the 15th. Arvid chose the 15th because we had flown out of DTW on Nov. 15, 2006. That will make the trip and even 20 months. With our tickets in Irina's purse we spend the rest of our time just enjoying the world's largest city.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1217547360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1217547360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1217547360/tpod.html Sun, 03 Aug 2008 10:18:23 -0400 Arvid and Irina leave their jobs, pick up their pensions and hit the road for an epic journey to the fountain of youth. Around the world, following the sun.

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Puerto Angel, Mexico

June 28, 2008Pochutla, Oaxaca, MexicoExchange Rate: $1 = 10 pesosThis morning Tony and Lily got us on the right bus to the Mexican border. Tony insists that the border crossing at Cuidad Hidalgo is too dangerous and he finds the bus heading towards the El Carmen crossing. There is no direct bus so he tells us we have to take a bus to Coatepeque first and then take a bus to the border. It turns out not to be that simple. Our bus tickets from Xela to Coatepeque cost us 32Q; we departed Xela at 8:20 AM and arrived in Coatepeque at 10:35 AM. We left Coatepeque headed to El Carmen at 10:50 AM on a collective type van with our bags tied to the roof at a cost of 10Q headed. When we get to El Carmen we find out that it is near the border but not actually on the border. We end up taking two more collectivos for an additional 15Q before we actually get to the border crossing at 12:30 PM. It costs us nothing to get into Mexico. There is a time zone change when we enter Mexico so it is 1PM when we leave to border to Tapacuhla. That bus costs us 30 Pesos. We arrive at 2 PM in Tapacuhla and find out that the next bus to San Pedro Pochutla doesn't leave until 10 PM. We have lots of time to kill so we walk around but there isn't much to see in Tapachula. We end up reading books and eating Pollo Compero until our bus is ready to board. It leaves late, at 10:50 PM. The bus to Pochutla costs 720 pesos for the two of us. It is a nice bus but not a sleeper or cama bus so the twelve hour trip is not that comfortable. June 29, 2008 Zipolite, Oaxaca, MexicoWe arrive in Pochutla at 11 AM and immediately take a taxi to Zipolite (100 pesos). This is our third trip to Zipo. Zipolite is near Puerto Angel and has an unofficial free beach, which means it is clothing optional. The town was created by some hippies in the early 1970's and is still very laid back. Commercialism here might be two gay guys renting a stall to sell crepes. It is not for everyone so we can't recommend you go there. In fact don't go there; because the more people who discover the place the worse it will be for people like us who want to keep it secret. It is the rainy season and so despite the free beach we didn't get much sun. We stayed again at our usual place, and on the top floor with a balcony overlooking the beach. We got the name of a computer technician in Puerto Escondido and we made a trip there. But the tech was unable to fix our computer. This is a really tough virus. So we'll have to try to get it repaired in Mexico DF. Arvid has figured out how to copy files on the laptop to DVD disks using DOS commands. So he's been able to save all the photos and document files. If the hard drive has to be totally wiped out we will still have our photos. Actually, there is only about one month worth of photos on the laptop because we periodically copy our photos to DVDs which we mail to Irina's brother Al. He lets us know if they came through okay and then we delete them. We spent 11 happy days in Zipolite and hope to return.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1214521020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1214521020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1214521020/tpod.html Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:08:37 -0400 Arvid and Irina leave their jobs, pick up their pensions and hit the road for an epic journey to the fountain of youth. Around the world, following the sun.

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Quetzaltenango, Guatemala

June 26, 2008Quetzaltenango (Xela), GuatemalaYesterday, after visiting Chichicastenango, Tony and Lily drove us to their home in the town of Xela also called Quetzaltenango. The locals usually call their town Xela or Xelaju. Xela is the second largest city in Guatemala and has a long history which includes being mentioned in the Mayan creation myth recorded in the Popo Vuh. Tony's grandfather came here from Spain and opened a bath house catering primarily to indigenous people who live in the area. Quetzaltenango is the center of the Quichè Maya population. As you can imagine baths and running water, especially hot water, are not common features of Quichè homes. They come into town once a week for a good soaking and of course they pay. The bath house has been the family's cash cow since Tony's grandfather, Don Mariano Balcarcel, founded it in 1880. The Banos Balcarcel is an institution in Xela. Because of the volcanic activity in this area there are also many natural hot springs and baths in the surrounding mountains. This may be how the Quichè got in the habit of taking hot baths. But the water at Banos Balcarcel is heated by wood fire. We got a tour of the family business which was very interesting. Tony and Lily were great hosts and while they had family and business to tend to they still had time to show us some of the local sights including - guess what? - More baths. Tony and Lily took us to some of the natural hot mountain pools and baths which surround Xela. The geothermal baths are supposed to be good for your health. The Balcarcel family home is large by our standards and is not old as we might have imagined if Tony had not told us before that it is a modern house. Four generations live in the house if you include Lily's mother who is not technically a Balcarcel. The second floor is the home of Tony's oldest son, his daughter-in-law and two grandchildren. On the first floor are rooms for Tony and Lily, the mother-in-law, the second son, and us. Every bedroom has its own bathroom. In addition there is the maid's quarter, off the kitchen, where she lives with her mother. There was also a gardener who seemed to always be around but we're not sure where he slept. We have been to homes in other countries where servants are part of the culture and we have always found it awkward. We aren't sure how we should relate to the help. Should we offer to help with the dishes or just sit there like bumps-on-logs? Should we try to chat them up or would we be interfering with employee/employer discipline. It's especially uncomfortable when the homeowners berate the servants in front of us, as when Tony chewed the gardener out for not covering his 1974 Datsun pickup when it rained. The maid or cocinera, a young Mayan girl, is new to the house. The last one quit in a conflict with the daughter-in-law so they are especially careful to make this one feel welcome. The daughter-in-law is the family pariah since she tried to get the last cocinera to cook and baby sit for her upstairs. Now she has banished herself to the 2nd floor apartment and never showed herself during our stay. It's probably more complicated but maybe she wants her husband to get his own house where she can run things. Tony is very sad about the situation and the effect on his son. Every family has their problems and the 'la nuera' issue just made Tony and Lily family seem more like real people to us. We again have stuff to mail home. So this morning we go into the city center with Tony on his way to work at the second family business, a shoe store. At the post office we shipped off 13 kilograms for 860 quetzals. The Guatemala post office didn't offer a land rate and we had to ship by air. After shipping our package out we took some time to walk around town before meeting Tony at the shoe store. One of the nice things about Tony and Lily's house was that they had wireless internet. But it was also a bad thing because our laptop was infected by a virus - a very destructive virus. We could not get it fixed in Xela; and since Tony and Lily seemed to want us to stay much longer than we'd estimated, this gave us a good reason to move on. We would have stayed a few days longer but Tony hadn't looked well after our afternoon at the Fuentes Georginas hot springs and he said he felt like he was getting a cold. Arvid already had been showing signs of a cold, which gave an excuse to why he often felt tired. Lily got tears in her eyes and her mother, who had always smiled at us but had never spoken, told us "no debe dejar". Of course we were sad that they felt so bad about us leaving, but we suspect that their exaggerated display is a polite Spanish cultural thing. Still Tony and Lily drove us around the city to find the bus company going to the Mexican border; and the following morning took us to the municipal bus yard and made sure we got on the right bus to the right border crossing.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1216816680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1216816680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1216816680/tpod.html Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:59:22 -0400 Arvid and Irina leave their jobs, pick up their pensions and hit the road for an epic journey to the fountain of youth. Around the world, following the sun.

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Panajachel, Western Highlands, Guatemala

June 23, 2008Panajachel, GuatemalaIn the morning Tony and Lilly drove us to Lake Atitlan. They wanted to show us the beautiful spots of their country and this is one of the best. They had originally planned to take us first to Antigua, which would have been nice also, but we have been there before. We should tell you that Tony and Lilly do not speak English with us, although they know a few words. Arvid can speak a little Spanish; which he's been told is "suficiente" - faint praise. It was good practice and a challenge to communicate with them entirely in Spanish. Tony has lots of patience and for Tony it was probably like speaking to a child. Arvid would translate to Irina although she usually knew what was being said because it was all so elementary. Speaking with Lilly was a little more difficult because she did not use the simple words that Arvid knew. But we agreed with the old saying that communication is only 10% words, the rest is bodily language, voice infliction, context, etc. Bright eyes and a nice smile go along way, and Lilly had both. When we got to Panajachel Tony spent some time hunting around for the right hotel for the night and after several tries he found a place with casitas: cottages with two bedrooms, two baths, kitchen and living room. It's a nice place to set up housekeeping but with all the sight seeing we spent little time there. Tony has been paying for the meals and gas ($5/gal) so we pick up the hotel tab of $68 as we did for the room last night in the capital ($60). Lake Atitlan is beautiful - like something from a fantasy painting. A clear blue lake set amid volcanic peaks. From Panajachel Tony drives south along the lake shore to the small town of Santa Catarina Palopo and on to slightly large San Antonio Palopo. On the way back to Panajachel we see a curious resort on the mountain side and decide to check it out. The Casa Palopo is so exclusive that you have to enter through a locked gate which a guard unlocks after questioning Tony. It would be a nice place to stay if you were on a honeymoon or had lots of money. It cost Tony plenty for the coffee and pastry we ordered. But the view over the lake was spectacular. June 24, 2008Chichicastenango, GuatemalaToday Tony takes us to Chichicastenango, also called Santo Tomas, which oozes with Mayan mystery. The mixture of Catholicism and ancient worship is pervasive. You really don't have to hunt it out. When we arrived the Cofradia Brotherhood, dressed in black knee breeches, short jackets and colorful scarfs, were massed on the church steps amid swirling smoke of burning copal. We had read about the cofrades but we'd never seen them. After the ceremony on the church steps the cofrades went off to perform another ceremony at a rock in the hills which has been worshipped as a god long before Europeans arrived. It was fascinating.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1214083560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1214083560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1214083560/tpod.html Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:29:33 -0400 Arvid and Irina leave their jobs, pick up their pensions and hit the road for an epic journey to the fountain of youth. Around the world, following the sun.

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Managua, Nicaragua

June 21, 2008Managua, NicaraguaWe are up early this morning to catch the local bus from San Juan del Sur to Managua. The bus is scheduled to leave at 5 AM which seems like an extreme hour. From our experience you can count on the driver waiting as much as a half hour to make sure he gets all the passengers he can before leaving. But this time the bus left on time; actually 5 minutes before 5 AM. The bus to Managua costs 130 córdobas for the both of us. We arrived at the Managua city bus terminal about 7:30 AM, in plenty of time to catch our Tica Bus to San Salvador which is supposed to leave at 11 AM. The Tica Bus terminal is in a different part of town from the local bus terminal and we are forced to take a taxi. The taxi driver quoted us the price of 100 córdobas which seemed high but we had no way to judge so we agreed; when we got to the Tica Bus terminal this jerk tried to charge us 100 córdobas each. Early in our trip we might have fallen for this, but not now. Arvid told him to call the police because we were only paying the 100 córdobas we'd agreed to. We just left him standing at the curb and he soon left. We had plenty of time to stow our bags and check out the neighborhood before our bus leaves. It appears that Tica Bus Company has been busy, since we came this way in March of 2006, upgrading their offices and terminals. Back then the terminal was in a questionable area of town, it's in a much nicer area now. At 12 noon our Tica Bus leaves for the long trip to San Salvador. We arrive at the border of El Salvador around 6 PM. Apparently some of the governments in Central America are cooperating on visa formalities. We hand our passports to the Tica Bus assistant along with $7 US each and while we carry our baggage thru costumes he takes them to immigration. After we get across the border he gives our passports back with no stamps from either Nicaragua or El Salvador. He tells us that we will not get anymore stamps in our passports until we get to Mexico. We arrive in San Salvador late at night, around 10:45 PM. We are leaving again in the morning at 6:30 AM, so take a room at the Tica Bus hotel attached to the bus terminal. It is a nice room but costs us $32 US which seems expensive for such a short night.June 22, 2008Guatemala City, GuatemalaExchange rate: 7.45 Quetzales = $1 Six pack of Gallo Beer = 9.45 QuetzalesOur bus arrives at 11 AM in Guatemala City. We are going to meet Tony and Lily here. We met Tony and Lily when we were here in March 2006 and we've kept in touch since. They want to show us around the country and they will take us to their home in Quetzaltenango also called Xela. Xela is 3 hours from here on the way to the border of Mexico which is where we are headed. There's no point in returning to the capital, we'll go on to Mexico from Xela. So we cash in our Tica Bus tickets from here to Mexico. We had told Tony and Lily that we would take the bus to Xela from the capital but Tony and Lily like to come to the big city from their provincial town. Also, they have planned a party for us here with their friends, Fernando and Julie. In fact it is Fernando and Julie who pick us up at the Tica Bus Terminal; Tony and Lily are still on their way from Xela. Fernando, who prefers to be called Paco by his friends, is about 60 and his second wife Patty looks about 18 but she is really 35. They take us to the Apartment Hotel San Benito where each two bedroom suite is like an apartment. Paco and Patty speak good English and are very interesting people. Paco is a businessman with contacts in the government. While we were with him he received a couple calls from the minister of commerce. Even at his age he is still energetic and they have a 14 years old son. We had a good time with them. Tony and Lily arrived shortly, as well as Claudia who we had also met before, and it was a nice get together. We participated, but we went to bed early and let the others carry on.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1213637760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1213637760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yoni/rtw_odyssey/1213637760/tpod.html Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:59:21 -0400 Arvid and Irina leave their jobs, pick up their pensions and hit the road for an epic journey to the fountain of youth. Around the world, following the sun.

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

June 15, 2008Panama City, PanamaOur plan is to leave Panama City and go to San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua on the Pacific coast. We have heard that the beaches there are very nice. We leave the Panama bus station at 11:40 AM. We reach the Costa Rica border at 6 PM. The strange thing at the border is that Panama goes through a time consuming search of our luggage including a drug sniffing dog. At least we thought the cute little cocker spaniel was sniffing for drugs. But why would Panama care if we were taking their drugs out of the country? When we entered Panama by sea no one checked our bags. We could understand if they wanted to stop us from taking antiquities or national treasures from their country. But Panama doesn't have any national treasures. Shouldn't this search be taking place on the Costa Rica side of the border? And sure enough when we carried our bags over to Costa Rica they did again search our bags. As a result of all this line standing and bag searching it took 90 minutes before our bus was underway again. Costa Rica time is 1 hour behind Panama time. We are surprised to learn that the Panama Canal is east of Florida. June 16, 2008San Jose, Costa RicaWe arrive in San Jose at 1:30 AM Central American time. Tica Bus basically goes from capital to capital in Central America. They will let you off in various cities but you can only get on the bus in a capital. Our first bus takes us to San Jose, Costa Rica. We want to go to Rivas just across the border in Nicaragua; from there we will take a local bus to San Juan del Sur. At the Tica Bus station in San Jose we learn that we can't count on automatically getting as seat on the next bus. You should make reservations. The next bus leaving for Rivas has only one seat. But before the bus leaves at 6 AM someone cancels, so both of us get seats on the bus. We reach the Nicaragua border at 11 AM and clear the border at 1:10 PM. The bus stops in Rivas at 1:50 PM and we are the only passengers getting off. Rather than taking the local bus we decide to take a taxi to San Juan del Sur for $20. June 17, 2008San Juan del Sur, NicaraguaExchange rate: 19 córdobas = $1 6 pack of Barera Beer, cheapest beer in grocery store = $4.60We are staying at the Casa 28 in a room with private bath for $25 per night. For $10 more we could turn on the air con, but the fan is all we need. San Juan has a nice horse shoe shaped bay, something like Puerto Escondido's in Mexico. But the town is much less developed, maybe P. Escondido was like this 25 years ago. The beach on the bay has some nice stretches but we understand there are better beaches outside of town. The ambiance here is very laid back. There are lots of gringo expats and tourists here but it doesn't seem crowded. And San Juan del Sur has been a gringo haunt since gold was discovered in California in 1848. For easterners to get to the gold fields they had three choices: across the plains, go around the horn, or over the Isthmus. The Panama Railroad Company cashed in by building a railroad across Panama. The competing Isthmus route was through Nicaragua. The Nicaragua system was created by Cornelius Vanderbilt. His route was a cheaper and faster way to get from New York to San Francisco than the Panama route because Nicaragua was much closer to the states than Panama. Tickets sold by Vanderbilt included a river boat trip on the San Juan from the Atlantic side to Lake Nicaragua which was crossed in a large lake steamer, from the lake the passengers rode in stage coaches, painted sky-blue, to San Juan del Sur. Here, on the bay, ocean going passenger ships took them on to San Francisco. The gold rushers had a chance to see this beautiful spot and tell folks back home. The best thing about San Juan del Sur is that, even though it has been known by gringos since 1848, there hasn't been that much development; no big high rise hotels and the only franchise we see is a Subway restaurant. We are going to just chill out on the beach until Saturday morning when we'll take a local bus to Managua and there will get back on the Tica Bus and go to San Salvador.
]]>