Happy New Year

We wish you all a Happy New Year! May all your wishes come true!

We are still in San Pedro de Atacama and will spend New Year's Eve with our friends. Tomorrow we are off in the morning to Salta, north of Argentina.

Have a great celebration tonight.

Bolivia Part III - Salar de Uyuni - Laguna Colorado - Laguna Verde

December 27th – Dec 29th
Salar do Uyuni – Laguna Colorada – Laguna Verde:

What a great adventure we had!

Our bus ride from Potossi to Uyuni was supposed to be 6 hours but we had a delay of 2 hours due to the level of a river that had risen. We waited for it to go down and passed it, not without fear. The whole bus was very scared as we could still see a lot of current. During the waiting time, we met very nice people, Martijn and Marion from Holland, Steven from Australia, Allard from Holland, and Clemence from France with whom we decided to travel around the Salar de Uyuni direction San Pedro de Atacama in Chile.

We woke up at 7.00 to go to the Andes Salt Expeditions agency and have some more details on the 3 days – 2 nights tour around the salt flats, the Laguna Colorada and the Laguna Verde. We signed up for it and had to be at the shop at 10am for the big adventure.
We all fit into one jeep and left around 11am that same morning. The first stop was at the train cemetery. It was not really necessary but well… After that we drove direction the salt flats. My brothers had told me it was amazing but I was not expecting something that nice. We were all breath taken. The scenery was unbelievable; there are no words to describe it. The region had just suffered from a huge rain storm after three years of drought which made the views and reflection in the salt flat even more beautiful. At night we slept in our very first nice salt hotel and salt beds, near candlelight, as the hotel lights turn off at 9pm.

The day after we drove around the Laguna Colorado which was full of pink flamingos, and amazing colors. Our chauffeur Juan always managed to reach the best spots for us to enjoy these special moments. We had a very nice lunch around the lake and then headed to the view point of a volcano. During the whole day we were in the desert were only vicuñas (a type of lama) live. At night we bunked together in a shared dorm, and woke up at 4.00am the next morning to go see some geysers and swim in hot springs.

We reached an altitude of 4700 meters. We were all freezing but the swim warmed us up. The expedition finished after the Laguna Verde at the Bolivian-Chilean border. We took a bus for San Pedro de Atacama where we will spend New Year with our new travel friends. It was a bit unexpected to pass by Chile but apparently faster to reach Salta afterwards. We have a very good first impression of San Pedro.
After more than three weeks of cold in altitude we are finally reaching “descent” heights and are now at around 2400 meters. We will spend New Year’s Eve here and catch a bus for 10 hours on Friday to go to Salta.

Bolivia Part II - Oruro - Potossi

December 24th – Dec 26th,
Oruro – Potossi:

On the 24th we walked around Oruro and as one of our taxi driver said: “what are you doing here?” Many people were surprised to see some tourists in their city outside of the Carnival period. Indeed, we found that Oruro had nothing special, was very poor and has no charm at all. Unfortunately, we ended up there for Christmas, bad timing. To top it off, on the 24th we went for lunch in a “good” restaurant (in Oruro standard) and I (Aubry) got sick. As a result, we stayed the whole afternoon and night in our hotel room. I spent a terrible night between my nightmares in bed and low pressure hits going to the bathroom several times.
We took the decision to make our stay in Bolivia a bit shorter than expected. We feel a bit tired of the busses and conditions here. In a way, we have been on the road for 5 months (including Brazil in August) already and we feel a bit the backpacker tiredness. Today, fortunately I feel better; we are in Potossi and will take another bus for 6 hours to reach the famous Salar de Uyuni, finally something to look forward to. We will then see what the best way to get to see this wonderful place is, and then plan to reach Argentina as fast as possible.

Sorry, no pictures.

Bolivia Part I - Isla Del Sol

December 21st – Dec 24th,
Copacabana – Isla Del Sol:

The trip from Puno to Copacabana was beautiful until a rain storm showed up. It happened that we had to pass the border at the same time, by foot! To add to the fun, Maria, being an American citizen, had to pay a visa of $140. Well, it is written $100 on the visa itself and they asked us 135 plus 5 as we did not have a picture of Maria. We did not want to discuss to avoid any problem.
We arrived in Copacabana, which lies along the lake, around 5.30. There were no more rooms available in the hotel we had chosen; therefore we went to the one next door. The room was freezing but with a great view of the lake. We enjoyed a very nice dinner at the Cupula, the hotel right next to ours.
The next morning we decided to go visit the Isla Del Sol and therefore took the boat for a 2.30 hours ride. The scenery was amazing but freezing. Once arrived, it was pouring but luckily just for a bit. The sun came afterwards. We went to visit the Inca ruins and then walk from the North of the island to the South, 2.30 hour walk. It was beautiful and really worth it. No wonder our guide mentions this place in the to-do list of Bolivia.
We came back all burnt to Copa around 5.30. Yes, the sun at this altitude is very aggressive! At night we enjoyed a nice meet fondue, excellent!
Our original plan was to have Christmas in a nice hotel around the Lake Titicaca but unfortunately there was nothing that attracted us. We then decided to leave the next day to La Paz and find something nice there. Getting into La Paz was crazy and we were a bit overwhelmed with the traffic and looks of the city which led us to take a quick decision to hop onto another bus to Oruro. In total we travelled 8 hours by bus! Oruro is not very attractive either but we could not go further due to it being 10pm. We are now in a nice hotel, where the Bolivian president usually stays when he comes to the city for Carnival. Don’t worry; it is only $30 a night. Indeed Bolivia is very cheap which is good for our budget.
We are at the moment trying to find a good restaurant for tonight, Christmas and tomorrow we will leave to Potosi.

Peru Part V - Cusco to Puno

December 20th – Dec 21th,
Cusco – Puno:

Sunday we took a 7 hours ride to Puno, Lake Titicaca. We were astonished with the beauty of the road. We went through striking sceneries, surrounded by snowy topped mountains. We really enjoyed it. (Sorry, almost only pictures from the bus). Once arrived in Puno, we were shocked once again by the big size of the city. It is the low tourist season now and we can feel it, we are basically almost alone! This is good in a way! It is not attractive at all and we decided to leave today to the Bolivian side of the lake, Copacabana, which is supposed to be much nicer according to our guidebook.

Peru Part IV - Cucso - Sacred Valley - Machu Picchu

December 14th – Dec 19th,
Cusco - Sacred Valley – Machu Picchu:

The first day in Cusco was dedicated to buy the necessary pass tickets to all ruins of the sacred valley and some museums and also the ticket for the famous Machu Picchu. It is crazy how these little things can take so much time when you arrive in a new city. Once done, we could walk around the center of the city and enjoy the “free” entrance to some museums, which were more than simple. Cusco’s center is very pretty but way too touristic. Every step of your way there is someone approaching you with the best deal or massage ticket.
The next morning we decided to go visit the closest ruins of Cusco (Tambo Machay, Puku Pukara, Qenqo and Sacsayhuaman). We took a taxi that dropped us in the last one of the four and went back all the way to the city, 13 km. It was interesting but not something I would absolutely recommend. What we liked the most was the walk in the nature without any pressure of people selling art crafts. A good tip that we learnt: always ask the official badge of tourist guide when hiring one! After this long and sunny walk, we enjoyed a good lunch and some more museums.
We were all excited the next morning as we were getting closer to the big day, Machu Picchu. We had decided to go see some more ruins such as Pisca, Moray and Ollantaytambo where we, the Swiss girls and us, stayed to sleep. These were much more prestigious and we could already feel the grandeur of the Inca world. We hired a taxi that took us from Pisac to Moray and finally to Ollantaytambo. It basically costs us the same price as struggling between busses and different taxis in each site. We could not believe it when we arrived in the latest, such a wonderful place full of charm. It has to be said that we have been very disappointed by all the Peruvian cities we have seen so far, but Ollantay was very pretty with its ruins right above the village. At night we went to buy the train ticket to Aguas Callientes, start of Machu Picchu, and arrange our return way to Cusco for Friday. It was a bit complicated but we managed.

Thursday, we visited the nice Inca ruins of Ollantay and then took a wonderful train ride along the Sacred River, Urubamba, to reach Aguas Callientes, probably the ugliest city we have visited so far in our trip. It did not really matter because we were already excited to reach Machu Picchu. Friday, wake up at 4.00 to be in the queue for the bus that goes up to Machu Picchu. We arrive to the site and are transported by the magic of the place. Nothing can describe it, so gorgeous. We arrived under the drizzle but then the sun pierced, fabulous!
Since a couple of days we had realized that our camera was not producing as good pictures as before and this for a couple of weeks. Lucky or not, we managed to fix it, just before Machu Picchu. We were so happy because we considered this place as one of the hits of our trip!
In Machu Picchu we climbed up the Wanapicchu, 1 hour, what a tiring climb but what a wonderful view! It was so peaceful up there and you couldn’t stop admiring the city the Incas had built in this remote area.
Late in the afternoon, we went back under the rain to Cusco (at our hostel El Arcano where we had left half of our things) and arrived exhausted at 10.30, we called it a night.
Our last day in Cusco was pretty much dedicated to laundry, resting, finding the best way to go to Puno and hanging out at the hotel as it rained all day. That night we celebrated our three months road trip anniversary, without counting the month of August in Brazil, in a restaurant called Inca grill on the Placa de Armas which offered us our best dinner so far.
Now we have to figure out where we will spend Christmas and New Year’s.

Peru Part III - Arequipa

December 12th – Dec 13th,
Arequipa:

It took us 9 hours to come back to our hostel Home Sweet Home in Arequipa as there was an accident on the road from Cabanaconde. We were exhausted from those three days of hard walk and rough sleep but also so happy to have done it. We saw amazing views and learned that climbing is not only walking in nature but also suffering in order to see beautiful sceneries.

The center of Arequipa has about one million people, and is very busy. We had never seen so many taxis at once. We headed to the convent of Santa Catalina with the Swiss girls, which is one of the most popular tourist attractions of the city. We were surprised by the beauty of the convent and that there are still about 30 nuns living in closure. After a good two hours inside the walls of the convent, we went to eat a ceviche, typical Peruvian plate, with the Swiss and Jasmin. In the afternoon, we visited the Juanita museum. Juanita is the most well preserved mummy dated back to the 1400’s. We loved this museum and learnt tons of things on the Incas.

We all decided to leave Arequipa that night and head towards Cusco, one more bus ride, 9 hours which turned out to be 11 as we had a flat tire, including many snores on the bus.

Peru Part II - Arequipa - Cabanaconde

December 9th – Dec 12th,
Arequipa and Cabanaconde:

Once we arrived in Arequipa at our hostel Home Sweet Home, we ran into our Canadian friend Jasmin, who had good news. His wallet hadn’t been stolen, in fact he had dropped it in the taxi, and the taxi driver took it to the bus station that same night to return it as he knew his departure plans. Anyways, we were planning to visit Arequipa and then go for a trekking in the Colca canyon but he convinced us to go with him and four Swiss girls the next morning which meant to take a bus for another 6-7 hours. At first we were not too excited about his idea, but we decided to join them. The bus ride to Cabaconde was beautiful, and we could feel the trail in the canyon would be spectacular. We saw for the first time alpacas and lamas.

We got to hostel Pachamama, where we had planned to meet Jasmin, and were pleased with the coziness of the place, except Maria was a bit disturbed with all the cats in the hotel. That night, we had dinner with him and the Swiss girls (Sanya, Annoa, Marie, and Virginie), who shared all the details of the trek which we were going to start the next day very early. Luckily we were all fine with the altitude (3200 m above sea) so could take off right away.
We decided to do the trek without a guide, as the hostel gave us a little map to follow, and apparently many people do this same hike on their own. So the adventure was off to a start, and we had a nice walk down the mountain on the first day. The trail was well indicated, and we went down about 1000 meters in 3 hours. We got to the river, which had a hot part, known as Geyser, making it impossible to swim in. Then it was a small uphill walk to our first destination, called Llahuar. We stayed at a very simple lodge called Claudio and Lola, which had no electricity, hot water or phones, but on the other hand had a nice view to the river, two small hot pools with water from the source, and the possibility to fish. At 17:00 Claudio called us to go fishing with him and his bamboo fishing rods. No luck though, Aubry broke his after a few attempts. That night, we did however eat the fish all the others caught, called Trout, and it was truly lovely. We went back to our room with our flashlight, and slept like babies with the noise of the river just down below.
The next morning, we had to face a much harder trek, going up the mountain towards Sangalle. I had a very hard time, and decided there that I would not want to do the Inca trail for 3 days straight. The route for this part wasn’t as obvious, and we did get a bit lost, which only added to the fatigue and bad mood. Once we did find it though, we were all relieved. We ran into a group of Tcheck friends that had also stayed in Pachamama, and an English couple that had slept at Llahuar. It’s funny to run into people during these long walks! It was an intense 6 hour hike, with a few brakes in between, where the Swiss girls would share their snacks with us, and as soon as we spotted the Oasis we were all motivated to keep going. The hotel in Sangalle was great, with a big swimming pool with fresh water from the mountain, but same basic conditions as the other one, and not as good food. A beer cost 3 dollars!

We did enjoy though the fire the owner made us that night during our dinner, which we sat by until it burned away in the company of many fireflies.
Day third was basically climbing up the mountain we had first come down, but from another side. The trail was very evident, one big zigzag upwards, but very very tiring! We had started at 7 am to avoid the sun and heat, but it was still all the same exhausting! Once at the top, I was thrilled to have completed a 3 day trek. At the top we were welcomed by our friends, the lamas. During those three days we were looking for condors and hoping to take good shots of them but they did not help us at all. We got to see some but not too close. We treated ourselves to a nice big lunch in the main square of Cabaconde before taking our bus back to Arequipa.

Peru Part I - Lima - Nasca

November 5th – Dec 8th,
Lima - Nasca:

Here we are in Nasca, where there are the famous Nasca lines which can be best observed by plane. We got here from Lima by bus, a good 8 hour ride, but in an incredible bus I must say. In Lima, we stayed two nights in Miraflores and were able to meet a cousin of my Dad, Carmen, her daughter Petty, granddaughter Fatima, and her husband Carlos. They received us so well. They took us out on both days, to meet the city, to a beautiful club for mass and lunch they are members of, to old Lima and other sites. It was special to meet my Dad’s cousin and be with family I didn’t know yet. Petty was so energetic and full of life, that it was great to spend time with her. She gave us great tips, and even took us to a pharmacy to buy these pills you can take for altitude sickness, which we’ll probably experience on our way to Cuzco. We were really surprised with Lima’s beauty, and had no clue it overlooked a long beach. It’s a city we would love to come back to one day.
From Lima, we enjoyed the picturesque journey to Nasca. The land just kept getting dryer and dryer, and we felt we were getting into a desert. The mountains were impacting, and completely different than those green ones we had grown accustomed with in Central America. At the bus station in Nasca, a taxi driver brought us to a hotel in the main square and told us he could take us right away to the airport after leaving our bags, in order to see the famous lines. He showed us pictures of the plane, and we were convinced we had to do this! At the airport, named after the most known researcher of these legendary lines, Maria Reiche, we were shown a quick video of the mystery and then guided to our pilot who led us to his plane. I was of course starting to regret my enthusiasm to do this tour, but it was too late to turn back. We hopped onto a three person plane with another guy from Quebec. The plane felt so light to be able to drag us all into the sky. Nevertheless, we were able to have beautiful views of the different designs made on the floor, such as a monkey, spider, birds, hands, and trees. It’s still unknown what these giant forms mean, represent, and why they were drawn at such big scales. After 35 minutes we landed and were glad to be on the earth as the pilot was turning around so much to show us all the figures with a different angle. Back at our hotel, we rested a bit and then walked around the city. To tell you the truth, the town of Nasca is not special at all, it only lives off the lines. When arriving back to our hotel we ran into our friend from Quebec. His wallet had been stolen. We, therefore, helped him to cancel his cards etc. Poor thing, all this after three days of travelling!
Today, Tuesday, we are off to Arequipa with a 9 hours bus drive. Let’s hope the altitude still isn’t a problem.

Panama Part I - Panama city and Isla Taboga

November 30th – Dec 4th,
Panama:

Sunday was a day for goodbyes, for we had to part from our Australian friends with whom we’d been travelling for a good 2 weeks together, and Caro and Philippe. It was strange to find ourselves alone again. At least we were going to a new country. But before leaving, we met a friend of Daniella, Eugenia, who picked us up in the afternoon with her boyfriend and took us around the city and to Escasuz. We took TicaBus from San Jose to Panama on that night. It was the coldest bus, and Aubry gave me his big jacket which meant poor thing he was cold. We were woken up at 4:30 am when we arrived at the border. Unfortunately the booth wasn’t open yet, and we had to wait standing around till 6am. Foolish us to think we only had to wait an hour and a half. The whole ordeal took 6 hours, yes my friends, the bus only took off again at 10:30. By this point we couldn’t sleep again, so we watched the movies on the bus. The ride was pretty as well, and we were excited to get to Panama.
We were invited to stay at the house of friends of Aubry’s brother, Emmanuel and Francoise who just moved there 2 months ago. Their house was beautiful, and it was great to stay with a family. They have 3 kids, Gaetane, Delphine and Antoine, who were also adorable. They live in this area called Ancon, which allowed us to on our first day walk up to the top, where there’s a huge flag of the country and amazing views.

In Panama, we visited the Miraflores Lock. We got to see huge boats crossing the canal, truly amazing. And at this center, they explain all about the history of the canal, how much it cost to build, number of boats that pass in a year, the new projects, etc. Super interesting! We also visited the old town of Panama, which we thought was beautiful, with its nice homes, cathedrals, and really nice view of the Pacific. The financial area is also quite intriguing, with its impressive sky scrapers and view to the ocean. We spent one afternoon roaming the Multiplaza shopping, where we watched a movie called Julie & Julia.

As visiting the entire canal or going to the Island de Perlas, or Boca del Toro was too expensive, we decided to visit the closest island called Taboga, which is inhabited by merely 1,000 people. The ferry ride there was nice, but the island, where the painter Gauguin lived to recover from paludism, is indeed tiny. There are only 3 hotels and restaurants on the island, no shops, so it was quite the quiet stay. We read our novels, soaked some sun at the beach and spent only one night. By the way, the bed of our hotel was one of the worse we’ve had so far. We came back “home” on Friday and waited for Emmanuel to have dinner. Once again, we talked for hours and were told all the secrets and plans of the projects of the new locks of the Panama Canal. Saturday we enjoyed our last breakfast inn Central America before heading to Lima by plane. The ride is 3.30 hours long.

Costa Rica Part II - La Fortuna - San Jose

November 26th – November 29th,

La Fortuna:
Special Edition: Costa Rica with Caro and Philippe

Just a few days ago I was reading the blog in Miami and here I am tasting a bit of adventure with Philiippe, Maria and Aubry. I found out this morning we were on our way to Costa Rica although I had a few hints in the past weeks. In the plane this morning Philippe would still not tell me where we were going and I knew so little about the country that I didn’t know what to expect. What I was mostly curious about was whether we’d meet up with “the travellers”, since Philippe and the family had a conspiracy going to trick me otherwise.
When we arrived in San Jose I was secretly peeking through the glass panes in the baggage terminal looking for Maria and Aubry but I did not see them anywhere. When we went straight to the taxi men I started to think the trip was just the two of us. The three hour taxi ride was amazing and I was immediately fascinated. Every new swerve in the road came with new colors in the landscape. Although it was very foggy and traffic didn’t look too safe, I was so excited to begin this adventure.
We were very hungry since the 6am wakeup and just a quick bakery stop but Philippe was in a hurry to arrive for our 3 PM “check-in” which I thought was awkward. Along the way, the taxi man found a turtle crossing the highway and he actually picked it up to join our ride as he told us he had 11 more at home. The turtle Philippe was sitting curiously in the co-pilot seat as the taxi driver had a hard time finding our hotel La Roca Virgen and we ended up in La Roca Negra, a beautiful green entrance near the Volcano Arenal. But actually, we had to turn around to make it to the posada we are actually staying at since we had people waiting for us… The car parked and I saw two blonde girls hanging from the hammock in the little terrace. I smiled at Philippe and jumped out of the car as Aubry and Maria ran out of the house to welcome me.
The travellers were waiting for us with Genevieve and Katy, their Australian friends that have been travelling with them for the past few stops. They’d been waiting for us all morning after their 13 hour bus ride yesterday. A nice surprise was our Thanksgiving lunch, lettuce, avocado, tomatoes, bread, cheese, and ham. More surprises to come as our first activity was already booked, an afternoon in Hot Springs near the Volcano. There were more than 95 springs of hot and cold waters, slides, waterfalls, and a nice buffet dinner to wrap up the day.
Now we’re all laying on my bed and chatting about the day as I type away, excited for wild water rafting tomorrow.

Nov 27th 2009 – Rafting Day! – Special correspondent Philippe

We woke up at dawn to the sounds of roosters, sounds that Chapinha and Fofinho have now grown accustomed to, and that no longer disturb their sleep.
Our bus picked us up at around 8AM, where we met part of the staff, including the cook, Soccorro, which bore a name that was not so reassuring, but promising quite an adventure. After going over the basic commands (forward, stop, back paddle, lean in, and get down), we hopped onto our Canoe and made our way down a class 3-4 river. AMAZING! In some parts, it seemed almost like a tourist attraction on rails, and gave us the opportunity to appreciate the luscious scenery. Then, to the command of “FORWARD”, we started paddling energetically to avoid rocks and whirlpools. We were quite proud to be the group in the only canoe that did not flip over of the five that went out. However, you wouldn’t tell from our clothes that were drenched.
After hours on the river, we enjoyed some of the sweetest pineapple we ever tasted from one of the adjoining plantations, changed into dry clothes, and were off to a delicious typical Costa Rican meal prepared by Socorro. We there met a few more travelers who were going Northbound and told us of their tales on Death Road in Bolivia. We ate heartily, after all of our efforts, and then made it back to the hotel by 4:30PM. We hesitated to go to the Volcan Arenal, but the clouds were menacing, and we preferred to get make our way back to the hostel for dinner.
To thank our hosts for their amazing organization skills and such a memorable day, we cooked one of Carito’s famous salads and some ginger-beef pieces, topped with a bottle of wine. By 9PM, we were all dead and falling asleep on our game of cards, trump.

Nov 28th 2009 – Happy Birthday Caro!
San Jose:

The first thing we heard this morning was blasting music from what we later discovered was the owner of the hostel returning from quite the night out on the town, as demonstrated by her horrific hangover face the next morning. We awoke a few hours later again to the tune of “Happy Birthday To You” sung by Aubry and Maria holding a beautiful purse for Caro wrapped in a towel; backpacking wrapping. We then enjoyed fruits and coconuts (Philippe’s morning challenge was to open up the cocounuts) for breakfast, and received the items we were going to bring back to alleviate the weight of their bags. In the hours of the morning, we drove to an artificial lake that was constructed to supply the hydro-electric plants.
We then embarked on a 5h30 bus ride, that passed by quite fast actually, as we alternated between enjoying the landscape, reading, eating snacks, and sleeping before reaching the terminal, finding a hotel, and going out for dinner to celebrate Carolina’s birthday in San Jose. After a nice dinner at a restaurant in El Pueblo center, we tried our luck in one of the local discos, which was quite a sight: One fat man with a microphone, a girl in shredded pants dancing, and a sketchy DJ. We danced for a bit, had fun, and then headed back to our hotel for a well-deserved night of sleep.

Nov 29th 2009 – San Jose:
Correspondent: Carolina

Very fresh morning after a night in a comfortable bed, what a difference! I was the first one up and in the shower after seeing the sun rays seeking into the room. The breakfast ended at 9 am so I woke everyone up and we ran out to enjoy the leftover fresh fruit, bakery goods, juices, and coffee. The layout was perfect eating on the terrace of the hotel overlooking the pool.
The morning began with a Skype chat with Male and Francisco while we planned out the half day ahead of us, since Philippe and I had our flight back to Miami in the afternoon. We discovered that the historic downtown was just a few blocks from our hotel. The main plaza of the city, Plaza Cultural, is surrounded by colonial buildings and the one that stands out is the Teatro Nacional. We were pleasantly surprised along the way with a few buildings we spotted out. Last night we didn’t have the luck of seeing the nice part of town so I’m glad we had a few hours to discover San Jose under sunlight.
We also bumped into an event about to happen, a yearly celebration called Desfile de los Boyeros. We learned that this is a prelude to the Fiestas of San Juan and it was a parade of all the bull-raising families of Costa Rica exhibiting a pair of their most prominent bulls decorated pulling a typical colorful carriage. Each carriage wheel is composed of 16 pieces, giving each carriage their individual song. The first bulls carried San Juan surrounded by beautiful flowers and each pair that passed was blessed. Since Philippe and I were still looking for some artesania, we walked to the Mercado Casada, an antique house with many beautiful national works of art but we only left with two of their typical carriages (miniature sized) to remember our days in Costa Rica.
After discovering the parallel streets and experiencing the end of a mass in the Catedral, we sat down for a great lunch in Q’ Café. A very nice deal considering the restaurants and streets weren’t too promising. We came back to the hotel San Tomas for our luggages and came upon a beautiful souvenir shop along the way where I finally found a hammock and we found some special gifts for our parents. A great end to an amazing weekend! Thank you Maria and Aubry for allowing us to share a few days of your adventure and I can’t find the words to thank Philippe for such an amazing and unforgettable gift! Keep enjoying your voyage and keep up your blog for your avid readers…

Costa Rica Part I - Montezuma - Santa Theresa

November 2oth – November 25th,
Montezuma – Santa Theresa:

What a long trip!!! Getting to Montezuma has been for sure one of our longest trips yet. We left San Juan at 6.30 am, and got a taxi to drop us off at the border between Nicaragua (Nica) and Costa Rica (Tica). We hadn’t seen such a busy border thus yet. We had to stay in a line for quite a bit, just to check out of Nica. Before reaching the Tica border, we were controlled like 2 other times, but they never checked your baggage, just your passport. Once in Tica, we caught a local bus to Liberia (the city, not country, hihi), which was also stopped two times on the road by police controlling passports. The bus ride was never ending. Once in Liberia we had to switch buses to get to Punta Arena. None of us, except Kate, had money, so she kindly paid for our ticket as we still needed to take out cash. It was a lot of bargaining with the drivers, as we wanted to pay in Dollars, and they were giving us a bad exchange rate. At least we got on the bus. That bus drive was another long one, and once in Punta Arena, we had to catch a ferry towards Paquera. We decided to walk till the ferry, which ended up being a good 3-4km walk with all our luggage’s, so you can imagine me grumbling most of the way. The port was depressing, very dirty and full of strange people. At least we were going to take a different means of transport. The ferry ride was beautiful. It took about an hour and 15 minutes, which meant that we arrived in Paquera at 6pm and then took our last bus of the day to Montezuma, phheewwww. We got to Montezuma at around 7:30 and were at this stage, completely knackered.
Our hostel didn’t help much to improve our moods, but we agreed with the Australians to just spend one night there. To cheer up our temper and fatigue, we went to a superb Italian restaurant. I had the best pizza and Aubry his favorite, lasagna. The restaurant is owned by Argentinians, which is making Aubry all the more excited to meet this country and its great food. We liked the city as well, which is basically two roads with adorable stores and restaurants, but a tad bit pricy for backpackers doing a long trip as ours.
Next morning, we checked out of the horrendous hostel and went to Hotel Aurora, which was a bit more expensive, but in which we felt comfortable. We walked on the beach, swam, and hung out around the hotel most of the day. There was a supermarket close by, which allowed us to prepare our daily lunches. One night we even got to watch a soccer game of their yearly league, for veterans.
On our second day in Montezuma, we went to explore the waterfall which was close by. There was no fee to enter or signs to follow, so it really felt like we were discovering the way on our own and simply following the sound of the water. The cascade was enormous! We climbed to the top and were so proud to have made it. There were two pools at the top, which gave the impression to people down in the first pool that we were so close to falling over. We met many people up at the pools and had a fun afternoon there. The water was fresh and cold. On our way back to the city through a different way, we saw many monkeys. It gave us the feeling that nature is still intact in this country.

After leaving Montezuma we headed to Santa Theresa, only about an hour away. It’s known to be a great beach to learn to surf. We found a cute place to stay called, Tropical Pasta, and we were the only guests there. The town is very nice and more beachy than Montezuma, not to mention the beach is more beautiful as well.
We rented surf boards, spent a great deal of time in the water, and managed to stand up a couple of times. Felt great! At night we’d walk around the small town, and even got treated to sushi one night. We also ate once at a very nice pastry place owned by a young Belgian.
Santa Theresa was a great place to meet, very peaceful, not to crowded, fun ambiance at the beach, great to have long walks, and definitely a place we’d like to go back to one day.

Nicaragua Part V - San Juan Del Sur

November 18th – November 19th,
San Juan del Sur:

Arriving in San Juan del Sur was exciting, because we had been invited by a friend of Daniella, Lucia, to stay at her families beach house. It’s about 3 hours from Managua, and many Nica’s go there for weekends. We found the house quite easily as everyone knows her family in the beach and were thrilled to stay in such a beautiful home. It was on the beach and had a fantastic infinity type pool. Thank you Lucia again for the sweet invitation, we were so happy at your place! We immediately noticed from a distance the Crist her father had built as a promise, which resembles a lot the Corcovado Crist in Rio de Janeiro. Everyone in the town knows and admires him.
Our Australian friends, Kate and Genevieve, came to San Juan with us, and stayed in the town. We caught up with them, had a nice lunch, and then enjoyed what we had left of the day to meet the village. That night, we hung out at the Iguana bar playing our favorite card game, trump.
Next morning, the girls brought us a delicious breakfast to the house, pancakes and bagels, which we ate by the pool. It was a great, relaxing day, enjoying the pool and beach. That night we celebrated Michael’s (Belgian) birthday with some of his other friends he has met during his trip, at a fun, live music bar. Too bad we couldn’t stay till the end, because we had to leave early the next morning to Costa Rica.

Nicaragua Part IV - Isla Ometepe

November 16th – November 17th,
Lake Ometepe:

The Australians and we had planned on meeting in Granada, as they had gone off to a lake for a few days, so that we could all travel together to Ometepe. What a long journey. We left Granada at 11:30am in what we thought would be a simple one hour bus drive, eventhough we were the last ones on the bus and standing. Poor Aubry and Kate couldn’t stand straight considering their height. Our bus driver kept stopping and opening the engine cover as smoke was all over the place. He would let it steam off and continue driving, but eventually it broke down, and we had to wait for the 12:30 bus. Once on the next bus, we made it to Rivas, and took a taxi to San Jorge, where the ferry departed from. We got onto the ferry and were impressed with the volcanos that laid majesticly in front of us. We were taking pictures like paparazzi’s, until the ferry was attacked by pirates who submerged with scuba tanks from the 7th biggest lake in the world. They took everything from us, including the golden front teeth from our Australian friends. Aubry couldn’t stop them with his muscles from Brussels.
We arrived to Ometepe in tears, but happy we were alive and not abducted by the pirates into their underground world. The girls smiled a toothless smile as we alighted the ferry. Haha, just kidding! We then ran into the first taxi driver’s arm. We drove first to Finca Magdalena, even though
Kate was hesitant with the guides description, and were totally disappointed. The rooms looked as if they were in an old barn, and we later found out that the place was riddled with bed bugs.
We finally found a nicer place in Porvenir, called Albergue Ecologico, and were thrilled with having private bathrooms. There we played cards and went to bed early, seeing that we had travelled from 11 am till 8pm. Next morning we got up early with Genevieve to climb the Madera, the second largest volcano on the island. Our guide obliged us to follow a quick pace which was probably for the best in order to avoid the heat. The mirador had a spectacular view of the island and both coastlines. FYI, this lake is the only fresh water place with sharks.
We then returned to the hotel satisfied with our workout and accomplishment, even though Kate wasn’t waiting for us as she had promised with oranges and refreshments. We decided to go to the near by town of Santo Domingo, which ended up being a good 3kms away, but that luckily had great food.
Ometepe is no doubt a wonder of this world, but its town still has to become more tourists friendly. After two days, we then decided to move on and go to San Juan Del Sur, a very nice beach town on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua which was only a few km far from the lake.

Nicaragua Part III - Granada

November 13th – November 15th,
Granada:

After the Manticas kindly drove us to Granada and showed us the town by car, they dropped us off at our hostel, El Esfinge. What a nice surprise of Marginna and Chepe to drive us all the way from Managua. The house of the hostel was nice, but not our room. It was way too hot in it and the mattress was very uncomfortable. But well, we are now used to these conditions. We were happy though to be in Granada, as it immediately struck us as an elegant colonial city. We met our Australian friends who had given us the address of the hostel. Our first night they introduced us to a Belgian, Mike, and a French guy, Brice and all of us went out for a beer. We directly liked this city and its people. Everybody compares Leon to Granada but in our opinion, there is no comparison to be made. Granada is definitely a must see in Nicaragua.
The next day, we walked around the town a lot and rented bikes to go along the lake. After hours of discovering the town and the lake surroundings we were tempted by a horse carriage ride. We were able to see many neighborhoods we hadn’t seen. At night we went the two of us to eat a good piece of meat that we were dying for. In fact, we don’t eat a lot of meat during this trip!
The next afternoon we went to visit the Isletas, which are about 300 or more islands that were formed from the eruption of the volcano Mombacho. These beautiful islands are mostly private and host to amazing mansions of wealthy Nicas are almost glued to Granada.
After having spent three nights and enjoyed the city very much it is now time to move on and explore what people always talk about, the Lake Nicaragua and its biggest island, Ometepe.

Nicaragua Part II - Managua - Masaya

November 10th – November 13th,
Managua – Masaya:

We arrived in Managua anxious to find the Mántica home. I was so thrilled to meet them, as they used to know my grandmother in Miami and I had played with their daughters as a little girl. Oddly enough, they live right next to the Brazilian embassy in a beautiful finca. We felt at home right away, and their daughter Daniella was there when we arrived, which I recognized right away, even after 15 years or so of not seeing them. It felt great to be in a home, with such a friendly family. They took us that night to a delicious pizzeria which their son had designed, and met up with their oldest daughter, Marginna and adorable little daughter, La Michelle. Daniella picked us up with her husband to take us to his flag football game. Aubry was in heaven, being the sports fanatic he is, and was cheering on the game along with the other spectators. We met their nice friends who gave us more tips on what to meet, and Jorge’s team won, of course, being the undefeated team of the league.
Next day, we started off by accompanying Marginna to the supermarket, which felt very nice considering that we don’t get to do these normal things anymore. We decided there that we’d prepare them that night a Belgian dish. For lunch they invited us to Rosti Pollo, which was delicious, and then Chepe (our super safari guide) and Dani (who had to change from her high heels to sneakers) took us to visit the Masaya Volcano, so impressive! You could see most of Managua from up there, out until the lake, stunning!

The volcano has a huge crater that expels lots of smoke mainly composed of sulfur. The pictures fit what we were able to admire. Then they drove us to another close by town called Masaya, which had a very nice market. Chepe continued the tour, and drove us around Managua, pointing out all the key parts. We would have never met the city so well if it wasn’t for all their time. That night, Dani and her husband met us at the house for dinner, where everyone enjoyed nice appertifs, and our Belgian meal, tomate farcis. I hope they liked it! We ended watching their wedding dvd which was great.
Next morning we took it easy and only went out after lunch. Chepe and Marginna took us to a magnificent mirador called Catarina, from where you can see the Apoyo Lake and Granada. The ride was fun, as they are so easy to talk to and have so many stories to share. That night, we all went to Daniella’s trendy restaurant, Savor, which is in la zona viva, and got to meet her brother Jose and gorgeous wife Isabella. Her food is simply the best! She ordered a bunch of samples of her dishes, which we absolutely adored!!! I begged her to open a restaurant in Brussels. Spending the night with the Mantica family was a blast.
As if they hadn’t given us enough attention, next morning I was taken to a salon to have my beauty treatments which I so much missed, accompanied by a massage that helped me recover from carrying all this load, hihihi…. Daniella picked me up with Aubry, and we accompanied her to do some of her restaurant shopping and errands.
Since all good things come to an end, we had our last family lunch back at the house before heading off to Granada. Thank you again to all the Mantica’s for making Managua one of our favorite stops on the way, as your pride and love for your country and family are contagious. We hope to host you all one day!

Nicaragua Part I - Potosi - Leon

November 9th – November 10th,
Potosi - Leon:

Getting to Leon was one of our longest trips. From La Union we took a fisherman boat (in which we had no idea what the cargo was made up of) to Potosi (in Nicaragua), where we had our passports stamped by a laid-back guy, who told us only about 15 people arrive through per month. The ride through the Golfo de Fonseca was beautiful, smooth water, with a view to El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. Once in Potosi, we had to wait about 2 hours for a bus that would take us to Chinandega. It’s about 80 km’s from one town to another, but as our bus goes picking up people all along the way, it took 3 hours. In Chinandega, we jumped into a van that was headed towards Leon. By this point, I had already telephoned Marginna, a long-time friend of the family which we were going to visit in Managua, who advised us to stay in Leon, as it was dark and the road could be dangerous.
So we found a really charming place in Leon, called Casa Leonesa. We had dinner in a typical bar near the cathedral, and noticed right away that the city was a student one. Next morning, we dazed around and walked a good 3 hours, till the heat got to us. We were looking forward more than anything to get to Marginna and Chepe’s home.

El Salvador Part II - Lake Coatepeque - La Union

November 7th – November 9th:
Lake Coatepeque – La Union:

From San Salvador we took a public bus towards Santa Ana, as we wanted to visit the flower route. Unfortunately it was raining buckets so we thought it would be best to go straight to Lake Coatepeque. We got off a bit after Santa Ana, as we missed the stop, and went backwards to Coatepeque. The bus dropped us in the middle of the highway, where we had to walk up to the bridge El Congo. We had no idea how far the lake was, but after asking someone who told us it was only 3km away, we stopped a tuc tuc who agreed to take us for 4 dollars. As we didn’t have a hotel in mind, he took us to Rancho Alegre. The way there was very bouncy, as it was all downhill on a dirt road, and I don’t even know how we fit in the tuc tuc with our bags. The ranch was right in front of the lake which we liked, but our room was terrible. To say the least, there was no shower in the ranch, thank god though we had showered that morning in San Salvador. We went on a walk to meet the lake, and went into a nicer hotel which was booked due to a wedding that was taking place that night. We got to meet the bride while she was taking her photos, and she even invited us to their party, so sweet.
We did a tour around the lake, and saw some amazing houses, with beautiful gardens and all had like a little wooden house on top of the water where they keep their speed boats, jet skis and have adorable little chairs, tables. A lot of people have their weekend home there, and come from San Salvador for weekends or holidays. The lake is really gorgeous. There is a little island in the lake, where there is thermic water. We didn’t get there though, cause the guide wanted to charge us 50 dollars for it, a bit absurd.
Back at the hotel, we got to witness the departure of the bride in a little canoe with her dad, as they were heading towards the floating bar in the middle of lake, where all her guests were waiting. She got married on top of the lake, super cool. It’s the first time to happen. We spent the night down at the bar of the ranch, as we couldn’t move in our room and the music was loud. It was one of our worse nights, cause it rained so strong and we felt like our roof was going to fly away. We had drops on our sleeping bags, so we covered them with our raincoats.
Next morning, we woke up at 6, and took the first bus back to the bridge, to go to San Salvador. We found out then, that Saturday had been the day that Ida attacked El Salvador. Thank god nothing happened to us. At the station in the capital, some people were weary that no buses would go towards La Union, where we were headed, but they did go. We had a pretty scary drive. The roads were covered with dirt, fallen trees, and we saw many houses ruined. Very sad! That’s when you notice how lucky you are to always have a nice, warm shelter.

At La Union we went to the port to see if there were any boats going to Nicaragua. A guy offered to take us the next day in his lancha (fisherman’s boat), given that the weather conditions would be alright. We were lucky though, cause the ferry we were counting on doesn’t exist anymore, and we were so close to having to go back to San Salvador to take a bus to our next country. So we went to a nice hotel called Comfort Inn and enjoyed their facilities, like TV and washing machines, hihihi.

El Salvador Part I - El Tunco - San Salvador

November 4th – November 6th:
El Tunco- San Salvador:

As the Australian girls were going straight to El Salvador from Antigua, we decided to do the same, as the weather forecast in Guatemala was for rain another 48 hours. So we left early that morning at 8, just the two of us in a shuttle. It’s always exciting when we are going towards a new country, especially because we hadn’t planned on meeting El Salvador.
At the border, we didn’t even have to get out of the car, as there is apparently a good understanding between Guatemala and the latter, and thus no entry fee either to pay. We were so hot in the van when we stopped at the border, that we took off our shoes and changed in the bathroom into shorts.
The drive into El Salvador was beautiful. Very green, excellent roads, and a view to the pacific waters all the way. Only bad part was being stopped by the highway patrol for no reason. They kept insisting that our driver needed a document from the border, but of course there isn’t a document. They took him to the front of the car, so we couldn’t see what was happening, and back inside he told us they just wanted money. It was only 5 dollars, but we felt really bad for him. He hadn’t done anything wrong and kept apologizing to us that the police had stopped us etc. Was very aggravating to see that the cops just took advantage of the situation and were so corrupt.
Anyways, we got to El Tunco, and our driver knew in which hostel the Australian girls had been dropped. We arrived in this surf village without any money in our wallet thinking that there would be an ATM. It was a really laidback place, only surfing shops, a few hostels and restaurants. We then asked the driver to go to the next town to find some cash. Life there is very simple and calm. Everything closes around 9 o’clock. We stayed at the same hostel that our Australian friends and their two New Zealand buddies. Our first night was very calm; we taught the girls how to play poker and then went to bed.
The day after, I woke up to go surfing. El Tunco is well known for its huge waves but at this time of year they are smaller. I spent some good hours in the water that day practicing to stand up. I succeeded four times, not too bad for a first day! As the rain was getting stronger and stronger, we decided to leave the day after, not before a last round of pocker with some Brazilians and the Auzzies.
On Friday we then left to San Salvador as it was time for us to go meet some other parts of the country. It was only an hour away from Tunco, and we went in a public bus. Our goal was to reach lake Coatepeque, with a pit stop in the capital. It’s the biggest city we’ve seen in the country, with a lot of American influence, especially as the currency is the dollar. We arrived amid heavy rain, and as it wouldn’t stop, we therefore took the opportunity to go to the close by metro centro and watch “This Is It”, the Michael Jackson’s documentary. We loved it. It was a relaxing day, but we didn’t get to see much of the city due to the storm, Ida. At least we are all ready to pack and go to our next destination.

Guatemala Part VI - Antigua

November 2nd – November 3rd
Antigua:

We got to Antigua a day after All Saints. On our shuttle from Atitlan to the old capital, we met a really nice girl from Venezuela, called Evelyn, who was doing community service as a piano teacher in a local school. We exchanged emails and planned to go out the next night for dinner. It was great meeting her during the ride, as we chatted the whole time and didn’t even notice all the traffic and long journey.
Back at our hostel Mochileros Internacional, we checked our emails and saw that our Australian friends, Kate and Genevieve were staying literally across from us, so we went to call them to see if they wanted to have dinner together. Maya and Chiqui, were at Guatemala City so they couldn’t join us, but we went to their restaurant anyways as we had loved it. The girls really liked it, and it felt like seeing old friends again, even if we only knew them for a week. It’s all laughs and good times with them, so I really hope we can stay in touch. At the restaurant, a waitress came to our table to tell me I had a call, I thought those scenes only happened in movies, hihih, I felt so important. It was Maya calling to check if we would stay late for them to pass by, and I told her how I loved the fact that she had called like that.
On Tuesday, we woke up pretty early to send our damp clothes to the laundry right in front of our hostel. We then found a cute café to connect and send emails. We had planned a lunch with Maya and Chique at her parents restaurant, Fonda de La Calle Real. It was super good. She even brought us her mom’s homemade fiambre, that they only make for all Saints Day. She then chose a few things we had to try from the menu, and our lunch ended up being a feast. They even invited us, so sweet.
Aubry and I then went shopping for a pair of havaianas, as he had lost his, then went up to el Cerro de la Cruz in a tuc-tuc, where you’ll see in our pictures an amazing view of Antigua. Just before sunset, we went to the Sky bar and met a fun group of photographers who were participating in a week long workshop, and gave Aubry good tips for his camera. We then had to race back to our hostel to pick up our laundry and get ready for that night.
Ended up being a really cool night, as we went to Monoloco with Evelyn, Maya, Chiqui and then Hadrien met up with us. Our last moments in Antigua made us feel at home. We already knew how to get around the city and its quaint streets are very charming. It’s a great place to come and take Spanish lessons. The set-up is perfect and there are so many trips you can do on weekends.

Guatemala Part V - Lake Atitlan - Chichicastenango

October 30th – November 2nd
Lago Atitlan – Chichicastenango:

Lake Atitlan is right in front of us, while we have a tasty soup as the day gets colder, here in hotel Isla Verde. The weather here hasn’t been the best, but the scenery is stunning. We were told that this lake was one of the greatest places to visit in Guatemala, and indeed, it is. We arrived at this hotel thanks to the recommendation of Maya and Chique, our friends from Antigua. We trusted their words as they run a beautiful hotel in Antigua. We were happily surprised by the place, which describes itself as an “eco-chi hotel”. Maria has now gotten used to sleeping in rooms with spiders and taking showers in public bathrooms, which can mean running to the room after a bath amidst a tropical storm.
Sadly enough, Lake Atitlan is suffering from a disease. A bacteria, due to incorrect use of pesticides and a fish called Black Bus that was introduced to the lake 30 years ago, has attacked the lake. As a result nobody can swim or even fish and the lake lost its blue appearance for a brownish color.
On our first day, we went around the lake to see San Pedro and Santiago. Unfortunately, a rain storm got us while we were reaching Santiago. Unprepared, we had to buy a Guatemalan cover as we were freezing in the boats going from one place to the other. People say that such kind of weather, beautiful and hot in the morning and stormy and rainy in the afternoon, is unusual. Well, our three days here have been this way and we are glad to have brought warm and waterproof jackets.
On Sunday 1st, we headed to Chichicastenango via a mini van. It took us only an hour to reach this little town somehow anodyne. Thursday’s and Sunday’s are the market day which Chichi makes a living on. It is very popular and marvelous. It is a mix of wonderful colors and an array of art crafts. We planned to come this day to take part of the All Saints ceremony. What a good surprise we had! The whole city was around the center watching the celebration of the saints and dancing. Firecrackers flew from every side! I was happy to take so many pictures that you may have a look at.
On the way back, we had another rain storm and the electricity was down in our room as the power is generated by solar energy, and they just had to switch on the other system. We had dinner in the company of a very friendly Spanish couple on their honeymoon, Maite and Manuel, and then watched “Le Diner de Cons” on our laptop in bed. It reminded us of cold and rainy days of Belgium. Tomorrow we are off to Antigua before we go onto Monterrico.

Guatemala Part IV - Antigua - Volcan Pacaya

October 28th – 30th
Antigua – Volcano Pacaya:

Everyone we have met during the trip kept speaking about how beautiful Antigua is and how we wouldn’t be disappointed. We arrived at night time and the guy who brought us from Guatemala City offered to drop us off at a Hostel called Internacional Mochileros that he recommended. Not bad, private room with shared bathroom for only 100 Quetzales, so like less than 10 Euros a night.
We called Aubry’s cousin, Hadrien,who is living in Antigua. We met him at the main park of the city and were already happy to walk around the adorable streets, even though it was raining and colder than anywhere else we’ve been on this trip thus far. He took us to a really good restaurant, La Esquina, where he told us about his Spanish lessons, work and life in Antigua. It was nice to see him so happy and well adapted.
Next morning we woke up and visited the town a bit more. Aubry was happy taking all his pictures and that we had booked a tour to the Pacaya Volcan for 2 o’clock. We met the group in front of our hotel that would be doing the hike with us, and we all headed towards the Volcano in a mini-van. A nice guide at Pacaya, called Arturo, named our group Tucanes, and we were instructed to stay together the whole time. What an uphill, my god! It was impossible to run off and try to get ahead. My legs were killing me, and blisters were forming on my feet as we went up. However, the view got nicer and nicer, and pushed us to keep going.

We got to this part where the uphill was no longer normal dirt, it was like lava sand, and your feet would sink in. We were so close to the volcano, and could already see the lava coming down, and feel the heat increasing. The climb was rough and you had to be careful not to step on hot rocks. Once we got close to the lava it was incredible. It was like opening a hot oven and having all that cloud of heat coming out. I kept giving my occasional shouts, “Ai, que miedo” while others in our group were literally cooking marshmallows and doing crazy poses for pictures.
Walking down was another adventure, as it was getting dark and we couldn’t see where we were stepping. We got back to the hotel exhausted, and I passed out at 9:30 without dinner.
Next day we walked around Antigua again, and went to visit a couple from Antigua we had met in Semuc Champey, Maya and Chique. Their family runs a hotel and very good restaurants in the city, and they took us to eat at one of them. It was delicious! We ran back to the hotel and caught the van to Panajachel in Lake Atitlan.

Guatemala Part III - Rio Dulce - Livingstone - Finca Paraiso

October 25th – 27th
Rio Dulce – Livingstone:

The back dirt road we took to go to Rio Dulce was breathtaking. The people of Semuc Champey hadn’t lied to us. We easily found our hotel, Hacienda Tijax, which was composed of bungalows on top of the river, connected by little bridges and with a restaurant view to the river. We stayed there three nights. Maria was so scared of the spiders in the room.
Our first day, we went along the river by boat with a couple from Israel and two Australian girls. We could appreciate the beauty of this river and its magnificent biotope, so many birds and flowers. The river took us all the way to Livingstone, an afro village on the Caribbean side of Guatemala. This fishing village was not that special but fortunately the boat ride was worth it. The river was surrounded by huge cliffs covered with green vegetation and many local fishermen could be seen in their man made canoes. That night we hung out with our new group of friends at the hotel and played cards.
The day after, we went again with the couple to Finca Paraiso, known for its hot springs. It was our first time in a hot waterfall, which was a nice feeling since we do not often have hot showers! Aubry lost his favorite flip flop and had to go back barefoot but luckily we met a very nice Guatemalan couple at the spring that kindly drove us back to the town.
We enjoyed our last night at Tijax sitting at our friendly bar, the food there was great!

Guatemala Part II - Semuc Champey

October 23rd – 24th
Semuc Champey:

We woke up not knowing what to do or even where to go. We found out that a bus was leaving our hostel at 9.30 to Lanquin – Semuc Champey. We had thought of going visiting this place that people we met during the trip described as amazing and a must see. This was therefore our chance to go and we took it. Our other ideas were to either do a five days trip in the jungle towards el Mirador or to go on a sailing boat for 4 days cruising the Rio Dulce. Those options were very attractive but well over our budget.
After a 6 hours bus ride through beautiful sceneries with a crazy driver we arrived in Lanquin. From there we hopped in a 4x4 to go to Semuc Champey. We stayed at a very nice hotel “Las Marias”. As soon as we put our things in the room which was in the middle of the jungle we jumped into the river that could have been from the movie “A River Runs Through It”. After a well-deserved shower we ate together with the group that came with us from Flores. The hotel only proposed one meal – beef, rice and salad – which was pretty good and only 3 euros each. At 9.30 we ran to our room as the electricity is cut-off every night at that time until the next day at 6pm.
We started the next morning discovering Las Marias cave, which was only a 10 minute walk from our hotel. We were five to go with our guide Jorge. It is with a bit of fear and anxiousness that we entered the cave barefoot and with a candle each as our only light. After going through the bats, with Maria screaming her lungs out, we advanced into the first pool which was already pitch black. The ground was a strange type of sandy mixed with rocks, but the walls surrounding the pool was marvelous, and at some parts you had to swim. We walked inwards for like 2km, always in water, in between cascades, currents and jumps, very extreme!!!! Maria and the other girl in our group, Leane, even managed to climb the cascade with the help of the rope, instead of using the ladder. Of course Jorge was at the bottom giving a little push, and Aubry was on the top with his hand ready to grab us. The constant water coming down made the visibility zero and contributed to a slippery climb. Can’t believe we managed. On the way back, our guide, excited and overestimating the girls, thought they could go down a tunnel in between two rocks with a super powerful stream, but they chickened out after seeing Alex’s face of panic being pushed down.
Finally seeing the light was a relief, as our candles were almost burned out. We also ran into Aubry’s cousin inside the cave, Hadrien, who is studying Spanish in Antigua, but whom we had no idea would be there that weekend. Outside the cave, we jumped into the river from a really high swing, which actually hurt Aubry’s cheek, and swelled up soon after. We got into floats and let the current take us back to our hotel. Such a pleasant way of finishing the tour. After a great ham and cheese sandwich and a quick nap, we were off with Jacques to visit the Semuc Champey park. A real treasure! We walked up to the mirador, an intense 25 minute hike, you’ll observe how dry we are in the pictures. We could see the wonderful turquoise pulls below as well as the plants growing around them. We ran down to dive into them and spent there a good hour. We left the park at sunset.
Back at Las Marias we took a shower and found a huge tarantula behind our bags. The scream of Maria didn’t scare it. Aubry had to take it out of the room! As a result, we changed rooms and went to sleep with our English friends. They had to put up with Maria’s sleep talking.
Since the beginning of the trip Maria has been sleep talking every night. I have to wake up all scared and calm her down.
Tomorrow we head to Rio Dulce through a back dirt road that is supposed to provide us with wonderful views of the country. We will see.

Guatemala Part I - Flores - Tikal

October 21st – 22nd
Belize City- Flores – Tikal:

Our stop in Belize City after leaving Lamanai was more strategic than anything else, as we decided it would be best to leave to Guatemala early in the morning. We had a hotel in mind and went straight to it, as everyone warned us that this city is very dangerous. We were so happy to be able to order delivery pizza to our hotel which was amazingly good, and have cable TV. Hot water was also another treat we had that night, as many places we go to don’t have any. Nonetheless, we’ve gotten accustomed to cold showers, plus it’s healthy for our circulation.
Strangely enough, I’ve been having weird dreams recently, been dizzy and even hearing voices, turns out it’s probably linked to the Malaria pills we started taking on our last day in Cuba. So I decided to stop taking them. Just need to apply OFF as often as possible! Aubry hasn’t had any side effects to the medicine, so he’ll keep taking them, and he is quite good at remembering to take them each day.
The trip from Belize City (Hotel Mopan) to Flores took about 5 hours. We hopped on the bus bright and early, onto one of those retired American school buses with many interesting people, and one guy who wouldn’t leave Aubry alone. He kept saying how he was going to leave Belize in a jet plane, he would scream out Jihad, commented how he lived in a third world country and we needed to sign something, basically the guy was crazy and drunk!
We crossed the border yet again by foot. It was pretty quick and we just had to pay a small fee to leave Belize, and then stamp our passport once we arrived in Guatemala. A taxi guy offered to take us to Flores directly in his van, with three other English girls, so it worked out well for all of us. They had a hostel which had been recommended by their friends, and we asked the driver to take us all there. Ended up being the cutest hostel we’ve been in yet, called Los Amigos, owned by a young Dutch guy. We had to share a room with another six people. The place was very trendy, clean and had a great vegetarian restaurant.
Next morning we woke up at 4:30 am (who ever said a backpacker’s life is easy!) and went with a big group to Tikal which was leaving at 5am. We arrived at the site at around 6:30, by this time the sun was already out and we could tell it was going to be another hot day. We visited the site with a guide, who started out by taking all of us to Temple IV, beautiful! The climb was intense, but the view incredible. Of course writing this makes it hard to describe how special one feels up in these ruins, looking out to an endless jungle and a few other temples popping out in the middle of the trees. In Tikal, as in Lamanai, there is still a lot of uncovered ruins, and the debate lies in should they cut this rich nature which has grown around it, forcing the monkeys, toucan’s and other species which have made their homes in this area to leave, in order to excavate more ruins?
The tour was very fun, we explored almost the whole site, climbed plenty more temples, and met nice people in the group. We had our picnic in the Grand Place of the ruin, which is probably one of the highlights of this lost Mayan City. Back at the hostel we had a calm afternoon, as the 4 hour walk of that morning had pooped us out. Aubry also swam at the lake nearby, where we watched a beautiful sunset. I could have stayed in Flores a few more days, but there are still so many cities we want to visit in Guatemala.
That night we met a very sweet girl from Belgium, Sanghita and also hung out with the two English couples we had met earlier in Tikal, as they were staying in our same hostel.
They were doing a 4 months trip, and Sanghita a year trip on her own!
We decided that the next morning we would head out with another group towards Semuc Champey, a 7 hour drive away, which is apparently a must see! Can’t wait!

Belize Part III - Orange Walk Town - Lamanai

October 19th – 20th:
Orange Walk Town – Lamanai

From Corozal we took a local bus to reach Orange Walk and arrived at night which we didn’t like (Hotel de la Fuente). Those Belizean cities are morose. This place was just a quick stop to enable us to do a tour to Lamanai, the biggest Mayan site of Belize. The only way to get there easily is by boat.
The day after, before picking up a group of Californians, our guide Carlos made a special tour for us around the river. We managed to see some beautiful exotic birds (Jesus Christ’s birds, Cormorans…), green iguanas, two crocodiles (and not alligators as we may see their teeth with their mouth closed), spider monkeys, bats, and wonderful vegetation… We then headed to Lamanai, had lunch and visited the site. It was more spread out than the others we visited and still under lots of vegetation. There are still many ruins to discover and rebuild. They still permit us to climb up the highest temple which had an amazing view to the river. At the top, one of the Californians got down on his knee and proposed to his girlfriend in front of us. It was a wonderful jungle experience.
On our way back to Orange Walk we could again admire the beauty of this river. Unfortunately, the friendly Californians didn’t see any crocodiles, which they came for. Right after dropping them off, we saw this massive crocodile that you may admire on our pictures.