5 amigas

Back in Cancun

5amigas — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 18:32:00 GMT

Well we arrived safe n sound back in cancun. We head to guatamala tommorrow to begin our tour. May not be able to access internet while on the tour so it´s quite possible that you wont hear anything more until we´re back in brisvegas.

I think i´m about to give up on uploading photos... it takes sooooooooo oooo ooooooo long!!

Veredero

5amigas — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 18:18:00 GMT

Have to be quick...

Veredero was the typical touristy resort. Good to experience some luxury before heading back to havana and then on to guatamala to begin our tour. The beaches are beautiful, the all inclusive resort was great, especially the pina coladas and my knew favourite- the mojito.

adios,

Lara

Trinidad

5amigas — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 17:51:00 GMT

Trinidad was really great.

The family who owned the casa we stayed at were so friendly. When we arrived at the bus stop they were waiting with a sign with our names and the old grandpa helped wheel some of our bags in a wheelbarrow to their place. We ate like kings with the best 3 course dinners with fish, lobster, prawns etc. One evening they even organised a local singer, Osiel, to come and play guitar and sing for us while eating. Afterwards he showed us how to salsa- i don´t know if i actually picked up any of it but it was fun anyway. We went out to the main square in Trinidad where they have salsa dancing and music at night and tried out our knew found salsa skills. There were plenty of guys to dance with. Osiel danced with us and I met Solemon- an engineer who lives in Santa Clara (near trinidad). He earns only US$20 per month!!! He pretty much just spun me around the dance floor while i pretended like i knew how to salsa :)

We visited the local beach called Playa Ancon. Andrea, Claire and I thought it would be a great idea to hire some bikes and ride down. It was a great idea until Claire suffered 2 flat tyres from riding over prickles. We eventually flagged down a little yellow coco taxi (it looks like a bean) to take Claire back. Andrea and I rode back and it was a VERY long hot ride!! Soon after my tyre also went flat and we had a few pesistant locals on bikes hassling us for money- saying "peso, peso" Not such a great idea... the next day we took the bus!

Playa ancon was really nice but windy. The water is so much more blue than the gold coast. With the palm trees and the straw huts- it´s how i imagined the carribean sea would look like :)

We planned on going on a sailing trip to go snorkelling and to some islands but it was cancelled due to wind... so we went into the country to the topes de collantes. We saw some local farmers and went for a walk to a really massive waterfall where we went swimming. The views were really spectacular.

Adios Larz.

Gallery: Los Angeles- Disneyland

5amigas — Mon, 8 Jan 2007 05:35:00 GMT

La Habana

5amigas — Sun, 7 Jan 2007 17:44:00 GMT

Well got a bit of catching up to do... Cuba is not the best place for internet... or phones... or atms or generally any sort of modern technology that isn´t at snails pace and ridiculously expensive. Havana was a huge culture shock for everyone- with the funky smells, the cuban men and most of all the food. We visited the so-called grocery stores and the only thing on the shelves that was always well stocked was rum. I could not believe how little food there was!!! Very glad i packed my weetbix and susty to keep me going. For dinner i ordered an Ensalada which was pretty much a plate of frozen veges and rice... which by havana standards was delicious.

Those cuban men!! We could not walk anywhere without someone calling out “lady, lady, beautiful lady” or whistling at us, or talking to us, or basically anything to get our attention. It definately grew tiresome after a while.

But despite the food (and the men) Cuba was definitely worth it. We spent alot of time in Habana Vieja (old havana) where alot of the old buildings have been done up and look beautiful. The atmosphere was awesome. Cuban music is lots of fun. Everyone is so social and in the arvo the streets are jam packed with people- men playing dominoes, kids playing baseball. The streets were crazy. There were heaps of horses carrying carts, bikes carrying passengers, trucks with masses of people on top. There were also these buses called camels which was basically a truck carrying this massive carriage absolutely jam packed with people. Road rules or lines on the road or obeying traffic lights is pretty much non-existant.

We stayed in a casa (house) in the dodgiest street in havana. The lady who owns the place warned us to hold onto our bags tightly. But it really wasn´t too bad. They were very friendly- although it would have been very helpful if we knew some spanish.

We spent 3 nights in Havana doing lots of walking seeing the buildings, churches, Capitoli Nacional, the Malecon along the sea walland just simple people watching. The fashion is really different too. The women wear anything that´s bright, short, and tight!

After Havana we caught the bus to trinidad.

Coco Bongo

5amigas — Sun, 7 Jan 2007 06:07:00 GMT

Oh my god, the best club EVER!!! Coco Bongo was soo spectacular. The had people doing acrobatics from the ceiling and it was the most awesome show- and it was only a nightclub! So glad Tara was feeling better and able to come.

I met a great guy there- really cute and sooo hot -hola pepe, me gusta mucho!-...thought i'd try out my spanish

I can't wait to show everyone the photos. Having difficulty finding somewhere to upload them.

At the airport now off to Cuba.

adios amigos

from Lara, Jade, Tara and Andrea

Mexxtreme

5amigas — Thu, 4 Jan 2007 06:00:00 GMT

Today we visited Playa del Carmen- about an hours bus trip from cancun. the beach was so beautiful and there were people everywhere. There´s so much culture here with beach stalls and restaurants and music on the beach. The local mexicans are so cute and short! They´re so helpful but we can´t seem to go anywhere without being wolf whistled at.

Tara hasn´t been well so she stayed at the hostel while Jade, Tara and Lara went out for dinner. We visited Mexxtreme and got these awesome coctails. Our bartender was so much fun and us for seem to be developing a habit of dancing on tables! We went out after and the clubs are so different from home. So much fun!

Adios

5amigas

To Cancun- Don´t fly US airways!!!

5amigas — Wed, 3 Jan 2007 09:57:00 GMT

Wednesday was just one problem after another!!! First we had to wake up at 3am to be at the airport. Then no one working at the hostel knew the number for a cab company to get there and when we did find the number the cab company didn´t seem to speak English (and this is still in America). Well eventually we did get there and we shared a cab with Ryan this guy from Brissie we met here.

We stopped over in Phoenix and our flight was delayed over 3.5 hours. Some Americans are so arrogant!! The air hostess said to this arrogant american "don´t call me studpid". Now you don´t see that at home!

Anyway we eventually got to Cancun after it was dark and I had a bit of a scare thinking I´d lost my passport case (don´t worry mum not my passport) after i´d gone through customs- but it was safely in my bag.

Cancun has the most massive tourist resorts. There is nothing at the gold coast that can compare to what we´ve seen here. They are so massive and there´s so many. Of course our accomadation isn´t like those but it´s not too bad. We´re staying at a hostel called the Green16 and they upgraded us because there the hot water system was broken.

It´s just so great to be somewhere where we´re not freezing our butts off and don´t have to where long pants and jumpers.

Lara

Venice Beach

5amigas — Tue, 2 Jan 2007 09:50:00 GMT

Our last day in LA.

We visited Venice Beach and Santa Monica. All the stalls along the beach were so cool so we plan on coming back here for our 1 day in LA before coming home to do some shopping!

5 amigas

Limo Tour

5amigas — Mon, 1 Jan 2007 09:45:00 GMT

After a VERY big sleep in and recovery for new years we went on a Limo trip to see LA. We visited the Farmer´s markets and Rodeo Drive- it was definately only window shopping here!! But everything was so pretty with all the christmas lights and decorations still up. I don´t know why- the americans seem to be a little backward!!

On the way home we stopped at the sunset strip where all the clubs and pubs are. The Standed had these really cool swings in the club. After last night though we took it pretty easy.

Lara

Disneyland

5amigas — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 16:44:00 GMT

We've done the whole touristy thing today and been to disneyland. We must sound like complete tourists pointing and laughing at completely normal things... like the fire hydrants on the footpaths, the street signs saying 'car pool' instead of transit lane.

At Disnelyland the crowds were really long as expected but it was really great. My favourite ride was the teacups!!! Everything is so extravagant. All the christmas decorations are still up and they had a santa parade (the Americans seem to be a bit behind the times...). There was also lots of New Years celebrations things happening but we left at 6pm to get back.

Tonight. New Years. Party at the hostel. The advice we got was not to go out. One of the guys here got knocked out by a black guy on the street for apparantly no reason... so we're not taking any chances and are partying here. This seems to be the Aussie hangout we've met so many.

Tomorrow off to the rose bowl parade to see what it's all about. Expecting more crowds!! Will upload photos before heading to Cancun.

Cheers.

Larz

LA arrival - 1st installment

5amigas — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 13:07:00 GMT

Well we arrived in LA (safe and sound) so to all those who thought us four girls were hopeless at the airport ha ha we made it!

LA customs were a breeze and the taxi driver took a liking to us. We arrived at our hostel and it's groovy and will upload photos when we get the chance. It's even 'Ladies Night' which means we have free champers!

Did the touristy thing and walked the blvd saw the stars! Hummers and huge ass cars flock the streets. We've been cracking ourselves over the right-hand drivers. And had a close casualty when one of us, (who will remain nameless) walked backwards onto the curb while taking a photo! But rest assured Mums, we are looking out for one another.

Tomorrow we're off to Disneyland and will be here for four nights, so will have regular updates until we head off to crocodiles in Cancun!

Love you all (who ever is reading this)

Adios amigos!

x the girls

New Years Eve

5amigas — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 09:34:00 GMT

Well so much for being too tired to stay up till midnight!!! we had an awesome night and didn´t get to bed until 6am. Jade & I went out to the knitting factory with some people we met at the hostel. The club was called the Knitting Factory and it was quite the Hollywood experience. So wish we had a camera! I could not believe the number of police and fire engines (there´s no such thing as an ambulance). The cops just drive across all lanes of traffic and park in the middle of the street. Thanks to Dave for getting us both home safe n sound!!!

We met so many great people and guess what- they were almost all auzzies!!! Andrea and Tara kept the party at the hostel kicking with some air guitar and stage dancing. We all had such an awesome night that our plans to see the rose bowl were ditched and we didn´t wake up till 1pm the next day.

Adios, Larz

Risk Assessment

5amigas — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 23:37:00 GMT

We are counting down the sleeps till we go and it won't be long now until there are no more sleeps to count! So I thought it'd be a good idea to create this blog to update everyone on our travel adventures and keep everyone's minds at ease that we are still in one piece (so far)...

No need to worry though because the places we are travelling in are entirely risk free ;) Here's some sound advice I've been given so far on how to stay safe:

Tattoo my passport on me so I don't loose it. Monique
In Guatamala hang with the drug lords so the coppers don't charge us for crossing the street. Claire's brothers wife's brother
Don't carry anyone's baby across a border and unknowingly be a drug mule. Vicki
Have the daggiest gear so my stuff gets stolen last. Dad
Only fly with airlines that have a good track record. Travel Agent (we googled the name of the plane we are flying on to Cuba and we found a picture of it crashing:)...a little scary but i figure i have a bigger chance of getting killed in a car crash and yet i still drive a car.

So in 6 sleeps we are off, might be a few risks involved but I can't wait. Hurry up and finish Xmas so we can go!!!
Adios. Lara

6 days to go...

5amigas — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 23:27:00 GMT

In 6 more sleeps we will be ascending from Brisbane, Australia in search of a seriously wicked holiday. Where mojito's will be sipped, sombreros will be worn, spanish will be spoken (or at least attempted) and salsa dancing will be learned... HOORAY!!!
Adios, my fellow amigos!