Ruby and Marcello's travel blog

Cuba- Havana

rubylucas — Thu, 1 Mar 2012 15:23:00 GMT

We decided to squeeze in a short trip to Cuba’s capital Havana. Unfortunately we only had 5 days and for all of this time I had worsening symptoms of the intestinal infection from Belize and Marcello’s symptoms we starting to reappear so our experience was hindered by this.

Everyone who had urged us to go to Cuba had said, it’s changing you have to see it now. I think since 2008 when Fidel Castro became too sick to continue as President and his brother Raul took over there have been incredibly significant changes so much of the crumbling charm of Havana is hidden back a few blocks from the main tourist areas.

Tourism is massive in Havana which is something that left us a bit confused in regards to private land ownership etc. There are lots of resorts that offer a range of tours that shuttle tourists from one location to the next in air conditioned buses without the need for them to walk through the poorer areas or actually interact with a local outside of tour guides, cigar vendors or the barman who whips up their Mojito for them.

The Cars

It seemed most of the old American cars were now being used as Taxis (much to our delight as we got to go in a few) and there are now a large number of Asian and European cars available.

The Cigars

Pretty much every man and his dog is trying to sell you cigars whilst in Havana. People will follow you down the street, come to your table at a bar, offer them to you in a taxi, offer them with your food, with your drink with whatever. It gets a bit tedious after a while. Also, unfortunately because we’re coming back through the USA we can’t bring any home with us.

We went to the Tobacco Museum which was an interesting experience. Thinking that we’d learn something about the process of making cigars (and potentially even seeing one be made as the picture on sign out the front alluded to) we were instead shown a range of pipes and other smoking apparatus, lighters, labels and storage containers by an over enthusiastic Cuban woman who seemed to laugh at us every 2 minutes as she explained things in her rapid Cuban Spanish.

The Rum

At the direction of the woman from the Tobacco Museum we also did a tour of the rum museum- or more specifically the Havana Club Rum Museum. Marcello’s research tells us that Havana Club is government owned. Originally Cuba’s rum was Bacardi but during the revolution the guy who’d come up with recipe fled to the USA and when the government took over it was renamed Havana Club- none of this information was even hinted at during the tour that we paid for. The highlight of the tour was a model train set that illustrated a sugar cane plantation connected by train to the various buildings housing the various stages of rum production.

We followed the tour with a visit to the Havana Club Bar where we got slightly drunk on rum based drinks whilst listening to a Cuban band

Revolution Museum

We also went to the Museo de la Revolucion which contained everything from manequins dressed as Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos to spoons and forks used by revolutionaries during their time in prison under Batista’s rule. The highlight was the bullet holes in the foyer and the Granma yacht which was used at the start of the revolution (housed inside the large structure shown in the middle image above).

The Zoo

On our final day we went to the very dilapidated Zoo which housed lots of bored/depressed looking animals. It was a bit depressing. However I did get to see my first ever Cassowary...funny how I have to come all the way to Cuba to see a native Australian bird!

Mexico Part 1- Tulum, Cancun & Isla Mujeres

rubylucas — Thu, 1 Mar 2012 15:21:00 GMT

Tulum

So the cold that I’d got whilst in Belize got pretty bad and Marcello’s stomach was still not the best so our first few days were spent locating various medicines for my ever changing symptoms.

Once somewhat recovered we went to the ruins at Tulum which are apparently the most visited ruins in Central America.

These ruins are located on the Caribbean Coast with steps leading from the ruins down to a beautiful beach. It was filled with hot and sweaty tourists, some only in their swimmers and iguanas that basked in the sun.

Luckily there were other beaches nearby where we could spend the sweltering afternoon.

Cancun

Ahhh Cancun…in my opinion a shit hole filled with terrible, overpriced food and nothing of particular interest but the beach in the Hotel District is quite stunning. As we approached the beach we were told by a salesman offering beach chairs or beds (yes beds) that the sand was used for Abu Dhabi. We were also offered “free” tickets to “Coco Bongo” which is where most of MTV’s Spring Break footage is filmed. We politely declined telling the man we were going to Cuba instead.

We did in fact go to Cuba and upon our return I was VERY sick with the intestinal infection we’d picked up in Belize. After umming an ahhhing about what to do (I was considering coming home to get checked out) and not really being sure about how serious my condition was we put our faith in Mexican doctors and called a lovely doctor who made a visit to our hotel room in Cancun. He prescribed us a plethora of drugs to get us better and gave me the option of having Marcello administer the antibiotic by needle into my bum for 3 days or taking tablets orally for 7. Content with a 1 week course I chose the tablets.

Isla Mujeres

An island off the coast of Cancun, Isla Mujeres features yet another on the Caribbean’s stunning beaches. We wen here on 2 different day trips to escape Cancun.

Belize- Caye Caulker & San Pedro

rubylucas — Thu, 1 Mar 2012 15:19:00 GMT

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker is an island off the mainland of Belize. It was split in two by Hurricane Hattie and “The Split” serves as an excellent location for lying in the sun, drinking beer and snorkelling if you can face the incredibly strong current that runs through the split. The motto for this town is "Go Slow"...and it's pretty hard not to!

It is FILLED with 50 – 70 year old holidaying or retired American couples. There is such a strong Westerner influence in Belize that to offer any kind of service to tourists, you must have a permit; whether it be to sell food, act as a guide, hire out boats or golf carts it doesn’t matter all require a permit…this is pretty much unheard of throughout our travels so we did have to laugh at the bureaucracy..

The most activity we did here was to go on a snorkelling trip to the reef (the second biggest reef in the world after Australia’s is the reef that stretches from Belize down to Honduras) with a company called Raggamuffin Tours.

The tour consisted of snorkelling at 3 different locations (we snorkelling with wonderful tropical fish, enormous fish such as Gropers, sharks, rays and beautiful coral) and a sailing return to port at sunset listing to reggae music drinking rum punch (tough life huh!) I might add that they made approximately 20L of rum punch and it was quite potent…we were all pretty pissed by the time we stumbled back to shore.

San Pedro

I can’t really tell you anything interesting about San Pedro as we were both sick most of the time we were there- I had a cold and Marcello with a stomach bug which would turned out being an intestinal infection which we actually both had but that story comes in our time in Mexio.

Guatemala Part 2- Zephyr Lodge (Lanquin), Semuc Champey & Tikal

rubylucas — Thu, 1 Mar 2012 15:16:00 GMT

Lanquin and Semuc Champey

Zephyr Lodge

There is very little in Lanquin except for the glorious hostel Zephyr Lodge which is set at the top of a hill with two expansive valleys on each side. We had an amazing little bungalow that had views across each of the valleys. It only cost us about $12 per night

Everywhere had amazing views including the showers!

Semuc Champey

The trip there

From Zephyr Lodge we did a tour to a place called Semuc Champey and the whole experience was fantastic. It was a 1 hour bumpy ride to Semuc standing on the back of a truck with about 30 other people. The day consisted of the following activities:

Caving in the dark

Dressed only in our swimmers and each armed with a candle we climbed into a series of caves filled with water. In some caves the water was only ankle deep and in others we had to swim holding our candle up high so it wouldn’t extinguish. They took us up waterfalls, through tiny spaces, we could jump off rocks and at the end we went down a “natural slide” where the water from a waterfall had worn away the rock so it was essentially a slide made of rock followed by a 4m drop into the water. Unfortunately we didn’t have a waterproof camera to capture the adventure

The rope swing

This was the biggest rope swing I’ve ever seen. People were pulled 10m above the river level and then would have to jump into the river. Since I’m a wimp I didn’t do it but Marcello did! By the was the photos aren't of Marcello- I took video of his swings.

The bridge

Marcello tells me this is the highest thing he’s ever jumped off- 13m above the river and he was scared as you can tell by the expressing on his face in the photos!

The lookout

A strenuous 1 hour walk up to a lookout point that looks down onto Semuc Champey.

Semuc Champey

Semuc Champey translates to “where does the water hide”. It’s a bit difficult to describe what it is but there is a raging river which goes into a tunnel and comes out the other side- but on top of the tunnel is a series of blue-green pools of water which cascade into each other- very beautiful. More rock slides and jumping between pools made for a fun afternoon.

Tikal

Tikal is a An amazing set of Mayan ruins set amongst jungle. Apparently it featured in Star Wars- something to do with the Ewoks’ village.

Our guide explained how they used the summer and winter equinoxes to tell seasons and subsequently decide on agricultural things such as when to plant and harvest crops.

During our tour our guide located a tarantula and, assuring us it was not poisonous, picked it up to show us.

Guatemala- Part 1 Laguna Atitlan & Antigua

rubylucas — Thu, 1 Mar 2012 15:13:00 GMT

Laguna Atitlan

So we’ve seen a few lakes on our travels and this is by far my favourite. It is absolutely beautiful and slightly odd as at its edge are an array of trees and buildings which are partially submerged. This is because last year the water level rose 5m as a result of heavy rain and so now there is little along the shoreline. Around the lake are an array of towns with an array of attractions and people. Of those that we went to:

Panajachel

This town is for shoppers. Here you can buy beautiful handmade scarves for practically nothing and the local women and children, who all wear beautiful traditional clothing, are wonderful when you want to buy from them and a pain in the ass when you don’t want to buy anything.

Santa Cruz

We were told this was the town for couples. For us it was a place to meet interesting travellers. Our hostel was mostly booked by a large group of missionaries who prowled the dining area looking for locals to coo over in a somewhat condescending manner. Luckily at our table we were joined by an interesting group of people. There was a young American woman who had just begun a 6 month volunteering program at the local preschool teaching kids how to wash their hands, brush their teeth and for boys to lift the toilet seat when they pee. Then there was another young American woman who had taken a break from her yoga teaching to “go on a honeymoon with [herself]”. She’d removed herself from Facebook and hadn’t brought a camera in an effort to “live in the present”. Lastly there was an English/Kiwi couple who are planning to move to Sydney in early March. After little effort we convinced them to move to the inner west instead of the eastern suburbs. After dinner that night there was a dress up party at which Marcello got a sneak peak of how he’d look with dreads.

San Marcos

The town for hippies. Apparently this place has a really good “energy” and is perfect for holistic activities such as yoga, meditation and reiki. In my opinion a bunch of American ‘hippies” found somewhere with cheap land and living costs where they could make a decent amount from tourists by selling these services whilst keeping locals out of the market. Do I sound bitter?

San Pedro

The town for partying. Also the place to start a hike up to a lookout point called Indian’s Nose to see the sunrise. We chose to do the hike and were up at 3:30am to leave at 4am. After a 40 minute bus ride and another 40 minutes walking uphill in the dark we arrived to the lookout point to see the sunrise. The return journey snaked through coffee fields where locals were gathering baskets full of beans for processing.

Antigua

Antigua is yet another colonial town which has a strong appeal to most people who pass through Guatemala. Everyone speaks of how safe it is and many people end up staying there longer than intended. We were warned before we travelled there that there is rather large problem with ATM scams but as it turns out there are more dangers involving armed hold ups. We met one woman who had had a gun held to her head and her bag with her laptop, ipod etc taken. Funnily enough the thing she said she was most angry about having stolen was her 2 special coral coloured lipsticks.

Pacaya

While in Antigua we climbed a volcano called Pacaya which was fun however once we got to the top we couldn’t see anything due to cloud cover.

The volcano is still active and at one place you could start a fire using the hot rocks from the ground.

Photos: Cuba

rubylucas — Thu, 1 Mar 2012 14:50:00 GMT

Havana

Photos: Mexico Part 1

rubylucas — Thu, 1 Mar 2012 13:45:00 GMT

Tulum, Cancun & Isla Mujeres

Photos: Belize

rubylucas — Thu, 1 Mar 2012 13:14:00 GMT

Caye Caulker & San Pedro

Photos: Guatemala Part 2

rubylucas — Thu, 1 Mar 2012 12:39:00 GMT

Zephyr Lodge, Semuc Champey and tTkal

Nicaragua

rubylucas — Fri, 3 Feb 2012 11:13:00 GMT

Ometepe

Ometepe is an island which is made up of two volcanoes which are joined by an isthmus. Very beautiful but very large with quite poor transport to get around the island.

On our first day we went to something called Ojo de Agua which is two swimming pools- part natural and part artificial. There was a rope swing which kept Chel and Ed entertained for a fairly long time as did the fairly potent “Loco Cocos” (a coconut filled with coconut water and rum).

The following day, after much deliberation, we hired 2 quad bikes to see a waterfall on the other side of the island. Once we got them going it was a bumpy and dusty ride (again, much enjoyed by the boys) to park entrance where the trail up to the waterfall began. We were told we could take the bikes a further 2kms up the steep path. He warned Marcello and I to be extra careful on our one as it didn’t handle well on the hill and someone had recently broken their ankle as a result. As soon as we hit the hill our bike lost traction and as we slid backwards towards the edge of the path (there was bush on the side of the path and past that a decent drop). Marcello yelled at me to get off but I was wedged on the back with no escape with memories of the motorbike accident in Colombia running through my mind. Luckily we didn’t go off the edge and we left the bike there and continued on foot.

The walk to the waterfall was quite strenuous and the waterfall wasn’t worth the effort- even if it was fun to stand under it.

On our way out of the park it was drawn to our attention that we had a flat tyre and somehow we’d got a puncture from the biggest nail I have ever seen (the photo doesn't do it justice) Luckily, very luckily in fact, at this same point there was a garage with the facilities to fix the puncture.

Granada

Granada is a beautiful little Colonial town filled with tourists who want the prices of Central America but don’t want to submerge themselves in the culture.

To be honest all we really did while we were in Granada was get pissed and enjoy the buskers. Hence the reason we have no photos…we were too busy enjoying 2L of wine and cocktails to think about the camera.

Laguna De Apoyo

Again very little to tell you other than we stayed at a nice hostel with views over the lake. Marcello and Ed kayaked around the edge of the lake but since it was so choppy (who knew there could be so many waves in a lake?!) they capsized and returned.

Managua

Unfortunately Managua is the kind of place that doesn’t have much going for it and so I have nothing of interest to tell you about our time there.

Little Corn Island

Well if ever you wanted a postcard picture of what you imagine the Caribbean to be like- this is the place to go.

We did very little aside from sleep, eat and sunbathe so I will let the photos speak for themselves.

Costa Rica

rubylucas — Fri, 3 Feb 2012 11:09:00 GMT

With warnings from other travellers about how expensive Costa Rica is we did not spend long here…in fact only 3 days.

We stayed one night in Puerto Viejo at an absolutely enormous hostel that had a variety of rooms, tents and hammocks available to sleep in.

We made a day trip to a beautiful beach in Manzanillo where Marcello and Ed played in the water like little boys. Marcello also spent half of the afternoon making animals in the sand and cracking open a coconut.

From here on to San Jose where both Ed and I got food poisoning which luckily only affected us for 1 horrible night. I tried to bail on getting the bus to Nicaragua the following day but there was no sympathy from the others and so I had to suck it up and endure the bus ride. The border crossing into Nicaragua was incredibly frustrating and both Ed and I nearly snapped at the multitudes of people trying to sell various forms of crap to us.

Panama

rubylucas — Fri, 3 Feb 2012 11:01:00 GMT

Panama City

Panama City is stinking hot and with little deliberation we decided the best way to see it was on a city tour on which we get ferried around the city in an air conditioned minivan.

On the city tour we were taken to a range of places but were given little information about them so I can’t tell you too much about what our photos are of. I can, however, tell you that we stopped to get ice cream and Marcello got a giant sundae which made him very happy.

I did learn later what the significance is of the Herons (white birds) outside the Presidential Palace. Apparently if they fly away the city will fall…seems to be a fairly large responsibility for those birds.

And what would a Panama City tour be without a visit to the Panama Canal?! Also, since Marcello had seen a documentary on the building of it he’d been adamant that we must see this engineering marvel and any planning for our itinerary from him is more than welcome.

The Canal itself….it’s big, the process is slow but it is rather impressive. For those of you who are interested they are in the processes of expanding it and plan to have a 3^rd channel (there are currently 2) completed by 2014.

Bocas Del Toro

Bocas is a collection of islands on the Caribbean quite close to the mainland at the very north of Panama. This is where we ha d our first experience with sand flies. Other travellers had been warning us about sand flies for months and for good reason- the little buggers are absolutely vicious and leave you looking like you have chicken pox.

In typical Latin style all beaches were difficult to get to and often involved multiple forms of transport e.g. boat, taxi and 45 minute walk. An absolute highlight was when our ute-taxi got stuck in sand and the driver put MC Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This” on full blast on the stereo and made Marcello and Ed get in the ute tray and jump up and down and bounce the ute around like a car with hydraulics (I was assured this was the best technique to get us through the sand). Kate and I felt like we were in a cheesy 80s/90s Hip Hop video clip as we sat in the back seat of the bouncing, blaring car.

On our final day in Bocas we did a tour which promised Dolphins, tropical fish, Sloths and Red Frogs (poisonous apparently). For once, everything that was promised was actually seen (well in the case of the frog only Chel saw) and our expectations were exceeded.

Sailing San Blas from Colombia to Panama

rubylucas — Fri, 3 Feb 2012 08:41:00 GMT

Sailing to San Blas into a New Year and New Continent

On 29^th December we set sail from Cartagena, Colombia to Puerto Lindo, Panama via the San Blas islands in the Caribbean.

The trip lasted 6 days and 5 nights which is quite a long time to be in a very confined space with a group of 14 other passengers, 1 captain and 1 deckhand…especially when 12 of those people are German or Swiss and prefer to speak German and who don’t understand Australian/Kiwi humour and don’t have any respect for people’s personal space…Marcello is much more diplomatic when describing these people but they really got on my nerves so diplomacy is out the window! But on the plus side the 4 non German speakers were lovely people; a couple-Kate’s from NZ and Ed’s Australian/English, an older Israeli woman who spoke so softly people originally thought she was a mute and a deckhand from Colombia.

On the trip out to San Blas we sailed in open sea for 2 full nights and 1 full day. There was lots of vomiting (not by either of us luckily) as we pushed through the 3m swell for hours on end. Much to our annoyance one of the other passengers commandeered our bed for part of the journey as she struggled to keep herself from being sick. Later in the trip our bed was taken over by not just her but also her husband and her daughter so we had no chance of getting the bed back!

Luckily the islands were beautiful and we weren’t sailing over New Years Eve so everyone was able to enjoy the drinks that they’d brought on board. We spent the day hanging out on our own island ferrying beers between us and the boat via kayak. Luckily that night everyone was quite jovial and friendly with each other…even if the majority of other people chose to spend their night playing cards.

On January 3^rd we arrived at Puerto Lindo Panama ready to start the new year on our next continent; Central America. And at this point 2 became 4 as we had travel companions- Ed and Kate.

Photos: Guatemala

rubylucas — Wed, 1 Feb 2012 09:43:00 GMT

Photos: Corn Islands

rubylucas — Wed, 1 Feb 2012 09:12:00 GMT

Photos: Nicaragua

rubylucas — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:10:00 GMT

Photos: Costa Rica

rubylucas — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:29:00 GMT

Photos: Panama

rubylucas — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:49:00 GMT

Photos: San Blass Islands

rubylucas — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:22:00 GMT

Colombia To Panama Over New years

Photos: Taganga & Cartagena

rubylucas — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:45:00 GMT

Christmas & boxing day in Taganga