Well here we are Santa Marta Colombia OOOooOOO, the border crossing was amusing consisting of a ride in the back of a truck and a dutch man telling border officials we were on a trip with him to his farm, what did that man grow?
The people are lovely the town is nice, if not a little smelly, but nothing the popular media had geared me up for, guerrilla fire fights, police battening and military road blocks.
Here it is very well policed, and like any normal touristy destination, people trying to sell you every thing and anything, all of course fake. who wants a knock off Rolex?
We have teamed up with a lovely German called Oliver, and we shall in the next few days head to the Lost City, so no communication for 6 days.
Monday, 19 March 2007
Friday, 16 March 2007
Venezuela briefly
Day 1
We arrive into Caracas airort we had been given four pices of paper to fill out on the plane for venezualen customs to check, we all felt gettin in to this one would be tricky, moments later our passports are stamped and we are through.
We wait for our baggage at the carossel. Sam is first to get his bag, but what's this? A wii controler placed in his bag?! dodgey.
We amediatly find the unofficial money swappers and sam gets a deal than anything the officials have to offer. we walk up into the food court of church's chickin, our lodgings for the night.
Day 2
Grabbled a hugely overpriced taxi to Caracas. bugger. when we arrived at the bus station we were told to hurry in not to stop and talk to any one.
Inside that bus station it was like Mosisely from Starwars, crazy busy.
Thanks to Sam's Spanish and sign reading abilities we were soon on our way to Maracay.
Maracay is a small disheveled city. we consulted the lonely planet and found a place to stay.
The blog was updated for the first time and then everyone snoozed, so much snoozing was done we slept past the the opening and closing times of the restaurants, on arrival back at the hotel very hungry a dodgey man walked out of our room.
Starved
Day 3
Grabbed a fancy bus to Puerto Colombia, what an awesome ride, stunning views out of every window plus the excitement of a crazy fast mountain road bus ride, fog horns used at every corner, HOOONK.
Ah this is more like it, relaxed and friendly greeting by a man with a huge machete, he relays the directions to Sam via blade.
We opt for the Colonial, nice rooms set around a courtyard , most plesant.
Day 4
We were up early for a 12k jungle walk, it was indeed a most jungley walk. apparently not as lush as it is in the wet season but it was still dense, green and bursting with life.
We stopped at the top of some waterfalls with a shrine to Mary and consumed luch which consisted of cheese cucumber bread and tomato and a whole heap of fruit.
Saw sugar factory bloody hard work that is, we then had a beer on our guides roof and went for a swim in the stream nearby.
Day 5
A beach day, not the cleanest beach in the world, what it lacked in cleanliness was more than made up by the views, on our right rolling mountains with cloud forests, on our left a huge steep green hill, behind us were coconut palms and in front was the warm blue green Caribbean.
must buy a higher spf cream, ouch.
Day 6
No colombian border crossing today, chris' bag was stolen from the room in a most daring and annoying fasion.
We were up early for the crossing and had all left our room, as i headed back to the room a man lept up the wall breaking off a tap, he did not seem to have anything so i was not too worried, it is now evidnt that while we were finding someone to deal with the water tap a second man entered and stole chris' bag, it contained his camera, mp3 player, books and diary. ger bugga.
chris and sam went to the police station, copliance is not expected.
compliance was granted all is well for insurance.
We arrive into Caracas airort we had been given four pices of paper to fill out on the plane for venezualen customs to check, we all felt gettin in to this one would be tricky, moments later our passports are stamped and we are through.
We wait for our baggage at the carossel. Sam is first to get his bag, but what's this? A wii controler placed in his bag?! dodgey.
We amediatly find the unofficial money swappers and sam gets a deal than anything the officials have to offer. we walk up into the food court of church's chickin, our lodgings for the night.
Day 2
Grabbled a hugely overpriced taxi to Caracas. bugger. when we arrived at the bus station we were told to hurry in not to stop and talk to any one.
Inside that bus station it was like Mosisely from Starwars, crazy busy.
Thanks to Sam's Spanish and sign reading abilities we were soon on our way to Maracay.
Maracay is a small disheveled city. we consulted the lonely planet and found a place to stay.
The blog was updated for the first time and then everyone snoozed, so much snoozing was done we slept past the the opening and closing times of the restaurants, on arrival back at the hotel very hungry a dodgey man walked out of our room.
Starved
Day 3
Grabbed a fancy bus to Puerto Colombia, what an awesome ride, stunning views out of every window plus the excitement of a crazy fast mountain road bus ride, fog horns used at every corner, HOOONK.
Ah this is more like it, relaxed and friendly greeting by a man with a huge machete, he relays the directions to Sam via blade.
We opt for the Colonial, nice rooms set around a courtyard , most plesant.
Day 4
We were up early for a 12k jungle walk, it was indeed a most jungley walk. apparently not as lush as it is in the wet season but it was still dense, green and bursting with life.
We stopped at the top of some waterfalls with a shrine to Mary and consumed luch which consisted of cheese cucumber bread and tomato and a whole heap of fruit.
Saw sugar factory bloody hard work that is, we then had a beer on our guides roof and went for a swim in the stream nearby.
Day 5
A beach day, not the cleanest beach in the world, what it lacked in cleanliness was more than made up by the views, on our right rolling mountains with cloud forests, on our left a huge steep green hill, behind us were coconut palms and in front was the warm blue green Caribbean.
must buy a higher spf cream, ouch.
Day 6
No colombian border crossing today, chris' bag was stolen from the room in a most daring and annoying fasion.
We were up early for the crossing and had all left our room, as i headed back to the room a man lept up the wall breaking off a tap, he did not seem to have anything so i was not too worried, it is now evidnt that while we were finding someone to deal with the water tap a second man entered and stole chris' bag, it contained his camera, mp3 player, books and diary. ger bugga.
chris and sam went to the police station, copliance is not expected.
compliance was granted all is well for insurance.
Cuba
Ok so the first time I wrote this all up the PC ate it, so here goes attempt number 2. So what to say about Cuba? It´s a strange place. It´s a wonderful country but I think to really understand it you would need to live there for about 2 years. There are so many rules for everything and it was very bemusing to us. However the people are wonderful and it´s a beautiful place.
So anyway, after a day exploring Havana we headed off in our ´guagua´ (bus) to a place called Soroa, stopping off to swim in natural springs. The whole area around Soroa is a big UNESCO protected wildlife reserve, and the impetus (as with much of Cuba) is on the environment. We even ate at a veggie restaurant! Probably the only one in Cuba. It was great. At Soroa we stayed in little huts on a hill. We found massive spider legs in the air-con unit which was a bit scary, but no living specimens luckily for me! We also hiked a massive hill there with some friends Sarah from Germany and Stacey from Oz. We got a bottle of rum for about 3GBP which caused Lewis to almost offend everyone. Very funny - they all forgave him later. He also tried to get into the mirror of our room, thinking it was the bathroom. Haha. Before the rum incident we had drinks by the pool with live salsa music and Chris and I even learnt a few moves.
After Soroa we headed out to a Vinales, which is like the old west of Cuba - real cowboy territory. We stayed 2 nights at homestays, so we were guests of Cuban families. It was cool. We toured tobacco farms (smoked a few cigars), and rode horses. We explored caves too. Lots of cool things to do. At night they had an awesome salsa club. I got pressured to go up for the ´contest´ where they embarass the gringos, and would you believe it I won! Lots of mojitos are required for salsa but it´s great fun!
After Vinales we visited the Robaina plantation. Mr Robaina is the only person in Cuba except Fidel to have his own cigar brand. We met the main man and had our picture taken. Even got some free samples.
Next stop was Maria La Gorda (fat Maria) which was just tropical paradise - golden sandy beaches, palm trees, all of that. We have some snorkelling pictures. We got some rum even cheaper on the way from a rum factory (about 1.5GBP for a massive bottle) and using its influence we climbed palm trees for coconuts! Chris was the only once to achieve success! He was so happy he juggled them.
Finally we had one last night in Havana. All in all it was a really cool tour, and the group we were with were really great people. Hopefully we will stay in touch!
Sorry that´s a bit rushed but I´m almost out of time here! There´s so much more to say but that will have to wait until I see some of you.
So anyway, after a day exploring Havana we headed off in our ´guagua´ (bus) to a place called Soroa, stopping off to swim in natural springs. The whole area around Soroa is a big UNESCO protected wildlife reserve, and the impetus (as with much of Cuba) is on the environment. We even ate at a veggie restaurant! Probably the only one in Cuba. It was great. At Soroa we stayed in little huts on a hill. We found massive spider legs in the air-con unit which was a bit scary, but no living specimens luckily for me! We also hiked a massive hill there with some friends Sarah from Germany and Stacey from Oz. We got a bottle of rum for about 3GBP which caused Lewis to almost offend everyone. Very funny - they all forgave him later. He also tried to get into the mirror of our room, thinking it was the bathroom. Haha. Before the rum incident we had drinks by the pool with live salsa music and Chris and I even learnt a few moves.
After Soroa we headed out to a Vinales, which is like the old west of Cuba - real cowboy territory. We stayed 2 nights at homestays, so we were guests of Cuban families. It was cool. We toured tobacco farms (smoked a few cigars), and rode horses. We explored caves too. Lots of cool things to do. At night they had an awesome salsa club. I got pressured to go up for the ´contest´ where they embarass the gringos, and would you believe it I won! Lots of mojitos are required for salsa but it´s great fun!
After Vinales we visited the Robaina plantation. Mr Robaina is the only person in Cuba except Fidel to have his own cigar brand. We met the main man and had our picture taken. Even got some free samples.
Next stop was Maria La Gorda (fat Maria) which was just tropical paradise - golden sandy beaches, palm trees, all of that. We have some snorkelling pictures. We got some rum even cheaper on the way from a rum factory (about 1.5GBP for a massive bottle) and using its influence we climbed palm trees for coconuts! Chris was the only once to achieve success! He was so happy he juggled them.
Finally we had one last night in Havana. All in all it was a really cool tour, and the group we were with were really great people. Hopefully we will stay in touch!
Sorry that´s a bit rushed but I´m almost out of time here! There´s so much more to say but that will have to wait until I see some of you.
Arriving in Cuba
Looking out over the dilapidated Havan skyline to the ocean, fantastic old cars passing noisily beneath our window, we giggled tiredly at the events of our first day of travelling. In between 16 hours of travel time we had had a few glitches.
The first came when we almost missed our connecting plane in Madrid. The flight from Heathrow was a little late, and we had failed to understand the Spanish instructions to help us make our connection (get off at the back onto a special bus) so we got off the front with everyone else, only to find we were at completely the wrong end of the wrong terminal. Glancing at the boarding card I estimated 15 minutes to make it! A cold sweat descended as we realised missing this flight could ruin our entire Cuba trip! Adrenaline kicked in as we raced down 2km of walkays, corridoors, escalators, lifts and 1 small train. Breathless, I confronted the lady at the boarding gate, waving my ticket at her. She made the internationally-recognised gesture for 'calm-the-hell-down', and explained that boarding would begin shortly. We had misread the boarding time on the ticket as the flight time. With very red faces, we joined the other waiting passengers and laughed at our own stupidity.
Once we had survived the flight and customs at Havana airport (very serious) we took a taxi to Havana itself - should take around 30 mins. I was feeling especially pleased with myself for having negotiated a fare with the driver in Spanish. However, we were unprepared for the Playstation-style auto-rampage that ensued as our driver felt it necessary to race a sporty red car along the 'race-track' that is the highway to Havana. He shouted and cackled incomprehensible Spanish at us as the clock span past 150 (kmph I hope!) and with the constant smell of burnt rubber he ran red lights, swerved past pedestrians and traffic police alike, and screeched into brake-locking drifts when confronted with cross-traffic, all before bringing us to a sudden jarring stop right outside our hotel in a bustling part of the Cuban capital. We had been geuninely terrified, and too frozen into our seats to look up 'slow down you maniac' in our phrase-books. But now it seemed fantastically silly. We lay back and wondered what else Cuba would have in store for us as we closed our eyes.
The first came when we almost missed our connecting plane in Madrid. The flight from Heathrow was a little late, and we had failed to understand the Spanish instructions to help us make our connection (get off at the back onto a special bus) so we got off the front with everyone else, only to find we were at completely the wrong end of the wrong terminal. Glancing at the boarding card I estimated 15 minutes to make it! A cold sweat descended as we realised missing this flight could ruin our entire Cuba trip! Adrenaline kicked in as we raced down 2km of walkays, corridoors, escalators, lifts and 1 small train. Breathless, I confronted the lady at the boarding gate, waving my ticket at her. She made the internationally-recognised gesture for 'calm-the-hell-down', and explained that boarding would begin shortly. We had misread the boarding time on the ticket as the flight time. With very red faces, we joined the other waiting passengers and laughed at our own stupidity.
Once we had survived the flight and customs at Havana airport (very serious) we took a taxi to Havana itself - should take around 30 mins. I was feeling especially pleased with myself for having negotiated a fare with the driver in Spanish. However, we were unprepared for the Playstation-style auto-rampage that ensued as our driver felt it necessary to race a sporty red car along the 'race-track' that is the highway to Havana. He shouted and cackled incomprehensible Spanish at us as the clock span past 150 (kmph I hope!) and with the constant smell of burnt rubber he ran red lights, swerved past pedestrians and traffic police alike, and screeched into brake-locking drifts when confronted with cross-traffic, all before bringing us to a sudden jarring stop right outside our hotel in a bustling part of the Cuban capital. We had been geuninely terrified, and too frozen into our seats to look up 'slow down you maniac' in our phrase-books. But now it seemed fantastically silly. We lay back and wondered what else Cuba would have in store for us as we closed our eyes.
We've found the internet!
Hello all,
After searching for an internet cafe in the Venezuelan town of Coro where we are staying at the moment, we finally found one (and found out we had walked passed it on numerus occasions)! So Sam i busily tapping away on a pc next to me preparing a write up of our time in cuba for you all to read, and lewis is uploading the contents of everyones memorycards so you can see all our pictures too.
Hope everyones well.
Bruce.
After searching for an internet cafe in the Venezuelan town of Coro where we are staying at the moment, we finally found one (and found out we had walked passed it on numerus occasions)! So Sam i busily tapping away on a pc next to me preparing a write up of our time in cuba for you all to read, and lewis is uploading the contents of everyones memorycards so you can see all our pictures too.
Hope everyones well.
Bruce.
Sunday, 11 March 2007
Some teaser photos from Cuba
Follow this link of the photo below to see a few more.
We must have taken around 400 in total between us already! There are more to come.
We must have taken around 400 in total between us already! There are more to come.
Hola amigos! Updates are coming!
Wow! We've just had an awesome week in Cuba, and we made it into Venezuela ok too. We're in the town of Maracay right now. The internet and even phones are very limited in Cuba so we haven't been able to update until now. However, some of the highlights so far have been 150kmph taxi rides along Havana's highways; horseback riding to a tobacco farmer's plantation, where we smoked hand-rolled cubans with him; I won a salsa competition (who knew I had moves); Chris exposing himself on the paradise golden sands of Maria la Gorda; climbing palm trees for coconuts; and Lewis got so drunk he tried to get into the hotel mirror thinking it was the bathroom.
We have many pictures and stories already, which we'll be adding slowly now that we have some better internet access. I hope you are all well back at home. Just know we were thinking about you and what a bunch of suckers you are while we were sipping mojitos on the beach.
Why is the rum always gone? Because it's $3 a bottle!
Pictures and more updates coming soon!
Hasta luego amigos!
We have many pictures and stories already, which we'll be adding slowly now that we have some better internet access. I hope you are all well back at home. Just know we were thinking about you and what a bunch of suckers you are while we were sipping mojitos on the beach.
Why is the rum always gone? Because it's $3 a bottle!
Pictures and more updates coming soon!
Hasta luego amigos!
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