Monday, 24 November 2008
The journey from HELL... (complete with Tio, the Spanish devil...)
Hello all.
This is a combined effort by Hayley and Alice to try and convey to you the full horror of our last 48 hours.
We left Mancora in a relatively ok bus (no semi cama or cama buses for us though as they were sold out - semi cama buses have seats that recline a lot, the cama buses are pretty much beds). But we were on the economical coach, also proud of ourselves of saving a few pennies...
We were sat by the loos, (of course as we had booked our tickets late and needed to get to Cuzco quickly), and the journey was ok, only 17 hours of smelling wee. However, halfway through the journey, a distinctly fishy aroma pervaded the bus, keeping Haz and J from sleeping at all (Al slept through it, completely oblivious...) Anyway, by the time that we arrived in Lima we were pretty stinky, and found that Haz{s bag was quite wet (sorry no apostrophe{s on this Peruvian keyboard)... After investigation, it appeared that fish were loaded onto the bus at a particularly fishy smelling town (hence why opening the windows didn{t help), right on top of Haz{s rucksack. So now her rucksack smells of fish. Nice.
Lima is rightly called {purgatory{ in the book Inca Kola. It isn{t very nice, so we only stayed there for 3 hours before skiddaddling onto our second bus...
Journey number 2. The horror starts.
The loos hadn{t been drained from the journey before, and as usual, you guessed it, we were sat by the loos. Every time the bus changed direction or speed, the sloshing of the wee set off another strong aroma of urine. We can still taste it down our throats.
About 2-3 hours into the journey a very selfish man decided to poo. It wasn{t a normal poo, it was a disgustingly stinky poo (although it didn{t smell like diarrhoea, so he has no excuse. Obviously didn{t buy the imodium they were selling on board)... again this pervaded our noses to such an extent that J moved seats, gagging as she went. It was truly horrible. The cucumber body spray unfortunately wasn{t a match for the poo. After another 10 minutes we pulled into a rest stop, and were vastly overcharged to use the loos there. J can{t describe the loo there, she says it was {hideous{. Apparently grass was growing on it. I think bushes were preferable. However even this disgusting loo was preferable to the coach loo...
Night fell. And with it much vomit. We still cannot fathom just how the students at the front of the bus (Peruvians too), contained so much sick. The road was windy, but the driver was smooth and we{ve been on far worse journeys. They aimed their vomit generally in the direction of the loo, but it often ended up outside, near, guess who, Haz. Luckily Al was again sleeping through this horror. Haz and J were gagging at the stench, and trying to dodge the sick. Particularly difficult when vomiting girls were falling onto Hayley. It was absolutely disgusting. We either laughed or cried (or in Al{s case, slept), but the others managed to keep laughing. It was difficult.
The sun rose. And with it breakfast was served at the roadside cafe. Twice. Once at the cafe, once again near-ish the loo. At this point we were trying to hang out of the window. However, J had a slight problem as she had a Peruvian man in her way, a vomiting girl to her right, and she is scared of heights so the sights of the vertical cliffs probably weren{t going to settle her stomach... (the Andes were beautiful though!) No breakfast for Haz or J, though Al did manage a chocolate croissant and an apple, but only with fresh air. Otherwise it{s a horrid feeling of eating the food con sick-urine-poo. Not an appetising combination.
At this point Al needed a wee wee.
Unfortunately she has a small bladder and a fear of being dehydrated, which could lead to nasty infections. So against common sense, she put on her trainers, rolled up her trousers, and entered hell. There was sick all over the floor, loo, basin and walls. Combined with poo and wee. The stench was incredible. Anyway, imagine trying to hover over a loo that is covered with all this horribleness. Now imagine trying to do it while being shaken around, forward, side to side, and backwards. Any contact with the walls meant additional sick on the leg. Horrid. Wee and sick literally went everywhere. Ended up with sick on her underwear and trousers. Additionally, now she has sick in the treads of her trainers, on the sides of them, and on the laces.
We eventually made it to Cuzco. Never before has Al wanted to burn her clothes. Covered in grime and psychological trauma, we managed to check into the loki hostel.
http://www.lokihostel.com/cusco
Luckily this hostel is lovely as well, (also quite interesting, check out their website). Unfortunately it is at the top of a hill, so it{s strenuous walking up not being acclimatised. However we start our trek on Wednesday, so better get practising!
Will try to write again before we go, or else we will be out of contact from Wednesday early (5.20am - 10.20am UK time), until about 9.30pm Saturday night, (2.30am Sunday morning UK time). I hope we will survive the trek. Not a guaranteed though...
To end on a happier note, Cusco looks absolutely stunning, and Al might have to buy the alpaca gloves and hat tomorrow as retail therapy after that journey. Also she wants to try eating alpaca. Meant to be like steak, just less fatty. Can{t be any worse than eating guinea pig in Quito...
Loads of love from us all in Cusco, and remember, National Express buses aren{t that bad!
xxxxxxxxxxxx
This is a combined effort by Hayley and Alice to try and convey to you the full horror of our last 48 hours.
We left Mancora in a relatively ok bus (no semi cama or cama buses for us though as they were sold out - semi cama buses have seats that recline a lot, the cama buses are pretty much beds). But we were on the economical coach, also proud of ourselves of saving a few pennies...
We were sat by the loos, (of course as we had booked our tickets late and needed to get to Cuzco quickly), and the journey was ok, only 17 hours of smelling wee. However, halfway through the journey, a distinctly fishy aroma pervaded the bus, keeping Haz and J from sleeping at all (Al slept through it, completely oblivious...) Anyway, by the time that we arrived in Lima we were pretty stinky, and found that Haz{s bag was quite wet (sorry no apostrophe{s on this Peruvian keyboard)... After investigation, it appeared that fish were loaded onto the bus at a particularly fishy smelling town (hence why opening the windows didn{t help), right on top of Haz{s rucksack. So now her rucksack smells of fish. Nice.
Lima is rightly called {purgatory{ in the book Inca Kola. It isn{t very nice, so we only stayed there for 3 hours before skiddaddling onto our second bus...
Journey number 2. The horror starts.
The loos hadn{t been drained from the journey before, and as usual, you guessed it, we were sat by the loos. Every time the bus changed direction or speed, the sloshing of the wee set off another strong aroma of urine. We can still taste it down our throats.
About 2-3 hours into the journey a very selfish man decided to poo. It wasn{t a normal poo, it was a disgustingly stinky poo (although it didn{t smell like diarrhoea, so he has no excuse. Obviously didn{t buy the imodium they were selling on board)... again this pervaded our noses to such an extent that J moved seats, gagging as she went. It was truly horrible. The cucumber body spray unfortunately wasn{t a match for the poo. After another 10 minutes we pulled into a rest stop, and were vastly overcharged to use the loos there. J can{t describe the loo there, she says it was {hideous{. Apparently grass was growing on it. I think bushes were preferable. However even this disgusting loo was preferable to the coach loo...
Night fell. And with it much vomit. We still cannot fathom just how the students at the front of the bus (Peruvians too), contained so much sick. The road was windy, but the driver was smooth and we{ve been on far worse journeys. They aimed their vomit generally in the direction of the loo, but it often ended up outside, near, guess who, Haz. Luckily Al was again sleeping through this horror. Haz and J were gagging at the stench, and trying to dodge the sick. Particularly difficult when vomiting girls were falling onto Hayley. It was absolutely disgusting. We either laughed or cried (or in Al{s case, slept), but the others managed to keep laughing. It was difficult.
The sun rose. And with it breakfast was served at the roadside cafe. Twice. Once at the cafe, once again near-ish the loo. At this point we were trying to hang out of the window. However, J had a slight problem as she had a Peruvian man in her way, a vomiting girl to her right, and she is scared of heights so the sights of the vertical cliffs probably weren{t going to settle her stomach... (the Andes were beautiful though!) No breakfast for Haz or J, though Al did manage a chocolate croissant and an apple, but only with fresh air. Otherwise it{s a horrid feeling of eating the food con sick-urine-poo. Not an appetising combination.
At this point Al needed a wee wee.
Unfortunately she has a small bladder and a fear of being dehydrated, which could lead to nasty infections. So against common sense, she put on her trainers, rolled up her trousers, and entered hell. There was sick all over the floor, loo, basin and walls. Combined with poo and wee. The stench was incredible. Anyway, imagine trying to hover over a loo that is covered with all this horribleness. Now imagine trying to do it while being shaken around, forward, side to side, and backwards. Any contact with the walls meant additional sick on the leg. Horrid. Wee and sick literally went everywhere. Ended up with sick on her underwear and trousers. Additionally, now she has sick in the treads of her trainers, on the sides of them, and on the laces.
We eventually made it to Cuzco. Never before has Al wanted to burn her clothes. Covered in grime and psychological trauma, we managed to check into the loki hostel.
http://www.lokihostel.com/cusco
Luckily this hostel is lovely as well, (also quite interesting, check out their website). Unfortunately it is at the top of a hill, so it{s strenuous walking up not being acclimatised. However we start our trek on Wednesday, so better get practising!
Will try to write again before we go, or else we will be out of contact from Wednesday early (5.20am - 10.20am UK time), until about 9.30pm Saturday night, (2.30am Sunday morning UK time). I hope we will survive the trek. Not a guaranteed though...
To end on a happier note, Cusco looks absolutely stunning, and Al might have to buy the alpaca gloves and hat tomorrow as retail therapy after that journey. Also she wants to try eating alpaca. Meant to be like steak, just less fatty. Can{t be any worse than eating guinea pig in Quito...
Loads of love from us all in Cusco, and remember, National Express buses aren{t that bad!
xxxxxxxxxxxx
Sunday, 23 November 2008
Mancora, PERU and so on...
Hey there,
What a palaver these last few days have been! We managed to get our bus from Quito to Huaquillas in Equador ok, (despite the hangover). Huaquillas is a border town, and before you enter the town, you have your passport stamped with the exit stamp for Equador. You then need to walk about 5 miles (or taxi) to the Peruvian side for the entrance stamp into Peru.
Unfortunately Haz had her passport stolen just after exiting Equador, so we were literally in no-mans land minus one passport. A lovely Australian, Vince, helped us with the police reports in Equador as his Spanish was quite good. However, when we tried to enter Peru with the police reports from Equador, they would not accept them (the countries don´t get on), so Haz was technically an illegal immigrant in Peru... after a few hours of bureaucracy we managed to get on the bus to Mancora (a northern coastal town in Peru), but were a bit concerned that if we were stopped for a security check point by the police Haz might have to bribe her way out of a potentially sticky situation..!
Got to Mancora ok, and Haz managed to get another police report done for Peru, so that if she was stopped she´d at least have acceptable police documents. Mancora is absolutely lovely, a little town on the coast - it has one road, that pedestrians, dogs, rickshaws, coaches, trucks, cars and so on all fight to use. Stayed in the Loki hostel there and it was beautiful. http://www.lokihostel.com/
The hostel is still being built, but has a lovely 26 m pool (but we think we found someone´s skin floating in it, horrible,) and goes right off the main road down to the beach. So perfect bar - hostel - beach distances! Spent a great couple of days there swimming and chilling out (and buying a few pieces of jewellery from the stalls too...)
So just done a 17 hour journey by bus to Lima (which is rightly named ´Purgatory´in the ´Inca Kola´ book and in about an hour we are heading to Cusco on another 22 hour bus journey. Will then head straight to the consulate to try and get Haz´s passport sorted out for the Inca trail, as you can´t do it without one (for permit reasons). But the guy from the company we are trekking with seems to be really helpful, and will do all he can to sort it out.
Staying in the other Loki hostel in Cusco tomorrow night too, so will email again from there.
Love Alice xxx
What a palaver these last few days have been! We managed to get our bus from Quito to Huaquillas in Equador ok, (despite the hangover). Huaquillas is a border town, and before you enter the town, you have your passport stamped with the exit stamp for Equador. You then need to walk about 5 miles (or taxi) to the Peruvian side for the entrance stamp into Peru.
Unfortunately Haz had her passport stolen just after exiting Equador, so we were literally in no-mans land minus one passport. A lovely Australian, Vince, helped us with the police reports in Equador as his Spanish was quite good. However, when we tried to enter Peru with the police reports from Equador, they would not accept them (the countries don´t get on), so Haz was technically an illegal immigrant in Peru... after a few hours of bureaucracy we managed to get on the bus to Mancora (a northern coastal town in Peru), but were a bit concerned that if we were stopped for a security check point by the police Haz might have to bribe her way out of a potentially sticky situation..!
Got to Mancora ok, and Haz managed to get another police report done for Peru, so that if she was stopped she´d at least have acceptable police documents. Mancora is absolutely lovely, a little town on the coast - it has one road, that pedestrians, dogs, rickshaws, coaches, trucks, cars and so on all fight to use. Stayed in the Loki hostel there and it was beautiful. http://www.lokihostel.com/
The hostel is still being built, but has a lovely 26 m pool (but we think we found someone´s skin floating in it, horrible,) and goes right off the main road down to the beach. So perfect bar - hostel - beach distances! Spent a great couple of days there swimming and chilling out (and buying a few pieces of jewellery from the stalls too...)
So just done a 17 hour journey by bus to Lima (which is rightly named ´Purgatory´in the ´Inca Kola´ book and in about an hour we are heading to Cusco on another 22 hour bus journey. Will then head straight to the consulate to try and get Haz´s passport sorted out for the Inca trail, as you can´t do it without one (for permit reasons). But the guy from the company we are trekking with seems to be really helpful, and will do all he can to sort it out.
Staying in the other Loki hostel in Cusco tomorrow night too, so will email again from there.
Love Alice xxx
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
New photos
Just managed to find an internet cafe that actually lets me upload photos... not finished labelling them yet but will try to do so asap. Enjoy them!
Alice xxx
Alice xxx
Part 2...
Good morning...
Ow. Last night turned into more than just one drink... I ended up back at 5am but not sure when the other two came back... oh well!
Ok, so our Spanish lessons have gone really well. Certainly more confident about speaking and trying to talk in Spanish, rather than giving up the moment they speak English. Actually, what am I saying, of course I give up if they speak English..!
We are staying in a nice hostel in the Mirascal part of the city in Quito. It´s the new part, but actually brilliant to live in, as it is geared up for travellers with internet cafes (with cheap phone calls), convenience shops, a supermarket, and lots of Spanish schools. Went to the old town of Quito on Sunday, and it was nice, pretty... but didn´t do anything for me! Very Spanish, with gothic churches and so on. I´ve got used to the colourful cities in Mexico, where the buildings are painted vibrant colours, which brighten up even a dull day. Unfortunately when we looked round Quito Viejo, it was a grey day and started raining, so wasn´t nice for photos.
Which brings me onto the weather... we are sick of it! Luckily today I am writing this and the sun is shining, but the weather here is freezing! We arrived and it was 18 degrees celsius... it´s gone down to about 10 at night, but after coming from Panama city which was 30-35 degrees, it´s a bit of a shock to the system. Probably something to do with Quito being nearly 3000m above sea level... So I have been very sensible and invested in a coat (if Mum was well she would´ve made sure I didn´t leave home without one!) I got such a good coat for 22 dollars (sooooo warm), that the other 2 have got exactly the same coat in different colours... It will set us up for Peru.
So been mooching about the town really, trying to run errands, trying to sort stuff out, watching copious amounts of films (judging by last night that is far safer and cheaper!)
Visited the Guayasamin Museum and the Capella de Hombre de Guayasamin (his chapel). His paintings are absolutely stunning. It´s easy to find images on the internet if you want to have a gander: I think I have fallen in love with his work. His art is indigineous expressionism, and he paints social, cultural and political issues that affect the social underclass. Absolutely love his work (unfortunately he died at the turn of the 21st century), so have been gawking for a while there while the other 2 sorted their stuff out. I am a little obsessed, and luckily the art galleries let you take photos, just without flash, so have got quite a few pictures!
We are going to the equator today (if J gets out of bed), and then heading to Huayaquillas tonight on a 12 hour bus journey. I messed up with the tickets but I will let Hayley tell you about that! Luckily we´re going to where we want to on the Peru-Equador border tonight, but will just arrive a couple of hours later... we will then get another bus 4 hours to Mancora in Peru, and head to the beach for the day before making our ways to Lima... and then to Cusco for the dreaded Inca Trail... (I didn´t realise at the time that you can take a train up there... not pleased with H and J for making me walk it!)
Ciao for now,
Alice xxx
Ow. Last night turned into more than just one drink... I ended up back at 5am but not sure when the other two came back... oh well!
Ok, so our Spanish lessons have gone really well. Certainly more confident about speaking and trying to talk in Spanish, rather than giving up the moment they speak English. Actually, what am I saying, of course I give up if they speak English..!
We are staying in a nice hostel in the Mirascal part of the city in Quito. It´s the new part, but actually brilliant to live in, as it is geared up for travellers with internet cafes (with cheap phone calls), convenience shops, a supermarket, and lots of Spanish schools. Went to the old town of Quito on Sunday, and it was nice, pretty... but didn´t do anything for me! Very Spanish, with gothic churches and so on. I´ve got used to the colourful cities in Mexico, where the buildings are painted vibrant colours, which brighten up even a dull day. Unfortunately when we looked round Quito Viejo, it was a grey day and started raining, so wasn´t nice for photos.
Which brings me onto the weather... we are sick of it! Luckily today I am writing this and the sun is shining, but the weather here is freezing! We arrived and it was 18 degrees celsius... it´s gone down to about 10 at night, but after coming from Panama city which was 30-35 degrees, it´s a bit of a shock to the system. Probably something to do with Quito being nearly 3000m above sea level... So I have been very sensible and invested in a coat (if Mum was well she would´ve made sure I didn´t leave home without one!) I got such a good coat for 22 dollars (sooooo warm), that the other 2 have got exactly the same coat in different colours... It will set us up for Peru.
So been mooching about the town really, trying to run errands, trying to sort stuff out, watching copious amounts of films (judging by last night that is far safer and cheaper!)
Visited the Guayasamin Museum and the Capella de Hombre de Guayasamin (his chapel). His paintings are absolutely stunning. It´s easy to find images on the internet if you want to have a gander: I think I have fallen in love with his work. His art is indigineous expressionism, and he paints social, cultural and political issues that affect the social underclass. Absolutely love his work (unfortunately he died at the turn of the 21st century), so have been gawking for a while there while the other 2 sorted their stuff out. I am a little obsessed, and luckily the art galleries let you take photos, just without flash, so have got quite a few pictures!
We are going to the equator today (if J gets out of bed), and then heading to Huayaquillas tonight on a 12 hour bus journey. I messed up with the tickets but I will let Hayley tell you about that! Luckily we´re going to where we want to on the Peru-Equador border tonight, but will just arrive a couple of hours later... we will then get another bus 4 hours to Mancora in Peru, and head to the beach for the day before making our ways to Lima... and then to Cusco for the dreaded Inca Trail... (I didn´t realise at the time that you can take a train up there... not pleased with H and J for making me walk it!)
Ciao for now,
Alice xxx
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
Quito... after quite a few days
Again, sorry for the delay! We have been very virtuous and been attending Spanish school, which has meant that during our free time, we have been sightseeing and watching many many films at the hostel (sounds very sad, but absolutely loving being able to chill out without drinking... saying that, really fancy un vaso vino caliente (mulled wine/gluhwein for those of you Europeans).
The Spanish lessons have been absolutely fantastic and our teachers, Arturo and Nancy (husband and wife) are brilliant. We have learnt how to pronounce words (quite important here), and the basics of grammer. Such a good foundation to work from! So done 20 hours (very very tiring), but luckily it´s all good...
Sorry friend (Helgi) from Iceland has just turned up, so gotta go drink... will finish tomorrow!
Ciao,
Alice xxx
The Spanish lessons have been absolutely fantastic and our teachers, Arturo and Nancy (husband and wife) are brilliant. We have learnt how to pronounce words (quite important here), and the basics of grammer. Such a good foundation to work from! So done 20 hours (very very tiring), but luckily it´s all good...
Sorry friend (Helgi) from Iceland has just turned up, so gotta go drink... will finish tomorrow!
Ciao,
Alice xxx
Wednesday, 12 November 2008
Quito, EQUADOR
hello all,
Spent yesterday in Panama, and travelled quite a few hours to go and jump under a waterfall. Was really pretty, though quite cold... photos will be put up soonish!
Had a chilled out night at the hostel last night, before leaving at 2am to get our flight to San Jose, Costa Rica. Because of the time difference, the flight only took 10 minutes, pretty good! 4 hours later we had another flight from San Jose to Quito, Equador (luckily ears were absolutely fine with the flying).
Arrived in Equador - Quito airport absolutely fantastic - through immigration, customs and collected bags within about 10 minutes! LHR has something to learn methinks... After a slight problem finding our hostel (ie we didn´t find it), we ended up staying in the Hostel Backpackers´Inn, which is so homely and lovely. The Swiss lady who runs it takes good care of us, showing us what we should do and where we should go, and telling us ways to keep safe as well in the city.
We absolutely love Quito. The accommodation is $6 per night, and the food here is really cheap. We are staying in the new part of town, as that is where the Spanish schools are, but even so it´s got a great vibe about it. We are heading to the Old town sometime soon when we have sorted out our Spanish lessons, as it´s meant to be a highlight of Equador. We have just had a lovely meal in an eccentric bar, accompanied by the Equador equivalent of gluhwein... life´s so difficult here! And I also have a dangerous attraction to the local men... it´s going to be a challenging time here...
So need to head to bed now because am absolutely knackered after our flights, but will write again soon (as also have free internet at the hostel). Planning on staying here for 7 days, learning Spanish before heading south to Mancora on the coast of Peru.
Hope everything´s ok in the UK and the weather isn´t too bad. We´re very cold, having just come from over 30 degrees C in Panama to only 18 degrees here... but suppose the 3000m altitude doesn´t help! Going to go and warm up now,
Muchos love,
Al xxx
Spent yesterday in Panama, and travelled quite a few hours to go and jump under a waterfall. Was really pretty, though quite cold... photos will be put up soonish!
Had a chilled out night at the hostel last night, before leaving at 2am to get our flight to San Jose, Costa Rica. Because of the time difference, the flight only took 10 minutes, pretty good! 4 hours later we had another flight from San Jose to Quito, Equador (luckily ears were absolutely fine with the flying).
Arrived in Equador - Quito airport absolutely fantastic - through immigration, customs and collected bags within about 10 minutes! LHR has something to learn methinks... After a slight problem finding our hostel (ie we didn´t find it), we ended up staying in the Hostel Backpackers´Inn, which is so homely and lovely. The Swiss lady who runs it takes good care of us, showing us what we should do and where we should go, and telling us ways to keep safe as well in the city.
We absolutely love Quito. The accommodation is $6 per night, and the food here is really cheap. We are staying in the new part of town, as that is where the Spanish schools are, but even so it´s got a great vibe about it. We are heading to the Old town sometime soon when we have sorted out our Spanish lessons, as it´s meant to be a highlight of Equador. We have just had a lovely meal in an eccentric bar, accompanied by the Equador equivalent of gluhwein... life´s so difficult here! And I also have a dangerous attraction to the local men... it´s going to be a challenging time here...
So need to head to bed now because am absolutely knackered after our flights, but will write again soon (as also have free internet at the hostel). Planning on staying here for 7 days, learning Spanish before heading south to Mancora on the coast of Peru.
Hope everything´s ok in the UK and the weather isn´t too bad. We´re very cold, having just come from over 30 degrees C in Panama to only 18 degrees here... but suppose the 3000m altitude doesn´t help! Going to go and warm up now,
Muchos love,
Al xxx
Monday, 10 November 2008
Panama City, PANAMA
We made it! Spent a lovely afternoon watching Top Gun in our hostel in Bocas (such a classic, needed some Tom Cruise action...) before heading over to the mainland. Slight panic when the bus was full, but luckily there were a few no shows so we managed to get the overnight bus to Panama City. Haz and J were ok as they were sat at the front of the bus, but as I was near the back I felt dangerously sick going over the mountains... luckily no vomit for me!
We arrived in Panama City at the Luna's Castle hostel at 4.30am and luckily found a sofa each to crash out on... slept so well we didn't move until 9.15am when others were awake around us... a little embarrassing!
Staying in the old part of Panama City, Casco Viejo (think that's the right spelling), which is beautifully dilapidated after Welsh Henry Morgan plundered the city in the 1600s. Declared a world heritage site by UNESCO, it's now being conserved, but is still much a work in progress, with the random wall up with no building behind it...!
Walked around for a bit and saw the skyline of the main Panama city with its skyscrapers (although to be fair we can see this from our hostel!) Also looked and watched the ships waiting in the Pacific ocean waiting to enter the canal. Visited the Miraflores lock this afternoon and watched a massive boat go through it. Was really cool to see, but basically it's just a lock, but because it's on the Panama Canal it's special. But glad we saw it.
Managed to also find a shopping mall (actually got lost in it,) but managed to pick up some more tops (the others are very grateful as mine are falling to bits and a tad indecent...), the essential toiletteries for girlies, and ended up watching the new James Bond film. So a really good day! Shame couldn't have been a tad more cultural, so tomorrow we're going to have to decide to either stay and look at the causeway on the Pacific Coast and see more sights and an art gallery, or go swimming in a waterfall..... whichever we do we'll be making use of the beautiful free pancakes for breakfast!
So not much else to report just now, but hope everyone's keeping safe and well. Think am being bitten by little beasties so am going to go and move somewhere else. Chat soon,
Muchos love,
al xxxxx
ps will be in Panama city tomorrow, then fly to Quito in Equador at 5am local time here on Wednesday. xxx
We arrived in Panama City at the Luna's Castle hostel at 4.30am and luckily found a sofa each to crash out on... slept so well we didn't move until 9.15am when others were awake around us... a little embarrassing!
Staying in the old part of Panama City, Casco Viejo (think that's the right spelling), which is beautifully dilapidated after Welsh Henry Morgan plundered the city in the 1600s. Declared a world heritage site by UNESCO, it's now being conserved, but is still much a work in progress, with the random wall up with no building behind it...!
Walked around for a bit and saw the skyline of the main Panama city with its skyscrapers (although to be fair we can see this from our hostel!) Also looked and watched the ships waiting in the Pacific ocean waiting to enter the canal. Visited the Miraflores lock this afternoon and watched a massive boat go through it. Was really cool to see, but basically it's just a lock, but because it's on the Panama Canal it's special. But glad we saw it.
Managed to also find a shopping mall (actually got lost in it,) but managed to pick up some more tops (the others are very grateful as mine are falling to bits and a tad indecent...), the essential toiletteries for girlies, and ended up watching the new James Bond film. So a really good day! Shame couldn't have been a tad more cultural, so tomorrow we're going to have to decide to either stay and look at the causeway on the Pacific Coast and see more sights and an art gallery, or go swimming in a waterfall..... whichever we do we'll be making use of the beautiful free pancakes for breakfast!
So not much else to report just now, but hope everyone's keeping safe and well. Think am being bitten by little beasties so am going to go and move somewhere else. Chat soon,
Muchos love,
al xxxxx
ps will be in Panama city tomorrow, then fly to Quito in Equador at 5am local time here on Wednesday. xxx
Sunday, 9 November 2008
Bocas del Toro... still
Hello all,
Apologies if this doesn´t make much sense, my hangover has made my brain a little fuddled! We are still in Bocas del Toro, and are catching the night bus to Panama City tonight, arriving at 5am Monday morning. We will be staying at Luna´s Castle hostel (owned by the same guys who run the Mondo Taitu hostel we´re staying at in Bocas. For all of you who like to look at where we´re staying, their website is http://www.lunascastlehostel.com/
Planning to see the Panama Canal tomorrow at Miraflores Lock, and then the following day go to Chorro El Macho (just over 2 hours away by bus from Panama city) which is a 60 m high waterfall in a rainforest, and you can swim in the pool underneath... how good does that sound?!
Went back to Wizard Beach yesterday where I fell asleep for 3 hours... in the shade luckily. It was sooooooo hot yesterday, had factor 50 on my legs and they were still burning so much I had to cover them with clothes! Put so much suncream on that it still hadn´t absorbed 3 hours later...
Started playing drinking games last night in the hostel with rude cards which was great fun, before heading to Aqualounge. Got pushed in the water... again... so spent most of my night in the sea. Not really quite sure how the evening ended, but suffice to say we all had a great time! For the first time since we´ve been here, it´s raining today and I´m not sweating!!!!! J and Haz are very relieved... So nice not to be in baking hot sun for a while. So will probably chill out at the hostel watching films and reading, lying in hammock until we go... life is so hard here!
Anyways, better go now to find some food, but hope everyone´s ok in the UK (if anyone speaks or emails Sarah my sister, please can you remind her that my birthday was 4 days ago and I haven´t heard from her in ages! Cheers...)
Muchos Panamanian love,
Al xxxxxxxx
Apologies if this doesn´t make much sense, my hangover has made my brain a little fuddled! We are still in Bocas del Toro, and are catching the night bus to Panama City tonight, arriving at 5am Monday morning. We will be staying at Luna´s Castle hostel (owned by the same guys who run the Mondo Taitu hostel we´re staying at in Bocas. For all of you who like to look at where we´re staying, their website is http://www.lunascastlehostel.com/
Planning to see the Panama Canal tomorrow at Miraflores Lock, and then the following day go to Chorro El Macho (just over 2 hours away by bus from Panama city) which is a 60 m high waterfall in a rainforest, and you can swim in the pool underneath... how good does that sound?!
Went back to Wizard Beach yesterday where I fell asleep for 3 hours... in the shade luckily. It was sooooooo hot yesterday, had factor 50 on my legs and they were still burning so much I had to cover them with clothes! Put so much suncream on that it still hadn´t absorbed 3 hours later...
Started playing drinking games last night in the hostel with rude cards which was great fun, before heading to Aqualounge. Got pushed in the water... again... so spent most of my night in the sea. Not really quite sure how the evening ended, but suffice to say we all had a great time! For the first time since we´ve been here, it´s raining today and I´m not sweating!!!!! J and Haz are very relieved... So nice not to be in baking hot sun for a while. So will probably chill out at the hostel watching films and reading, lying in hammock until we go... life is so hard here!
Anyways, better go now to find some food, but hope everyone´s ok in the UK (if anyone speaks or emails Sarah my sister, please can you remind her that my birthday was 4 days ago and I haven´t heard from her in ages! Cheers...)
Muchos Panamanian love,
Al xxxxxxxx
Saturday, 8 November 2008
Bocas del Toro, PANAMA
Hey all,
Again, apologies for the delay in the post: firstly I was slightly inebriated on my birthday, and then yesterday the internet was down on the whole island! (We take so much for granted in the UK)...
Ok so we managed to travel into Panama (only 45 minutes at the border rather than the nearly 3 hours entering Costa Rica), to find out that we had missed our ferry by about 10 minutes to the island Colon, where the town of Bocas del Toro is. As we did not want to stay in the mainland town of Changuinola (a tip), we got a water taxi out to the island. It was absolutely brilliant fun. Our driver (in a small boat) went hell for leather around the canal network, only stopping briefly for the tiny wooden fishing boats. Made it across the open sea and checked into the Mondo Taitu hostel in Bocas.
Met some lovely people in the hostel and ended up going for a few drinks. Bumped into 3 British guys we´d met in Guatemala in one of the bars, which was brilliant fun. Lots of drinking games and antics, and a good practise for my birthday the following day!
Haz and J were lovely on my birthday (although chucking me out of the room to sort out my presents was a bit of a surprise), and bought me a gorgeous bag, beautiful wooden butterfly earrings and a lovely card made in Nicaragua. Thoroughly spoilt. Had another hectic boat ride over big waves in the sea to a stunning beach, Wizard Beach, on Isla Bastimentos. So rough the boat couldn´t moor up so we just jumped into the waist high water and walked ourselves. The sand was so clean, the waters clear and with really good waves to play around in, and the sun was... strong. (The lobster look has now died down). We all really enjoyed our day, it was truly paradise. One of my favourite beaches ever.
When we tried to get back into the boat, we had a few issues (no steps or anything). Managed to jump in, but J was hilarious: she jumped up and was leaning over the side of the boat... and then slithered like a slug face first into the boat. So funny - provided entertainment for the boat driver and his helper friend!
Birthday night was wonderful fun, a delicious steak in a nearby restaurant (the best I have ever tasted), which was a well spent splurge. Then drinkies in our bar, before we moved to a hostel on another island, Carenero, which is half over the water. Beers were 50 cents, the rum and cokes were free... wonderful fun until I lost my watch, got pushed into the sea, and had a slight run in with a boat... but no serious injuries so all was good!
Recovery on Thursday, and went to Playa de Drago beach then onto Starfish Beach, where we hunted down beautiful starfish. Joined up with 2 Israeli guys there, who were also highly entertaining.
Friday we went to the Red Frog Beach on Isla Bastimentos, which was also great fun. Not quite as big as Wizard Beach, and the waves weren´t quite as good, so we´re heading back to Wizard Beach today.
Absolutely loving being here, the sun is so strong that the factor 50 suntan lotion has come out, but it is wonderful to be able to jump into crystal clear waters to cool off. The Caribbean here is quite wavy, which is a fantastic change. We´re going to head to a butterfly farm in a bit before the beach, as want to also get some pretty photos.
So heading to Panama City on Sunday night on an overnight bus, for 2 days in Panama City before we fly out to Quito, Equador at 5am on Wednesday morning. We´re also finalising dates for our other flights, so once we know those we can let people know who want to visit us.
Muchos love,
Al, Haz and J xxx
Again, apologies for the delay in the post: firstly I was slightly inebriated on my birthday, and then yesterday the internet was down on the whole island! (We take so much for granted in the UK)...
Ok so we managed to travel into Panama (only 45 minutes at the border rather than the nearly 3 hours entering Costa Rica), to find out that we had missed our ferry by about 10 minutes to the island Colon, where the town of Bocas del Toro is. As we did not want to stay in the mainland town of Changuinola (a tip), we got a water taxi out to the island. It was absolutely brilliant fun. Our driver (in a small boat) went hell for leather around the canal network, only stopping briefly for the tiny wooden fishing boats. Made it across the open sea and checked into the Mondo Taitu hostel in Bocas.
Met some lovely people in the hostel and ended up going for a few drinks. Bumped into 3 British guys we´d met in Guatemala in one of the bars, which was brilliant fun. Lots of drinking games and antics, and a good practise for my birthday the following day!
Haz and J were lovely on my birthday (although chucking me out of the room to sort out my presents was a bit of a surprise), and bought me a gorgeous bag, beautiful wooden butterfly earrings and a lovely card made in Nicaragua. Thoroughly spoilt. Had another hectic boat ride over big waves in the sea to a stunning beach, Wizard Beach, on Isla Bastimentos. So rough the boat couldn´t moor up so we just jumped into the waist high water and walked ourselves. The sand was so clean, the waters clear and with really good waves to play around in, and the sun was... strong. (The lobster look has now died down). We all really enjoyed our day, it was truly paradise. One of my favourite beaches ever.
When we tried to get back into the boat, we had a few issues (no steps or anything). Managed to jump in, but J was hilarious: she jumped up and was leaning over the side of the boat... and then slithered like a slug face first into the boat. So funny - provided entertainment for the boat driver and his helper friend!
Birthday night was wonderful fun, a delicious steak in a nearby restaurant (the best I have ever tasted), which was a well spent splurge. Then drinkies in our bar, before we moved to a hostel on another island, Carenero, which is half over the water. Beers were 50 cents, the rum and cokes were free... wonderful fun until I lost my watch, got pushed into the sea, and had a slight run in with a boat... but no serious injuries so all was good!
Recovery on Thursday, and went to Playa de Drago beach then onto Starfish Beach, where we hunted down beautiful starfish. Joined up with 2 Israeli guys there, who were also highly entertaining.
Friday we went to the Red Frog Beach on Isla Bastimentos, which was also great fun. Not quite as big as Wizard Beach, and the waves weren´t quite as good, so we´re heading back to Wizard Beach today.
Absolutely loving being here, the sun is so strong that the factor 50 suntan lotion has come out, but it is wonderful to be able to jump into crystal clear waters to cool off. The Caribbean here is quite wavy, which is a fantastic change. We´re going to head to a butterfly farm in a bit before the beach, as want to also get some pretty photos.
So heading to Panama City on Sunday night on an overnight bus, for 2 days in Panama City before we fly out to Quito, Equador at 5am on Wednesday morning. We´re also finalising dates for our other flights, so once we know those we can let people know who want to visit us.
Muchos love,
Al, Haz and J xxx
Monday, 3 November 2008
San Jose, COSTA RICA
Hello there,
Not sure when I last did the blog - I think it was in Managua, Nicaragua. I am pleased to say that we left there as soon as possible and managed to not go back!
We went to Granada as soon as we arrived back in Managua from the hot springs, and were very pleased that we did. Granada is lovely, (not as lovely as San Cristobal or Antigua, but lovely all the same). Brightly painted houses, pretty much all one story apart from near the centre, - even the dilapidation looks pretty in the sunlight. The city has a volcano on one side, which was usually hidden by clouds, but on our last day we could see the top of it. Quite stunning.
The town has a lovely vibe, very relaxed and chilled out. We went to Masaya on the first full day we had, as there was meant to be a good artisans market. Took us quite a while to find us as we initially started walking down the local market - I think a man handling piglets wasn't the best thing for Haz to see!) The local market was very crowded and busy, and we were in constant danger of being run over by people, pigs, dogs, ice cream vans, bicycles, motorbikes, wheelbarrows... so we asked for directions. The artisans market was fine, not exceptional but certainly good enough for a little retail therapy.
Went to the Laguna de Apoyo the following day - about an hour from Granada. It was beautiful. We were lucky with the weather, and the sun made the lake so blue. The lake is formed in an old volcano crater, so we had to walk back up the crater edge to try and find a taxi afterwards... that part wasn't so good! It was stunning to see the lake completely rimmed by volcano, and the water was pristine - lovely to swim in. We chilled out for a few hours, had some lunch and lay in a few hammocks before making our way back again to Granada.
Managed to find a salon which does pedicures for TWO POUNDS! So whiled away some more time in Granada treating myself (my feet were beginning to look like hooves...) After being in Granada for a few days we decided to move on.
Yesterday we took a bus to San Jose in Costa Rica - amazed we actually arrived here as going through the border took over 2 1/2 hours! Crazy. So boring. Normally it's half an hour at the most. Then when we were in Costa Rica, we were stopped by the police and our passports checked. We were really lucky we got an entrance stamp into Costa Rica, (a few other girls travelling had had difficulties as they couldn't produce an onward ticket out of the country, so effectively they were illegal immigrants and the police could make life very difficult for them. But again, we were lucky and very grateful to hear the sound of the stamp in our passports.
In San Jose at the moment as J needs to spend a day here looking for a camera charger. It's really westernised and more expensive. It's nice enough (I want to buy some more strappy tops, and got more likelyhood here that the clothes will actually fit me...) but we are moving onto Panama, to Changuinola tomorrow (Tuesday), to try and get a ferry to take us to Isla Colon, to the town of Bocas de Toro, where I will spend my birthday on Wednesday. I have told J I am not spending my birthday in Changuinola, as it seems much worse than La Ceiba, and that wasn't great! The only hotel/hostel in the book in Changuinola is described by the Lonely Planet as being a good setting for a horror film, with a good view from the windows - a cemetery. Nice.
So mooching around today in San Jose. Hope everyone's alright in the UK,
chat soon,
Lots of love, Al xxxxxxxxx
Not sure when I last did the blog - I think it was in Managua, Nicaragua. I am pleased to say that we left there as soon as possible and managed to not go back!
We went to Granada as soon as we arrived back in Managua from the hot springs, and were very pleased that we did. Granada is lovely, (not as lovely as San Cristobal or Antigua, but lovely all the same). Brightly painted houses, pretty much all one story apart from near the centre, - even the dilapidation looks pretty in the sunlight. The city has a volcano on one side, which was usually hidden by clouds, but on our last day we could see the top of it. Quite stunning.
The town has a lovely vibe, very relaxed and chilled out. We went to Masaya on the first full day we had, as there was meant to be a good artisans market. Took us quite a while to find us as we initially started walking down the local market - I think a man handling piglets wasn't the best thing for Haz to see!) The local market was very crowded and busy, and we were in constant danger of being run over by people, pigs, dogs, ice cream vans, bicycles, motorbikes, wheelbarrows... so we asked for directions. The artisans market was fine, not exceptional but certainly good enough for a little retail therapy.
Went to the Laguna de Apoyo the following day - about an hour from Granada. It was beautiful. We were lucky with the weather, and the sun made the lake so blue. The lake is formed in an old volcano crater, so we had to walk back up the crater edge to try and find a taxi afterwards... that part wasn't so good! It was stunning to see the lake completely rimmed by volcano, and the water was pristine - lovely to swim in. We chilled out for a few hours, had some lunch and lay in a few hammocks before making our way back again to Granada.
Managed to find a salon which does pedicures for TWO POUNDS! So whiled away some more time in Granada treating myself (my feet were beginning to look like hooves...) After being in Granada for a few days we decided to move on.
Yesterday we took a bus to San Jose in Costa Rica - amazed we actually arrived here as going through the border took over 2 1/2 hours! Crazy. So boring. Normally it's half an hour at the most. Then when we were in Costa Rica, we were stopped by the police and our passports checked. We were really lucky we got an entrance stamp into Costa Rica, (a few other girls travelling had had difficulties as they couldn't produce an onward ticket out of the country, so effectively they were illegal immigrants and the police could make life very difficult for them. But again, we were lucky and very grateful to hear the sound of the stamp in our passports.
In San Jose at the moment as J needs to spend a day here looking for a camera charger. It's really westernised and more expensive. It's nice enough (I want to buy some more strappy tops, and got more likelyhood here that the clothes will actually fit me...) but we are moving onto Panama, to Changuinola tomorrow (Tuesday), to try and get a ferry to take us to Isla Colon, to the town of Bocas de Toro, where I will spend my birthday on Wednesday. I have told J I am not spending my birthday in Changuinola, as it seems much worse than La Ceiba, and that wasn't great! The only hotel/hostel in the book in Changuinola is described by the Lonely Planet as being a good setting for a horror film, with a good view from the windows - a cemetery. Nice.
So mooching around today in San Jose. Hope everyone's alright in the UK,
chat soon,
Lots of love, Al xxxxxxxxx
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