Holiday Extravaganza

Day 145

Current Location: San Jose, Ignazu (Costa Rica)

Total Countries visited: 7

Total Miles Driven: Too many !

Dear readers, family and friends,

It is the most wonderful time of the year !  I hope you are all looking forward to enjoying some time with your family and friends, celebrating the holidays and upcoming new year in happiness, and taking some down time off work or other responsibilities.

I myself will be taking an extended break.  So will Large Marge.  We have come very far, and now is the time to rest a little and enjoy ourselves without having to worry about anything else.

Large Marge is still in Honduras (I am in Costa Rica).   Of course I had planned to drive her all the way to Panama (and it might still happen), but she has experienced some mechanical issues that forced her to stay behind for the holiday season.  Worry not, she is in good hands.  I will be back in Honduras to pick her up in about a month, and the mechanic (a trusted source recommended him to me) has instructions to care for her and get her back in top shape for the return trip to the US.

You see, the last few weeks have been a little stressful.  After leaving Mexico, the roads took a noticeable drop in quality, the cities became smaller, more scattered and less civilized, and navigation became more difficult (my GPS doesn't work outside of North America / Mexico).  On a few instances, shortcuts I was trying to take that would save me an hour or two of driving ended up costing me the same in delays, due to the roads becoming so muddy that Large Marge refused to continue and had to turn around.  

Border crossings have also been a minor nightmare.  I have never seen organizations so poorly planned or managed as Central America land border crossings.  I will just give you the example of the last crossing from Guatemala into Honduras, but they are all pretty much the same.  Here are the steps I have to go through:

- Leaving Guatemala, you have to visit Guatemala customs to pay departure tax (so each border crossing you have to go to two separate customs, one for the country you leave, and one for the country you visit).  Of course there is a long line of truckers ahead of me, so it takes 30 minutes to leave the country.

- Arriving in Honduras, first you have to go through immigration.  There is another long line of people, another 30 minutes and $20 in immigration tax, and you're finally legal in the country.

- Then you need a permit for the vehicle.  Of course, that's a different office across the street.  The permit takes 20 minutes to fill up.  Then you need to make 3 photocopies of your passport, immigration papers, drivers license and vehicle registration.  Where do you make photocopies?  The only place is 1/4 mile walk down the road, back in Guatemala.  The best part is when you realize that they had a copy machine in the immigration office but they only use it for "official business".  Cost of photocopies:  $2.  Cost of vehicle registration: $40.  Time it took to get it registered:  1 hour.  Feeling of getting it done: Priceless.

- Of course, in order to pay for the vehicle permit you have to to go a different building, to the bank next door.  There, you wait in line again and are told that the bank only accepts local currency (but you just got in the country so you have none).  So you have to get outside the bank, find someone who is changing currency at very unfavorable rates, and repeat one more time.

- But it's not over yet.  You also have to get the van fumigated - basically they spray the wheels with something that's supposed to kill whatever plague you are bringing in from Guatemala.  Of course, another line behind heavy trucks, and another fee.

I hope you're getting the idea why I'm so sick of crossing borders by land.  I actually do miss the USA border crossings, however harsh they may have been on me.

And all the bumping and grinding has not been easy on Large Marge.  The suspension is getting a bit squeaky.  One of my closet door handles flew off and I now have to tape the door shut until I get it fixed.  The radiator is not functioning properly and Large Marge overheats after just a few minutes.  She definitely deserves a break.  I can't wait to see her again in working order.

As for me, I am taking a huge detour in my adventures.  A few months ago, a friend of mine invited me to a wedding in mid-January in a remote location.  I am not working, so why not ?  Another good friend of mine who currently lives in China will be joining, so this will also be a great opportunity to spend a few days/weeks with friends and shed some of the loneliness that might have eaten me up these last few days.

Here is the cool thing - the wedding is in Kathmandu, Nepal.  I am flying there from San Jose on December 27th, back on January 21st.  Flying there takes about 30 hours, including connections and layovers.  I don't care, I am just looking forward to the break.  I probably won't do any blogging during that period, so please don't worry during my absence, and don't report my disappearance to the Canadian embassy !

I promise to take a lot of wonderful pictures and share with you on my way back.

Trip update

From Belize, I crossed directly into Guatemala.  I did not spend much time in Guatemala, because most of the interesting stuff is in the Southern part of the country and I will explore that area on my way back.  The only part of mention that I saw in Guatemala was Tikal - a massive park full of ruins of great historical significance.  Tikal is impressive - it is huge, but the whole park is in the jungle so you don't really see the buildings until you get right next to them.  Some of the ruins and artifacts are over 1300 years old, much older than other Mayan ruins such as Chichen Itza.  And from the top of one of the temples you get a magnificent view of the jungle, with a few of the highest pyramids sticking out of the canopy.

Pink Monster playing in the ruins.

Main plaza.

Main plaza pyramids peeking out of the jungle.

After Tikal, I drove South and took a bend directly into Honduras.  I spent the night in San Pedro Sula, the economic and industrial capital of the country (generates 2/3rds of the GDP in Honduras).  San Pedro Sula is a modern city, with American restaurant chains all over the place.  It is also a charmless, dangerous place that has been taken over by gangs as part of the drug wars that are ravaging the country.

Then I went to La Ceiba, which used to be the party capital of Honduras.  Again, due to the dire economic and political situation in Honduras, La Ceiba is only a shadow of what it used to be... however, I was lucky enough to find a wonderful little hotel situated about 10 miles away from town, where you can completely forget about the perils of the town and roads, and lose yourself into the ocean.  The hotel is right on the beach, has a charming little swimming pool, bar, restaurant, incredibly friendly owner and staff who bent over backwards to make my stay a memorable one.

View from my hotel balcony, La Delphina Hotel.

Pink Monster getting a tan on the beach.

From La Ceiba, it's a short ferry to Roatan, an island off the Honduras coast which is known for its incredible diving and beautiful beaches.  I had a great few days in Roatan, where I went diving, met with new friends and enjoyed beautiful sunsets.

Beach at Roatan West Bay.

Beautiful sunset from West Bay.

Sunset.

Coral and fish.

Beautiful coral.

Close encounter with friendly turtle.

Lobster roll.

Bird and palm tree.

Then from Roatan, it was all pavement, dirt and stress as I drove in Tegucigalpa and Large Marge's radiator started acting up.  After three days of trying to patch it up (and failing), I decided to leave the van in Tegu and fly to Costa Rica.  Tegucigalpa is the capital of Honduras, and (along with San Pedro Sula) is constantly listed in the top-10 most dangerous cities in the world.  If you think Mexico is bad, come see this place.  It isn't an ugly town per se, the mountains in and around the city are quite scenic, but there is a feeling of badness to it.  Thank god I had a wonderful friend and his roommate who let me crash on their couch for a few days while I was figuring out the best course ahead.  Thanks Mike and Matt !

Now in Costa Rica, San Jose may not be the most beautiful town in the world, but it feels relatively safer and more civilized than the main cities in Honduras.  Without Large Marge, I am finally beginning to relax.  For Christmas Eve I will meet with a friend and his family here in San Jose, and for Christmas Day a wonderful host is having a party for people like me who are far away from their family - I look forward to a delicious Christmas meal with a dozen or so people from all over the world.  I will not be alone, but I will definitely miss the white Christmas that I am used to, along with my friends and family back in the North.

I wish you all a wonderful holiday season !  See you in a month !  And Merry Christmas Ho Ho Ho !

DMR

You better belize it !

Day 134

Current Location: San Ignacio (Belize)

Total Countries visited: 4

Total Miles Driven: You wouldn't belize how many !

Hello everyone !  This is a weird feeling, the closer it gets to Christmas, the warmer and more humid it gets... is it the same thing for you ?  I thought so.  Maybe it's just me.

So... my last post was in Merida, Mexico.  One week went by, it feels like so much more than that.  I have done a lot, seen a lot.  But before I go forward with my travel recital, I have an important announcement to make:

Monster has fallen in love.  With Belize, the beaches, the people - in San Pedro more particularly.  He met this very cute, very young Belizean girl and was literally taken by her.  So... he decided to stay.  Maybe I will come back in a few years to discover little monsters running around everywhere ?

All is not lost, I still have Pink Monster and Gentleman-ster.  They will be featured in future episodes.

Monster and his new girlfriend.  Aren't they cute together ?  Bye-bye Monster !

Now for the regular programming:

Chichen Itza

Chichen Itza recently became one of the official "Wonders of the World".  It is probably the most complete, best preserved set of ruins in all of Mexico.  But is it the most beautiful?  I think not - I thought Palenque was more scenic, in its jungle setting and howler monkeys... and Tulum on the beach, just gorgeous... but everyone has their own opinion.  It certainly was an interesting site to visit, and probably has more historical significance than all the other sets of ruins out there, but with the intense heat and 99% humidity, coupled with the hundreds of vendors peddling cheap artifacts everywhere I went, I was very glad to go back on the road and enjoy Large Marge's peddle-free air conditioning.

Main pyramid in the central area.

Monster playing in the ancient columns.

And Monster showing off his mad skills by diving in the pit formerly used for human sacrifices:

Cancun

Aaahhhh, Cancun... I have a love-hate relationship with Cancun... On one side, it has really nice beaches with crystal clear water, good diving, great food and entertainment for all tastes... On the other side, it just doesn't feel like Mexico. Seriously, the only Mexicans I saw in Cancun were the waitstaff and other resort help.


I still had a good time, but it didn't provide me with a unique experience that I couldn't replicate in Vegas.


The side trips away from Cancun were far more special - I went to the resort area of Xel Ha and the nearby ruins of Tulum for a wonderful day.  Xel-Ha is a Disneylike resort of natural pools and rivers, great for snorkeling and tubing, enjoying the water and being lazy.  I took advantage of my snorkeling experience to test the underwater case for my camera - it works !


And Tulum is another set of ruins, quite impressive by themselves but made stunningly beautiful by the fact that they are on the beach, right next to the ocean.


Most importantly, I took advantage of my few days in Cancun to get certified for open water scuba diving, which means that I can now go diving anywhere I want in the world and take wonderful pictures or marine and aquatic life (see below) - a whole new world is now open to me !

My first underwater picture - snorkeling at Xel-Ha.

Fun at Xel-Ha.

Dramatic view of Tulum ruins.

Tulum and the beach.

Playa del Carmen

Although I only stayed at Playa del Carmen for one day, I have to make a special mention of it.  I love Playa !  It is in my opinion far better than Cancun - instead of 19 year-old americans getting wild and crazy, you have 30-somethings europeans getting the vibe and enjoying themselves.  Plus, the town and its beaches are just gorgeous.  I could easily stay here a week.

Nice walkway in downtown Playa del Carmen. 

Beautiful beaches of Playa del Carmen.

Belize

Can you Belize it ?  Wow, what to say about Belize... where to start...

Belize is a tiny country.  I did everything I wanted to do here on a half-tank of gas.  I think the country is no more than 100 miles wide, by no more than 350 miles long.

Driving into Belize, everything changes.  The people look different - there are a lot of black people here (african descendants), whereas I don't remember seeing more than a handful black people in Mexico.  For a population of barely over a half-million, the cultural diversity is amazing.  There are something like 20 languages spoken there, and I could hear english spanish creole and mandarin (chinese) pretty much everywhere I went (yes, mandarin - there is a large concentration of Taiwanese on the islands, perhaps due to the British occupation of both islands many years ago).

And it truly has a Caribbean feel - the music is reggae, the food is barbecue and jerk, and I love it.  Quite refreshing after eating tacos for a month.

Belize also contains a good portion of the second largest barrier reef in the world (after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia)... there are hundreds of dive sites, with vertical walls of coral and more aquatic life than you could ever imagine.  I feel truly lucky to have had the opportunity to dive off San Pedro in Ambergris Caye (an island 50 miles off the coast of Belize) and enjoy the amazing natural beauty that its ocean has to offer.

And then there is San Pedro, main village on the island... my kind of town, I fell in love with it (and monster too, see above).  A slightly sleepy town at day, with people strolling the beach, having a drink on the terrace or going for a dive... at night, it's all reggae music and amazing catch-of-the-day at dozens of restaurants and bars along the main strip.  San Pedro became very special to me very quickly and I promise to come back soon and stay at least a week.  I recommend it to everyone - it truly is magical.

Some of the smaller towns off the coast are also pretty cool, including San Ignacio from where I am currently writing.  Very cute (and cheap) hotels with friendly owners that remind me of my grandparents, amazing food for under $5, and cool people everywhere...

But then, Belize has a few things that did not please me at all... the major towns are just plain ugly and awful.  The largest city in Belize, Belize City (population: 70,000), has a dumpy feeling and is not well developed.  My overpriced hotel was sitting 50 yards from the ocean, but there was no beach and the only path to the water was a dump site for the local community.

The capital of Belize, Belmopan, only has 12,000 inhabitants (smallest capital city in the world I believe), and the town is just a wreck of poor planning - everything is scattered, there is no feeling of centralization anywhere, and half the streets aren't paved... If that's the only thing you see in Belize, you will certainly leave with a bad impression.

And in addition to Belize being quite expensive by Central American standards, the country itself has the dumbest currency policy that I have ever seen.  Basically, the Belize dollar is tied to the US dollar on a 2-1 ratio, and because the government is afraid that all the money would flow out of the country with free trade of the currency, they are severely limiting the holding of US dollars by most people in the country.  For example, Belize citizens are not allowed to have a US bank account.  And although it is very easy to exchange US dollars for Belize dollars, the reverse is an absolute nightmare.  Residents can't do it, and tourists can only do it under certain conditions.

So my pain in the butt story in Belize is that I lost my ATM card right before entering the country... trying to think of ways to get cash to pay for the rest of my trip until my card is replaced, I thought I would hit the local casino, withdraw cash using my credit card and just exchange it later.  Obviously, the casino would not let me withdraw in US currency, so I was stuck with thousands of Belize dollars and no obvious way to sell them back into some usable currency.  I had to go to a local tourist information girl in San Pedro, who in turn had to go to 7 or 8 different shop owners and exchange some Belize dollars into whatever US dollars they were holding - usually $40 or $50.  It took about 45 minutes and a bit of tipping to get her running to all those places (plus she was a bit overweight, that didn't help).  Then as the whole town ran out of US dollars, I had to wait to get to Belmopan, go to the bank and be told that they didn't hold any US dollars.  A second bank held $200 US dollars, and after a 30 minute wait and a long form to fill, I finally got all my money exchanged.

Morale of the story - Belize is an amazing destination: gorgeous jungle, crystal clear oceans, world-class diving, the best barbecue this side of Texas, a lazy and friendly lifestyle with the coolest people you could ever meet; just make sure that you don't get more local currency than you need, and don't bother exploring Belize City or Belmopan, there are much better places to see out there.

San Pedro main street - only golf carts are allowed.

San Pedro beach - perfect place to rest or jump on a boat

Belizean waters - incredibly clear, warm and inviting.

Underwater adventures

I will leave you now with some of my better underwater pictures.  I saw a lot of shark, turtles, eels, ray, and all sorts of multicolor fish, in addition to the reef itself.  The reef forms canyons into which you could swim, 100 feet of vertical color and life, it was phenomenal.

Cranky eel did not like to be disturbed.

Surreal underwater scenery.

Stingray at the surface.

Little red fish tried to hide but failed.

There were a lot of sharks, apparently not dangerous.  I could get within 15 feet.

The Moebius fish.

Incredible colours and shapes.

Fish that looks like a porcupine.

Turtle.  They swim a lot faster than they walk !!!

Until next time !

DMR

Ruins, waterfalls and fat monkeys.

Day 126

Current Location: Merida, Yucatan (Mexico)

Total Countries visited: 3

Total Miles Driven: 20,431

Hello from sunny Merida !  It has been a week since I last wrote, internet was hard to come by... the states of Veracruz, Tabasco and Chiapas are full of wilderness and waterfalls, but don't have much in the way of connectivity!

I have visited many sites in the last week, mostly natural settings consisting of jungle, rivers, lakes and waterfalls, and a few ruins.  It is incredible how much beauty there is in the heart of the country - cascades and waterfalls at every corner (and you can swim in most of them), dozens of archaeological sites with Mayan, Aztec, Inca and Huichol ruins, and charming little villages that make you feel as if you are part of the family.

The roads continue to be awful, the drivers continue to be rude, but it doesn't bother me as much as it did around Mexico City.  It is a way of life, after all.  Better get used to it.

The highlights of my past 7 days are as follows:

Puebla

Puebla is a very airy, comfortable, friendly town with great food and great amenities.  It was only meant to be a nightly stop, but I enjoyed its central plaza, beautiful church and main shopping area.

 

View from the main plaza.

Pedestrian street with lots of shops.

Veracruz

Veracruz is a fun city !  Medium-sized, on the ocean, it has the perfect location and attitude, with many hotels and bars right on the beach and a lot of ways to spend money.

I only spent one day there, as I figured I would see a lot more beaches and party hubs further down the coast.  However, those few hours spent there were enough to get a pretty nasty sunburn and a very delicious Pina Colada.  I have to remember to wear sunscreen next time !

Pina Colada on the beach.

Catemaco and Sontecomapan

Lake Catemaco is the second largest lake in Mexico - it is huge, and has a lot of very interesting islands... And the city of Catemaco is incredibly pretty and peaceful.  At night you can hear the song of a million birds, and see the moon reflecting on the surface of the lake.  If I wanted to spend a week to relax anywhere in Mexico, it would be there.

The highlight of my stay in Catemaco was a lancha (boat) tour that took me all over the lake, including some of the islands.  There I saw some really cool jungle settings including the spot where they filmed Medicine Man (movie with Sean Connery) and parts of Apocalypto with Mel Gibson.  Also, two of the islands are populated by monkeys, and more curious than anything else the monkeys would come out of the jungle to meet us as we were approaching... I have never seen monkeys in the wild before, the experience was great !

Sontecomapan is another small town just outside Catemaco - it is on the shore of another lake which branches off to the sea through a channel of salty rivers.  I took another lancha tour through the rivers, where I could see forests of mangroves which were just out of this world.

Lake Catemaco on a lancha.

Lakeside setting.

View from the lakeshore.

Curious monkey peeking out of the jungle.

This monkey looked like Jabba the Hutt - fattest monkey I have ever seen. 

Lancha tour of mangroves.

Mangrove roots.

Ruins of Tabasco and Chiapas

After Catemaco and Sontecomapan, I visited two distinct sets of ruins and archaeological sites - one in Malpasito (Tabasco) and the other in Palenque (Chiapas). The Malpasito ruins were very remote (100 miles from any large city, up a small unpaved road) and it was great to be the only visitor there.  However, the hat goes to Palenque - it is said to be the single best archaeological site in the country.  The area is huge, in a jungle setting with howler monkeys adding to the soundtrack, and the ruins themselves are extremely well conserved and very dramatic.

Ruins of Malpasito, in the middle of nowhere.

Palenque ruins.

Gorgeous Palenque ruins in a jungle setting.

Waterfalls and cascades

I love waterfalls !  Literally, they are everywhere - I saw dozens of them, some very tall and majestic, some just cascading around in successive pools of crystal water... There is nothing more refreshing than taking a dip in a pool of running water... I cannot begin to enumerate all the great falls that I have seen... Salta de Eyiplanta (near Catemaco), Agua Azul and Misol-Ha (near Palenque) were the tallest and most dramatic.  But my personal favorite was in Malpasito - truly in the middle of nowhere, up that same little unpaved road, after walking for about 20 minutes on a small poorly maintained footpath, you stumble on a set of cascades - dozens of them, each one of them more gorgeous than the one before... I swam through a handful of them - and the best part?  There was nobody around for miles.  Just the sound of rushing water, the jungle and crazy me.

Salta de Eyiplanta near Catemaco.

Poza de los enanos (pool of the dwarves) in Sontecomapan.

200-foot tall waterfall near Malpasito.

Refreshing dip in Malpasito. 

Beautiful falls in Tapijulapa.

The famous Agua Azul falls near Palenque.

I think that's enough for now !  I am not quite done with the ruins - will go see Chichen Itza tomorrow, but I am pretty much done with waterfalls.  Next up - beach, pina coladas and sunscreen in Cancun Mexico !!!

Hasta muy pronto,

DMR