http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/TeamWAR/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from TeamWAR en-us Sat, 26 Jul 2008 10:26:18 BST Sat, 26 Jul 2008 10:26:18 BST ColombiaWe arrived safely in South America for an all too short stop off in Colombia mainly in Cartagena and the surrounding area. We we got there around midday and the heat was almost unbearable as we stepped off our plane and lugging our bags round the city at midday was a bit of a challenge but we managed to find a room with aircon only to realise at 2am that is was party night for the locals http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Cartagena/blog-283865.html This is quite a short blog. It covers about three weeks. We spent most of it in Antigua Guatemala doing a Spanish course. The rest was rushing through central America getting to Panama to fly over to South America. So there isn't too many exciting photos.Anyway...As soon as we crossed over into Guatemala from Mexico we noticed a difference the landscape changed. First of all it was a lot greener http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/Antigua/blog-278841.html What a change of pace Although motels in the US arenrsquot that great they are a world apart from accommodation in Mexico. Our first night in downtown Cancun was a reality check. Although the accommodation and location was a lot to be desired we still managed to find some cool spots. In the local square meeting place for locals they served up food in a half permanent outside food hall thing. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Quintana-Roo/Tulum/blog-273654.html Finally a hot and sunny beachAfter a few hiccups with our flights from LA we finally made it to Hawaii. Hawaii is made up of several different islands our first stop was obviously Waikiki on Oahu. After checking in to our hotel we went straight to the world famous Waikiki beach. It was pretty much as you would expect it to be very kitch and touristy The front was lined with resort hotels an http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Hawaii/Oahu/Waikiki/blog-266948.html San Francisco is cool. That's a fact.We arrived into the city on Monday morning and found our hotel. It was in a bit of a rough neighbourhood Tenderloin if you know the city. The hotel itself was pretty rubbish bit of a dreary looking room. We immediately went out and found a coffee shop on the corner of the next block. We sat outside in the sun and drank coffee. It was great and we immediate http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Francisco/Alcatraz/blog-262814.html From Monument Valley it was off to the Grand Canyon. Unlike anywhere else we have been so far it was swamped with tourists with cameras but we are still somewhere between Spring Break and Easter so itrsquos to be expected. The park again was massive it take roughly 5 hours to drive the length of the canyon. Originally I wanted to go to the northern side of the canyon but unfortunately beca http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Nevada/Las-Vegas/blog-260206.html So after it dumped loads in Jackson we went boarding for one more day. The drive around the mountain in the morning was very scary as the roads were completely covered in snow and as I had no snow chains had to drive really slowly. Kelly kept telling me I was going too fast The last day riding was excellent though. The snow was 18 inches deep and there was powder everywhere. I did quite a bit of http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Utah/Arches-National-Park/blog-257851.html Arrived in Seattle safe and sound after a long flight from Heathrow. After spending a few days taking in the sights of Seattle Downtown Pike place market the Space needle and of course the first ever Starbucks we headed on up to Mount Baker.Steve hired the biggest car in America for our drive up to the mountains it is literally 3 times the size of the 106. The heated seats rock though. I http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Seattle/blog-255817.html