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contreras_alejandro - Alejandro Contreras

Born and raised in Guatemala City, spent 3 years of my childhood in Caracas (Venezuela). Many years later, got a masters from UVA (Charlottesville, VA), and moved to Brazil, where I lived for 7 years (zig-zagging between Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro). Among other things, I'm an avid reader and enjoy photography. Currently living in San Salvador, El Salvador.

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Joined on: March 25th 2006
Last Login: July 7th 2008

Blog Entries: 4
Photos: 45

TB Code: [blogger=14430]
Status: BLOGGER

Blogs & Travel Journals

by contreras_alejandro, order by Date newest first.

By contreras_alejandro
March 30th 2008

A new trip ... starting in Copán

Central America Caribbean » Honduras » Copan

Copan ruins
Pyramid of inscriptions (if I remember well)

NOTE: this is the first entry of a new set of entries related to a multi-country trip from March to May of 2008. Honduras My main goal was to visit Roatán, the Hondurean Caribbean island. I knew, though, that just taking a plane from San Salvador to Roatán would be too easy, too little adventurous. So I decided to drive. Actually, my first thought was “not-to-fly”. The plan was to drive from San Salvador to Copán, then San Pedro Sula, La Ceiba, and take the ferry to Roatán. Since I did not have time to spend a night on the road [View Full Entry]

By contreras_alejandro
August 13th 2006

Lava Rivers in Pacaya Volcano, Guatemala

Central America Caribbean » Guatemala » Volcan Pacaya

Lava Rivers
No more than 200 mt from the peak of Pacaya volcano

First of all, I am no volcanologist. So, bear with me, because I might use the wrong technical words for what I saw... The Pacaya volcano is an active volcano located approximately 30 km South of Guatemala City. Its summit is at 2552 mt. It is considered a "stratovolcano", which means it is tall, conical, has periodic, explosive eruptions, its lava is highly viscuous, cool and hardens before spreading too far (out of shame for writing something way too wrong, I just got this from Wikipedia). After approx 100 inactive, Pacaya erupted in 1961 and has pretty much been active since [View Full Entry]

By contreras_alejandro
April 13th 2005

The Best of Bonito

South America » Brazil » Mato Grosso do Sul » Bonito

Abismo Anhumas, Bonito
The large hole on top of the cave (not where you descend)

April 11th, Day Four Yesterday, after settling into the hotel in Bonito (around 6 PM), I had enough time to think and decide what to do in the 3 or 4 days that I plan to stay here. Bonito has a relatively sophisticated touristic "ecosystem". It seems to be very hard to book a trip to any of the attractions without the support of a local tour agency. Agencies act as client relationship managers and help tourists understand what every attraction has (and has not) and book them for them. Bonito has also a good cohort of Tour Guides. These [View Full Entry]

By contreras_alejandro
April 8th 2005

The beginning of a driving solo trip through the Brazilian Outback

South America » Brazil » São Paulo

Sunset nearby Aracatuba
April 9th, 2005

Written in March '06, this is an account of a 8000 km (5 K miles) long trip I did in April'05 through the Brazilian Midwest. It all started in Rio de Janeiro and finished, well, in Rio de Janeiro. I drove all the way from Rio, through Sao Paulo, to the Mato Grosso do Sul state, where I visited a place called Bonito; a few days later I drove north to the Mato Grosso state, where I spent some time in the northern area of Pantanal and in Chapada dos Guimaraes; I then drove East to the Goias state, where I [View Full Entry]