Blogs from Centro, Cuba, Central America Caribbean - page 7

Ráno jsme vyrazili rozpadlým zigulem nějakýho známýho naší hostitelky do půjčovny. Na výběr máme ze dvou aut. Seat Cordoba a automat od Samsungu. Zkoušíme oboje, Tonda reklamuje, ze se mu v Seatu vzadu nesedí pohodlně. Nikdo jinej ale problémy nemá, navíc se zjistilo, ze sebou nemáme dost peněz na ten automat, takze beztak není co řešit. Vzali jsme teda Seat. Tonda ale prohlásil, ze vpravo vzadu sedět nebude. Zpátky na byt jsme uz v našem autě kupodivu nezabloudili ani jednou. Nalozili jsme bágly a holky a vyrazili. Neujeli jsme ani deset metrů a přišel hlad, takze první cíl byl náš oblíbenej cupáckej stánek s kuřetem. Tentokrát bylo napečeno vše čerstvě, takze to chutnalo moc dobře. Jsme rádi, ze konečně dostáváme pořádnej poměr cena/výkon a vyrázíme z města ven. Jedinej drobnej problém je, ze nikdo přesně neví ... read more

It is Thursday night and we´re in the mood for dancing. But the tourist bars in Trinidad are, well, er, touristy. Listening to the Cuban bands in the Casa de la Musica felt like we´d headed to Temple Bar in Dublin to hear some ´real Irish traditional music´. So we hooked up with some new Cuban friends we met in Havana and they invited us to tag along (gracias Marie y Nelson). Gone midnight, the club is in full flow. I didn´t catch the name - it was dark, but coming along Jose Marti out of town, turn left at the far corner of the Parque Cespedes onto Lino Perez and its on the right, 50c in. And you can bring your own rum! Housed in an old colonial building, the dancefloor is the outside central ... read more

The more we travel onwards the smaller the provinces get, the land more vast , the grass more green, the trees taller and the mountains grew. The land is so beautiful i could hear myself saying it out loud. We crossed a bridge of water and my excitement rose. This heat can only be tamed with a long swim in the ocean. We pulled in at the station in the hottest part of the day and thawed our frozen popsicle air conditioned bodies immediately. Lots of cubans waiting , holding casa particular placards and screaming low prices. I hadnt seen this since cambodia. Head down and beggining to wade through the boisterios crowd we were surprised to see a piece of paper with our names in bold letters not uncommen at the arrivals gate at the ... read more

Hello to all and to all a good night! We arrived into Mexico City after an 11 hour flight from Heathrow on Monday 15th September. After a horribly long wait in immigration and the taxi rank we eventually made it to our hostel. It was dark, we were tired and with it being our first time there we were both a little anxious about it all. Some more than others! It all worked out fine though. That night we met a yank and an Ozzie lad and they showed us around some of the area which apparently was rather well to do. We went around the local markets, had some eats and just looked around. As has been the case since we arrived here, when we´re ordering something we´re not entirely sure what we´re getting. It ... read more

Made it to Monteverde! Carolyn and I were picked up this morning, ecstatic to say good bye to Jimmy’s Cabañas. We drive about 20 minutes around the Volcano to Lake Arenal. We hop on a smallish boat and speed across the lake. Nice views, ride lasted maybe 15-20 minutes maybe and then we wait for the van to pick us up on the other side. This is where the adventure begins. This is the roughest, bumpiest road in Costa Rica. Views are amazing; you just keep driving higher and higher into the clouds. Lots of coffee fields, cows, and horses to keep me entertained. Arrive in Monteverde, drop off the other travelers at a nice hilltop resort, whereas Carolyn and I go to the Pension Santa Elena, not a resort. An alright place to hang your ... read more

Writing this, we're just back from a day on horseback in El Valle de Los Ingenios (a valley near Trinidad where the colonial sugar plantations were once situated) and we've both got VERY sore bums indeed! The horses led us along stoney mountain trails, over a railway line, through three rivers and up to a cascading waterfall where we cooled down in the crystal clear waters. We both had quite different experiences so here's a version of the day from each of us. My Day Out With Crazy Horse By Jess Apparently you only need to know three things to ride a horse in Cuba: right, left and stop. What they don't tell you is in fact you also need a disregard for helmets and a tight grip. We were thrown straight into the deep end. ... read more

To those of you who I revealed our travel plans to, whose eyes shot wide open and mouths dropped to the ground (as if you got a pinch on the bum); the ones who were too polite to question us or call us crazy, even if that was what you wanted to say. You know who you are! Last night (23rd September) might go a little way to explaining our motives. When at home and working, you never seem to have the time or you are too tired to enjoy the simple things in life. More to the point, you forget or don't notice. After dinner (about 9pm) we went up to the roof our 'casa' to gaze at the lightning storm. The storms arrive after the hot day and its like nothing we've ever seen. ... read more

The panorama above is other Valle de los Ingenios (or the valley of the sugar mills). So we finally made it out of Havana. It took a while, and a lot of hassle, going out to the bus station, being more pushy than we like to try and get answers instead of a "try again tomorrow". Funny how when you ask more firmly, suddenly there are buses leaving! The last couple of days in Havana dragged a bit as things were still slow in opening. We wandered the massive and deserted Plaza de la Revolucion with the outline of Che Guevara on the outside of the Ministry of the Interior and the huge monument to Jose Marti. It seems such a waste of money building huge monuments like that when there are people struggling to survive. ... read more