Page 13 of BMertens Travel Blog Posts


North America » Mexico » Oaxaca » Tlacolula March 5th 2018

If you are in Oaxaca, you have 4 choices where to go next : Puerto escondido, San Cristóbal de las casas, Mexico City or Pueblos Mancomunados. Most people I met came from Mexico City, Puebla or San Cristóbal de las casa to Oaxaca and went from there with a van or a night bus in a 7 hours ride on a very bad road to Puerto escondido. If you want a few days to relax, enjoy the sun and the sea side, that’s the place to go. If you would rather do something a little more adventurous, more nature and hiking, then you should definitely go to Pueblos Mancomunados. There are different recommandations where to go and how to get there. Lonely Planet says you should go to Sierra Norte expeditions in Oaxaca and book a ... read more
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North America » Mexico » Oaxaca March 4th 2018

Mein erster Stop in den Pueblos Mancomunados war Cuajimoloyas. Ich bin gegen 11h morgens dort angekommen (1h von Oaxaca nach Tlacolula, 1h von Tlacolula nach Cuajimoloyas) und das erste was ich tat, war ein Bett in einem Mehrbettzimmer in einer Hütte zu reservieren und zu schauen, was für Touren dort angeboten werden. Wenn man in Cuajimoloyas wandern möchte, muss man aus 2 Gründen einen Führer haben : 1. ohne würde man sich hoffnungslos dort verlaufen, da es nirgendwo Schilder gibt und man oft private Grundstücke durchqueren muss ; 2. man würde ansonsten all die interessanten Informationen zu Cuajimoloyas, den Pueblos Mancomunados und der Fauna & Flora dort verpassen. Daher kann ich es nur anraten, einen Führer zu engagieren. In Cuajimoloyas gibt es 5 Routen die man wandern kann : ... read more
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North America » Mexico » Oaxaca » Tlacolula March 4th 2018

My first stop in Pueblos Mancomunados was Cuajimoloyas. I arrived there at around 11 AM (1h from Oaxaca to Tlacolula, 1h from Tlacolula to Cuajomoloyas) and the first thing I did was rent a room in a cabaña compartida and check out the tours they offer. If you want to hike in Cuajimoloyas, you have to hire a guide for 2 reasons : 1) you would get utterly and completely lost without one, since there are no road indications and you have to cross many private grounds ; 2) you would miss all the interesting information about the local stories, the fauna and flora there. In Cuajimoloyas, there are 5 hikes you can do : Canyón del Coyote (+/- 3 h : ... read more
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North America » Mexico » Oaxaca » Oaxaca March 1st 2018

Montag Abend, den 26. Februar, kam ich gegen 19h in Oaxaca an. Leider gibt es dort kein UBER, aber Taxis sind nicht sehr teuer und so nahm ich eins für 50$ zu meinem Hostel Casa Ángel. Ich hatte ein Bett in einem 12-Bett Zimmer gebucht, das wirklich ganz ok war. Es war genug Platz in dem Raum, es gab genug Badezimmer auf der Etage, die Betten waren bequem und es war sauber. Es gibt nur 2 Dinge zu bemängeln : 1. In dem 12-Bett Zimmer war es nachts schrecklich warm, selbst mit 2 Ventilatoren und dem Fenster offen ; 2. heißes Wasser für die Dusche gab es nur von 8-10 Uhr morgens und abends, aber man kann danach fragen, falls man zu anderen Zeiten warmes Wasser möchte und es ist gratis. Dieses Hostel ist definitiv nichts ... read more
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North America » Mexico » Oaxaca » Oaxaca March 1st 2018

On Monday night, I arrived at around 7PM to Oaxaca. Unfortunately there is no UBER in Oaxaca, but Taxis aren’t expensive, to I took one for 50 pesos to my hostel Casa Ángel. I booked a simple 12-bed-room which was quite ok. It was spacious enough, there were bathrooms enough on this floor, the beds were comfortable and it was clean. The only 2 bad things : 1) in the 12-bed-room, it was really really hot all night long, even with two fans running and the window open ; 2) hot shower is only possible from 8 to 10 (AM & PM), but if you ask at the reception, you can also have it at other times. This hostel is definitely nothing for a quiet stay : it’s an absolute social party hostel. The rooftop terrace ... read more
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North America » Mexico » Estado de Mexico February 27th 2018

Mittwoch, den 21. Februar startete mein großes Abenteuer / Projekt « ConnAct ». Meine Eltern haben mich zum Flughafen Köln/Bonn gebracht wo alles problemlos ablief und wir ein super Timing hatten. Der Flug nach Cancun sollte eigentlich 12 1/2 Stunden dauern, aber schlussendlich waren wir nur 11 Stunden unterwegs und ich war sehr froh darüber. Der Flug war sehr gut, ich saß neben einem Italiener der in Cancun lebt und während dem Flug habe ich mich mit meinem neuen Fotoapparat bekannt gemacht (Sony RX 100 Mark I) und viel über Mexiko gelesen. Alles war super und klappte perfekt, aber ich war doch sehr nervös und habe mich oft gefragt : « Was zur Hölle tust du eigentlich ? Bleib ein paar Tage in Mexiko und flieg dann wieder Heim! ». Ich schwöre, ich werde nie wieder ... read more
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North America » Mexico » Distrito Federal » Mexico City February 25th 2018

On Wednesday 21st of February started my big adventure/project "ConnAct". My parents brought me to the airport of Cologne in Germany where everything went smoothly and we had good timing. The flight to Cancún should have taken 12:30 hours but in the end it took us only 11h and I was quite happy about it. The flight was good, I had a nice Italian guy sitting next to me and during the flight I got acquainted with my new camera and I read about Mexico in my Lonely Travel guide. Everything was ok, but I was very nervous about the trip I was beginning and several times I asked myself :"What the hell are you doing? Just spent a few days in Mexico and then go home!" I swear, I'm never going to have another goodbye ... read more
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Middle East » Lebanon November 26th 2017

On Wednesday, November 22, I left Belgium and I took a plane from Köln/Bonn Airport to Beyrouth via Istanbul in order to visit my 2 good JCI-friends Dolly and Firas. I parked my car at a parking a bit outside of the airport. They were really nice and cheap (30€ for 4 days) and they even took pictures from all sides of my car to make sure when I come back there are no new scratches (on my way back it would turn out their pictures were bad and you can't see if your car was scratched or not so they don't have to take responsibility unless it's a really big scratch). The only wired thing was that I had to leave them my keys, but this way I can't lose them. :-) I arrived 2 ... read more
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Europe » Slovenia » Upper Carniola » Ljubljana August 2nd 2017

Our plan had been to spend the whole day in Plitvice and to drive only as far as we could that evening, but to camp somewhere still in Croatia. Since we had started our day early, finished the park at 2 PM and because it was much too hot to spend the afternoon outside, we changed our plans and left ASAP to spend the night in Ljubljana. It was only a 3 hours' ride, so it was ok. We had found a nice hostel online, but it was very complicated to get into the parking (the main entrance was closed, we had to find the other entrance and there were 4 more cars waiting to get in) and the staff at the hostel was very slow. Anne’s foot, where she had been bitten by that wasp, ... read more
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We spent our last day in Croatia in the Plitvice National Park. It was a 1h30 drive from Zadar, so we got up at 5:15 AM and were on our way at 6 AM. When we arrived to the park at 7:30 AM, we were surprised how many people were already there! I’m sure it was a few hundred people! We had taken entrance n°2, because entrance n°1 was indicated badly and we had missed it. We got our tickets and looked for some information on the trails, but it was a bit difficult because the info point was still closed. It turned out there were 3 options for us from this entrance and we chose the one of 4-6 hours. We had to take a shuttle to one point in the park (apparently the highest ... read more
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