a different experience Unfortunately our experience with Hernando and Maria's boat hasn't been so good. We had read the tips here on Lonelyplanet and so we did the trip Cartagena-San Blas with them but the service has been quite disappointing. Maybe in these two years things has changed as there is more request.
I'll try to tell our experience as it can be useful to someones. Hernando's catamaran is in good conditions and he seems to be a good person, but:
1.Capacity. the boat had the capacity of 10 persons maximum and he filled it up to 13 people. 2 persons had to sleep in the kitchen's sofa bed, wich they knew in the last minute (quite injust, as they paid the same as everybody) and on top they had to share it with Hernando's helper who didn't have a bed. The cabin's beds didn't have pillows nor bottom sheets. Somebody asked for it and the answer was "what do you need another sheet for?!".
2.Tank water. It was forbidden to use water (they kept the autoclave closed during the hole trip and you couldn't even wash your face and teeth in the morning, unless you had a little bottle to fill up when they switched on water to cook). Soon we discovered that there was so few water because they were giving us tankwater to drink! Awful, since carribbean tapwater is not drinkable, in fact Hernando and his wife had their own bottles of sparklingwater. Fortunately we had some yodopils, but we've had anyway stomach problems. In the meeting we have had some days before leaving, they had told us that there would be enough drinkingwater for everybody, but they never told us that it would be tankwater and that we couldn't even have one shower during the five days.
3. The food. Hernando said in the meeting that in the islands he would buy fish and lobsters but the reality was different: during the ride to San Blas we ate only salads for lunch and dinner (some people had already told to María that they didn't eat salad and she gave to them a plate of corn, although there was lots of other cans and other food in the fridge). When we got to San Blas, they bought some fish but no lobsters. Hernando said that they were too big, so we had to pay for it. We told him that, if they were too big to eat one each, he could just buy a couple of them and we would share them, but he said no. The worse was the last dinner of the trip: they had bought fish and María made soup with it. They gave us a cup of soup each, but actually there was no fish inside but only the hot water! this and some crackers was supposed to be the dinner.
4. Service. We had to pay the whole price of the trip (400$) the day before leaving but we suggest to pay the half before traveling and the other half only at the end. We chose these people because they seemed to be friendly and reliable, but since the beginning of the trip we noticed a big change in manners (quite arrogant) and service (didn't correspond to what we paid). and service. Paying the second half in the end is the only way to make sure to receive a good service.
bis gleich ...jawoll, das gefaellt mir. und den brixx blog den kriegste natuerlich... da ist ja dann auch mehr zu schreiben als ueber das taj mahal.. das kann ja jeder... aber so ein brixx blog.. da eroeffnen sich horizonte...hmmmm
Na ja... ... wenn du schon so danach fragst, liebes Furby, gebe ich natürlich gern einen Kommentar. Also auch drei Jahre nach eurer Abreise verfolge ich den blog immer noch gespannt und schaue jeden Morgen als erstes ins Netz, ob es was neues gibt. Aber ach, die Berichte werden deutlich spärlicher und die Zeitschiene läuft auch nicht mehr so reisekonform. Und - ich ma mich täuschen - für die Großartigkeit des Bauwerkes hat das TM aber auch einen recht kargen Eintrag bekommen, fast so, als hätte der Schreiber keine wirkliche Lust zum Tippen gehabt.
Hatte ich erwähnt, dass eine Einzugsbedingung ist, täglich unter dem Titel "Mein Leben im Brixx an der Seite des wunderbarsten Menschen ever (und nebenbei noch an der Seite meines Mackers)" zu bloggen?
Küsse und bis gleich.
Qué alegría Qué bueno verlos bien y siguiendo el largo viaje!!! Espero que disfruten mucho más y que vuelvan a Buenos Aires un día.
Empiezo a estudiar alemán en abril. Dónde están los cometarios en inglés?? Es dificil encontrarlos.
Un beso grande a los dos!
Stella
sorry Sorry fuer die unerfreulichen Vorkommnisse- ich hoffe es hat euch trotzdem gefallen so dass ihr dieses schoene Land
in guter Erinnerung behalten und hoffentlich noch einmal besuchen werdet !!
kalle, Pelluco, Puerto Montt
Oh my god Sieht aus wie in der Werbung für Reiseveranstalter...Traumhaft!!!
Hab auch ein neues Lieblingsfoto aus eurem Blog, schätze mal ihr wisst welches... Das Affenbild ist perfekt gelungen!
Great Journey Hi Dean and Diane, so pleased that the trip you are taking is working out to be everything you hoped. The pictures are fantastic and it makes me want to do the same. Keep safe and have a great time. Keep the pics coming best wishes Mark. p.s. I finished with SSCI and got a job back at Bahrenfeld on the Bleed Air group.
Kauf dir nen Rasierer Hey Ihr 2 Sandpiraten, wie empfangt Ihr Post, glaub der Engländer braucht nen neuen Rasierer... Bin total neidisch, versuch Jordan zu überreden es mal mit nem Flug zu versuchen, dann vielleicht ein Treffen in Thailand oder sonst wo!?!
Unsere neue Adresse wie versprochen
Bismarckstrasse 94
28203 Bremen
Freu mich auf den nächsten Eintrag und denk an euch!
Tausend Küsse!
Hallo Ihr!!
Ihr habt ja super geile Bilder gemacht!!
Sieht cool aus!, OK ohne Dean wären sie noch schöner gewesen ;-)
Ich freue mich für euch das ihr so viele interessante Plätze seht.
Ich wünsche euch weiterhin viel Spass und schreibt weiter in euren Blog!
Dean wollte ja wissen wie es beim Hausbau weiter geht! hier findet er alle nötigen Infos ;)
http://das-bautagebuch.blogspot.com/
Gruß
Tobi
Missing both of you! man man man... von morgens bis abends in diesem Laden und was muss man sich täglich von euch ansehen... Bin echt begeistert wie regelmässig uns ausgiebig Ihr erzählt und vor allem etwas neidisch...
Sieht aus und hört sich an, als ob Ihr ne echt tolle Zeit habt! Wir vermissen euch hier trotzdem! Lieben Gruß, dicken Kuß und frohen Nikolaus Ihr zwei!
Mel & Jordan
Fantastic Hi Dean and Diane (furby) wow! the photo's really bring it home that you are somewhere special in the world.
I show my sons your pictures when I am at home to try and wet there appetite to travel.
Enjoy and keep safe.
hallo ihr lieben,
lese immer ein wenig neidisch Euren blog, vorallem gerade, wo ich so hunger habe und unbedingt lama essen will! (lohnt das denn?)
Liebe grüße
the amazon Hi thanks for your blog its been good to get some insite into traveling around south america. im flying out htie in december landing in rio.
Have u been to manus? im goingto be in south america for 6 weeks. could you recomend a way to see the amazon.
Cheers x
levoyageux
non-member comment
a different experience
Unfortunately our experience with Hernando and Maria's boat hasn't been so good. We had read the tips here on Lonelyplanet and so we did the trip Cartagena-San Blas with them but the service has been quite disappointing. Maybe in these two years things has changed as there is more request. I'll try to tell our experience as it can be useful to someones. Hernando's catamaran is in good conditions and he seems to be a good person, but: 1.Capacity. the boat had the capacity of 10 persons maximum and he filled it up to 13 people. 2 persons had to sleep in the kitchen's sofa bed, wich they knew in the last minute (quite injust, as they paid the same as everybody) and on top they had to share it with Hernando's helper who didn't have a bed. The cabin's beds didn't have pillows nor bottom sheets. Somebody asked for it and the answer was "what do you need another sheet for?!". 2.Tank water. It was forbidden to use water (they kept the autoclave closed during the hole trip and you couldn't even wash your face and teeth in the morning, unless you had a little bottle to fill up when they switched on water to cook). Soon we discovered that there was so few water because they were giving us tankwater to drink! Awful, since carribbean tapwater is not drinkable, in fact Hernando and his wife had their own bottles of sparklingwater. Fortunately we had some yodopils, but we've had anyway stomach problems. In the meeting we have had some days before leaving, they had told us that there would be enough drinkingwater for everybody, but they never told us that it would be tankwater and that we couldn't even have one shower during the five days. 3. The food. Hernando said in the meeting that in the islands he would buy fish and lobsters but the reality was different: during the ride to San Blas we ate only salads for lunch and dinner (some people had already told to María that they didn't eat salad and she gave to them a plate of corn, although there was lots of other cans and other food in the fridge). When we got to San Blas, they bought some fish but no lobsters. Hernando said that they were too big, so we had to pay for it. We told him that, if they were too big to eat one each, he could just buy a couple of them and we would share them, but he said no. The worse was the last dinner of the trip: they had bought fish and María made soup with it. They gave us a cup of soup each, but actually there was no fish inside but only the hot water! this and some crackers was supposed to be the dinner. 4. Service. We had to pay the whole price of the trip (400$) the day before leaving but we suggest to pay the half before traveling and the other half only at the end. We chose these people because they seemed to be friendly and reliable, but since the beginning of the trip we noticed a big change in manners (quite arrogant) and service (didn't correspond to what we paid). and service. Paying the second half in the end is the only way to make sure to receive a good service.