Teun

(above panorama: view from my hotel in Tegucigalpa) After the picturesque village of Copan with its ancient temples, I took a bus to El Salvador. I wasn't planning on staying there very long, about a week, to check out the capital San Salvador and maybe one or two other towns. El Salvador is a pretty small country but its capital San Salvador is a huge city, though unfortunately quite criminal. I was planning to spend just one day in the capital and then move on. However, plans changed, because I got "stuck" in hurricane Agatha. The first day, when I planned to explore the city, it was pouring down non stop the entire day, so I stayed in my hotel and chilled out a bit. The next day was better and I took a taxi around ... read more

From Havana, I flew back to Mexico, (Cancun) and traveled onwards to Playa del Carmen, a town I had been before when I was traveling with my friend Jan in 2002. It's a very touristy place, but offers good accommodation, restaurants, nightlife and organized activities like diving, something I intended to do here. After 5 days of walking around Havana, a few days of chilling out were also welcome. In this part of Mexico (the Yucatan peninsula), there are a lot of "cenotes", or wells, big holes in the ground, filled with water. And you can dive them! Interesting, and something I had not yet experienced, so I booked a morning trip to dive two cenotes. It's strange at first, because you jump into the water, surrounded by rocks and trees, whereas normally you just jump ... read more

Above panorama: View on Plaza Vieja and centro Habana from the camera obscura building. What can one expect of Cuba and Havana in particular? Amazing centuries old colonial architecture? A vibrant city with traditional music, dance and street life? Cigars, rum and mojito's? Revamped classic American cars from the 1950s? A society still in "revolution" and the evidence of Fidel, Che, Camilo and Raul "liberating" Cuba from dictatorship? Well, those were all the expectations I had. They all came true and I wasn't disappointed! Havana "delivers" and is an amazing place to experience, unlike anywhere else in the world. It is all around you. It's not all beauty and fun, though. There's poverty, although you don't see it on the street that much; it's definitely not in your face. Cuba's economy is not exactly in bloom, ... read more

Above panorama: Palacio de Bellas Artes After traveling the English speaking countries of Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, The Cook Islands and the US, coming to Mexico meant no more English but Spanish. My Spanish is almost non existent, but I recognize a lot of words and as you go, you pick up a lot of words quickly. Landing in the huge Metropolis of Mexico City, you don't realize the city is at an altitude of over 2200m because it lies on a high plateau and not on a mountain. Actually, it lies in a valley! I remember about this high altitude since I was a young kid and was watching Carl Lewis trying to break the world record long jump at the Olympics. He couldn’t, because Bob Beamon once jumped an amazing length at the 1968 ... read more

Above panorama: Malibu beach houses of the rich and famous The day after my birthday, Lauren took me around Beverly Hills. We had a cup of tea in the lavish Peninsula hotel before heading out to Rodeo Drive, THE shopping street to be seen shopping and where all the big brands have their shops. Rolls Royce's, Ferrari's, it's all about showing off here. It's a pretty area to wander around and awe at all the richness. After that, we took the car out to see all the big mansions around Beverly Hills where we spotted Ozzy Osbourne's and Sylvester Stallone's house. We also went to the Doheny Mansion, a big mansion on a huge land area built by the Doheny family. It has a strange history though, because only four months after the Doheny's moved in, ... read more