Colombia

14th - 24th December 2010

We arrived in Cartagena and got to our hotel in the 'Zona Rosa' (Red light district!!) - the hostel was actually quite nice apart from everytime it rained,which was often, our room flooded! We learnt to keep everything off the floor pretty quickly and thankfully nothing got ruined!
Cartagena's old town (the area we were staying) is still pretty cool with lots of narrow cobbled streets interconnecting with each other and still has elaborate walls circling the town with fortifications. We spent our first day walking around the town dodging thunder storms and checking out the area.

From Cartagena we went on a tour to a mud volcano (Volcan de Lodo El Totumo) which stands 15m high but is over 2000m deep! We climbed to the top of it and jumped in! It was strange and difficult to balance in because of your buoyancy, one wrong move and your legs were sliding out in front of you! Apparently the mud has some theraputic properties and minerals contained with in it......we just thought it was good fun!!
Once in the Volcano you were grabbed for an 'optional' massage which of course wasnt really optional at all, but felt quite nice as....ahem.....men rubbed their hands all over my mud slathered body!

At the bottom of the Volcano

Enjoying the therapeutic benefits!!

Like a pig in......

Unfortunately the weather didnt improve much while we were in Cartagena so we decided not to go to Santa Marta (a couple of hours down the road) and were unable to go to Playa Blanca - diving was also not an option due to poor visibility and the sea being too rough for some boats - and headed to Bogota instead!
After a thoroughly enjoyable 27 1\2 hour bus journey (5 hours longer than we were told) we arrived in Colombia's capital, 2600m above sea level, and collapsed in our bed!
Bogota had quite a good vibe to it and although we were apprehensive about safety in the city, we didnt feel threatened at anytime and enjoyed the big bustling streets and elegant style of the city.

Catedral Primada - Bogotas largest church.

Capitolio Nacional (Christmas styley!)

It has an impressive gold museum with many pre-Hispanic artefacts which is touted to be the most important gold museum in the world. Some of the pieces are amazingly delicate and well crafted given that the goldsmiths were using very basic methods to develop their craft.
We also went out and hit the town in Bogota. We started in the hostel bar and met quite a good crowd of fellow backpackers before heading to the only nightclub in town open after 3am nicknamed 'The End' (because everyone goes there at the end of their night) situated on the 30th floor of a highrise building. The views were amazing and had the music not been so bad (mainly early 90's trance) and the drinks so expensive (same as being at home but after you've been spending $1-$1.50 a beer, thats expensive!) it would have been an amazing place to see the sunrise!
Behind the city and only a terrifying cable car journey away is the Cerro de Monserrate mountain crest on which sits a church (and a few restaurants) which overlook the city. On a clear day you are able to see for miles but due to its height, these days are few and far between because you are quite literally sitting in the clouds - amazing in its own right!



The church



The terrifying cable car ride



A view over Bogota

 After Bogota we decided to go to Cali on the overnight bus with the intention of going on to Popayan (meant to have Colombia's best museums and be the countries most stylish town) and then cross the border to Ecuador. On arrival to Cali however we were informed that the road between Popayan and the border had been closed due to landslides and was unlikely to open again until after Christmas.....as long as there were no other slips.......bugger! We could either chance the roads and fall behind schedule or fly at vast expense to Quito - we let the fates decide and flipped a coin - flying to Quito it was!We had a couple of days in Cali before we left though and were staying a really nice hostel (Pelican Larrys) with a great owner and good group of people. Unfortunately Cali doesnt have all that much to offer apart from tours outside the city (all running on other days!!) so we amused ourselves by chilling out, having a great BBQ with one to many beers at the hostel and visiting Colombia's best zoo.

We both wish we had read up a little more on Colombia before we left and designated more time to this country. We met people who have been travelling here for months and it has plenty to offer. There is the jungle, lost cities, extreme sports, beaches, beautiful towns and great people, maybe something to think about on the next trip, for the time being its 4am Christmas Eve and we're off to the airport!

Feliz Navidad!

Mexico and Cuba

30th November 2010 - 13th December 2010

MEXICO

OK.So after a LONG flight and some human rights violations in LAX we finally made it to our hotel in Mexico City!!
After arriving at the airport and managing to catch out our first scammer (the money changer tried to get away with short changing us!) we immediately fell into the second scam and hired a car (with driver) to take us to our hotel. Rather than getting the cheap taxi we had a massive SUV take us through Mexico City. It was ridiculous!

Our first day was pretty slow moving given that we were so tired but we strolled around downtown and the area immediately within our hotel, had a couple of beers and something called a 'Cubana' (essentially a Corona poured on top of a concoction of chilli sauce and lime juice - interesting!).
Our second and last day in Mexico was far more interesting. We were picked up from our hotel by Javier our guide for teh day who thnakfully spoke great English. He took us first to a Church where the 'Virgin Mary' apparently appeared to an Indian native 500 years ago. To prove he had seen the Madonna she told him to pick some roses from the top of the mountain (roses at that time were not grown in Mexico) and carry them within his cloak. When he showed the roses to the priest in the local town they left behind an image of Mary which still hangs within the specially built church today (although a new one as the original one is starting to sink!) - apparently there are no signs of brush strokes and the paint/ink/colouring hasnt faded and actually floats above the material of the cloak! OR......that could just be bollocks!! 
We stopped at a stone carving factory and although we didnt buy anything I did manage to have 2 Tequillas....at 11am!!
We then visited the Temples of Guadalupe - the sun and the moon temples. They were pretty cool and we could climb to the top and see excellent views. The only downside was the amount of touts there trying to sell their tat - it became quite exhausting with the constant 'No gracias' in the heat!


Alana at the top of the Moon temple (the Sun temple is in the background)



Looking towards the Sun Temple

CUBA

Cuba was amazing. With its bohemian mix of race and culture it has come together in a country of people who rather than dwell on their ethnicity, identify and unite under being 'Cuban'!
Havana is a crumbling ruin of what must have been quite a spleandour in its hayday. Peeling paint comes off the walls in staircases with marble steps and ageing nicotine stains grand chandalier crowned ceilings, but nonetheless there is definately a certain 'feel' to the city which catches you in its awe.
We spent quite a while in Havan al up and enjoyed all of our time here, infact we could probably have spent all of our ten days nin this one spot and still found things to do. As it was we contented ourselves with looking at the arcitecture, walking along the maricon, divuldging in Mojito and ofcourse visiting a Cuban cigar factory!
The factory tour, although smacking a little of a human zoo, was very interesting. We saw the tobacco leaves as they come in and are sorted, the training room where new recruits are taught to roll the cigars - it takes 9 months before they aready, and the professional rollers. The factory can churn out 25000 cigars per day, different brands and shapes taking different amounts of time and skill to make.

We love it when a plan comes together!

Vinales was our next stop in Cuba. A rural part of the country where large limestone formations jut out of the landscape. It was colder here but beautiful with the limestone and tobacco fields rolling into one.
We visited the ntional park on horse back and trekked around it for 5 hours, a great way to see all that Vinales had to offer albeit a bit of a sore arse the next day......or two!!
 The highlight for Alana on this ride however, was not the beautiful landscape, the culture, the views or even the ride itself......no it was the fact that while everyone else on the ride had a horse to ride, I was given a mule! I consoled myself with the fact that Jesus rode a donkey....

My beautiful steed for the day

After the horse trek we went by foot, hiking to a cave formed in the limestone which had two freshwater pools you could swim in. We expected these to be at the mouth of the cave but in fact the were about 100m+ inside the cave and it was pitch black. I was the only one who braved the cool water and although it looked very much like a lair from Alien (glistenning limetsone stalactites and stalacmites) I managed to come out unscathed!

I think the highlight of Cuba for us was Trinidad. A beautiful old colonial town 10kms from the beach with cobbled roads (the novelty of which soon wore off!!),beautiful buildings and amazing sunsets made this somewhere we would definitely like to visit again.

There was plenty to see and do by just walking the streets in this town, in fact the town was really its own museum, so pottering along looking at all the town had to offer whilst drinking the odd cerveza or mojito was a conclusive way to see the city.

We also visited the beach, it being so close and all we thought it rude not too, while Alana sunned herself I went for an unfortunately disappointing dive. Although I had heard that diving in Cuba is amazing, it appears not off Playa Ancon where a lot of the coral was dead and consequently few fish inhabited the area.....certainly no sharks like I had hoped to see.





At all the places we visited we stayed at Casa Particulars which is essentially just a room (with ensuite) in someones house. We ate in a few and had some amazing meals of chicken and more often than not lobster! It was definitely a great way to meet some 'real' Cuban people and we generally had alot of fun!

After a long hard week of sun, cigars, mojitos and lobster it is now time for us to head to Colombia, apprehension and excitment are toying with us as we wait here in Panama airport looking out at a rather wet and miserable day.....only another 1 1/2 hours to wait......now if I can only convince Alana to buy me something to eat.......