Kate and Seb

First impression is the army: everywhere - along the streets and fields...not in a bad way but rather in a secure way. The country is nicely shadowed from the Gringo trail as many tourists think its a little too unsafe. This made for a better, uninfluenced experience of our travels here. The locals were original, friendly and generally interested in foreigners. Coming from South Africa, Colombians were especially surprised that we weren't black and even on occasion tried to convince us that we are actually albinos, ha ha!

2 – 7 April : Colonial Life

We flew into the historicalal walled city of Cartegena on the northern Caribbean coast. We didn't know what to expect from Colombia and were pleasantly surprised by the modern simple airport- and subsequently the rest of the basic infrastructure within Colombia. Even though Colombia has been shadowed by international tourism, we met many a local who were traversing the country and exploring their origin. For this reason, good hotels and restaurants were not hard to come by.

Cartegena was a real gem - streets filled with Botero sculptures and vendors selling fruit, ice cold fruit juices, home made sweets and sparkly green emerald stones. But other than enjoying the colonial Spanish architecture, the energetic atmosphere of street dancers and some excellent meals, we didn't get up to much in the actual city.

We explored a nearby natural wonder, this being a 15 m high volcano that instead of spewing lava, just oozed warm, thick, creamy mud. We shed to our bathers and flopped into the 2800 m deep mud pot. A little freakishly the locals took over by giving us massages, whilst lying literally suspended on the mud surface due to its density. On exit a wash was in order so we were off to the river, where the locals once again absconded us. This time, however, whipping off our bathers and scrubbing us clean from ear to toe nail. This is when Seb became a little hesitant as the local lady scrubbed within a half inch of his groin, rightly so! Mud got in the most unfortunate of places.

8 – 10 April: Soltering Processions

How we got to Mompos: Bus – rediculously speedy boat (200 horse power along log strewn, dead cow laiden river, at least we got life jackets, hah) – taxi – boat – taxi = Mompos, a rather varied transport system!

Except for during Easter, nothing really happens in Mompos, understandibly so, given the soltering temperatures which the village reaches. We based ourselves along the taunting Rio Magdalene, which one wants to spring into to cool off, but would likely land up swimming with a few animal corpses and the rest of the debris that finds its way into the river after 8 million people have used it further upstream.

The Easter ceremonies were elaborate and festive:
Wednesday night – lighting of candles in the huge grave yard.
Thursday and Friday – we watched a huge religious procession which started at 5pm and ended around 2am in the evening. Not quite sure how all the men kept it up, the procession stages looked so heavy.

This was our first interaction with Colombians, they flock to Mompos in the thousands. It is actually such a popular celebration that even the current and previous President of Colombia showed face.

Colombia is relatively untouristy compared to the rest of Latin America, so we often had people wondering where we were from. When we said South Africa, we got blank stares, eventually this was the tell tail sign that we would see through-out the rest of South America: “but you aren't black, so you are not from South Africa”. We even had a man try to convince us that he had watched a National Geographic show about Albinos and that we were one of these anomalies in the black race and that our folks were actually black.

11 – 14 April: Adventure Highlands

Passing another bus on a blind corner, with sheer cliff face drop on oneside, doesn't seem to make Colombian bus drivers blink an eyelid. What relief to arrive in San Gil after such a windy treacherous bus journey. Here we practically had free accommodation as we both ruled at the poker table in the hostel and gleefully took all the money away from Texan's staying in the hostel, while sipping on some good local rhum.

Up up and away was the order of the day as we set off on a little paragliding adventure. We were surprised to feel as safe as we did riding the thermals above the hills. What a cool experience to view the valleys like the condors do. The next adventure in order was white water rafting unfortunately the rain had swelled the rivers to +5 rapids, a little out of our league and the rafting was cancelled. Instead we found ourselves hiking the old historic Spanish road between two little towns, Guane and Barricahara, while digging in the ground for fossils for Seb's collection.

15 – 20 April: Chilling Highlands

Upon meandering down the highlands we found ourselves at the tiny town of Villa de Leyva. This place is set amongst the steep Andean hills of central Colombia and to Seb's delight, filled with fossils everywhere. We found our favourit accommodation outside of town, which was to be base while we explored the nearby hills. On the first day, we rented some bikes and set off for the most famous fossil of the area: a giant skeleton of a Mesosaurus. Scary stuff! Afterwards we chilled at Colombias only wine farm and tasted some of the awfulrotten grapes, they supposedly called wine. The Saturday market was a real gem. Local people from all over the region came to sell their produce giving us a real good look at the local culture and dress. The market also had the best pork ribs ever- splayed pig on the open coals. It was so good that we had it for breakfast at 8am!

Remaining days were spent fossil hunting the area, especially nearby the waterfall, Paso de Angeles. We managed to find some incredible specimens, which Seb found hard to leave behind and so they were added to the already overweight backpack.

21 – 23, 30 April , 1 May: Cocaine Capital

After a four hour bus trip south of Villa de Leyva, we arrived in the much anticipated capital, Bogota. First impressions were not great but the city started to show its few delights over the days. We stayed in the old town of Candelaria where we stumbled upon our most favourite eating spot- Crepes and Waffles. The name speaks for itself - there was an endless menu of savoury and sweet crepes, as well as waffles. We exploited this place on about 6 occasions and even made friends with the waitress named Fanny, who was always nearby to help us practise our Spanish over a chat.

Another hilight included the Gold Museum, which to our astonishment is one of the most impressive homes to Inca Gold in the world. A day trip out of Bogota brought us to the Salt Cathedral: a series of huge excavated rooms within a mountain of salt that had been converted into a cathedral. If you are religious this would be your pilgrimage.

On our final day in Bogota we had hoped to visit the Botero Museum, one of our favourite artists/sculptures. Unfortunately, we didn't take into account Workers Day, which in Bogota equals mass protests! Standing outside the closed museum we soon found ourselves engulfed in a major anti-governmentalllll riot – think tear gas, caspers, fully kitanti-riototiot police and rock throwing protestors. We escaped into a restaurant haven where we were able to witness the punk thugs being thugs, and persuited by 100's of cops for hours.

We got word that organising an Amazon trip from Bogota was a good idea, so we headed to the penthouse of an Amazon tychoon to chat over the pink dolphins, while sipping on endless supplies of Cuba Libras. Crazy Axel made it so easy and before we knew it we had an Amazon trip booked for the next day....Amazon blog to come...

2 – 4 May: Coffee boys and Palm Trees

It was time to check out where most of the world's coffee comes from. We stayed in the tiny hamlet, called Salento, which is situated in the centre of Colombia's coffee region. It was great to be here on the weekend when all the coffee-cowboys come to town and we were treated to lively pool pubs and white nasty headache spirit. After a few of these shots, we were in the mood to play the local version of tenpin bowling/French boulle called Tejo. This basically involves throwing a metal weight across the length of a 25 m room into a pile of mud, with the centre piece being loaded with gunpowder. On Seb's first attempt with the big coffee boys, he managed to fling the Tejo to the end of the room, however, in the neighbours lane and onto the light bulbbb (which came crashing down luckilylyy the coffee boys were cautious of this yellow head Gringo boy and managed to stay clear of the falling debris).

More sober times were spent in the Cocora Valley and coffee plantations. Cocora Valley was enjoyed by hiking up the mountain through the monstrously tall wax palms that reside here at 3500 m and grow to over 10s0 m tall.

5 – 6 May: Loco Railway Adventures

A 3-hour bus trip from Cali, brought us to the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. From here, a local Rasta chap geared with a dining room table top, four sets of skateboard wheels, a motorbike and an abandoned railway track transported us to San Cipriano. This was one of the most hair raising trips ever experienced in 30 minutes but he somehow brought us safely to town. Unfortunately the town itself is not much to write home about but the tubing down the beautiful, lush, emerald river that runs through San Cipriano was a welcome relief from the heat.

7 – 12 May: Hell Road to San Augustin

Popayan was our base to exploring the ancient sacred statues of San Augustin. The statues themselves were only recently discovered, in the1940's, not surprising given that we had to endure a gruelling 6 hour bus trip to cover a meagre 90 kms. Given that the statues date back to AD1200 they were impressively well preserved, but sadly the statues are know displayed in open grassy parks, a far fetch from how the statues used to naturally exist in the dense jungle.

13 – 14 May: Backpacking luxury amongst rotten squalor

Ipiales, the Colombian/Ecuadorian border crossing town, was an unlikely place to voluntarily spend more than 2 hrs. But its where we found a hotel equipped with a gym, sauna, cable TV, cotton linen and room service. Small things maybe, but after the last few hostels it was a welcome luxury for the mere price of only $25!

It was our first tasting of the famous “Cuy”... what you ask? We apologise in advance, but we stuffed our faces with a spitbraaied Guinea Pig. And guess what – it tastes like chicken!

After 6 weeks our Colombian adventures were up and we headed across the border to our 2nd South American country – Ecuador...

Tips

Cartagena

Accommo: Hostal Baluarti on Media Luna well maintained (COP40k, priv room w bathroom), a new hostal was opening up whilst we were in Cartagena, Media Luna Art, v close to Hostal Baluarti, this looked really promising with swimming pool – a must for the Cartagena heat.
Eating: El Bistro, calle de Ayos No 4-42, a German run restaurant in old town has excellent steaks, tasty curries, mojitos and desserts. GCB Restaurant, Calle de Magdelena, a Colombian restaurant with good plato del dia options, sweet sour pork and fruit juices are yummy. Def try all the icy cold fresh fruit juices sold in “glass fish tanks“ on the street as well as the local homemade sweets.
Activities: A day trip to Volcan de Lodo El Totumo is well worth it, the mud texture is so thick, careful of the ladies washing you after, a hand may slip inbetween the legs.

Mompos

We were here for Semana Santa, wow our home nativity sets are put to shame by the Easter procession. A very Colombian holiday and well worth the visit to see how the Catholics do it in South America! It is really hot here, unfortunately can't swim in Rio Magdalena as you may come across a dead cow. Not really close to much, so if it isn't Easter would prob not mission here. Hostal Amarillo is best option in town, and the owners are friendly and informative(COP20k, Easter high season price). Mompos hand make beautiful, delicate silver jewelery, COP25k for stunning earings, ask Amarillo about shop.
Transport: Arriving - We caught a bus from Cartagena to Mucaranga (COP 36k, 4.5hrs), then super fast boat on Rio Magdalena (COP6k, 20min), then a short 10min taxi (COP1.5k) and a mini boat across a stream (COP1k, 1min) and finally a taxi which dropped us as Amarillo (COP8k, 30min). Leaving – Only option is to catch private mini cab truck to El Banco (COP25k inside dustless more comfy seat, 2hrs). From El Banco we caught a scary bus to Bucaramanga (COP35k, 6hrs).

San Gil

Accommo: Stayed at Maconda (COP35k, private double, try book the room with the view of the church, great view and away from noisy central quart yard). Associated to Maconda, 3 doors down on the right, is a small cleaner hostal, run by a lovely couple who serve an awesome breakfast! Even if you don't stay with the latter, def pop in for the breakfast.
Activities: Paragliding is very reasonable and instructors all have many years experience. From San Gil we did a day trip to Barichara/Guane. There is a nice old Spanish Rd between Barichara and Guane, good for an afternoon stroll. Before leaving Barichara pay a visit to the local hand made cigar ”factory”, ask the locals for directions, 5min walk from centre.

Villa de Leyva

Accommo: Colombian Highlands Renacer, run by Oscar, our best accommo in Colombia by far (COP40k priv room w bathroom), has BBQ (collect wood from next door), nice kitchen, indoor fire place, free WIFI.
Eating: Some good COP6k set meal deals around town. Zarina has excellent steak. If you are at the Saturday market def buy the pork done on the open fire, it is some of the best Pork we have ever eaten, we bought is early in morn and reheated for lunch, couldn't quite stomach it like the locals do at 8am!
Activities: We hired bikes and went to El Fossil (scariest fossil I have ever seen, looks like a crocodile but the head alone is as long tall as me, 1.7m), then to a wine farm (not great wine but nice little stop) and also had a look at this funny clay house. Some nice walks in the area as well and good fossil hunting if thats your thing! We loved the cool mountain weather and just enjoyed chilling with our books. Beware the sand flies they are nasty and live near the kitchen, so wear them socks todas! Try and make the Saturday market, mainly the locals selling fresh produce, unless you buying in bulk prices are similar to the shops but its great people watching and the BBQ pork is awesome, best arrive early morn.

Bogota

Accomo: Stayed at Hostal Villa Candelaria (COP35k priv double room), across the rd from Mora Mora smoothie bar, down the rd from Platypus Hostal. We preferred it to Platypus as it was quieter and had a more open common area.
Eating: Crepes and Waffles, you can't miss this chain its for the savoury or sweet tooth. The Tamal was also yummy at Cafe Florida.
Activities: Gold Museum – don't miss the free English tour at 11am. Botero Musuem. Buy your Botero prints at the artesans market on Carrerra 10, don't go after 5pm its apparently one of the unsafest areas in Bogota! If seeing the city from the top is your thing the finicular is an option, but not much different from other city cable cars. The Salt Cathedral was impressive but not very interesting, and maybe not worth the time it takes to get there.

Salento

Accomo: We stayed at Plantation House but largely because it is one of the only options with ammenities, the rooms were somewhat overpriced (COP35k)
Eating: Great lunch deal at Rincon de Lucy off the main plaza (COP6k) for menu of the day.
Activities: We enjoyed our day hiking at Cocora Valley, try the hot chocolate at the humming bird stop and do the Montero round trip not back tracking but heading up the short steep hill for great views of the Palm Trees on your return.

Cali

Accomo: We stayed at Hostal Iguana which was okay but nothing great, except close to the Argentinian steak restaurant.
Eating: We had a great steak and salad at the Argentinian restaurant on the corner down the hill from Iguana.

Popayan

Accomo: We stayed at Casa Familia, again okay but nothing great. Later we came across Hostal Trail, slightly out of town but was newer and had better amenities.
Eating: We had great coffee across the road from Casa Familia at Tierradentra. A chain with decent coffee and free wifi was on the side of the main square but the name forsakes me. We bought lots of yummy strawberry's from the locals off the street.

San Augustin

Accomo: We stayed at Finca El Maco, the accommo is fine except that Seb had bed bugs and the kitchen facilities are very basic.
Transport and Activities: The bus trip to San Augustin was really long, if we had the option to do it again we would consider giving it a miss, as the statues all look like in a picture and are displayed in a well manicured park, not quite in their natural jungle environment.

Ipiales

Accomo: Dam the name is gone, but it was in the Lonely Planet – gym, sauna etc
Activities: The cathedral 7km out of Ipiales is worth a look.
Eating: We tried Cuy for the first time, tastes like chicken pretty yummy.
Border Crossing: We caught a taxi from Ipiales to the Colombian border, COP7k, then walked across to Ecuador side, and caught a taxi $1 per person into town to the bus terminal and carried on to Quito, $4.

Top Foods in Colombia
Tamal from Bogota
Large wafer biscuits filled with caramell (arequipa)
Fresh fruit juices
Fruit: Pitaya, Lulu (similar to kiwi fruit)
BBQ pork at the Saturday market in Villa de Leyva

Bus Companies – we were recommended to use these bus companies in Colombia, companies vary within the regions – Brasilia, Arauca, Bolivieriano, Coep Trans – Colombian bus drivers are all crazy.

Websites: www.hosteltrail.com – Hostelworld does not feature much in Colombia, Hostel Trail has much better detail. www.poorbuthappy.com/colombia has some useful info.

A strip of land linking the two hemispheres of Latin America, which seems like a country of opposites. Faraway from the bussling metropolis of Panama City, lies some of the most magnificents beaches we have seen. The opposite continue when you compare the banking capital of Latin America with some of the most autocratic tribes living on far flung islands where the major currency was the coconut, a mere 10 years ago. Besides Panama City we stayed at 2 groups of island communities, which in their own way are so different from eachother: the Jamaican communities dominate Bocas del Toro, while the indigenous Indian Kuna people rule the San Blas Archapeligo. Here are some details of our trip...

13 - 17 March
It was a 9-hour ride to Bocas del Toro from the Panama-Costa Rica border. We arrived at dusk and changed from road to water as we headed to the far flung island of Bastimentos. This was the last idea of what we expected Panama to be like – a small town made up of wooden stilt houses and brimming with english speaking, Jamaican-looking, rasta vibing people. We stayed at a local joint, which was run by our fun loving, Colombian friend. Our cabin was a getaway amongst the thick trees, sloths and red poison dart frogs.

Our days were spent beach hopping from one island to the next, staying well clear of inhabited areas, where garbage and human litter is sadly dumped directly into the sea. On our first day we explored Bastimentos Island: a 15-minute walk over the muddy hill and we arrived at Wizard Beach (a long stretch of beach borded by dense jungle). Afterwards we hiked to the famous Red Frog Beach where we hoped to find the little Red Dart frogs in their natural environment. Unfortunately, a famous beach brings with it the hordes of tourists and well hidden red frogs. We later discovered that the best place to view these cuties is in the vegetation around our cabina.

The next morning, we hired a local guide (half drunk Rasta at 10 in the morning) and made our way by boat to Playa Estrella (Starfish Beach). This was one of the most spectacular scenes: palm trees, white sands, warm water filled with hundreds of starfish – double the size of an average man's hand. The starfish saw the making of merman, mermaid and a gay pornographic shoot (see pics)!

We were really lucky with the weather in Bocos , and our 3rd day brought the sunshine, perfect suntanning weather at Wizards (the Carribean had seen 2 months of straight rain prior to our arrival, hence us not visiting Carribean in CR). Later, an innocent card game turned into a vicious drinking game with many a Ron con Coca drunk with our hosts and guests (ha ha..never ask for Ron con Coca, you may get some white stuff, Ron con Cola is the safer bet)...3 hours later, it was midnight and...surprise, Seb's birthday!! Next, he was blindfolded and placed infront of a pińyata. A few spins around, some mad swipes and Elmos head was taken off in a foul swooop! Sweets and hairbands (Seb in need of some with the flowing blond locks) flying everywhere. The evening ended at a crazy hour in a dodge club on the island, celebrating with all the Rasta locals under the watchful eye of the stoned Police, while Seb was uncontrollably shouting to everyone “Es mes complianos! Es mes complianos”...handing out all of his pińyata sweets.

After nursing the head, the next day was spent traversing a sub-terranean bat shit filled-pitch dark-cave, with water up to the ears. The highlight of Bocas del Toro for Seb and what a boyish thing to do for his birthday! A few hours later we were on an Indiana Jones plane heading for the great Panama City, with our Swiss sweetheart in tow. Upon landing we treated ourselves to a fancy steak dinner (shyte steak though, stupid Lonely Planet) and a fine bottle of Chilean red wine. What a great birthday!!

17 - 25 March, 1 -2 April

In Panama City we managed to find an apartment for three on the 7th floor overlooking the old town (Casco Viejo) for only $15 per night, incl. kitchen & private bathroom. Taking advantage of the cheap accommo, Seb spent some time working on journal paper corrections, while Kate and Barabara perused the outer city beaches (not much needs to be said on these beaches, but that we don't plan to recommend or revisit them). In PC we enjoyed a few of the westernised-world luxuries. These included Chinese take-out and watching a couple of Hollywood films on the big-screen. “Slumdog Millionaire” and “Gran Torino”...really great films! Nearby, a visit to the Presidents Palace was in order. Here we spotted two very familiar looking SA birds. After questioning the guards, we found out that they were a gift from Mandela to the president of Panama about 12 years ago. Pretty cool to be checking out these live gifts in a remote country like Panama.

26 - 31 March

Next: Tropical Paradise! It was time to head on a jeep to the northern Archipelago of San Blas Islands, owned and administered by one of the most autocratic tribes in the world: the Kuna people. Until about 10 years ago, their trading currency was still the coconut! The chief fixed the price yearly and anyone caught trading in coconuts at another price was severely punished. After witnessing the changing world, and the effects that development has on areas, the Kuna passed a ruling which does not allow foreigners to own any islands. The islands are thus still very rustic.

We arrived early at the small dug-out canoe port and headed for our rugby field-sized island of Aguja. This was simply a sight out of a story book - white sand beaches inhabited solely by a few scattered palm trees and surrounded by crystal clear tropical waters. We stayed in a private little coconut leaf rooved, sand floored cabina. Our five days spent here we used to peruse the other mini-islands (there is one for each day of the year: 365), while snorkelling with manta rays and eating crayfish. The photos tell the rest of the story.

How you realise you're staying on a really small island:

1.It takes a 4 minute stroll to circumnavigate the island.
2.When you shit on one side of the island (outhouse), you are sure to come across it later when snorkelling on the other side of the island.
3.You can watch someone die by falling coconut from any point on the island.
4.Your toilet is located on the ooother side of the island from your cabina.
5.A few fish can feed the whole islands' population.

The time flew and paradiso was over as we headed back to skyscrapers and the home of Diable Rojo's in Panama City. A few days later flew to Cartagena, Colombia. Panama was a real treat if the beach vibe is your thing.

Tips

Panama/Costa Rica Border Crossing – don't walk over without getting stamps both sides, its really easy, but about 30min drive towards David there is a passport check especially for tourists.

Bocos del Toro

Getting to Bocos – we caught a taxi to David $24 (btwn 4ppl), then got a mini 16 seater airconditioned bus to Almirante, caught a water taxi to Isla Colon ($4 pp) and another water taxi to Isla Bastimentos ($3pp)
Activities – 2 beaches worth visiting, Wizard and Estrella (Starfish). Wizard is 20min walk otherside of Ilsa Bastimentos, Estrella is a boat ride away ($10 return from Bastimentos). Red Frog beach is so touristy, and easier to see the frogs at Beverlys Hill. Subterranean lake Tour with Migeul from Roots Restaurant on Bastimentos, be prepared to get muddy and wet ($20 p.p + $3 cave entrance)!
Accommo – Beverlys Hill had relaxing accommo but with crazy owners who enjoy their Ron con Coca!

Panama City

Accommo – We stayed in Casco Viejo, and didn't feel unsafe. Hospedaje Casco Viejo has basic but cheap rooms ($15, sleeps 3 ppl). Associated with the hostel is a new still namelss hostel which is great value for money ($15, sleeps 3 ppl, priv basic kitchen and bathroom), the manger Raffa is very nice.
Activities – Panama Viejo is not a must but riding a Diablo Rojo is so Panamanian you have to do it! We enjoyed hiring bikes for a few hours and riding along the Causeway.
Eating – Gancelotment ice cream in Casco Viejo is to die for. Cafe Per Due (Casco Viejo), a little Italian restaurant has great tarts (Amarito mmmm) and yummy pastas at lunch. Coca Cola Cafe has cheap, generally quick Panamanian food, very commons with the locals, the fresh orange juice is a must. We also enjoyed a lunch at the restaurant in fresh fish market, not as cheap as expected but tasty.

San Blas Islands

Transport – we went by private jeep from Panama City ($25 one way) - make sure you specifically enquire about no. of seats - 4 max, on way up we were in a 10 seater and was so uncomfortable and didn't feel safe. We pre-arranged accommo with Isla Aguja, so a boat picked us up on arrival at the port, mud bank, to take us to Aguja.

Accommo and Food – we paid $25 pppn incl food with private accommo in a wooden shelter with double bed, linen, “fresh” water shower and flushing toilet. Pricey for an island community but these Kuna know how to get cash off you. $1 per photo please! We visited quite a few islands and none had as comfortable accommo, generally only hammocks and no fresh water showers, unless paying lots of mula for the best best places.

Isla Aguja Food – generally we had egg, bread and cheap vienna sausage for breakfast, fish and yummy coconut rice for lunch and pretty the same for dinner. Not many veggies or fruit so bring some along from PC. Drinks are not incl and you can't drink the water so best to bring 2L water per person per day.

Things to Bring – snacks, fresh fruit, drinks and bottled water, nutella, loaf of bread ( in case you are hungry, the meals are good but not always filling esp for guys), insect repellant, headlamp, candles. Own snorkelling gear, the snorkelling is a fun activity but not oh my god amazing.

Islands we visited:

Aguja: has a flush loo, although it all goes out to sea anyway, “fresh water” shower, local restaurant, good accomodation, okay snorkelling. AVOID weekends. Half of Panama City arrives here for a weekend stay. The islands population increases from about 5 to 100 people in a few hours! During the week, however, it's a great place to stay at.
Iguana: Better snorkelling, smaller island, pretty. Accomodation and food facilities don't really compare to Aguja.
One Tree: this is the Popeye comic, picture perfect island: one tree and that's all.
Perro: a shipwreck for some better snorkelling.
Diablo: Next to Perro, not very different from others.
Cays Hollandse: Far away but worth the boat ride to snorkel with manta rays and reef sharks. Also able to eat some crayfish for an extra fee.
Cays Limonse: Very pretty scattering of small islands with expensive accomodation. Some large starfish in shallow waters.
Carti: Heavily inhabited by the local population who are very community based. Maybe just a visit to the local museum if you are interested, Spanish may be needed. Or spend a night to better understand the culture.
Calle Limone Oeste: the new “marina” of the San Blas Islands. Some cheap beers here during happy hour in late afternoon. Also some fresh bread and veggies on occasions.
...and one or two others...

Aron Boat Tours – Kuna Yala, Carti Yandusa tel (507) 6740 7535 / 6014 5335 / 6500 8617, kunatours1@hotmail.com. We used Aron for both trips to Perro area and to Hollandse area. He was reasonable and can speak good English.

16 – 22 Febrero

We had an early morning start in Vancouver to fly to Phoenix, complete with American take-out grease hell, hoodies and cowboys. We had a 3hr lay over, so a good way to pass time was to play shithead card game...until shit hit the fan. Our flight check-in time came, (which we left to last minute as shithead is a serious game), and nearly finished with us being denied boarding. We weren't allowed on the flight to Costa Rica because we didnt have a return flight booked out of CR within 3 months. The mad rush started: trying to book a fully refundable ticket back from CR to the States with 5 minutes to spare before our flight departed. Managed to do it (!!) and our adventure to Central America began.

San Jose is...not much. Spent our time wondering around the markets, drinking world class coffee, stuffing our faces with Chorros (oblong caramel filled crunchy doghnut) and watching Latin life march by. This was followed by spending dinner with Cesar: a Peruvian, living in CR, chef trained in France, working in Panama, cooking Italian for us.

Next we were off to volcano land in northern CR to the small town of La Fortuna. The “direct” bus has tons of stops (4.5 hrs=120km) and plenty of thieves! Two guys working in cahoots almost got our daypack with passports, credit cards and cameras. One guy dropped his wallet on my lap...while I tried to pick his stuff up, the other grabbed our bag above our heads and headed for the exit at the back of the bus. LUCKILY for us, a tourist saw what was happening and got our bag away from the thief. Pwew, major close call! Secret pockets are now the way forward.

La Fortuna is beautifully set on the slopes of Volcano Arenal...pity the whole cone is covered with cloud most of the year and seeing the lava is as probable as getting your bag back from a slimey Costa Rican thief. After a morning of torrential tropical downpour the sun showed its face, so we rented bikes and headed for the Catarata Fortuna, a pair of long waterfalls set in black volcanic rock. The “swim” home on our bikes was definitely a different experience - we hit a huge torrential downpour, it rained so hard we couldn't open our eyes and our boots soon became walking swimming pools, what a laugh! A warm up session was in order so we headed to the natural volcanically heated 40 degree C river. What a beaut. Kate's highlight of CR - crystal clean water running down black volcanic rock surrounded by steam and lush green jungle!

Our second day at Arenal was spent jungle trekking to the top of a Cerro Chato crater. A dormant volcano filled with lumo green water. Cool to check out the big leave cutter ants carrying about 20X their body weight for the sake of the colony.

23 Febrero – 6 Marzo

Time to learn some Spanish to make our latin life a little easier. We went to Spanish school in Tamarindo, oops we mean, tamaGRINGO. Pretty Americanised surf town, on the north Pacific coast. On the first day we had a Spanish Test, we didn't do to badly and were able to fill out “nombre”, only. Ha ha, so beginner class for us. We were lucky enough to have class in the morning session for the 2 weeks, so in the afternoons we were able to take advantage of the surf and sun. We had no more than 5 people in our class, so classes were pretty interactive.

We stayed at the school and were fortunate enough to have our own 6 bed flat to ourselves for the 1st week, and the 2nd week we shared with a fun beer loving German couple.

A general day over the 2 weeks was:
- lessons in the morning
- kicking some american but at ping pong during tea break
- surf session at Playa Grande or Witches Rock
- learning to cook a traditional CR meal in cooking class
- chilling at the pool and catching a few afternoon Zzzz's in a hammock
- doing sun salutations and upward dogs in yoga before sundowner drinks over the Pacific
- eating a classic fish braai made by Sebass

Mid-school week night was interupted by a rodeo evening! The Costa Ricans spend two weeks a year doing rodeo during a festival. It was our turn to be Ticos and give it a try. After some liquid courage (cervesas), it was Seb's turn to face the enemy. There were moments when my life flashed by me but it was a bullshit load of fun. The bull never got the better of me, but it was one of the dumbest things I've done, besides asking “how many seconds are there in the board game 30 seconds?”.

On our first weekend 7 of us from the school headed up to Parque National Rincon de la Vieja. What a fun filled day, horse riding, waterfall jumping into light turquoise blue water, white water tubing and ziplining through canyons.

The following weekend we hired a car with a great group of ladies, Seb in heaven, Pennsylvanian Lauren, Dutchie Nina, and Sweitzer Mel. The trip took us down the western Pacific coast to Quepos and Manual Antonio National Parque. Some good laughs were had in on the drive up, with Nina having her first driving lessons on hills – landed up with 30 cars behind us hooting crazy and a friendly CR rattling off in his fastest Spanish giving her some help, little switch in drivers and we were off again.

The best beaches were here: white sand, clear water, islandlets, white faced monkeys, territorial iguanas and just off the beach were a handful of sloths. We were even lucky enough to come across two fighting sloths...try picture it: two 90-year old, geriatric men, blindly swiping at eachother with arms that are weighted down by mid-sized elephants. You can imagine, this took a while but only happens VERY rarely. Oh, by the way, they come down to the ground once a week to use the lavatory. Rather unusual you think...well, they don't want to spread there smell because they cant get away from any predator, so they only get to poo once a week on the ground in a nice neat, unsmelly pile, and then climb out of there.

It was time to say g'bye to our Spanish classmates and head off to Sierpe, the last wild frontier before the Panama border. We broke our bus journey with a surf stop in Dominical. One of the best surfs either of us have had in recent times. Its like Muizies...but with no wetsuites, bigger and faster waves, 10% of the people and NO SHARKS! Awesome. We also met our great new travel buddies: Barabara, the German Swiss Ozzie wannabe and our tocken Dutch pothead, Rutger.

Sierpe is a small small town on the edge of the river Sierpe, where the kids play ball in the street till the wee hours and no one locks their doors. From here we headed by boat to the Parque National de Osa. Low tide was against us on the way out and the river mouth waves were huge...we almost died by capsizing boat. The rest of the day was spent perusing the jungle, checking out the monkeys, super deadly snakes and swimming within meters of crocodiles (okay only one little croc).

Then Costa Rica was all over and we headed with Barbara and Pothead to the Panamanian border where we experienced our first true (mini) earthquake.

Tales of Panama beach hopping to come...

Tips:

San Jose: dont need much time here. Nothing in Cartago.

Beware of bus theft; see above.

La Fortuna

Accommodation: Jerry's cabanas fine, clean rooms, filfthy kitchen ($7p.p private room). Dont stay at Mr Lava Lava's place (Sleep Inn). Sissy Cabanas run by woman so better kept ($10p.p private room).
Eating: Restaurant Nene's (tucked away off the main road) has tasty cheap pasta, and very good fish.
Activities: We did a great short run to a natural swimming pool with a swinging rope. We also enjoyed a bike ride (hired bikes for 3 hours) and rode up to Cateratta La Fortuna – the hill there is crazy steep, but its great on the way down. Cerra Chato is a nice walk mainly through the jungle to a dormant volcanic cone lake – if there are clouds in the sky, take a rain jacket, weather moves in incredibly fast! We didn't do a Lava Tour as the clouds were to low so we figured we wouldn't see the lava anyway, some ppl did and guess what no-one saw lava whilst we were there, don't be conned! Best tip – the free volcanic heated natural 40 C river, we caught a taxi from town to just past Tabacon Spa. You can do a Spa in so many countries, this is a rather unique experience, so do as the locals do and come prepared with beers and snacks.

Tamarindo

Beaches: Playa Conchel, beware the palm flies around the Tamarindo beaches, Playa Flamingo
Spanish lessons: A friend we met later on in the trip had private lessons for 1 hr a day, her conversational Spanish was so much better than ours so we would definitely recommend this option.
Eating: we found tamarindo, CR actually, pretty expensive. The most reasonable meals were at the local soda's, a family run cafe dinner. Normally the meal in order at a soda is a “Casado”. A meat/fish/chicken with fried banana, rice beans and a small salad. Casado also happens to mean marriage, so depending if you are chatting to a man or a woman the description of a Casado meal varies: woman = good wholesome food cooked with the heart, man = eating the same food every day for the rest of your life.

Quepos and Manual Antonio

Beaches: beaches outside park are great but its worth paying the park fee to enjoy the deserted picturesque beaches inside.
Accommodation: Hotel Flor is good value ($35 for private room). It has aircon, pool, b'fast. 5 min from beach and opposite bus stop.
Eating/drinking: sundowners at the Pirate Bar 10 min walk down the road from Hotel Flor - its a must!

Sierpe

Accommodation: Hotel Margareta is clean with simple private rooms ($20). Owner of this hotel is the grandpa of our tour guide, Miguel. Try organise private tour.
Activities: National Parque Osa was okay, but the boat trip to get there is well worth it - the mangrove swamps with suspended route systems are impressive.

26 -29 Jan

Wow the time of trip was upon us. Seb successfully handed in his PHD and we both met in Joburg for our final goodbyes to friends and family.

Dieneke, Toon and Irma [true to form] headed to the Quills for a good bottle of red wine where we joined them after check in for a final South African dinner. And then it was time for … up, up and away – totsiens vriende and familia we are off on a trip of a life time – 2009 surely will be a year to remember.

We landed in Vanvouver [via London] the following afternoon, 36hrs of flying, but with time zone changes the trip appears to have only taken us 14hrs - jet lag bring it on!

We spent the first day on 4th and Barrard hunting for snowboard clothes and a pair of suitable shoes Total hit = Can$690 thanks to shopping! Seb looks like a celeb snowboarder now. Then off to meet Neil and chow some Sushi that looked like it had been treated with nuclear elements (bright orange salmon in Canada), the later styling chicken wings and some beers to catch up with Swart II. Neil showed us the art of peanut peeling and dumping the shells all over the floor. Trashy but brilliant.

Next day, caugh the sky train and almost missed our bus up to Whistler (u know how we are with leaving things to last minute…we are bound to miss some forms of transport in times to come). After crossing many a fjord (an old glacial formed bay), we climbed up into Whistler Village. What a beaute of a place. Heaven for the next 8 days and accommodation not shabby either (hot-tub, fireplace & five mins walk to slopes).

30 Jan – 6 Feb
Time to hit the snow!!! Seb is over dressed…major shedding. A weird temperature phenomenon was happening in Whistler with the temperature at the bottom of the slopes being colder than at the top (temperature inversion), so we were treated to warmer weather. Seb hit beginner lessons while Kate passes begin, collects R200 and moves straight to level 4-5. What a great first day…Seb loves snowboarding but bum a little sore. Kate, at first apprehensive, shows off her moves by the end of the day and lucky enough to have a private instructor, thank you credit crunch.

Neil arrived that night with two mates. Chilled in hot-tub and soothed the muscles. A day of boarding is damn tiring.
Next day was time to do more snowboarding and then meet up with Alex and Dan the Man. We were super fortunate to have come to the same place in Canada and meet up…they were on honeymoon. Lots of beers in front of our private fireplace while catching up with buddies. We went to bed with snow flurries…

…Woke up to 4 cm of new cushioning, so a fun day on the slopes. Super bowl Sunday so we hit some beers and wings.What a retarded sport…they should learn some real contact sports back in SA. Afterwards we watched some freak skiers jumping through hoops of fire on the slopes doing some wicked 720’s. Great way to end another day on the slopes.

Neil was due to leave (big maths exam the next day) but there was a 20 cm snow dump over night…so there was no ways he was giving that up and the three of us hit the slopes! Again! Went on Blackcomb - Seb was so bleak after having to ride road tracks and fall on his ass again…and again. So took the brand new Peak2Peak gondola (world’s highest and longest gondola linking Whistler to Blackcomb…insane stuff).

Then a day off. Crazy day of tubing down black slopes with Al and Dan. What a laugh (check out the video clip in our video gallery and listed out for Seb’s girl scream). Then Spaghetti Factory for dinner - a gem of place.

Next couple of days was riding with Al and Dan exploring some new awesome routes. So much ground designed for pure fun!!

Suddenly it was over and time to head back to Vancouver and see Neil for a night out on the town with some of his roomies. The SWARTSKAAPS unite! Nice pad he has sorted out. Almost beat up some Canadians after they called us ‘witkaffirs’ because they thought they were funny.

7 – 14 Feb
We found ourselves flying in 1st class to Calgary. Wondering why? Alex and Dan shared a great tip with us – airline upgrades being one of the perks for honeymooners! On the 7 Feb, we officially pretended to be engaged in order to get some perks while flying. No bling on Kate’s left hand though. So she was forced to hide her hand in her mitten the whole flight. Naughty naughty but very worth it. It will be attempted from now on.

After flying over a massive expanse of Rocky Mountains, we landed in the prairies of Calgary and were welcomed by Claire and Pat and their car which wouldn't start, due to a flat battery...or so we thought. After attempting to unsuccessfully jump start the car for half and hour we opted to catch an expensive taxi. When in the nick of time we realised the automatic was left in PARK!Dumbasses, but we still love you.

That night we took advantage of yum Canadian salmon that Pat cooked up over some vino rouge. Here’s a little recipe for you to try at home –
Sear Salmon in HOT pan with half a cup of maple syrup and half a cup of soya sauce thrown over. Add some lemon juice and a bit of spice… et voila…c’est le poisson de Canadiane.

Next day, Pat had finally learnt to drive an automatic and we headed out to the mighty Banff Resort in the Rockies. After the stretch of absolute flatness, which Pat describes as "where you are able to see a dog running for 4 days", we arrived in the jaggered heaven. The girls weren't to happy about the pubic ridden, blood stained sheets, so after manic linnen changing at 2am, we received our complimentary 5 course meal at the resort to offset the inconvenience. Alberta steak and lobster are yum.

Missioned to Kicking Horse Ski Hill for some whiplashing boarding. Yes, Kate and Seb collided bad, followed by Seb landing hard on his cocksix, which spelt the end of a days riding. Was a great day with Claire and Pat exploring Alberta. Next day was an attempt at Lake Louise Ski Hill. Great place for skiing but there just wasn't enough fresh snow around, which meant for more bum breaking landings, unless your a pro like Pat! So, we abandoned the slopes and headed for Caesars, beers and wings- Claire the veggie, too had wings.

Still cold with no snow, so we decided to save some ski pass cash and head for a cross-country ski across the frozen Lake Louise. Landed up having a frosty lunch under a frozen waterfall and dodging the falling ice from the ice climbers. What a cool bumb slide all the way down. And of course a stay in the mountains wasn't complete without building the sexiest snowman.

Then it was time to head back to Calgary and spend Valentines Day skating an outdoor pond/river with Claire and Pat...Yuk, how couply. However, Pat is quite the figure skater. He has the ballerina twirls and whirls down!

Sad fairwell to our awesome hosts, Claire and Pat and then we found ourselves back in Vancouver gluttening on as many chicken wings as we could get our hands on.

Hi Friends and Family

After Kate's 2008 year abroad in Dublin and London, and Seb's PhD achievements our Round the World Trip is just around the corner. Below is a little idea of where we are planning on traveling and a bit about what we are going to be getting up to. This is more of an introductory blog, and we will publish additional blogs on a regular basis on trips/hikes/countries which hold memories for us which we want to be able to share.

27 Jan - 15 Feb 2009 - Snowboarding in Canada
We initially thought that a working ski season in the States could be fun - such a good way to have loads of snow time. But unfortunately the green mamba let us down, and Kate was not able to organise a USA work permit without a huge mission. So we have opted to spoil ourselves with a 2 week snowboarding holiday in Canada.

Why Canada? We have 2 good friends living there - Neil Swart in Vancouver and Claire Tacon in Calgary. We plan to spend 2 days in Vancouver doing a little all essential snowboard gear shopping. Then head up to Whistler for 8 days of powder bliss, where Neil will join us for as many days as Varsity will allow. Seb has never snowboarded so we have opted to book both of us in for 5 days of lessons, hopefully this will help get Seb off the ground and help Kate jog her snowboarding memory. We are then flying to Calgary where Claire and her boyfriend Pat will join us for a week riding in Banff.

16 Feb 2009 - mid March/April - Costa Rica
So many people have said to us that if you are doing a lengthy trip in South America - take a Spanish course. So that is just what we are going to do! We are planning on spending 2-4 weeks learning Spanish and having surfing lessons along the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.

After this we are not quite sure, but know that we would like to keep the itinerary as open as possible so we can take advantage of fun, adventurous and off the beaten track opportunities as they arise. What we do know is that we would like to travel overland/sea through the below mentioned countries in Central and South America. Below are estimated dates when we are likely to be in certain countries - but honestly nothing is fixed and are likely to change.

If anyone is interested in maybe meeting up during our travels please let us know and hopefully we can have a Mojito along the way together!

April 2009 - Panama/Colombia
May 2009 - Colombia/Ecuador/Galapagos Islands
June 2009 - Peru/Bolivia
July 2009 - Bolivia/Chile
Aug 2009 - Chile

Shuwee, so that will be 6 months of traveling from Central America through to Santiago in Chile, and more than likely roughing it in mozzie ridden backpackers, eating exotic foods and hightailing it through crazy cities and jungle paths.

We thought a much deserved break from the roughing it would be in order, so after South America we are planning on heading to Sydney. Neither of us has traveled to Oz in recent years so we are really looking forward to catching up with Mike, Sharon and Jess.

But too much luxury - a couch and TV remote, no bed bugs and non-diarrhea prone food - might lead us to stay too long in the city down under and we definitely don't want to be tempted mid travels. Late August should see us packing our bags and catching a flight for the last 2 sections of our travel:

August/September 2009 - Malaysia/Borneo
September/October 2009 - India

It would be great if you'd keep in touch with us during the trip and send us any new news from home. Read our blog/view the photos when you have a second to see what we have been up to most recently.

Luv Kate and Seb

Planning the Trip: What we have learned

We are also wanting to use our travel blog as an online journal. The section below is things we have learnt in the planning of the trip and which may one day come in handy for others.

Airtickets

Wow what a mission it was getting a Round the World ticket sorted. Firstly, to understand the rules and restrictions of the RWT and secondly, to find a travel agent with the appropriate expertise.

We started off using STA and Flight Centre. Flight Centre was very poor with communication and after a number of attempts to work with them we called it a day. STA was a lot more efficient in corresponding, but we were unlucky and we initially started working with a travel agent who had very limited knowledge on RWT - a big mistake. After 2 months with this lady, shit hit the fan and we finally got in touch with an excellent travel agent from STA who has years of experience in the travel industry. This worked out and I'll definitely use Johan as my prefered travel agent for any future trips.

Visas

Seb has been really lucky as he has an EU passport so the number of visa's which he has had to apply for are very limited. Kate on the other hand is stuck with the Green Mamba and has had to apply for a number of Visa's.

Canada - Yes, but the process was relatively easy.
USA - Yes, as we are in transit, so many friends have made the mistake of not having a transit visa for the States and have had to forfeit their flights.
Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile - No, Saffa's don't need a visa
Panama - Yes, an expensive visa and a lengthy process as the visa is issued by the embassy in Panama. Friendly consulate though.
Bolivia - Yes, we need a visa but can apply for this on entry to the country
Aus - Yes, relatively easy through VFS, Kate's still hasn't been issued so still holding thumbs
Malaysia - No
India - Yes, but only issue visas for 6 month periods so have to apply later on in the year. We can apply from an Indian embassy not in SA

Vaccinations

Okay, so maybe Kate has been a little bit paranoid, but the idea of a "Rabid Flying Snake" * freaks her out a little.

The below vaccinations which we received are recommendations, rather than a requirement:
Hep A, Hep B, DTP, Typhoid, Rabies (not a vaccination but buys one time to get to a hospital and get the appropriate treatment).

Yellow Fever - legal requirement to enter Panama

Malaria - We also have to be on malaria muty for 5-6 months as Central and South America as well as Malaysia and India are rampid with those dam flying creatures.

• We have read that flying snakes do exist in Borneo, but a snake that is rabid, probably not technically correct ;-)