GETUPANDGLOBE

Sailing seems so relaxing and romantic to the lot of people who have not otherwise engaged in this sport... well, it seemed that way to us! Having never sailed before we thought the idea of sailing through the San Blas Islands en route to Colombia from Panama was sure to be a relaxing adventure... and for the most part, it was!
As we explained before, there is no overland route from Panama to Colombia, leaving travelers with 2 options: Fly or sail. Sailing seems to be the most popular amongst our sort of traveler for obvious reasons.. it's freaking wicked! he he he.

We feel really fortunate that we had the Sacanagem and Captain Frederico (and sailing school apprentice, Armando). With few options to choose from with respect to boats leaving/arriving on desired dates and a complete lack of information from anyone/website/hostel etc. we settled on the Sacanagem. Lucky for us our Captain turned out not too be a drunken/high mess (such like the horror stories you read about). Fredercio actually has spent more time on water than he has on land.. he has done this particular trip over 300 times in 6 years and was in the French Navy giving him a tonne of experience both behind the "sail"/wheel and in the field of navigation (sans GPS, if necessary). We were also lucky that we had a good bunch of people aboard our boat - 3 crazy Aussies (Kate, Lexy, Frenchie), a Belgian (Benedict), a fellow Canuck (Jordan), and lest we forget the cutest sailing, rat-style dog ever, Raina.
The first 4 days consisted of not much more than reading, sleeping, swimming, chatting and lounging amongst some of the most beautiful islands, San Blas. The local population, the Kuna people, are quite an interesting culture. Despite few tourists coming and going from San Blas (and cocaine washing up on their many shores from Colombia (really!)), Kuna culture seems to be largely in tact; they speak their native tongue (not Spanish) and some even remain on their islands their entire lives, having no opportunity to see a city, a McDonalds or a movie. The islands themselves have literally nothing on them, so it is not as glamorous as one would assume...
Anyhow, after a few days of straight lounging we hit the high seas. This literally means we saw nothing but water (no ships, no land, nothing!) for 2 full days (and 1 night). We were lucky the weather was cooperative - for the most part - as it would be quite an unnerving experience otherwise. In fact, it was still quite the challenge to pass the time when you are trying to be safe on the boat as well as avoid sea sickness (which, luckily, everyone did).
Alas, after many, many hours we sailed into Cartagena, Colombia at about 9 PM on Dotes' birthday! Though no alcohol is permitted on the boat for the 2 days on high seas (thankfully, as it has the potential to be very,very dangerous), and therefore we were unable to toast my beautiful boyfriend's 25th year, we finish an epic sailing journey from one continent to another - quite a spectacular way to spend a birthday, eh?!

Once we made it to land and settled into our hostel we did try to have a toast but all of us had reverse sea sickness.. this is when you get off a boat you have been on for 6 days and still feel the motions of the ocean.. not too pleasant! Thus, we decided to wait for Sean and Kaitlin to arrive to celebrate Dotes' quarter century!

Sacanagem

Lauren jumping ship!

Lexy, Frenchie and Lauren attempting to row to an island with uneven oars

beauty island

panoramic of one cute, surprisingly populated (with about 5 people) islands

sunset aboard the sacanagem

As, again, it has been some weeks ago now, we'll surely not have an in depth account of our time in Panama and our 6 day sail from Central to South America.. but we will do our best to provide the high/low lights:

SO after another hellish bus ride and loooong boarder crossing from Nicaragua to Costa Rica, we spent the night in San Jose where Lauren forced Dotes to go see the new Twilight! Following a night at the movies and a short, unfulfilling sleep (something of a headline on this journey) and yet another bus ride (!) we reached the Costa Rican/Panama boarder where we carefully walked across a ramshackled bridge only backpackers and locals really use.

We spent roughly 4 days in Bocas Del Toro which was a semi-let-down in that it poured rain everyday and we weren't able to get out and see the beautiful beaches alleged to be around the area. It was pretty annoying because it was a bit of a pain to get there.. Oh well, can't win them all!
We did however get to meet up with our crazy Aussie friend Rob. We went out one night a bar on the water that has swings to jump into the warm ocean.. very fun, even in a dress!

After a few days of biking around and charging our batteries on the roof top terrace of the hostel, we made our way SLOWLY but surely on many frigid cold, uncomfortable buses to Panama City.

Panama City is big and very developed - a lot more than we assumed. It;s got a pretty skyline and the old city it very nice. The old city was rebuilt after pirate Captain Morgan (yes, the rum is named after this famous pirate!) burned down the entire city in 1671! Panama did not feel unsafe whatsoever, unless you accidentally wander into the "Red Zone" (which we accidentally did!). A few Panama pics:

Panama is also home to the Panama Canal (duuuh!). Though it is a truely amazing feat of engieneering and pretty coolto say we've seen it, we must admit it was sort of like watching paint dry! Simply because you have to wait for the HUGE ships to come in, the water to flow, the gate to open and the boat to more forward. It was neat to hear where the boats were coming from and heading to (ex. from France to Singapore) and it was especially neat to notice that many giant cargo ships are constructed to the exact specifications of the Canal, and therefore only have a mere 12 INCHES of clearance on each side! Pretty unreal.. Here are a few pics of the Canal:

Our time in Panama ended with many trips to the mall and a (seemingly neverending) search for a sailboat we trust enough with our lives but that'll be another post!

Well, we must admit, we owe ya'll (provided anyone is actually following/reading this bloggy blog?) yet another apology on account of the lack of posts. It's not that we are terribly busy in the same ways we are back home with work etc., but we are busy in a new way. Now-a-days it's all about catching buses, bussing for (what seems like) forever, finding accomodations (cheap and good ones involves a certain amount of walking around in the heat with backpacks), finding food, sleeping.... not to mention the "making most of your days" wih the bicycling, swimming, walking around. So what we are trying to say is while we don't have traditionally busy schedules, there is a certain amount of work involved in our traveling, resulting in a lack of time to make beautiful posts! Anywho - I think we could go on and on about the "work" behind traveling as it has been something of a headline in the recent weeks... as some of you are aware we have a deadline to meet that involves meeting Sean (Brendan/Dotes' brother) and his girlfriend in Colombia on the 10th of December. Thus, we've been racing down Central America..
At the moment we are in quite the crunch due to what is referrred to as "The Darien Gap". This is a stretch of land between Panama and Colombia some 150km that has no overland access.. no roads! Simply vast jungle littered with deadly animals, drug traffickers, guerilla fighters and (let's face it) a whole lot of machetes and guns. This has left us with 2 options: sail or fly. The sailing is what most travelers do, as you get to see the famous San Blas Islands along the way...
We have yet to sort out the solution entirely, but where there is a will there is a way!

OK - onto the stuff we've been doing since Guatemala, which was over 3 weeks and 3 countries ago.. ready for the Cole's notes highlights/lowlights?

So after deciding that we did not have enough time to get to Honduras (and not wanting to die - recently upgraded to the most dangerous country in the world including Afghanistan and Iraq) we set off to El Salvador, which, according to the US travel warning, is pretty, pretty dangerous as well (e.g. shootouts, murders, kidknapping). Having been there (to the safe areas) we would opt for the contrary. We arrived in San Salvador in a neighbourhood that was close to a massive mall and a strip of Wendys, KFCs, Burger Kings etc. We expected San Salvador to be a little edgier but I guess we ended up in the nicest part of town. We spent the day shopping and eating western food, it was a nice break from beans and rice. We triedto shop, but believe it or not, the malls were too expensive! This was shocking since we always pictured El Salvador to be.. well... poor, or at least poorer than it was. People are doing pretty well in El Sal, and their currency is USD, so not too cheap. The next day we noticed flyers for a death metal concert so we decided to check it out, probably not the best of ideas, but we thought nothing of it. When we showed up everyone was wearing black from head to toe and half of them had white make up on their faces with black streaks across. We stood out but a lot of people gave us the thumbs up or devil horns and appreciated some gringos checking out their scene. It was a cool experience.
After San Salvador we took a bus ride to the coastal surf town of El Tunco where we scored a little cabana with a pool in front of it for 15US a night. We decided after watching a 2 minute youtube clip that we were ready to tackle the waves ourselves so we rented boards and hit the ocean. After an hour of rolling around and getting smoked by massive waves we called it quits. The next day we took a one hour lesson from two Salvadorian surfers who didnt speak English. By the end of the hour we were both constitently catching waves and standing up. The water was intimidating and the waves world renound, so we were pretty proud of ourselves (plus, it has made it super easy on actual beginner waves!).

Other El Sal. highlights:
- Street burgers (phenom!)
- Chicken buses (local transportation)
- Random pick-up truck taxi/hitchhiking (VERY common = safe) 80 over the speedlimit
- Fishmarket in La Liberta

Following El Sal. and a HUGE bus ride through 2 boards (El Sal./Honduras - Honduras/Nicaragua) we arrived in Managua, Nicaragua at 1:30 AM, only to find a DUMP to sleep in. The "hostel" (wouldn't even give it that much credit to call it a hostel) was so nasty we wouldnt not even shower (because we would surely emerge dirtier) or sleep under the sheets - we woke up at 6AM that day to get the hell out!

Managua is not a nice place, bottom line! Felt sketchy and unsafe. Walking around as tall white people, locals just see $$. Luckily Granada, a beautiful colonial town, was only 1 hour away.

Arriving in Granada we found a huge hostel with a pool and a massive kitchen for dirt cheap. We met some Canadians there and went out on the town and drank some bottles of Flora De Cana which is fancy Nicaraguan rum that it is close to the same price as water there. After hanging out in Granada for a few days we got tired out of the city and took a bus and boat to Ometepe, an island that consists of two massive volcanoes joined at the bottom. There we stayed in a funky tree house and biked around the island. It was a relaxing getaway. After that we took another ferry and a taxi to San Juan Del Sur, a tiny fishing/surfing village close to the Costa Rican border. One of our favorite places to date, we were supposed to spend only 1 day there, and ended up there for 4..

We spent one day surfing which proved to be much more succesful that in El Savador, due to the lack of white caps and undertow. We also spent a day at a fancy resort that you have to buy a beer to hang out in all day. It was a nice retreat. Here we hung out with 4 fellow Canadians, a Spanish girl, an American (Hawaii) and a Dutch guy.. good times in San Juan, we were sad to have to leave!


BUT, so the story goes and off to Panama we went...

Hola!
First, let us apologize for the inconsistent (or non-existent) posts… the truth is we had written a massive update about a week ago which is now floating in internet space somewhere.
We have done so much since our last post... regrettably we feel inclined to give the Cole’s Notes version of the last 2 (ish) weeks.

San Pedro La Laguna:
We departed from Antigua en route to San Pedro La Laguna in a van stuffed with 15 people and most likely one of the grossest human beings we will have the pleasure of encountering this trip… we will do you a favour and spare you the particulars, but the following key points should suffice in drawing up an image for you to consider: ~40 yrs old, greasy, wet, balding greasy wet hair under a hippie touque (it’s freaking HOT, WHY does one feel inclined to wear a touque?), open cold sores on lips and forehead claimed to be a manifestation of a breakup from a year ago, eating cloves of garlic in the stuffed mini-van, refused to open window, “healer”, “energy reading”, “PhD in metaphysics concentrating on twin flames” (YEAH.. OOOOK) hippie. Phew! We feel better now. On to the good stuff!

After a 5 hour journey we arrived in San Pedro, a beautiful, tiny little town on Lake Atitlan that is situated approx. a mile above sea level and is surrounded by a multitude of volcanos. Here we couped up for a week enjoying the view from our hammock on the balcony.
We took Spanish classes everyday with Walter, a Mayan chap from a nearby town.

We had a few information sessions after class on the Mayan calendar (for you 2012 believers, fear not!) and our Mayan birthday “horoscope” type readings from an older Mayan man who doesn’t speak a lick of English.
We ventured into the center of town a couple nights (for some more authentically Guatemalan experiences) where we saw the aftermath of a rather controversial presidential election and some local basketball games.

One night, we bought a few big bags of candy and brought them to the square where we were bombarded by kids, teenagers and elders alike for piece – it was a pleasant experience!
On our last day in San Pedro we went horseback riding to a local coffee and avocado farm (more of a coffee garden with a giant avocado tree) and small beach with a beauty view of the lake (and some locals bathing in it, including our tour guide who stopped for a shower!).
Though we had a great time at the lake, we had to get on the go, as we are counting down the days we have to get to Colombia for Mafe’s wedding party.
On Friday we made our way, slowly but surely, back to Antigua for the night where we enjoyed some of Wayne’s jazz and a neat ‘hole-in –the-wall’ bar called “Café No Se”.

Sad to leave the lakeside but excited for new adventures outside of Guatemala City... it is gross in the center! (see photo!)

Surely there is more to be said about such a beautiful country, but you know how it is.. up and onward!

We truely love this city! It sort of reminds us of what we THOUGHT a small European village might look like: cobblestone streets, only 2-3 storey buildings with red terracotta roofs, many run down, unrestored, ceiling-less old churches and each store/restaurant (from McDonalds to the local convenience store) looks the same from the exterior as they are all original buildings. We should add that the whole city is surrounded by active volcanos covered in lush jungle flora! Each morning and through the day the clouds cover just the apex of the taller volcanos, it is very picturesque. There are a tonnes of ex-patriots and young American/Canadian/English/Irish living and working in this city and both of us have said we could defintely do the same as it boasts just the right amount of Guatemalan cultural and reminders of the Western world..
So yesterday we resolved to do something active. We rented a couple bicycles and went for a 4 hour ride across the city 2 times on our way to visit the neighbouring city of St. Felipe de Jesus where we took a quick ride though a well established coffee farm (needlesstosay the coffee in Guatemala is amazing!), a local market and ate lunch at a local (and likely rather questionable) "restaurant". On our way back through the city checked out the famous (not sure why) "arches" and the central park which is obviously quite happening. We biked all the way to the other side of the city in hopes of reaching the "Pilars" which are allegedly a few naturally filled super cold pools. After 4 hours of biking (almost all up hill en route to said pools) we were excited to hop in, but abonded the idea when we realized we had to pay money and the complex didn't look too appealing from the outside.
Later in the night we decided to treat ourselves to a little taste of home at a place called Monoloco where it was WING NIGHT. Man, were they delicious! To top it off, the Vancouver game was on the big screen! Here we met an American named Wayne. Wayne is 58 but doesn't look (or act) a day over 40-45. Incredibly nice man who is a Jazz musician in Brooklyn when he isn't vacationing with his wife here in Antigua where they own a home and where Wayne also plays shows. Wayne invited Brendan to play bass with him next friday at a show here in Antigua... if we are back in time, should be interesting! We checked out Waynes condo about 5 minutes outside the city - very beautiful place and went for a few drinks following this before calling it a night.

Today we are off to Lake Atitlan to a town called San Pedro de Languna where we plan on taking a week of Spanish classes. We love Antigua but we will be back after the lake on our way to El Salvador.

Oh - there is Presidential elections going on this weekend. We were talking to a local restaurant owner about the politics here a little and as you might imagine the situation is pretty volitile. As he put it, both Presidential candidates are awful and many people find it hard to vote as it is simply a matter of voting for the lesser of 2 evils. In light of the election, you cannot buy alcohol all weekend in the whole of Guatemala and travelers are advised not to travel on Sunday (election day). Should be an interesting weekend, though probably nothing spectacular way up at the lake..

PS - will post more pictures when we get to a place with faster internet.. this is deadly!

So we are now in Antigua. But before we got here we woke up on Nov. 1st (Day of the Dead and our 4 year anniversary) at 4:00 AM to go to Tikal a massive ancient Mayan City that is still in the process of being excavated. It was a pretty interesting tour and we got to see a tarantula, a deadly poisonous snake(which some idiot on our tour kept poking with a stick, and the snake can jump 3 feet high), spider monkeys, a weird racoon-like creature and of course, the ruins themselves. We had a good time but waking up at 4 AM for a 4:30 tour was absolutely ridiculous, especially because we then took a 9 hour bus ride to Antigua that night after having no bed to rest in during the day..

Once we arrived in Antigua at 7 AM with little sleep we were taken by the manager of the hostel to the local market to eat a traditional breakfast of pork, eggs, tortillias, refried beans and coffee. While eating our breakfast we witnessed a tourist police officer chase a weird looking kid down and then punch him the face and kick him - reminding us why we don't steal! After breakfest we toured around Antigua and found it to be much more pleasant and quaint then one would expect after seeing what we saw during breakfast and during our 6 am arrival in Guatemala City.

It has begun, though you may not have known it since we are only starting our travel posts now, on day 11.

We could say this adventure began in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico on October 20th, but it really began many, many months ago when we decided to travel through Central and South America. I must say we are quite proud to have followed through on such a seemingly improbable (and expensive) goal to see said Americas, despite requiring to quit our jobs, sell our car (sad face) and remain "homeless" in a sense - yet, here we are, in Flores, Guatemala...

The literal beginning to our trip brought us to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. We weren't sure what to expect and only planned to stay overnight on our way to Tulum, but Playa turned out to be a lively town with an incredible beach and 25 peso 6 packs of beer (roughly $2, yipee!). So close to Cancun but pales in comparision with respect to size, number of resorts and prices. Though tourist-y, Playa is place we both recommend for travelers of all sorts, from our parents to friends as it can be classy or cheap, all depending on what you are lookin for.
When we arrived at Hostel Playa we immediately met and really connected with a group of friends. Each of us would later refer to each other as our little Mexican family and we became inseperateable (for 5 days). A silly but genuine Australian (with a probable gas problem), Rob, quite possibly one of the nicest people we may come across (with the best curls ever!), Dean, hilarious Oxford educated English girl, Liv, her friend funny Rugby marketing specialist, Jess and seemingly sweet but a true Irish firecracker, Alice. Together we partied in Playa, played a lot of "bat 'n ball" (paddle board, a game where there is no real winner except the bat 'n ball itself), lounged on the beaches, and went out to the island of Cozumel. There we rented scooters and a Jeep Wrangler to find an impeccable and uninhabited beach with perfectly clear water and wave all for us! It was such a great start to the trip until Hurricane Rina most literally torrentially rained on our parade, our top-down jeep and scooter parade... Luckily we were able to hope the ferry off Cozumel, otherwise we risked being stuck on the island for days with no power.

Alas it came time when forced us to leave the family and seek refuge down the southern coast which was originally forecast to be hit by Rina, but was evidently not. We were really sad to leave as, like we said, we really had such a good time with everyone - but so the story goes. We hopped a 4 hour bus down to Chetumal where we walked across the Mexico/Belize boarder. We made our way to the Belizian boarder town of Corozal. It was a really cute but a quite place. We were astonished by the amount of Chinese stores, yet enjoyed some of of the cheap chinese food. Longing for the beach again, we promptly made our way out to Caye Caulker. This was a relatively painless travel leg, as we found a $25, 15 minute flight to the islands.

Caye Caulker is known as the "backpackers" island, as is it quite small and out of the way. Yumas House, the hostel we stayed at, was really awesome - everything one expects of a good hostel (clean, super colourful, hostel doggy, overall feel-good ambiance). For a few days we laid on the beach/broken down concrete docks that Caye Caulker is known for and soaked up the sun (Dotes a little too much), enjoyed some Belikins (local beer) and supported the local "shrimp sticks" man. The island was evacuated for Rina, but was beginning to come back to life as we arrived. Belize isn't neccessarily a budget friendly place, and in our search for cheaper food we stumbled upon Panda's Chinese food.. Here were served the world's best and largest schnitzel-like chicken burgers 'n fries by THE happiest chinese lady anyone will ever meet (who didn't speak a lick a English, yet perfect Creole?!). We also met a few English soldiers who shared a little about Belize City (a place too dangerous for tourists to kick around and so we completely avoided).. they said that during their 2 night stay they were more scared than their 7 months in Afghanistan...!

Since Rina decided to downgrade to a Tropical Depression, yet re-route to Belize, we took off today on a 1 hr ferry and 5 hour bus ride across the boarder into Flores Guatemala... This town is rather quiet but nice. This afternoon we were playing a game of Chess (Winner: LAUREN) when a parade of about a hundred people came by waving banners in support of the right-wing "Patriot Party". Though not here long enough to make any real conclusions, people seem friendly and the price is definitely right!

Suffice it to say it's been a jam-packed 11 days, but we doing what we love and loving what we do!