Diving with Sharks

After the cavern dive, we hung around in Tulum enjoying the beach, doing a salsa lesson, eating some great sea food and so on. From here we were heading out to Cozumel, one of the best dive locations in the world according to Jacques Coustea the legendary french documentary filmmaker. We were too close not to be tempted.

We woke early, took a collectivo to Playa de Carmen, jumped on a ferry and were in Cozumel by 9am, and at the dive shop by 10. We checked out our equipment, set it all up, and were headed out on our dive boat by 10.30.

It was a very different dive from the few we had done before. The current was strong and so we drifted along doing very little swimming. Anu had a problem equalising while because of the drift the rest of us were drifting away from our guide,  so Nu had to abort her dive. It must have been a heartbreaking hour for her on the boat!

Anyway, we continued drifting until we reached the reef. The reed wasn't quite as abundant or alive as the ones in Roatan but it wa still quite beautiful. We did a swim thorugh which was amazing. To be in a tunnel of coral is quite some visual experience. We came out of the tunnel and traight into a shark! Took my breath away. She was about 2.5m long, grey and very ominous looking. A few minutes later as we swam with her we spotted another shark, but this one was a baby. Beautiful, the way they cut through the water lazily , slmost seeming like they were aware that they were special! We saw a barracuda, an electric sting ray , many groupers including a black grouper, lobsters, and a bunch of other beautiful fish.

When we came back,some other told us they had seen a turtle. I've been dying to swim with a sea turtle, maybe a little too much, and as is with wanting something too much, I've missed every turtle that others have spotted.

Our second dive was less spectacular than the first in terms of the quality of the reef or the under water life we saw but it was great that Nu managed to equalise and do the dive with us this time.

That night we stayed in Cozumel. Cozumel, playa de Carmen, and Cancun are all places I would normally give a miss if not for the diving. They are too touristic, have no local flavour to the point where the local currency is the US dollar, expensive, and far too loud and noisy to be relaxed.  Actually the Yucatan peninsula was far too touristic for my liking. Sure it is beautiful but sometimes tha is just not enough.  I did enjoy the food, the sights, and the diving was exciting but selfishly I wish it had more travellers and less holiday makers.

The Chiapas and Tobasco were also touristiic but continued to retain its local flavour, which was really nice.

A quick stopover in Cancun, and we flew out to Mexico city, the last stop on our Latin American sojourn. It is difficult to describe how I was feeling at this point, and it only got more confusing as each day passed, but I'll try and put that into words in another post.

Cavern Diving

We thought long and hard about diving in the Cenotes beacuse (1) we are really inexperienced, (2) have never dived in sweet water where the bouyancy can be tough to maintain, (3) Anu's ears which were not doing too well after our last outing, and the general fear of being in caverns where the exit would not be visible as we enter the tunnels. We hadn't really thought about it until one of the dive shops mentioned it, but being inexperienced we could be a danger to the formations in the cavern, and that we definitely did not want to be.

We researched hard, met a bunch of dive shops, and finally decided to do the dive, and do it with Paolo who ran his little dive shop from our hostel. We were a bit worried about the quality of his equipment but felt that it would be far more personal doing the dive with him than with a big shop. It also helped that he was always around the hostel so we could keep going back to him with our questions. He has a nice calm temperament which was key to us. With Paolo, we could go to the Cenotes after all the tours had finished their dives which meant we had the cenote just to ourselves.
Early in the day we checked our equipment. Yannick had a tough time finding gear that fit him but finally we managed. The water is cold so we had to get 2 wet suits each. We drove out to Dos Ojos around 2 pm in the afternoon. The first sight of the cavern is stunning. The cave is like an open mouth. The water is aquamarine and transperant. It is inviting although cold. We jumped in and it took a little while to figure out what weight we needed as we were wearing 2 wet suits each and were in sweet water. Finally we were set to submerge. I was a little worried about Nu's ears so seeing her get comfortable was comforting. Yannick is like a pro. He really is a fish so no worries there.

We began to explore the cave following a line called the barbie line. No idea why, but at one point they have a croc trying to eat a barbie doll strung on the line!

Finding our bouyancy was a bit tricky but once we had worked it out, the diving was easy. The formations were stunning and because the water is so calm and transperant I felt I was kind of hung in space. The tunnels can get dark and even though we were carrying torches it can still be intimidating. Exiting a tunnel, we were suddenly faced with a cavern where the light was bursting through. It was ethereal! The formations were glowing in a blue green hue, and the light played with them creating some amazing effects on the bottom.

The dive was quite long and so we did not have much time for the 2nd dive. It was a short dive where we surfaced in a Bat cave. I'm not a big fan of bats especially when they huddle together like a mass of bodies. They remind of rats, who I don't particularly fancy.

The dives were great! I think all 3 of us prefer reefs over the subterreanean dives but its definitely an experience we'll all cherish.

TULUM

We got into Tulum and went straight to the hostel that friends had recommended. Lobo Inn was really basic, but Tulum is expensive because of the large number of American tourists here, so even though it wasn't the best, we took the room. The room was large but on stilts which means the room is not very stable. Everytime a semi trundles down the highway our room shakes like it is in the midst of an earthquake. Not  a huge shudder but a mild tremor. The first time it happened, I thought we were in the middle of an earthquake ! I guess its a bit like a tree house.  The best part of this hostel is that they give you free bicycles.

We took the bikes and headed to beach straight away. The water looked beautiful, crystal clear, aguamarine, and set against the white sands with coconut palms, it makes a pretty picture. Enroute we saw a dead snake on the road. It has been run over. Huge Iguanas were everywhere along with beautiful blue birds. This stretch looked really inviting and we began to wonder if we should change hostels but then decided against it, as it was super touristy and expensive. Taking these decision and wondering if we made the right choice have been really painful, one of the things I won't miss about traveling, once we get back.

We found some good food in the village and figured that we could base ourselves in Tulum to explore the area instead of moving around with our bags. We ended up staying here for a week.
The ruins in Tulum are small but are located on the beach which is a nice change from the other ruinas. You can see the principle ruin from the beach. Its nice but like I had said earlier we were all ruined out so did not go in to explore.

Around Tulum are hundreds of cenotes. Basically caves with subterreanean water bodies. These caves are filled with beautiful formations of stalactite and stalacmites. Generally there is an opening to the sky and from there the cavern makes its way underground into other interconnecting caverns. The light shining through the cavern openings makes the entire place look ethereal.

We chose to dive in Dos Ojos, the largest of these cenotes.  I'll write about the dive itself later.

Tulum was fun. We met a really fun German foursome and hung out with them for a couple of days. Hanging out meant we went for a free slasa lesson on the beach, drank a lot of beer, ate some great tacos and tortas, and laughed a lot. Joachen, Maria, Peter and Anna were fun. We also met a French mother daughter,  Aurelie and Nykita, who want to move to India, an Argentinian couple trying find a place they want to call home, a panamanian traveller, and many others. Its been relaxed, and fun.

CHI CHI

Chichen Itza is a wonder of the world and so like it or not, since we were this close we had to visit. Friends of ours who had been there a few weeks earlier gave us the best advice we recieved, and that was to get there really early before the tours from Cancun descend. We left Merida on the 6.30 am bus, and go to Chichen around 8.15. We were amongst the first visitors, probably the most important factor in making the experience enjoyable.

The park is very well thought out, from a traveler point of view. They have free baggage storage for our back packs and a bus ticket vendor on site, so we did not need a hostel and could leave for our next destination as soon as we were done visiting the ruins.

The ruins are impressive. The main pyramid, El Castillo,  is first on view. It is huge (25m tall) suberbly restored on two sides while left unrestored on the other two giving us an understanding of what it might have looked like when they found it. A total of 365 steps run up the pyramid, each step for one day in the year. On the solstice, twice a year the sun makes its way up one set of steps. Impressive, given a lot of the ruins are over 2000 years old. The sculptures on the panels are quite beautiful and descriptive. Jaguars, and Eagles with human hearts in their claws, stories of how the beating human heart was removed and then sacrified to Chac Mool etc are etched on these panels. The Mayan relationship with the underworld is fascinating. Everywhere you see images of skulls and skeltons, supposedly the guardians of the underworld. The ball court here is the biggest we've seen, just as everything else is. The Iglesia, and the palace are almost Indian temple in design. The market place, and the the hall of pillars, grupo de mil columnas, that were probably areas where the public got together is impressive. Carving out cylindrical pillars with no machinasation and that too by the 100's is quite amazing. El carasol is the observatory. It has a cylindrical top with windows that are laid out to see particular stars on particular days.

All this would have been more interesting were we allowed to actually interact with some of the ruins like in Palenque. I understand why we are not, but I think this is primarily why I prefer palneque to the rest of the ruins we visited.

The cenote called the Cenote Sacrada is a huge hole in the earth about 25 m across where tons of Mayan artefacts were found including 29 skeletons of children who were sacrificed. It is after this find that they realised that the Mayans did not descriminate between girls and boys when it came to the sacrifices.

Chichen Itza and Palanque show how develped the Mayan civilization was when compared to the Incas, who seemed far less evolved at least architecturally.

The setting is once again a forest and so naturally there is an abundance of wildlife in huge Igaunas who stand around like guards, and a snake that glided past Yannick once again. This is his 3rd snake in close proximity experience ... Yannick thinks the Iguanas believe that their King is buried somewhere here in the ruins which is why they are guarding it against us.

By 11 am the tours descended!! In a few minutes there were a few thousands of loud tourist everwhere we turned. Thankfully we were done and headed out.We took 2nd classe buses to Valladolid and another bus from there to Tulum.

PALENQUE

Palenque is about 2 hours drive from Villahermosa in the Chiapas district. The town itself is not much, basing its existence on its proximity to a beautiful archeologial Mayan site.

We got into Palenque town, picked up ticket for the late night ADO primera classe bus to Merida, left our back packs in storage at an exhorbitant price of some $0.50 per bag per hour which meant we had to shell out some $15 later that night, and headed out to the ruins. A park forest entry of 25 pesos per person and another entry fee of 52 pesos per person for the ruins themselves was unexpectly low for a site of such importance. The best part was that Yannick did not have to pay an entry at all.

Not connected to Palenque in any way but I really like the fact that in Mexico the first class buses charge kids half price. This really makes a diference to families, and because of this you see a lot of families on these buses.

Anyway, back to our main story. The Palenque ruins are set in a beautiful, thick, green jungle. The setting makes the experience the best I have had while visiting ruins. Add to that is the fact that the ruins are actually in pretty good shape, and they allowed us to climb up and even into some of the templos. For me personally, Palenque has been the most impressive ruinas we have visitied so far. Much more impressive than the Mayan ruins in Copan, or Tulum, and as ruins go, far more impresive than Machu Pichu. Having said that, the setting for Machu Pichu is hard to beat, and it is the location that makes Machu Pichu a wonder of the world. I know a bunch of people who would jump at me right now and ask about the spirituality of the place. I admit that too is a huge factor in Machu Pichu.

As we entered the complex , we were suddenly faced by a huge complex of temples. The temple of insciptions, the huge palacio and the temple where the red queen was found or the Tumba de la roja reina. We could actually enter the tomb, which is nice, because its only then that you get a real feel of the compplexity of the pyramid. This particular pyramid is in pristine condition and therefore more impressive than the ones where you need your imagination to really understand the structure. Being built with no machanisation of any sort or even the wheel is impressive. Walking around the Palacio where King Pakal and his ancestors lived is quite an experience. Interesting stucco tells you stories and so imagining the Mayan royalty stay here is easy.

We climbed the tall structures and even though the pyramids and temples in Tulum are much larger, these were more interesting for me. Some of the temples we really wanted to visit were shut to visitors but even then, walking around the jungle that was still overgrown and experiecning the ruins within these jungles was quite exhilarating. The setting and the light tickling through the huge Cieba trees was magical, and felt right out of a fantasy film. Tulum is where Luke skywalker opens the Star Wars and Palenque is where you'd expect stange medievial creatures to emerge from the forest.

Waking around the park we encountered the small but beautiful waterfall that continues to become the Bano de la Reina, or the bath of the queen. This is a set of small crystal clear pools created as the water flows down from the waterfall. The pools are a miniature version of Semuc Champey in Guatemala. The water fall isself is beautiful as the rocks behind the water form a wonderful picture with caves and little pillars cut into the rock face.

Three and half hours later, we were done with the ruins and headed back to palenque town in a collectivo. We hung around, ate tacos, I drank some beers, we hung out at a local music session at the main square and passed the next 6 hours until it was time for our bus to Merida. While we waited, I ate the best Torta of my trip so far. A torta is a mexican sandwich, made with a hard crusted bread with the insides dug out and filled with an assortment of meat, chopped onions, tomatoes, a local cheese, and chillis. I chose the Longinizas and it was a good choice.

Villahermosa, Tobasco

We got to Villahermosa in Tobasco state the next morning. (No, Tobasco doesn't come from here). Tobasco has more water than land and so they often pay the price with huge floods devastating the state every now and then. Hurricanes too make a habit of visiting these parts quite often. Apparently the hurricane season is end Aug to Nov.

Villahermosa was on our map primarily because we were meeting and staying with a couch surfing couple Daniel and Lorena. Villahermosa is a large, very wealthy town with beautiful parks and lagunas, huge shopping malls and everything from Burger King to Dairy queen to walmart. Would not have been the most interesting town to visit, but we were not counting  in the Daniel y Lorena factor! They made our stay here outstanding.They made a huge effort to introduce us to their friends, show us around (drive us around town after a full hard work day), took us to the beach, and just sat around chatting sharing stories. Lorena is vivacious and full of energy while Daniel's calming presence and information on everything Mexican perfectly compliment each other. Nu cooked an indian dinner for them and their friends and the next day Sandra, another friend of theirs, invited us to the beach. It was a fantastic day on the beach Even though the beach was no carribean beach, the company more than made up for it.

La Venta, the national parque in the middle of Villahermosa, is a beautiful setting for the Olmec archilogical findings including the huge Olmec heads. The huge Cieba trees contiue to stoke your imagination. An interestingly laid out zoo makes the park even more interesting. A huge aviary means you get to interact with Toucans, macaws,and other beautiful birds.

The food, and in Tobasco, where it is 40C during the afternoon, the refershing local drinks were fatastic. Orchata, a rice and cinnamon mixed in with water or milk was my favourite refresher. Jamaica, made from a dried flower imported from Africa, and Posol, a cocao and maize drink was fantastic. The Panuchas and Sabutes were forms of Taco that was spendid. the Sabute taco is like a puri, deep fried and fantastic.

Sunday was time to go to Palanque. Daniel and Lorena were awesome and decided to drive us out there. Daniel had a new camera and wanted to shoot pictures but unfortunately Lorena fell ill with a bad stomach. Even though we offered to take a bus, Daniel refused, and drove us 2 hours to Palenque. I hope they come to India so we can try and return the favour at least some what.

Gastronomica Mexico

From San Christobal we got to Oaxaha (ohaka) after a rather comfortable 12 hour overnight bus journey. The Oaxaca bus terminal is swank, much like an airport. We took a taxi into the city centre and started our search for a hostel. For low season, every hostel seemed surprisingly full and bloody expensive. After our longest search up until now, we finally found Dona Mario.

The city is a beautiful colonial city but unfortunately we've done too many now to be over excitied by it. We walked around for a few hours but the heat and midday son was really getting to us. Nu is on antibiotics and a decongesant tablet, both of whihc were making her really sleepy and tired. The long bus ride didn't help either. We got street tortilos for lunch that were decent but not exceptional.
We had heard so much about Oaxacan cuisine that we were definitely going to try some of it. One of their specialities is grass hopper or Chapulinas, sometimes fried to crisp with chillis on top, sometimes steamed, and apparently sometimes even live. The fried ones seemed ok except for the smell of dried fish. I thought about it long and hard before deciding not to try it.

Mole is another Oaxacan speciality. It is a paste made of chocolate, chillies and other spices which is then used in curries or as a marinade. It comes in a few forms Mole Negro, Mole colarado etc. We tried the mole negro and it was definitely interesting, like nothing I have tasted before. The chocolate was strong and chilli added a slight zing. I think they could use some more chilli to balance the chocolate but then who am I to play with tradition. The sauce is thick and a dark black. It reminded me of chywanprash if you know what that is. Definitely a new taste for us. We also tried a refresco made of rice powder and milk or water, spiced with cinnamon, called horchata, again interesting. It did seem like it could ferment into alcohol, a little like the first tapped toddy.

Today we continued our gastronomical journey at the Mercado 20 Novembre. It is an interesting market, with vendors selling you everything from fried grasshopper, to clothes, to fresh meat and fruit. We had the tortilla con chorizo, and consalchicha oaxaquena, very nice and then we had the Tlayudas con asiento, a taco based sandwhich filled with all sorts of vegetable, oaxaca queso or cheese, and meat...fantastic!!Some churros, and a street side pastery and our 3 course lunch was a hit.

Zocalo, the central plaza in Oaxaca is lively. A live orchestra plays on the band stand in the evening and it is a good orchestra. Streets are filled with ballon sellers, and comedians doing their act, and vendors with all kinds of fruit , potato chips, and other foods. It is very touristic but not in a bad way.

It was a beautiful sight to watch the older generation (60 to 80) dance their woes away to the live orchestra. Touching, when you notice the effort they have made to dress up to enjoy their evening. The highlight for me was the look on the face, and the brightening of the eyes of a septugenerian when his daughter arrived late, but just in time, to partner her father for his first dance.

Spice at last

After the debacle at the border, we arrived in the beautiful quaint town of San christobal de la casas. The plaza is the centre of the town like all Spanish colonial towns. We did not have a hostel booked so we walked down what looked like a main street. It was an  'only pedestrian' street and very pretty. We found a decent really cheap hostel and took it.

I've mentioned before that I was disappointed with the food on this trip. Not always but more often than not the general staples have been quite uninspiring. That was all about to change... We happened upon a Taqueria called Cochinita Pibil, which means it is actually from the Yucatan and not from the Chiapas where we were. We ended up eating tacos con chorizo, tostadas, like small fried tacos with flling- cheese and some sort of cream, tortillas, and few other forms of bread or tacos with different filling. The longinizas, a flavoured sausage tasted amazing, as did all the chilli sauces. They were spicy but not out of bounds as the Mexicans would like us to believe. Even Yannick has been dousing his food with the sauce much to the entertainment of the other customers.

The next morning we walked around the city, saw the beautiful cathedral and ate a lot. This time we went to a really local although now famous cerveceria or beer bar. This place had a great deal, 2 beers and a snack for some $4. The snack I had was Camarones del diablo, spicy and crunchy. The table also got a small portable barbecue with small peices of pork in a tomato and chilli sauce, to be eaten with tacos. You can add fresh raw diced onions, capsicum and a mild salsa to spice it up. I have been in Heaven the last 2 days! The bread we picked up for breakfast was great too. I wonder why the other countries around Mexico wouldn't just incorporate this cuisine into their own!

Next lunch was at a local joint owned and run by three generations of a family. The soup was a winner, and then the albondigas con arroz (rice with meat balls) divine! I'm staying !!!

Its been raining heavily and so the next 2 days got washed out but we managed to get to the Dulce Mercado or market of sweet, which looked like an indian halwai market, with milk sweets (pedas), baked sweets, and a variety of gaudy colored local sweets. We tried out a strange desert. It was sweet, hot syrupy liquid in a glass filled with fruits. Interesting but not to my liking.

On the perifery of this market are local restaurants and taqueria. Today, I tried the huacheria con longinizas (might have got the name a little wrong). It is diced laoginiza with chopped chillis, some diced tomatoes, some kind of cream cheese, and grated cheese sprinkled on top, all layed out on a soft tortilla. Don't think they needed the grated cheese but otherwise, one more reason to love mexico!

I HATE BORDER CROSSINGS

Luckily this is the last one for us. At least the last one where we need to convince officials that the Indian passport is for real, and then need to explain to them the treaties that have been signed between our two countries etc etc. Sometimes coercion works, sometimes 'No intiendo espaniol' and sometime just plain waiting looking pissed off but with a smile. Tough one the last. Honestly, we haven't had too many problems crossing borders but it does take a while longer than the American and European passport holder. Well, I don't blame them because most terrestrial border migration officers have not seen Indians before. Guatemala was about a bribe but Mexico was the worst! I've jumped the story so let me backtrack a bit.

Early morning we were at the jetty waiting for our launch at 5.45 am. the sun rises quite early so it was light by then. The ride, cutting through lago Atitlan was beautiful. The rays of the sun streaming through the mist created a beautiful image. The volcano and the cloud of condensation above it was stunning.

The 45 min boat ride, and the next 4 hour ride in the minivan was super comfortable. We were only 3 of us in a van meant for 14, which meant we slept through the drive, not even stopping for a meal. The Gautemalan exit stamp was no problem even though I had been warned that an exit fee, nee a bribe might be asked of us. A bus picked us up from the Gautemalan border and drove us some 15 mins to the Mexico immigration.

Here our passports were taken, our US visas checked, and then we were asked to wait a little. Half an hour later, I tried to find out what was going on, and I was told it would take a few minutes more as they were waiting for an email form Mexico city confirming something. I must clarify that the offiers were polite and at no point in time did I feel they were gunning for a bribe.

We were hungry and the only food we could find was ice cream. It had been an hour an a half since we got here and our driver was getting anxious. Luckily for us, we were the only ones on the bus so no one else suffered while we waited. 2 hours into the ordeal, we finally met someone who spoke a little English. She explained that they had recieved a warning about travellers from our country about 3 weeks ago, and therfore had to get a confirmation that our US Visas were real. I explained that we had been in and out of the US on the same visa thrice in the last few months, but that did not help. They had to email their regional HQ, who would then email Mexico city, who would then somehow confirm that the visa wasn't a fake, mail these guys back, and then we would be on our way. Only problem was that there internet only worked intermittently, and of course it wasn't working all afternoon! I was livid because it seemed like a deadend and I couldn't help in any way.

Luckily, the boss of the office, headed out to the regional hq and just as the Bus driver was ready to leave us to our fate in a border town with no hotel, food or taxis, he came back with the news that our visas were indeed authentic!

4 hours later we were on our way to San Christobal de la casas.

Lago Atitlan

Lago Atitlan is a huge lake surrounded by 2 volcanoes and a bunch of hills. Being the rainy season, the hills are covered in green. With clouds well below the top of the mountains, the scene makes a pretty picture but we had been to Titicaca before and that is a dampner where Atitlan is concerned. Titicaca from the Bolivian side is not only spectacular, it has a sense of spirituality that Atitlan doesn't. Maybe it's because of the villages around the lago. San Pedro de la laguna, the village we picked to stay at was a mix of untidy ramshackle structures. The Lago itself is too dirty to be inviting to swim in and someone we met also told us the water was cold. Indian ness abounds. In that I mean places called Shati Shanti, Yoga and finding yourself courses, medition and the rest of the pop culture with no depth to it. Someone we met told me that there were people here who he had met 8 years ago when he last came, and they were still on the same trip that they had started 8 years ago. Lots of drugs and alcohol mar any charm it could have.

Clearly, it wasn't my favourite spot. We were lucky to have a day with sunshine so the lake with the mountains as a back drop did look awesome, but it wasn't enough.

The next day Nu and I decided to take the trip to the thursday market at Chichicastenengo. Yannick and the Catalans (not sure I can call them that because they are actually from the Basque country but what the hell, it sounds good and I don't know Spanish politics enough to worry about it) decided to stay back and hang out. This is a huge  'Mayan' market that takes place twice a week. I wasn't expecting much as the term Mayan and folkloric are abused in plenty in these parts.

The drive was 2 hours long and when we got there it was like we had expected, a big indegenous market primed at tourists. Luckily a few block into the market we got a glimpse of the real market. The market where the locals shopped. This was far more interesting. Some of the weaving work was splendid, the little worry dolls that yo uput under your pillow when you go to sleep so that they takes your worries away, the ethnic musical instruments, and the raw cuts of meat hanging around made it quite a market. On the steps of the cathedral was a flower market, artisans had made some interesting bead work quetzals, and the masks were fantastic but too heavy for us. Most importantly, the churros were decent. We ended up picking a few bargains and then stepped into a restaurant for a beer and lunch.

In the end, It turned out to be an interesting day.

Back In San Pedro we reunited with Yannick and the gang. It was our last night together. Next morning we were headed to Mexico and they were headed to Antigua and then onto Nicaragua. We, especially Yannick, was going to miss them a lot, but the last 2 weeks had been fantastic!
We searched for a bar that supposedly had a salsa night only to find out it there wasn't one. A good asian dinner, a couple of beers, lots of laughter, and we were ready to call it a night. We did have a 5.30 start the next morning.

Antigua, Gautemala

Antigua is a small little colonial town about half an hours drive from Guatemala city. The drive from Coban took us about 6 hours and we got a glimpse of the capital city enroute. It wasn't a pretty sight. Full of favelas and very impoverished, it has a very uncomfortable vibe, at least the parts we drove through. We did see some impressive business building but that only made the whole city feel worse.

Anyway, we expected Antigua to be a big city and so we were very surprised when we got there. we had planned on climbing the active volcano Pacaya and toasting marshmelows in the lava, but the rain killed the plan. We were also told that at this point in time there was no real lava, only hot ash.

We spent two days in Antigua, but the rain played spoil sport for most of the time. We did drink the best beer I've had on this trip so far, Gallo black draft. Amazing given that the bottled version isn't half as good. Lexi who is actually a friend of a friend of ours Lisa, drove into Antigua for a nice local dinner. the food was nice but not outstanding.

The next morning we headed out to Lago Atitlan, the deepest lake in the world, set at about 1600m. Antigua was fun but mainly because we we still travelling with the Catalan gang, Susana, Amiai, and Ion.

Laguna Lechua

After the unbelievable scenic beauty and adventure of Semuc champey and the grutas we were ready for our next leg. Susana and Ion had heard of a lagoon called laguna Lechua a few hours away from Coban, that was supposed to be completely off the beaten track and beautiful. The fact that very few tourists went here was too aluuring for us to let go. None of us, and not too many locals knew how we could get there even though it is a designated national park and in some guide books. We knew we had to get to Chisec or Coban, leave our big back packs there and head on with day packs because of a  trek involved in getting to the lake.

We took a local bus to Coban. There we located a hostel and convinced them to keep our back packs in storage for 2 days. It took us a few hours to find the hostel, then find a super market to get stock for 2 days since the refugio we were planning to stay at had on food etc. This meant we fianlly got into a collecctivo only by around 2pm. The next 2 hours were the worst. It was hot as hell, and there were 21 people in a van meant for 12 to 14. At some point Nu asked the driver to open his window and he casually puts on the A/C. The sadistic bastard!!

We finally reached Laguna Lechua. The route as it has been throughout Gautemala was beautiful. The national park was not what I had expected. The forest guard at the entrance took his job extremely seriously and we were told what we could and could not do. After that, we were asked to be careful and quiet as we walked throgh the park to the refugio as there were poisonous snakes around, and it was important we don't disturb them!! We were also told not to swim too deep into the lake as we could then look like food to the crocs that lived in the water. Exhilarating stuff!

The 4.5 kms trek through the forest was nice but unfortunately we did not find any snakes to disturb nor were we quiet enough to spot any Jaguars. The refugio is basic but nice except for our hatred of organic loos. The kitchen has a wood fired stove but was otherwise well stocked with utensils. In any case we weren't planning on gourmet meals.

The laguna was stunning! The water crystal clear with a lot of fish. We never did get to see the crocs but Amiai saw a nutria ( otter like mammal) and we saw a couple of large rodent like animals on our trek back. Tarantulas abound, and apparently so do scorpions. We saw a few tarantula without realising they what they were until the very end, and other large spiders but no scorpions.

We spent a beautiful morning, just the 6 of us, diving in, and swimming about in the water. A bunch of locals came in around lunch. They were noisy and the kids were making a ruckus and that spoit the peace of the place. They had been at the lake the week before and saw a croc sunning itself on the very rocks that we were hanging around. Nice not to have known before we got in, I guess.

All in all, a real fun time except for the organic loos that I've had enough of. 2 nights was the right time to spend here and so we headed back to Coban in a chicken bus. we knew there was nothing much to do in Coban but a night without insects and a real loo was inviting enough.

Grutas las Maria / Semuc Champey

After the crazy leap of faith, it was time for the Grutas Las Marias. This is a set of interconnected caves that run for some 10 kms under ground. They have pools of water that are sometimes quite deep, a few water falls, and it is pitch dark. We were given no warning about what we were about to get ourselves into. We only knew that it was going to be wet and dark. We were handed out candles that we had to hold up over the water.

As we entered the cave, I was a little apprehensive. Yannick is a confident swimmer and our friends Susana Ion and Ameya were with us so that was not a worry. The worry was Nu and me. Both of us can swim but I wasn't sure what we would do under pressure, and the pressure monted as we started our walk. At first the water was waist deep so it was ok, until I feel back a little while trying to take some photos. Next thing I knew , our group was in pitch darkness with only candles for light, and could not locate a way forward. Moments later we found the entrance but it was scary. We continued to walk through head high water, sometimes needing to swim, then climbed up a little water fall inside the cave, and a few ladders until we finally reached the spot where we had to turn back.  There were many moments where I was swimming in the water, doused my candle, and then had no idea where the hell I was and more importantly why I was putting myself through this. The caves were unbelievable but we were a big group and the guides were not really safety conscious. The trek was a tough one and they hadn't bothered to find out if all of us could swim but it was an adventure in the truest sense.

The caves have numerous stalactite and stalacmites but they were all dark and ominous looking. Getting back to the cave entrance was as exhilarating as the entry.

Next up was Semuc Champey, a natural formation of 7 lakes at 7 levels before the descending water ends in a cascade into the Cohabon river. The water is a beautiful green and the perfect temperature to swim in. Fish abound in these waters, and I got a pedicure just sitting in it. Semuc is formed because the river suddenly runs underground and at this point a part of water escapes from the underground cave that it runs into like an over spill. This over spill creates the first lake. The water then flows down into the second and so on and so forth. This forms a stunning visual.

These caves are amazing, and Semuc was stunning. This isdefinitely one of the highlights of my trip.

I really felt priveledged to be in the midst of such natural beauty.

Lanquin, Grutas las Maria , Semuc 1

From Flores we took a minivan to Lanquin. The van came by our hostel to pick us up and was already packed. This meant that the 6 of us had to use the last 2 seats at the back , 3 of the additional fold out seats that vans here attach to the existing seats, and only one of us had a decent seat. These fold out seats are like baby seats. They have a back rest that is about a foot high so no back support whatsoever. Gautemalan van drivers have a penchant for lying about schedules. When you get to a bus stop, all waiting vans are just about to leave, and when you are in the van and ask how much longer it will be, it is never longer than 2 hours. Many 2 hours later we reached Coban, and then continued on to Lanquin.

It had begun to rain quite heavily, then lightening and thunder added to the caos. The roads were dirt and I could not make out the difference between the road and the river below. The drive was really stunning. The vegetation here is thick! It covers every possible space, even the rocks on the mountains around are not spared. It seems like the greenery is having a continuous war with the road, waiting to take back what it used to own. Waterfalls cascade down hills swamped in clouds. Suffice to say it is breathtaking.

Anyway we reached Lanquin around 7 pm. It was pitch dark . El Retiro, the hostel we wanted to stay in was quite full, but we managed to bag the last two triple rooms. Dnner here was supposed to be splendid, an all you can eat barbecue was the menu of the day, but as our luck would have it, we had reached too late and they had run out. El Retiro is not a place you can get any sleep in. It is a party hostel, very scenically situated on the Corabon river but the party does not stop and I'm getting too old for this.

The next morning we headed to Semuc Champey and the Grutas Las Marias. The hour long drive in the back of a pick up with a bunch of Gringas and gringos was eventful, and the view spectacular.

We finally reached the river and changed into our swim wear. We then walked up to a swing that was tied so that it would swing high over the river and asked to swing on it and jump into the gushing river as some kind of initiation rite. I wasn't too sure about it given my swimming skills but when a bunch of guys and girls did it, and finally Yannick too did it, I had too. It was fantastic! Leaping off a swing and falling some 20 feet into a gushing river was exhilarating but this was just the tip of the iceberg.

Tikal Mayan

Flores is an island in the Peten Itza lake. The lake is small in comparison with to the huge lakes we had seen earlier. The town itself is little but pretty. Due to the huge influx of tourists, the town has become quite turistic, therefore the prices are little higher than you'd expect but the town is geared as a base for both Tikal and genereal travel in Gauteala. Its been really hot so even though the lake wasn't pristine, we did spend some time in it. We reunited with our  friends Susana and Ion here. Ameya a friend of susana had joined them a few weeks ago so now it was the 6 of us. Yannick, Ameya and Ion jumped off the peir into the lake while Susanna and I generally hung out in the lake cooling off. We stayed at a col hostel called Los Amigos. One of the owners Matheus is an indo phile and so Nu taught them an Indian recipe.

The next day we took off at 4.30 am to Tikal. Tikal is the largest Mayan ruins. It is set in the middle of the jungle and that makes the huge towers even more impressive. The oldest temple was built around 300 bc while most of the rest of the complex of temples were built around the 7th and 8th century. It is an impressive place but I think I've done too many ruins to really feel the enormity of being in such a place. We did see a toucan though! It is such a beautiful bird!!

The next day we set out to Lanquin and Semuc Champey.

Gautemala Crossing

From Roatan we headed to Copan. We ended up staying in San Pedro Sula for a night because a bridge on the route to Copan had collapsed. SPS is the 2nd biggest city in Honduras and quite unsafe after dark, which meant we were stuck in our hotel room playing cards and drinking flor de cana or local rum with our 2 friends Liz and Mel who we had met in Roatan and bumped into once again on this bus.

Copan is a beautiful little town in the mountains. It has a wonderful central square around which the entire city of 6 streets is laid out. We had a super street barbecue near here and genrally hung out here in the evenings.
The hostel we booked Iguana Azul and the Gringo owner, runs an interesting scam.They confirm a booking , then when you get there, they give you story about how they can't help it but they don't have a room anymore , but they can accomodate you in there more expensive property next door at a discount. After the discount, it still costs twice as much as the first place but it is nice room and breakfast in included so we took it. I know it is a scam becasue we met 6 people who had got the same routine! My guess is that he does this bacuse IA is a few block from the parque central, so he wouldn't get any walk ins, since normally all backpackers get to the centre of town, and look for a place to stay around there. Anyway, the next day turned nasty when the guy suddenly told us we had to vacate the room even though we had a 2 night booking. Don't want to get into the details but this was just the start of an interesting 2 days. Iguana Azul depends on good references and I will on trip advisor soon...

Anyway, the ruins are 7th century Mayan, and Copan is the location where the most pre colombian artifacts were found, so it is definitely interesting for those so interested. Yannick and I have had our fill of ruins but I still think it was worth seeing.

The next morning we got into a micro shuttle to cross the broder to Gautemala. The lady officer at the Honduran migracion would not stamp us out until we made sure we did not need a visa for Gautemala. I walk across to the Gautamala migracion and the old gentle guy across the table tells me it will cost $200 per person for the visa. I don't get it, and explain to him that the Gautemalan visa is free, and on arrival, for Indians. He brings the price down to $100 each and this is when I get what he was really asking for. I was shocked, and I told him I wouldn't pay anything for the visa. The micro was waiting and people were getting hassled. We then pulled out our laptop and told the officer we would show him a letter I had from his embassy (which of course was bull shit) when he finally asked for $10 per passport, and without waiting for me, began to stamp us in. This, without an exit stamp from Honduras!

In the confusion I gave him $10, and took the passports. He came after me and said I had to give him $20 more, but I had the stamped passports in my hand so I just walked away! Went back to the Honduran side to get the exit stamped and the lady asks me how much I paid for my Gaut visa? I said nothing, and she says you must've paid a minimum of $10 a passport, but if you did not you need to pay me to stamp you out. I acted like I did not understand any spanish and took my passports to leave when she gave up and stamped us out! Talk about international cooperation!

Not the adventure we were looking for, not the entry we wanted but exciting all the same! It has me ready for anything now! It was the most disgraceful welcome to any country. I pray this nevers happens to anyone entering India. I would be shamefaced.

Eventually we crossed and waited for our A/c PUllman bus coach that we had paid for to show up. Something that looked like a bus did show up, but it was very local, no a/c and no seat numbers so we had the last row. I guess we were now getting a real taste of Central America. Without a complain we took the 7 hour ride and finally reached the isla de Flores.
It is a very pretty island, and we look forward to meeting our travel friends Susana and Ion after travelling together in Bolivia a couple of months ago. We plan to spend a couple of weeks exploring Gautemala together so that will be fun!

Destined to Dive??

So, we're in Granada, back from a disaster called Tree Tops, find our old hostel booked out and so move into another one across the street. At breakfast, we're sitting around and we hear someone say he was from Corn Island. Abdel lived in Panama city but was originally from the Corn. What you need to know is that the corn Islands were on top of Nu's list ever since we decided to ditch Ecuador and head into Nicaragua. Problem is that the islands are right across the country and really out of the way to plan a route. Once we got into Granada we began to hear stories of how the weather (rain) was making it next to impossible to do the boat crossing from Bluefields to Corn.

Anyway, we got talking to Abdel and then a few others and were pretty unsure about the trip when Broadfoot, an older American guy staying at the same hostel piped in asking if we had given the Bay Islands in Honduras any thought. We hadn't, in fact we were planning to give Honduras a skip. He made a case for it saying the islands were stunning and that the snorkling and diving spectacular. It definitely sowed a seed. At this point two girls had joined our breakfast group. They had just been to the islands and had just got their diving licenses. Oe of them did it in Utila and the other in Roatan. From their experiences, Roatan was a clear pick. They told such stunning stories about the islands that we were quite sold on it.

We still had some doubts but that night we hung out with some friends we had made in the hostel we stayed at earlier, and in conversation we realsied that one of them was a proffessional wreck diver! After a chat with him, it was clear that the universe was colluding and conspiring to make sure we got to Roatan. Decision made, we picked Native sons , a dive shop that had been around since the 90's with an old hand who used to free dive in his earlier days helming the crew, as our first stop.

Native sons, Alex and Fiona were super as were the rest of the dive crew. Raotan has some 60 dive sites and some fantastic reefs with crystal clear water with beautiful fish, turtles, rays , barracudas and a ton of others I can't name right now.

4 days, some serious studying, painful videos,  final exam and 4 stupendous dives later , all three of us are now certified open water divers!! I hope we can dive again in Mexico...

Ometepe, Managua, Leon .....Honduras!!

We were set to leave Ometepe and decided to do the cheapest route back to Rivas and then from there on north to Leon. This meant we take the 8.30 chicken bus from Hacienda Merida to Moyogalpa, the capital city of Ometepe, with our bags. Was a daunting thought but it would only cost us $5 while the taxi was $35.

The bus got crowded but it wasn't too bad. We were the frst pick up, so we got seats, and our bags were thrown into the back. The ride itself was over 3 hours in the slowest, least powerful vehicle we've ever been transported in. We got to the wharf just in time to catch the ferry back to Rivas. A quick meal and we jumped into a min bus headed to Managua. In Managua, we took a short taxi ride to UCA where the micros to Leon start off from. The ride was much nicer than the crazy heat of the Rivas Managua ride as the micro was air conditioned. 2 hours later we were in Leon. All in all we had been travelling for about 10 hours and we were tired.

We headed to find the Tica Bus agent to buy our ticket to Tegulcigalpa. Yeah, we had decided to give El Salvador a miss and instead go to Honduras. There is a story there which I will write out soon. An hour or so later we had fixed on a hostel, got our tickets for the day after and started walking around exploring Leon.

Leon is the 2nd oldest colonial city in Nicaragua. It has an important University therefore the overall feel of the city is young. The catheral is the largests and most impressive in Central America. The story goes that the colonial head of the city got a plan approved in Lima, Peru from his superiors and then just went ahead changed the design and built a humungus cathedral in place of the much more modest one Lima had approved.

The town itself has an interesting history being build only 2 months after Granada, and being the capital city at one time. All in all, a nice town to hang around in for a day or tow. Once again we couldn't find any local food so had to make do with shewarmas and some other international food. We found a great super market and loaded up for next stop, as we knew Roatan would be crazy expensive.

The next morning we headed to the bus stop at 5.15am, crossed the border at about 9 and reached Tegulcigalpa around 12.30. A mad rush to reach the Headman Alas bus office before 12.45 to catch the 1.30 to La Cieba worked out. We got to La Cieba via San Pedro Sula at about 9.30 pm. Another long traveling day. Spent the night at a hostel, ate balleadas or Honduran tacos with a bean paste base and meat and eggs thrown into a roll. Next morning we headed out to the Ferry and two hours later we were in Half moon bay, Roatan, Honduras. Our first Carribean experience!!!

Ometepe

Something about ending up in Miami changed things a little for us.  I think we slowed down, and weren't getting into the crazy driving rhytm that we had going until this point. Granada helped! The city has a bunch of things to do but we choose to just hang around, eat well, drink many beers, and hung out with a bunch of new friends we made. We walked around the city quite a bit and just experienced it. Granada is touristy at least by Nicaraguan standards, but it was the non touristic side that had my interest. Granada is on the The lake Nicaragua or Cocibolca in the native tongue, and is surrounded by Volcanoes (Masaya and Mombacho).
We did travel out for a day to a place called Tree tops or Poste Rojo. Poste Rojo is set in the dry rainforest area around Granada and the setting allows you a beautiful view of the surroundings. The place is infested with howler monkeys. These monkeys can really howl!! They had a cable walkway that is quite fun, but everything else about the place is a disappointment. I'm tired of words like organic and eco when they are used purely as excuses! This place had an 'organic' toilet which basically meant it was a hole into a reservoir below with no water to flush, no permiculture in place, and really really disgusting! It stank so much that we left rather than use the loo the next morning. We were promised a great dinner for $6 each. Now you have realise that $6 goes a real long way in Nica, and so when we were given mac and cheese with some grilled chicken, I knew we were also paying for the volunteers dinners.

Anyway, we got out of there quick, tried to find Apoyo, the 48 sq km lake that the volcano Masaya or Mombacho (need to re check which one) left when it blew its top off a long time ago. we got to Apoyo but no one could get us to the hotels that supposedly lined the lake. After a couple of hours of trying we gave up and took the chicken bus back to Granada. The chicken bus is basically the old American school buses that are used extensively in South and Central America for local transport. They are really quite quaint and interesting. The locals will take anything onto these buses, livestock, dogs, birds, ...

The next day we headed to Ometepe, an island formed by 2 volcanoes, Volcan Concepscion and Volcan Maderas. We took the chicken bus once again to Rivas. The drive was truly calming. The lush green vegetation has such a wonderful effect on the senses! On reaching Rivas we took a cab to San Jorge and then a ferry to Mojogalpa the capital of Ometepe. From here we jumped into a van with 4 others since that was the best way we could get a deal. The other 4 were headed to a place called Hacienda Merida while we planned to saty in playa Santa Domingo. Luckily for us we couldnt find a decent hostel in SD and so tagged ablong with the others to HM.

This is the nicest hostel we've stayed in yet for the price! The rooms are beautiful, and place has been built with love. The owners do a ton of great work with the kids of Merida so all in all it feels nice to be here, even if it is gringo infested. We've spent all of the last 36 hours hanging around, kayaking to the different islands and swamps around and just being! Anu just cooked a meal for everyone!

We've also just decided to go to the Honduras before heading out to Gautemala. we'll probably head out to Leon tomorrow and then move on the Honduras in a coupe of days. The best part of this kind of travel is the freedom to choose when and where we want to go....

NEW PHOTOS

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dragonflydreams2011/?saved=1

We ate a good although not gourmet lunch in a small restuarant across the hotel in Mangaua and then rushed out in a taxi to the bus station for Granada. The ride took us through downlown Managua which reminded me of a mid sized city in India. Sadly the chains have inundated this city and so its a mish mash of natural beauty , immense green patches and then some horrendous buildings selling hamburgers and rottiserie chicken. Btw rottiserie chicken is the biggest selling food item in both south and central America.

We jumped into a micro that was in fantastic  shape, was air conditioned and only just a bit crowded, and it cost us $ 1 each for the 1 hour ride. The route reminded me of Kerala with a 2 lane highway that had lush green on either side. The houses we passed were again similar to Kerala or Mangalore. Tiled sloping roofs, the quadrangle structure for the bigger houses and wooden boaded shops.

Granada is the oldest colonial town in central America. It is very pretty in the colours of the building, the massive church in the central parque, the cobbled stonne alley and the beautiful tiles that they have used to tile the sidewalks. Outside of the centre, it is a poor central american city with massive crowded markets the dirty building next to each other in a haphazard fashion.

We found a really cheap hostel with a bathroon Yannick labelled 'The Inca Bathroom' because of the old tradition style. Honestly it wasn't a very exciting bathroom but it would do, at least for me. Like in  traditional Kerala houses, it had a receptacle that stored water, and an excuse for a shower that creapt up from it. A hole in the ground was the drain and there was no wash basin.  Luckily the centre of the hostal was a beautiful quadrangle with plans and hammocks, and some of the friends we made here made up for a bad bathroom.

Nicaraguan food tantalised only to disappoint. The Gallo Pinto is nice but not outstanding, the meat isn't really their forte, so one would imagine fish and sea food but once again it hasn't really hit the spot! Don't get me wrong,  Its no Argentina, but its just not great! The women here are the prettiest I've enountered on this trip although as people South Americans are far more friendly! Nicaragua is inexpensive, maybe even more inexpensive than India in many situations, definitely on par with Bolivia so that feels real nice! Petty crime is high but that should be expected since most Nica's are so poor that anything they find might mean the difference between having a meal or not!

The depressing part is the levels of education here. It is pathetic! I've encountered many many people who voluntered at teaching jobs and every one of them has the same story to tell. The kids are bereft of imagination, don't have even the basic math or language skills even at 14 and 15. The test papers are a joke and there is no attempt to remedy these questions. It looks like the govt prefers a dumb populace. It is a long discussion but one that i find really interesting especially given the Indian context!

Machu Pichu Pix

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dragonflydreams2011/5919078287/in/photostream/

a bugging day and a failed volcano

So as papa said we had to go to miami to get to managua....now i dont know what papa and mamma have against big cities, but from how we got to granada ( a small city )will tell you that they definitely do have something against big cities. We got to managua at about 2 30 am. I was tired and when we got to the immigration place they needed 30 dollars for our visas, but papa did not have any cash with him so mamma had to go to the havasacks and get some cash and just then we realised that they would not except 100usd notes, so papa had to exchange the dollars or some thing and i dont know what he did but finally we got in. By that time everybody had probably left the airport.
Our hostel had a pick up service and so we got to the place in no time. When we got there, there were a bunch of guys hanging around in the common area and they were staring at mamma, talking in a weird language. Later we found out that they were Indians from punjab and thay were actually speaking Punjabi.

We slept for about 7 hours and then we decided that we should leave Managua, so that was it...we had spent 9 hours in managua out of which we spent 7 of them sleeping. We got a minibus to Granada and i was still tired, but we had to walk and find a hostel. Everybody told us to go to the bearded monkey...and so we did but they were full, but we found a nice hostel except that the bathroom... well i named it the inca bathroom.

After a few days in granada we decided to go to the tree house and apoyo  ( a volcano crater in which a lake formed ). So we left for the tree house. The tree house was nice and quiet. The view was great, they had a cable bridge that connected two platforms together and i ran across it many many times...that was fun. The also had a fireman´s pole that u could use instead of the stairs to go up and down. I slid down it  many many times.
The people we met there were really nice and we played group solitaire which was fun... but the best of all was our backpacker chess board. Papa and a guy named Edgar wanted to play chess but the tree house guys did not have a board, so mamma ( and i helped ) made a paper chess board with standing paper pieces.

The tree house was a really great experience except for the stupid bugs, once we put the light on above the chess board some flying bug kept falling on me and papa and me discovered a new insect in our room. It was like a snakes body but like 6 cms and it had dragonfly wings....i dont wanna encounter that bug again. After the tree house we headed to apoyo, but it was really hard to get there, cos we did not know where to go.  We were not in the mood to try too hard to find it, so we left apoyo and came back to granada.

yannick

Central America finally

We were in the US so we decided to ship out about 15kgs of our warm stuff to Sharad and Stella in NJ. We also decide to stock up on cheap shampoo, some basic medication etc. we had time, and it was the 4th of July so we hit the beach once again! Only this time we took public transport and it actually wasn't so bad. Buses run only once every hour but it costs only$1.75 each. We got to a spot between hollywood and Dania beach, and it was amazing how different it was from the spot we had got to the day earler. Firstly it was predominently black. Secondly, it had a bunch of barbecues lit up just off the beach and the food looked damn good! We walked towards Hollywood beach and slowly it became less black and more white. It was quite strange how black people hung out with black people , while white people hung out predominantly with white people and hispanic people with their own!

we had a decent lunch and got back to the hotel and to the airport to take our flight to Nicaragua! For the second time on this trip, the airline refused to take us on unless we had a ticket out of Nicaragua! Once again , put in an impossible situation I had to buy a fully refundable one way ticket out of Nicaragua for $3000, get into Nicaragua and then cancel the ticket. While the ticket is fully refundable, I'm pretty sure it will cost us an additional $100 or so t the very least! Sucks but at least we were in Nicaragua!!!!

Getting into Nicaragua was straighforward except for the fact that I forgot to carry cash in my wallet. We had to pay $30 as an entry fee and I had no cash and they wouldnt take credit cards nor did they have an ATM machine anywhere around! Luckily we had some reserve cash in Nu's checkied in luggage! we convnced the authorities that we would not run away and brough them the money! Of course they would not accept a $100 bill, so once again , get to a cambio, change the money etc etc...

We had a hotel booked and a car waiting for us since it was midnight in Mangau! When we reached the hotel we weren't pleased! 4 or 5 men sat around the reception and just stared at Anu! And then they spoke...In Punjabi!!! These guys were from Punjab, in Nicaragua for 90 days, apparently traveling, but they never left the hotel, and Mangua! They said they really liked going to the mall. They spoke no Spanish and very little English , but the girls who worked at the hostel seemed to have a thing for them, even if one of then was terribly underage! We slept in, and I woke up to a typical Nicaraguan breakfast which includes Gallo Pinto (rice and beans), fried eggs, and fried or boiled banana! I couldn't have asked for more!! Evrytime I eat the cooked bananas , it takes me back home!

The morning was another scary scene, so we decide to run from managua! We took a micro to Granada, a colonial city, the oldest colonial city in central America! It was a nice ride even if we were worried about out  haversacks that were loaded on top of the van! The van itself was pretty new, and air conditioned and the 1 hour trip cost $1 each, so no complaints there!

Nicaragua via Miami

Getting into a Miami was interesting. Spirit airways has the smallest seats, and its a discount airline so you psy for your seat, your bags and pretty much anything they can charge you for. I guess that is the principle of a low cost airline but it does take some getting used to after the airlines in India. The 5 1/2 hour flight was only the beginning of the welcome to Miami!

We got in and queued up for our immigration. The non American citizens queue had about 100 people ahead of us while the American citizen queue probably had 4 times that many people queed up. Two hours later there were about 70 people ahead of us, while maybe 600 Americans had gone through their queue. Not surprising, given 7 agents were taking care of the Americans, while our queue had one! When asked, we were told that it was federal American policy to make sure the American citizens were taken care of first!
We were still ok, but a bunch of poeple ahead of us missed their connecting flights and they weren't even given an apology! WELCOME TO AMERICA! And they wonder why Americans are hated everywhere in the world! Its not the people, it is the govt and policy like this that makes them so popular! What pissed me off even more was the officer asking me how we were this morning,when we finally go to the counter? I asked him how he thought we were, given we were waiting in a fucking queue for 3 hours while American citizens breezed through!

Selfishness is ingrained in the American psyche...the country is built on that principle, so maybe I should not have been surprised, but to see it this obviously shocked me! Funny thing is most Americans I've met hate their govt, but somehow that doesn't change policy! Last time I enter through Miami even if it costs me more! Having vented, I think this is a Miami problem because the last few times I entered the US through NY and I haven't ever faced this kind of in your face discrimination.  Also everyone we met enroute had warned us about this particular treatment in Miami.

Anyway, we put that behind us, got into our nice hotel, and hit the beach. Apparently, there is no public transport to the beach on sunday, or at least it is so infrequent that its not worth waiting for. So we shelled out $40 to take a cab ! The beach was nice, a bit of a fashion parade but its trying to be a latin american beach, so its forgivable! Fried calamari and buffalo wings were great, the poeple we met really nice, so all in all a fun time.

Since I cursed America, I must write a line about the Americans we met in Miami. We got chatting to some really nice middle aged bikers from Alabama. With them was Patricia, who worked at the hotel bar. In a bit we were ready to eat so we asked her where we could go. It was time for her to finish work so she actually took us in her car to a nice restaurant even though I don't think it was really in her way home. The staff at the hotel were super nice too! Once again, the American people save the country from its ridiculous policies!

Paracas

From Haucacina, we took a taxi back to ICA , spent a few hours around the bus terminal, got lunch and then jumpedx back onto a bus to Paracas. Paracas is a beach town with a cold current that makes it haven for Pelicans, Inca terns, penguins, sea lions etc. It is still strange to see these creatures this far up north!

The town itself is basically one street and a beach front boulevard! The beach is pretty and the sunset beautiful. We found a local joint and ate a local meal with many locals as they enjoyed themselves laughing incessantly at a Jackie Chan movie that they played on their TV. The people in Peru love Indian films and Indian so we always got a really warm reception once they knew we were from India. Actually that is true of Bolivia and Niaragua too.

The next morning we took the tour to the Isla de ballesteros! These Islands are about an hour away from the shore in a speed boat Enroute we saw an Inca astronomical drawing on a hill side akin to the Nasca lines. It was very basic but significant I guess. Allalong you get to see huge Pelicans, and it is fascinating!

The isla de Ballesteros is a rock formation that apparently sprang up due to the earth shifts. I don't knwo enough to know if that is true but the islands are the huge rock foramtions with tunnels of beatiful green water flowing through it making it ethereally beautiful! The rocks themselves hve more birds sitting on them than you can imagine! Star fish, and molluscs of all sorts cling to the bottom of the rocks, and octopus abound in the water! The problem with so many birds is a lot of shit! There is so much bird poo on the rocks that they have tirned white. Apparently once a year the peruvian govt actually harvest the sht as fertiliser. They apparently scrape out 20 feet of the stuff in some places! I think that a bit exxagerated but it definitely puts things in perspective.

The birds were beautiful in the setting, and so were the penguins and the one sea lion sitting atop a rock preening! Two baby sea lions swam around to add to the excitement.
The ride back was bizzarre! It was big waves, high speed, and very cold!

We got back rushed to bus station and got on a bus to Lima!

Huacacina - an oasis

the less said about the Inca equinox festival, the better. The run up was nice in its parades and general air of festivity, but the celebration itself was just sheer pagaentry , super touristic with no sense of tradition. It was a badly acted, directed and produced play. they even faked a lama sacrifice!!

We took off the next say for ICA and Huacachina, the sand boarding capital of south America. This time we took the bst bus and it was good except for me and Nu getting a bout off altitude sickness! Anyway, we reached ICA in the morning and immediately took a taxi to Huacachina.
Huacachina is an oasis in the middle of the desert with the biggest dunes I've ever encountered. These dunes are huge, and the small like in the middle of the village with palm trees surrounding it make a pretty picture.The food in haucacina was great. We ate Cebiche and other really nice sea food.

That evening we took the tour to the dune. Dune bashing in a open buggy with a put together engine was crazy! I think I pulled a neck muscle as we climbed and dropped down what looked like impossible to navigate dunes! Yannick was being thrown around because of his size.

Soon we stopped , and our driver guide pulled out the sand boards. These boardsa re basically wooden planks with two velco straps for you feet and hands! The slope he started us off on was a small one in comparison to the others. His instructions bagan and ended with BE CAREFUL...DON'T FALL OFF! Yannick and I decided to try standing on the board and pretty much succeded in going down more than halway down the slope at one go! Nu did it on her belly. It seemed like the belly style was more fun so we swiched to it ! The next slope was huge, andd crazy! the last was a monster! I'm dying to sandboard again!

Machu Pichu

We wanted the trip to MP to be adventurous and inexpensive. We hadn't booked the Inka trek months in advance like everyone else who wanted to do it had, because we had no idea when we would be in Peru. The other trekking optiions seemed interesting but given the price to excitement ratio we thought better of doing it. That meant we either tkae the train which costs about $80 each at the very least or we find another local route. Naturally we picked the local route. This was going to be fun.

Early morning we took a cab to an area called Cemetario from where we caught a 11 seater collectivo minitaxi to Santa Maria. This was a 4 hour ride through some unbelievable terrain. The setting for this road is the most stunning I've ever been driven through. First we got a view of Ollantaytambu, a very important Inca religious spot in the sacred valley and then we climbed to over 4800m with the clouds below us. The jet black road divides the clouds into two. Waterfalls and rivulets dot the valley, while thick lush green vegetation calms the senses. These roads are fantastic for mountain biking.

3 hours into the ride the road ends abruptly, and the next hour is sheer torture on a bumpy pot hole and boulder filled excuse for a road. Thankfully this is partly because they are trying to tar this section of the road. By now we had come down low enough for the heat to get menacing. Finally we reached Santa Maria and jumped into another collectivo taxi to get to Santa Theresa.

The taxi had a deadline, as he said the shorter road to SM would shut at 1 pm and it was already 12.30. He raced along the next stretch as we held our hearts in our mouths. The road that we labelled The Peruvan death road is no wider that the car wth a couple of feet on either side. The drop ranges from 500 to at least 1500 feet or so we imagined. Naturally this is a 2 way street so cars come speeding down at each other. ah I forgot to mention that the road is gravel with tons of loose pebbles and the constant warnings that loose boulders may fall from the sheer walls on the side of the road. At one point I believe we had one wheel hanging of the road, as the car had to negotiate a boulder that had fallen on the road. Natalia choose to get out of the car and walk, a wise if somewhat cowardly decision she will never be able to live down.

Finally we reached Hidroelectric. From here we trekked alongside the railway line for the the next 2 hours covering 10 kms through the most beautiful terrain. Sheer mountians ran on both sides of the track. These magnificant walls of rock were truly awe inspiring. The stood sheer all the way to where the clouds covered them a wonderfully mystical aura. The tracks follow the sacred Urbamba river which was the life blood of the Inca civilisation.

Aguas Calintes, the town from which you base your mount to Machu Pichu was a disaster. The tourist office and the officer in charge were a revelation in how to be rude and inefficient. They screwed up on Yannick's name age and then refused to fix the problem. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise later. I brought the house down and finally managed to create enough trouble for the office to bring in their seniour most officer who promised to deal with our problem next morning.

Dinner, for the first time in Peru was a disaster, but Machu pichu beckoned next morning so nothing could ebb the excitement that we felt. We decided to take the bus up and trek down when we heard about how disastrous the climb normally was. Trekkers were trying to get in line first because only 400 people were allowed to climb Wayna Pichu. This meant man becomes animal, shoves, pushes , screams, does anything to get up before the others.

We woke at 5 and got to the bus stop at 5.15 only to find that we were probably 200 in the line. Add to that the 2 or 300 that had started trekking up at 3 am and wayna Pichu was clearly a distant dream, but the INCA gods were smiling down on us. We got to the gates and I walked up to the front of the line to find the officer who was supposed to sort Yannicks ticket out. As I got there, I heard someone screaming out asking if anyone was interested in climbing Wayna Pichu. I calmly walked up to him, called our bunch, got us all stamped in and suddenly we were in front of the wayna pichu queue. I have no idea why the rest of the people in line did not react to the screaming voice, but later I had people curse us when they realised they had waited since 4.30 am in vain!

Machu Pichu was breathtaking!!! The ruins are extremely well preserved and the setting of the city is indescribeable. Wayna pichu was a crazy crazy tough ridiculous climb. The path was  never wide enough for 2 people and so precarious in places that often people , some rather big strong men, put their reputation on the line, sat on their butts and crawled up. Coming down was another problem all together. The view was worth the trouble and risk!

After coming down from WP we spent the entire day exploring and just enjoying Machu Pichu. Trekking back into Aguas calientes was a quiet affair given we realsied rather late that it was the centenery celebration of the discovery of Machu Pichu by Hiram Bingam!

That night for the first time I bargained a restaurant menu down!

The next day we were ready to do the trek back,death road and 5 hour drive back to Cusco. It was a little less eventful than when we did it last but it was fun. We had beaten the system and done the road to Machu ichu and back for under $35 each!!!

added a few photos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dragonflydreams2011/page1/

The Japanese Connection

Nu decided to use the time to try and work in a Peruvian restaurant and learn a few recipes. This did not work out, but instead we eneded up meeting a Japanese guy who has been in Peru for 24 years, who invited us to his house as he was cooking japanese that night for a few friends. Tomo and Masako were unbelievably welcoming. We walked into their house, learned to cook Japanese, I got pretty drunk with Tomo on his whisky and Sake, ate their food and had the time of our lives. What was most interesting is that Tomo speaks almost no English, but that only added to all the fun we had. We immediately fixed another date for an Indian dinner which Nu cooked. Another crazy fun afternoon, where we also learned how to make Sake!! Add to that, Dahlia an Isreili friend we had travelled through Bolivia with joined us in Cusco and at Tomo and Masakes house and cooked us a Shashooka.

One of the highlights of the last few months has to be the people we have met along the way. The unexpected beautiful friendships we have made, and the times we have spend with these people enriching each others lives. Often times you know you may never meet again and so living and enjoying the moment takes on an all together new meaning.

We had a few days and so started trying to figure the best route to Machu Pichu.

Cusco

We took the worst bus we had taken since arriving in South America. It was freezing cold and it did not help that the locals who filled the bus were dressed for poles while we had light jackets on. The fact that the windows were stuck together with tape psychologically destroyed us! Anyway, we reached Cusco at 4 am which was 3 hours behind schedule or at least the time we were told we woulod reach.

Cusco is a beautiful city, and arriving a week before the winter solstice meant it was week of pagentry and parades and lots of fun. Inti Raymi, or the big Inca winter solstice festival is celebrated on the 24th of June so we planned to spend time in and around Cusco to check out the festival.

Cusco has a bunch of churches, museums and a lot of Inca and tiwanaku architecture. The Inca built one hell of lot for a civilisation that only lasted 100 years. Most Inca walls are huge, built with large blocks of stone that have multiple edges, sometimes going upto 36 surfaces in one block.

More than anything, we needed to slow down,and so we took this opportunity to do not much else. The hostel was nice and pretty reasonable, food was good and we found some great deals. We even found an Indian restaurant that wasn't too bad. I think it was our first Indian restaurant meal on any of our travels.

We did travel around Cusco. We went to the Salt mines which were fantastic! A warm spring in the middle of the Andes that is salty, and feed an entire mountainside of salt evaporation mines. Then we went to Maras Moray where the Inca's created a laboratory to test the effect of altitude and temperature on plants by creating a huge complex of concentric circles in a valley using the walls of the mountain to create differnt temperature and altitudes . Each level is about 5 feet deeper than the next and 4-5 C higher. A natural water drainage system below the circles makes sure that there is no flooding even in the rains. It is an amazing structure although I'm not sure it was really used as a lab. It is an impressive struture!

The Urus - Floating Islands

The Urus or floating Islands are a bunch of man made islands that have existed in the lake for over a few hundred years (some say 900 years). I wasn't convinced by any of the explanations that the guide gave us about why they were created in the first place.

Each island has five or six families living on them. They are made of a very tough reed that is used in multiple layers in defferent froms so that the islands float but there is a solid surface on which to build huts as living quarters. Even so, it is all very wet and I imagine that this can't be very heathy for the population living on it. This reed has a soft inside which is supposed to be rich in nutrition and forms one of the staple foods along with trout or tricha as it is known in Spanish. The local boats that looked pretty solid are also made of this reed. Apparently sometime in the middle of this century a local fisherman crossed the Atlantic in one of these boats just tp prove how god they were. Naturally his island is a star attraction now.

All in all the Urus as a concpet is unique and really interesting but tourism has taken the charm out of them. The islands have become a show and when that happens, it is quite depressing. Having said that, the islands themselves are quite a revelation of mans ingenuity.
I came away wondering how young couples met...

Back in La Paz

La Paz was confusing. Everyone had a different story about the Puno border and neither could we find anything on the net that gave us any confidence. We had an option of trying to go through Arica in Chile but being Indian we needed a visa and ours wasn't valid anymore. Well, actually it might have been because we coudln't really understand if we had a 90 day visa or a 30 day visa or a visa that was only valid for 30 days from our first entry. We took a collectivo downtown to the Chilean embassy and realised that Arica was no longer an option. At least we got to see downtown La paz. It was businesslike, quite modern and very very different from the La Paz we had experienced until then.

We got back, and decided we would try and get to Lake Titicaca and Copacabana and get into Peru through Puno once way or the other. Natalia a Polish trvaeller joined us on this adventure. The bus we took was local and lots of fun. A few hours into the bus ride, we began to see the enormous lake. All in all, it covers an area of 8000 sq kms so it is pretty omnipresent. In a bit, we had to cross the lake which meant we take a small boat that seats about 20 and the bus gets on a large barge that takes it across. This is when we realised how big the waves on the lake were. It was ascary 10 min crossing but once again we were on our way.

The lake is stunning and has an energy that is difficult to explain. Apparently it is a lake that was pushed up from the ocean and so has both salty and sweet water. It is a place of riligious significnce to the Inca and much before that to the tiwanaku people. Apparently the trout in the water is now killing all the indigenous fish which is bummer but the trout is tasty!

We reached copacabana and figured out the border to Peru through Puno was open and so took a quick call to get through while we could. It was good a decision since the border ended up shut a few days later. This meant we don't do isla del Sol but we had a choice to make and the options were extremely crazy if the border closed once again so we jumped into a bus the next morning. The next day I realised I had left our Kindle in Copacabana...

The crossing itself was peaceful, uneventful and beautiful. The lake contunued to keep me stunned. It is a beautiful lake but more importantly , it is powerful and captivating in a strange spiritual way.

We reached Puno and our first Peruvian experience was a disaster. We were denied the bus we had booked and put onto a local bus. A fight ensued but not really knowing enough meant we were very easily made to believe the new bus co was  good one.

Anyway, we decided to see how it goes. In the meantime we were going to visit the Uros or floating islands of the lake. Lots to look forward to. we had a few hours to explore Puno and so we did. Its a tourstic town with some good local food if youcan find it. As usual we headed up to the local market and found a great almuerzo or set lunch for $1.5 each.

We were now ready for the Urus.

The Amazon - Day 3

we were to swim with the pink dolphins and so we decided to go out in swim trunks without any musquito repellant or sun block (for those who did use it). We parked in a little laguna and waited. Soon a couple of really unreal pink Dolphns lazily swam into the pool. One by one the brave and better swimmers including Yannick jumped into the water. We watched in horror as many other tourists on another boat were lathering themselves with sun block before diving in and polluting the water. Luckily, the repercussion of this, is that the Dolphins won't go near anyone with block or Deet!

Yannick was swimming round like a fish and I think the Dolphins found having a kid around interesting and wanted to check him out. They swam around him, scaring him the first time. I was sitting on the edge of the boat contemplating diving in when out of the blue this meter long pink snout pushed itself out of the water and took a nibble at my feet. I was shocked and then ecstatic. The next time it happened, it was still a shock, but since I was a little for ready for it, it was fun. Finally I jumped in but given my swimming skills I decided not to venture out too far from the boat.

The Dolphins were really beautiful and playful. To be swimming with the Dolphins in a beautiful amazonian laguna in the Yacuma knowing caymen, alligators and Piranha could well be around made me delirious and very worried when it came to Yannick, especially because he was good 3 or 400 meters away from our boat!  The pleasure of watching the Dolphin try and play with Yannick is unquantifiable!

It was time to leave and as we left we realised we weren't leaving without a strong reminder of where we were. Most of us were musquito bite pock marked but it was well worth it.

What followed was a long dusty ride back to Rurrenbaque, a fun evening playing snooker in the hostel, a decent meal and some sleep. We were all set ot get bak to La Paz on the smallest flight any of us had ever been on. It was time to figure out our plans into Peru since we had been hearing rumours about the border being closed once again!

amazon - day 2

Waking up in the morning to see the huge Caymen loll its way up towards our bank was a thrill. The few of us who were awake went shutter crazy. A stupid bird with yellow feet played around the huge animal dangerously. a brown furry monkey that marks its territory by barking so loud that it can be heard within an 8 k radius added to the caos. This was the perfect way to wake up in the Amazon.

Sadly this is where man and tourism comes in. The Caymen came to the island every day because they fed it. It was domesticated for the entertainment of the tourists. Wildlife tourism with no responsibility is taking its toll. People want photograohs with the Ananconda they spot when known or unknown to them the DDT on their bodies used to repel the enormous quantities of musquitoes will kill the snake once its skin contacts the deet. But then the tourist is not around to witness the horrible death and the snake is benevolent enough to die is some invisible part of the grassland, so who cares. Sun screen and DDT are poisonous so swimming in the water with all this protection is a ecological disaster but once agian who cares, as long as you have a picture to take back home.

The morning started off with the hunt for the Anaconda. It was a tough crazy walk through head high grass in knee deep slush. Luckily we were fitted with over sized gum boots but most of them had holes so it was a very wet walk. At one point my t shirt was so covered by musquitoes that I could barely see it. But we trudged on. When we all set to give up the adventure, our guide Rosaudo finally spotted a 5 to 6 feet baby Anaconda. It was well worth the painful 3 hours. Honestly, I enjoyed the trek but most of the group hated it. Rosaudo was ethical about not letting anyone touch the snake, maybe because we had made it clear that we were here to see the animals in their natural habitat and not for the photo opportunities but it felt good when we saw the snake slither away into the swamp. Nu thought she spotted one more snake when Yannick lifted his boot out of a puddle but it was too quick for the rest of us to see.

We were back in the camp and ready for the evenng session of Piranha fishing. The piranha actually have jaws and dentures. They are small but their teeth are scarily human like. The bait we used was meat. We were lucky, I caught one, Yannick managed another and Anu was excited as she fed the Piranha the bait instead of catching them. All in all, our boat did well, we had caught 5 or 6 fish while Rosaudo had another 5. We ate the Piranha at dinner. They tasted all right but seeing their jaws you can well imagine what they must do to a carcass in their own territory. 

The Amazon

La Paz was a fantastic few days largely because the food was great, the city inexpensive, and we reunited with friends from the Uyuni tour. We just heard that getting into Peru might be a problem as one of our Uyuni friends was turned back fronn the border which was a bother.

Since we were all together again we decided to do the Amazon here. Bolivia is probably the cheapest option to do the Amazon basin. We found a package deal that was pretty good and included airfare to and from Rurenabaque which is the base for the travel into the Pampas or the forest. We wanted to see wildlife so we picked the grasslands (pampas) over the rain forest. Rurrenbaque is a one horse town with a fantastic french bakery!! Yup, it is strange!

Anyway, we started from Rurre about 9am in a rattly 4X4 that did nothing to soften the bumps on the crazy dirt road. About two hours into this uncomfortable dusty ride, when we were driving along a stream/river, I suddenly spotted an alligator sunning itself. It was surreal! The alligator just sat on the bank of the stream sunning itself, not more than 50 feet from us. Birds of all sizes, colours and shapes can be spotted all along this route. Soon we reached the spot from where we were going to take a long boat along the Yacuma river into the Pampas.

Our guide Rosauro was a podgy smiley guy who had a great vibe. The boat is a very basic one but with a decent motor attached. Simple chairs are attached to the boat 2 by two, with Rosaudo handling the motor behind all of us. Each boat sat 8 of us with our backpacks etc. The next two and half hours was unbellievable. we saw a pink dolphin, alligators and caymen we could no longer count, some of who were 5 feet from our boat, the cutest little yellow monkeys, heron, birds of paradise or Serere, beautiful black long necked birds, and a ton of others I can't name, and the cutest and biggest rodents called Kapiberas.

We reached our really basic campsite / refugio in stunned silence. A great lunch and we were off to see the sunset. Not the most exciting one we have seen but you could buy a beer at this spot!

That night we took the boat out to see croc eyes in the river. I'm not sure how ethical it is to shine torches into Caymen eyes to see them shine a bright red but we did it. On hindsight I think we shouldn't have but ... At one point out boat got stuck in a sand bank and we could see 4 sets of eyes staring at us. I thought we were going to pay for shining torches at unsuspecting alligators and become caymen food but luckily we all managed to scramble to the back of the boat and pull us out of that tight spot. No lack of excitement in the Amazon!

The night without electricty was interesting. Musquitoes abound but we had great nets and so we were safe, Not the best toilets, especially given the musquitoes waiting inside for warm human blood! Everytime you took a crap, you came back with an arse that was red and swollen with musquito bites!

Somehow the night was not all that bad and it passed quite quickly. Of course we were all dead tired. Woke up next morning to see a huge caymen on our shore!!