Oaxaca

08/05/11  At last! We arrived in Mexico, our final stop! Cant believe its here already.

We're in Oaxaca, Mexico!

Old Town. Nice churches.

Zocalo plaza. You can always find a balloon man in a plaza in Mexico :)

Walky, strolly, look at things.

Chick From Way Back When

06/05/11  Jenny! Of Bingley Grammar School Class 2002.

Sat in a hostal in Panama, hoping to find a room. But instead I found a school mate from yonder year! Mental. We spent mucho tiempo talking about Music trips, who's married, who's a mama and who became a pole dancer... Excellent catch up! Nice to see you Jenny :)

The Cat And The Canal

06/05/11  A brief stop in Panama City before we fly on to Mexico. The home of the canal, a cat and where toilet paper is allowed down the toilet. Refreshing. Our hostel offers free pancake mix and coffee for breakfast :)

I think "a bit boring but epic" were the words.

Panama City Cat.

El Porvenir

04/05/11  We left Panadub, without enough dollars to pay for a 3rd night, and in need of a fresh water shower (after 5 days).  Porvenir Island has the airport.  It's ridiculous.  We decided to fly to Panama city for the fun of it and stayed 2 nights in the best airport hotel you can imagine.

During our stay we found both Crabs and Geckos in our bed during the night (unusually friendly), and John saw a 1m (probably more like 1.5m) Baracuda 3m away (probably more like 1m) while snorkling.  Ouchh.

Our 20 seater Twin Otter coming in to land.  You have to be seriously careful where you put your boat because they come in below the masts.  Can't afford to waste an inch of runway at this airstrip!

We don't even have a ticket...I guess we just get on?

A great view of Porvenir.  Also of the rest of the Islands and Reefs.

Marooned

02/05/11 We went in search of a desert island to get stuck on for a few days and did really well!  Actually, it turned out the first one we reached and got set up with hammocks had no food or fresh water, so after a bit of hassle, with Kunas who don't really give a damn, we eventually landed on Panadub.  (Its May by the way, we fly home at the end of the month! Crumbs.)

Lancha is the taxi of the San Blas.  They're quick and painful (on the ass).  We took one from Porvenir to Panadub.

This is where we stayed.  One cabana on the Island, one Kuna family, one parrot, one monkey and a handful of palm trees.

Pelican Island. (West view from hut)

The family.  Plas, the dude in the middle who looks like Pharell, turned out to be a chief of the surrounding islands.  Intimidating at first, gangster springs to mind, especially with San Blas being one of the main cocaine routes from Colombia to Central America.  But he was a great host, and we lucked out meeting the girlfriend of his mate, who got us 60% discount!

El Parrot.

El Monkey (food stealer, grrrr).

El ...one that likes to sit on your feet?
Turns out the gangster chief likes animals. And he gets them as gifts from the villages... just keep the man happy ok?!

30 bucks a night each included 3 incredible meals a day.  We ate massive Lobsters, Konch (squid like stuff that lives inside this shell) and always coconut rice.

We would've had Crab too, but we left that afternoon.

Inspired by a German surgeon/carpenter we met in Colombia, John has been, er, wittling.  There's been a random shape, a small windmill for the beach and the latest, an attempt to reach Panama un-manned.  The Trimaran "There & Back" was pretty quick for a 2fter, but didn't proove ocean-going and capsized just 200m off shore.  Looked good though!

Chilled :)

Sailing To San Blas

28/04/11  We've left South America, a land mark and a half for our trip. (Luckily the infamous FARC and drug cartels of Colombia did not live up to their reputation and we left unscathed).  And what a way to leave; on a 36 hour sail North into the Caribbean Sea towards the desert islands of the San Blas.  Our boat was 43ft Cool Running II, home of Sandra and George who had stopped to make some cash on their way around the world, by sailing backpackers between Colombia and Panama.

Unfortunately the wind didn't favour our shedule, so we had to motor the big crossing to the San Blas.  It was still an amazing experience to be surrounded by nothing but blue sea for a full day and night.  George, our 'cantankerous captain' had enough detailed stories to keep us entertained the whole way.

No land or a ship in sight, just blue water, hundreds of meters deep.

Dolphins came to say hi!

We finally dropped anchor and the skipper 'opened the pool' :)  We had two days exploring the San Blas islands and snorkling around the reefs.  We also discovered that these Austrian guys are in to their food!  We're talking fresh pizzas and baked bread, beef goulash etc. in the galley of a yacht!  The bar has been raised.

Water as warm as it looks :)

The Kuna people live on these islands!  There are over 350 islands in the San Blas.  You could walk around this one in max 10 minutes.

Neeeeeowm. Zoink.

Sailing between islands.

The Kunas sail between islands on dug out canoes.  Apparently some even get adventurous and take them all the way down to Colombia!! 3m waves in that is brave!

Can't remember the name of this island, but it had a village crammed on right up to the edge and we had a look around.

Ever been tempted to jump into a public toilet before? Probably still not a good idea.

The Kuna ladies have amazing clothes, scarfs, nose rings and beads up their arms and on their legs (like socks).  Grace got a little of the love :)

Boys rocking the water out of their canoe after capsizing it.

Sandra and George left us at Porvenir island, where we had our passports stamped for entry into Panama, as we decided to stay in the San Blas for a few more days.  Oh go on then ;)

Cartagena

25/04/11  Our final stop in Colombia, and our last days in South America.

Cartagena has a classic colonial town full of churches, plazas and cobbles.  Chilled and nice to romp around. Easey Breeeesey :)

Colombian flag.

Check it out, our first "party hostel".  Pretty sweet really, and the pool was a nice touch.  We met some good guys in our dormitory too, but some(evil)one stole two steaks from the fridge!  Have some of my milk, or even an egg, but dude, two steaks!  We still hate you.

We were tipped off about this place called Crepes&Waffles and it was a good lead.  Apparently the result of two ambitious uni students from Bogota.  We maxed out on a two course cream feast ;)

Two Gems In An Increasingly Street-eat-less Continent

Asia kind of raised the bar for street food, but occasionally we've come across some classics in South America too.  Here's two favourites from Colombia.

The Lime Guys are everywhere and make refreshing juice for 1000 pesos (30p).

Arepas.  When they're good they're goood.  Maize mashed up with cheese cheese cheese and BBQ'd on banana leafs.  Sweet sweet stodge :)  1000 pesos.

Santa Marta

24/04/11 Ciudad and beach completed, we spent a few days in Santa Marta, including Eater Sunday.  We mainly tested the street food or watched cable TV in our oddly cheap hotel.  Good find :)

Typical street.

Typical market.

Easter sunset (without "sunset mode").

Thought we should do a shout out for our playing cards.  All the way from our holiday in Donegal, 2007, they've been played all over the world. Grace is a last card fluke winner, John has the monopoly on Rummy.

We couldn't find Easter Eggs, so settled for Helado. Mmm...icecreamy.

Tayrona

22/04/11 Finally.  We head to the hot and humid Caribbean coast :)  An hour bus ride out of Santa Marta to the Park entrance, then another short bus ride and a 1hr walk through jungle took us to Cabo San Juan.  We were assured earlier in the day accomodation was full for the Easter weekend.  But what do you know, we found two hammocks available for a few nights.  Tranquille ;)

Nice sun-down.

Nice sun-downer.  The Ron Caldas is a great Colombian rum. Unfortunately the mixer (only available) wasn't up to scratch, but luckily we brought a lot of limes with us. Playing memory was mucho fun under rum :)

Yeah I might be 2cm long, but I'm a tropical bad ass.

Ciudad Perdida

16/04/11  The Lost City.  We've just spent 5 days treking throughout the Colombian rain forest in Parque Nacional Tayrona.  The purpose was to visit the site of an old Tayrona City, but just experiencing the rain forest was epic.

Generally it was incredibly hot and humid and it rained most afternoons.  On Day 1 we left a little late and were caught up in torrential rain - like on film sets.  We marched on through the mud and rivers like a scene out of Platoon.  Hardcore!

Up...

...Down... All the way.  Steep and sweaty!

Luckily the river was cold and when we had time we swam.  When we didn't have time we waded through the rapids, trying not to drop the camera or break our toes on the rocks.

We had a guide (Omar) with us, full of all the classic useful info (like the fern tattoo).  He was neccessary to negotiate and keep us safe from the bad guys.  The trip was quite pricey, but it turns out wads of cash went to paying off the farmers, native Tayronas, Government Military and the Paramilitary.  We didn't fund the FARC though. 
Ps. Colombian men love to walk round with their bellies out, John is still working on that one.

Each night we stayed in camps with roofs for rain and basic facilities.  Always on the river with a natural swimming pool and high dive rock to jump off :)

We had a cook (Jason) who stuffed us, made us hot chocolate in the morning and showed us the best rocks to jump off into the river.

We slept in Hammocks.

 Had some good folk in our group too :)

Who cares about leaf cutter ants?  Have you seen the size of that spider?! Mosquitos, mosquitos, mosquitos...

1 of 100.

The indigenous Tayronas seem to pretty much live an un-touched life in their Parque Nacional.  They have there own language, worship the sun and the moon and have Shamans to connect to the spiritual world. Their ancestors were the original inhabitants of the Ciudad Perdida, but they haven't built anything on that scale since. 

They wear only white and are tiny! (Although these two are actually kids.)

Mules.  Can carry up to 4 Graces each!

Morning jungle :)

On the afternoon of day 3 we set off up the thousand-something stairs up to the Ciudad.  Crazy like the Incas.

The Colombian government have left the site largely unrestored, worried that by removing the trees they may loose most of it to land slides.  It gives the place a spooky and undiscovered aura.

 Spooky.

There's a map.

An old overgrown Shaman hut.

And a sweet spot for an infinity pool ;)

Ciudad Perdida.

Group shot!  Seriously, smile (and nod, and do anything they ask!)