Bocas Del Toro: Still beautiful Caribbean beaches, just a lot more alcohol!

Hello everyone from Central America! I am writing this email as I am waiting for a boat to take me back to mainland Panama from the island paradise of Boca Del Toro. I have been here for the past 5 days, prior to which I spent around 5 days parting in Panama city.

Panama City was great, a beautiful place with great bars and friendly people. Also where else in the world could you bribe a security guard a dollar to get youself and some friends into the VIP area of a huge boxing match. Unfortunately I could not bribe another guard to let me lean on the ring, which I had drunkenly attempted before being escorted back to the VIP area. I tried to explain to him in Spanish that I was a journalist covering the match, but he didn´t believe me. It may have had something to do with the fact that I was drunk and holding a beer and not a camera or any writing implement, but who knows? Anyway it was quite funny.

So after a great time in Panama City I headed onto Bocas Del Toro. Bocas like the San Blas islands is just off the Caribbean coast of Panama, however it is a pardise for very different reasons to San Blas. The San Blas islands' beauty lay in the fact that they were not full of tourists and you could spend your days truly at peace. Bocas is the complete opposite. The beaches are great, but the islands are full of tourists, bars and restaurants. The reason Bocas is a 'paradise' is because it is the bacpacker equivalent of Cancun, albeit on a far smaller scale. The islands are full of largely American backpackers seeking sun, surf and cheap booze and as a result the palce has a great party atmosphere whilst at the same time retaining the laid-back attitude that seems to accompany backpacker hubs.

I really have enjoyed myself hugely here. This is evident from the fact that i came here for two days five days ago. However I feel now is time to move on, partially because I am already hugely behind schedule, and also in order to give my liver a rest. I have been enjoying Bocas a sit should be enjoyed and have basically spent my time drinking 25p beers in the bars, or lying hungover on a Caribbean beach in the day.

So now I am taking a boat back to the mainland in ten minutes and then grabbing a bus to Costa Rica where I will be for only a short time before heading into Nicaragua where I will probably be at the time of my next post.

I will update you all with my latest escapades soon.

Phil

Paradise has a name and its name is Archipelago San Blas!

Hello and welcome to the latest installment of my blog and the first since my arrival in Central America.
Today I arrived in Panama City following undoubtedly one of the most enjoyable weeks of my trip so far.

After I left Santa Marta where I wrote my last post, I spent a week taking in the sights in Cartagena. The city was unquestionably very pretty, with lots of fascinating colonial architecture. But in all honesty I felt that i felt that its' outstanding reputation was slightly over-rated . I could easily have spent 2 days in the town, rather than a week as there was little to do in the day once you had seen the main sights (there are beaches, but they are far inferior to those of any other town on the Caribbean coast) and the night life was suprisingly poor. However my stay was prolonged due to the fact that I had to wait in order to get a boat to Panama.

It was certainly worth the wait. The trip itself took five days on a 34 foot sailing yacht with 5 other people. The first two days were spent sailing to Panama and the majority of the rest of the time was spent in the San Blas islands. These islands are undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and peaceful places I had ever been. They are completely undeveloped with only a few indigenous huts on the islands, and due to the lack of tourist infrastructure there are very few tourists, meaning that often the people on my boat were they only people on the island. I only wish I could have spent more times in the islands, however I had to move on, and in a week I will be in a different set of Caribbean islands when I head to Bocas Del Toro. It's a hard life!

I will leave this post brief, as I am heading out in Panama City tonight in the hope of finding the night life better than Cartagena.

Speak to you all soon

Phil

Why did all indigenous South American cultures build there cities in the mountains?

Just over two weeks ago I stood in wonder gazing at one of the newly crowned 'new 7 wonders of the world' Machu Picchu. As I gazed at this incredible site there were a number of thou8ghts going through my head: firstly, this is amazing, secondly there are far too many people here and finally, I am knackerred.

Whilst the Inca Trail was truly one of the highlights of my trip so far, it was also very tiring and I soon after decided that I would take some time off to rest before I excerted myself in such a way again.

However that does not seem to have happened. This is largely because of the tight schedule I have imposed upon myself due to the extensivity of my trip and partly due to my nature, which craves activity most of the time and seldom wants for rest.

So it has come to pass that since the Inca Trail I have either been moving to my next destination, looking around colonial cities or hiking and climbing waterfalls in the Amazon. So it may be little suprise then that around a week ago I decided to embark on yet another epic trek to a ruined South American city, this time to the lost city of the Tayrona's near Santa Marta in Columbia.

The trek itself took six days, and unfortunately my assumption that the trek would be flat and easy as I had left the Andes was false. The six days was generally spent either going up or down various mountains and although I no longer had to combat the problem of altitude, there was the small matter of the 37 degree temperature to contend with.

However although the negativity of this introduction would imply that I had not enjoyed the trek to Ciudad Perdida (literally translated as 'Lost City') as the city is called, that could not be further from the truth. The trek was not only amazing, but in many ways far more enjoyable than the Inca trail, even if the city itself is not itself as truly awe-inspiring as Machu Picchu. To be honest comparing the ruin to Machu Picchu is slightly unfair, firstly it is far older and secondly it is unfair to judge against one of the aforementioned 'new seven wonders of the world', however it is a useful comparison.

The city itself is spectacular, but in a very different way to Macchu Pichu. Firstly, the remain s of the city are not that of temples and houses, but instead stone terraces. This is because the houses theselves were constructed from wood and built on the terraces. These terraces alone are impressive constructions considering they date back to 1000 CE and pre date Machu Pichu by over 500 years. The other major difference between the two sites is the setting. Whilst both sites were previously covered by the jungle until their discovery, where Machu Picchu has been completely cleared, Ciudad Perdida is still in encroached upon by the jungle giving the visitor more of a feeling that he is actually discovering something and seeing the city in much the same way that it was found. The final and perhaps the most important difference between the two sites is the number of people at Ciudad Perdida. When I was at the site, there were six tourists, including me, at the site. Machu Picchu in contrast with its' 3000 tourists a day its' restaurant and its' souvenir shops is the complete opposite. There site does have a miltary regikent at the site also, but they generally stay out of the way in their camp.

There are a number of reasons for the relatively small number of people at the site itself. Firstly the only way to the site is by the 6 day trek which I did (3 days there and 3 days back) and unlike Machu Picchu there is no train or bus to get there. Secondly Columbia itself is a far less popular destination than Peru beacuae although I have found Columbia to be very safe, it still has a reputation for kidnappings and robbery. This is fairly unfair considering the last kidnapping of a tourist happened 5 years ago (admittedly on a trek to Ciudad Perdida) and also because you are far more likely to be robbed in Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador and even Peru. The trek itself is also now completely safe due to the large military presence in the area. This is in part to protect the tourists due to the history of guerilla insurgency in the area, but predominately the military in the area are there to remove the numerous coca plantations that were used to be in the national park.

I am very happy that I got to see the site with so few people around. This is something which will inevitably change as Columbia becomes safer and more of a destination for international tourists. Apparently the Columbian government is also already working out ways to make access to the site easier. So if you are interested in planning a visit to Ciudad Perdida, do so as soon as possible.

I am now back in Santa Marta having a day on the beach before I head back to Cartagena for a couple of days before I hopefully get a boat across the Carribean to Panama vis the San Blas Islands.

Its a hard life.

Speak to you all soon

Phil

Back to the Caribbean!

As I write this next installment of my blog I am sitting in an internet cafe in Santa Marta on the Columbian Caribbean coast. I have now come full circle and to be honest I am exceptionally happy to be back on the Caribbean coast where I started this expedition. Peru and Bolivia were amazing, but it is nice to be back to the kind of weather that I had expected of South America before my arrival; hot and sunny. Unfortunately due to the altitude both Peru and Bolivia were fairly cold.


Columbia is a beautiful place and although I have only been here a couple of days, I already know that i'm going to like it a lot. I arrived by plane in Cartagena (decided taking a bus may not be the best of ideas due to the tensions and tanks on the Ecuador-Columbia border) which is beautiful old colonial fortress town on the Caribbean coast, which I look forward to spending more time in before I leave Columbia. Howevr I swiftly moved onto Santa Marta which is something of a Columbian resort town. I was slightly concerned that it would be dirty and tacky, like my last experience of a South American Caribbean 'resort' in Puerto La Cruz in Venezuela. Santa Marta however could not be further removed from that sty. The town itself is reserved, laid back and has some wonderful colonial architecture as well as most improtantly a clean beach which I look forward to heading to later.


I had to come to Santa Marta as it is the base for expeditions to Ciudad Perdida, the lost city of the Tayrona's. Tomorrow I begin a 6 day trek to the city before returning to Santa Marta for a spot of relaxation before heading back to Cartagena and then on to Panama.

However I have not spent all my time since my last post in Columbia. Following a flight from Cuzco to Lima I sat on a number of buses foraround 60 hours on my way to Tena in the Ecuadorian Amazon. I arrived in Tena, a pretty town sitting on two rivers, rather jaded, yet endeavoured to book a few days in an Amazon lodge including a number of excursions. This was definitely a worthwhile venture as a trip was leaving the next day with space for me, and most the companies would not normaly take solo travellers.


Upon my arrival at the lodge, I was surprised at how nice it was for the fairly cheap price. The photo above was the view from my room which had a hammock out front which I spent a fair bit of time in. I then proceeded over the course of the next few days to visit indigenous communitities, hike through the forest with a local guide tasting it's various foods, I climed waterfalls and rafted down the river with dense forest on either side. The experience was amazing, but largely due to fatigue and partly due to the ever-present mosquitoes I was happy to head onto the capital Quito where I had a day of rest. I headed out briefly to have a look at the colonial city centre, which was certainly worth a look, but I enjoyed my rest day and was then ready to continue onto Cartegena the next day.


Well everybody I must be off, i'm heading down the beach for the afternoon before my hike begins tomorrow.


Adios
Phil

The Inca Trail in two words: Amazing and tiring

Hello all and welcome to the latest installment of my blog. I am currently still in Cuzco having yesterday finished the Inca Trail. With all the hype that accompanies the experience, it could easily have been something of an anti-climax arriving at Macchu Picchu. However I am happy to say that my high expectations were filled and that the whole experience was amazing.


Since I last posted I travelled by bus from Puno to Cuzco (the starting point for my Inca Trail) stopping at a number of Inca sites on the way. These sites were nicestops on the way to Cuzco and helped to build my anticipation of the Inca Trail, as well as helping me to gain a bit more understanding of the Inca culture before I saw their masterpiece.


I then arrived in Cuzco the former capital of the Inca empire which was mainly destroyed by the conquistadores. However many of the major buildings in the city are made from the ruins of the former Inca buildings and it is a spectacularly pretty city with many wide squares to laze around in. As something of a backpacker Mecca it is also a great place to go out, as a I found out in the few days before my Inca Trail. However with so many tourists it is also very expensive. Therefore maybe there is a silver-lining to the cloud that was the bout of food-poisoning I got two days before I left for the Inca Trail. It was so severe I was concerned I may not be able to go on the trail. Also more irritatingly considering how much street food i have been eating of late (it's cheap), I got it from a restaurant. However fortunately it cleared up and I was able to go on the trail. Also realistically I can't expect to travel for three months in South America without getting food poisoning at least once.


The trail itself was spectacular. The walk lasts four days stopping at campsites in the evenings and passes a number of important Inca sites before reaching the famous Macchu Picchu. The trail itself is suprisingly hard. Due to its' popularity, I had expected the trail to be little more than a gentle stroll. However this is certainly not the case. The trail ascends and descends for almost the entire four days, with at times entire days being spent going uphill. Despite the trail being more challenging than I had thought, it did make the experince slightly more of a challenge, it also meant that as I was fitter and a far faster walker than most and because my group was one of the first groups, at times I was the first person to reach Inca sites and had long periods of time in Inca sites alone which makes them slightly more special than when there are 200 people around. Then finally on the fourth morning we got up at four in the morining to head to Macchu Picchu. The city itself is amazing, however to my dissapointment when I arrived it was so misty you could not see ten metres in front of you, let alone the monuments. However with a bit of patince, the mist began to clear revealing the city in all its glory. The presence of the mist also gave the city a somewhat ethereal quality making it almost more magical as it was revealed before my eyes. In time the sun came out and revealed the city as you see in the photo above.


The experience was truly great and probably the best of a great three months, hopefully there are more to come. Next I head off to Ecuador where I am hopefully spending some time in the Amazon.


Speak to you all soon


Phil

Getting injured on the world's most dangerous road, who would have thought it?

Hello everybody from Peru! I hope you all had a great Easter! I certainly did as I continued my journey through Latin America throughout Bolivia and into Peru.

I have just arrived in Peru today and am currently in the Southern town of Puno on the shore of Lake Titicaca. To be honest the town is not the nicest place, and tomorrow I get on a bus and head to Cusco where I stay for a few days before I begin my Inca Trail. I think Puno looks slightly worse than it probably is largely because I have just come from the Bolivian town of Copacabana on the Southern shore of Lake Titicaca. It is a great town in it's own right as well as the port for ferries heading to the Inca ruins on the islands of Isla del Sol and Isla del Luna on the Lake. I spent a day walking around Isla del Sol looking at some of the Inca ruins (The Inca's believed the island was the birth place of the sun god) which has really made me begin to look froward to Macchu Pichu in the next few days.

Aside from Copocabana I have spent the rest of my time since my last post in La Paz. In many ways I was suprised at how much I liked La Paz. I was not expecting it to be that great, but what I found was one of my favorite city's of the trip so far. The only reason I had planned to stay so long was because I did not want to be stuck in some village in Bolivia during Easter, but what I found was a vibrant and fun city and one of the best places to go out in the entire of my trip so far (it may have helped that I was staying in a brewery).

The city itself is the highest capital in the world and yet sits spectacularly in a valley surrounded by snow capped peaks which the houses climb up. The city is also the base for the popular 'world's most dangerous road' mountain bike trip. I decided to do the trip thinking the name was exaggerated slightly. The reason the road (going from La Paz to Coroico) was named such was because on average it used to have 100 deaths a year largely due to bus crashes. However the Bolivian government finally worked out that it might be sensible to open up an alternative route linking the to towns to stop this, meaning that the only cars that now use the road are those people that live on the road itself. The road is a 40km long 3m wide gravel (loose gravel as I found out!) track that descends 3000m. It is covered in waterfalls and lanslides and has an exceptionally high drop off the side (about 2 bikers die every year going off the side) so obviously I had to bike down it. It is very hyped and thousands of tourists do it every year unharmed, but while deaths are rare, apparently broken bones are not uncommon. I can see why. I had the misfortune of skidding on one corner, known by the guides as 'collar bone corner' and coming off the bike (fortunately) onto the road. I escaped with merely scrapes and bruises, although one bruise does cover my entire left hip area and I have an impressive limp at present. However I carried on and made it to the bottom alive.
Speaking to my guide at the end of the ride I was told by him that accidents are not uncommon largely due to blokes riding too fast (guilty!) girls riding too slow. He then told me that he himself was not immune to this and had been off the edge, but had fortunately only fallen 3m into a tree and not 400m. Maybe the name 'the world's most dangerous road' is appropriate.

Anyway I best be off to bed now as I have a ridiculously early bus to Cusco tomorrow morning. I will speak to you all soon.

Phil