Sorry, that list is too long! I’ll write it down in an “about me v2.0″ section at some point in time but not now. (Yes, there are some background developments going on with regards to this website, so stay tuned!)

So, back to business. From city to city, bus to truck and the hills to the coast; time to complete the loop! After Bayamo (sshhh, be quiet!) it was time for some more coastal work; off to Trinidad! FInding a place to stay is easy as there are about 1200 rooms for rent and 400 tourists scattered throughout the city… so you’re pretty much being nailed to the wall by casa owners desperately trying to rent their place to you - lol! Having to deal with such a thing a 6am is all the more fun! Other than that, this has definately been the nicest city I’ve been to in all of Cuba, though I know a lot of people will argue this :) Trinidad forms a nice mix of Caribbean and Latino/Cuban culture, along with beautiful surroundings in the inland as well as a pretty beach. Quite the place to crash down for a couple days and get drunk so that’s what I did! The days merely consisted of city-viewing, beach-bumming, exchanging stories (and laughing my butt off) and dancing! Great to be there so go watch pictures like you always do!

Next up; a final visit to Habana! Since I knew I’d be passing through here a couple more times I decided not to visit all parts in one go so here’s part 3! You know, buildings, old cars and stuff… so on to Vinales; tobacco country, backed by limestone rocks and a lot less linear than the rest of Cuba - or so it seemed at first sight :) I got there together with this guy (you’re welcome Trav!) and went on cave visits, biking trips and some longer hikes, in the middle of the day while it was 33C (what were we thinking again!?). Visiting local tobacco farmers, discovering (well, sort of) a cave nobody told us about and going on bike trips is fun after a lot of city-flavour!

After Vinales it was time to crash down in Las Terrazas, a Soviet-style model eco-village (try to say that 10 times in a row), pretty much out of the way of most places. Pretty fit to chill out for a while and explore a little more nature, after all I now realise I like being near nature more than being in big cities :) Part of the fun was staying in a bird’s nest-style house but I forgot to take a picture, sorry!

Then, the final stop: Habana, getting ready for the return leg to Guatemala. This basically meant I re-re-re-reconfirmed my flight for the 5th time - although it was fun I didn’t want to go through this hassle again - and found the time to help Travis out trying to file a report for his stolen camera… NOT!!! A couple hours, three different police stations and A LOT of talking later, we were simply being told this: “Your story about this theft is strange, so how about we start investigating your story and hold you in custody until we sort this out?”. Ehmmmm… (sweat, tremble, gnawing for breath) … not quite what we need only 4 hours before our flight’s departure. Anyway, we eventually managed to get the hell out of the police station and subsequently the country :) Socialism, at some point it just gets to you… bye bye Cuba!

The next article will be posted on Wednesday night so stay tuned and come back soon!! Hasta luego!!

-René

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A church! After all it's been a while!

Trinidad's street "life"

Trinidad - unique rooftops and hills ;)

Yep, that’s exactly what’s being expected from tourists in Cuba. If linear tourism is being offered, don’t try to get off the track or Big Brother might not be happy. Yeah right… time to try things out!

So after a little bit of Habana (and again staying with my friend’s parents) it was time to explore more of the island; time to head east! Osmar left for his new apartment in Moa, quite eastward and asked me to visit him there instead of Habana (read the previous article if you don’t follow this). No problem… all it takes is an 800-km overnight bus trip - Vamonos!

As most of you know there’s a strict division between stuff available for Cubans (limited) and tourists (less limited, though still very linear). Being a good civilian you don’t challenge this and stick to whatever Castro & Co. set up for you, so you just see and experience the same stuff as everyone else. Just the thing for me - NOT! It’s an instant challenge to do things (and I mean everything) the Cuban way. There’s certain pros and cons to it, the pros being the price and the cons being quality, standing in line, going through a hassle etc). This article explains perfectly… and yes, most of you know about my (overly expressed) critics against Lonely Planet but this is something they pointed out really well!

Anyway, let’s take off! First stop: Holguin. Reason: transit. Means of transport to Moa: Cuban truck, commonly fit for cattle (unfortunately I’m not joking, again…). Despite reluctance of government-transport-company-whatever-kind-of-workers to tell me how to get on those locals eventually helped me out: pull a number! Cool, just like the butcher back home! Number 81 up to 119 would be let on the next truck, or so I was told. So I got in line, got a number, looked at the note and it said….. 341! See above to read what I said about cons ;) A lot of hassling, sweet talking, nice looks and a friendly local got me number 101 eventually - I like free trade - so I got on but won’t ever repeat this exercise; me getting on means a Cuban who can’t afford the “luxury” bus has to wait another 2 hours to catch the next truck. Yes, I felt (and plead) guilty…

Moa isn’t quite the place for tourists - and for good reason. A nearby mine causes severe pollution, local population suffers from a wide variety of health problems and the air is noticeably messed up - my eyes started irritating within 12 hours after my arrival. Anyway, it’s friendship that counts and the festival and families we visited to were nice. It was also interesting to see a market for Cubans only (notice the variety in the picture) and to have a look past the screen the beloved government put up (here’s one reason for not posting while still being there ;)).

As I’d like to get older than 32, I soon took off to Baracoa (lying I was a student so I could get into a Cuban taxi) - on the easternmost tip of the island. The surroundings are gorgeous and after a (relatively) big deal of city life I was up for some more nature. So here I go: biking, beach-bumming, climbing a hill (El Yunque - 563m) and generally hopping around and being unable to sit still. Check out the pictures I’d say! The easiest way to get around was by bike, which has been my best and closest encounter with Cuban quality so far; about 5km out of town, in the middle of almost nowhere, the chain broke (in 2 pieces, that is) - reason enough to see an afternoon going down the drain but locals brought the solution. How to MacGyver a bike back together: It’s simple; use a piece of iron from the asphalt, some grass, a rock, spit and… voila - you’re all set! I hereby claim being unable to remember this so you guys won’t start asking me to fix your bikes next time ;)

There’s one way to leave Baracoa; by national bus company Viazul, thus linear… so I linearly went to Santiago de Cuba. I apologise once again for being sour, but I don’t understand why everyone’s so lyrical about the place; although music and nightlife are nice and the city features the funkiest shop I have ever visited (and probably will ever visit) there isn’t that much to impress me with. One day was all it took to continue my linear route to Bayamo where I stayed in a linear family house (vomit!) and visited linear stuff (barf!) - if it wasn’t for Labour Day! Thank heaven for that - another local festival and no tourists around! Since Bayamo seems to be even more quiet than Baracoa this is a welcome alternative to … linearism :) Labour Day might be (yet another) socialism-flavoured party in Cuba, but it’s definately worth to get out there and meet a lot of people. After receiving about 20 warnings (yeah, yeah… tourists obvisouly weren’t supposed to go there!) a bicycle taxi took me to a big field outside the city centre where the celebration took place. No parades, no propaganda and a lot of music, drunk people and acrobatics in order to get cheap Cuban beer (see picture below) - looks like fun eh!? Anyway, it’s fun hanging out with locals despite the 50 100 173 attempts of people to slash my bag (come on, you honestly think I’d carry anything of value on my back!?).

Alright, enjoy the pictures below! Next update: Sunday - life’s all about friends and music!

-René

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Means of transport - Holguin (illegal for tourists)

Means of transport - Moa (illegal for tourists)

Means of transport - Moa (illegal for tourists... SIGH!)

Yeah, I know, I`m sorry… its been way too quiet out here in the last couple weeks but it`s just that I seriously geared up on traveling speed and as such don`t have too much time to write stuff down here. Anyway…

“Rene Miltenburg! Stop complaining about the fact you cannot dance… either DO something about it or just shut up!”

This is what I (sort of) told myself on a minivan trip between San Cristobal and country #8 on this trip: Guatemala! My first destination: Xela - aka Quetzaltenango - located in the country`s western highlands! Yes… more C, culture and cold! However, before arriving there I had to cross yet another border. This is the 13th time this trip (believe it or not!) … and the third time I got into trouble. I guess I`m not doing too well, statistically speaking… Anyway, the conversation between me and the migracion guy about having or not having paid tourist tax was interesting. Click “read more” for a short transcript! :)

Whatever, fast forward; Xela isn`t quite the place you just hang out at - people come here to accomplish something, be it learning Spanish, doing some serious hiking, learning Mayan languages, or … learn salsa dancing! In my case, mainly the latter applied though inbetween I also ascended Volcan Tajumulco - this highest peak in Central America. After all, you can`t really say you topped Central America if you haven`t been to the highest point, can you? :) Pictures once again are worth more than words, so have fun viewing! The erupting volcano you see is Santiaguito; one of the most active volcanoes in the region so no, we`re not talking coincidence (or bad karma) here! In order to chill down, we also visited some hot springs (H-O-T!) and - for a change - the cheesiest church on the western hemisphere (where´s the competition? ;))!

As for the dancing - again, believe it or not - I did actually book some serious progress! “Unfortunately” I couldn`t take any pictures :) but for those interested I`ll be happy to give some demo`s once back home! Yes, you heard that right, home… where`s that again!? I`ll come bck to you on that topic soon - stay tuned!

-René  “this is a friggin` bootcamp!” Miltenburg

PS: In light of respect for local indigenous cultures I cannot publish any detailed pictures of the people and / or elements of their daily lives. Taking pictures without any explicit consent is believed to steal spirits and is as such not appreciated - let alone these pictures being published. Thanks for understanding.

PPS: The pictures of the Tajumulco hike will be included tomorrow(-ish)!

Update 19-Mar: Done!

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Xela - "any given Sunday"

Indigenous market we bumped into - nice ´n busy!

Xela´s surroundings - Volcan Santamaria (amongst others)

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Lots of different things to write about this time, so let´s try to be efficient and write less than a complete book :) Also, this post won´t be as “blue” as the previous one, promise ;)

So after the ocean, it was time for an environment that´s a bit more “hilly” - we took off to the Cayo district in Western Belize, to a place called San Ignacio. We used it as a base to explore two different Maya ruins; Cahal Pech and Xunantunich (hope this is correct). Both are very different, though equally impressive.

Next up were preparations for a day of celebration: Mayo´s bday (see comments on previous post ;)). We decided to celebrate this one in Hopkins, a pretty out-of-the-way beach town with hardly any roads, no cell phone reception … you get the idea! Stayed in a highly hippy-oriented place - the owners were interesting, our fellow guests were not (ask Mayo for the full story)! After some nice fish-n-cake meals :) it was high time to run off; on to Caves Branch, time for cave-tubing! Surroundings and caves were really impressive. Tubing was fun, though not very fast, pictures should explain it all!

Following this we had the intention to visit the Lamanai ruins (yes, another one), however once we arrived it turned out the place was one giant tourist-trap so we skipped it and instead crossed the border back to Mexico to visit the ruins of Kohunlich! The only way to get there was by hitchhiking, which still is good fun, especially if you need to watch out where to put your feet as the bottom of the truck was full of holes. Anyway, Kohunlich was impressive as it´s still mostly covered by jungle, and has some really nice Mayan masks.

Time to weave further up north; we ended up near Valladolid to swim in a cenote; a sinkhole filled with groundwater. Quite an impressive experience, and it seemed the water was even clearer than in the Caribbean Sea! As we wanted to blend in some more “wildlife-related” activities we decided to head further north, up to Rio Lagartos, where we made a tour through some mangrove forest (incl the marvellous number of one crocodile and lots of birds) and spotted some flamingos in nearby saliñas.

So much for this “diary-wise” post for now - hope you enjoy the pictures once more!

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Cahal Pech

On top of Cahal Pech

Xunantunich - skyline

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Arright! Please allow me to break the silence down here, the last couple days have been sort of disconnected, if not hectic, if not both. Anyway, after two earlier intentions (aka semi-attempts) to go to the Corn Islands, I finally managed to get there! You know what they say - third time lucky ;)

The entire story on the subject is quite extensive, so bearing in mind the majority of visitors prefer a short story (and lots of pics ;)) you´ll find the “director´s cut” below. The full monte can be found by clicking on “read more” at the bottom of this article. Sounds fair, doesn´t it? :)

So here we go… As the islands are pretty isolated (70km off Nicaragua´s east coast), there´s basically two options to get there: by air (aka recommended and preferred) and by bus and boat (aka adventurous and dodgy). This makes for an easy choice: let´s take the latter!

That morning I got away from Lago de Apoyo by throwing both myself and my backpack over the fence. A quick busride took me to Masaya, famous for its “artesanias” - this is where I decided to buy a hammock, bearing in mind the large number of uncomfortable journeys I still had ahead of me (trust me, there´s more to come after this one!). Been there, done that and another busride took me to Managua. Three hours (and three attempts of theft, all unsuccessful) later I was on the bus to El Rama … what is it with Central American capitals!? One I got there all hotels appeared to be full so I spent the night sleeping in the bus - the hammock instantly came to good use :)

After being kicked out of the bus by its personnel (sorry, I have a hard time waking up!) I took the fast boat to Bluefields, and I mean F-A-S-T - the scenery was lovely though I didn`t get to see much as our boat hung almost vertical with speed :) Down in Bluefields I met up with some people (hello Rita and Mario) and together we learnt we missed the ferry to the Corn Islands by about an hour - bummer! Speaking to locals appeared to help though and we learnt a fishing boat would be leaving for the islands from El Bluff, a key just 1km off the coast. Friendly locals and even friendlier fishermen (yah man) allowed us to hitchhike and we got to Big Corn that same day.  We spent Saturday night on Big Corn (Reggae Palaca was nice!) and I left for Little Corn the next morning. I fell in love with the place as soon as I set foot on the dock - once again the pics should speak for themselves! Spent the next days enjoying perfect weather and, more importantly, went scuba-diing! You read that right: I CAN DIVE AGAIN! It was well worth it too; swimming among sharks and stingraysis quite an experience!

Unfortunately all good things come to an end eventually, and I now find myself in Cancun after spending 4 days on boats and buses, ready for the next journey. YAH MAN!

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Sunrise on Rio Escondido ... on the way to Bluefields

More Rio Escondido sightseeing

Our ride to Big Corn!

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