and is this just another example of video killed the radio star?Let me explain this rather odd introduction. I am now pushing towards the end of my third big backpacking adventure. My first was as a solo traveller in my early 20s and focussed almost exclusively on Australia and New Zealand (with the addition of a short diversionary trip to Fiji and a small chunk of time in the states). My second was with my then girlfriend (now wife) in our mid 20s and took us across the length and breadth of South East Asia, all over Europe and another stint in the US. And finally this trip, which started in our late 20s and has continued to us both entering our 30s. Thus far it has seen us pretty much totally cover the American mainland continent right the way from Canada all the way down to Argentina (missing out on 5 mainland countries along the way). We’ve also been to Cuba and travelled down to Antarctica. In addition we went back to Europe and explored a wide selection of the bits we had missed the first time. Now we are in Asia exploring the Eastern region and we will soon return to the south east. Over the course of these three trips a huge amount seems to have changed in the world of the backpacker. Some of it for the better, and some of it undeniably for the worse!! I’ll elaborate. When I set off on my first adventure in January 2010 and I was a bug-eyed, fresh-faced and energetic 22 year old, I had very little idea about what exactly I wanted to see or do but had a whole lot of enthusiasm to see and do it all! Within days of arriving in a hostel in Sydney I had met a huge variety of backpackers, some old, some young, some experienced, some green, some at the start of their adventures and some at the end. I quickly made friends and as a group we shared ideas, stories and plans about travels before heading off on our separate ways or in my case with newly acquired travel friends. This was a situation that occurred on multiple occasions throughout my first backpacking trip. Meeting new people, in hostels, at tourist destinations, in bus stations, on trains, in queues...anywhere! We would engage, establish our instant commonality as fellow travellers and begin to build a bond. Sometimes this would last a few minutes. Sometimes a day or a night. Sometimes a few days/weeks. And in some rarer cases these would turn into lifelong friendships. This was the beauty of travelling. Wherever you were in the world and however familiar or alien it felt to you, when you met a fellow traveller you had something in common. Even if in the ‘real’ world your lives couldn’t be more different, at this moment, in this place you were both travellers and that connection trumped all other things. What was so wonderful about travelling at this time was the unfailing attitude of almost everyone to help each other out. If you saw a fellow traveller and they looked lost or confused or stressed out you helped them...gave them directions, instructions, change, a cigarette and if none of these things were what they needed the very least you would always offer was moral support! That’s how backpacking worked. At this time there wasn’t the abundance of good quality free WiFi we have available now and not all travellers had smartphones (in fact it was pretty uncommon). This meant that finding your way around often had to be done the ‘old fashioned way’, by asking people, reading signs and following maps. If you had managed to decipher something or had somehow acquired useful knowledge or information it was almost your duty to share it with other travellers who may be able to utilise it! Now, when I say ‘share’ I don’t mean it in terms of the Gen Z/Facebook definition. No quick tweets or Facebook updates were in anyway functional or useful at this point. By sharing, I mean interacting with other living humans in your immediate vicinity and verbally relaying information. And this was something we did regularly! In all different places, all of the time. You could arrive in a hostel on your own and be out having drinks with a whole group of new travel mates within hours. Being a backpacker was like being part of the world’s most inclusive members only club! Now, skip forward two years, add another person and relocate to South East Asia! We are now in 2013, solo traveller has now become pair of travellers and we are 25/26 years old. On this trip, I noticed a slight shift, but not a major one and not one that I necessarily viewed as negative. Our time in the region took us from the heavily touristed parts of the ‘Banana Pancake Trail’ in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, as well as the more remote areas of those countries and places like Myanmar, Malaysia, Borneo and Singapore which aren’t (weren’t) really on the trail at all. During this trip it was obvious that the traveller’s desire for and expectation of easily accessible ‘connection’ had increased. Far more hostels, guest houses and cafes proudly and brazenly advertised their status as ‘Free WiFi hotspots’ and those were the places where travellers would generally gravitate. “No WiFi, no customer!” I remember hearing one guesthouse proprietor in Thailand exclaim. Whilst I thought this was a shame I understood the shift. In the two years since I had travelled previously, the average persons online presence had increased exponentially and smartphones had become almost common place among the majority of mobile phone users. Both of these factors were and still are particularly true of travellers. Given the fact that most people who are travelling are doing so as part of some great adventure (be that long or short term) it stands to reason that given the opportunity you would want to be able to share your experiences with those you know and love, and social media has provided the easiest and most efficient way in which to do that! In terms of smart phones, these can undeniably be a travellers best friend as they can function as a computer, camera, GPS, iPod and of course a phone (although for many travellers that becomes a largely redundant feature) all in one and they fit in your pocket! Pretty handy when you’re living out of a backpack! What had remained unchanged for the most part was this universal backpacker’s club that I mentioned earlier. Everyone was still willing to help each other out (although the services you offered could now include “a quick Google”), friendships were still formed and solidified with unbelievable pace and regularity (on this trip we went on a one month trip around Borneo with a couple we met in a guesthouse and had known for 5 days prior to embarking) and there was absolutely no denying the subconscious attitude of “we’re all in this together”! I can’t deny it was noticeable that when a place had decent WiFi it became an instantly desirable location for many and would become a destination at which little communication between closely proximate individuals would occur. However, this disengagement with reality was always brief as once the tweet was tweeted and the update posted, getting back to making the most of the experience you were living was of utmost importance! At this stage technology was certainly present but not yet omnipresent in a travellers life. I will now bring you right forward to present day...actually, that’s not strictly true, I will bring you up to the commencement of my current trip in August 2016 and through to present day. This trip has seen both me and my wife bid farewell to our 20s and bound head first into our 30s whilst living out as many of our travel dreams as we can possibly fit in before we temporarily settle down and play at being ‘responsible adults’ for a short time! At this stage we have been on the road for nearly 20 months and the vast majority of that time was spent on the American continent (with some more Europe thrown in for good measure and the start of our final bit of Asian exploration recently begun). Before I begin my description of my opinion of this trip when compared to the others, I feel I should take ownership of a few things that have changed for me personally since the 2013/14 trip. Firstly, I’m now 30 which means that on average I am anything from 5 to 12 years older than most other backpackers on the road. Being older does not buy you ‘cool points’ as a backpacker, I can guarantee you that! (I am pained to admit that when I first started backpacking I used to look at people of my current age and quietly wonder what these weird old people were doing travelling and why they weren’t at home with mortgages and children!) Secondly, I’m married. While being married does not in anyway mean that I don’t want to socialise with anyone else or make new friends, it does mean that sometimes at the end of a long day of exploring/travelling I would sometimes prefer a quiet early night in with my other half, over an massive and extended ‘getting to know you’ session in a hostel common space! Finally, I am a little more reserved than I used to be. This isn’t as a direct result of anything in particular but just something that I believe is a consequence of age and life experience.
All of these factors combined mean that I am certainly not the same type of backpacker (or indeed person) that I was in 2010 and I am aware of that. However, with the changes undergone in me duly accounted for, I am stunned and disappointed by the changes in the fundamental make up of the average backpacker and of the club in which they travel! Remember what I said at the start about connecting and making friends, we’re all in this together, my knowledge is your knowledge...?! As far as I can see that has all but disappeared. Suddenly there is an overriding sense of every man for himself! People are obviously still travelling in groups but these are almost exclusively already constructed groups of friends rather than the previously very common organically created collectives of travellers. When I see other travellers in the more obscure destinations or on the road midway between two distant points my instant reflex is to smile at them. This is usually done with one of three meanings “Do you need help?”, “Can you help me?”, “Hi, I’m a traveller too and if you wanna chat we can.” In days gone by this smile was almost always reciprocated and would sometimes result in a response to one of the ‘between the lines, smile statements’. These days about one in every five of these smiles is reciprocated and even if it is, any further communication is almost unheard of! The non-exclusive members club appears to have disappeared and I blame technology for this! Gone are the days of need help/want advice = ask a person/fellow traveller! It is now, need help = ask Google, want advice = read a blog. On more than one occasion on this trip I have actually offered assistance to other backpackers who were obviously in need and had this offer actively rejected in place of Google! Back in the ‘real’ world it used to upset me greatly when I would see groups of teenagers ‘hanging out’ together in Starbucks or in parks and completely ignoring each other. Instead of actually communicating they would all sit around together in a circle playing on their phones, occasionally and very briefly breaking the code of silence to share an amusing meme or to take a Snapchat selfie with another member of the group. I would often scoff at the fact that this is what socialisation had become in the next generation but assumed it was likely to be just a middle class, city kids thing! Oh how wrong I was! The exact same trend is true of the younger generation of backpackers. There seems to be a whole collective of backpackers who are now more interested in instagramming their trip than actually being on it! Technology, and more to the point the ease with which everyone can access it seems to have resulted in a preference for a life lived in he virtual world rather than the real one! I’m astounded by the ever decreasing length of time for which your average traveller is comfortable with being ‘disconnected’. I’ve honestly been on hour long walking tours where fellow participants have photographed something and then completely ignored the guide and following 3-4 minutes of the tour while they post the picture immediately on some form of social media! Travel now appears to have become an individualist game of oneupmanship. Instead of visiting a place to see and experience and learn about a culture or pursue a passion or dream or adventure it seems to now be used as a means to just take a better selfie in a more unique location than the other people who follow you on Instagram! The experience is had so it can be posted about rather than lived. This has been a stark and harsh realisation I have had on this trip and I feel nothing but genuine sadness for the new generation of travellers who I believe to be really missing out on the freedom to really indulge in an experience that we had less than a decade ago! I know there are exceptions to this trend as I have met them! These days they are easy enough to spot as they are the ones who are not on their phones in social situations and the ones who make eye contact and are willing (able) to partake in spontaneous conversation. It may just be my ever advancing age, fear/loathing of technology or simply that I am being unfairly judgemental. I will accept all of these as being potential reasons why I have noticed and feel so strongly about this shift. But, to quote Carrie Bradshaw “I couldn’t help but wonder...” has technology changed the world of the backpacker forever and have younger backpackers lost the ability to truly experience the world and their opportunity to through it?
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It was time to brave the Cuban transport system again and head to Cienfuegos ($6 CUC/7.80 AUD). Thinking we were being a little ridiculous we headed to the station a full hour early for the bus we had booked when we had arrived in Trinidad (if you are going to bus around the country we would recommend booking each journey at least a few days in advance) only to discover that the ticket we had been issued (yes this time we had paid for and been given a ticket even though it was the same bus company) was not our real ticket but the one we needed to check in with then exchange for the one to use on the bus. Leaving Dani with the bags inside I stood in line to receive my new ticket and I waited, and waited and waited! A full 45 minutes later I was about 12th in line thinking I may never get on the bus when Cienfuegos is called and all of us patiently waiting were ushered to the front of the queue. After exchanging our tickets we were told that we must put our bags in the holding room (despite being due to depart almost immediately) and then get on to the bus. Not really trusting the system, we watched anxiously as they loaded every single bag but ours onto the bus and I am not joking when I say Dani literally had to get off the bus and bring our bags over to make sure they got on while I informed a woman we had met that her bags had just been put on another bus. Once seated, Dani decided to inform me that while she had been sitting in the station waiting she had watched a scene unfold where not 1 but 7 people who had booked their tickets online for a bus to Santiago de Cuba had not had their reservations honoured by Viazul and the only bus going there that day was full. These were 7 people who didn’t know each other and had booked in advance between 5 days and 3 months prior to travelling. Viazul response “not my problem”. When we pulled out of the station 2 off them had boarded the bus anyway and we’re in a standoff and the bus had been due to leave 45 minutes before ours. The moral of the story is that you’re better off not using the Viazul buses as they are unreliable, slow and almost as expensive as a collectivo without the ease. We did finally make it to Cienfuegos, after our driver stopped several times to run errands and pick up some chicken and we vowed that we would avoid the company for the rest of the country if possible! We arrived at yet another lovely casa in Cienfuegos ($19 AUD/15 CUC) and were once again greeted by a lovely family. We would definitely recommend this casa as fantastic value but did feel after some exploring of Cienfuegos that a casa in Punta Gorda would be much nicer, simply in terms of location. We had given Jess from Trinidad our address so that she could leave us a note if she wanted to meet up (old school right) and we had arrived to a note saying she’d swing by at 6pm if we were up for dinner. We headed to a place around the corner, which became our regular for the next 3 days called Big Bang. It had the best value vegetable rice dish ($4 CUC/5 AUD) and certain items on their menu could even have been described as tasty. Cienfuegos’ old centre is beautiful. It’s got a great central square that is full of unusual architecture and the theatre is definitely worth checking out ($2CUC/2.50 AUD). There is also a great sea walk down to Punta Gorda which is filled with 50’s Miami style beach houses and at the end is a strangely beautiful Moor inspired palace/restaurant. There are also plenty of casas available down here that looked great. We had decided on a day trip to see the flamingos at Laguna Guanaroca while we were in Cienfuegos. The entrance to Laguna Guanaroca is $10CUCpp ($12.95 AUD) and can be purchased from a tour agency in town the day before you go or at the laguna itself for the same price (you will be prioritised at the gate if you’ve pre purchased). We had of course waited the now customary hour to get tickets the day before as we had been told we would need them, only to then arrive and have to queue for the voucher we had been given to be exchanged for an official ticket once we got there (are you noticing a trend here?!). In terms of transport we had arranged for a taxi to pick us up that morning, wait at the laguna for a couple of hours and then return us to Cienfuegos. The going rate for this service from everyone in town was 10CUCpp which didn’t seem unreasonable. This trip was very pretty and we had the most fantastic guide who had an awesome sense of humour, but I’m not sure it was worth the money. Dani and I have been lucky enough to see flamingos in Chile and Ecuador so in comparison this trip wasn’t quite what we’d hoped but I think we would recommend it if you haven’t had other close up experiences with flamingos before. One thing I really admired about this trip was how respectful of the flora and fauna the guides were throughout. Cienfuegos had been a great stop and we were finally ready to head to our last stop in Cuba. We had arranged a collectivo to Viñales and we were picked up on time and taken to Havana where we were transferring to another collectivo to finish the journey. All went well until Havana where we were transferred to another car and asked to pay for the first car. Not a problem you may think but we had agreed not to pay until we reached Viñales (which was the norm on all other collective journeys, pay on arrival in your final destination) and now here we were, only half way being asked to pay $50CUC of the $70CUC we’d agreed on. After an initial stress we decided to pay the money and thought we’d soon be on our way to the next destination. Not so! Having had our bags put into one car soon after arriving, we were then informed we would be changing cars (but obviously we were not told why) and then had to wait for over an hour to actually get going. Stressed and annoyed we arrived in Viñales to discover that the casa ($21.15AUD/16.80CUC) we had booked was out in the middle of nowhere. Luckily for us our concerns about this melted away once we met Leticia, our casa owner. We had potentially found the loveliest woman in the whole of Cuba. Set out in the countryside it was peaceful and relaxing and we were there, at last! Viñales is quite different to the rest of Cuba due to its location. I’m not sure I’d agree with the common perception that those from Viñales haven’t noticed that tourists are there when every second house is a casa and all food is quoted in CUC (a CUP restaurant is always cheaper and often found in local’s areas) but it’s warm and welcoming. Leticia and her husband offered to arrange a horse-riding trip for us with a local guide. At 5CUC ($6.30 AUD) and hour it seemed like really good value. We were taken to a tobacco farm where they also explained how to roll a cigar and gave us one to smoke. On site there is also coffee grown amongst fruit trees all of which is explained. We then rode up through really pretty scenery to a viewpoint over the valley before heading back via a lake. It’s a great 4-hour trip and we were both really glad we had done it. Due to our location we didn’t really do much else other than walk around the area but Viñales was a relaxing last destination. Leticia’s breakfasts were legendary so after stuffing ourselves silly on our last morning we were ready to head back to Havana. We had arranged our own transport and we were surprised when it did not show up, either on time or the reasonable 30 minutes after. Panicked we went back to speak to Leticia’s husband who said he would help us sort it and less than 15 minutes later up pulled another car ready to take us. Pushed into the back of the car with six other passengers, we were soon speeding down the road back to Havana. One thing we had noticed an abundance of throughout our travels around Cuba was broken down cars on the sides of roads. This was no great surprise to either of us as most of the cars on the road where somewhere in the region of 50-60years old. Clearly, a trip to Cuba would not be complete without our very own breakdown, so imagine our joy when about 70km outside of Havana our car rolled to a stop on the motorway. In true Cuban style the driver said absolutely nothing to us and just proceeded to open the hood of the car and stare into the engine redundantly and then walk away. We finally established after about 20 minutes that he had called someone to come and pick us all up but he was at least an hour away. So we sat and waited, and waited and waited. A full 2 1/2hrs later, up pulled our replacement car and we were finally back on track to get to Havana. As I said earlier we had saved the Revolution Museum for when we got back to Havana. We should have done it when we had the time because our driver had no idea where he was in Havana (this is really unusual) and he took another hour and a half to get us to where we were staying after we had arrived back in the city. This coupled with the delay meant we had no time to do anything other than eat as it was gone 4pm by this point, way past the midday arrival time we had anticipated. Overall we had a fantastic time in Cuba, but travelling around as a budget backpacker, while absolutely doable is hard work. Cuba is an extremely interesting, vibrant, resilient country but no systems or at least logical systems are in place even for tourists. Examples of this are that you can catch buses in one direction (Viñales to Cienfuegos) but not in the other (Cienfuegos to Viñales) or how you can get into a queue at a supermarket to buy soda, wait in line for 20 minutes only to be told that this is the line for the canned fish and you are going to have to get into another line. The trick is to just let Cuba happen. It’s hard work but worth it and we’re both so glad that we went. To help you through a backpacking adventure in Cuba here are our top tips... Rule number one in Cuba - always do something the first opportunity you get don’t think “oh I’ll do it later” because later it will be closed (the times on the door will say it should be open), they will decide to take a long lunch that day, the new rules say that activity only runs on Thursdays and every alternate Sunday, or you can only go in if your socks don’t match and at least one has pink spots. Bring things to make food taste of something: spices, Marmite, hot sauce, ketchup etc. Swap some CUC for CUP in ‘Casa de Cambios’ but only a little at a time because things are so cheap in CUP we struggled to spend the $40CUC we had changed in 2 weeks and you cannot change it back. Do follow the normal route around the country Havana – Viñales -Cienfuegos/Trinidad - Santa Clara - Havana don’t deviate it makes it much harder. Accept that things will happen, just on Cuba time not yours. This means making sure you are back in the city you’re flying out of at least a day in advance. Don’t bother with Viazul buses. They aren’t reliable, they take longer and they often cost a similar amount to collectivos but collectivos always drop you off at your casa particular rather than a central location. Also if your collectivos has been arranged by your casa it will be a door to door service. LGBT:Cuba is a pretty LGBT friendly country. We had no issues here despite sharing a double room across the country in Casa Particulars. We also learnt that Castro's neice who is a well respected politician in Cuba has been very supportive of the LGBT community over recent years which has helped changed attitudes in the country. Castro himself also urged for better treatment of the LGBT community during the last years of his life. Strangely unlike the rest of Latin America Cuba is actually more acceping of gay men than lesbians. This in part has been attributed to a film called Fresa y Chocolate which was released in 1994 that allowed everyday Cubans a glimpse into the world of gay men and see that this was not threatening. Cuba also allows free gender reassignment surgery and has done since 2008. Budget Time $$$Money wise Cuba was nowhere near as hard as I had predicted it was going to be. The dual currency, no American dollars, ATMs rejecting foreign cards, horrendous exchange rates…worries I had had and that had kept me up for multiple nights prior to arriving in Cuba turned out to be largely unfounded.
Here is what I learned:
What it really cost: $1,307.40 Accomodation: $485.72 Transport: $326.10 Food: $189.74 Entertainment: $135.44 Drinks: $104.14 Miscellaneous: $57.48 Souvenirs: $7.80 After the world’s longest wait at check in (you would not believe how much luggage/items people were checking in...hello karaoke machine) we were finally winging our way to the mysterious land of Cuba. Everyone has the image of Cuba being stuck in the 1950’s but I’m not sure how much you really believe this is true until you touch down at the airport. Even Havana airport is still decorated in red plastic with designs that were the height of sophistication in the 50’s and no, they haven’t decorated it this way to stick with a theme it really hasn’t been updated in 60 years! Out of customs and into the humid Cuban air, we were greeted by exactly what we had been promised…classic cars waiting to whisk us off to Havana. It took us a while to get a taxi to agree to take us but we were soon in the back of a stunning mint green classic ($20 CUC/25.75 AUD). Because we were going to be in Havana for Christmas we had decided to book an apartment ($37.94 AUD/30 CUC via Air BnB) in Vedado, instead of staying in a traditional casa particular (these are the original Cuban AirBnB effectively, and where you will stay if you are travelling Cuba on a budget). This turned out to be a fantastic decision because not only was it a gorgeous little apartment all to ourselves for Christmas but it was run by a really lovely young woman Anna, who was able to help us really get to grips with Cuba early on. Now, we had been pre-warned about Cuban supermarkets and the availability of food before we got there so we had stocked up on some basics to self-cater while in Havana (refried beans, canned fish, spices, hot sauce, flour for tortillas etc.). We were both fairly certain that this was going to be entirely unnecessary, but better to be safe than sorry…boy were we wrong! We fast learned that you don’t enter a supermarket in Cuba thinking “I need to pick up [insert required item]”, you enter a supermarket in Cuba and think “what can I do with [insert random items found on sparsely filled shelves]”. Available in abundance just before Christmas were canned mangos in 5kg cans, vegetable oil and soda. I managed to queue up for over thirty minutes to get some cheese and picked up some soda and felt like I’d achieved something as I exited with my purchases. We also managed to find a vegetable stall and picked up 2kg of tomatoes, some green peppers, cabbage and some dried black beans, which only cost us 71CUP ($2.70 CUC/3.48 AUD). Christmas was going to be strange but tasty this year. First full day in Havana we were up early and ready to catch a taxi ($5CUC/6.45 AUD) into the old town and see what all the fuss was about. We had booked ourselves onto a walking tour to get a better grasp of the city, as well as learn a bit more about Cuba in general. We found the tour really interesting and the guide was wonderful, but Old Havana itself lacked the character and charm of the rest of the city. It felt more like a Cuban zoo where gringos come to gawp at Cubans smoking cigars and eat in the only places in Cuba that can dream of getting ingredients other than rice, beans, chicken, bread and cheese. It’s got a crumbling beauty, and with all those classic cars in the background it’s “totes instagrammable” but it’s not real Cuba. Because of the time of year we had decided to visit, we spent our time in Havana exploring Vedado and Central Havana on foot. The great thing about Havana (and actually Cuba) is everyone is living their lives on their front doorsteps, so all areas are great to just wander around. We visited Plaza de Independencia and decided that we would go to the Revolution Museum on our return to Havana at the end of our trip. Due to it being Christmas and New Year while we were away we had booked our all accommodation around the country in advance, which is not something we usually do. In hindsight this was probably unnecessary but something to note is that the same properties are much cheaper on AirBnB than they are on the ground so it may be worth booking in advance to save money. Getting between cities on a time limit was concerning, as we had learnt the hard way (we went to book at the bus station) that certain routes are booked up weeks in advance and that collectivos are become your only option. Our next stop after Havana was Santa Clara and there wasn’t a single seat available on a bus for the next week and a half. Asking around we were quoted a minimum of 30CUCpp ($38.65 AUD) for the journey which would have only cost 16CUCpp ($20.60 AUD) on a bus. This was not a good start but luckily we discovered that collectivos from outside the National (local) bus station rather than the Viazul (tourist) bus station were cheaper. When we arrived there the morning we intended to depart we only had to wait 20 minutes for the car to be full and we were on our way (25CUC/$32.45AUDpp). As a point of reference, this is true around the whole country. Collectivo drivers with wait outside the Viazul and National bus stations (if they are different) in all cities and towns, without exceptions the drivers outside the National bus stations were offering more reasonable rates between locations. After an easy and efficient station to front door journey, we arrived at our casa ($22.67 AUD/18 CUC), which was another lovely house. Pedro, our host, had maps and advice for us and was able to provide us with breakfast everyday (5CUCpp) should we have wanted it (we found eating at local CUP places much better value for much the same food). The point of visiting Santa Clara is doing the pilgrimage to see Che Guevara. The actual memorial and location of his body is surprisingly understated compared with how revered he is around the country/world. Within the complex in addition to the mausoleum and memorial, there is a small but interesting museum dedicated to his life, which is well worth a visit and the whole complex is totally free. Also worth visiting while in Santa Clara is the ‘Che with a Child’ statue which is, we felt, a much better tribute to the revolutionary. It’s intricacy is fascinating and as a sculpture lover I really enjoyed this piece. Being in Cuba we had also wanted to visit a cigar factory and the one in Santa Clara came highly recommended, but you have to book your tickets through the government tour agency in the centre of town before visiting. When we went to enquire about tickets there on the morning of our first full day and the woman in the shop told us to return in 45 minutes despite being there to answer our question and not seeming to be in anyway busy. On return I asked her about going on the factory tour and her answer was “no”. I asked her why we couldn’t go on the tour and her answer again was “no” I would at this time like to point out I had asked her these questions in Spanish so I am still perplexed when I try to understand why the answer was no and why they had the tour written on their sign if they didn’t offer this service. This kind of inexplicable uselessness/lack of functionality within certain service based industries in Cuba is something we quickly had to learn to live with. Suffice it to say we did not get to visit the cigar factory that day, but we did walk past it and it looked pretty cool from the outside! In spite of not being able to visit the factory we spent a lovely day walking around exploring and observing the day to day life in Santa Clara. Honestly, Santa Clara is a small place and there is probably only a days worth of actual stuff to do but in hindsight it was probably our favourite place in Cuba if only because the pace of life there was so relaxed and with the exception of the Che memorial there seemed to be no other tourists anywhere. While trying to figure out how to get to our next stop in Trinidad we experienced our first (but certainly not last) mysterious lack of any logical system in Cuba. We intended to attempt to take the bus and so went to the bus station to try and arrange this. We arrived and having stated our intentions, were swiftly ushered into a small room where a man at a desk was playing on his phone. After standing there for the better part of 2/3minutes he finally looked up and asked us what we wanted. We explained that we would like to book tickets to Trinidad at which point out a children’s notebook, opened it on what appeared to be a totally random page and asked us to write our names down. No ticket was issued and he refused to take our money, from this point on he would not speak to us again and went back to playing on his phone. So, unsure as to whether we had a ticket or not we appeared to have been dismissed. On return the following day a good hour and a half before our bus ($8 CUC/10.40AUD) was due to leave we arrived at the station wanting to make sure we had tickets and to pay for them, or find alternative transport. This time there was a much nicer lady in the little room who confirmed we did have tickets for the bus but that we could not pay for them for another 45 minutes (WHY?!!!). This whole system made no sense, didn’t seem to follow any logical pattern and indeed would change through the rest of the country depending on what mood the person you were dealing with was in or what day of the week it happened to be, but we were yet to learn this.
Only 10 minutes late, our bus pulled out of the station and we were off to Trinidad. The place we booked ($26.90 AUD/21.35 CUC) was a quick walk from the bus station and Juan Carlos was probably one of the most welcoming hosts we had throughout our time in Cuba. Trinidad is a pretty city just to wander around and it was wandering on our first day that we ran into a woman I had met on the bus and her 2 friends that we ended up spending the rest of the day with. This is how we met Jess who convinced us to take the ‘Train of Tourists’ (literally what it translates to from Spanish) to the old sugar plantations, which was one of our highlights in Cuba ($15 CUC/19.45 AUD). This is a full day trip that takes you through some truly beautiful scenery. At the first stop (Manaca Iznaga) you can watch cigars being rolled and climb a tower that gives you some fantastic views of the surrounding countryside and at the second stop (Feneta) there is an old sugar mill factory you can wander around but it’s the seemingly untouched landscape that really makes this trip worth it. It being New Years Eve the day we did this trip, upon returning we then headed to the main square for some mojitos, daiquiris and salsa music. Unfortunately I wasn’t feeling well so Dani and I headed home to see out midnight watching movies in our casa. On New Years Day we decided to treat ourselves to a lunch buffet ($10.50 CUC/13.65 AUD) they have in Trinidad because they had an all you can eat salad bar and we were both starting to feel the effects of no fresh fruit or vegetables in Cuban cuisine and although it had the familiar flavourlessness it was definitely one of the best and most nutritious meals we had in Cuba. Needing to walk off lunch we decided to explore some of the surrounding neighbourhoods. Trinidad has some interesting areas to wander around and we found the Santa Ana church particularly interesting because not only are the ruins of the church quite cool but the offerings around to all the Santaria gods were really fascinating. There is no denying that Trinidad is obviously a very touristy city (by Cuban standards) and that affects the vibe and the people in less than positive way. However, having said that, we did really enjoy our time there and took full advantage of the smaller areas around the centre that could be explored. To be continued... We chugged into the pretty, colonial Antigua at around 3.30pm meaning that the whole journey had taken us around 8 hours. Considering we had waited for over an hour for a new tyre to be delivered and then changed, and we had successfully avoided Guatemala City, this meant we were feeling tired but pretty good. Unfortunately our hostel turned out to be on the other side of Antigua resulting in a pretty unwelcome 2km/45minute walk in the sun with our bags! The hostel that had been recommended by our friend Megan turned out to be absolutely perfect after such a long journey. Best of all…hot showers and a hot tub! (Hostel Matiox (75Q/$13.65 AUD/10.50 USD) in a 6 bed female only dorm per person) We dumped our bags, walked 20 meters down the road to the nearest local place for food, ate and then collapsed into bed. Day one in Antigua and we knew that we would be meeting our friends Camilla and Matt after their volcano trek in the afternoon and also that David (a friend we met on a previous trip) would be around too. We had already arranged with Camilla and Matt that we would all be leaving the next day together to go to Lake Atitlan, which gave us 1 full day to explore. Our hostel offered a free walking tour that sounded like a good option to learn about the city (in hindsight the guide was a fellow backpacker that knew nothing about Antigua and this was a complete waste of time) so we signed up and arranged to meet Camilla, Matt and David at a bar later in the afternoon. Antigua is beautiful and Guatemala has done well to preserve it the way they have but it is very heavily tourist orientated and does not really feel like Guatemala at all. After a lovely few hours wandering around we met up with the others to discuss the plan for the next day. David helpfully shared with us that when he had been to Lake Atitlan he had ended up taking 4 buses when the journey only required 2. Armed with this knowledge we also got the woman who worked at our hostel to write down where we needed to change and what we needed to look out for. In the morning we arrived at Camilla and Matt’s guesthouse and set off together to the bus station. The first stage was fairly simple. We got on to the bus that had Chimaltenango (where we needed to change) written on the front and confirmed with the driver that we wanted to transfer to Panajachel. He kindly stopped in Chimaltenango where we needed to get off and change (not the end of the line). When we got off we confirmed with a local that this is where we could catch the bus and then sure enough a bus stopped about 10 minutes later asking us where we were going. Now, it didn’t have Panajachel on the front (mistake) but the bus conductor insisted that that was where this bus was heading. It wasn’t until the four of us were unceremoniously dumped off the bus at a non descript crossroads about an hour and a half later that we realised he had completely lied. We certainly weren’t anywhere we were supposed to be (or even anywhere close for that matter) and we now had to find another bus to take us where we originally wanted to go. It turned out that now we needed another 2 to get to the port to take our ferry to San Pedro…not ideal and certainly not the plan! Luckily this whole process only took 3 1/2hrs (and cost 34Q/$6.20 AUD/4.80 USD) and we were soon happily skimming across the sparkling waters of Lake Atitlan towards our final destination (25Q/$4.60 AUD/3.55 USD). Unfortunately for Camilla and Matt this was the second journey in a row where they had been outright lied to and ended up not taking the desired route. Luckily on this journey this had not put them in any danger unlike the last one that had diverted them through Guatemala City. On arrival in San Pedro Matt and I were put in charge of finding the accommodation for the group. A tout at the port was offering a good rate on rooms at Hotel Rolando, which had the most beautiful views of the lake and really decent double rooms with hot showers (again!) for only 100Q ($18.40 AUD/14.20 USD). After settling in we headed out for some food. In San Pedro, there are an abundance of tourist restaurants down on the water but we headed up the hill to near the local market where we stumbled upon a little comida (food house) where the loveliest old woman cooked us up a feast for 20Q ($3.65 AUD/2.80 USD) each which included rice, beans, salad, chicken for the 3 meat eaters and eggs for me and an endless stream of freshly made tortillas. It only took that one meal to ensure we would be returning every day for both breakfast and dinner! Stuffed full and ready for a beer we picked up a few bottles of Brahva (12Q/$2.20 AUD/1.70 USD each for 1 litre) and utilised our stunning balcony view and hammocks. We wanted to visit 2 other villages while we were on the lake so first we decided to check out the nearby San Juan (20Q/$3.65 AUD/2.80 USD return in a small commuter boat). San Juan is smaller than San Pedro and has a more chilled out vibe. It wouldn’t be difficult to see multiple villages on the lake in one day as after about 2 hours we had explored every street and every art gallery and shop San Juan had to offer. Matt wasn’t feeling well so we decided to take it easy in the afternoon and Dani and I being creatures of habit we headed back up the hill for dinner. San Marcos was on the schedule for our last day on the lake, which is slightly further away than San Juan but no more expensive to get to. San Marcos is quite different from the other villages we saw. Definitely the least Guatemalan of the 3, but the prettiest to wander around and look at. It has a very distinct western hippy vibe (read yoga classes, silent retreats, vegan restaurants and organic health food stores) but does feel like the gringos have taken over which is quite sad. Feeling refreshed from our 3 days at the lake it was time for the 4 of us to brave the long journey to Semuc Champey. As no local would ever feel the need to go from Lake Atitlan to Semuc, the only way to get between the 2 within a single day is to book a tourist shuttle (190Q/$34.90 AUD/26.90 USD), which is supposed to take around 8hrs. There are a couple of things that we learnt about this journey that in hindsight we would like to share! At all of the tourist agencies in town it is cheaper to book the shuttle to Lanquin (160Q/$29.40/22.65 USD), which is the nearest town to Semuc rather than all the way. Regardless of your decision to book to Lanquin or Semuc, your journey will be terminated in Lanquin as the road between the two is basically impassable in anything other than a 4x4. We were told we would go all the way to Semuc (just another little lie) but that was not the case and we were all told to alight in Lanquin. Save yourself the money and just book through to Lanquin. If you (like we were) are planning on staying in Semuc then all the hotels will have sent out pick up trucks to meet the shuttles and they are free for guests (including those who don’t have a reservation like us). Also, when they stop at McDonalds on the way in Coban it’s a good idea to grab food there or at the supermarket or across the road at the snack shacks, as we didn’t end up getting in to Semuc until 8.30pm having left our hotel at 6.30am. In Semuc Champey we stayed at El Portal, right at the entrance of the park and it is incredibly good value at 50Q ($9.20 AUD/7.10 USD)pp in the 6 bed dorm. There was a driver to meet the shuttle and we were able to negotiate this rate at the station. The ecolodge don’t allow any outside food so if you don’t want to pay the expensive hotel prices there are food stalls at the entrance of the park as well as a small local restaurant on the corner about 50m to the left of the entrance to El Portal which we can highly recommend at 20Q ($3.65 AUD/2.80 USD) a plate. Semuc Champey itself is absolutely beautiful and despite the 14hour journey there it felt worth it. Most people you meet along the gringo trail in Central America will tell you the same. This area seems to hold some kind of magic and within minutes of being there the stress of the long (frustrating) journey seems to melt away. For us it was being in the back of the pickup and looking up to see the clear night sky that took me right back to my childhood. It was also waking up and walking out onto the balcony of our dorm room to see the most stunning aquamarine coloured water rushing around the limestone boulders. This was before we’d even reached the park to be treated to the impressive sight that was the limestone bridge and pools we had actually come to see. We spent a few hours diving in and out of stunning pools and taking endless pictures. We didn’t really have any interest in caving while we were there, which is the other major draw of the area for tourists. On that basis we didn’t go on a tour or visit independently (both of which are options) but all hostels and hotels in both Lanquin and Semuc can organise tours (although these seemed pretty over priced to us). We knew that the next journey to Flores for the Mayan ruins in Tikal was going to be equally as long as the one from Atitlan to Semuc, so thought it best to head to Lanquin for the night to catch a shuttle from there for our onward journey. This is also a good way to save a bit of money, as the shuttles directly from Semuc are a lot more expensive than those from Lanquin. To get from Semuc back to Lanquin we all jumped in the back of one of the many pick ups doing the back and forth journey between the two places (20Q/$3.65AUD/$2.80USD per person). In Lanquin we managed to arrange a shuttle for 90Q ($16.65 AUD/12.85 USD) leaving the next morning at 8am. The journey started off really well with a friendly driver who spoke pretty good English. He asked us if we wanted to stop at the McDonalds in Coban that we had stopped in on the way in. As Camilla was starting to have some serious withdrawals from western food we agreed to a 20minute stop. It turned out that all shuttles seem to stop here as we watched people we recognised from our hostel in Lanquin pile off others that arrived. True to form we were back at the stop in 20 minutes ready to resume the ride. We watched as all the other groups piled in to their shuttles and took off with still no sign of our van or our driver. We stood there getting increasingly worried, then frustrated and finally angry as an hour passed with no sign of our driver or our luggage that was still in the shuttle. After 1 hour and 20 minutes later our driver rocked up told us he’d be leaving us there and handed us over to a new driver in the same van. No explanation about where he had been, no apology for being late or for worrying us, nothing. Guatemala was really starting to get under my skin and not in a good way. The journey continued towards Flores at a good pace and just when it looked as though we may be making up some time we came to a halt in to road. The queue we could see snaking around the corner was for a boat across the river we had reached. There is only one ‘boat’ powered by 4 speed boat engines to push a wooden platform loaded with cars and trucks across the river and it turned out we would be waiting for about an hour to get across. Had we not had such a long and painful time up until this point this may have been amusing but tired and hungry we just wanted to get to our final destination which was still 60 km from the other side of the river. We didn’t arrive in to Flores until after dark and this time, the reputed 7hour trip had taken us 10! Dani and Matt went in search of lodgings this time and managed to find us some simple yet acceptable double rooms at a place called La Canoa for 100Q ($18.40 AUD/14.20 USD) for a double, which had lake views from the terrace and was close to everything. We had factored in a day off the next day before heading off to camp in Tikal which we spent finding a decent supermarket, eating and organising the camping trip and transport to the site. There are almost endless options in relation to the times you can go and what you want included in terms of guides and added extras. It’s definitely worth shopping around though as fundamentally they are all offering the same services and the range in prices is vast! Having discussed it as a group, we decided that we didn’t actually need a guide and as we were going to be staying by the entrance to the park we didn’t need to pay the extra for early entrance at 4am instead of 6am when the gates officially open. Dani and I had agreed we only needed a single day in Tikal but Matt and Camilla wanted two, so we arranged that they would head out in the morning the next day and we would leave on the 12.00pm shuttle and meet them at the campsite. The shuttle to Tikal was late but did finally arrive at 12.30pm and took us to the park. We were camping at Jaguar Inn for 100Q ($18.40 AUD/14.20 USD) per person, which included the tent and all the camping gear. This was the most expensive place we had stayed in all of Guatemala so when the woman placed us in the tent with holes in it and no rain cover we weren’t particularly happy and quickly christened the tent El Crapo! We asked to move but they refused, until the tent started to fill with ants, at which point we demanded a better tent. Begrudgingly the manager moved us in to one of the nicer/newer tents that had been pitched, while telling us it was our fault as we must have left the tent flaps open…never mind the gaping holes in the mosquito netting as well as the wear marks that meant the grass poked through the floor of the tent! We met Matt and Camilla once they were done and we all hung out and chatted about their experience that day before an early night ready to explore the next morning. The whole point of sleeping there was to be able to get in to Tikal early to be able to spot the wildlife and we were not disappointed. Minutes after we woke up the howler monkeys started giving you the sense that you had awoken in Jurassic Park. The thunderous boom of their calls echoed through the surroundings in a way that truly let you know you were in nature! The park opens to general public at 6am so we were there ready to go then. Tikal is a pretty magical ruins and the deep jungle setting does give it something different to other Mayan Ruins. I would recommend heading to Temple 4 first to get a sense of the scale and beauty of Tikal first because we kind of felt like we were missing something until we gazed upon the complex from above the trees and were struck by the sheer scale and beauty of the place. It is also teeming with wildlife and if you pay attention you’ll also see the spider monkeys in the trees and the toucans fly past. You can easily spend 2 days wandering around but we found 6 hours a pretty good amount of time to spend to see the main highlights (this covers about 10km of walking) and by 12pm we were ready to head back to Flores. This timing worked out perfectly as there was a shuttle at 12.30pm to take us back…or so we thought. It turns out that although we had originally been told there was a shuttle at 12.30pm and it was written on our ticket, we had booked the only company that didn’t have a shuttle at 12.30pm that day and we would have to wait until 2pm. It was a little bit of the last straw with Guatemala for me really. We had been tossing up between heading straight to Belize from Flores, as it was so easy or taking the longer route via Rio Dulce and Livingston. Until that moment I had been leaning more towards Rio Dulce as we had met a couple during our travels in the Galapagos that had made it sound so wonderful but something snapped and I could not face having to travel through a country that so often lied to you to get your money and made things more difficult when you paid more money to go the easy route (just catch the chicken buses it’s less stressful). By 2pm I’d calmed down but we had made our decision to give ourselves another day in Flores to sort out ‘house-keeping’ things and then to head straight to San Ignacio in Belize. We got back to Flores around 3.30pm, spent one final night with Matt and Camilla before they moved on to Belize the next day and then carried out our day of banal organisation. Long term travel is rarely as glamorous as it seems! Ready to bid farewell to Guatemala we packed up and grabbed a mototaxi to the bus station (5Q/$0.90 AUD/0.70 USD) to catch a bus to the border. We were already aware that this should cost us about 30Q ($5.40 AUD/$4.15 USD) and after a little haggling we were able to get this price. The border crossing here is relatively straightforward and we were through within 15 minutes, having also changed money for a really good rate with the money-changers. There was a taxi waiting outside customs to take people to the bus station and as with most things we discovered in Belize had a set price of 15BZD ($9.90 AUD/7.50 USD). Looking back on Guatemala I/we’ve realised that it had some pretty wonderful things to offer. I can’t speak for Dani but I know while we were there I found it difficult to understand having just come from El Salvador (where most travellers skip) why people got stuck in Guatemala instead of carrying on. I think this may be because we are doing the trail backwards but if you are coming from Mexico, Guatemala somehow feels more “authentic” as well as cheap and accessible in comparison. Because we were travelling up, I think we found more authentic experiences in El Salvador and Honduras which were also cheaper and easier to get around and therefore did not feel the same warmth towards Guatemala as others do. I know I certainly found the people to be a lot less friendly or helpful but in saying that it really does have some wonderful experiences to offer. The volcanos, and lakes, limestone structures and Mayan ruins are all incredible and well worth visiting. LGBT: I felt the least comfortable in Guatemala when it came to being a couple. This wasn't due to any particular incident it was more a general feeling of conservatism in Guatemala that we hadn't felt in other parts of Latin America. There are no legal protections for the LGBT community however homoxsexuality was decriminalised in 1871 which is extremely progressive for such a religous country. There is still targeted violence in Guatemala and due to no anti-discrimination protection violence towards members of the LGBT community but especially the trans community violence is not considered a hate crime. Budget Time $$$In terms of budgeting, Guatemala was one of very few places in Latin America where we actually over spent slightly. Granted it really wasn’t by very much, but it was an overspend. Looking back on it this is likely to have been for a couple of reasons. Number one being that this was one of the only countries where taking money out of an ATM was not free anywhere! Before leaving to embark on this epic trip I spent months looking at all the different cards and accounts that we could get in Australia that would be beneficial for our travels (being the budgeter and money person in this travel partnership my role involves a lot more work before we actually get on the road). Unlike the USA there isn’t a huge amount of reward based variety and being a non-resident of Australia I was unable to apply for a credit card so this limited us even further. After extensive research I discovered that Citibank AU had an account that offered almost market level exchange rates at point of sale and ATMs and no ATM fee with any of their affiliate banks of which there are literally thousands all over the world. This meant that in the first 18 months of our travels we had paid about $10USD in total for all of our bank transactions across the world.
When we arrived in Guatemala, after trying literally EVERY ATM in Antigua, I discovered that this banking network had two main players and neither of them were affiliates of Citibank. This meant that it was going to cost 30Q ($4.30USD/$5.40AUD) every time I wanted to take out money…AND, to add insult to injury, there was a limit of 2000Q ($285USD/$360AUD) per withdrawal. On a $25USDpp/day budget, this would mean a minimum of three ATM transactions while in Guatemala. This might not seem like big deal given that totals less than $15USD, but it frustrated me massively as it was for this exact reason that I spent literally DAYS in Australia trawling the internet and various banking forums trying to find the best option! What I think made it feel worse as well was that from the very beginning Guatemala felt like a country that was going to be a bit of an unnecessary but unavoidable money pit and I did not appreciate the idea that not only would we have to pay over the odds for things, but we were going to have to pay for access to the money for the privilege of doing that! Anyway, apologies, I digress, that was financial issue number one. Financial issue number two was the necessity of utilizing massively over priced tourist shuttles in order to move ‘efficiently’ between locations. Unfortunately, because Guatemala is quite a large country and all of the places of interest as a visitor a fairly spread out, getting between them either has to be done on a shuttle or needs to be done in a sequence of days. While we were there we chose the former as the preferred option, in hindsight, given the inefficiency of most of these journeys, we probably would have chosen the latter. So, in Guatemala, it cost money to spend money and long distance transport was uncomfortably expensive, not a great combination. However, in general accommodation and food were not overpriced. On average we spent about 100Q ($15USD/$19.50AUD) per night on accommodation for both of us and food came in at about 20Q ($2.85/$3.60) per person per meal. Entrance to national parks and landmarks was reasonable but we did note that a lot of the organised tours seemed shockingly overpriced. This may have been due to us travelling at that start of the peak season but we did notice that the price quoted was rarely the final offer and there was quite a lot of negotiating room in most cases. Shopping around for shuttle tickets and excursions/tours is definitely worth the time and effort as you have the power to play all of the different companies off against each other! What it actually cost:$981.25 Accommodation: $293.52 Food: $224.36 Transport: $202.24 Drinks: $96.88 Entertainment: $73.53 Miscellaneous: $62.42 Souvenirs: $28.31 This works out at $37.71 AUD per person per day We entered Honduras from Las Manos, Nicaragua. This border crossing was relatively painless if not a little bit more expensive than it should have been due to crossing on a Saturday (not actually a thing but something that they can make a thing if they feel like it…and you can’t really argue with the people with the stamps now, can you?!). It was all made easier by the fact that the extremely stern Nicaraguan customs officer totally broke his macho act when I accidently told him I was a hospital instead of a nurse…damn Spanglish!! We paid our $6 USD ($7.90 AUD) to the Honduran officials, got our stamp and wandered down the dusty road to the bus waiting on the other side. We had started our journey into the unknown and so far it was going well. The bus quickly departed for El Paraiso about 45 minutes away from the border where we were to pick up a connection to Tegucigalpa (locally known as Tegus). There was an extremely friendly older gentleman who helped us find the quicker minivans once we arrived in El Paraiso and it wasn’t long until we were on our way to the capital. Both of us were quite apprehensive about this journey but it turned out we needn’t have worried as it was simple, smooth and comfortable and by 12pm we had arrived at our hostel, Palmira (210 Lempiras/$8.90 USD/ 11.75 AUD pp/night) housed in the former Ecuadorian Embassy building. The taxi journey should have only cost us about 100L ($4.25 USD/5.60 AUD) but we were charged 150L ($6.35 USD/8.40 AUD) and felt that it was best just to get to the hostel in as quickly and easily as possible without messing around too much. The hostel was safe and secure and exactly what we needed for the night we were going to stay in Tegus. On arrival we found out that they ran a daily free walking tour of the downtown area and felt this may be the only way we would explore the city in our short time there, so we signed up. This turned out to be a great experience. It only cost us the price of the museum entrance (100 Lempiras/$6.35 USD/8.40 AUD), which included a guide for about an hour and a half. He was excellent and gave us a full run down of the history of Honduras and it’s political turmoil over the last 100 years. He had a special interest in gay rights, which of course we found the most interesting. Overall, Tegus felt a lot safer having a local with us and we’re not sure we would have gone out (other than to get food during the day) on our own. Having said that, it didn’t actually feel particularly unsafe and in hindsight I’m not sure we felt Tegus was as dangerous as it is made out to be. The following morning we had a cab (100 Lempiras/$6.35 USD/8.40 AUD) called for us to get to the bus station and we were whisked onto a bus (150 Lempiras/$6.35 USD/8.40 AUD) as soon as we got there. We had written down and explained to the bus conductor where where we wanted to go, as we were heading to Lago de Yojoa, which was not the final stop. This all seemed to be going well until we were suddenly ushered off the bus only to discover we were a full 12km from the turnoff we needed to be at to get to D&D Brewery and essentially in the middle of knowhere!! Slightly delirious from panic we managed to get directions and flagged down the next bus that came past to get us to the La Guama junction. In our panic we forgot to negotiate the cost of this short trip and ended up being charged another 100L ($6.35 USD/8.40 AUD) for the 2 of us to actually get to where we were originally supposed to get to. At the junction a bus was waiting to take us to Peña Blanca, which cost 15L ($0.65 USD/0.85 AUD). Only one leg left to go, we caved and took a mototaxi (instead of waiting for the slightly cheaper local bus) straight to D&D with the wonderful Manuel for 40L ($1.70 USD/2.25 AUD). D&D turned out to be an absolute dream and we would both say that it is definitely high on our list of ‘must-dos’ if you are visiting Honduras. It is a little complicated to get to but the location is amazing, there is loads to do, both paid for and free and everything about being there is pretty idyllic in terms of a relaxed and beautiful natural surroundings! The room we got for $15 USD ($19.75) was the best deal we had in all of Honduras. Set in a beautiful tropical garden filled with hummingbirds, we had a private room and en suite bathroom that we were sharing with only one other room. The best thing though…HOT SHOWERS!!! We were in heaven and our first decision was to extend our stay from 2 nights to 5. Having checked in and seen the prices of food in the restaurant we decided to head out and see what local food was available. We were lucky enough to be guided to the pupusa woman by Al who was staying at our hostel for the third time that year! These pupusas (a cornmeal tortilla stuffed with beans and cheese) were delicious and piled high with salad and salsa. They only cost 40L for 2 ($1.70 USD/2.25 AUD) and were enough to fill the satisfactorily fill the gap. After a great night’s sleep we decided to head down to Peña Blanca for breakfast. It was a pleasant stroll down the dusty road and a man even stopped his pickup truck to offer us a lift (we weren’t quite ready for that so we declined). Everyone we walked passed smiled and offered a friendly “Hola” and slowly our apprehensions about Honduras started to ease. It was in Peña Blanca that we got to taste what was to quickly become our favourite breakfast, baleadas. Baleadas are a large flour tortilla filled with refried beans and cheese and for meat eaters you can add chorizo or chicken. We tracked down a great little place making them fresh outside and having ordered one each we were back there minutes after finishing them for a second round. Peña Blanca didn’t have much to offer other than a market and some fried chicken shops so we headed back to D&D to chill and think about what we wanted to do while we were at the lake. It was that afternoon that we met the famous Walter we had read so much about in the reviews of D&D online. Expecting a middle-aged expat (with a name like Walter and being described as the very passionate resident ornithologist) we were stunned to find out he was a 28-year-old Honduran guy and an absolutely shameless and outrageous flirt. He spent the whole afternoon and early evening laughing and joking with us, so we swiftly booked in with him to do the birding tour on the lake the next morning ($18 USD + 10% service charge/23.80 AUD). This turned out to be a great decision because not only was Walter a lot of fun but he was an incredible wealth of knowledge on birds, and could spot even the smallest bird a mile away. We were able to see some beautiful birds skimming along the water and perched on branches near the shore of the lake and I finally had to admit…I think we really might have been becoming amateur twitchers. This was what convinced us to do Walter’s extended tour to a local private reserve as my special birthday treat from my mother in law. This would involve being guided for the day by two very experienced bird watchers and learning about what twitchers really do. We found it harder than the lake tour as we weren’t as adept at spotting, but we managed to see 81 different species that day with some major assistance from our guides, so that certainly wasn’t to be sniffed at! Other than the immense bird spotting and citing of rare treats like toucans and green jays, the best thing about this tour…we were fed three square meals, which we hadn’t had since leaving Nicaragua! It’s funny the things you really learn to appreciate when you’ve been on the road for a while. Three square meals in one day and a hot shower at the end of it and we thought all of our Christmases had come at once!! Our extended time at D&D was coming to an end but having met another long-term traveller Megan, we decided we would all head to Walter’s friends hostel in Gracias for my birthday. This would involve another complicated journey of returning to the La Guama junction, waving down a bus to La Esperanza and then getting on a bus from there to Gracias. This didn’t turn out too badly and we were there within the predicted 5 hours. Walter’s friend Angel turned out to be exactly that…when he found out about my birthday he promised to fire up his real wood-fired oven to make me one of his famous pizzas the following evening to celebrate! Another major plus was just how beautiful his hostel was. Awesome chilled out vibe and really nice rooms, with all basically brand new fixtures and fittings as he was building it up from scratch himself ($10 USD/13.20 AUD for a dorm bed and $35 USD/46.25 AUD for a double with en suite including breakfast – which was a good hearty affair). Possibly the most exciting bonus of this place which we didn’t discover until we arrived…MORE HOT SHOWERS! I’m not going to say that Gracias is the most happening place nor was it quite the ‘jewel’ the Lonely Planet made it out to be, but I had a great birthday hanging out with Dani and Megan, wandering around the colonial buildings and cobblestone streets of the town and then delighting in a fabulous margarita cocktail and a huge vegetarian pizza with a Angel and another guest from the hostel. Up early the next morning we were heading to the Copan Ruinas. This journey only involved 2 buses, one to Santa Rosa and then another to Copan. On the bus to Santa Rosa we were sat next to a highly intoxicated young man who decided that he needed to help the gringos get to Copan. Giving us updates every 5 minutes about how long we had to go (this was in between him conducting and air driving the bus from his seat in the back). Although he was really drunk he very sweetly followed us to the next bus to ensure we got on and then waved us away with a cheery “adios” before stumbling away and nearly knocking himself out on a lamppost . The next journey took 3 hours, getting us to Copan comfortably in the mid afternoon. The bus dropped us off at a small dusty layby between the ruins and Copan main town. As soon as we got off the bus we were greeted by hoards of taxi/tuktuk drivers offering to take us to the centre that was supposedly…”very far, too far!”. We had already been told that this was not true and so happily decided to go it alone on foot. This turned out to be a perfectly acceptable decision as we were a mere five minutes walk away along a flat (albeit slightly dusty) road from the entrance to Copan town. We got there without any problem but were not really up for hiking up the hill that greeted us as soon as we crossed the bridge and entered Copan. On that basis we decided to check out the first place we saw at the bottom of the hill, Hotel Patty. An initial offer of 400L ($16.80 USD/22 AUD) per night in a private double with en suite was quickly reduced to 350L ($14.70 USD/19.25 AUD) when the proprietor discovered we planned to stay for more than one night. We knew for a fact that the best deal in town was at ViaVia right in the centre, which offered a private twin/double for just $10USD a night. While there was no doubt that this was a great offer the requirement of us to schlep our bags up the hill to get there, coupled with the fact that we knew this particular location had a bit of a reputation as a party hostel meant that this guys offer at Hotel Patty was too good to pass up, so we took it! And just to sweeten the deal, once in our room we discovered that once again we had the added luxury of hot water…three locations in a row and we were starting to get used to this again!! Having dumped our bags we then hiked up the hill to the main square and found a selection of women selling wonderful looking baleadas for 10L ($0.42 USD/0.55 AUD) so we got 3 each before wandering around the charming little town that was Copan Ruinas. The plan for the next day was to get to the ruins before the 11am bird feeding when the Scarlet Macaws as well as a variety of other birds descend for their breakfast. We found it difficult to find food in the morning, which is how we stumbled across the local market and found a stall with the best 7-year-old waiter you have ever met (he was on school holidays). He was excellent and had the most amazing gappy grin. They served a great breakfast of rice, beans, avocado, eggs and tortillas fresh from the pan for 40L ($1.70 USD/2.25 AUD). After filling up, we were off to the ruins (Entrance: 345 Lempiras/$14.65 USD/19.25 AUD). It’s an easy walk from town (15-20 minutes, downhill and flat) so no need for a tuktuk or taxi. We arrived in plenty of time for the birds and it was an amazing sight seeing all the scarlet macaws out around the crumbling ancient structures. The complex is small in comparison to many other Mayan sights in Central America but what makes it so unique and subsequently unquestionably worthwhile are the intricate carvings that adorn a huge amount of the sites ruins. They really are quite spectacular! We spent a good 3 hours slowly wandering around and exploring the different areas of the excavated site. There are options to buy an additional ticket to the museum or to get an upgrade to explore a set of recently opened tunnels. Having done our research prior we decided against both of these as the museum was apparently entirely in Spanish and the tunnels were quite literally that, tunnels…not much to see and very little extra to explore. We had also chosen to explore the site without a guide as we preferred to do these kinds of things at our own pace. We did however see and hear some of the guided tours as we walked around and they seemed interesting and informative, so may be worth considering if you wanted to gain a deeper understanding of the history of the site but by no means necessary. After a lovely time spent exploring the Copan ruins we headed back to our rather fancy abode to get along with sorting out the plans for our move out of Honduras the next day and into El Salvador! Overall Honduras had been wonderful and had pleasantly surprised us at almost every stop. Tegus had felt a little bit shady in parts, but was by no means the gang and gun filled murder centre that we had it pegged as being in our heads! It’s clear that it is a city with a high crime rate as many of the buildings have very high walls, bars on windows and barbed wire. Almost all businesses come complete with stern looking armed guards attentively standing watch outside and there is an air of tension that pervades when walking through busy streets. In the downtown area it’s a different story, it just like any other downtown in any other city, normal people doing normal things. Lago de Yojoa (in particular D&D Brewery) was idyllic! A truly beautiful location with incredibly friendly people and an almost endless stream of natural wonders to keep you entertained. Gracias, while being a little under-whelming in terms of the expectation set by it’s description in the Lonely Planet is not without it charms. Perhaps not a location worth going out of your way to visit, but if it is on your route or you have a spare day or two it certainly isn’t an unpleasant place to be. For us Copan was an absolute highlight, and not just of Honduras. A lovely little town, really friendly people, great balance of local culture and tourist convenience and some of the most beautiful and well preserved ruins either of us had seen anywhere in Latin America. So many people miss out Honduras and put it into the ‘too dangerous’ category! This is a huge mistake and a total misunderstanding. It is honestly no more dangerous as a tourist than any other country in Central America and as long as you are a smart traveller you will have no problems here at all. All you will be achieving by missing out on this country is an opportunity to explore a wonderful place with a huge amount to offer the relatively few who choose to pass through! Do it now before the word gets out! LGBT: : What surprised me the most about Honduras was the accepting attitudes and the interesting conversations we had about sexuality and gender with locals. Honduras has a terrible reputation for violence against gay men in particular but we found that at least those we discussed this with (they started the conversation) really were accepting and wanting to learn more about the LGBT community. This being said it is not the safest country to travel and be openly affectionate. I felt the most comfortable here and the least closeted which I was not expecting. Officially it is illegal to discriminate based on sexuality but there is a long history of political leaders who encouraged homophobia (and racism) so exercise caution. Budget Time $$$In terms of general spending, Honduras really isn’t a particularly expensive country. We had a $25USD/person daily budget and that was comfortably enough for the trip. Over the course of our time there we stayed in a dorm, an ex-pat run lodge, a boutique local place and a budget hotel and these averaged out at about $20USD/night. Longer distance journeys cost on average $2USD/hour and local buses cost absolutely nothing! In terms of food, local places are cheap and cheerful and tasty. Pupusas, baleadas, rice and meat are available pretty much everywhere and you’d find it hard to pay more than $3-4 for a good feed! Entrance fees to local attractions (museums, ruins, churches) are totally reasonable, ranging from $1-5USD, countrywide. We didn’t visit the islands while we were there but we do know that this is some of the cheapest diving anywhere in the world and is absolutely wonderful!
What it actually cost: $596.39 AUD Accommodation: $251.57 Transport: $87.32 Food: $78.81 Miscellaneous: $70.64 Entertainment: $49.50 Souvenirs: $39.65 Drinks: $18.91 This works out at $29.82 AUD per person per day |
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