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Guatemala

perove — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 03:28:00 GMT

Total stay in Guatemala: 25May - 27 June

Guatemala was definitely worth visiting and we could stay here even longer, but it was time to move on. We definitely have to come back and explore more. The country was cheap, easy to travel and Guatemalans are very polite, helpful, open-minded, relaxed and religious people. More than 50% of the population is Mayan, which almost represents the entire indigenous population here. Unfortunately they have always been kept in a secondary role by the ruling elite.

Fast Facts Capital: Guatemala City Population: 12 728 111 Known for: volcanoes, decades-long civil war, Maya culture and indigenous people Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guatemala	Flag

Flores
25 - 28 May
We arrived to Flores, a tiny island on the Petén Itzá Lake in the afternoon and checked in to a very cheap but ok hostel (10 USD for 2). We've enjoyed excellent views from our terrace over the lake. But our main goal was to visit the ancient temples of Tikal hidden in the deep jungle nearby.

Tikal - Sunrise Tour
26 May
The driver picked us up at our hostel at 03:15(!) in the morning and after an hour driving, we arrived to Parque Nacional Tikal (an Unesco World Heritage Site since 1979). We climbed the highest building at Tikal (Temple IV) to enjoy the sunrise and to relax after the 30 min hike through the jungle. And it was amazing! While the sun was clearing the mist slowly and revealing more of the rainforest and its towering temples, you could hear the Howler monkey flying in the jungle and making a lot of noise.

Tikal was one of the major cultural and population centers of the Maya civilization. The Maya city of Sounds (Tikal) was huge and its steep-side temples were amazing. The satellite picture of the area (taken by NASA in 2001) showed that only around 10-15% of the temples had been uncovered from the dense rainforest. The guide explained that it will probably take 10-12 years and 6-9 MM USD to uncover and restore it all. It took Maya Indians 52 years to build it.

While walking between the temples, we've spotted toucans, raccoons and monkeys and the guide showed us some of the medical plants and trees the Mayas were using.

We had a nice ending of the tour by taking the dip in the lake right next to our hostel.

It was one of the best guided tours we ever had and for us it was the biggest highlight of Guatemala.

To learn more about Tikal, visit this site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikal

For deeper understanding and work about the hidden temples in Tikal, have a look at the following sites: http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/satellites-provide-clues-ancient-mayan-civilization-0 and
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/multimedia/photos/2006/photos06-018.html

Departure to Antigua
28 May
In Belize, we discussed whether we would go to Guatemala or straight to Costa Rica as planned. We have red that Guatemala had high crime-rate and that overnight busses could be dangerous and so on. But we decided to do Guatemala - on some conditions: 1) We wouldn't take an overnight bus 2) We would avoid Guatemala City 3) We wouldn't stay long.

And here we were, taking an overnight bus from Flores to Antigua with mostly locals on board. Arriving first to Guatemala City 5 o'clock in the morning and waiting at the bus stations for an hour for the shuttle to Antigua. And on top of that we overstayed in this beautiful country!

Antigua (elevation 1530 m)
29 May - 6 June
La muy Noble y muy Leal Ciudad de Santiago de los Caballeros de Goathemala (what the Spaniards called Antigua) was once the epicenter of power throughout Central America.

Antiguas' setting is very beautiful, especially on a clear day, where you can see the 3 volcanoes: Agua (3766 m), Fuego (3763 m) and Acatenango (3976 m) overlooking the town. Because of a cold front it rained a lot and the temperature also dropped because of the alltitude.

The well maintained Spanish colonial buildings looked pretty nice, though there are a lot of expats in town, i.e. there are many nice and expensive shops and restaurants. Many of those places and also important offices where protected by guards wearing pump guns.

Overall the town didn't give us much of a feeling of the real Guatemala, but it has a charm. We stayed here and waited for the weather to clear up so we could hike the active volcano Pacaya. Unfortunately we didn't have any clear days during this stay.

San Pedro La Laguna (elevation 1610 m) by Lago de Atitlán
6 - 25 June
This relaxed bohemian village, located just by a huge and beautiful lake (8 km x 18 km and averaging around 300 m deep) is known for its cheap but good Spanish schools. Lake Atitlán is surrounded by small traditional villages and dramatic mountains and volcanoes (San Pedro 3020 m, Tolimán 3158 m and Atitlán 3537 m). Our hotel was actually located by the foot of the San Pedro Volcano and on the 13^th June there was an earthquake (4.7 on Richter's scale). Aneta didn't feel anything as she was sleeping, but Per-Ove did. Actually Guatemala has plenty of volcanoes and here is a good overview: http://www.mayaparadise.com/volcanos/volguatee.htm

The indigenous women and girls here were wearing traditional clothes called Maya traje. They also carried their babies in traditional weaved blankets on their backs. It's a colorful picture, but unfortunately taking picture of indigenous people is a sensitive issue. Thus here are some examples of textiles and background information: http://www.pbase.com/magpiejst/traje and http://www.rutahsa.com/traje.html .

It rained a lot the first days and streets turned into small rivers, but that didn't stop us from exploring the village since we equipped us with rubber boots.

A shortlist of what we did/experienced:

Spanish lessons: 5 days, 4 hrs a day at San Pedro Spanish school with private teacher for only 90 USD. Professional staff and located just by the lake.
Met up with some nice people we've also met in Flores and Antigua.
Hang out with the Spanish owners of our hotel. This must be the one of few good places to stay where the owners treat you like family. Thanks Luis and Maria for memorable staying!
Visited the nearby San Marco La Laguna, a pretty lakeside village with spiritual oriented activities.
Locals taking a bath in the lake.
Locals washing their clothes in the good old way in the lake and put them to dry on big rocks.

Antigua
25 - 27 June
This time we were lucky with the weather, thus we signed up for the longed hiking tour to the active volcano, Pacaya (2552 m). They say it's the only one accessible volcanoes in the Americas where you can walk on lava.

It was a tough 1,5 hr hike up the steep paths and it got really hot when we arrived to the beds of lava. While walking on the dry lava, you could see the floating lava through some cracks just a few centimeters below and our shoes smelled burned rubber. It was an interesting experience with beautiful views. More details on Pacaya: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacaya

Guatemala video

The Guatemala photo collection: http://www.flickr.com/photos/perove/collections/72157606638998033/

Map of Guatemala

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On 27 June we flew to Costa Rica...

Belize

perove — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:25:00 GMT

Total stay in Belize: 1 - 25 May

Fast Facts Capital: Belize City Population: 314 275 Known for: Diving in the second largest reef in the world, that Madonna song "La Isla Bonita" Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belize	Flag

Arriving Belize
1 May
Boarder-crossing from Mexico to Belize was pretty straight forward. Between those countries, we passed through the Corozal Commercial Tax-Free Zone.

We've heard that Belize City wasn't an attractive place to stay, thus we drove directly from bus station to boat terminal. After 45 min ride by speed boat we arrived in Caye Caulker Island, mainly to dive and snorkel and plan next destination. Belize is known for the magnificent reef stretching all the way from Cancun in Mexico to Honduras (second largest reef after Great Barrier Reef in Australia).

Caye Caulker Island
1-25 May
The Island is tiny with approx 1600 inhabitants. It's actually two islands, because Hurricane Hattie carved The Split through the island and it is now a popular swimming area. On the streets of Caye Caulker you will find golf cars, iguanas, dogs sleeping, vendors selling fresh fruit, juices, cakes, BBQ shrimps and more.

We made good friends with the owner (Salvador) of a local bar I & I Bar, his family and friends, where we hang out almost every day.

They introduced us to Coconut Apple. This is the heart of a coconut tree, it's a coconut fruit, but inside it has a spongy, white texture and tastes slightly as a coconut but looks like a solid apple.

Shortly after arrival, Per-Ove got an ear infection and couldn't do any water activities, thus we waited until he fully recovered.

Diving in The Great Blue Hole
19 May
Per-Ove dived the famous Great Blue Hole (145 m deep and about 400 m wide). Thousands of years ago this was a massive cave system that collapsed - so when you dive you will see overhangs and pinnacles in a quite ambient environment. There were plenty of sharks among other big fish. We dived down to 40 meters. It was easy to drop too far down. You might encounter nitrogen narcosis affecting your concentration a bit down there - but just relax, watch you gages and enjoy it.

The Aquarium at Long Key was also on the menu.

Satellite view

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Bird-view

Check out this page for more information about the Great Blue Hole: http://ambergriscaye.com/pages/town/greatbluehole.html

Full moon party at Driftwood
20 May
The other side of the island, north of the Split is an isolating place, where a German guy (Peter) opened a tiny resort, Driftwood in a quite, natural settings. He arranges full moon parties with shuttle from the main island as well as a party every Sunday. This time he had a live band playing Garifuna music and Punta Rock.

Diving at the Hol Chan Marine Reserve and Shark Ray Alley
22 May
Per-Ove did a 2 tank dive in Hol Chan Marine Reserve (Tackle Box). Said to be one of the best diving places in Belize. It was definitely a great dive. Check out the pictures in the Belize photo collection (link below).

Video from the dive

Snorkeling at the Hol Chan Marine Reserve
23 May
We did one-day snorkeling trip to Hol Chan, Shark Ray Alley and Coral Garden. We had close encounter with sharks, rays, turtles and a huge Grouper.

For more info on The Hol Chan Marine Reserve click here: http://www.holchanbelize.org/

Video when snorkeling in Hol Chan

Departure
25 May
We caught a 7 am boat to Belize City and continued by bus for 5 hrs to Flores in Guatemala.

The Belize photo collection: http://www.flickr.com/photos/perove/collections/72157605364603478/

Map of Belize

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Cruising in the Caribbean

perove — Sat, 24 May 2008 23:21:00 GMT

We overstayed in Belize. (The Belize blog will come soon). Per-Ove got an ear infection and need to recover 100% in order to dive in world famous spots. Tomorrow we are traveling by bus to Guatemala (this wasn't on our itinerary) for a couple of weeks, to see the great Tikal and few other places and then most likely Costa Rica.

Cruise
20-27 April

On the 20th April we flew from Cancun to Puerto Rico and embarked SeaDream 1 boat. The Norwegian yacht takes only 100 passengers. It's luxurious, but casual with perfect service and delicious food (the chef is Polish ).

It was nice to finally meet family after 5 months. Arvid (Per-Ove's father) took good care of us and we had the chance to spend some time together even though he was at work.

We visited following places:

San Juan (Puerto Rico)
20 April
Embarked. Walked around the streets of San Juan and watched kites flying in the sunset.

Cruz Bay (St. John)
21 April
The cars here were driving on the left side of the road, but they had the steering wheel on the left side too - that was weird...

Gustavia (St. Barthelemy)
22-23 April
We met our friends Harald and Hilde for the second time on their sailing boat, since February in St. Lucia.

Iles des Saintes (Guadeloupe)
24 April
Enjoyed the SeaDream 1 facilities.

Charlestown (Nevis)
25 April
Walked around the streets of Charlestown (looking for hair wax for Per-Ove).

Jost van *** (British Virgin Islands)
26 April
We met Harald and Hilde for the third time and we relaxed on a beautiful beach with BBQ and champagne. They supposedly have started the crossing over Atlantic 1st May. WE WISH THEM SAFE JOURNEY!

Farewell dinner with Captain Valter Berg and Norwegian guests and employees.

San Juan (Puerto Rico)
27th April
Disembarked.

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Cruise photo collection: http://www.flickr.com/photos/perove/collections/72157605237463045/

Returning to Mexico

Cancun (Mexico)
27 - 30 April
It was hard to return to everyday life. The luxury of towels has been changed and room has been cleaned twice a day, was replaced with hostel with smelly shower and invasions of ants and lack of 24h room-service. And on top of this, our luggage come delayed with 2 days (stuck in St. Kitts), thus we needed to go out (again) and do some shopping...

Chetumal (Mexico)
30 April - 1May
We took a bus (6hr) from Cancun to Chetumal in Mexico, near the Belizean boarder. It looked like we've arrived to a ghost city - it was covered in silenced and there were just a few people on the streets... The day after we continued by bus (3hr) to Belize City.

Mexico

perove — Mon, 05 May 2008 19:09:00 GMT

We are now in Belize, Caye Caulker Island being lazy after a week of cruising in the Caribbean… We will come back to that, but first let’s summarize Mexico.

More than 4 months in to the journey, we feel like we have been doing this for ages. We miss our friends and family, but time flies fast – there is so much to see and to do and in between you need time to relax – right?. We love that routine! Until now we have been traveling 'mid range', but we have realized that we have to go down one level, otherwise we’ll have to return home earlier... We are having a great time, are in good health - haven’t been ill since we left Venezuela. The only 'illness' we had was: Aneta got sunburn on her stomach (!) and Per-Ove on his eyelids (!) – of all places.

Total stay in Mexico: 25 March - 20 April

Fast Facts Capital: Mexico City Population: 108 700 891 Area: 1 972 550 sq km Known for: Tacos, chilies, tequila, Indian temples, sombreros Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico	Flag

Our travel in Mexico was limited to Yuacatán Peninsula. Yucatán wasn’t’ actually a part of Mexico until 1821. The country is surprisingly easy to travel around and has some great food, rich culture, friendly people and picturesque beaches – especially those around Tulum town.

There are some interesting things to be said about the ancient Maya Indians. They were quite sophisticated. The Mayas developed a complex system of writing and two separate calendar cycles based on their observations of astronomical phenomena. One of them corresponds to our 365-day solar year, with the difference that it is not adjusted every four years. They also developed their own digit system with dots and bars, very similar thinking to the binary system we have today. They have no metal tools, or never used wheels for wagons for transportation - yet they built breathtaking temple complexes from limestone and aligned them so precisely that windows and doors were uses as celestial observations with great accuracy.

Legends:
A legend is saying that the Vikings were in Mesoamerica (Central-America) 500 years before Columbus. Another legend has it that the peninsula got the name when the Spanish conquistadors asked what they called their land and got the response ‘Yucatán’ – Maya for ‘We don’t understand you’.

Playa del Carmen
25-4 April
It’s a touristic place, but has nice beach and great variety of food. We’ve stayed here while we were waiting for our camera to get repaired.

Tulum & the Neighborhoods
4-16 April
Tulum is a small town close to a spectacular coastline with white sandy beaches and turquoise waters. It’s one of the best beaches we have seen so far(close to Fiji, Los Roques or The Maldives). While we relaxed here, we visited Tulum ruins and Chichén Itzá archeological site and Per-Ove dived in a cave.

Tulum ruins
5 April
Nice location by a lovely beach. Tulum was occupied during the late post-Classic period (AD 1200-1521) and it was an important port town during its heyday.

Dive in Cenote Dos Ojos & The Bat Cave
11 April
Cenote is a type of sinkhole containing groundwater typically found in the Yucatán Peninsula and some nearby Caribbean islands.

Dving in a cenote is a totally different experience compared to regular diving in the ocean. The water is clearer, cooler and more tranquil. There is not much light so you need artificial light such as a torch. But many of the Cenotes has some natural holes in the sealing that gives you an ambient atmosphere in parts of it.

You don’t see much fish, but that is not the point here. The few fish that finds you will tag along your torch.. What you will see is fantastic creations of lime stone and the best visibility you can find – period!! It’s like watching people flying slowly because the water is so transparent.

There is literally thousands of cenotes in Mexico, but only a few are accessible for the public (accompanied by a Cave certified instructor only). New cenotes are explored slowly since there is no official program or funding – so it’s done in divers spare time.

Chichén Itzá
13 April
This pre-Columbian archeological site was built by the Maya and it is today on the new list of The Seven Wonders of the World. Chichén Itzá, which means 'At the mouth of the Itzá’s Well,' was the social and political center of the area from about 400 to 1400 A.D. Today it’s the most-visited Mayan site. The site contains the temple of Kukulcan (that’s what most people associate with Chichén Itzá), also referred to as El Castillo. And the Great Ball Court in Mesoamerica (there are over thousand of them) where they play ball games with rubber balls, which they were first to invent! There are stone sideways 'hoops' on either inclined side of the court, but how exactly anyone would have gotten a heavy stone ball through the high hoops remains a mystery. Temples here have very good acoustics. Interesting place, though it is very touristic, with tons of buses loaded with tourists and plenty of sellers inside.

On the way to the site, we’ve stopped at a Cenote to take a swim.

For more info on Chitén Itzá: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chichen_Itza

Cancun
16-20 April
We stayed here in a cheap hostel. This stop was basically to do shopping for the cruise.

Fact source: Lonely Planet

Mexico map

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Mexico photo collection: http://www.flickr.com/photos/perove/collections/72157604567841798/

Cuba – Buena Vida Social Club

perove — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 06:05:00 GMT

Total stay: 20 Februay - 25 March

Fast Facts
Capital: Havana (La Habana)
Population: 2 168 000
Area: 3 007 sq km
Known for: Che, Sigars, Fidel Castro, Rum, Veteran Cars
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havana

Time in Havana, Cuba

Flag

After 5 weeks in Cuba, we’ve arrived in Mexico, Yucatán Peninsula, Playa del Carmen. We stayed here for about a week , waiting for our camera to be repaired. Then we took a bus to Tulum to explore the nearby Maya ruins and temples.

To be honest it felt good to come to a place where everything runs smooth, compared to Cuba, but we will miss our friends in Cuba. Read the review below.

Havana part one
20 Feb -7 March
Havana (or La Habana as it’s called here)is full of cars from the 50s, cigars, rum, Cuban music and slow service. But there is more…
A lot of Havana’s once majestic buildings are falling apart due to lack of maintenance. The good thing is that there is established a program from the government to restore the buildings to their previous state. La Habana has a higher density of historical building you will ever see in any other city. Thus walking trough Havana is quite an interesting experience.

Anyway, when we’ve arrived we were told that Fidel Castro resigned the day before, and his younger brother Raul has taken over. Raul’s newly formed government promised to get rid of the more absurd laws. For example Cubans are not allowed to rent rooms at hotels, visit certain places, which are exclusively for tourists (Cayo Coco and others!). There were also rumours that Cubans soon will have the right to have cell phones and Internet which now is for government officials and other important people only (doctors etc).

Roberto (a good friend of a good friend) welcomed us and made sure we got what we needed to get comfortable right away…He made us a reservation at his neighbor private house (casa particulares run by Maria, Eloy and their son Obed. It was located just a ten minute walk from the old Havana. They took very good care of us and also helped us to obtain private Spanish lessons trough a former professor at the University in Havana, Gerardo.

One Sunday, Maria and Eloy took us to a cabaret show aimed mainly for Cubans, called Amigos Para Siempre. It is led by Maylú, a great singer and dancer who has a fantastic network of friends in the entrainment business in Cuba, contributing in her show . The cabaret runs with different themes each week. We went there three times. Here we must say this was our first encounter of Cuban culture overdose in a cozy and intimate atmosphere. After the show the floor was filled within seconds with happy Cubans moving their hips to Cuban salsa (called casino) and Reggaeton music. Vania Borges from Buena Vista Social Club took part in one of the shows. She can also be found on the fantastic album Rhytms Del Mundo Cuba (http://www.rhythmsdelmundo.com/). This album is a great fusion of well know tracks with a twist of Cuban flavor.

Maylu and Amigos para siempre

Link to youtube video of Vania Borges: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS76iU6ABJs

Viñales part one
7-12 March
Parque Nacional Vinãles is on Unesco’s World Heritage site. Our hotel had a lovely view over the town, tobacco fields and Mogotes (limestone outcrops), but the food wasn’t good, thus we ate only in casa particulares (yummy fresh fish and lobster). We’ve also had 2 hours of salsa lessons.

We rented bikes and explored the town and nearby tobacco fields and Mogotes. A local farmer showed us how the cigars are made. The agriculture here is done by bulls pulling the plow, as in the good old days. The farmers ride on horses as the means of transportation.

We also rented a car and explored a cave with a river inside (too touristic). We drove to a sleepy fishing village Puerto Esperanza and to a lovely beach of Cayo Jutias to relax a bit. (Road signs are almost none existing so some Spanish is recommended).

Viñales video

Maria La Gorda
12-15 March
It was time for Per-Ove to discover what Cuba has to offer in regards to diving, so we left Viñales for a few days. Maria La Gorda, means ‘Fat Maria’ is most remote mainland beach, located on the Peninsula de Guanahacabibes, a Unesco Biosphere Reserve. Here, just outside our door both lizards and snakes paid us a visit and birds knocked on our bathroom window (when Aneta was showering).

The diving conditions here were fantastic (see pictures and videos for a bit of flavor). The area has a coral reefs stretching along the area with thirty-something dive spots. At the edge of the reef it drops over 2000 meters to the bottom and has great visibility, rich on life and massive caves .

The first dive was a massive cave area and on the was done together with Cedric from Paris including Hakan, Gökhan and O´guzhay from Istanbul – thanks for a good dive folks ;-)

Per-Ove and his dive buddy David did a couple of great dives together. (Thank you David for fantastic dives!) We also hung out with him and his lovely wife Sylvie (who he called a Shetland-sheep). A great couple from France!

Between the dives we also hooked with some other great people - Olivier and Fabien from France as well. Olivier with his handicap did several dives for the first time (respect!) and also Fabien joined for his first few dives (one of which he run out of air – shame on one of the instructors!!!).

We got so well along, that we drove together back to to Havana via Viñales and Las Terrazas. Thank you guys for a fantastic time together!

Diving at Maria la Gorda

Viñales part two
15-16 March
We returned to Viñales for the Tobacco HarvestCarnaval. There was great local music everyone danced; kids, parents, elderly etc. There where huts on every street in town who served food (whole pig) and (cheap) rum. During the day an amusement park, dating probably back to 50’s, was rolled out.

The day after we did 4 hours horseback riding (it hurt a lot) through the tobacco fields, passing Mogotes and visiting a cave (yes - with a river inside). We stopped by a farmer house to get some fresh coconut milk and pineapple.

Las Terrazas
16-17 March
Las Terrazas has focus on ecotourism The buildings here blend nicely into the surroundings.

We did Canopy rides with height of 25 m. Great views over the river and the village. Check out the movie clip ;-)

Las Terrasaz Canopy riding

Havana part two
17-25 March
Back in Havana it was time to prepare for Aneta’s birthday. We had a little party with our new friends at Roberto’s place and and learned some Cuban Salsa. After that we relaxed on a beach, Playa del Este. This was the only time we went to a beach during our stay in Havana.

Gerardo and his lovely wife Nadia invited us to their home for some rum and Cuban Salsa. Thank you for a great time and having the patience!

We had some time left for one last night a Maylú’s show which was one of the best if you consider the atmosphere. And unexpectedly we where called on stage for a good bye and a birthday present for Aneta.

The day before our departure we had a farewell lunch with Maylú, Kelvin and her uncle, Ismajara. Thank you for a fantastic time and the present.

Then, Mary and Eloy prepared for us a typical Cuban farewell dinner (rise, black bean in a sauce, fried crispy pork and fried food banana) Delicious! (We miss it already).

Thank you everyone in Cuba for making this a wonderful stay and we’re sorry most of you are not able to read this due to the Cuban Internet restrictions. We will miss you, but we’ll return.

Recordings from Havana

Cuba photo collection: http://www.flickr.com/photos/perove/collections/72157604317935468/

Hasta La Vista Cuba ;-)

Cuba map

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Next: On 20 April we will meet Arvid (Per-Ove’s father) on board the SeaDream 1 and cruise together for a week from San Juan (Puerto Rico) to Guadeloupe and back. After that, we haven’t decided yet if we should fly to Belize City (Belize) or San José (Costa Rica). We enjoy a lot being so flexible!

Experiencing Jamaica (Part 2)

perove — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 03:25:00 GMT

Kingston
14-20 Feb
Population: 700 000
Kingston is totally different from the other places we’ve seen during our travelling in Jamaica. We weren’t hustled to anywhere near the degree as we were in Negril and some in Treasure Beach. Prices here are lower, the people are nicer and there is a huge ethnical mix. During our stay here we’ve been to a coffee farm in Blue Mountains and Bob Marley museum and also preparing for the stay in Cuba (buying €, snacks and other necessities).

We’ve stayed in Uptown Kingston, a quiet and safe place at the Mikuzi Guesthouse (http://mikuzijamaica.com). The owner is very kind and will do her outmost to make your stay pleasant.

Nice to know: there are cheap flights with Air Jamaica from both Montego Bay and Kingston (via Montego Bay) to Habana and you’ll get your visa at the airport on the day of departure for 15 USD, which is very convenient. You cannot buy the ticket on-line, but any travel agency or Air Jamaica will help you with that.

It’s advised to take a taxi after dark and stay away from the ghettoes in West Kingston. Public taxies are very cheap. During day New Kingston and Upper Kingston is safe for walking. We haven’t experienced any danger here and Kingston seemed much safer than its well known reputation (75% of the murders occurs here, but most of them are drug-related or politically inspired and occur in the ghettoes (source Lonely Planet). Compared to Caracas, Kingston is very safe ;-)

Blue Mountains
17 Feb
After 1hr drive and thousands of road turns, we arrived at the small coffee farm; Old Tavern Coffee Estate in Blue Mountains (1300m), known and awarded for the good quality and taste of their coffee. It tasted excellent, naturally sweet and has a long lasting after-taste. The strength of the coffee varies depending on how long you roast the beans. The longer you roast them, the stronger it gets. Per-Ove’s favorite was medium dark. We had a walk in the mystique coffee slopes, which was partly covered in clouds. You can order their coffee directly from the following web page: http://www.oldtaverncoffee.com/

ATM Issues
16 & 18 Feb
On a Saturday we tried to withdraw money from an ATM and we got out the JMD (Jamaican dollars), but the USD dollars were stock in the machine. We saw the money behind the lid and tried to pull it out, but we’ve only managed to pull out a half of a 20 USD bill. The bank hosting the ATMs was closed, but we were able to reach their sales office and a few days later the transaction was corrected on our account.

We went to the same bank on Monday (is the closest one to our guesthouse) to buy Euros for the stay in Cuba, as you will be charged 10% fee if you exchange USD or use credit cards. In the bank we were told that we couldn’t buy the currency with a debit- or credit card – only cash, thus we were shown to their ATM machines (yes – the same as on Saturday!) We explained the situation from Saturday, but they were quite relaxed about it and asked us to try the other machine. Paradoxically, the same thing happened with this ATM and in addition to that Per-Ove’s card was stocked. 20 min before the bank closed Per-Ove got his card back and we looked for another bank.

The moral of this story: make sure that you withdraw or exchange your money before you run out of it. Banks are usually inefficient has long queues and close earlier than at home (2 pm).

Bob Marley Museum
19 Feb
The museum is the most visited site in Kingston. We joined the one hour-long tour, which gave us fascinating insights into Bob’s life.

It’s former home of Bob and his wife Rita Marley. They bought the place from Bob’s manager and he lived there for five years before he passed away on May 11, 1981. Rita opened their home for public exactly 5 years after he passed.

They lived a simple life here. There was a replica of their record kiosk from where he and his wife tried to make a living from selling their music in the early days. (Did you know that Rita was one of Bob’s backup singers?) The Tuff Gong recording studio also used to be located in the house, but it’s now moved to another place in Kingston.

Can you imagine: the Legend album was the best international album and got triple platinum award in 1984 and diamond certificate in 1999.
We were told that Bob bought a BMW because he believed that it stands for Bob Marley & The Wailers.

An assassination attempt by some gunmen took place in the house, just two days before the legendary One Love peace concert in Kingston in 1978. Bob got shut in his arm, while Rita in her head. Luckily they survived the attempt. You can still see the bullet holes in the walls…

To our big surprise Bob’s four year old grandson joined the tour as well. Per-Ove was happy to great him the typical Jamaican way you do on the streets (fist against fist while you reply respect).Not bad for a four year old ;-)

Update: we added a page with some Bob Marley facts for your pleasure.

Extras
Music:
Kingston is the ‘Nashville of the Third World’, with recording studios pumping out as many as 500 new titles each month.

Rastafarianism:
100 000 Rastafarians. They adhere to an unorganized religion – a faith, not a church and it’s composed of a core of social and spiritual tenets that are open for interpretations. Not all wear dreads, for example and others don’t smoke marijuana.

(Source: Lonely Planet)

Next:
The next step after Cuba, approx 21 March, is Mexico (most likely Tulum as a base), then Belize, and Costa Rica. There might be a detour (depending on the availability) for one week with Per-Ove’s father on board the cruise Sea Dream I, where he is working. The tour goes from Puerto Rico to Guadeloupe and back.

Jamaica photos collection: http://www.flickr.com/photos/perove/collections/72157603859689296/

Map of Jamaica

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St Lucia

perove — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 06:21:00 GMT

We’re now in Habana and the Internet availability here in scarce. They are either out of internet access cards or the computer is busy, but we’ve managed to find a hotel where we could connect with our laptop. The speed is low, thus the pictures and video-clips from Cuba must wait until we’ll arrive in Mexico (Cancun) or Belize, sometime after 21st March, But first, let’s go back where we’ve left:

Total stay: 7 - 14 February

Fast Facts
Capital: Castries
Population: 160 000
Area: 616 sq km
Known for: Jacquot parrot
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Lucia

Our impressions
Expensive (tourists pay always more), great seafood, plenty of yachts and sailing boats.

St. Lucia has some issues with hustlers approaching tourists thinking that our pockets are bottomless, though not to the degree as in some of the more touristic places in Jamaica.

Vieux Fort Bay
7 - 8 Feb
We hooked up with our friends onboard their 37 foot sailboat Manaña in St. Lucia. Some other good friends from Norway joined us as well. They will be sailing together for one month. And we’ve sailed together on the west side of the island for one week.

Anse la Raye
8 - 9 Feb
Anse la Raye is a small sleepy fishing localsthat has become the island’s Friday-night hot spot with their Seafood Friday (locally called Jump-Up). It’s a seafood BBQ party where the villagers come out on streets preparing their specialties (the fish cakes are highly recommended) served with ice-cold beers and tasteful rum cocktails. The real fun starts after 22:00 when most of the tourists leave.

Rodney Bay
9 - 11 Feb
Is basically a marina, where yachts and sailing boats fill up their tanks with water, charge batteries etc. We had some great Swedish massage by local lady speaking Swedish (!). She studied there. There is an ok beach nearby and a restaurant (Key Largo) serving good original Italian pizza (highly recommended).

Here we got introduced to some nice people: Stian, Sølve and Siobhan. Our friends met them first at Grand Canary Island and then Cap Verde, before they started the crossing to the Caribbean. They were sailing on Uredd also for one year as our friends.

Soufrière
11 - 14 Feb
Coastal Pitons provide scenic settings to the bay and the island’s highest peaks rise above the rainforest just a few miles inland. Piton is also the name of the national beer (which is light and very refreshing in the heat).

This stop was basically to enjoy the rest of our time together with our friends.

Some final words
Hilde & Harald – thanks for inviting us to your boat and taking such a good care of us! We’ve missed you ;-) Harald: you have really good musical skills, singing, playing guitar and mouth organ!

Inger-Marie & Atle – great to see you again and we are glad that we got to meet you during our travel!

Sølve – great guitar playing!

Siobhan – hope we’ll meet in Cuba or at least stay in touch ;-)

St Lucia photos collection: http://www.flickr.com/photos/perove/collections/72157603931882239/

Map of St Lucia

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Experiencing Jamaica

perove — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 15:32:00 GMT

Fast facts

Capital: Kingston
Population: 2,7 million
Area: 11 391 sq km
Known for: coffee, chocolate, reggae, rasta, chill and smoke

Negril

18th - 24th January
We've arrived in Montego Bay on the 18th January and drove straight to Negril (west coast – 1,5 hr drive) so that Aneta could shake of her illness (she got sick in Caracas just before departure - could be food poisoning...).

We were lucky to have this simple eatery hut next to where we stayed, serving great local Jamaican food to a reasonable price. Jerk Chicken is one of the most typical Jamaican dishes, usually sold from the BBQ on the streets. They use a special Jamaican jerk spice for this.

Negril stretches around an 11 km white sandy beach of Long Bay. It’s one of the few places where you still can tan the whole booty ;-) This place is also known for its reggae concerts along the beach. Negril has a lovely beach, but there are too many all-inclusive hotels occupying the beach and too many hustlers attracted by big numbers of visitors coming here, trying to to sell you all kind of services and gadgets and of course marijuana.

4th - 7th February
Negril organized Bob Marley birthday bash from 2-6 Feb with reggae concerts all night long. We were there on the 6th, but unfortunately we didn’t see any big stars although the music was nice.

Our local dining place in Negril

Negril beach

Treasure Beach

24th January - 4th February
We wanted to escape the tourists and hustlers and moved to Treasure Beach - a tranquil and authentically charming, fishing village on the south-west tip of the island. This is a place where you can buy fresh catch of the day directly from local fishermen. The beach isn’t breathtaking (a bit dark sand), but it’s clean and the sea is clear and nice for swimming. You stay the beach almost all by yourself. Since this is off the beaten track, we've got a good price on a villa with terrace on a small hill, over viewing the beach and its fantastic sunset. On the backside you can see Santa Cruz Mountains. The pace of life here is slow and simple. Or as they say; No problem mon! You’re in Jamaica now. Respect!

There are only a few small shops/groceries and eateries around here. For the first time we've tried a conch. Conch soup looks to be a favorite dish here. The fruits here are fantastic. The oranges are so juicy that you can squeeze them with your bare hands! They also have quite a bit of other exotic fruits which we have never seen before (see our photo sets). There were some other exotic fruits on the beach one day, shooting pictures for an exotic commercial!

View from the house	The local vegetable & fruit hut
Star-Apples	Kids on the beach hanging out with us
Fishing boats waiting ashore...

The Nine Mile – The home of Bob Marley

2nd February
A few days before the celebration kicks off in Negril to celebrate Bob Marley birthday, we headed to his birth site and resting place in Nine Mile Village (1000m above the sea level) which is a 2,5 hrs drive from theTreasure Beach. The name comes after Eight Mile village, which is exactly located 1 mile away from Nine Mile. And the Eight Mile village is located 1 mile away from Seven Mile village and so on…. On the property you’ll find the house Bob was born and raised in. His mother is 81 and still lives there (we could almost see her leg as she passed below us...). Another highlight is The Inspiration Stone (Mt Zion Rock/ The Pillow), where he sat and learn to play guitar. You can hear him talking about the pillow it the album Talkin’ Blues.

Bob is buried in a 2.4m oblong marble 6 feet above the ground. There is space also for his mother.

For more information about Nine Mile check out their site and this Bob Marley birthday article.

Awards

Resting on The Pillow

Our latest Jamaican photo sets can be found here.

7th February we flew to St. Lucia to meet our friends and to sail together in the Caribbean for a week. Then we fly to Kingston (14th) and Cuba (20th). We’ll be off-line for a while now ;-)

Take Care!

Map of Jamaica

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Isla Margarita and Los Roques

perove — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 07:27:00 GMT

It's time to relax a bit in the sun so we head of to Isla Margarita and Los Roques.

Isla Margarita
First we stayed for a couple of days at the most popular beach of Playa Agua. We then headed off to the small fishing village of Playa Zaragoza - a less touristic place with a more tranquil environment and only one posada. The Posada Atlantic have nice rooms and great staff. Located on the beach streaching a few kilometers and along it where plenty small houses painted in strong colors.

Los Roques
Archipelago Los Roques National Park (also known as the Maldives of the Carribean) consists of many islands and atolls, but only the main island (El Gran Roque) is habited. We chartered boats to bring us to near by island and secluded beaches. The local fishermen also served delicious fresh lobster here for about NOK 255 per kilo or half of that price if you did exchanged dollars/euros on a black marked :-)

Per-Ove did two dives and uploaded some photos and a video (below).

We headed off to Caracas for a few days. And on the 18th January we arrived to Jamaica...

Thank you to Mabel, Andreas, Isabell and their family for making Venezuela such a great place to stay!

Map of Isla Margarita and Los Roques

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YouTube Video

Manta Ray

Canaima and Angel Falls

perove — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 04:49:00 GMT

First of all happy new year (or Feliz Año as they say here).

We did another celebration with Mabel's family at their uncles house sending up more fireworks and drinking good Whiskey. The kids went crazy about the fireworks (yes - also the adults became kids at this time).

A couple of days later we took off to the Angel Falls which is the world's highest waterfall (979 m). It was discovered by accident in 1937 when Jimmy Angel was out flying looking for gold and made a landing on the top of the table mountain.

We took a small plane to reach the base camp not too far from the waterfall. To reach the waterfall we took a 4 hour boat up the river and camped at the foot of the mountain (map). We slept outdoors in hammocks and was taken good care of by a local indian guide and his crew. They prepared great food and we had some good rum as well. We also had the pleasure of hooking up with the nice people of our group and the day after we headed for a one hour trecking up to viewpoint of the waterfall.

Later that day we headed back to the base camp to get a real close encounter with the fantastic and dramatic waterfalls surrounding the camp. It was just breathtaking and we'll let the pictures (via the photo gallery) and video clips speak for themselves.

Now we head off to Isla Margarita (and later, Los Roques) for some relaxation at the beach.

Agradecemos a la familia de Mabel por querer celebrar las vacaciones con nosotros, por llevarnos a un montón de sitios, por tenernos en su casa, por los regalos... Vamos a echar de menos a la comida venezolana y española cuando estémos en otros países!

Angel Falls

Behind a waterfall curtain in Canaima

Feliz Navidad from Venezuela (from Savañon (Stavanger) to Caracas)

perove — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 03:09:00 GMT

Finally we reached Venezuela and it’s great to get to the first stop confirming that our long awaited trip has started. We spent the night in Caracas and the day after we took a five hour drive to Mabel’s family in central of the Venezuela, home to the petroleum business, El Tigre.

Here we celebrated Christmas Eve with tons of good food, drinks and fireworks in a great company. A true fiesta. We even got to learn some Merengue helping us from the cold north to loosen up a bit.

For now it’s just relaxing and getting rid of the jet lag before we head of to the Puerto La Cruz tomorrow for a few days to enjoy the beach.

We have here for you a few pictures and videos go give you a taste of the atmosphere.

Hasta luego!

Fireworks

Merengue

The travel blog is up and running

perove — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 13:38:00 GMT

Finaly we got the travel blog up and running for our world trip starting the 23rd December this year.

We'll do some bloggings and upload pictures to Flickr to give you some impulses.

Notice that each set at Flickr can be viewed as a slide show in your browser.

Stay tuned for more updates ;-)

Ciao!