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Saturday, February 18, 2017

Lago de Atitlan (Guatemala) - Into the vortex

LAGO DE ATITLAN (GUATEMALA)
18 February - 19 February 2017


Mystically minded gringos talk about Lago de Atitlan as being one of the world's few vortex fields, alongside sites such as the Egyptian pyramids and Machu Picchu. Whilst its mostly the hippies that\ impart that sort of vibe into some corners of this spectacular point on the globe, you just can't go past the view for holding another style of mythical power just for being.

The vortex - within the vortex - Lago de Atitlan - Guatemala
How did they get out of this one?


Hemmed in on all sides by mountains and volcanoes, the statistics of the lake give the headline of 320mts deep, and 18kms by 12kms at its widest points. Picturesque, gorgeous and drawing comparisons to its European cousin, Lake Como, you'd have to say that under equivalent bouts of sunshine Lago de Atitlan might just stand atop the podium.

Lago de Atitlan - Guatemala

Lago de Atitlan - Guatemala

Lago de Atitlan - Guatemala


Inga and I rolled into the backpackers hive of San Pedro, located on the Western edge of the lake. A typical tourist style offering with bars and restaurants of varying quality, the town itself is about par for the course for what you'd expect around here. The lake and the views however are something totally different and well worth more than the day that we spent there. 

Lago de Atitlan - Guatemala

Lago de Atitlan - Guatemala

Lago de Atitlan - Guatemala


Our greatest accomplishment during our stay was doing a kayak out on the lake, which unfortunately coincided with an uninvited amount of grey skies, cold weather and the hint of drizzle.

Blended guacamole on a bed of unnaturally green 'something' - happy quesadilla time - Lago de Atitlan - Guatemala

Lago de Atitlan - Guatemala


It's unfortunate on our part that we didn't give Lago de Atitlan more of an opportunity in terms of hikes, circumnavigation, time on the lake and discovering the towns that hug its shore.

Pretty, appealing, engaging. This is a place where a return needs to happen for us, its just too good a place not to discover fully.

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Antigua (Guatemala) - Finding the 'Melbourne of Central America'

ANTIGUA (GUATEMALA)
16 February - 18 February 2017

Guatemala imbued me with a sense of unease and fear. Inoculated with the biases of their ardent neighbours, the answer to the initial question of ‘where we’d be travelling next’, (Guatemala), would often be met with the response, ‘Cuidado, Guatemala es muy peligroso’. Admittedly this related more to the capital Guatemala city than anywhere else in the country, but you know what they say about mud, it sticks.

Arriving in Antigua after the dusk, we were in the ‘witching hours’. It’s the term I associate with arrival at a new destination when all things you believe to be sinister about a place are hidden in a cloak of darkness, just waiting to threaten and harm.


Antigua - Guatemala

Antigua - Guatemala

Antigua - Guatemala

Taco time! Getting close to Mexico, taking in a taco treat - Antigua - Guatemala


So what is Antigua really about?

Cobblestone lined streets, beautifully vibrant and coloured colonial buildings, ancient Spanish baroque style architecture whose unique character and charm has of course prompted this city to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.  Then, when you get to accepting the beauty of the city itself you discover a nightlife like no other we encountered in Central America. There’s a bar scene here that reminds me of both the quality and style of Melbourne, speakeasies that could be picked up and translated to any other capital in the world. Great restaurants and casual eateries. Here was yet another Central American surprise packet of gravity.


The bars in this town are seriously cool - speakEASAAAY - Antigua - Guatemala

Antigua - Guatemala


Antigua - Guatemala

Antigua - Guatemala



We have you surrounded

If this city were the main protagonist in a hold-up then it would be in trouble. This gorgeous little town is dwarfed by the main players in the landscape, Fuego, one of the most active volcanoes in Central America and constantly billowing smoke from days of internalised frustration can be viewed from a park at Cerro de La Cruz.  Fuego probably occupies a space in every second Instagram photo of this great city, but hey, you play to your strengths.


Antigua - Guatemala

Antigua - Guatemala

Antigua - Guatemala


The lesson learned

Biases, fear and anxiety, they’re constructs of the mind. Fear is what you allow yourself to feel. Inga and I have travelled all over the world and have probably been more fearful and at risk in our home environments than any foreign city we’ve been in. I believe more through good management and understanding we’ve not deliberately placed ourselves in situations where we could become victims. I think as a traveller once you become conscious of this is when you really can immerse yourself in a place and enjoy it.  It’s also the point in time that you discover that more the most part, ‘danger’ is just a relative concept.

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

El Tunco (El Salvador) - Bullet the blue sky

EL TUNCO (EL SALVADOR)
14 February - 16 February 2017

El Tunco was close to being the ultimate surprise packet of the trip. We arrived with no expectations, with not much knowledge other than the understanding that the waves here were good and that the sunsets were something to write home about. Absolutely true, on both counts.


El Tunco beach - El Tunco - El Salvador


El Tunco beach - El Tunco - El Salvador


 El Tunco - El Salvador


El Salvador itself hasn’t been dealt a great hand. It’s recent history also incorporates a Civil War that lasted a period of 13 years from 1979-1992. Admittedly I don’t know a lot about the country and about half of what I do relate to comes from a U2 song, Bullet the Blue Sky;

                Well the God I believe in ain’t short of cash, mister
                I feel a long way from the hills of San Salvador
                Where the sky is ripped open and the rain pours
                Pelting the woman and children
                Run, run into the arms of America

What a pleasure therefore it was for our transit van from Leon (Nicaragua) to turn up into this two street town just of Ruta 2 on the Pacific coastline and encounter the relaxed, beach side town of El Tunco. A place that moved to the beat of its own drum, that was as smooth as a great Irish whiskey and as relaxed as British tourist on their first visit to Amsterdam. This place was a draw card, and as we discovered, is the El Salvadorian draw card. A place with ultimate surf, majestic sunsets, an easy going vibe and as yet, has not been overrun by tourists – this is ‘just the ticket’.


El Tunco beach - El Tunco - El Salvador


El Tunco - El Salvador


 El Tunco - El Salvador


 Restaurante La Bocana - El Tunco - El Salvador


 El Tunco - El Salvador


 El Tunco - El Salvador


We stayed at an incredibly fabulous two star hostal – Hostal Los Almendros El Sunzal located around the Western point of Playa El Tunco.  In fact the walk to the accommodation was along the beach from the end of main walkway in town. This we discovered was the only ‘real’ detriment to El Tunco, with a  stone based beach akin to those in Europe, it was untypically Pacific like. The hostal, around the point, had the perfect location, open to the Pacific ocean, a beautiful sun deck with pool and some cheap, basic accommodation. It was really the ideal scenario.


Hostal Los Almendros El Sunzal  - El Tunco - El Salvador


Most of the time in El Tunco we either spent at the Hostal or in El Tunco itself. Without being surfers there’s not really a hell of a lot to be doing other than unwinding and dialling back whatever level of anxiety you have. The place is just the tonic for all your ‘inactive’ requirements, what’s more, for right now as an extremely cheap destination to go to, value for money is incredible.


La Libertad - El Salvador


La Libertad - El Salvador


Sunset - El Tunco - El Salvador


Sunset - El Tunco - El Salvador


El Tunco - El Salvador


Leaving the fantastic El Tunco - El Salvador


Inga and I had one of our most memorable nights on the sun deck at the Hostal. With a few drinks, some snacks in hand, some fine cigars, the starry night sky, crashing waves and light breeze of the Pacific Ocean, we just sat there chatting for hours. It was just bliss. To steal a quote;

                Memories are made in El Tunco

Certainly they are. To you El Tunco I say thank you. A wonderful hidden surprise in a part of the world that needs to find more elements of you in its country.

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Leon (Nicaragua) - Kings of...

LEON (NICARAGUA)
12 February - 14 February 2017



There is nothing quite like the blind panic you feel when you’ve been woken up by the town evacuation alarm and you make it out onto the desolate streets, heart racing, barefoot, your mind processing information, and only to finding an public square staring you straight in the face. That was one of the wake-up calls that we encountered in Leon. Travelling through an active volcanic region I thought that my concealed and restrained fears had come back to well and truly bite us in our ‘bravado’. For a split second my head could only think, “Oh f***’. Then I saw a person. Looking around, I saw more people. They were walking and acting normally, unperturbed, in control. Absolutely no fear or anxiety visible. We watched the scene for a little while longer whilst our beating hearts settled into a comfortable canter. So, no evacuation scheduled for today? What the hell was that then? Asking around at the hostel we were staying at we were told that the siren goes off twice a day. Once at 7am, so the children of the town know that it’s time to go to school, and another at midday to signal lunch.

BLOODY HELL – Leon, there’s just to go be a better way, for all and sunder.

Leon as a town is not Granada. It’s grittier, dirtier, and Castilian architectural roots. It’s said that Leon is ‘artier’ than Granada, and if that’s just in relation to the murals that adorn its city walls, then ok, that’s correct. As a city though, it didn’t have enough for me to get behind it. It felt desolate, abandoned, a little wild west. You wouldn’t bat an eyelid and tumbleweeds gliding down the road. In all honesty though, we weren’t in Leon for any real cultural reason.

Some years ago I wrote an entry into this blog (April 15, 2011) https://hdbc2.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-next-10-squared.html , in it I nominated Sandboarding Cerro Negro in Nicaragua as No.5 on my list of ‘You want to do what now!?!’. Well, sometimes even the fanciful comes true. Leon is the ‘base camp’ utilised for attack the volcano with sand boards. Of course these days is not the ‘far-out’, random, off-the beaten track activity that it was some 10 yrs ago. These days it’s sort of like a factory. There’s many tourist agencies offering entry to the park, sand boards, equipment and guides – a lot of which you don’t really need but in handy in any case. So we booked ourselves onto an afternoon excursion and we were off to conquer the volcano!


Cerro Negro - near Leon - Nicaragua

Cerro Negro - Nicaragua

Cerro Negro - Nicaragua


The reality of getting to the park, accessing the volcano and getting to the top is a lot easier than the Youtube videos made it out be. In my mind Cerro Negro was in a far flung corner of the earth, took days to climb and what you purchased in hard earned elevation was the gratification you received in being able to sand board down. Wasn’t that a mighty misconception! We were able to quite easily take catch a van to the National Park, took a comfortable 5 min stroll from the car park to the base of the volcano and managed to walk to the summit in 30 mins. That’s the truth of the matter. This was no epic feat by any stretch of the imagination….but…to say that the volcano was dormant is itself a lie. This thing is active, amongst the most active in Nicaragua. There are smoking vents visible right up the climb and digging a centimetre or so below the surface really warms your fingers up in a hurry.


Cerro Negro - Nicaragua

Cerro Negro - Nicaragua

Cerro Negro - Nicaragua

Battle axes ready! Cerro Negro - Nicaragua

Cerro Negro - Nicaragua


At an elevation of 750 mtrs the walk up isn’t particularly strenuous but it does provide you with some rather good views. The ability to sand board the volcano is derived from the soil composition, tiny grains of black volcanic rock that make the back side of the volcano more than useful substitute for sand which in turn allows you to ‘carve it up’, in theory. I say in theory because on a guided tour there’s a very homogenised & deliberate manner that they will allow you to attack the slope. First, all guided sand-boarding is seated. Then there’s an awful methodology of sand-board management you adhere to because ‘hey’ you’re not the professional. The issue with adhering to the method in the madness is what it does to your descent
Descending the black mountains should be ALL about speed. Daily records are posted by some hostels with records holders commonly getting hitting 90+kph. This is what we imagined to be doing.

Sitting at the top of the volcano, on the precipice, there was a rush of adrenaline. All we needed to do now was cast ourselves into the abyss, use our feet as brakes and let the board fly!

WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT!!!!

The guide we had advised us to stick our feet in front of the board. What this did was immediately and miserably slow down the board and all momentum the moment we hit a bump as our feet immediately dug into the soil. In hindsight, just resting our feet on the board for the ride would have been the magic bullet but in this ‘live’ version it inhibited the action so much that I felt like a pensioner that had been let loose on a Sunday walk. It was pathetic. It was so pathetic that when I reached the base of the volcano my disappointment was readily visible and the guide, seeing that I was feeling a little bummed, attempted to console me by saying;

 ‘I think you reached around 30kph, maybe’.


‘Maybe huh? Maybe it was 20kph, or maybe I reached the speed limit for piss weak brother!??’

The encapsulation of 'safe sex' - Cerro Negro - Nicaragua

Time to ride - Cerro Negro - Nicaragua




Inga actually did quite a good job

I in fact did a crap job!


It took me a few minutes but I calmed myself down to realise that the achievement was in the conquering of the volcano.

Inga appeared to adapt to the ride better than I did and really picked up the pace towards the bottom of the hill. Not 90kph but not anything close to the speed….the paltry, miserable speed, that I allowed myself.

Anyway, with the wrap up tour to Cerro Negro so too our stay in Leon wrapped up. A nice town with some interesting elements but not really worth an extended visit.