Camping in a Bondesque setting

The good news is that my camera is fixed and works again. The bad news is that it was out of action for my entire stay in beautiful Cartagena, Colombia :-(   Where, incidentally, I was staying a block away from the Havana Club, which has now acquired a new cachet thanks to horny U.S. secret service agents...

Next up, Santa Marta and a 2 day trek in the amazing Tayrona National Park. The setting seems straight out of a James Bond movie, where you expect to stumble upon the archvillain`s secret lair hidden in the jungle.

The view, well worth the 2 hour walk...

... carrying these bloody backpacks

White Vs. Black...

The bay where I camped for the night

After a night spent as mosquito bait in a hammock, the walk back was a grueling 3 1/2 hour trek through the jungle in sweltering heat. I smashed my personal sweating record...

The path... involves going up, around and even under the boulders...

The rest of the gang on the trek with me...

Full picture set here.

Life in a postcard

I´ve decided to fast forward my trip through both Costa Rica and Panama in order to catch a sailing boat from Panama City to Cartagena in Colombia. There´s actually no real road that takes you from Central America to South America. It just kind of stops in the Darien Gap, a region between the two countries, which is supposed to be super dangerous with narcos, FARC rebels and all sorts of unsavoury characters roaming about...

The sailing cruise through the island of San Blas seemed like a more appealing option. So after my blitzkrieg bus trip through two countries (more hours than I care to remember...), I set off on the Slo and Ezy with a motley crew of four other passengers, Viktor the Argentinian captain, Ariel his buddy/dedicated joint roller and the captain´s crazy French girlfriend. All of us in a pretty small boat for five days, including 2 in open sea... Yeehah...

The port of Portobelo where we depart from...

One of the hundreds of islands in the San Blas archipelago where the Kuna tribe lives. While belonging to Panama, it´s run as an autonomous region. They´re a pretty colorful bunch...

An outhouse... I decided not to swim on that beach ,-)

A rainwater sink

The choice of the swastika (made in the mid-20´s) turned out to be unfortunate...

Two of my fellow boatmates, Joaquin, another David and the real David...

The San Blas islands are absolutely stunning. While some are inhabited by the Kunas, many are just white sand, coconut trees and turquoize water.

Wrecked boat

I think this is about the time my camera started crapping out on me, so I don´t have any pictures after this... This could be spell the end of this blog until it starts behaving again or I get it repaired :-(

Anyway, the rest of the trip in a nutshell... unfriendly winds forced us to reroute from Cartagena to Carpargena. The alternative being an extra two days in open sea. I can safely say that I´m not much of a sailor and the idea of an extra 2 days at sea was a ´´no go´´ for this greenhorn.

Carpagena is absolutely in the middle of nowhere... As in, there are no roads connecting it to the rest of Colombia. It´s all done by boat. In this case a 2 hour boat trip to Turbo. Fight your way onto a bus to Monteria (about 4 hours), change for another bus to Cartagena (about another 5 hours) et voila...

Despite the long haul trip, very happy to be in Colombia and South America!

Granada: cute, colonial, hot, touristy

Granada is one of the most touristy cities in Nicaragua. And understandably as it´s a cute little colonial town. But it´s also the kind of place where street hawkers for every restaurant are shoving menus in your face to try and get you into their place... if that helps situate...

The main drag looking onto the cathedral:

The road leading to the seafront.

Cocktail time on the main square.

Street life

Abandoned churches abound

Advertising on carriage cars, a sure sign of mass tourism...

Made a new friend at the local museum

And at the hostel I´m staying in

Mother and son

Full set of pictures Here

Sandinista!

Getting from El Salvador to Nicaragua turns out to be a real schlepp... One pick-up truck, two minivans, a tuk tuk, three chicken buses (including one which broke down), a taxi, 13 hours and three countries later (you gotta go through the tip of Honduras..)... I´m in Nicaragua!

First stop is Leon, the first town to rebel during the 1979 sandinista revolution.

Reminders of the revolution are all over the place, mainly in the form of murals.

A visit to the revolution museum

So Daniel would be Daniel Ortega, the comeback kid from the eighties´ headlines who is now president again. And we all remember Senor Bush...

Just in case there was any doubt about local feelings toward Bush...

Revolution mural inside the museum courtyard.

Is it just me or does the third guy from the left bear an eery resemblance to Carlos the Jackal (admitedly, in need of a haircut...)

My guide guillermo keeping it real. He was in his teens during the revolution.

There`s actually not a lot in the museum beyond pictures.

This is a 5 million cordoba bill. Inflation went wild during that period...

Poseur revolutionary...

Beyond the whole revolution thing, Leon is also a very pretty colonial city.

The cathedral

Most houses have lovely Hacienda style inner courtyards

A vet, jeweler´s shop, law office and beauty parlor. All in the same house.

The heat in Leon is absolutely insane. Most folks try and get out of the city to the close-by beach of Las Penitas. I was happy to follow their lead...

Little dog with a big attitude

Full Leon picture set here.