Central America / Caribbean Travel Blogs on RealTravel

Havana journal: Our first days in La Habana

2008-04-09T18:06:48Z

"3 peso mojitos!"

a entry by Aislinn and Rob from a trip to Havana, Cuba.

We arrived in Havana on Monday night -about 2am British time- and after collecting our bags got a taxi to our hotel. On the journey we drove along an almost deserted motorway -apart from some cyclists and old cars- and saw three broken down american cars by the roadside. Our hotel is great, we arrived to flamenco, quickly followed by a thunderstorm before being shown to our room. There are only 5 rooms in the hotel, all off the tropical, central courtyard with huge lofty ceilings and ceiling height doors. Yesterday we decided to get our bearing in La Habana Vieja so walked around the old ...

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Tikal journal: Sunrise at Tikal

2008-04-08T20:51:19Z

"Best. Sunrise. Ever."

a entry by cjoliver from a trip to Tikal, Guatemala.

After arriving in Tikal the 3 of us rented 3 tents, and unpacked our stuff. If you buy your ticket to the park after 3pm, it's good for the next day as well, so Dave and I waited until 3 and then bought out tickets for the park. After 3 was definitely the time to go, we had the whole place to ourselves, the tour buses were gone and we only bumped into a few people the whole time. These ruins were the best I've seen yet on this trip. There are approximately 4000 building in the area, and only 15% have been uncovered so far. Since we had to pay extra for a map, I just took a picture of it and ...

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San Ignacio journal: A Better Belize

2008-04-08T20:01:33Z

"Crossing the border was a joke..."

a entry by cjoliver from a trip to San Ignacio, Belize.

My faith has been restored in Belize. After a short (but not short enough) stay in Belize City, I got on a bus to San Ignacio, which is on the border with Guatemala. The bus ride was uneventful, and I got into San Ignacio about an hour and a half later. It's a pretty small town built into the hills. I met a couple from the UK on the bus and we went to find a hotel together. The one that we were looking for that our guidebook suggested turned out to be out of business, but the guy that we asked directions from showed us another place we could go. Again it was pretty much just somebody's house ...

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Palo Verde journal: Jungle River Cruise

2008-03-27T23:47:44Z

"No alligator purses from this country"

a entry by Beach2theBush Babes from a trip to Palo Verde, Guanacaste.

COCODILES, Crocodiles and more crocodiles punctuated today. Crocodiles on one side and cows on the other. Oh yes monkeys, birds, and iguanas also showed their face to us as we cruised up the Tempisque River. The Tempisque river is part salt water and part fresh water as the water flows from the volcanic land inland and meets the Pacific Ocean. It has high and low tides which we experienced today. It seemed to be a very bold step to put our boat in next to crocodiles on the beach but our guides knew what they were doing. We laughed seeing lifepreservers on board thinking if something ...

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Diria journal: Coffee Plantation

2008-03-27T23:34:54Z

"Organic coffee is worth it all!"

a entry by Beach2theBush Babes from a trip to Diria, Guanacaste.

Today we visited a coffee plantation that was actually a co op of many families. (Diria coffee) We learned and saw how the coffee bean is cared for and harvested by the families. This particular plantation has many small farmers contribute by bringing their beans for processing and roasting. They practice organic farming which is quite difficult but preserves their land for many more years than using chemicals. Every part of the bean is either used for the coffee or for compost. A very pretty red type berry is the beginning of the process. Very little electricity is used as machines are ...

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Tamarindo journal: Pura Vida

2008-03-27T23:19:09Z

"Come to this country and learn about the culture"

a entry by Beach2theBush Babes from a trip to Tamarindo, Costa Rica.

After an all night flight from Seattle to Atlanta and then on to Liberia Costa Rica we spent our first two days at the resort taking in the rays of the sun, listening to the music around the pool and in general just relaxing. The countryside has been celebrating holy week which included on Saturday several men going to the river and catching a crocodile to put in the middle of the town. Their celebration would end on Easter Sunday releasing the crocodile back to the river. The weather is not as humid as I thought it would be but none the less tropical. We are on the Pacific Ocean and enjoy ...

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Diamant journal: Diving for everybody / Plongée pour tout le monde / (Mathieu)

2008-02-12T00:25:58Z

a entry by Adi Central America from a trip to Diamant, Martinique.

ENGLISH :

Helene, Brice and I have started some courses to pass the french and american (PADI) diving level 1. Up to now, this is my best discovery during our trip. Diving is such an amazing experience, it open a new world, a world full of colored fish and corals, huges crayfishs and tortles (when you are lucky enough to see them) ...

"Diving is for tired or lazy people" told us an old diver who live on the island. Then the guy added : "No sport before, no sport during the diving, no sport after". Basically, a diver has to do as less effort as possible during the diving to reduce ...

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Tamarindo journal: Tamagringo, indeed!

2008-03-19T21:28:57Z

a entry by Lucy Bosche from a trip to Tamarindo, Costa Rica.

Wow, I feel like I'm in San Diego. For every Tico there are about 7 gringos. And not just any gringo. Gringo girls with blonde hair and a fake bod and demasiado make-up and nice clothes. It's really bizarre and I'm not sure I like it so much. I have spoken to a fair amount of locals and asked them how they feel about all the gringo construction, which is bountiful and all in-progress, and I have received mixed answers. Some tolerate it because of the money and job opportunities it presents, and others hate it because it completely suffocates the local lifestyle. Regardless of it all, ...

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Antigua and Barbuda journal: Nelson's Dockyard

2008-02-13T21:33:22Z

a entry by AK Andy from a trip to Antigua and Barbuda.

Our ship docked in St. John's, Antigua's largest city and capitol on the eastern coast. Right after getting off the ship, we tried to get a taxi to take us to Nelson's Dockyard, an attraction on the southern side of the island. A lady at a taxi stand put us on a bus with some other tourists - she said they would drop us at Nelson's Dockyard. It turns out they were on an island tour and didn't get to Nelson's Dockyard for two hours! (of course we found out this detail after we were already on our way). Good thing we had a lot of time. It was a little annoying since we were so clear about ...

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Castries journal: St. Lucia, one beautiful island!

2008-02-13T22:05:39Z

a entry by AK Andy from a trip to Castries, Saint Lucia.

St. Lucia is lush. Very green mountains, very dramatic. I definitely need to come back here to see the rest of the island - apparently we missed not only touring the mountains and botanical gardens, but a drive-in volcano! We heard the roads are very twisty and motion-sickness inspiring, and we wanted to relax, so we opted to have a beach day instead.

We easily got a taxi after getting off the ship. We went to Reduit Beach, to the north of Castries. We were let off at Spinnakers restaurant on the beach. Everything was very organized. Our taxi driver gave us his number, so we could ...

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Belize City journal: cave tubing

2008-02-18T03:19:42Z

a entry by wanderer07 from a trip to Belize City, Belize.

This excursion was awesome! I try not to overuse that word, but I think it applies here. We booked this directly through the tour company, saving ourselves about $30 each over the ship's prices, and we were in a much smaller group. We were met at the tender pier by a representative of the company who brought us through a maze of stores and people to their office a little off the beaten path. There were 8 in our group which was much better than the 30 to 40 in the groups from the ship. Our tour guide was Ivar (aka p-boy or partyboy) who turned out to be a fountain of information. On the way ...

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Aruba journal: Horses in Aruba

2008-02-13T23:49:59Z

a entry by AK Andy from a trip to Aruba.

Our ship left us with a long time in Aruba, from about 7am until 10pm. It was nice to be able to take our time, knowing we had all day and didn't have to rush.

My sister and I did a horse riding tour through the ship. They used Notorious Ranch, home of "Aruba's Happy Horses". Their trip was advertised from 8:30am until 11am but it ran over an hour late. The location was pretty close to where the ship was docked in Oranjestad. They put us all in little buses (not the air-conditioned type) and once at their ranch we signed away our lives and handed over our valuables to be watched ...

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Willemstad journal: Curacao, the best island ever

2008-02-13T22:57:41Z

a entry by AK Andy from a trip to Willemstad, Netherlands Antilles.

What a beautiful, clean, wonderful island. What a shame that this was such a short day! We were supposed to get in at 11am but we got off the ship more like noon. And then we all had to be on again at 5:30pm. If I go back to any of the islands I visited on my cruise, it will be here. Definitely.

We docked in Willemstad, the capital. The bay area is beautiful. The ships dock on the newer side of the bay, called Otrobanda. The other side, Punda, is connected to Otrobanda by the Queen Emma Pontoon Bridge. The bridge, floating on pontoons, swings open to allow ships and boats ...

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Willemstad journal: Delicious lunch

2008-02-13T22:57:42Z

a review of Le Creperie, a place to eat in Willemstad, Netherlands Antilles.

You must stop here if you want some good lunch. I had the best veggie crepe of my life - full of fresh veggies and tangy cheese. My sister had a ham with goat cheese and spinach crepe, and my mom opted for the chicken feta. For dessert we split the huge strawberry crepe. The fresh cream on the side was amazing. I am so used to American whipped cream, at first I didn't even know what the fresh whipped cream was! That may have been the best part of the entire lunch.

The location is great too - tucked into a little shopping mall right where the ship let us off, on the Otrobanda side ...

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Bridgetown journal: Disappointed

2008-02-13T22:23:35Z

a entry by AK Andy from a trip to Bridgetown, Barbados.

Our experience in Barbados was not great. It started with the cab drivers at port, who were very rude. They turned their backs on us, laughed, and generally refused to speak politely to us when we tried to negotiate a price. They wanted $75 for the three of us to go to Harrison's Caves, when my book said to expect to pay $35. So, we just got the two dollar shuttle into town (where the ships dock is sort of far from things but it is possible to walk) and then looked into public transportation. We ended up finding these yellow buses, ran by a private company, and a helpful young man ...

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Antigua and Barbuda journal: Pub style dining

2008-02-13T21:33:23Z

a review of The Mainbrace Pub, a place to eat in Antigua and Barbuda.

We were glad to find this little pub when we started to get hungry for lunch. This is one of the restaurants of the Copper & Lumber Store Hotel, housed in a building once used to store copper and lumber. It was built in the 1780's and is now a piece of restored Georgian architecture.

We had good service and the food fulfilled our craving for something warm and filling. My mom got a shepherd's pie, which she reported to be very tasty. My sister and I got delicious cheeseburgers with fries, and we all enjoyed the three ice-cold cokes that helped us cool off. There were a couple of ...

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St Maarten/ St Martin journal: Philipsburg, St. Maarten

2008-02-13T06:08:07Z

a entry by AK Andy from a trip to St Maarten/ St Martin, Netherlands Antilles.

Our first port was Philipsburg, Sint Maarten. St. Maarten is part of the Netherland Antilles and is the Dutch, southern half of the island. The northern half is a separate French territory and is called Saint Martin.

We decided to just stay in Philipsburg instead of explore the entire island. We had heard that Philipsburg has great shopping, and we were disappointed. There were countless stores lining Front Street and Back Street, the two main streets in this narrow town. There were tons of duty-free stores selling diamonds, fine jewelry, and other things out of the price range of a ...

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Basseterre journal: The Scenic Railroad

2008-02-13T06:25:30Z

a entry by AK Andy from a trip to Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis.

St. Kitts is a pretty island - quite green, nice scenery. We spent a little time in the morning walking around Basseterre. I felt like I was walking around a real town, unlike Philipsburg where we just saw the shopping area. Because of it's "realness", there was less shopping, but we did find one awesome glass store right off the Circus (modeled after London's). Independence Square was a nice green public space to visit, as well. Otherwise, not too much to do there!

Our main activity of the day was a ride on the St. Kitts Scenic Railway. We set this tour up through our ship's shore ...

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St Maarten, Netherlands journal: 3 days in SABA, Netherlands Antilles

2007-12-29T20:47:04Z

a entry by Dreamers from a trip to St Maarten, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles.

Lonely Planet describes this island as "teeny-tiny" and like no place on earth.

Saba is a 13 sq klm island with it's dormant 3000ft volcanic peak,Mount Scenery, rising almost vertically straight out of the sea.

Is this "hobbitland" or some 18th century celtic village? This enchanting destination has 4 immaculately kept villages,all linked by "the road that couldn't be built"(because of the rugged terrain). Loved this place as we felt we had walked back in time....and walk we did....with over 12 hiking trails on the island. It was wet during our visit so we opted to walk from one town ...

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British Virgin Islands journal: 2+weeks in BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS

2007-12-15T20:16:27Z

a entry by Dreamers from a trip to British Virgin Islands.

BVI....Scenery wise this could be Queensland's Whitsundays...apart from the turquoise waters and oodles of brown pelicans.

We experienced gale force winds (up to 30+ knots) for a week so we took shelter anchoring in a little bay off Peter Island. Great resort on our doorstep.

BVI is charter boat heaven so the waters and bays are filled with sailing catamarans....always some new cat to check out.

Next Stop..Virgin Gorda....a few nights in Spanishtown to explore the touristy stuff.....the Baths and the Boulders. Although the Baths are a major tourist attraction Spanishtown ...

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Tortola journal: 1 week in BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS

2007-10-28T08:19:46Z

a entry by Dreamers from a trip to Tortola, British Virgin Islands.

Reason for this destination....Catamaran shopping....no luck though.

This was a culture shock after Chile.

Liked: blue blue water and warmer weather(was good for the first day).

Disliked: the costs, compulsory gratuities, the attitude of the people.

Not going back and didn't get a catamaran there.....but...on a bright note had some great brekkies and awesome cocktails, so, not a total waste of time.

Trivia: Majority of motor vehicles are 4WD. Many roads in Tortola are unsealed and very bumpy or washed out.

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The Bahamas journal: 6+ weeks in THE BAHAMAS

2007-10-28T08:53:42Z

a entry by Dreamers from a trip to The Bahamas.

We are on our way...first stop North Bimini, what a great introduction to the Bahamas. Stayed for 10 days...waited out Hurricane Dean and experienced the hospitality...so near yet so far from Florida.Not only tried conch (staple diet of Bahamians)for the first time but went farming (harvesting? fishing?)for it with a local - Bo Peep.

Next main stop- Nassau. Spent a few weeks there, had a few things to attend to so not all pleasure but did see and experience most things Nassau had to offer.Most notable - Paradise island, Atlantis resort and casino, jitneys (local buses-mini vans), ...

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Willemstad journal: Willemstad, Curacao (by way of Los Roques Archipelago)

2007-12-23T17:33:17Z

"Once there, I was very happy that I had braved the climb as the view was so awesome."

a entry by babeck from a trip to Willemstad, Netherlands Antilles.

Tuesday, Jan 1, 2008 (New Years Day) At Sea

We had breakfast with a nice couple from Orinda, the first people we have met on the ship from California. We have been sailing constantly since yesterday - no engine - sails only, which the crew of this ship thrives on. They are true sailors on a tall masted ship! As I went on top, Gary had already taken advantage of the opportunity to climb the ropes to the crow's nest. With some encouragement from him (he had signed me up also) and from Tim (he said if Susan could do it, I could do it!), I decided to go for it. Ivan hooked me up to the ...

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Bridgetown journal: Exploring Barbados

2007-12-23T17:17:27Z

"...roads are very rural and beautiful..."

a entry by babeck from a trip to Bridgetown, Barbados.

Wednesday, Dec 26

Our trip started at a very early hour but was greatly brightened when after seated on the plane our names were called and we discovered we had been bumped to First Class. Flying through Miami from San Francisco to Barbados, the trip lasted all day and into the night. When we landed at 11 PM, we were the first to clear customs as we had carried on all of our luggage.

Since we had been unable to book a rental car (they were all booked due to the holidays), we grabbed a taxi for our hotel, the Accra Beach Hotel in Rockley on the south side of the island, which, ...

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Central America / Caribbean journal: From Barbados through the Panama Canal

2007-12-23T17:14:25Z

a journal by babeck from a trip to Central America / Caribbean.

We are set to begin another adventure aboard the fabulous Royal Clipper (see my journal entry dated June 2006 for our previous time aboard- http://realtravel.com /europe-trips-i1507061 .html & http://realtravel.com /korfu-reviews-b1742206 .html ). December 26th, the day after Christmas, we will fly from San Francisco through Miami to the island of Barbados. There we will spend three days and nights exploring the island before we board the Royal Clipper in Bridgetown on December 29, 2007. We are set to sail from Barbados to the Tobago Cays, then head to Grenada before spending a day at sea. ...

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