Colonial Antigua, Lake Atitlan, Panajachel, Chichicastenago...Natty and Jose Carlos's hospitality in Guatemala City...Journey back home...

Antigua looked exactly like Arequipa, Peru to us. We had paid an extra 8 quetzales for our luggages, we just got them and started to walk around to find a hotel room. We saw a guy on the corner who offered us a room for 13 USD per night, with private bathroom and cable TV. The room was ok, the hotel was centrally located, so we decided to keep the room. After we dropped our stuff, we went out to explore the city. Antigua is an elegant town, most of the Spanish language schools are located there and probably most of the foreigners living in Guatemala lives in Antigua. There is a Central Park (Parque Central) which constitutes the main square of Antigua and all the other streets end there. The streets of Antigua are cobble stoned and quite narrow. There are lots of language schools, nice colonial buildings converted to luxury hotels or lovely restaurants with beautiful patios. One thing which drew my attention was the fountains. Most fountains had ladies who had water running from their nipples:). After we looked around, we decided to have lunch and found an Italian restaurant to eat. Piril and Pamela had pizza and I had mozzarella salad with basil sauce (albahaca). The service in general is quite slow in Guatemala but this time it was worth the wait. Later, we decided to have coffee and entered one cozy looking cafe. The guy there was an American and he had some other Americans there, so he talked so much with them that he forgot to prepare our coffee. As I grumbled a little, he prepared the coffee, but this time the milk he put to the glass came to be an old one, so I got mad! He made the coffee again, French press by the way, as soon as we finished it, we took off and decided to head to the main marketplace where artesanias (handicrafts) are sold!!! I had promised to myself not to buy before Chichi Market, but I bought some stuff! I did not regret though...Later, Pamela left for Guatemala City as she was going to leave for El Salvador the next morning. We came back and took some rest. The next day, we decided to take it easy, look around a little bit, leisurely wandered around and bought a tour for Panajachel and Chichi for 2 days/1 night for 40 USD.

The next day, they came to pick us up from the hotel at 7:00 am. The vehicle was a small one, we all got in and the drive started. Our driver was quite fast and he was not a very careful one when entering the curves, we moved from one end to the other in the minivan constantly. There were many Spanish speakers on the bus, they chatted cheerfully where I listened to my IPOD and tried not to listen to my screaming stomach! After some point on the road, we made a stop to watch the beautiful Lake Atitlan on the highlands of Guatemala. It was a misty look and I really liked it...Finally we arrived in Panajachel and they dropped us to our hotel which was quite clean and had excellent cable TV network. Tired of the motion sickness, I took some sleep before I headed to Lake Atitlan. Piril had some flu, so she stayed at the hotel. In the afternoon, I went out, after a spicy Guatemalteco meal, I headed to one of the boats crossing Lake Atitlan for the largest village around the lake, Santiago de Atitlan. The village is tiny but I took a tictac, a tiny motorcycle thing to go to the top of the village. As I descended from the top, I hardly could stop myself from looking at the beautiful handicrafts. Finally after hard bargainings, I bought two tablecloths and several other souvenirs...I took the last boat for Panajachel. Another interesting is as a tourist, you need to pay more than a local person and it is impossible not to pay it...Anyway, I came back to Panajachel. Panajachel is also quite touristy but at the same time lovely and has its charm. We met with Piril for another Guatemalteco dinner, had something light, had our tequilas and got some breakfast for the next day to Chichi.

The next day we were picked up at 9 am for Chichicastenago (Chichi in short) Market which is set every Thursday and Sunday. It took us nearly 2 hours to reach the market. As soon as we arrived, when we were looking for a bathroom, we happened to enter a great hotel which was probably the house of some baron or duke at some period of history! The hotel was lovely with nice patios, colorful parrots and flowers, though it lacked a public bathroom! We ended up using the public bathroom of a gas station after waiting some 10 mins and paying 1 Quetzal:). Later we dag into the market for some 3-4 hours as there was nothing else to do! As soon as we ran out of all the money we had in our pockets, we quietly waited until the time was up. Later we came back to Antigua after another bumpy journey by the very same great (!)driver. I slept some time, we sat on the front next to the driver, I woke up with the dust from the road construction. After that, we survived from probably 3-4 grave accidents, ugh they drive like hell here!!! Anyway, we were back, I did my backpack carefully, we spent our last night and the next morning we headed to Guatemala City...

Next day was interesting because we were going to go to the house of Natalia, whom we met in Flores a couple days ago. We came to Guatemala City, took a taxi to Natalia’s apartment and easily found it! Natalia greeted us warmly and cooked a Peruvian dish for us, hmm it was yummy...We chatted hours and hours and later we went out for a cup of coffee but we needed an ATM to get money. We tried about 4-5 cash machines which were either not Cirrus Network or lacked money as it was the end of the month!!! Anyway, finally we had some coffee and cookies on the way back and Piril paid them by credit card. We changed some money for the airport taxi with Natalia. In the evening, Jose Carlos came, we chatted long, we showed them how to belly dance, listened to Peruvian and Turkish Music, drank wine and rom...It was sooo nice to exchange our cultures, be able to share a bottle of wine and all the laughters together:). Natalia is pregnant for 5 weeks, so we’ll be waiting for good news about the baby. Jose Carlos wants the baby to be a boy, we all think that it will be a girl, we’ll see...

The next morning, after having such a nice sleep in clean, fresh and soft sheets, I headed to the airport. It was hard to believe, but we were left one single day in this part of the world!...We came to the airport, took our TACA Flight to Mexico City. The plane arrived right on time, we came back to our hotel, Lafayette.

After the last preparations, we had a peaceful sleep and the next day, which was the 2nd of March, we headed to Benito Juarez Airport in Mexico City in the morning at 6 o’clock. It was hard to believe that the trip was over...However, we missed Turkey, our beloved ones and our city itself...We took the first plane to Chicago by American Airlines and after a 4 hour wait, we took the other flight for Istanbul by Turkish Airlines, flight 006. The flight was very nice and smooth, I really enjoyed every single moment of it. Finally we arrived back home on the 3rd of March, 2008 at 11:45 am. Our parents were waiting for us!!! It was hard, but the trip was over...

The statistics of the trip is the next chapter...The next and probably the last chapter...

Belize's Belize City, Caye Caulker and San Pedro...Guatemala's Flores and Tikal...New friendships and Gallo Beer:)

We arrived in Chetumal at 1 pm. The bus station looked very easy, we saw some men selling tickets for Belize City for 100 pesos (10 USD). We bought the tickets and left the hoedoes (backpacks) there. As our stomachs were empty, we decided to go out to look for some food and came across with a Dominos Pizza in the middle of nowhere...We had some chicken which was pretty spicy, in Mexican style. Later we took the bus to Belize City. The bus was an old American school bus, which was practically crumbling...Except for a couple Belizians, the rest was all gringo. We passed through the customs without any problems and entered Belize. The bus was real fun, the Belizian crew on the bus was very nice to us, the soft Caribbean Music was relaxing, the wind blowing through the windows was nice...The highways did not seem very good quality...I saw both English and Spanish on the road signs but it was mostly English. After a bumpy journey, we arrived in Belize City at 5:30 pm...As soon as we arrived there, we got disappointed with the number of homeless people in the town, the tiny size of it, dirty streets, the crumbling ugly buildings, lots of huge cars with polaroid windows, lack of restaurants and closed shops. It looked like one of the smallest towns we saw in Peru or Mexico...After taking a walk around, we got a little afraid of the people staring at us, so we decided to look for some food. The only attraction in the town was the Cruise Ship Port and it was closed. We lost our hope to find a place to have dinner, so we ended up at Brodie’s Supermarket which was full of American products and even magazines...Their money is Belizian Dollars and there is the picture of Queen Elizabeth on the money. We got some feta cheese, some bread, fruit and juice to fill up and decided to watch TV which was practically a US TV with US Channels like ABC,TNT,NBC etc...Our hotel was like an old colonial house, the windows were so sold that all the noise was coming inside and remote control was not working. It is pretty hot there, we decided to visit the islands of Caye Caulker and San Pedro the next day.

We took the speed boat to Caye Caulker and San Pedro for 20 USD. The first stop was Caye Caulker which took about 35 minutes to arrive. The boat trip was pretty bumpy. Later we arrived in San Pedro which is also known as “La Isla Bonita” because of Madonna’s song. It is an island which is practically designed for tourism, everywhere is dotted with hotels and summer resort complexes. Most of the tourists coming to Belize usually go straight to San Pedro or Caye Caulker. The islands are also famous for their long coral reefs (second after Australia) and blue hole which is one of the deepest holes in the world for diving... We were wondering why Belize City is left that ugly and after we saw the islands, we knew the answer...All the investments were done to the islands... Caye Caulker was my second stop. I walked straight to “The Split” which occured after a huge hurricane that split the island into two...At the point where the split occured, people started a new beach club and put the tables and seats into the sea! I decided to swim in that turquiose color wonderful water but the current was amazingly strong. I could not stand still in the water without swimming... If you just stand in the water, the water takes you out to open water within only 5 minutes!!! Even I think I’m a good swimmer, I decided to stay near the beach as it was not a good place to test my swimming skills:). I had a cold Belikin Beer which is their national beer and headed back to Belize City. I bought our tickets for Flores, Guatemala for the next day for 20 USD each.

Our bus for Flores was at 9:30 am but we were told to be there earlier, so we went to the boat terminal at 9:00. Our vehicle was a small one and it was full of gringoes like us! The Belizian – Guatemalan Border was about 3 hours from Belize City. The formalities were easy and we entered Guatemala without any trouble. Flores, the place we were heading was a little island which was located in the middle of Lake Peten. We arrived in Flores, Guatemala at about 2:30 pm and realized the sweet girl sitting in front of us in the bus...Her name was Pamela, she was Argentinian from a German/Italian descent family, 24 years old and traveling Central America for 15 days....She was going to stay at Mayab Hotel, so we decided to try that hotel too. The room cost us 23 USD per night with cable TV and private bathroom as usual...In the evening, Piril stayed in the room and I went out to a restaurant overlooking Lake Peten to have some cold Gallo Beer...The town was very nice, with its cobble stoned narrow streets, lots of shops and restaurants...While we were talking with Pamela, she told us that she bought a tour to Tikal for 300 Quetzales which was worth 40 USD, with lunch, guide and transportation back to Flores...We bought the same tour and decided to go together...

The next day, they came to pick us up at 7:30 and after a short waiting for the other members of our tour at Tıkal Airport, we headed to Tikal. Tikal is one of the largest Mayan Settlements in the middle of a jungle, its weather is pretty humid and hot. Our guide, a Mayan descent, Benedicto said that the temperatures may rise up to 40 C from time to time, but thank God, we did not have such a high temperature. We entered the National Park of Tikal and drove inside the jungle about 10 kms more to get to the entrance of the Mayan Site. Benedicto told us about the trees, plants and animals living in the jungle and told us about the monkeys which jump from tree to tree around. We saw many monkeys, tiny, big, brown, black, babies...They were joyfully jumping from tree to tree...Later slowly we started visiting the temples which were numbered as 1,2,3...They built huge temples in pyramid shapes and some of them were restored by the American and British Mayan Researchers. Finally we saw a huge temple which was overlooking the jungle and without going up to it, one can hardly imagine the site’s location within the jungle...After the tour has ended, we met a Peruvian couple living in Guatemala City and had lunch together. They were very sweet, we chatted on the way back to Flores and later we traveled with Natalia and Pamela together that night to Guatemala City. Jose Carlos, who was the husband of Natalia stayed there for some more company work. We bought the bus ticket from the company ADN which claimed to have great buses but the bus was a Chinese made one and it was not comfortable, besides being a fridge:).

When we arrived in Guatemala City, we said goodbye to Natalia and went to the hostel of Pamela to accompany her. She was going to travel to El Salvador the next day, so we went to pick up her bus ticket and later had a great breakfast together. We had decided to head to Antigua without staying in Guatemala City and Pamela decided to come with us too. We took our backpacks and went to the bus station for Antigua. The bus was a “Chicken Bus” which was an old American school bus and the driver was a psycho who competed with another bus driver on the highway!!!!....Another weird thing which grabbed our attention was the women insisting on sitting on the front row next to us!...Although half of the bus was empty, these women wanted to squeeze their bottoms right next to us and while I fell to sleep at some point, Pamela said ok to one of the insistent women while we drove about 15 mins like this!.... We thought it would be a tradition and just laughed at it!...After praying to survive from that bus, we came to Antigua....

Next chapter: Colonial and beautiful Antigua...Lake Atitlan, Panajachel and Guatemala City...

San Cristobal de las Casas, Palenque Mayan Site, Playa del Carmen and Chichen Itza...

We arrived early in San Cristobal de las Casas, as usual. The bus ride was horrible for an 80 USD deal! We were frozen and suffering from back pain!!! We found a decent hotel for 12 USD per night, which did not have a bathroom door:))) I was desperate about my laundry, as I had had only one clean pair of socks to wear on! The girl downstairs was very lovely, I paid about4 USD for a 2,5 kg load which seemed to be a good deal after a 12 USD self service deal in Salvador, Rio.We had a nice breakfast inside a colonial house and decided to take a walk around. The city is famous for being a nice colonial town as well as being the base for the Zapatistas. Zapatistas fight for the independence and rights of the indigenous people around the area and are not as popular as before now. We went to the main square and saw a nice market place right by the main cathedral of the town. It was a colorful market with small Zapatista dolls (dolls wearing black and Ninja masks!), lots of Che tshirts and souvenirs. Of course we bought several stuff as usual but I got mad when one guy sold me a belt for 100 pesos where I saw the same s.t for 50 pesos. I returned there and asked my money back...He did not give the money back, though I got 20 pesos back after making such a fuss!!!(at least). Afterwards, we had some lunch and decided to visit two famous museums in town, Mayan Mecidine Museum and Na Bolom Hotel-Restaurant-Museum. On the way to Mayan Museum, we saw a barber shop where there are dozens of hair styles and hair cuts, from the front and back which seemed very funny to me...Anyway, the museum was pretty interesting with all the models showing Mayan Traditions. We saw a video about childbearing and it was very similar to Turkish traditions. Also they use rooster for the evil spirits, which is an evil eye in Turkey. The wide use of herbs and different mixtures also seemed very similar. We even closed our eyes and listened to the woman in the video as she talked in Maya, where it sounded very much like a villager lady in Anatolia, Turkey. Finally, we came to a conclusion that there might be some kind of relationship between the Mayas and the Turks, so far as their belief system and medicine at least are concerned...In the afternoon, we bought a tour for one of the most important Mayan settlements, Palenque for 35 USD per person which included transportation, guide, visit to Agua Verde and entrance fee to Palenque. After that, we visited Na Bolom which was the house of a Swedish couple who came and did researches about the area in 1970s. We were behind a German tour group when entering the place, so they did not charge any entrance fees from us!!! Na Bolom means the house of the jaguar, as the jaguar was a holy animal for the Mayans.

The next day, we left early with our bags for the tour. First, we visited Agua Verde which was a cascade very similar to the one in Manavgat,Turkey except its beautiful turquoise color. We spent a quiet hour there and continued to another cascade.

Later we visited Palenque with our guide and learned about the customs of the Mayans. They built large temples and observatories as predicting the weather was very important for them. They believed in moon and sun and devoted people and animals for them in their temples and cenote sagrados (pools where they sacrificed the people). They had a very peculiar architectural style with reverse V shaped arches and atriums or patios, with a pyramid style. Palenque is built inside a jungle (selva) and it was terribly hot and humid. To visit a Mayan site within a jungle was very interesting, though difficult and sweaty! We came back to Palenque which is a dusty and boring town to buy our tickets for Playa del Carmen. We had to make a choice between Playa and Cancun, we looked at the bus prices and got the cheaper deal:)) The bus left at 20:30, we were tired and needed a good shower however got the patience to recover in Playa del Carmen.

We arrived in Playa at 7:30 am, went to choose a hotel, found a nice hotel for 80 USD with clean sheets-towels and working remote control with a dozen cable TV channels. We spent a leisurely day in Playa del Carmen. It is a touristy town but has its own charm. I saw many Americans there having their vacations and everybody talked to me in English...After finding a great buffet breakfast, fed and showered, threw myself to get to see Playa. It is small, there is not many things around to see actually...We bought a tour for Chichen Itza, another Mayan Site which was chosen as one of the new 7 wonders of the world.(I think Tikal is better though!). In the afternoon, we went to the beach to enjoy the Caribbean Sea! I loved the sea, it was very warm and nice...We found a cheaper hotel in the center for 50 USD and decided to move there. We spent a quiet evening, had a nice Mexican meal, had our Coronas and had a good nite´s sleep...

The next day, we were going to go to Chichen Itza, woke up pretty early, left our bags to our new hotel and went to the travel agency to go to our bus. The guy took us in front of some shopping center. We thought it would be good to visit the WC before heading to Chichen Itza, so we asked the fellow, he said 5 mins and we jumped to come back in 5 mins. When we were back, we saw the guy leaving, we thought he would be back but he never showed up!!! We were planted right there:(((( Well, sure we went back to the agency, the guy blamed us for being late and yelled at us for being late and uneducated!!!! With the hope to get the money back, we left, found a bus to Valladolid first, then changed to Chichen Itza and made it there. At the carpark, we saw our bus in which we were supposed to be aboard! I talked to the driver and we decided to meet up at 16:00 right by the road junction. I was desperate about recovering our money from the stupid travel agent, so I thought at least we could use the transportation service back. We visited Chichen Itza in 45 mins!!! It was not as big as Palenque, so we were not very impressed with the site. The large pelota game field was interesting as well as sacred pools and the main temple...Later we told the situation to the guide and he was surprised too...We went to a nice place with the group where was like a sacred pool and some people swam there...We were still upset and nervous after all this mess happened, so just looked around and had some coffee. When we came back to Playa, the guide took us to the office and the stupid guy who left us paid the money back to us, deducting the used portion of the services... He looked like he pulled himself together within a few hours after we left him!!! After having our money, we had a nice Mexican feast and happily went back home...We were ready to move on to Belize City, however first we needed to go to Chetumal, which is the border town with Belize...

Next> Belize City, San Pedro, Caye Caulker and Flores-Tikal Guatemala...

Mexico City D.F ...More than I expected...Teotihuacan...Pre Aztec City...

We arrived in Mexico City, D.F at 11 am...We flew Mexicana de Aviacion, which turned out to be a nice airline, with its service and punctuality. We found a hotel at one of the airport booths, took a prepaid taxi to the downtown and started our adventure in Mexico City. We paid 165 Pesos for the taxi, which seemed a lot cheaper than other countries to us. The hotel was a little gloomy, dark and cold, but we decided to spend just the night there and find another hotel for the following days. Our hotel was conveniently located close to Zocalo which is the main square of Mexico City and there were lots of five star hotels around our hotel. After relaxing a little bit, we took a walk outside and the first impression we got was how green and neat the city was...The American restaurant chains, Starbucks, fast food places and the Mexican Spanish looked very American to me, which gave me some feeling of convenience after all...We walked on the main street to Zocalo, saw the impressive Fine Arts Palace, Post Office, Casa de Azulejos (The Tiled Pavillion), the Cathedral and huge Zocalo Square. I had imagined Zocalo like Plaza Mayor in Madrid, Spain somehow, but Zocalo is huge and there is traffic around its edges. There are government buildings and shops surrounding the square and is a little park in the middle of it, as well as a temporary Nomad Exhibition. The weather was not hot, it was pretty nice, like 20-22 C but I had worn my shorts. I drew attention to the fact that the Mexican men were looking at my legs and throwing me "piropos", like sweet, unharmful words...This was never happened in other parts of our trip, so I thought Mexico was one of the most conservative, almost the most conservative country among the others...The people's appearance was very much like Turkish people, with a little barriga(balcony, belly), bigote(moustache), rather dark skin complexion and medium built body size...I hardly saw any ladies wearing mini skirts, as opposed to Brasil or Argentina...However, it felt like home after all...

After getting a little orientation,we decided to eat inside the Tiled Pavillion and enjoyed the setting of the restaurant Sanbourne, which is a chain of restaurants. I had some fajitas which were very delicious. I paid about 100 pesos for a huge plate and coke,which seemed to be a more reasonable country than Brasil or Chile. Later we walked around the area, saw the Templo Mayor, which was an Aztec Sanctuary. The cafes and shops looked very cozy, the streets looked very clean and neat...I think for a huge metropolis like Mexico City D.F (distrito federal, pop.25 million greater Mexico City), the maintenance was noteworthy. I had always imagined Mexico City to be dirty, chaotic, messy and grey, though it was not what I encountered! After the first walk around the city, we walked back from the street leading to our hotel, had a delicious Starbucks Caramelatte and headed back home. In the evening, I went out to look for an internet cafe and saw the real Mexican people selling street food for 15 pesos, which were all to die for!!! Fajitas, burritos, delicious....Hmmm...After receiving a few more "piropos"(see above), decided to find an internet cafe. At 7 pm, the sun was down already, most of the places were shut and even the prostitutes were hanging around the streets. I asked one lady standing on the corner about the internet cafe and thanks to her, I found it. (it was impossible to find the place without a good direction). They usually charge 1 USD(10 pesos) for an hour and the connection speed is pleasant. The TV in the room was funny, it did not have buttons and we could only get 5 channels, which were all Mexican Soap Channels.(telenovelas). We decided to crash as we were very tired after our long flight from Rio...We had found another hotel (Hotel Lafayette) for the other nights and were going to move there the next day...

The next day, we dropped our stuff at the new hotel and bought a city tour of Mexico City with Turibus Company at a cost of 100 pesos(10 USD). They have a double decker bus and multi language guided headphone tour. We saw almost all the parts of Mexico City,the area where only the international businesses are, the art nouveau district, where the ritzy live, the residential parts, the area where the embassies are located...All in one was a very good idea...After the tour finished, we could continue with the same bus towards the south, which is outside the city to see the rest of this metropolis. We had an hour, so we had a delicious street fajita for 20 pesos with the drink and had a gelato as the topping. I also had some sushi! The bus came and we saw the rest of the city, in 3 hours. In the evening, we enjoyed the cable TV and more central location...

The following day, we decided to go to Teotihuacan but while we were enjoying our delicious breakfast at Vips, which is another restaurant chain, we missed the bus! The idea was to go and visit Xochimilco, which is famous for its colorful tiny boats and slow pace boat rides with the mariachis. Most of the tour groups have their lunches on the boat, but we took a 40 min tour, just to have an idea. To get to Xochimilco, we took the metro until the last station and took the light metro (tren ligero) to get to Embarcadero, which is the last station to get to Xochimilco. We haggled the price and have a quiet ride, until the mariachis insisted on playing our favorite songs. We gave them 2o pesos and had pictures instead!!! To me, they looked like Romans, the musician gypsies in Turkey. It was quite enjoyable. The rest of the day, we went to Frida Kahlo's museum and walked around the more artistic districts. Nearby the museum of Frida, we saw a mall to have a nice late lunch and had spicy fajitas to die for!!! The food is sooo good here! After having some coffee and looking around, we went to TAPO, which is the huge bus terminal of Mexico City to purchase our ticket to San Cristobal de Las Casas. We paid 800 pesos (80 USD!!!) for a silly bus, as this is the general price level for bus travels in Mexico. Later, we spent the night quietly, watching TV.


Next day was Teotihuacan. We bought a trip from Turibus to Teotihuacan for 450 pesos(45 USD) for a full day tour. Our guide was a Mayan descendant young girl. She first took us to the Sanctuary of Mary of Guadalupe, which is a very important shrine for the Mexicans and all the Christians. Later we arrived in Teotihuacan. It is a 1 hour 30 minute-drive from Mexico City. The most impressive building of the site was the huge Temple of Sun, with its 70 m.(210 ft) height. There is also a Temple of Moon, several masks that one can see, the areas where they sacrificed people and animals, the towers where they observed the planets...The site was small, but our guide said the population was about 200,000 people! It was an insane number for such a small area. The temple was constructed by Pre Aztec people, but nothing is known how and when it was constructed. The architecture was impressive and the size was spectacular. Later, we had a regular buffet lunch and came back to the city at about 4:30 pm. Our bus was at 8:30 pm, so after spending some time around, we took the bus. The bus was not very comfortable, was definitely not like the other buses we took but we arrived in the destination. The city we arrived was the base of the Zapatistas!


Next chapter> San Cristobal de las Casas

Salvador: The city of a beatiful blend of the people...Rio de Janeiro:The vibrant,energetic and rich face of Brazil

Our flight to Salvador was at 1:30 am! Gero had taken us to the airport quite early, so quietly waited for the flight time. It was our 3rd TAM flight, actually we did not have much expectations from TAM Air but it resulted to be an excellent airline. The flight left right on time for Salvador via Rio de Janeiro. We had purchased a Brazilian TAM Airpass which allowed us to fly 4 flights for only 560 USD, with all the taxes included! There are two hours difference between Sao Paulo and Manaus, so we changed our time, however very interestingly Salvador was 3 hours back of Manaus, even though it was on the more east then west!!! We arrived in Salvador and headed to our hotel, Ibis Rio Vermelho on a taxi cab. Our hotel was just on the beachfront, by Rio Vermelho district and it was on promotion. We loved our hotel, took some rest after the long flight, took our stuff to the laundry and walked around...We had 3 days in Salvador, so we took it easy. The next day, we bought a city bus tour to the historic center of Pelurinho, the areas of Barra, the lighthouse, Mercado Modelo, the elevator, Bomfim Church Area and the greater Salvador. It was very beautiful, especially the Afro-Brasilian people and the Mercado Area were just cheerful. The tour made a stop before the Bomfim church for the best ice cream in town, so after I fueled up with a great chocolate ice cream, I was able to catch the great sunset from the top of the elevator, overlooking the bay of Bahia. I had some trocitos to my hair, though it is quite short, she did quite a good job. I took a colectivo back home to the hotel. The city is full of young vibrant people, the bars and cafes are just full, fresh tropical fruit juices are available everywhere, people are of a great mix, ladies have big butts but they don´t care about what they wear, everybody wear flip flops etc...They have a nice music culture too, due to the great blend of people...

The next day,we just took it easy, had rest and went to the airport for our flight to Rio de Janeiro. Rio has a population of 11 million people, which 5 million of them live in the city center. Upon arrival to Rio de Janeiro, we took a city bus which took us to the city for only 6,5 Reais...(Real Auto Bus).The ride was quite comfy and it took about 1 hour! We had arrived there on a Saturday, so the beachfront was pretty busy. When we arrived in Rio, it took quite ugly, there were lots of meaningless brown buildings, a smell of sewage and signs of poverty everywhere until we reached the real ¨Centro¨ of the city. I realized that the streets were very nice and clean. The city is basically divided into two as centro and the beachfront but they are quite intertwined in the daily life. The bus dropped us after Copacabana, at Ipanema, which is one of the most beautiful beaches of Rio. We looked for a hotel for some 15 minutes until we see the great hotel of Vermont in front of us! The hotel had cable TV and breakfast for like 65 USD per person...Brazil was the most expensive country during our tour so far, so for some splurge, we paid that much, though the hotel was very pleasantly located which was well worth the money we paid...First thing we did was to eat at the restaurant where the famous song ¨The girl from Ipanema¨ was composed. The food was very good but we could not get the honky ponky fiery sizzling meat like our Italian table neighbors! We took a walk and had our first day in Rio...

The next day, we thought spending the day on the beach would be a great idea, so we had some good breakfast and went to the beach Posto 9. We got some water, our beach towels, some 10 reais and headed to the beach, as we were continuously warned to be alarmed against the pickpocketers and local gangs. It was soo packed, we rented a parasol(umbrella) and left our tired bodies to the treatment of the sun! However, as the sun was very very generous to us and we were not very careful about the time of the day and sun lotion, we got burnt at the end of the day!!! We got so much burnt that we became all red and had hard time sleeping that night!!! If it´is Rio´s sun, beware!!!! We also went to the Sunday Hippi Market at Ipanema to see the artesanias, rhe handicrafts...

We decided to buy a book for our Central America tour, so we took a local bus to the center. As Lonely Planet suggested, we found the bookshop and bought the book. Then we decided to go to Pao De Acucar (Sugar Loaf) Hill which was 395 mts. high from the city. We waited for bus number 107 on the wrong spot about 15 mins, then we walked to the right spot and went to the cable car entrance. They charge 35 Reais for the ride to Pao de Acucar and you change the cable cars twice. It was full of American cruise ship passengers who were very excited about being there!!! The view from the top of the hill was spectacular and I understand why this place was that famous...After Pao de Acucar, we came down decided to have a visit to Santa Teresa, which is the artistic and bohemian part of the town. It was pretty colorful and lovely, so we walked down the Santa Teresa Hill. In the evening, we spent the night quietly...

We spent the last day in Rio separately as I decided to climb onto the Christ Redentor, which was chosen as one of the new 7 wonders of the world. I took the bus to the Corcovado, and took the train to the top of Corcorvado Hill, which has an elevation of 760 mts. I had a picture taken there and took some great pics from the top of the hill...On the way back, I took a local bus back home. We had a flight at 22:30 to Mexico City the very same night, so we spent a little time on the internet and took the Real Auto Bus to the airport for our American Airlines flight to Miami and changed over to Mexicana. However, AA got some delay and we missed our direct flight at 7:00, so they put us to the flight at 8:00 which was flying via Cancun!! It was nice to see Cancun´s airport before Mexico City...We arrived in Mexico City at 11:30, but at least safe and sound...

Brazil was the last country in our trip to South America. As of 13th of February, we were leaving the continent with all the good memories, hard journeys and the beauties in our pockets...I knew that I would always want to come back here, hoped to come back here with my whole heart...

Next chapter: Giant metropolis of Mexico City, DF, mariachis, Corona, tequila, tacos, fajitas, quesadillas, frijoles...Oh, I got excited:))))

Amazon women conquered Amazonia! Manaus, Jungle, Rain and...

It was so humid and hot when we arrived in Manaus...David took us to the office for us to do the payment to Gero´s Amazon Tours. (www.amazongerotours.com - Gero Mesquita). We paid about 340 USD per person for a 3 day 2 night jungle tour with airport transfers, all the activities,water and meals included. David arranged a hotel for us, just for one night. We had a quiet day, spent most of it in a air conditioned internet cafe, found some buffet lunch place for our lunch and had a quiet evening by doing our little bag for the Amazons. Manaus is the capital of that state, has a population of 2,5 million people but it was a gloomy, ugly and boring city. We were recommended to bring a good insect repellent with deet, a raincoat, s swimsuit in case we wanted to swim in the river,a headlamp or a torch, a water container to get the water from the large water bottles and good walking shoes with good grip as well as some flip flops for the tours around the rivers when it rained.

Gero, who is the owner of the company and Joshua who was our guide came to pick us up in the morning and took us to the first harbor where we were going to see the two different colored rivers which did not mix together.(rio solomoes and rio negro). There are several high speed boats as well as ferries to cross to the other side to continue the road from Manaus to the west. We took one of the high speed boats with Joshua and crossed to the other side. Two rivers never mix because of the current and the density of the waters. After that, a minivan met us to take us to the deep heart of the jungle. We drove about 1 hour to get to the little port. A primitive boat appeared after half an hour and took us to the Araianiha Jungle Lodge. The lodge was beautiful, it was all green, there were pink lovely flowers and of course lovely mosquitos!!! We had a nice lunch with our guide Joshua and got to know him a little. He is 23, originally is from Bomfim, British Guineia (Brazilian border), guiding for some 5 years, speaks very good English, was born in the jungle and apparently he knows the jungle like the palm of his hand...He fell in love with a Norwegian girl who studies in Denmark and is dreaming of moving to Denmark to live with her...We liked him, he was very nice and friendly to us...Then I took a little swim in the river and it started to rain! The plan was to take a ride on the boat around the area and we did it. However, the time period we were visiting there was the rainy season, so Joshua said it would rain the whole afternoon and it would be hard to see the animals like pink dolphins and sloths (lazy animals). We did the ride anyway, could not see much but at least got some idea about the area. When it started to rain cats and dogs, we went to the house of the guy who operated the boat. They were so welcoming and nice to us. I chatted with the little 10 year old boy who was just at 1st grade at the school! When it got better, we went back to the boat.. It was all green and reflections of the green on the water, so I was very happy... We came back to the hotel all wet, changed our clothes, had our dinner chatting with Joshua and went to bed. Our room had mosquito nets, it was all wooden and soo humid-smelly. We went to bed early as we were a little wet and tired.

The next day, we woke up, had our breakfast and saw the rainy day again...Joshua brought the idea to do the family visits that day. We visited the family of the guy who was working for Gero, they were living in small tiny wooden houses where there was no real furniture or anything like our houses. I gave them evil eyes, we chatted a little and went to see how some sort of flour from a plant is produced. It is a yellow and poisonous plant, but during the process, they take the poison out of the plant, put it onto the fire, let the vapor go and use it to make pancakes and to cook. The men doing that were all suntanned and they were doing it in huge containers, just for their own family! It was pretty interesting...In the afternoon, two girls from Sao Paulo came to the jungle lodge. They were nice, we met them during lunch. In the afternoon, we went to catch Piranhas. We had wooden primitive baits, it was raining like crazy and we were trying to catch priranhas!!! It was sooo funny. I tried so hard, soo hard that I was able to catch one piranha as to save our pride! After the dinner, we went to see the caymans, like alligators. Joshua caught a baby cayman, we all had pictures with it. It looked so innocent, but he told us that when they grow older, they can eat a cow!!! Therefore, I understood that even a baby cayman was dangerous!!!

The next day, we woke up very early on the morning to see the sunset and the pink dolphins. Then we went to the jungle walk which lasted about 3,5 hours. We saw frogs, spiders, bugs, interesting plants and trees in the deep jungle, lots of mosquitos and insects, some birds and fish which were hatching their eggs by making some funny sounds. The walk was interesting but we were all bitten by insects and mosquitos...After all, we had conquered the Amazons!!!

In the afternoon, when it was raining cats and dogs again, we took the boat back and came back to Manaus.It was time to move onto a different adventure, so we said goodbye to Gero who very kindly took us to the airport, boarded our midnight flight to Salvador via Rio. It was such a big big change...

Next chapter: Salvador...The city of a marvelous blend of people!!!