Loading...
Start a new Travel Blog! Blogabond Home Maps People Photos My Stuff

SupandNic

41 Blog Entries
1 Trip
1065 Photos

Trips:

Sup and Nic's World Tour!

Shorthand link:

http://blogabond.com/SupandNic



After a crazy last month in the UK, hustling at car boot sales and on ebay, spreading joy to charity shops all over Reading and squeezing every last possession into any place we could find, we finally made it out with just one piece of hand luggage each and 2 immense backpacks - Black Thunder, bursting with a selection of electrical goodies and Silver Lightning, overflowing with makeup & hair straighteners!

It's been an emotional few weeks and parts have been quite surreal at times. We have had a lot of farewells from family, friends and work friends... thank you to everybody who supported us along the way and gave us a great send off, you will all be missed.

Now just so you know, we'll both be taking turns at writing entries on the Blog, so it may sound a little schizophrenic at times!

We hope you all enjoy sharing our adventures with us!



Aloha Hawaii!

Honolulu, United States

Zooming back over the Atlantic after 2 days in England, I was reunited with my partner in crime at LAX and we hopped straight onto a plane to our last US destination, the beautiful island of Hawaii.

It most certainly lived up to its reputation, and although we only had a short time to explore, we made the most of our time on the main island of O'ahu. The hostel we stayed in was in a lively part of town, minutes from Waikiki Beach and the tropical surroundings were really impressive. We were surprised at how picturesque the high rise hotels looked as they bordered the sandy beach,
especially as we had been spoilt with idyllic Costa Rican beach hideaways, but Hawaii seems to work very well as an island city paradise. We had arrived into Hawaii late on the first night, and as Sup had been living it up in LA and I had a serious case of jetlag, we decided to get some proper rest to maximise the enjoyment for the rest of our stay – sensible creatures that we are now!

Our first adventure started with Diamond Head, a large crater that we climbed for the promise of incredible views of the island. It was a steep old climb, and every time we thought we had made it, there seemed to be another level to conquer! At last, at the very top we were rewarded with a vast expanse of ocean along with a birds eye view of the island (photo above). The water appeared to be a shimmering silver in colour and was unlike any water we had seen before, almost like a pool of mercury – very impressive indeed. We spent some time on Waikiki Beach later that day soaking up the sun and enjoying a performance of Hula dancers in true Hawaiian style. I later attempted my own version but decided perhaps I needed more practice!

Any visit to Hawaii would of course be incomplete without taking some time to discover more about the history of Pearl Harbour. Naturally, I was a fountain of knowledge already thanks to a certain epic film of the same name, so I knew it all (!), but we also took the audio tour to gain deeper insight into the tragic day. After spending some time looking at the battleships and torpedoes displayed on the shore, we took a tour boat out to the Arizona Memorial. Interestingly we learned that many of the ships that were hit by the attack on Pearl Harbour
were recovered and back in action soon after, however sadly the Arizona was not among them. The ship remains under the water where it fell, along with so many of its men who did not make it out. The Arizona Memorial, a giant bright white monument built above the sunken ship, was built to mark the loss of the fallen men, and to represent the crushing defeat and the subsequent triumph of World War II. Standing in such amazing surroundings, it was hard to imagine the devastation brought on by the savage surprise attack on the harbour.

We decided to stop by Chinatown on our way home from Pearl Harbour, and we were very glad that we did. Our rumbling bellies were filled with a giant portion of cuisine from the Philippines and it was so delicious that we contemplated adding the country to our list of places still to travel!

Our final experience in Hawaii was an exciting road trip in a loop around the island, all the more exciting because I finally got to get behind the wheel of a car again – hooray! Sup was exceptionally brave sitting beside me navigating as I manoeuvred the streets and tried hard to remember which side of the road I should be driving on...!

There were so many wonderful sights to see along the way, and we were hopping in and out so often that we were worried we wouldn't return the car in time. We had a lovely picnic on one of the fabulous beaches we passed and played with the Aerobie (frisbee) in the water before continuing our journey as the sky started to darken with the threat of rain. A real highlight was seeing some huge turtles swimming up to the shoreline at the beach – they were too fast for our camera, but we managed to capture some great images on video.

After returning the car we enjoyed our last night in Waikiki, walking through the town and admiring some art galleries with beautiful images of Hawaii which we would have loved to buy, had we a spare couple of thousand pounds or so!

Our experience in Hawaii was fantastic and we would have loved to have had more time (and money) to enjoy it for longer. We promised ourselves that we would return one day with more money to burn and travel the islands of Maui and Big Island for the volcanic parks and stunning scenery. It is always a good thing to leave wanting more though, and with Fiji as our next destination, we had a feeling we would be just fine...



permalink written by  SupandNic on May 30, 2010 from Honolulu, United States
from the travel blog: Sup and Nic's World Tour!
Send a Compliment

Sandy Aygo

San Diego, United States

Our trip to San Diego was a wonderfully chilled alternative to the hectic Las Vegas lifestyle. We hopped on a plane from Vegas in order to save time and arrived in the city with plenty of time to explore our surroundings.

The Gaslamp District where we were staying was a trendy area, with loads of nice restaurants, shops and bars, and had a very lively atmosphere after dark with a Londonesque feel. We spent some time shopping and admiring the city before catching up on some grocery shopping to save some money and get some healthy food down us after the countless burgers of the last few months. We also went to pick some flash cars with our Vegas winnings. ;-)

Much of the evening after our pasta dinner was then spent catching up on our blog, sitting on lazy leather sofas at the top of the stairs in the hostel and chatting intermittently with various guests as they passed by.

We woke up early for a pancake and maple syrup breakfast then headed out to Balboa Park, the USA’s largest urban cultural park. We started to eat our picnic lunch, and then got bombarded by over-tame squirrels much to my amusement. Sup, however, was still suffering from post traumatic stress due to the Racoon mugging incident in Costa Rica, so we made a hasty retreat to a different part of the park free from rodent robbers so that we could eat our food in peace…!!

We walked a fair way around the park, admiring the numerous museums, fountains and landscape, and then headed back for pizza.

On our final day in San Diego we decided to be productive and spent a considerable amount of time in the local internet café transferring our photos onto CDs to send home. After this, and sorting out the Amtrak train, we decided to get the bus to Pacific Beach. The weather wasn’t great and turned the skyline
quite grey, but it was a nice little place with a cool boardwalk lined with presumably rented apartments. Many surfers were braving the freezing cold waves and we watched them and the fishermen practice their skills for a bit before heading back home.

San Diego was a great way to end our mini tour of the west coast and gave us a chance to catch up on things that had been neglected. From San Diego Sup went back to Hollywood to chill and meet with friends and I caught the plane to London for a 4 day return home as a surprise for my sister Anna’s wedding, an elaborate plan conducted over a 2 month period by myself, my sister Cathy, my Dad, my Uncles and my brothers in law. A little break in the middle of our travels with so many adventures still to come!!



permalink written by  SupandNic on May 28, 2010 from San Diego, United States
from the travel blog: Sup and Nic's World Tour!
Send a Compliment

Viva Las Vegas!!

Las Vegas, United States


What a crazy place!

Our flight was a little delayed so we arrived in Vegas later than we would have liked. After checking into Circus Circus we went to drop off our luggage in our room, getting lost along the way (It's easily the biggest hotel we've ever stayed at - it has 3,770 rooms!). The hotel has its own restaurants, shops, circus and even a theme park, oh and of course the casinos! The hotel was offering a promotion during the period we were staying so it was cheaper than staying in a hostel. Feeling tired from the travelling we decided to take a risky power nap. Game over. We woke up the next day!

In need of some new clothes we spent the next day visiting some of the outlet stores and a successful day that was indeed! We did get some great bargains. I ended up sending a few things back to England. With the low prices it would have been rude not to.

Having fallen asleep the night before we were up for a large one that evening! We went to check out the casino in our hotel. Neither of us are big time gamblers so we eased ourselves in gently on the 1 cent slot machines (big risk takers!).
Now the real fun began – all drinks are complimentary when you are gambling in the casinos! After consuming numerous cocktails and winning a whole whopping 3 bucks we decided to check out some of the other casinos on the strip.

We eventually stopped off at Treasure Island (the casinos are much further away than they appear) and continued with our tipsy antics. It was a great night, we both had a lot of fun and as a result ended up returning home at 8:30am!

We had planned to fit in quite a few things the following day so set the alarm for an optimistic 11:30 am.... we woke up at 4:30pm! Feeling a little worse for wear we were in need of some food, I had previously seen a sign for an all you can eat steak dinner
and we both agreed that would hit the spot. They went down a treat! Nic managed 2 and I had a full 3... good times! After we took a walk down the strip, stopping to check out the other big hotels and casinos. New York New York was very impressive, as was Paris, but the Bellaggio stole the show. We spent some time walking around the casinos checking out the high rollers. There were some seriously rich people in there laying down some big money.

On our final night in Vegas we planned to go and see one of the famous shows. We were toying between Blue Man Group and Cirque De Soleil's Mystere and decided to roll with Mystere (agreeing that we would see Blue Man Group on our return to England). It was a great show with a mixture of acrobatic stunts and live percussion.
We had always wanted to see a Cirque De Soleil show and this lived up to all expectations. The performers had some serious strength and made all the acts look so easy. Understandably we were not allowed to take any photos during the show but Nic did sneak one in just as the show finished.

Our whirlwind tour of the west coast was to continue. Las Vegas was awesome/crazy/surreal... a party playground for adults. We definitely made the most of our time there – what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas ;-) We were now in need of some chilled vibes... onto to San Diego.




permalink written by  SupandNic on May 27, 2010 from Las Vegas, United States
from the travel blog: Sup and Nic's World Tour!
Send a Compliment

Frisco!!

San Francisco, United States

Our Hollywood time was over we were back on the road travelling. The hostel chain we were working for in Hollywood gave us 2 nights accommodation free at their other hostels across America.
We were first able to take advantage of this in San Francisco. Having not had a curry in some time, I was having withdrawal symptoms. These pains needed to be cured so off we went in search of the local curry house. We found one not far from the hostel and the food hit the spot. It didn't compare to a curry house in England but the food was good nonetheless.

San Francisco city was an instant winner with us both. We spent some time shopping in the downtown area and after agreeing we were both in need of some new trainers we went on the hunt. Nic fell in love with a pair of Adidas trainers that had wings (gangsta!) although they were a bit pricey. As we had been unable to make it to a Lakers game in 'hometown' LA we thought we would show our support in another way...

There were some strange people in San Francisco and I think the photo below justifies my comment... He didn't appear to be standing on his head for any particular reason (not even for money) and no one seemed phased by him except for us. As long as he was having a good time it's all good.

San Francisco had been a city we were both very much looking forward to, our initial attraction of course being Alcatraz! Our visit to Alcatraz via the iconic San Francisco tram and ferry was awesome and very informative. Alcatraz operated between 1934 and 1963 housing notorious criminals. It was interesting to learn that the area is now home to rare plants,
marine wildlife and sea birds. This was the second residency we had visited of Al Capone's (the first being the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia) so by now we were getting to know him a little better! We took an audio tour around the prison learning about the different sections, the living conditions, the high profile convicts, the running of the prison and the best bit... the escapes and the attempted escapes.

There were some great views of San Francisco city and you can imagine the torture the prisoners experienced on a daily basis. They could see the city (and even hear the city) but that normal everyday life was just out of reach.

That afternoon we took a stroll along the waterfront visiting Pier 33, Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf. This was supposedly a great place to see sea lions although we were very unlucky as we didn't see even one. We had also heard of Lombard Street – its claim to fame being that it is the most windiest road in San Francisco!

Our final sight seeing for the day was to be Golden Gate Bridge. On completion in 1937 it was the longest suspension bridge in the world so of course we took this as a challenge to walk it. We stopped along the bridge appreciating the beautiful views of the city and of Alcatraz.

Nic challengened me to a bridge lifting contest and put me to shame! It was a lovely evening and we decided to walk back to the city along the coast.

On our journey back we were lucky enough to witness an awesome sunset and the bridge certainly lived up to its name. At the harbour we also had a friendly sea lion come up and say hello – he had clearly felt our disappointment earlier in the day.

San Francisco was a great city, it was on par with New York. It seemed like an easy place to live, not just to visit. It was also much more down to earth than Hollywood (obviously!) and we both enjoyed being back in normality. That was not to last for long though, on to Las Vegas!



permalink written by  SupandNic on May 26, 2010 from San Francisco, United States
from the travel blog: Sup and Nic's World Tour!
Send a Compliment

Hollyweird Boulevard!

Los Angeles, United States

So there we were, in Hollywood working for free accommodation and living it up while continuing with Sup's eye treatment and we started to wonder if there was anything we could do to subsidise the rest of our stay to prevent the cost of living & medical bills eating in to our funds...

Every day we would pass by Grauman's Chinese Theatre and see the hustlers dressed up as film characters having pictures taken with the tourists on Hollywood Boulevard. We assumed that they were hired by someone but then Zorro himself came and stayed in our hostel and after a while myself and our friend Carina got talking to him and discovered to the contrary. As long as you had a decent costume and followed the unwritten rules of the street, it was fair game. We got so excited and started planning immediately, half expecting to not go through with it, and we had a fantastic day window shopping in Hollywood, trying on wigs and planning characters like Betty Boop, Jessica Rabbit and Playboy Bunnies. That night I told Sup our hilarious plan, and while I expected him to think I was crazy, instead he was delighted and set about planning his own character – we were in business!

A lot of research and strategic planning later and our ideas were sorted – Carina was to be Alice in Wonderland (although she later changed to Supergirl and enjoyed far more success), Sup was to be the brooding X-Men superhero Wolverine, and myself – the cheeky Disney favourite Tinkerbell!

Our costumes cost about $200 each to put together, approximately £150. Sup ordered the best Wolverine costume on the market with amazing realistic claws and paid for express delivery. It was definitely worth the money as he had people coming up to him all the time concerned about whether the claws were made from real metal and were dangerous! I looked all over and decided that the best Tinkerbell outfit would have to be made to order. In true Hollywood style I approached the owner of an exotic dancer shop and had him make me the most dazzling green sparkling fairy dress, complete with Tinkerbell zigzag hem, The wings, wig and wand were from an upmarket Hollywood fancy dress shop and I cut a fringe into the wig to look more like Disney's naughty little pixie. The shoes were more Blue Peter unfortunately – little slippers from a TK Maxx type shop with sponges glued on as pompoms!!

The first day on the job was overwhelming and exciting. I went out on my own as I was ready but Sup's costume was due the next day. I came back with tips spilling out of my purse. It was a great start! When Sup joined me, for a while we stayed out of each other's way, assuming that we were in direct competition for each other's 'targets', although we later learned that we earned far much more working together, with families coming to us for their sons to have photos with Wolverine and daughters with Tinkerbell. We were a rock solid, if a little unconventional, team!

The month we worked on Hollywood Boulevard was a surreal whirlwind of madness and I will forever look back on it as one of the most amazing times of my life. From 9am to 5pm we were hustling on the Walk of Fame, then we would dash back to our flat, count our tips, change in a micro second and run to the hostel to work our shifts there – Sup would do 6-12 most
days working as the host and I would do housekeeping til 10, then make dinner. Three times a week we ate the hostel BBQ so our diet was pretty poor, but our morning bananas without fail kept our guts from completely rotting from fast food overload. We often rewarded ourselves during a busy day at our favourite shopping place Fresh & Easy with our best ice cream ever - toffee crème Haagen Dazs, and we were there every day buying water on our breaks and sampling the free tasters of food.

It's hard to explain what an incredible experience it was to have children shouting our names across the street and to watch them scream and jump in the air when we turned and waved. Sup had grown men, some with gang tattoos, walk past and high five him telling him he's their hero, and several women ran excitedly over to me, one whispering in my ear she had a tattoo of me on her butt.....!! Of course there were some rude people, but far less than I expected, and I even got a proposition from a guy who said he had a room at the Roosevelt and we could 'make some things happen'...Hmmm, tempting but no! Unbelievable! The answer I gave him – 'sorry, I'm with Wolverine' was almost as absurd as the words that came out of his arrogant mouth!

There was a certain learning curve with the job and after a while we learned that 'snipers' were our enemies – people who sneakily snapped photos of us without paying tips. We spent a lot of the day avoiding people who would craftily walk near us so that their partner or friend could take a photo when we weren't looking. There were also tour operators who hated our guts, quite possibly because we had more business than they did, and were incredibly rude to us. The biggest joke of all was a certain arachnid comic book character working the boulevard who referred to us all as 'f*@#ing beggars', although what he was doing that was so different from us was beyond me! It was later we discovered that certain characters had alcohol or substance misuse problems, and some were even homeless, and we started to see a very different side to the Boulevard.

We talked to many of the other characters, and had some great laughs with cheeky Guatemalan Nacho Libre, Darth Vader, Princess Leia, Sponge Bob, the Joker, Minnie Mouse (who was a guy!), Shrek, Goofy, the Predator, Freddie Kruegar, Mario and Luigi, Catwoman, Wonderwoman, Arial, Cinderella, Bugs Bunny, Michael Jackson (there were about 5 of them),
Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin, Superman and Elvis. The guy dressed as Bumblebee from Transformers reportedly spent $2000 on the impressive costume and it was totally worth it. Every weekend half way through the day he would suddenly appear, a tall guy in a giant machine suit, making a big entrance by striding down the road alongside all the cars, and all the other characters would scuttle away to another place as crowds of people gathered to take photos with him.

Sup's favourites were Mexican Scooby Doo, a lovely sweet guy, Bruce Lee – a film student and martial arts expert, and Mr Incredible from Turkey, who taught us some valuable tricks of the trade.

Rumours about all the characters spread around like we were in the school playground and it was actually fascinating to learn about the lives of these people – some who had been doing the job for over a decade. There were some aspiring actors, some students, a composer, up and coming movie producers, and then there were some people at a very low point in their lives, often aggressive, confrontational and unpredictable, scary men you wouldn't willingly let your children anywhere near, dressed in a full disguise so that parents were delighted to have their kids hug them for a photo.

There were times that I had never been colder in my life and times when Sup was so hot he could hardly bear it. The job could make you feel on top of the world one minute, and then a bad day could make you feel like you'd hit rock bottom. It was an emotional rollercoaster for many different reasons, but it was the chance of a lifetime, it saved us financially and on a more personal level, it fulfilled my 10 year old self's dream of being famous, if only for a little while. Being adored every day was magical and the sense of achievement we both got from the experience was priceless. A true Hollywood story!



permalink written by  SupandNic on May 25, 2010 from Los Angeles, United States
from the travel blog: Sup and Nic's World Tour!
Send a Compliment

LA LA land & Hollywood - the land of dreams!

Los Angeles, United States

For all Romeo and Juliet fans, (the real Leo DiCaprio film version guys, not that soppy Shakespeare stuff!!), Venice Beach was our first stop after landing down at LAX, sunglasses on & acting like celebrities before we walked out the doors! I was in trouble immediately for the catastrophic mistake of forgetting that I had an orange in my bag from Mexico, but after batting my eyelids and 'feigning' ignorance, which believe me isn't too difficult, we escaped without a fine - hooray!

Sorting Sup's eye treatment out took some time so we spent 5 days in Venice inbetween appointments, visiting Muscle Beach for a giggle on the monkey rings, walking down to Santa Monica Boulevard and celebrity spotting on Santa Monica Pier. I was pretty excited to be back in the USA and Maroon 5 were having a photo shoot at the end of the pier which was pretty cool!

We then found out that we would need to stay in the area for about 2-3 months in order to be successful with Sup's eye treatment. This was a big worry initially in terms of finances, but our decision soon turned our 3 days planned travel in Los Angeles to a wonderful and unforgettable 2 months of adventures.
We had also discovered the world's most amazing dessert - a Diddy Riese double chocolate cookie peanut butter icecream sandwich so we weren't going anywhere - a spectacular $1.50 treat that ruined my figure and was totally worth it! Sup then decided that he hated Venice Beach and it was "the worst place he'd been in the world"(!) Downtown LA held the same kind of feeling for me, although I had to agree that Venice Beach and its faux hippy slash homeless 'vibe' wasn't our kind of place, and there was a certain famous ceremony starting in just a couple of days, so we searched and found the perfect opportunity - to stay and work in a hostel in Hollywood, right by the Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard, within sight of the Hollywood sign. 24 hours a week of work in exchange for free accommodation, pancake and maple syrup breakfast, laundry and BBQs - USA hostels changed our travels!

Although travelling itself has been an incredible dream and a journey that seems too good to be true, Hollywood was a place that surpassed all feelings of reality and threw us into the realm of the surreal.

Having the Oscars on our doorstep at the Kodak Theatre, along with the film premieres of The Losers and Nightmare on Elm Street at the Chinese Theatre and Iron Man 2 at El Capitan,was amazing and gave us our best ever celebrity sighting - the man himself Samuel L Jackson, who turned and personally gave us the biggest grin which left us gobsmacked and lost for words! Sup also had the pleasure of meeting the infamous Ron Jeremy and walking along Sunset Boulevard one night we met Paul, the hitman from Prison Break, who was such a nice down to earth kind of guy - a great sighting considering we were both obsessed with the series back in the UK!

Aside from the celebrities, we met some awesome people while working at the hostel and had some fabulous and glamorous nights out, including a real American house party complete with a rock band set up in the backyard and a Police shutdown due to the noise!
We also went to a US club for a dubstep night, watched friends performing live on stage, experienced some funny and some cringeworthy moments at the hostel
comedy nights and went on a Limo ride around the city with free champagne and vodka - ahhhh, the LA lifestyle! Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park was a real highlight of the trip and together with friends from the hostel we braved about 11 of the scariest, fastest, tallest rides of our lives - an exhilarating day!

On a more laidback note, there was a beautiful canyon just 15 minutes walk away from our house and we enjoyed a long walk around it, with incredible views of the city from up high. I also took an outside Yoga class at the canyon which was a fantastic experience in the California sunshine. No trip to LA would be complete without looking at some really rich people's homes and walking down a street where you can't even afford to window shop, so we took the Beverly Hills , Bel Air and Rodeo Drive tour which was a lot of fun - taking a rickety bus to a multi million dollar mansion was pretty surreal and trying to find a bus stop between Gucci and Armani is pretty demeaning - the Bugatti would have been a much nicer ride!

At first sight Hollywood is a strange place, nothing like what you would expect, with a lot of homelessness and more tack than Cancun. It's a place where people come to dream, some make it, loads don't, but once you see past its flaws and facade you realise that it is essentially a city filled with hope, never giving up on the dream and this is one of the reasons I fell a little bit in love with it's childlike optimistic charm.

And just when we thought things were as crazy as they could get in our little Hollywood bubble, we came across an amazing plan that would give us one of the best experiences to date... watch this space..!!!



permalink written by  SupandNic on May 24, 2010 from Los Angeles, United States
from the travel blog: Sup and Nic's World Tour!
Send a Compliment

Me-hee-co!!

Mexico, Mexico

Our trip to Mexico was surprising in many different ways. We both seemed to have an idea in our heads of Mexico that seems closer to a 1920s Western than to the modern day reality. Sombreros only existed in souvenir shops, tacos were strangely hard to find among the fast food joints, and far from the un-PC picture we are often painted in the UK of gun slinging bandits, the people of Mexico were on the whole absolutely lovely, helpful & fun! The sheer size of the city really blew us away at first sight as we flew over at night to a spectacular show of lights that would make Las Vegas look dull...no picture through an aeroplane window could capture the immense expanse of land glittering with starry lights and it was a sight we will never forget.

Mexico City was beautiful and we enjoyed a 5 day explosion of culture and most importantly of all....FOOD!! The Tacos, once we had tracked them down,
were amazing and the free food at our hostel gave us a chance to sample some of the local Mexican delights, which made a certain young man very happy indeed...! A trip to the local food markets turned into a major taste testing of 3 different stalls selling super hot Tacos, and Sup was in his element - I, however, tried desperately to keep up while tears were streaming down my face from the heat and all the locals were laughing at me!

Every day the newspapers splashed horrifying pictures of slain gang members and the effects of the drug wars going on in the North of the country, but in the Centro Historico in Mexico City we felt very far from this reality. (although the occasional gun shop did remind us at times of a more sinister side.)
It really was one of the most beautiful cities we have been to. We spent time in the Zocalo where dancers, artists and musicians entertained us in the artisan's market - people with fantastic talents that really seemed to capture the energetic, colourful and lively Mexican vibe.
During the day we delved into the rich culture and experienced the iconic Palacio Nacional with the beautiful murals of Diego Rivera painted on the walls depicting images of Mexico through the ages, the dramatic Cathedral (which if you look closely is sinking into the ground!) and the impressive Aztec ruins along with the Templo Mayor museum filled with weird and wonderful ancient artifacts.

Next stop on our tour was Veracruz - a modest little town in itself, but thanks to some wonderful timing, we arrived right in the middle of the Carnival which made our stay unforgettable. We found the perfect little place to stay right opposite the main street procession and happily chugged down cans of
Tequila & Lime mix while dancing to the raucous music and watching the extravagant floats go by, pulled by tractors and laden with dancing girls. We even joined in with a little face painting and fun to make sure we fitted right into the Mexican spirit of celebration - Arrrriba!!! We also spent a fantastic and romantic Valentines Day walking through the pretty little town, eating lunch by the harbour and we even found time to climb a fort!

Once the Tequila had worn off it was time to continue our journey by bus onto Campeche, a pretty, breezy little place on the Gulf Coast. For a quiet, sweet little town, it had a big explosive past revealed by the considerable forts and huge walls remaining from defence against pirate invasions.
We enjoyed walking down the streets lined with colourful houses and watching the sun set over the choppy coastal water, and just generally had a chilled out time in the sun.

Merida was next, the capital of the Yucatan Peninsula. We enjoyed our nights in the zocalo, or main square, eating meaty Tostadas with the locals and searching for yet more Tacos in the markets.
The days were spent exploring a local art and history museum, and then taking a tour to learn all about the Mayan and Toltec people at Chichen Itza - a sight that you will see speaks for itself and should definitely be seen in person to be fully appreciated. Spectacular! During the same tour we were treated to a sightseeing bonus - a beautiful natural cenote, or well. As this was unexpected we did not have our swimming clothes with us or we would have gladly dived right in to cool off from the scorching heat!

With such a rich overdose of culture and history, our next stop seemed the perfect antidote - the infamous Cancun, which in fact was not quite the place we were expecting. Something seemed to be missing - the authentic Mexican vibe was gone and replaced with young American tourists and tacky souvenirs. The high rise hotels overshadowing the beach really changed the landscape and reminded us of how beautiful the Costa Rican natural beaches had been. But we certainly enjoyed our time on the beach and exploring the tourist friendly town. The cat in our hostel also provided some excellent entertainment as he seemed to have hit the Tequila too hard that night...!!

Playa del Carmen was similar to Cancun but with a nicer vibe and a Walmart that allowed us to eat like Kings! The town itself was far more appealing than Cancun and the beach was great. Unfortunately Sup was experiencing a lot of eye pain at this time, so we took it easy and started planning for what we needed to do to sort out the situation. The rain in Mexico was also surprising - and they say England is bad!

Tulum was the last stop on our trip to Mexico - we decided that we would fly early to LA in order for Sup to get the medical treatment he badly needed for his poorly eyes. Lucky for us, Tulum turned out to be a beautiful place to end our Mexican experience, and a near perfect beach with waters so blue it was impossible to do them justice with the limitations of our camera.
Our hostel provided bikes for free to rent so we cycled every day to the beach nearby and chilled in the sun. Sup was feeling a little under the weather one day so I went exploring, finding some performers in a square with some impressive moves. I came back to find that Sup was the one this time who had made a little friend... there was a little cat fast asleep on his lap!

Our adventures in Mexico were fantastic, and although not what we expected at times, it was full of surprises and wonderful experiences. LA was up next, a land full of promise and, after a 2 1/2 month battle with Central American Spanish, a welcome return to the English language!!




permalink written by  SupandNic on May 23, 2010 from Mexico, Mexico
from the travel blog: Sup and Nic's World Tour!
Send a Compliment

Monteverde, La Fortuna & Tortuguero!!

Tortuguero, Costa Rica

We made our way back over the boarder for our final section of Costa Rica. As we had learnt bus timetables are few and far between in Costa Rica so we went for the lucky option and just hoped for the best! It all worked out fine and with 3 easy bus transfers we made it to Monteverde early evening. We were treated to some fantastic scenery along the way and the views were looking very picturesque indeed.

As we had been so busy in Nicaragua we decided to recuperate for a day and slowed down our pace... not for too long though as there were adventures to be had! First up on our list was a hanging bridges tour, delving into the world of Indiana Jones. I booked us on a tour for the following day. It was a great experience being so high up in the cloud forest. I also had a little fun wobbling the bridges and watching Nic grasp on for dear life (I know i'm mean!)! It was difficult to appreciate how high we were because when looking down we could only see the cloud forest canopy.

Later that afternoon we booked ourselves on to a canopy tour. I was very excited and had been waiting a long time for the experience. A canopy tour is a series of zip wires that let you fly through the rainforest reaching speeds up to 40mph!
There was a choice of tours so naturally I picked us the highest, fastest and adrenaline inducing one I could find.

We started off on a selection of short but speedy cables which progressed on to longer ones throughout the tour. One girl in our group gave up after her first cable – she did look in a bad way.
Nic got stuck in the middle on one of the cables and had to be rescued by the guide! We also experienced a rapel and tarzan swing which were a little nerve racking but damn good fun!

I also have Nic's terror screams caught on camcorder which are well worth viewing when we return! The final cable was the one I had been waiting for … 'The Superman'! This was a 1km cable with a difference...
the harness was attached to our back so we were facing the ground flying through the air! How good is that?! The further along the line we went the lower the valley beneath us became and the views were spectacular.

Having completed our Monteverde missions we began our 8 hour journey to La Fortuna. It wasn't actually that far in terms of birds eye distance, however there are about 7 rivers in between the 2 towns. We went to La Fortuna to visit one of the country's most famous attractions... Volcan Arenal. It was a little surreal to see the volcano from where ever we were in town and we captured some great photos. We weren't lucky enough to see a glimpse of the lava as it was very cloudy for the majority of our stay.

The following day we took a visit to Baldi Hot Springs which was a resort situated on the base of Arenal. What a way to relax! There were a number of hot and cool springs (some as hot as 68 degrees!).

In the evening we were treated to a 5 course buffet dinner which we took full advantage of! Below you can see a photo of Nic before and after the buffet! We enjoyed it so much we were there from midday to 10pm, and the whole day only cost us £12 each!

The final day we spent exploring. We stumbled across this lush stream. On our travels Nic found yet another little friend! This one she suitably named 'Boo', short for Boomerang. Boo was indeed a friend for life and she followed us everywhere. She even waited for us outside when we went in to the supermarket!

Our final stop in Costa Rica was Tortuguero, we needed to catch an early bus from the city centre so we spent a night in San Jose. Tortuguero is a little village on the north Caribbean Coast. It was a magical place, you could only get there by boat or plane and there were no cars in the village which added to the tranquil vibe. You had to make a real effort to get there, it wasn't a place you just stumbled across like some of the other places we had visited, and I liked that. It had a certain charm.

From San Jose we had to catch 2 buses and a boat. The boat journey was about an hour long and we lucky enough to have a tour guide on board who was travelling back to the village so he was kindly pointing out all the wildlife, some of which were camouflaged very well although he made spotting them seem much easier than it actually was. We saw crocodiles basking in the sun, caimans, turtles, jesus christ lizard (a little lizard which runs on water.. what a legend!)

We checked in to a cheap place and went off to explore. We found a sweet little hostel on the coast and decided to check in there the following day both agreeing that the place we were in was a bit of a hole. It was so nice to have the wild crashing Caribbean Coast on one side of the village and then have the calm waters of the river less than a 5 minute walk on the other side of the village. We spent each evening watching the sunset over the river, it was so peaceful. Just as the sun went down these crazy big frogs would appear and start jumping all over the place, they were huge! Walking through the town we found a local restaurant serving a Nicaraguan barbeque and we couldn't refuse... spicy chicken, fried plantain, yucca and salad!

After a few chilled out days we signed up for paddle boat tour of Toruguero National Park. It required a 5am start to get out on the river in time for the waking wildlife,
so it was early to bed for us! We had a great guide who was able to spot so many animals, we were spoilt with choice.
We were lucky enough to see a red frog and it was real this time unlike the one we were shown in Panama! He also taught us about some of the drug problems Costa Rica is facing involving the Mexican and Columbian gangs.
The drug cartels want to use the country as a shipping route to transport cocaine up from South America, through Central America and into North America. Fisherman in the port town of Limon on the Caribbean Coast have now turned their attention to Cocaine. Many of the locals are aware of the drug problems, and it seems some have seen the money they can make from fishing for drug packages that have been deposited in the sea for later collection by other cartel members. He was a fascinating guy with a wealth of knowledge.

Later that afternoon we went on a hike along the local trail. Not long after setting off we came across Mr Evil. You can't really capture the size of him in the photo but he was approximtaely the size of my hand.
After grabbing a bite to eat we took a walk down by the coast and then spent the afternoon relaxing in the hammocks. Nic fed her little friend 'Crabby' who had kindly introduced himself on our first night. We spent the evening playing card games with Kingsley, a top guy we had previously met a few nights before from San Fran. Of course I won every game... although he might say different! We stayed up chatting until the early hours. It was a great night.

Stocking up with supplies for the journey back we came across this cat in the store! It kind of symbolises the whole Tortuguero vibe. He was relaxed. On our boat journey back to reality we spotted a Toucan which was an awesome animal to end our wildlife sight seeing on.

Costa Rica was amazing. We were so happy to start and end our trip on the Caribbean Coast as they happened to be our favourite places. Tortuguero was the one! Costa Rica was so much fun and I feel a great sense of achievement knowing we have travelled the country from corner to corner, seeing so much along the way and pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone at times. I will miss the country but at the same I am ready to move on. This was no time to get sentimental anyhow, as Mexico was on the horizon... would we make it through alive?...

permalink written by  SupandNic on May 18, 2010 from Tortuguero, Costa Rica
from the travel blog: Sup and Nic's World Tour!
Send a Compliment

Nicaragua!!

Granada, Nicaragua

From Liberia in Costa Rica to Granada in Nicaragua – it's not actually that far in distance but as we were to find out they do like to take their time at the border crossing point. Nicaragua is a very poor country especially when compared with Costa Rica. There is political tension between the 2 countries and things don't look like they will improve too soon. Nicaraguan immigrants are sneaking into Costa Rica for the chance of a better quality of life, and just the same as the immigration issues occurring in England, tensions begin to rise. Getting our passports back from border control was quite amusing. The guy stood on a barrel with a pile of passports and begun shouting out people's names and then throwing them to us in the crowd!

We arrived into Granada in the late evening, and jumped in a taxi heading straight for our hostel. It was an upgrade from the last few we had been staying in Costa Rica, with a swimming pool, hammock strung chill out area and a lush tropical plant garden. As we were soon to find out costs in Nicaragua were roughly half that of Costa Rica... nice! Granada is a beautifully restored colonial town, from the grand Cathedrals to the brightly coloured humble homes and I can't forget the fine plaza (Parque Central).

Our first activity on our itinerary was to visit Volcano Mombachu, and en route to the bus station we stopped off to visit the local markets which were full of fresh fruit and food that was cheap to produce, usually rice or flour based.
We saw a number of women carrying all their goods on their head... super strong muscles! This little guy also approached us and swung out a machete from behind his back. We froze and tried to figure out if the cheeky little fella was attempting to rob us in broad day light before realising what he actually wanted was his picture taken.
The young hustler kids had a good sense of humour and we were soon approached by another who was trying to sell me a shoe shine... we both began laughing because as he knew full well I was wearing flip flops! (I gave in and purchased some in Costa Rica. This was a big move for me as many of you know my dislike of these foot thongs). All jokes aside though they were children not privileged enough to go to school. Instead they were forced to hustle and make a living any way they could. It does remind us how lucky we are.

After finding the bus station we took a rickety bus heading in the direction of the volcano. The public bus was actually an old American school bus painted with flames down the side, I think it is the Nicaraguan equivalent of nitrous :-) The driver can't have been older than 15 as well! We arrived at the volcano entrance and we met a great San Diego couple. We had to take another rickety truck up to the information centre from where you can take a number of hiking trails. We stopped off at a coffee farm on the way up and Nic had a little taster.

Volcano soil is apparently really good for growing coffee plants. We took the trail that gave us views of Granada, Managua (the capital), Lago de Nicaragua, Laguna de Apoyo and Las Isletas.
As it was an active volcano we saw some fumaroles as well - small hot steaming openings in the ground. Mombachu is an active volcano although the last major activity was recorded in 1570. We also saw this butterfly and I was chuffed to get close enough to capture this photo.

The photo below shows the views from the top of Mombachu. The town on the left is Granada and the little islands on the right are Las Isletas. There 350 islands were formed when Mombachu erupted 10,000 years ago. Many of them are now inhabited by traditional fishing families and more recently the super wealthy.

On our second day we went to visit Laguna de Apoyo along with some friends we had met at the hostel. The Apoyo crater lake was created when a volcano imploded many years ago.

The smell of sulphur as we approached was very strong. The Laguna supposedly has the lowest point in Central America. Nic and I took out some canoes and paddled to the other side which was MUCH further than we initially thought. We did well getting to the other side but then realised we had to paddle back!
The views from the middle of the Laguna were immense. We were surrounded 360 degrees by a vast crater wall consisting of dry tropical rainforest. Arriving back we thought some relaxation time was in order so we went and lazed in some big inflatable tubes.

That evening after playing cards and drinking games we all went into town. There was a good atmosphere in the air, and lots of people were about having come back from watching the final big baseball game of the season. Nic and I were gutted as we would have gone to see it if we had found out about it sooner. There was a live latino band and people dancing in the street in and around all the bars. It definitely had that latino vibe that I always imagined the place to have. We had a great night!

Early start the next day - we were off to visit Leon and Cerro Negro in northwestern Nicaragua which happens to be the most volcanic region in Central America. Leon (once Nicaragua's capital) was a beautiful place and we spent the morning walking around the town appreciating the sights. We made our way to visit the Cathedral... the oldest and largest Cathedral in Central America. We went off to explore. The decorations were very lavish as we expected and there was a lot of gold! The Cathedral symbolises hope for thousands of Nicaraguan people.

We walked around the whole Cathedral taking photos along the way of the intricate detail. We were both very impressed! Construction of the Cathedral began in 1747 and took over 100 years to complete.

The views from the top of the Cathedral were amazing. We could see all of Leon with the faint outline of volcanoes on the horizon.

Cerro Negro was next up - Nicaragua's most active volcano! We were first introduced to some of the local creatures. Nic was brave enough to have this photo taken. Cerro Negro (meaning black hill - which I think is a well suited name!) appeared in 1850 making it the newest volcano in Central America. It has erupted over 20 times since then and last erupted in 1999. Our guide kindly pointed out that they were expecting an eruption any time soon! So naturally we began our climb to the top, stopping along the way to take some awesome photos. Below is one of my favourite photos - the contrast of the colours makes it a little eerie.

We saw a number of fumaroles at the top and the rocks were pretty hot (which I found out when I lost my footing when I landed this jump, cutting my leg, arm and body. Our tour guide asked who wanted to jump into the crater to get a wicked photo, no-one was putting themselves forward so I stepped up to the challenge).
Nic and I boarded down the volcano at the same time, I was in the lead until about half way down. I was shouting over banter at Nic calling her sloooooooow, when I started to have technical difficulties... I stopped still.
I have no idea how this happened. Can you believe that? It's not like it was a little mound, it was a 720m high bloody volcano with a 45 degree incline! That defies the laws of physics. Nic found this hilarious and when I finally made it to the bottom she was rolling round the ground in stitches! It was an amazing experience nonetheless and something I won't be forgetting in a hurry. Below is the view from the bottom of the volcano looking up.

That evening we took a horse drawn carriage ride around Granada taking photos of all the great views along the way. Although in some areas there was quite a bit of litter and it appeared to be the locals throwing litter not tourists as we originally thought.

We stopped off afterwards to sample some local food in the main plaza. We tried the local dish of yucca plant,
mixed salad and deep fried pork rind, topped off with a generous helping of hot sauce and served in a banana leaf. We also tried a very bitter type of mango served with salt and chilli sauce. Nic's face explains it all! We didn't end up finishing all of it as it was just too bitter! The locals were pretty hardcore though, they were walking round munching it all day.

Below is a photo of one of the streets near our hostel with Volcano Mombachu in the background.

We thought Nicaragua was an awesome place. Our time there seemed to fly by (again!) and I felt that we only briefly touched the country, but from what we saw we thought it was beautiful. I am also now a big fan of volcanoes, they are so impressive (and some a little confusing!). Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to visit Isla de Ometepe which is an isalnd formed by two volcanoes rising out of a lake... there was just so much to see! The country exceeded our expectations. We were so glad it had that Central American vibe that we had pictured in our minds. It had more of a gritty feel to it, not a dangerous feel just a little bit of an edge and we liked that a lot. Nicaragua you and me have become good friends and to say goodbye is going to be a little emotional.

permalink written by  SupandNic on March 23, 2010 from Granada, Nicaragua
from the travel blog: Sup and Nic's World Tour!
Send a Compliment

Costa Rica Part 2 - Quepos, Montezuma & Tamarindo!

Quepos, Costa Rica

After the fabulous 5 day break in Panama, we were ready to return to Costa Rica to continue our jungle journey. Our first stop, after striding through the border bridge with a tad more confidence than before, was San Jose. Following a one night nondescript stopover in the city, we hopped on a bus to Quepos to experience life on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.

The accommodation we found was great, complete with swimming pool and a number of extremely 'well' fed dogs. Unfortunately we had to stay in a dorm that night in order to secure the private room for the next night, so it was kind of like being 12 years old at some holiday camp, sleeping across from each other on the top bunk in a room full of people, but it was a giggle!

That night we went out into the little town and had the most fabulous homemade burgers and chips - they were delicious, best ever! We then chilled in the hostel, playing table football until late. As I went to brush my teeth in the communal bathroom in the dark, a 2 ton Rottweiler came charging at me & I very nearly ended up in the pool....! Luckily my 'dog whisperer' skills came in handy (that, or my rather loud shrieking!) and the dog got bored, or rather ran out of breath & collapsed in a pile on the floor instead!

The next day we moved to our new private room to escape the snoring drunks & then went out to Manuel Antonio National Park, a short bus journey from Quepos.
The beach we were dropped at was lovely and we entered the park in beaming sunshine to be greeted by huge lizards basking in the heat. We took a little hike round the park and found a spot with an incredible view of the ocean, absolutely stunning.

We climbed down to a rocky beach for more photo opportunities and then made our way to the main beach in the park to stop for lunch.

This time we had learned our lesson, and we ate our food very fast, with our eyes peeled for hairy little bandits, which were appearing everywhere in the form of naughty raccoons and cheeky little monkeys. While we were in the sea, a family from the US saved our bag from getting soaked when the tide came in which we were very grateful for.
We had a little chat with them and then as they weren't looking, a particularly brave white faced capuchin shot down from a tree & snatched their massive bag of crisps right out of the lady's hands!! The terrors strike again, the cheek of it! They also discovered later a load of crabs in their bags because the monkeys had pulled the zip open searching for more food - unbelievable!!

A blue footed booby bird was on the shoreline which I was very excited about - they are brilliant birds with their amazing blue feet, but we didn't take any photos as the poor little thing was really hurt with a savagely broken wing. Some people had gone off to get a ranger and one little girl sat with the bird talking to it, just like I used to do if there was an animal hurt, which was very sweet.

Further exploration of the park brought us to a clearing guarded by two crazy looking monkeys, who decided to let us pass, but had a seriously wild look in their eyes - it was a real reminder that we were in their territory. Once out of the park we were faced with the most brilliant sunset that lit up the whole sky as the sun sunk into the sea. It was incredible.

That night we couldn't resist the cheap, delicious homemade burgers and chips once more! We then chilled in a bar with a Coke to plan the rest of our travel in Costa Rica - a watertight itinerary of all the amazing things we wanted to make sure we didn't miss out on, before returning to the hostel to relax in the luxury of the private pool.

The next journey led us to Puntarenas to catch a ferry onwards to Montezuma. The ferry ride was wonderful in itself, but incredibly hot. As my see-through skin was still aclimatising, Captain Sup ordered me under the deck in the shade
to hide from the blazing rays!! Once in Montezuma, it took some time to find available accommodation but we finally found a beachside surf-shack style place and settled in.

Finding a cockroach in the first 5 minutes, we quickly changed rooms and after a thorough check of our new room, we were satisfied that there were no unwanted visitors and headed out to the town.

Some yummy toffee chocolate icecreams gave us some energy in the heat and after stumbling across the pools leading to a waterfall, we decided to go for a climb, complete with my handbag...u can take a girly girl travelling,
but you will never take her makeup, hair straighteners or handbag away!! As it was starting to get a bit dark, we decided to leave the best part til the next day when we could really enjoy it, so we went to have a drink and dinner.

Our hostel was having a Reggae beach party, so we bought baguettes and tortilla chips and had a picnic on the beach with some of our rum left over from New Years Eve, enjoying the music until we realised lots of tiny little crabs were running over us on the dark beach and we scuttled inside!

The next day we decided to have a change of scenery and switched to a different hostel. We then went to explore the waterfalls properly and we were certainly not disappointed. We climbed all the way and were greeted with an incredible, beautiful waterfall in a clearing. Sup had his lenses in, so it was up to me to man up to the challenge of jumping off the big rock into the waterfall pool below. And I did it! Twice I might add. I started with the smaller jump which was easy enough, but must admit for the higher jump it took about 10 minutes of mathematical workings out to decide whether I would be able to jump far enough out to land in the water rather than the rocks below. Of course, I was nowhere near and just being a big chicken!

We then both swam in the waterfall pool with a school of fish swimming around us. The water felt incredibly fresh and cool, completely different to the feeling of sea water.
Later that day we tried to make it to an animal sanctuary, but the bus left 45 minutes late and by the time we were dropped off, we were told there was only one bus coming back into the town in 5 minutes, otherwise we'd have to hitchhike home! Deciding against this option, we jumped straight on the next bus and went back, heading into town instead for a drink and dinner.

Our whirlwind tour continued the next day as we travelled once again by bus onwards to Tamarindo, known locally as 'Tamagringo' due to the touristy nature of the place. Refusing to be put off by what some felt did not represent the true Costa Rican life, we wanted to see for ourselves. We ended up in another surf-shack style place, but this one had charm, and hammock chairs to chill in, so we were happy.
We made dinner in the hostel that night, then headed to the beach the next day, having lunch in the roasting sunshine and playing in the waves with the gorgeous Pelicans and Terns divebombing in the water for fish.

We were again blessed with a luscious sunset before we left for the day. Unfortunately once we got home, the full extent of the powerful sun became painfully obvious as my face puffed out like a blowfish and my skin turned boiling lobster red.....! The rest of the night involved an immense amount of aftersun to soothe my burning flesh.

We returned to the beach the following day, but I was relegated to the shade for the day - Sup found a lovely spot under a tree where he could enjoy the sun with his superior skin and I could hide sheepishly in the shadows..! We both loved the beach and were surprised by the fact that we pretty much had the whole stretch to ourselves. Tamarindo may not have a National Park and the town is certainly designed for tourists, but we really liked it and were glad we had experienced another side of the country.

The next day, we took a local bus to Liberia, stopping to have a cheeky McDonalds before catching the Tica bus to cross the border to our 5th country of our trip so far...Nicaragua!



permalink written by  SupandNic on February 27, 2010 from Quepos, Costa Rica
from the travel blog: Sup and Nic's World Tour!
Send a Compliment
Viewing 21 - 30 of 41 Entries
first | previous | next | last



author feed
 author kml

Heading South?

Online Spanish lessons with a live personal tutor FairTutor can hook you up with Online Spanish lessons with a live personal tutor. It's pretty sweet! Online Spanish lessons with a live personal tutor www.fairtutor.com
Navigate
Home
Find Blogs
Find People
Find Places
Find Photos
Browse Tags
Make Maps
Write a Blog Entry
search
Login

go
create a new account



   

Blogabond v2.40.58.80 © 2024 Expat Software Consulting Services about : press : rss : privacy
View as Map View as Satellite Imagery View as Map with Satellite Imagery Show/Hide Info Labels Zoom Out Zoom In Zoom Out Zoom In
find city: