It just got good.

We blew 3 days there, in a grass hut in a cow pasture, intending to head back to Coban and then bus it down to El Estor and onward to Livingston on the coast. But then, we heard about the secret back way.

Apparently, people had, in the past, come into town from the other direction over a series of unmaintained roads that weren't on any of the maps we had along. Others had left town for El Estor that way, with apparent success. No details were available though, as none of them ever came back. We're there!

First stop was Cahabon, a town remote enough that the sight of westerners is still novel enough to draw stares, pointing, and laughter. We stayed there for a day, and set the alarm for 2:45.

At 3:30am, we hit the road for what was possibly the most interesting travel day of my life. The locals head out for work at 4 in a series of 2 ton farm trucks. We hopped on the one that looked like it was heading the farthest out of town, and rode it as far as it would go.

The next several hours were spent alternately sitting by the side of the road in remote Guatemalan jungle, and standing inside or on the bumper of small pickups with up to 30 people in the bed. Eventually we hit the highway (also a dirt road, but straighter), and found a ride to El Estor.

28 Hours, 5 rides (one in a truck full of guys with shotguns), 50 miles, $2.50 not including room and board in Cahabon.

I'm in Livingston now, enjoying the Caribbean sun for one last day before heading back to Guatemala city and home.

written by  Jason Kester on March 2, 2002 from Livingston, Guatemala
from the travel blog: Central America
tagged CertainDeath, HitchHiking, Adventure and BFE
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

The 120km Rwenzori alternation is admired to be the allegorical snow-capped Mountains of the Moon, declared by Ptolemy in AD150. Reaching an acclivity of 5,109m, it is as well Africa's tallest abundance range, exceeded in distance alone by the free-standing Mount Kenya and Kilimanjaro.

The characteristic arctic peaks are arresting for afar around, but the slopes aloft 1,600m are the bottle of hikers, who amount the Rwenzori to be the a lot of arduous of all African mountains.

A array of ample mammals inhabits the lower slopes, but the Rwenzoris are notable added for their majestic backdrop and assorted vegetation. The trails advance through rainforest awkward with monkeys and birds, again Alpine bamboo forest, afore arising on the high-altitude acreage zone, a mural of affected behemothic lobelias, towered over by atramentous bedrock and white snow, searching for the absolute apple like the set of a science fiction film.

Activities:

The seven days/ six nights bend is a boxy but advantageous backpack demography in all frondescence zones bar the arctic peaks.

Shorter hikes can aswell be arranged.

The top peaks should be attempted alone by accomplished mountaineers.
[a href="/Kenya">Kenya[/a>
Where to stay?

Hotel Margherita action up bazaar adaptation and account at Rwenzori abject affected admitting while on the abundance are basal hiking huts forth the bend trail.

When to Visit?

Best time during dry division June-July, January- February.

written by  safaris on October 24, 2008 from Kampala, Uganda
from the travel blog: Safari to Uganda
tagged Safari, Adventure, Travel, Vacation, Holiday, Tour, UgandaSafari, African and AfricaSafari
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

Dury and I are currently in Luang Prabang, in Laos!

Since writing last time, we caught the bus from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai and stayed a couple of nights there. Chiang Rai didn't really seem to be anything special. Just a smaller and less nice Chiang Mai really. We were staying at the Mae Hong Son Guesthouse which was nice itself, but backed onto what looked like the Chiang Rai council estate! Bit shady! But we were ok.

I was glad to leave though and make the journey to Laos. We got a 4 and a half hour bus to Chang Kong, but literally just jumped in a tuk-tuk and told him to take us to the immigration office immediately. The 'friendly and helpful' guy at immigration stamped our visa and sent us down the road where there were loads of tiny long-tail boats waiting. We thought we must have missed something because surely we wouldn't cross the river in one of those?! But then we saw a little hut with a desk, the woman sold us a ticket each and pointed to a boat! So we hopped in a crossed the river! That was pretty cool. At the other side, at Haoxyai, we got our visa and found a guesthouse for the night.

Even that night in Houxyai was really different from Thailand! Everyone is really laid back and everything seems to move much slower.

From Houxyai the next morning, we went down to the boat dock and got our tickets for the slow-boat to Luang Prabang. The trip takes two days, with a stopover in Pakbeng. There is a speed boat but apparently people have died on that so we chose to take the slow boat. Still can't decide whether that was even a good choice! The seats were tiny wooden benches with straight backs and a tiny little cushion. You would have thought the boat was full but then about 50 more people came down the hill and all got on. There weren't enough seats so people just had to sit where there was a space! In the end, most of us moved our benches to the side and sat down on the floor too cos it was much more comfy that way. The first day was actually pretty cool. The scenery was amazing, a group got a guitar out, people were chilling on the sides of the boat and everyone was in a pretty good mood. By the end of the second day though, I was pretty glad to get off. It was an EVEN SMALLER boat on the second day and the benches were attached so we couldn't move them aside.

Finally arriving at Luang Prabang was a relief and I really like it here. It's like no other city in the world. It's just like a big village, or loads of villages all together. There's one main street, they nickname 'Ferang Road' (foreigner road or something) with lots of restaurants and shops on. The end of the street turns into a night market in the evening which was really cool! We went last night and it was really different from Chiang Mai. All the people are really friendly and smiling and not pushing you to buy their stuff which is such a relief after Thailand which is all about hassling you to buy stuff! On the first day we went out with a couple of girls staying at our guesthouse to the waterfalls nearby which was pretty cool. We did some swimming and some jumping in! That night, we also enjoyed a burger at the Lao Lao Garden which is a cool restaurant on another road. Getting sick of veg and rice, tofu and rice or veg and tofu, a veggie burger and fries was definitely a good shout! Today we went up Phu Si Mountain and looked over the Mekong River which was pretty awesome. Couldn't take any photots though cos both our cameras have broken within a week of each other! Boo.

Tomorrow we are leaving for Vientiene to organise our visas for Vietnam and then will maybe go back up to Vang Vieng or go down to the Four Thousand Islands. So far, we're undecided.

Anyway, hope everyone is having a good summer back at home.
Missing you
Love Naomi
XXXXX

Source : Travelblog

For more information , please visit these websites:

Email: laosadventureguide@gmail.com, Active Travel Laos

Adventure tours in Laos: Bike in Luang Prabang / Kayak in Vang Vieng / Trek in Luang Nam Tha

written by  activetravellaos on December 17, 2008 from Luang Prabang, Laos
from the travel blog: Active Travel Laos
tagged Adventure, Travel, Tour, Laos and LuangPrabang
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

presently, my husband and i are converting a carpenter schoolbus into an r.v. it will run on veggie-oil (perphaps i will invite my husband to write about that later) so far, we have removed the seats, put in a hardwood floor, put in a yellow vintage clawfoot tub and bunk beds. four weeks to go and we will be on the road. still much to do...such as put in the kitchen...and the second floor. we will do what we can, and the rest we will work on as we go!

our wonderful garden lot

i enjoy wild mountains, high deserts as well as big cities....but mostly, for me it is about the people. everyone has a Story worth telling. i look forward to introducing you to the folks we meet on the road, even as you and i get to know one another. even though what we are doing is not something you hear about every day, i hope you will not mistakenly think that we are the only ones on an adventure. there is much beauty to be discovered in whatever season of life we find ourselves in. yours is a Story worth telling. i hope you will tell it!

written by  firebynite on July 26, 2010 from Nampa, United States
from the travel blog: super vegi-matic bus travels
tagged Adventure, Traveling, Jesus and Schoolbus
Send a Compliment

---

12 comments...