A Year In Motion

Leaving Rio de Janeiro was tough, it’s a city that has so much to offer and the longer you stay in it, the more it sucks you in. Some people even declare that there’s no city in the world like it. 2 hours later we were flying over the coast of Salvador, Brazil’s Colonial Capital and fourth largest city. Salvador is rich in history and culture due to its colonial past and its old town has achieved UNESCO World Heritage Status, but in truth the main reason that brought us there was the fact that it offers the cheapest one way flights to Europe in all of South America. Salvador was our last stop in our around the world adventure, and we were going to spend three days getting to know it.

Salvador is surrounded by beaches all around, and the farther you get away from the center the more beautiful the beaches are. Due to its strategic defensive geographical position in the Baía de Todos os Santos, Salvador was chosen by the Portuguese as the seat of their government. Innumerable amounts of slaves were brought from Africa to work for them, hence the big African population and cultural influence. It’s definitely not as cosmopolitan and chic as Rio, but its colorful old town is as pretty as you can get anywhere. Old traditions and customs are still very alive in Salvador. It is here where you can take part in traditional Brazilian – African influenced activities such as Capoeira and Terreiro. The historical centre is known as Pelourinho, which literally translates as pillory or punishment post, a name that binds this beautiful Portuguese legacy with its ugly and brutal colonial past. The Pelourinho is divided into the Upper and Lower City which are easily connected by two Art Deco elevators. Here you will find the largest concentration of Baroque style architecture outside of Europe.

A walk through the old town is a delight in its own, like stepping into the past or into Africa. The vendors of street food are all women, dressed in big white costumes. The rhythm of beating drums flood your ears as the sound comes out of buildings everywhere. In the middle of one of the streets we found an outdoors beauty salon where black women uniformed in African animalesque outfits sit their customers in plastic chairs in the sidewalk to work on their hair. Street massage was also another trade we encountered. You never know what you will find around the corner when walking the streets of Salvador. The sights, the sounds and smells are unique each day. This area is carefully guarded by police as it has the reputation of being the place in Brazil where you will most likely get mugged or robbed; but even with all the police, the darker it got the sooner we wanted to get out of there. Better safe than sorry at our last destination.

We were invited to watch a group lesson of capoeira in one of the most famous schools. Capoeira is recognized as a Brazilian sport, which is a combination of martial arts and dancing to the rhythm of drums. More than a sport, it’s an old ritual that originated in Angola. The slave populations practised Capoeira as their masters believed it was merely a dance rather than a disciplined martial art. 5 minutes into the session and the participants had broken into a heavy constant sweat. It’s definitely a great form of exercise and no surprise why almost all Brazilian men are very much in shape.

Another ritual which we were lucky to be invited to was a Terreiro. Terreiro has many meanings; it’s the set of customs and beliefs of the descendants of the African slaves, it’s a place where the ancient religious rituals take place, and it’s also the name of the ritual itself. Earlier in the day, we had visited the Terreiro (the place) in a small house at the end of an alley and we had seen a full grown chicken smashed into the doorstep of a house – not a typical welcome mat. Many Brazilians, as Cubans, still believe in their Orishas, or gods in black magic, and voodoo as they do in Africa. These religions were prohibited as Catholicism was declared the official religion in colonial Brazil, but in modern-day Salvador there is no hiding it. We inquired if we could attend and at what cost, and we were granted permission as long as Tony wore light colored long pants, and the cost would be whatever offering we wanted to make to the Orishas. Our hotel was too far so Tony showed up wearing capoeira white pants, which was the cheapest pants we found. At the Terreiro session there was a strange altar to the gods with even stranger offerings such as popcorn. The high priest, a man dressed in white women’s clothing and shoes, moves around in circles through the crowd dancing and chanting repetitively, as in a trance, to the rhythm of drums. Every once in a while he throws yellow flour to the people, who rub it into their bodies; he also throws it out into the street. After 30 minutes, the room seemed to be too small as more and more devotees of African origin came in to chant, dance and pray. We were all sweating and the ritual was repetitive so we left wondering if later it would get more intense. We don’t know what happened as it goes very late into the night, but as we exited we did see abundant creatures having a feast next to the smashed chicken and the flour the high priest threw out into the street. The creatures? Hundreds of cockroaches! Or embodiments of the gods perhaps? Terreiro is definitely an interesting experience to take part in.

The department of Bahia is reputed to have Brazil’s best food. We tried out their most famous dishes and they were really good. Acaraje is the staple street food. It’s a fried patty made of white beans which is filled with shrimps, spicy sauce and a nice yellow dough thick sauce. Traditionally most dishes in Salvador serve two, so if you are on your own or can’t agree on an item it’s an issue. The most famous dish is probably Moqueca, generally a prawn stew with coconut and served with rice and of course manioc (yellow flour). Breakfasts in Brazil are excellent as well. In all the hotels we stayed we had big tasty free breakfasts. There is a large variety of fresh fruits, a huge variation of sweets bread, egg variations and many meats; but we really liked their variation of omelette, a Beiju. It’s a sort of hard pancake with fillings inside, like an omelette, but no egg. They also grill big lumps of fresh cheese and serve it when the outside is crusty and the inside melted. Yummy!

Salvador is not just about sun, beaches and caipirinha, but a vibrant and authentic expression of Afro-Brazilian identity moving to a relentless beat in one of the most beautiful colonial settings in the world. It’s edgy, it’s beautiful, it’s rich, it’s poor, it’s Brazil! What a country to finish A Year In Motion! We are already thinking of coming back for the Football World Cup in 2014. And so, this is the end of 375 days of continuous travels, but definitely not the end of our travels, just a break which we approach with a whole bag of mixed emotions and what seems like a lifetime of memories. So Ireland here we come! And let the journey continue forever!

Time was running out for us, but we could not leave without visiting the UNESCO World Heritage Iguazu Falls shared by Argentina and Brazil. Both parks, on both countries received the UNESCO status due not only to the natural beauty, but to the great amount of rare and endangered fauna and flora. The falls are now a finalist for the “Natural Wonders of the World” Competition. Unfortunately we could spare only one day for the visit. Normally that would be ok for visiting one side, but we wanted to do both the Argentinian and Brazilian sides. We had to take our luggage with us and go through immigration at the border in between the visit as that was the end of Argentina for us and Iguazu was our entry point into Brazil. It was one hell of an exhausting marathonic day, but well worth the trouble for the impressive sight the falls are.

Our visit took place during the last days of rainy season so we ended quite wet, both from the constant rainfall and the powerful mist of the cascades on the Brazilian side; but they say this is the perfect time to visit the falls as you get to see them at their mightiest. Iguazu Falls consist of 275 falls over a course of 2.7 km on the Iguazu River, with 80% of the falls being on the Argentinian side. The falls separate the Iguazu river into upper and lower river. In the Argentinian sides there are walking trails where you can opt to see the falls from the middle or from the top. The biggest concentration of water is at the U shaped falls called the Devil’s Throat (Garganta del Diablo), the actual border between the two nations. This is where the cataracts are at their mightiest and tallest, at an altitude of 80 meters high. An eco-train takes you close to the Argentina’s Devil’s Throat and from there you walk 1 km along the walkway over the Iguazu River to reach it. The amount of water falling at the site, its power and speed is a delight to watch, nature at its wildest. From there you are just a a few steps from Brazil, and you can even see the spectators at Brazil’s side and version of the Devil’s Throat.

Water is the main player at Iguazu but the fauna and flora are also part of the show. Plentiful bright green diverse vegetation gives Iguazu its beauty. A large variety of over 400 butterflies inhabit the area, some with an unbelievably beautiful combination of bright design on its body; as well almost 500 birds call Iguazu home, one of the largest concentrations on earth. We saw an amazing species of small birds that actually live inside the falls. You can watch as these birds fly directly at a high speed into the falls with no hesitation and find a resting spot behind the water. And the resident pet of the falls is the coati, a mischievous raccoon – opossum type mammal that will steal your food if it has its way, if unsuccessful you will find them digging the ground with their elongated noses to get aliments. They look cute and are very accustomed to visitors, they will let you touch them; but that would be a bad move as some of them carry rabies. We also got a glimpse of a mountain rat, which looked very cute with freckles and all, but a rat nonetheless. While we were there the rainy foggy day and the dark clouds gave the setting an ominous feeling, which to me went perfectly well with the site it is. The Guarani indigenous tribe was the original inhabitant of the region, but sadly Portuguese and Spanish conquerors destroyed their habitat, enslaved or killed them.

Because of our deadline and our reluctance to take group tours we opted to take a costly taxi ride from the Argentinian Falls to the Brazilian Falls stopping at immigration. Now we know it was unnecessary. We saw everything on both sides without getting up so early and still had time to spare at the end of the day, the cheap public bus option would have suited us fine. The border crossing was really fast and easy, first time we didn’t even have to get out of the car.

The Brazilian side was a different story: very modern and efficient administration, plenty of transportation options, credit card facilities, and better personal service. Certainly they only own a small portion of the falls, but it’s the best. You have a picture perfect view of the multiple falls on the Argentinian side on the trail that leads you to the grand finale, Brazil’s Devil’s Throat. You can walk to it and get soaked by all the heavy mist. There is also an elevator which takes you to a viewing point on top of it all, from where you can watch the magic being created.

On the Brazilian side there are also plenty of adventure activities to do. Rapelling, Rafting, Kayaking are part of it, but most people do the boat ride which brings you upclose to the base of the Devil’s Throat. On The Argentinian side all adventure activities had been canceled for the moment due to a recent mortal accident. We had a fabulous time and if we had a choice to go back to one side it would definitely be Brazil. To learn more about the history of the falls and the doomed fate of its original inhabitants watch the excellent award winning film “The Mission”.

All our pictures on the Argentinian side can be found here, and the Brazilian ones here.

During our extended time in Buenos Aires (BA), we took a four day break to visit Colonia and Montevideo in Uruguay. On the fast ferry Colonia is just an hour away from BA, and once in Colonia, it’s an easy 2.5 hour bus to Montevideo from the Colonia port. We were looking to get away from the hectic life and high prices of BA. Certainly the pace of life in Montevideo was slow compared to BA, like the turtle to the hare. But boy were we wrong about the second thing, prices were different in Montevideo, and to the wrong end of the scale; much higher than in Buenos Aires, even higher than in Chile. How the locals deal with that is beyond our comprehension as they assured us that their salaries are low. In Uruguay we saw a bigger racial mix: white European looking, dark Brasilian types, and the in between mix; as Uruguay is sandwiched in between Argentina and Brasil.

After being in BA, Montevideo does not seem to have many attractions, but we really enjoyed being there. Not only was it quieter and cleaner than BA, but it seemed to me that there was a higher joie de vivre there. People were really relaxed, friendly and easy to talk to. We walked through the old town taking in the old historical buildings and many monuments to the greatest national hero, Jose Gervasio Artigas. There was a particular building in the Plaza de Independencia, the Palacio Salvo, which Tony fell in love with. It has to be the most magnificent building in South America. The construction was made by an Italian architect and completed in 1928 intending to become a high class luxurious hotel, but it never served as a hotel. Palacio Salvo is a national icon of pride. The construction is so spectacular that it really clashes with the 70′s and 80′s buildings around. We have not done any further research on the subject, but our first impression of Montevideo is that it was a rich city with former glory, but somehow collapsed and declined. Now it’s mainly full of 70′s and 80′s buildings, in my opinion, architecture’s darkest period, as evidently the biggest decor on these buildings are external AC units. Montevideo reminded me both of La Habana in Cuba and Bucharest in Romania.

I contacted a local to have an insight on the city, my Uruguayan friend and former colleague in Brussels, Cristina. She gave us wonderful tips on how to enjoy Montevideo as a local. And we sure did! We had lunch at the famous and full of ambience Port Market (Mercado del Puerto). Ironically, their specialty is meat, not fish. It’s an old-style aluminum warehouse with plenty of character with about a dozen restaurants serving the big Parrillada (all sort of meat products on a grill). They all have the same steep price, but it’s quite an experience full of charm to have lunch there, sitting on a bar stool watching the grill, while Gauchos (cowboys) come and serenade you with their guitars. Cristina said we had to order a cup of Medio y Medio (Half and Half), a famous local drink consisting of half sparkling sweet wine and half white dry wine. Not bad! In fact so good, that we later had a full bottle of it at a local bar. We also tried the local specialty “Chivito” a big sandwich with meat, bacon, and egg. The rest of the food is very similar to the Argentinian diet: various grilled meats and their own style pastas and pizzas. Oh and how can I forget their obsession with “completos”, plain hot dogs, which we skipped as Tony had sufficiently indulged in them in Santiago. Uruguayan wine is not as famed as the Argentinian, but lately they have been developing quite well the Tannat grape which is a red grape that has become the signature Uruguayan grape.

We walked through the market area, the old town and just as we were making our way to the port to take pictures of the fishermen, a policeman stopped us. He said we shouldn’t go any further, or we would come back without camera. It didn’t seem dangerous at all to us but we obeyed. All cities have dangerous areas, and usually the port is one of them. We were pretty impressed with Montevideo and their policy of protecting tourists. There was a tourist police in every corner of the Old City, not bad at all. However during our walk, the police had to stray their attention from the tourists for a few minutes as two local teenage girls engaged in a heavy fist fight and hair pulling, and to which we must admit that we were quite amused to watch ourselves. We also rode public buses to the other side of the city and we discovered the onboard busker phenomena. In a short ride, at two different stops, two different groups of singers with guitars got on the bus and delighted the crowds with their music. We’ve seen buskers in the metro in almost all of Europe, but not in buses. While in Europe most people try to avoid them like the plague, in Montevideo people seemed to really enjoy it as they clapped and gave them plenty of change. It was so good that we also contributed to their art, a thing we never do; and Tony even chanted “otra otra” (encore) and they pleased him.

A very important recommendation from Cristina was to “Matear in the Ramblas” during sundown. Matear is to drink the mate while you go places and that’s what a lot of Uruguayans do all day. It’s a national tradition in Argentina as well, but an obsession in Uruguay. Mate is a bitter herb which is consumed in a hot water preparation and drunk by sipping a metal spoon/pipe from a dried-pumpkin cup. Since we arrived in Uruguay we noticed this tradition immediately. People all over town carry during the whole day their hot water thermos, their herb and their pumpkin cup and sip it all day long. Tony really wanted to engage in that tradition but it was served nowhere. We were told that it’s a very personal affair, not something one buys in restaurants or bars. So off we went until we found our perfect mate glass and spoon, a hot water thermos, and the herb. With all our new gear and some instructions on preparation we hit the ramblas (waterfront promenade) during sunset. Mate is quite bitter, an acquired taste, or probably an inborn trait; but it was really cool to walk down the ramblas, mate in hand, doing as the locals do.

Montevideo does not have the size or wonders of Buenos Aires, but it makes a relaxing break from the craziness of it; in our opinion well worth the visit!

We had thought of hitting Chile’s coast farther North to break the 24 hour bus journey from San Pedro to Santiago in half. In the end we decided against it considering that Chile’s beaches are not exactly paradise material. As well some Chileans we met in San Pedro told us that Valparaiso (Valpo as the locals call it) a seaside city close to Santiago was special and charming, so we saved the decision for later. In the end what sold us was the fact that the most famed Latin American music festival, and which I grew up watching year after year, was taking place exactly that week. It was taking place in Viña del Mar, Valparaiso’s neighboring town, a seaside resort playground of the rich and famous Chilean society.

We took a two hour bus to Concon, the next village after Viña del Mar, where we found a nice seaside resort. The Pacific in South America is far from the beauty of the Pacific near Australasia so we were not interested in bathing, but it was still beautiful to watch the setting. Our hotel was directly on the water, and surrounded by huge rocks. From our room we could see big colonies of birds on the rocks, and we even saw a baby seal struggling as the waves clashed on the rocks. Concon is the gastronomical capital of Chile, but all we got to taste were some empanadas. Chile’s taxis are very expensive so we learned how to use the public buses which go all the way by the coast to Viña and Valparaiso.

What really made up our mind was finding out that Marco Antonio Solis was playing in the Viña del Mar festival, we got really lucky to find tickets to see him. We didn’t find Viña del Mar as beautiful as they claim but we had a good time at the festival. The climax and much awaited moment of the night came when he started: “Te extraño mas que nunca y no se que hacer… (I miss you more than ever and I don’t know what to do”. This tune holds a history for us. When I met Tony I used to hear this song all the time as it is probably my favorite song in Spanish. Marco Antonio is not really contemporary to us, but I enjoy some of his music and so does my father. A few months after I met Tony I left Ireland and went home to Honduras for a while uncertain of my return. Tony called me and I was not home. My father, who had not met Tony yet answered the phone and started chatting to him. Tony hit the jackpot as my father has never liked any guys that get close to me, but he got on my father’s good books instantly. Tony told him : “No hay nada mas dificil que vivir sin Ninfa (There is nothing harder than living without Ninfa)”, which is the chorus of this Marco Antonio song, except with ti (you) and not Ninfa in the phrase. Needless to say, Marco Antonio rocked Viña del Mar and our hearts.

We spent the next two days in Valpo. As we expected, our first impression was not that good, as the city is quite scruffy with all its old buildings and very evident electrical wiring. We had heard plenty of that, but we also heard that it’s a city that grows on you. And it sure did. We really enjoyed our time in Valparaiso and could have easily spent much time there, it’s got a special charm, an appeal to captivate the harshest critic. Valparaiso was the most important port in the Pacific before the Panama Canal was built, therefore big groups of wealthy European immigrants settled there and boomed the trade, giving the city a really interesting culture and architecture. The city is built in many steep small hills (cerros), and the Europeans settled at the top building big mansions. Once the Panama Canal was built, Valparaiso went down. The Europeans went back home and the richness decreased. The big mansions were too costly to maintain so they were abandoned or separated into several houses in one building.

Valparaiso is definitely very artistic. It is the most colorful city we have visited. They are obsessed with artistic graffitti which is displayed in the walls of the houses in the cerros, giving the city a magical touch. Since there are so many hills, there are also very old but historic elevators to go uphill, most still in use. The view from the cerros looking at the Pacific is quite impressive, in this case not because of the ocean, but because of the colorful architecture. Life seems to be very relaxed in Valparaiso. Just as we were arriving we ran into Simone, the fun Italian guy who was in our Bolivia tour. Later we met up with him to share a liter beer (normal size in South America) in one of the city squares and watch the life in the city go by.

One thing we were not lucky in Chile was the local cuisine. I’m sure there are good places to enjoy a quality meal, but that was not our case, even though we always aim to try the best restaurants in every place we go. The Chileans we had met in San Pedro told us not to miss J Cruz, the most famous restaurant in Valpo and probably Chile. We later did research and found it in every guide. The first time we tried to go was around 3 pm, but the queue was more than an hour long, so came back at 5 pm. J Cruz is in an alley off a main street, and the queue goes all the way to it at peak hours. At 5 pm there was still a queue but we went for it. Luckily the hungry and zealous clients in front of us allowed me to go in to check if they accepted credit cards. No luck, and only Chilean Pesos in cash, which we didn’t have much of being our last day in Chile. So Tony went away to find an exchange bureau, which was really hard and took him almost an hour. Everywhere we have been, there is an abundance of exchange offices, but not in Chile. It was our turn to go in so I went in by myself and sat down for a long time worrying something had happened to him. J Cruz serves one dish only, Chorillana, a national Chilean dish which was invented at J Cruz. The only decision to make is if you want a serving for 2 or for 3 people. It’s an interesting dish, although not so delicious to our demanding taste buds. It consists of a pile of soggy fries in an egg and onion sauce topped with very low quality meat bits. We ate it all except the meat, which I saved to later feed to the stray dogs. The place is far from fancy, it’s got a real tacky decor of many porcelain and other small decorations in glass displays. We have seen many places where the theme is for the customers to sign the walls, but this one was signed everywhere: the tables, the chairs, even the tablecloths. But the funniest thing is that people leave their passport sized photos pasted in the wall! We did sign the tablecloth, but we did not leave our photos…

There were a few things I disliked about Chile, apart from the high prices, the arrogant attitude of some of them, which lives up to the reputation they already hold in Latin America. But there was something I really liked about them, and that is their love for dogs. As in most of Latin America and other countries we have visited there are many stray dogs, but in Chile there are enormous amounts of them. Yes, that is very bad, but they treat them well for being street dogs. People feed them and respect them, they are all in good shape and they are taken care of by the authorities. Most of them are registered (they have their Municipal collar and number), vaccinated and hopefully spayed or neutered. To me that means that Chile is a country that has opted not to do the cruel act of killing strays. All of these dogs were very friendly and we fed them what we could. Besides Tony’s discovery of his passion for photography during this year long adventure, he has discovered he loves dogs, especially strays. I have always been a dog lover and defender, but due to Tony’s asthma he has never had much contact with them to prevent allergies. Well it seems he has overcome his allergy. He has made friends with many dogs, and they follow him. I have had to convince him that we can’t take them home unfortunately.

We could not leave Chile without paying a visit to Pablo Neruda’s home in Valpo, La Sebastiana, up in one of the cerros. It’s now a museum which you can tour with an audioguide. Not only is the view impressive, but the house is quite interesting as you would expect from such a genius. It’s a narrow house of levels, which most of it has been preserved as he had it. He was obsessed with the sea and ships so it’s got quite a maritime theme going on. He loved shopping for unusual artifacts and decorating it himself. His taste is quite eccentric, but we both agreed he had made quite a cool pad. He used to nickname the furniture and different parts of the house. For example, there is a door on the last floor that leads to the roof, which he gave it the title: “Door to Potential Landing Strip of UFO’s”. His reclining chair overlooking the Pacific was named “La Nube (The Cloud)” because in it he would travel to imagination and create his works. He was a whiskey drinker, but he loved making cocktails at his own bar for his friends. He created one himself and baptized it: “La Coquetona (The Flirter)”, the recipe was add cognac and cointreau, topped with champagne to make it fizzy and add orange juice as cover up. This visit was a good ending to our Chile journey. Next up, the longest border crossing ever and Wine Country, Argentina!

Check out our Valpo and around pics here.

We had planned a visit to the Amazon Jungle since Day 1, but we had not decided where in the Amazon we would go. We had thought that Brazil was the obvious choice, but after much research we realized that Peru was the best option due to its easier accessibility, less exploitation and industrialization of its jungle. Then we had two choices in Peru: Iquitos in the North, or Puerto Maldonado further South. Iquitos is the largest city in the world (.5 million) that is not connected by road. As well, it is directly on the Amazon River. It is said to have a special and unique Amazonian culture and a very curious market. All these factors attracted us, although seeing monkey brains and turtle soup for sale on a market was not an appealing factor to me. On the other hand, Puerto Maldonado, not on the Amazon River, but on one of its tributaries, is a less industrialized city, providing more opportunity to see fauna without traveling as far as you would on Iquitos, and as well it is known to be the region with the most biodiversity in the Amazonia. It was also convenient because it was a short flight away from our next destination Cuzco. And something very important: its lodges were a bit more upscale than the ones in Iquitos. Yes we are traveling for a year on a budget, but there are times when comfort makes a huge difference. This was that time, to enjoy the jungle in the wet and humid than usual season, we needed a bit of luxury.

As usual, we had researched all the options, and as usual we decided to leave the booking for last minute. Once in Puerto Maldonado we would haggle down an offer, taking into account low season and last minute. Our strategy did pay off, big time! We had our mind set on the second lodge in price and quality. When we arrived at the airport, we noticed that the representative from Inkaterra (the number one and most expensive lodge) was there picking up customers. Tony told me to go talk to her in Spanish, I said “What for? It’s sooooo expensive, I’ve researched them”. He said “Go anyway”. I did, and an hour later after visiting their very “Welcoming Center” and Butterfly House we were on their bus to the port. It was our lucky day! I don’t know how, my charm, my local looks, my luck….but we got a price which was a quarter of their normal price. Wow, what a bargain for that kind of luxury! We were prepared to suffer in the jungle, Tony had even told me that we should drop it off our list, but I insisted that the Amazonia had to be done. We stayed at Inkaterra’s Reserva Amazonica for four days but we could have stayed a month.

Inkaterra’s Reserva Amazonica is located on the Southern Peruvian Amazon, close to the Bolivia and Brazil border. The ecolodge is on the Madre de Dios River, and very close to the Tambopata National Reserve. The bus dropped us on the port from where we took 45 minute ride downriver on a longboat to the lodge. We were welcomed with a fresh and cold passionfruit juice, which I still remember and miss fondly. Everyday we were given a different menu of fusion Peruvian cuisine to choose from for our lunch and dinner. After Lima we were already in love with Peruvian food, and here the standards were raised even higher. We had our own beautiful cabin designed in a traditional Amazonian design, with open roofs and walls, and made out of wood and palm. It is an ecolodge, but fortunately they do have power at certain hours to run the very necessary fan.

We were given a menu of activities to choose from for our time there. Then we were assigned a guide, whom we shared with Gaby and Filip, a very nice Austrian mother and son duo. While understandably other people did only a few tours, the four of us took the most out of our days there, filling our day with jungle treks, and ending up completely tired and having a wonderful sleep. Due to the heat and animal behavior our activities had to start really early. The sunrises and sunsets over the river were unforgettable, with amazing shades of blue, pink, and orange. We were extremely lucky with the weather, it is rainy season and this year it has hit hard, but we didn’t get any of it. During our stay it only rained for a couple of hours, and that was when we had a scheduled rest between treks. There was a lot of heat and humidity, as well as a cloud of mosquitoes groupies on each of us, but to be honest we did not mind any of that. We were mentally prepared so well for the jungle, that nothing was a bother to us. The treks were not easy, sometimes I would be in mud or black water, as well as sweat up to my knees but having the privilege of being present in the lungs of our planet, in a primary and sometimes virgin rainforest with so much unique fauna and flora was a unique privilege.

Once upon a time I used to think that in my trip to the Amazon (forever in my bucket list) I would be escaping in the dark from anacondas, serpents (to which I had and think I have beaten an unreasonable phobia), panthers, caimans, piranhas, etc and that I would encounter remote half naked tribes. Fortunately before our trip to Puerto Maldonado I did plenty of research and realized that was far from reality, although I learned that I am not the only fantasist person whose visions of the jungle are those. I was a bit disappointed, but more educated before we embarked on the adventure. Although we did hear stories from the guides about very close unexpected encounters with caymans and panthers, they are extremely rare. So rare, that the guide who is a native of the area said that in his lifetime he has only seen the big fat anaconda about seven times. The fact is that all these animals do exist, but everyday less due to the greatest predator of all, the human. These animals are very hard to spot because they hide from us, they know that we have hunted and killed their species, so undoubtedly they do not want to hang out with us. And as far as my desire to meet an original tribe, the few remaining in the world also want nothing to do with us. They are classified as “non contacted” for a reason. The guide told me that if I wanted to see a tribe I wold have to go about 20 days by foot and canoe to find them and that then they would probably capture or kill me. They know that another civilization exists but they want no contact with it. Press helicopters have flown over them and they have shot arrows at them. The people around the visited areas are intermixed, speak Spanish and they dress with “normal” clothes like we do.

In spite of that, we were really pleased with all the sightings we did in our treks and even in the lodge. After minutes of arriving we were lucky to see a group of tiny miniature cute monkeys (Tamarins) passing through the Inkaterra property. We also met the resident animal (rat squirrel to me) of the property, the Aguti, and then we realized he had a big family living with him as well. Our first trek was an introductory walk in which we discovered many types of ants and spiders at work, as well as gigantic trees. The sky was crystal clear but inside the jungle you lose all sense of direction as the sun does not get through due to the height of the trees. We took a night boat tour in which we saw a serpent hanging from a tree, and the the eyes of a baby caiman. One of the guides was extremely good at spotting animals, in that complete darkness I wouldn’t be able to spot another human. The stars put on quite a spectacle as well.

Next day was full of activity. Up at 5 am to start our long trek to Lake Sandoval, after a boat ride. It was a difficult trek, as it was very slippery and muddy, but a wonderful experience. We saw the Spider Monkey, the biggest of the Amazon and very hard to see. Our guide said it was the first time he saw it in this region, his species have been hunted and killed so few remain and do not go through areas where humans dwell. We also saw the red squirrel running through trees. One of the animals I was longing to see was the sloth, one of the most interesting and slow animals on earth. I was delighted to have seen one, even though he was up high in a tree. Once we got to the lake we were rewarded with a canoe ride around beautiful palm tree enclosed Lake Sandoval, where we saw turtles, jumping piranhas and more monkeys. This time it was the howler monkey, who makes an incredible sound, you would think a plane is passing through.

We did more treks to botanical gardens, black waters (where anacondas dwell), creeks, botanical gardens, etc. One of the impressive things we witnessed was the change in color of water when two different bodies of water merge. I can’t even start to describe the variety of colorful birds we saw. Tambopata does hold the world record for biggest number of bird sightings in a day, and our guide was a trained and certified Bird Watcher. In this world trip Tony has discovered that he loves photography and on the Amazon he discovered his newest passion: photographing birds. Inkaterra has an amazing and fun 32 meter high and .5 kilometer long canopy walk connecting trees by seven bridges for spotting birds. We also saw other varieties of monkeys, squirrels, caimans going in the water, etc, but birds were the stars of the show. That is until we met the Master of the Amazonia.

On our second night we took a night walk, which encompassed all of my fears. We were all a bit bored with the guide showing us bugs, no tarantulas that night (a few the night before), when suddenly just before returning to our cabins, the guide slowly and nervously took a few steps back and after a few seconds whispers to tell us how we are going to proceed from there in case of attack as we have just crossed the “Bushmaster’s” path. We had seen it dead in a bottle at the Inkaterra Research Center, but it seems the guide was not counting on personally running into him that night, as for the first time he was not carrying his first aid kit or knife even! The bushmaster is the most venomous and also the longest snake in the Amazonia. It was sleeping, but we woke it up and it was not a pretty sight to see it hissing at us. It was rolled up, but the guide said it was about 2 meters long. He also mentioned that fortunately it was not hatching time because if it was hatching eggs (one of the few snakes that hatch eggs) it would have attacked us for sure. It was the first time the guide had seen it in the property. Everyone at the lodge, guides and cooks included, were talking about our sighting. From our photos, some young girls said that they had seen it the night before under their cabin, but didn’t realize it was so dangerous. Afterward I did some research and learned that its common behavior is to coil in the ground for long periods of time, next to ground trails to wait patiently for prey… My Amazonian fantasy almost became true…

Endless sightings and adventures, too many to count, our Amazonian adventure was spectacular and I personally wish to visit more deeply the Amazonian or Mosquitia jungle soon. Check our photos here. Now on to a completely different adventure: Machu Picchu!

Desperate to get out of Cuba and so anxious to set foot in South America, we prayed as the pilot announced that Havana airport was closed due to fog. Our prayers were answered and soon enough we were flying over Quito. Wow! What a first great impression of Quito from above! A city very high up in the clouds surrounded by beautiful high peaked, bright green snow-capped volcanoes and mountains. We were also impressed by the modern and efficient Quito airport, for a short time that is. I am a Latin-American and proud of it, but I am conscious that Latin America has the worst security in the world. The stereotype is that the Middle East is the most insecure, but we have been there and proved it’s not true, it’s the safest place we’ve been. That false cliche is mainly powered by propaganda fueled by the USA and UK. Out of the two of us, I am the untrusting one, the cynic, the one that always thinks that if local people approach us during our travels it’s because they have some commercial or economic intention in mind. Tony is the opposite, he is outright friendly and very trusting. Sad but true, I have been right most of the time. While we were in Honduras, Tony was warned plenty by my family and friends about the dangers of Latin America. I kept reminding him of it, to the point that we had a fight about it. He refused to believe in the bad in people. And Cuba proved me totally wrong, as it’s probably the safest place in the Western Hemisphere, due to their dependence on tourism. After 10 months of travel we had finally landed in South America, a region we were so anxious to discover, a great finale we thought. Just after a few minutes of stepping on South American soil in Quito, the inevitable happened: we were robbed of all our valuables!

After 10 months of a great run, through the Middle East, Africa, Asia, North America, the Caribbean, the first and only black cloud covered us. We were not physically hurt, we did not lose our passports, and all the material things will be replaced, but our morale was very low for a good time. Apparently it’s a gang that operates in the Quito Airport, and the robbery to tourists is very frequent, so I’ll share our experience to prevent others from being caught out. We had just exited Baggage Reclaim and we went into the the Official Tourism Office to get maps and info. Before exiting into the street I went to the bathroom while Tony kept our 4 bags. A man dressed in a suit approached him in a friendly way to show him a map and offer tourist services. After a short chat with him, Tony declined and the non-persistent man left. As we would see later in the CCTV cameras, 10 seconds later Tony realized one of our bags was gone. He debated between leaving the remaining three bags and chasing him or securing the rest of our bags, until he went after them with all the bags. He tried to get help from a policeman who just ignored him and walked away, and when finally the numerous airport security staff showed up it was too late. The most important things we lost were a laptop, 2 ipods, new pro camera, cellphone, and some of our bank cards and ID’s. It was not a violent crime so we were fortunate in that.

We then went to the Police Station in front of the airport to file a report, but they told us we had to go to the Judicial Police as the amount of our items was too high. We wanted to see with our own eyes the succession of events so we went to Airport Security. They are the most bureaucratic and unhelpful bunch. It was really hard to get through to their boss and when we finally did, they requested a police order to see the video. The police were more efficient, they gave us the order and asked us to bring back a printout of the faces of the criminals as they told us it would be very helpful as it happens daily to tourists. Even with the police order, we had to beg and then threaten to get the video, and even then they refused to give us a printout of the faces involved, which were clearly visible. From the conversation of the staff during the video, I got the impression that they recognized the characters, and even gave me the bad feeling they were protecting them. It got to the point that the boss even asked us to go buy a CD if we wanted the copy. In the video we saw how we were targeted by three men dressed in suits once we exited Baggage, how the thieves went in the Tourism Office pretending to look at brochures, and how they were close to us the whole time we were inside the airport and neither us nor the abundant security staff noticed anything. Not only did we need a Police Report for our claim but we wanted justice. We knew it would be nearly impossible to recover our stuff, but at least we could help future tourists. Well, the Security Office of the airport proved to want the opposite.

Airport Security included, we spent two days going from one Police Office to the other as they could not make up their minds which could help us, were too busy having a three hour lunch or were taking too long attending the 100 people queue. We went to the Airport Police who sent us to the Judicial Police, who sent us to the Prosecutor’s Office, who was too uninterested in helping us. So by our own initiative we found the Tourist Police (whom all the others ignored their existence), who finally filed our report in a couple of minutes, and where we saw the many claims of robberies from tourists. We were also busy filing our Insurance Claim, which was a lot of work, in particular given the number of clauses which protect them from giving us anywhere near the value of what we lost, despite the fact that we pay for the most expensive Global Insurance available in Ireland. Go figure! We also spent much time visiting all the malls and camera shops to find a new good pro camera, but it was unsuccessful as Ecuador is a bit behind in technology. We even had the courage to look for our stuff at the black market, Montufar, where stolen electronic items are on sale. We were unsuccessful as tourists don’t go there often and every time Tony asked something, they replied “Were you robbed?”, their guard was on all the time.

Another day and a half was spent on finding a last minute special First Class Tour to the Galapagos. This was not wasted time as we succeeded in getting on the cruise we wanted months ago for a third of the price most of the other passengers paid. Avenida Amazonas is full of travel operators who all sell the same cruises, so it pays to shop around. You have to know how to play the game though. First thing we did was saying we were interested in a cruise for 4 people, that would let us know if there was only one cabin left or more than one. If there is more than one, you can haggle with all the agencies, act uninterested, and wait for the next day to come back and negotiate even further with the lowest bidder. We even found out who owned the boat and negotiated with them. In the end they gave us the lowest price, but we went with an agency who had been really decent as they agreed to cut the credit card charge to equal the direct offer, as in Ecuador they charge up to 10% in Credit Card commission.

All these events left us very little time to sightsee in Quito, but we managed fine. After the shock, we did end up enjoying Quito as it is a beautiful interesting place with lots of character and ambience. We stayed in Mariscal Area, where all the bars, restaurants, commerce and agencies are located, but the sightseeing is in the Old Colonial town. We drove up to El Panecillo, a hill with a gigantic statue of the Virgin overlooking all Quito, which is quite big. Then we headed down to the Colonial Area which is really beautiful and well preserved. Calle la Ronda has been restored to its old glory, with beautiful balconies; and characters acting out legends from the past. There are many old Colonial churches to visit, but the most beautiful and worth the fee is the one belonging to the Jesuits, la Compañia de Jesus; the inside is all beautifully adorned in gold leaf. The main plaza contains the Cathedral, City Hall, and the Presidential Palace. Socialist President Correa has opened the Palace to all, so daily free tours are held daily in which you can see most of the inside of it. Not many presidents do this, so we took advantage of the offer, and even got a photo of us taken in the Palace, courtesy of President Correa. The sun came out during the day, but at night it was quite chilly. It was easy to see how we were walking in the clouds at night.

The food in Quito was excellent as well. We had never seen such a variety of fruits and fresh juices as in Ecuador. We really liked their special dish called “Locro de Queso”, a mouthwatering potato soup with avocado and fresh cheese. I delighted myself eating plenty of Ceviche, raw lemon marinated seafood. As most Latins, they are big corn lovers, the curiosity is that they serve everything with popcorn, even breakfast! We had come from sea level to Quito, a city over 2800 meters, so plenty of coca tea was in our diet to fight the effects of the high altitude. Prices in Ecuador are not particularly cheap, as their official currency is the US Dollar, but it’s easily a country we could come back to explore its natural diversity and beauty.

Arriving at Havana airport is exactly what you would expect of communist Cuba, an antiquated airport and a ridiculously slow bureaucratic immigration process. I’ve never been to prison, but that’s what I imagine checking in to prison would be like. Huge slow queues and rude shouting officers are part of the deal. We finally got our entry stamps in one of the 20 little booths and once on the other side had to queue for an x-ray check of our hand baggage. Only problem was that for 20 immigration booths, there was only one x-ray machine, so you can imagine the chaos that forms. After more than an hour we went through and got to the luggage carrousel, and still our baggage had not arrived. In total it took us about two hours to get out and that’s because we got lucky and they let us go without our baggage getting sniffed by cute police doggies or hand inspected by customs officers. The taxi ride from the airport kept proving the Cuba stereotypes, as we saw broken down 50′s models on the side of the road, the typical Cuban postcard.

I had been in Cuba 10 years ago and I can say it has changed a lot. For starters, Havana is much more beautiful, Old Havana and parts of central Havana have been completely restored to its old glory. More than 50 years have passed since the Revolution, during which most of the world turned their backs on Cuba, and hardly any progress was achieved. Cuba claims that 100% of their people are literate and educated and have access to the best health system in the world. A few years ago, the process of liberalizing the economy slowly began allowing people the freedom to earn extra money for their own personal benefit. In my own personal opinion it’s just like giving candy to children, preparing for the unavoidable – Fidel’s death – a key date to the future of these people, and it’s better to have the people happy, more in tune with the rights of the rest of the world. The average person still earns an average salary of US $18 a month, one reason why Havana hasn’t prospered much since the 50′s. My point is that if today Havana is so beautiful and elegant with its wide avenues, many parks, and magnificent European influenced architecture, imagine its glory in the 50′s. Thanks to its strategic location at the mouth of the Caribbean, one coast Atlantic, one coast Caribbean, a lot of trade went through it, one of the reasons for its former richness. But the trade not only brought richness, it gave the Cuban people its identity. As we saw in the Dominican Republic, the population is of many colours.

We spent our time in Havana strolling at leisure through the crumbling beauty of Old Havana, but we ended up enjoying Havana Central more, without the abundance of touts selling tours, women and cigars. Some of the places we liked most in Old Havana (Habana Vieja) were the Plaza de San Cristobal with its beautiful church and square, the nice renovated Plaza de Armas, and other random streets which evoked the essence of Cuba with old cars, children playing baseball or marbles, and crumbling colonial mansions hanging over cobblestoned streets, interrupted by a mojito of daiquiri when the mood took us. Overall, however, Havana Central provided respite from unwanted attention and tourist prices. The Paseo El Prado which forms a border between the two districts is an avenue which wouldn´t look out of place in Paris (after the war), and what about the Malecon! When we were in Havana the weather was not so hot and the sea was mighty and angry, and there was so much water crashing over the wall onto the road that the Malecon was closed to traffic. We had fun walking along and feeling the breeze on our faces, and every now and then running to escape the walls of water reaching after us. That we managed, but it was so slippy that I fell down, to Tony’s amusement, and got soaked all through!

Other highlights in Havana were the tedious Revolution Museum in the former Presidential Palace which still bears the bullet marks of the fateful night when revolutionaries overran the palace. The museum did enlighten us a bit on the Revolutionaries version of history, but presentation is poor and our concentration soon deserted us. For sheer revolutionary zeal, the Plaza de la Revolucion is way better – small on content, grand on scale, with a huge Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos mural facing a statue of independence martyr, Jose Marti, and below him, Fidel Castro´s mount from which he used to address the nation for hours on end. Perhaps most enjoyable was attending a game of the Cuban’s biggest passion: baseball, at the LatinoAmericana stadium and watching Industriales, the local team, give Metros a good lesson in home runs.

On the downside, we were a bit disappointed to discover that the music scene was not what we expected. We expected a bit more of ambience, musicians, dancers and singers on the streets improvising. Most of the touristy places in Habana Vieja do have mediocre bands, but that’s not what we wanted. We went to the famed Casa de la Musica to listen to a band and dance a bit but it was a fiercely loud Cuban boy band, so we ended up leaving early. Our vote goes to Dominican Republic in the music and dance scene.

We also tried our best to find the best Cuban cuisine, but we failed. Cuban food is best forgotten, although, we’ll have yucca with mojo (garlic sauce sometimes called mojito – do not drink!) anytime. In Hemingway’s style we could not leave without paying a visit to both the home of the daiquiri, El Floridita; and the mojito, La Bodeguita del Medio. Both were delicious, but outside of these places, they were all awful and pricey. We found out that there´s a lemon shortage in Cuba and they use artificial lemon juice almost everywhere in Cuba, even in the landmark and sumptuous Hotel Nacional! Please free the lemon embargo on Cuba! Whatever your principle, let us have good mojitos in Cuba!

Another big change in Cuba is the increment in tourist prices. Cuba is not a cheap tourist destination. Until a few years ago the exchange rate was 1 Cuban peso to 1 US Dollar, now their new currency for the tourists (the convertible Peso) is worth more than the Dollar and almost the same as the Euro. And they still have their Cuban Peso which the locals use, 25 of these equal one convertible Peso. So it’s a big mess, there are tourist prices and there are local prices, and it’s hard to know which peso you’re talking about. The tourist prices are excessive, comparable to the most expensive European countries, but without nearly providing the same quality. How Cuba figures this exchange rate is way beyond comprehension and logic. Their small economy depends greatly on tourism, and on the other hand, despite the inequality in wealth, we felt very safe there at all times, they even say it’s the safest place in the Western Hemisphere.

A big thing in Havana are the big 1950′s cars. They fit in perfectly in Old Havana, and you can rent one with a driver for about $30 an hour. The other way to ride them is to take a colectivo. Colectivo are the taxis that pick up as many people as possible on their route for a small fee (10 Cuban pesos, or $.50), whereas a private taxi will charge a tourist about $10 for the ride. Colectivos are not supposed to pick up tourists but we worked our way around it and rode in loads of beautiful old cars. It seems that I have an international face, in many of the places we’ve been I am mistaken for a local. Cuba was no exception, as long as I didn’t speak and reveal my accent, I would get local prices. So we figured how to flag down colectivos, mumble the stop we wanted, and just pay the local fare after getting off, getting chauffeur driven around Havana in a classic car. This was only after our first try, when Tony had asked a driver how much to Old Havana and the driver said 10. Tony was convinced the driver was trying to extort him as a tourist, so replied 5! The driver immediately agreed. I realized too late that the driver was speaking local Pesos and Tony tourist Pesos, so we ended up paying 5 Tourist Pesos (CUCs) instead of 20 Cuban Pesos, more than 500% of the price the driver asked for. Lesson learned.

On our last few days in Cuba, we visited the famed Viñales, about 4 hours west of Havana in the Pinar del Rio province. When we got there we thought it was just a small town with no appeal. But very fast it grew on us and we had a great time in provincial Cuba. People are more down to earth, and unlike Havana they will talk to you with no interest in mind. It is a lovely colonial style town, set in the middle of a long valley spotted with beautiful karst free-standing mountains, and it’s also the province where the best tobacco is grown. We took one of the guided walks through the valley along with a Dutchman, Gerard, past cowboys on horseback, yucca plantations and most of all, the tobacco plantations. We stopped with one farmer who explained the whole process, seing which leaves went into Cohibas, and seeing the process right through from start to finish, as the farmers went about their daily work. That day was probably the nicest in Cuba. When we got back to town, there was a lot going on and more of what we expected of Cuba: lots of happy people playing good music in the streets. Tony, a non-smoker smoked a whole cigar which he had bought from Leo the tobacco farmer, and we enjoyed a few too many mojitos, so many that the tuxedo wearing waiter had to chase us down in a bike as we had forgotten to pay the bill (by accident!). We ate every night in the casa particular (B&B) in Viñales, and had the best food in Cuba of overcooked lobster and rice and beans.

Unfortunately we only have a few pictures of Havana and none of Viñales, as our camera was robbed in our next destination. Gerard, if you are reading this, you are our only hope for Viñales pictures! Cuba is beautiful, but we don’t agree with its system, as people are evidently poor beyond comprehension, but never threatening our safety at any time. There are a lot of unofficial taxis in Cuba, people moonlighting for an extra buck, and on our way to the airport we had arranged one of these taxis, a real beat-up car, mainly because we wanted to give the guy some money as the day before he had told us we could pay him in old clothes. We did not, but we did give him an old pair of Tony´s shorts. We took a car driven by two men in the dark at 5:30am and as expected the car almost broke down in the road, and then ran out of gasoline, which was then poured from a 2 litre bottle which was inside the car with us. These are the charms of Cuba.

What will happen to Cuba? Sooner than later the West will open to it, so it’s better to visit now, in its “special” difference. From 10 years ago, there has been a difference, it’s more beautiful as it has been restored by UNESCO, but the people are not as authentic and neither are the prices, so the sooner you go, the better! Next stop for us, Quito, Ecuador.

Our time in Japan had unfortunately come to an end. Vowing to come back we boarded a Cebu Pacific plane in Osaka with destination Manila, Philippines. Cebu Pacific is a budget airline, but budget goes a long way in Asia, providing much better service than main airlines in Europe and especially USA. We booked all our flights in Philippines with Cebu Pacific and had a great experience. I even won a prize in a flight as they play games onboard. We arrived late in Manila, found a cheap hotel and got a few hours sleep before taking a flight early the next morning to Palawan.

Palawan is one of the most southwestern islands in the Philippines, bringing us back quite close to Borneo in fact. The Philippines are made up of over 7,000 islands and we flew over a few of them on our flight, ranging from tiny drops in the ocean to little groups of islands connected by longs sand bars through turquoise waters, to large volcanic mountains rising out of the sea. We landed in Puerto Princesa, the capital of Palawan. Just before we arrived the cabin crew requested the passengers to NOT stop on the runway after exiting to take photos. This seemed to have the opposite effect as people immediately assembled in small groups on the tarmac after arrival, nonchalantly chatting, taking photos and just having a look around.

We had intended to spend as little time as possible in Puerto Princesa before heading to El Nido. But not long after we arrived, Tony saw some posters for an upcoming Manny Pacquiao fight. It was Friday, and Tony found out that there was a big fight on Sunday at midday. As there is only electricity in El Nido from 2pm to 6am, this posed a problem. Manny Pacquiao is the most famous sportsman in the Philippines, a source of enormous national pride, and Tony felt it would be foolish to waste an opportunity to be a spectator in a sporting event of such national importance. I was less enthusiastic but we came up with a plan to rearrange our Philippines itinerary. We spent the rest of the day in Puerto Princesa, taking a tricycle (motorbike taxi) to the waterfront, and then staying out of the heat. Puerto Princesa is very environmentally conscious, and for a town in a developing country, it is also admirably free from litter. That night we went to the Ka Lui restaurant for some seafood, and I found another reason to like the Philippines – kinilaw! Kinilaw is very similar to ceviche, but the lemon juice is replaced by vinegar. It was the beginning of a love affair which did not end until I left the country.

The Philippines, being the only Spanish colony in Asia, reminded me a lot of Honduras. Tagalog, their language, has a lot of Spanish influence – saying hello is “kumusta”, like “como estas”. They were even playing some of the same Christmas songs in the shops that I hear in Honduras. On many occasions, people would start talking to me and I wouldn’t understand anything until I realised they thought I was Filipina and were talking to me in Tagalog!

Other than El Nido, Palawan’s greatest attraction is an underground river which has been classed as a UNESCO site. The river is actually about two hours drive from Puerto Princesa on Palawan’s terrible roads, but it shares the name of Palawan’s capital city. The number of visitors is limited and you must obtain a permit to visit the river. As was our experience with gorilla permits in Uganda, permits are hard to come by if you’re an independent tourist, as the permit office favours local travel agents who then sell the permits at a profit. We could have got a permit as it turned out, but ended up talking to a friendly local travel agent, Joseph Hidalgo (wildrock_tours@yahoo.com), who had two spaces left on his tour leaving in 20 minutes and agreed to take us at a discounted last-minute rate. And so off we went with two nice couples, one from the Philippines, one from India, and a group of lighthearted politicians from the Philippines.

We stopped along the way at a few scenic lookouts to take photos before our driver suggested we take a detour by a cave complex nearby as we were running early for our permit time. Once there, we had an option to take a cave tour of 45 minutes. The politicians jumped at the opportunity, and since they were going, we also decided to go instead of waiting around for 45 minutes doing nothing. We felt a little sorry for the two couples who had paid full price and were now waiting around bored for a non-itinerary detour. The cave tour through a karst mountain was interesting, quite challenging (I regretted wearing flip-flops!), and very humid, and short enough to be fun and not too much like hard work.

After our detour, we stopped for a tasty lunch (included in the tour) on the beach. We found a lady on the beach selling a local Palawan delicacy for dessert. Tamilok is a type of worm found in the mangroves of Palawan, and is served cold in a bowl with some chili sauce. I think the worms were still alive as we ate them. Imagine an oyster shaped like a worm, and you’ll be close to picturing a tamilok. They were debatably palatable, and given Tony’s track record of tasting “delicacies” on our trip, he’s beginning to think the word has lost its meaning.

On we went to the Underground River. Even though we had a permit and a set time, we had to wait around for half an hour – no worries, it’s a Philippine thing. But it gave us a chance to see huge monitor lizards walking right through the waiting area around the people. When we finally got going, we were dispatched into a small boat with an oarsman who was also our tour guide. We sailed into the river wearing our safety helmets and sporting large floodlights to see where we were going. The cave smells quite bad, and the helmets were to prevent the numerous bats from defecating on us as they swarmed overhead. The caves inside were huge, and we arrived at one area called the cathedral which must have been over five stories high. We paddled upriver for about 2km during which our oarsman managed to rhyme off numerous jokes such as “you know why it stinks here? It’s the bat(h)-room.” etc which went down really well with the Filipinos on the tour. It was quite interesting and completed a fun and worthwhile day excursion, although I think we’ve had our fill of caves for our whole trip now.

The next morning was the fight and we made our way to the Coliseum, the local stadium, to watch the fight with the locals. Tony was expecting a lot of raw emotion like at football matches, but the Philippines are a laid back type of people and rarely got too excited, except for some moments in the 5th round when Manny was on the verge of getting a knockout against his unfortunate Mexican opponent, Antonio Margarito. In the end, Manny made history by winning by a unanimous points decision and won his 8th boxing title at a different weight and cemented his reputation as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world, ever!

We could not lose any more time so immediately after the fight we headed to El Nido. Transport in Palawan is infrequent with the only buses leaving early in the morning. We had originally been quoted about €180 for a private afternoon transfer to El Nido but managed to agree a deal with Joseph for €100 (the shared minibus would have been €14). But we were longing for beautiful forgotten beaches and did not want to wait another day. As we left Joseph bid us farewell with a newborn baby in his arms. Tony asked if it was his, but he explained that he was on his way to the funeral of the baby’s mother who had died in childbirth, and that his secretary would now look after the child. It was a sober reminder of what life can be like for people here in the Philippines, and proof of the strong bonds of community that exist here.

We bid our farewells and headed off on our journey. Most of the road was in good state, except for the last section north of Roxas that was completely unpaved and very bumpy. A journey that would have taken 8 hours on the public minibus took only 4 in the luxury AC van (only option) we hired, so in the end we didn’t feel too bad about the extra expense. We arrived after dark and found a hotel on the other side of the bay about 3km from El Nido in Corong Corong and had some rest before setting out to explore the next day.

When we planned our trip, I had circled the Cook Islands as my dream destination, but because of time we were not able to make it to the South Pacific, so I was really hoping that Palawan would make up for it. First impressions of El Nido therefore were a little disappointing. The town itself is not very pretty – lots of concrete – and half of the beachfront is a line of ugly hotels cramped together squeezing out every inch of space, while the other half is quite tastefully developed. On the other hand, if you get on the beach in front of the hotels, the view is spectacular! There is only electricity from around 2pm to 6am so it’s rustic for sure, just not very native. Having said that, spend a few days, and the friendly people, natural scenery and laid back vibe will start to grow on you. In front of our hotel in Corong Corong, the narrow, waveless beach was disappointing also, although the view of the bay was amazing and better even than El Nido. We decided to go exploring further away from town walking along the shore. As we walked, things started to look up, as we approached a deserted, wide, sheltered beach with white sand beaches, nobody around, and a backdrop of tall coconut trees. We hung around for a while before heading into town to plan the rest of our time ahead. We were quickly informed that paradise didn’t lie on mainland Palawan, but in the many islands dotted around Bacuit Bay. There are plenty of tours for island hopping around the bay, but our idea of paradise doesn’t involve sharing it with a tour group, so we planned our next two days with the first on a scuba-diving day-trip, and the second on a private boat tour.

To picture Bacuit Bay, its perhaps easier to first think of its well-known lookalike, Halong Bay. Bacuit Bay does not have near as many of the karst islands as Halong Bay, but it is not overrun with a conveyor belt of tourist outings, and another plus is that Bacuit Bay delivers on its promise – sundrenched (on occasion) private beaches, and a real slice of paradise.

Bacuit Bay is a protected marine area and we spent a lot of our first-day underwater in Bacuit Bay, and why not? Jacques Cousteau, the world’s most famous scuba-diver and marine biologist made a film based on the coral and marine life around Palawan, and South Miniloc, our first dive site was noted as the highest concentration of cabbage coral (like huge underwater cabbages!). It was very impressive, especially near the end when we ended up surrounded by hundreds, maybe even over a thousand, yellow snapper. It’s hard to explain scuba-diving to someone who hasn’t scuba-dived, so maybe this video (not ours) will help you imagine. While the others on our scuba tour went for their second dive, we decided to relax on a small island on a deserted beach surrounded by towering limestone cliffs. We did another dive later in the day with a manta ray, a moray eel and loads of starfish among the highlights (as well as loads of adorable clown-fish of course), before heading back to land as a storm rolled in behind us.

The next day we set off on our private tour. Most tours are set options which cover different parts of the bay. You pick A,B, C or D and off you go with a group, but we picked a mix. We had dinner the previous night at El Nido Corner, a restaurant on the waterfront run by a Danish expat and his wife. Other than serving delicious fresh fish caught daily in the bay at great prices, our host Ole, also served some great advice on the best spots in the bay which formed the basis of our private tour.
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We set sail in the rain from El Nido which meant the third day running that rain had interrupted our hopes of constant sunshine. It was still raining as we sailed slowly around the Big Lagoon, our first stop. It was still raining by the time we reached the Small Lagoon, so we thought we may as well get wet. We jumped in for some good snorkelling – never before have we seen so many sea urchins (like big floating hedgehogs) – it’s amazing to see them move around, although we couldn’t help thinking how tasty they would be. By the time we got out, things were brightening up. Our next stop was Secret Lagoon, so called as you have to climb through a small gap in the rocks in order to enter it. Once inside, you’re in your own private cavern with high walls on all sides, and a small pool of water – very impressive. From there, we moved on to Cadlao Lagoon. A lot of people will put Cadlao Lagoon at the top of their list of locations in Bacuit Bay, and that’s where it is on our list. The sun had finally broken out, and we floated around a corner which revealed a floor of coral carpeted in warm turquoise water and walled in by needles of spiky karst rock formations. It was breathtaking. We spent around an hour just floating in the water and snorkelling with the multi-colour, flourescent fish in the water. Our final stop was Helicopter Island. We landed on a long stretch of gorgeous, deserted beach with a magnificent view over beautiful Bacuit Bay. The only people on the island, we paddled in the waves and watched our boat driver harpooning fish for his dinner without success. It was our last stop, but left us wanting more.

As we sailed back into El Nido, we realised that some places do merit that lofty tag of paradise – just make sure you bring the sun!

Footnote: Palawan currently benefits from responsible governance which seeks to protect its environment and long may it continue. During our stay, we booked tours in Puerto Princesa from Joseph Hidalgo who we recommend. We ate at El Nido Corner restaurant, and the fish is fresh, fantastic and great value with a great welcome. We also frequented the El Nido Art Cafe and boutique which is a great place to while away the evenings in El Nido with thirst-quenching San Miguel beer, great kinilaw, and free wifi. And overall, the Filipinos (Pinoys) are among the friendliest people you’ll meet. For information, we recommend reading and contacting the websites of the very active Filipino blogging community.

We arrived in Tokyo and we had stepped into another dimension. We flew from Vietnam via China. Our second flight was in Japan Airlines (JAL), and from there things started getting good. Our JAL flight was a small sample of what awaited us: a modern, efficient, clean and polite society that make excellent bento boxes. We could not believe how friendly and helpful the Japanese people were. To my surprise they spoke very little English, but they will do anything and everything they can to help you. What a change from Vietnam it was. And another big change from Vietnam were the prices! At the beginning I could not get over how expensive Japan was. We had been traveling in South East Asia for some months, so of course the increment in expenses was humongous. However after reflecting on it, I realized that most things, with a few exceptions like transport and internet are about the same prices as in Ireland. The difference is that in Europe we have income in Japan we didn’t.

With its sky-high buildings and an efficient and ample transport network, Tokyo is a first class ultramodern metropolis. But if you look closely and pay attention, you will find a very traditional society. And that is precisely why they do not speak English, they want to preserve their own culture. Globalization is there to stay, and as the years pass they will inevitably and regrettably lose some of it. By far Japan has been the country where we have experienced the most intact culture, they preserve their arts, religion, language, cuisine, dress, etc. For many centuries Japan was closed to the rest of the world, Japanese were not allowed out and foreigners were not allowed in, until the West finally forced them to open their borders. Japan is another dimension, we could easily see how they could survive on their own, they are very unique and creative people who have developed extraordinary skills.

In modern Tokyo we delighted our eyes by every minute watching thousands of Japanese at the most famous and busy crossing in the world: Shibuya. I also discovered that neither New York, London or Milan are the cradle of fashion. It’s Tokyo, by far! Japanese men and women are so undeniably fashionable. Girls try very hard from a small age to represent fashion. Some of their school uniforms were just too much, or actually too little, some right out of a fantasy world . I don’t know how, but it seems that most people in Japan have money to burn. In Europe you see wealthy Japanese on shopping sprees at the very fancy shops, but in Tokyo it seems that everyone is shopping all the time. Merchandise is on sale everywhere you can imagine, and they are always buying everything and anything they see. We had thought about buying a new camera and computer, but we did not as we were surprised to find no special prices on electronics for export models. It seems that Hong Kong has left Tokyo behind in the international electronic market. Our laptop was not working well and it seemed it would crash any minute so we tried to find a place to get a backup of all our info. Well, the cheapest we could find was for almost 1000 Euros, 3 times the cost of the computer itself! No way, thanks! Akihabara is the big electronic city quarter, but 99% is for domestic Japanese electronics (ie no English interfaces). It is full of gadget savvy nerds who also enjoy their comic books, too much… In this quarter you can also find plenty of adult shops and the peculiar “Maid Cafes”. We were really curious about both, so we went in. The adult shop was a very big building with about 5 floors. It has all the usual stuff, but the higher up you go, the more strange things to be found, things my eyes could not believe. One of those things was a made up actual size woman. Men (or women) buy the different parts of a woman’s body and create their own model. The most expensive part is not the face, you can imagine which one it is, and you can do the same things to it… The price for these parts are thousands of Euros. Oddly enough, there were no men parts to build up a Mr. Perfect. The Maid Cafe is a place where you can go and have small food and mainly drinks. A girl dressed in sexy French Maid outfits (which you will see all over Akihabara luring people to their cafes ) welcomes you, takes your order, pours your coffee, and I don’t know what else. We did not stay to find out as the cheapest item on the menu was a regular cup of coffee for 7 Euros. There is also a cover charge. I cannot understand this Japanese obsession with servitude. We were told that Geishas can get paid $5,000 a night just for serving Japanese businessmen. If a deal has to be closed they will hire a geisha to serve the businessmen during the meeting. Serving means from serving the tea to repeating to him how handsome he is, and apparently it works. He will close the deal. Crazy to me, but it’s their culture. Oh yes, we were continuously culturally shocked in Japan.

Japan is karaoke crazy, but unfortunately we did not have enough time to try it ourselves. Actually where we had quite a fun night was at an Irish pub. We met Raymond, a friend of Tony from Donegal, Ireland who has been living in Tokyo for many years. Raymond was really nice and hospitable. He invited us to a local small traditional Yakitori (burnt meat on a stick) restaurant. It was delicious and it was an authentic Japanese experience. As a good Irish, Raymond took us afterwards to an Irish Pub. A Guinness became two and three, and whiskey… and we missed the last metro of the day! Oh oh, we had to do the unthinkable, get back to our hotel by taxi. The price of a taxi ride in Tokyo is exorbitant. We could have gone and spend the night in an internet cafe instead, but we didn’t. Internet cafes in Tokyo are crazy places as well. People who miss the metro or trains spend the night in them. You get a computer and dvd player in a closed booth that has quite a comfortable sofa to sleep in. It was really a strange concept, and men and women are separated by floors. There are showers and vending machines for food and drinks.

In Japan you can get anything from a vending machine, even hot coffee, but not from a glass, from a can that is hot. We even went to a restaurant where we had to select our food from a vending machine, and once we got the ticket we handed it in to the waitress, who promptly brought our food. Nothing is in english so figuring it out was no easy task. I am crazy about sushi so I had a mission to eat as much of it as possible. I thought there would be a sushi restaurant in every corner, but surprisingly there weren’t. We finally found one with the revolving band, and then a “standing sushi bar”, a tiny place where people stand around the chef and he makes your pieces and delivers them to you in a green leaf, then you leave; all very fast. Service is impeccable in Japan, and they do not expect or accept any tips, excellence comes by nature. We love this culture! We also discovered that where we could get really good, fresh and not so expensive sushi at the supermarkets, so I indulged quite a bit! Tony was happy as well as there were plenty of French boulangeries to satisfy his sweet tooth.

One of the main highlights of a visit to Japan is attending the auction at the Tsukiji fish market. A lot of the fish sold in the world goes through here. To do this we had to take a taxi before 4 am to Tsukiji. Only 140 people separated into two groups are allowed daily to watch it. We were there at 4:15 and already there was a big queue. We were fortunate to get in, as many people just minutes after us were turned away. If you make the effort of getting up so early and paying a taxi (only possible way that early), might as well get there really early. Since we were in the second group we had to queue for an hour in freezing temperatures. When we were finally allowed in, we saw an interesting video explaining the history and present operations of the market.

The auction in itself went by really quick. Experts placed live bids at the auction, the loud tuna auction being the highlight. It was really worth getting up so early for. Previous to the auction we saw the expert bidders carefully examining the huge tuna fish. Once the auction is over, the thing to do is head to the sushi eateries in the market. Apparently there are some eateries better than the others, where the queues to get a seat were more than 4 hours long. Personally I think that they are all the same, and only because an eatery was mentioned in a guidebook I was not willing to queue more than 5 minutes. In any case, if it was of better quality, I am no expert, so I wouldn’t have known the difference. Besides the queue, the prices were just ridiculous. A small plate of mixed sashimi (no blue fin or anything of the sort) had an average price of 40 Euros. Tony still wanted to try it, so we went into an eatery that was full of locals and no queue. Afterwards I ate my sashimi at the market, which was a 5 minute walk away from Tsujiki and for 7 Euros only. We also found a very famous and delicious noodle shop nearby to fill our half empty stomachs. Afterwards we went back to Tsukiji which was entirely open to the public by then to see the fish sales to the public. Never had we seen so many different types of seafood, including giant oysters which I still crave for.

Another must in Japan is trying the different accommodations. We stayed in a “normal” hotel the first nights but we had to try something different. The normal hotel has the tiniest rooms imaginable, smaller than those in a cruise ship. You could not walk around the bed even. It had a bathtub, suitable for the size of a 4 year old at most. The highlight in Japan of course are the toilets, which do everything from massaging you, fanning you to playing tunes. Then for one night we slept at the capsule hotel. The main concept of it is to provide a rest for a night, especially for Japanese men who did not make the metro or train. Most are for men only, so we had a hard time finding a mixed one. Check in time is after 9 pm and check out before 9am. We paid the student price which was about 18 Euros each and were given funny slippers to change into, as we had to deposit our shoes in lockers. Men and women are separated by floors. There is a common bathroom in each floor which has normal Western showers and also the typical Japanese baths, which are basically common pools heated to a very high temperature. At 2:30 am they were great as I was the only one in them. Each floor had about 40 capsules one after the other, in two rows The capsule in itself is quite tiny, it has a mattress on the floor, a towel, sheets and a warm blanket, all extremely neat and clean. As well a kimono is provided. There is a tv (put coins in to turn it on), and a small fan. It was comfortable enough, but I hardly got any sleep. I went to bed early, the first one in the capsule; but after midnight most people (some drunk) came in so it got noisy. Secondly, I had no alarm, and next morning we had to be up by 3 am for Tsukiji, so I was afraid I wouldn’t wake up and had no way of communicating with Tony either.

Yet another highlight was watching the sunset over the snowy peak of Mount Fuji in Tokyo. This can be done for free from the Municipal Government buildings. We strolled through Kagurazaka district which is a complete different pace than the rest of Tokyo. It’s a quiet, traditional and well preserved district. It has beautiful residential areas, which have delicately trimmed gardens. As well, we saw many different temples; some Buddhist, but very different style than the rest of Asia. A famous and big temple we visited in Tokyo was Senso-Ji, in Asakusa, another old nice district. In Senso-Ji we did a traditional ritual which gives you your fortune. Tony got the best fortune possible, and I got the opposite. So I did what the Japanese do, leave my fortune behind and tie it in the temple so the wind takes it away.

A visit to Tokyo would not be complete without a visit to Ginza, one of the world’s top 10 most expensive shopping areas by square meter in the world. All the famous brands have their own buildings. I was not really impressed by the products they sell, which can be found anywhere in the world, but by the incredible architecture and design of the buildings. Personally I was impressed by the Hermes building, a rectangular high rise building, its exterior made all of transparent bath style tiles. Again, in Ginza, you can witness the high fashion of its population, including the canines.

It was time to continue our journey to Kyoto by riding the fastest train in the world, the famous bullet train. We left Tokyo behind, but there were so many things left undone. We are definitely returning to Tokyo, next time with a big budget and a big month! Japan is now battling South Africa for my favorite country visited.

Hanoi airport is about 35 km from the city, and had the usual groups of touts or taxi drivers waiting to greet us. We ignored them all and crossed the highway to the public bus terminal and jumped on a bus to the Old Quarter. It worked out well as we only had to pay $.25 each. Actually so well, that on the way back we did the same. It looks like no foreigners take this bus, as the locals were quite in awe about us boarding it.

Once again, we had a dramatic change of location. From very conservative slow paced Luang Prabang, Laos to completely crazy Hanoi, Vietnam. The first difference I noted was that women were wearing pants (In Luang Prabang they were all wearing long skirts), and those that were wearing skirts, were barely wearing anything. It seemed that everyone was out on the street that night. Motorcycles have taken over this city, this country in fact. It was hard to walk with our bags, as they are driving on the sidewalk or it is covered with parked motorbikes. It was so chaotic, so noisy, and so dirty. First impressions of the country were not great, and overall, these impressions lasted; unlike Laos where our appreciation of the country changed drastically, from the worst first impression of a country to absolutely delighted and not wanting to leave it. The biggest difference we perceived from Laos and Cambodia were the people. I’m not generalizing, as we did meet a few nice and friendly persons, but overall we have to say that of the 28 countries we have visited in this trip, in Vietnam is where we felt the least welcomed. It seems that the answer is always no or negative even before you have finished asking the question. Getting efficient travel services in Hanoi was impossible. It seemed that all the budget travel operators are out to get the most of you, providing the least possible in return. To be fair, we visited a few travel agencies which had very good service and attentive personnel, but unfortunately only cater to very upscale markets. As a long term traveler you are always talking to others doing the same, reading blogs, travel advice, etc. Everyone has different opinions on places, and a lot of the times are different than what we experience. We always ask to have an idea of what to expect, but we always keep an open mind and then make our own conclusions. On Vietnam, and especially Hanoi almost all opinions were negative, and this time we agree with the general consensus.

Hanoi, a city of 6.5 million inhabitants, is situated on the banks of the Red (mostly brown) River, and this year celebrated its 1000 birthday. It was the imperial capital of the kingdom, later the capital of French Indochina and then of North Vietnam. Vietnamese folklore is full of talk of dragons, but in old Hanoi the real danger comes from something else with horns – the motorbikes that swarm over every inch of road, street and footpath. The old town has some nice old architecture, but it’s hard to appreciate it, as it’s all covered with signs and advertisements, and it is very dirty. We found Hanoi to be the dirtiest city we have visited. One good thing to say about Vietnam is that it is rich in culinary arts. We could not get enough of it; there are so many delicious dishes to try in every region. I could have kept on eating fresh spring rolls all day. We ate many variations of their famous rice noodle soup “Pho” at street stalls, and also more gourmet dishes at fine restaurants. Tony delighted himself by having plenty of traditional Vietnamese iced coffees, which are mixed with condensed milk. Although the source of the ice couldn’t always be traced, the strength of the coffee seemed to keep him safe.

We visited all the usual attractions on the tourist trail. Tony is the one interested in War History, but I was the one most impressed with Hao Lo Prison. It literally translates as Hell’s Hole, but is infamously known as the Hanoi Hilton. It was built by the French during Colonial Times to house political prisoners. It was later used by the Vietnamese to hold the US prisoners captured during the Vietnam War, including the Presidential Candidate John McCain. I was not impressed because of the sad stories or because it is rich as a museum. I was shocked of how a country can be run on propaganda. Just a small example like this opened my eyes to realize how a government can manipulate the general opinion. I am grateful to have been born and live in countries where we have all kinds of freedoms and rights. First of all during the tour you go through a section where they display how evil the “French Colonials” were and how innocent the poor Vietnamese were. By the end of it, you will hate the French. The second part takes you to the Vietnam War. It displays how well they treated the United States POW’s. They even show how these prisoners were so happy to be there, how they enjoyed very day and were almost sad to be released. I did not know if I should laugh or believe it. Seriously, I almost believed it all. I have done some research since, and it has been proven that these prisoners were inhumanely treated, and I am not a fan of the USA and their wars. In my opinion, war is always catastrophic, both sides are wrong and both sides always lose. I am not interested in war stuff, and at this attraction I felt I should have been paid for an attempt to manipulate my brain, instead of having to pay an entry fee myself.

From the outside, it seemed that Hanoi was quite modern and liberal, as people seemed to be enjoying themselves at night, sitting in tiny stools in the sidewalks sipping Bia Ho (homemade draft beer) or teas. But in reality, it is not modern or liberal, and communism (so called socialism) seems to be still present. As a lawyer I am always looking at certain details, in Vietnam there seem to be no intellectual property rights, and this is just a small example. Businesses just copy each other’s name and logo to fool customers. We were looking for the Sinh Cafe Travel which supposedly had good budget travel services and we ran into at least 30 copycats (even in our hotel lobby) before finding the original. If we had known their service was that bad, we would have saved us the trouble and time and just booked with any of their imitators.

When in Hanoi, a trip to Halong Bay (HB) is a must, and that’s what we booked with Sinh Cafe. Halong Bay (Bay of the Descending Dragon) is a UNESCO World Heritage site in NorthEast Vietnam. It features almost 2000 limestone karst formation isles in various sizes and shapes. The legend says that they were formed by a dragon who was summoned to defend Vietnam form Chinese invaders. The isles are supposed to be jewels and jade the dragon spat.

Somebody had told us that the junks (that’s what HB boats are known as – right on the spot) were all bad, so we should just book the cheapest one. We didn’t listen, but we should have. We did not want to go with the cheapest option, so we booked a “superior” junk, the Marguerite for a one night two day cruise (other options are two nights, or just a few hours cruise). On the way to HB the guide kept saying that this boat had been finished a few weeks ago. When we got on, I asked him if it had been a joke, and he said it wasn’t. To make the story short, the boat was about a decade old, broken down, the food was terrible, there were cockroaches, and did not look like the pictures of what was sold to us. The staff were as rude as can be, treating the passengers like slaves, lying and not delivering all that had been promised by the tour company. We had predicted this would happen, so we demanded from the tour company to give us all in writing and signed, which after much arguing and hesitations they did. When the staff wouldn’t comply, Tony showed them the paper, but nothing changed. It turned out that everyone on the boat had paid different amounts, and some quite a lot. Fortunately we were on the other end of the scale. Alcohol is not included in the price, so of course everyone brings their own. Once on the boat, (and not before) they tell you it is not allowed, as they want you to buy it at their very expensive prices. One couple got their alcohol confiscated, and were demanded to pay a very high service charge. Tony successfully managed to sneak a six-pack on without anyone noticing though, although he was scolded for delaying the group for two minutes. As well the air conditioning and hot water we had paid extra for only works for a few hours during the trip, this information was also not disclosed to us previously. On the way back to Hanoi and in Hanoi we heard so many people complaining about all the same we do, almost everyone we talked to was quite unsatisfied with their junk.

Halong Bay is a natural beauty, there is no doubt about that, and unfortunately the only way to see it is this way. Apparently it’s better to visit it other times of the year when the sky is actually blue. When we were there, there was hardly any visibility, too much smog in the air. We did not jump in the water, as we had our reservations about the contamination. The Bay is filled with hundreds of junks daily, that not only emit their gas and oils into the water but people’s wastes, so no we did not feel any temptation. As part of the tour we were taken to a cave in one of the isles, called the Amazing Cave. They have put on a colored light show inside the cave to highlight the stalagmites and stalactites. We also did some kayaking and saw up close the floating villages. We really enjoyed the kayaking (except the rowing) as it was a great opportunity to get away from the convoy of junks and into our own private Halong Bay. It was amazing to see how these people have made their lives on the water, living a normal life off a boat, some with dogs included in the family. At night they all tie their boats together and it becomes a village.

Back in Hanoi we had one mission to accomplish, that was to find a live snake so Tony could drink its blood. It is disgusting, inhumane, and horrific but it is part of Vietnamese culture and he wanted to participate in it. On the outskirts of Hanoi there is an area called Le Mat, known for its snake restaurants. We knew about a restaurant, but when we got there they wanted crazy money. They wanted more than $100, when we knew that people had paid only $5 before. We were willing to pay no more than $10. Apparently Vladimir Putin visited this restaurant recently, maybe that’s why it raised its price. They showed us all their live snakes, but did not go lower than $40 so we left. Just a couple of doors away we saw a “normal restaurant” so we asked the friendly owner there we could find a snake restaurant. She said she had snakes, so in we went to see them. They can cook you a seven course meal (soup, spring rolls, steak, etc) after the snake has been killed, but Tony only wanted to participate in the blood drinking, eating its meat is nothing special. She agreed to kill the snake for $12. I was trembling and getting sick. I’ve always had a serious phobia of snakes. Sometimes I wake up at night because I think that snakes have crawled up my bed. I did not want to see it even, but Tony wanted me to film it. So they killed the snake, took the blood out and put it in with some local liquor, and its heart on the side. Tony drank it immediately with no hesitation. Several minutes passed and the snake kept moving and its heart kept beating. As the tradition goes, Tony ate the heart also! It is horrible, is it? But then again, what makes it so more horrible than eating other animals including their hearts and organs? There was more blood left and Tony yelled to me “Drink it baby, beat that fear of snakes”. I don’t know how, but I did it. I don’t know if I should be proud that I beat my fear, or ashamed to participate in animal cruelty, being an active defender of animal’s rights.

If you have a strong stomach, you can witness the gory, alcohol-aided events yourself in the videos below.

For all the pictures click here.