Exploring Patagonia: Chile and Argentina

16 May 201717 May 2017 / travellingross / Leave a comment

13 – 22 January 2017

travellingross rating: 7/10

Wow they speak fast Spanish in Chile! I cannot even pick up the occasional word to follow the sentence. When I booked a connecting flight to Puerto Montt via my already booked flight to Santiago, I had not realised that because Montt is not an international airport, I would need to clear immigration and customs in Santiago, bag drop, then clear security as a domestic passenger. Which all up takes 2 hours and resulted in missing my connecting flight. So, I got to know the Santiago airport for 6 hours. Arriving in Montt near midnight, sped to the hotel by what I think was an unregistered taxi, then straight to bed. However, I was able to sleep in since check-in for my ferry to Puerto Natales was not until 12:30pm and I could then be free of my bags for 5 hours until we departed on a shuttle bus to the ferry terminal. Very very conveniently, check-in was at the Holiday Inn which is attached to an unexpectedly enormous mall. Walking to the mall, I was struck by how this simple small town is far more scenic than Mendoza. My free time enabled me to buy some hiking boots, weather proof pants, get my Big Mac fix and continue the seemingly endless travel planning.

The cargo ship masquerading as a passenger ferry was everything I expected and served the purpose I was searching for. 3 nights of no internet, no alcohol, no pressure to go tour. Just sleep 12 hours a day, listen to audio books, sort photographs on my laptop and of course look at the fjord scenery that you can only witness on these waters.

Puerto Montt

The ferry

All aboard…this moment I felt like a cow

My not so spacious room

Off we go

Dining Room…a lot like work

Cruisin

Helipad

The alcohol free bar

Torres del Paine is not that remarkable to me. Sorry, don’t hate me all you Patagonia lovers. I have seen more profound and jaw dropping landscapes. I think instead the attraction is the isolation. But now it’s become such a tourist hot spot that there are people everywhere. The glaciers however are inspirational. Grey glacier in particular is a 3 hour boat trip, which sounds ridiculous, but the scenery and view points are out of this world. The mountains and fjords are otherwise nothing I haven’t seen in other parts of the world and in my opinion not worth the hassle to come all this way unless you are coming to camp and hike the W or O trails. Which 80% of the people no doubt come for that. It’s just the crazy ones like me who come to see the views, tick the Patagonia box and sip a beer while literally looking down on the camp sites from my stupidly expensive with terrible WiFi, but comfortable, hotel.

Departing Torres was a mission made complicated by my plan to cross into Argentina and go straight to my next sight seeing destination. After researching many options (including the very handy website www.bussur.com and my friend Madison), I concluded that taking a risk of getting a shuttle to the national park entrance and attempting to hop on an unbooked bus to El Calafate was worth it. Cause I really didn’t want to spend another night in Natales having already been forced to spend 1 there when the ferry arrived 8 hours late. Through a bit of haggling, begging, and money, the driver let me on the bus! And helped me print my Argentine reciprocal fee receipt at the Chilean border. We swapped buses 3 times, and finally I was dropped off at a hotel that lucky for me had vacancies, an open restaurant at 10pm and a big fat scotch whiskey. Couldn’t wipe the smile from my face – I did it!!

Driving into the Park

My hotel

The most windy walk ever to get to the Lake Grey ferry

Grey Glacier

Hotel view

Trek up to the 3 towers

Made it!

Very happy it was clear

The trail is beautiful

Having to step aside for these guys…

On the bus to Argentina

El Calafate is a nice large tourist town. The Argentines do tourism better than the Chileans and the infrastructure is a higher standard. The main reason people, including me, come to this particular town is to see the Perito Moreno glacier. I had a full day trekking tour of this monster booked for 22 January and was the motivation for coming down to this part of the world. Now, this is jaw dropping and well worth the effort. Makes me want to go to Antarctica!

Met this guy in El Calafate

I found the house style interesting

Perito Moreno Glacier!

Foot ready

This arch collapses every few years

Not on the ice, but good to have after a memorable day

Torres hotel was booked directly at their website http://www.lastorres.com and was $368 USD a night! Getting there was a challenge and I ended up getting a lift with a man I met on the ferry. At the time I thought he was being generous, but when he dropped me at the hotel asked for $60….hmmmm. I guess I failed my first hitch-hiking experience.

Perito Moreno glacier Big Ice trek booked through http://www.hieloyaventura.com for $4000 Argentine Pesos ($260 USD). Take food, good shoes and a back pack to carry your crampons. There are lots of papers to fill and they don’t accept e-signature.

Iguassu Falls: Indescribably Epic

9 September 20169 September 2016 / travellingross / Leave a comment

2– 6 September 2016

Travellingross Rating: 10 out of 10

Brazil has long been on my travel to-do list, but getting a visa has always been a hassle and turned me off trying. So when I heard that this year over the few months of the Olympics, Brazil was waiving visa requirements I was hooked. Usually I don’t plan or think of what to do on a break until say 2 weeks out. But this one I had a fair idea about since the beginning of the year. I am still winging it, but I knew that Iguassu Falls was a must-visit after seeing the photos a friend took during a visit some years ago. I have a thing for waterfalls and the more epic the better – Victoria, Niagara…now Iguassu.

But like anything epic, it starts with a journey. 17.5 hours. Including an 8 hour layover. Following a good work rotation where I was actually able to find time to go for a run after work, I was not my usual wiped out self on day 23. I went out for dinner with a friend in Parbo then got picked up at 10:45 pm for the airport. Odd flight time of 1:45 am meant I didn’t even sleep in the city compared to the last few breaks where I have been staying a night or 2 before flying out.

Belem airport was more advanced than I expected. English seems to not be widely spoken though and I quickly remembered that Portuguese is not that similar to Spanish. I got through immigration without a word spoken, and I didn’t even have to fill a form! I am amazed that my bag and I made all the connections including a twenty-minute connection in Rio. With a driver waiting for me at the Foz do Iguacu airport, I was ready to relax.

Belmond Hotel das Cataratas is flawless. I cannot fault a single thing. From the welcome at reception (and free room upgrade!), to the fireplace filled lounge, to the barman carefully explaining the varied types of Caipirinha, to the breakfast, to the views, to the perfect rooms with the little sticker on the toilet paper….I could go on haha. Great recommendation. Although only 2 nights is required to see the sights, I booked 4 because of timing and because I knew I would enjoy the down-time.

The Falls are incredible. Over 270 individual waterfalls occur across this divide between Argentina and Brazil. The photos hopefully tell the story. They say the Brazil side has the view, the Argentine side has the experience. Basically you get drenched on the other side with an immersive experience across a lot of boardwalks, whereas Brazil has the panoramic views and one boardwalk that looks up the main chasm “the devils throat”. I thought a lot about crossing the border to also visit the Argentinian side but decided not to.

The weather was not the best. 2 days were wet and cold (17C). Nice to relax in the hotel with a hot stone Amazonian massage and drink, while catching up on life. The pool is heated but I didn’t swim. I really wanted to do the helicopter trip over the falls and luckily on my last day the clouds cleared and the choppers were able to fly. Fortunately I did not have a flight to Rio until 4pm so I had time. It was only a 10 minute flight, but so good. I did a similar flight over Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe many moons ago and really like the vantage you get from the air and seeing the mist swirl up.

So, I am really happy to be in Brazil. To have seen the Iguassu Falls. And this is just the beginning.

Belmond Hotel das Cataratas. My hotel. I loved everything except the colour.

Sitting room.

Pool

View from my room…wet day

First view of the falls just across from the hotel

Time to stay inside, get room service and drink champagne.

The bar was too good

The bar. Birds.

Ahhh the sun came out to play. Briefly.

The Argentina side and their boardwalks

No thanks…to the boat trip.

The Brazil boardwalk

About to get wet!

Couldn’t see much of ‘The Devils Throat’

Such great photos

Amazing power. The noise!!

After

Naturally…

Feeling smells.

The warnings are everywhere not to feed these bastards

But people do

Flawless breakfast. Yes, I have 3 drinks.

Helicopter tour!

Hahhaa this guys face

I love this

My hotel

The Amazing Caribbean Race: Windward & Leeward Islands

9 August 2016 / travellingross / Leave a comment

23 July – 8 August 2016

This break was all about the islands. Cover as many as I could to get a taste and determine which ones to come back to for longer. Due to best flight times, I had to depart a day late and return a day earlier giving me two restful days in Paramaribo but meant one fewer island to tick off. A part of me wants to lay claim to visiting as many islands as I can while I’m working this location – at this point I’ve got a year left. But it’s also very relaxing, enjoyable, knowledge fulfilling and…who wouldn’t want to travel the Caribbean! Especially when you can be in Barbados in 4 hours.

Barbados – 9/10

5 nights. Turtle Beach Resort. Discounted for low season.
Within a few minutes of checking into my room, I stood on the 4th floor balcony looking at the amazing view and down below in a public laneway access to the beach a tall young local man started talking to me. After a moment to decipher his accent, I realised he was trying to sell me cocaine. Welcome to Barbados. This happened another time on the beach. As someone not at all into drugs, I find it unsavory and disturbing.
Very rough surf on the south coast, when I traveled to the west it was so much calmer. Next time I will stay on the west coast.
Staying at an all-inclusive for the first time was good to not have to worry about food choices or paying for drinks, but I did feel locked up. Like on a cruise ship.
I drank a lot more than normal instinctively trying to get my money’s worth.
Lots of children. Next time I’ll find an adults only all inclusive.
This country is less developed than I expected.

View from room

Turtle snorkel catamaran tour

The hotel I tried to stay at but ‘couples only’.

Golf time

Grenada – 7/10

2 nights. Allamanda Resort. Good location on the beach and cheap.
Again offered drugs within moments of stepping onto the beach.
The fort overlooking St Johns is totally without maintenance and a public safety risk, but great views of the harbor and port.
I had not realised that this country had a communist coup in the late 70’s, then another coup where the prime minister and cabinet were locked up in the fort and executed. Then the USA invaded and ‘liberated’ the nation because they thought the new military government was building an airstrip to support Soviet and Cuban air craft to refuel in the southern Caribbean.
I walked into a nutmeg store and said hi to the young male attendant as I was the only one in the store. He immediately replied “you know me”. I stared and wandered. He said “look at me well”. Then it dawned on me that we sat next to each other on the 1 hour flight from Barbados to Grenada. Small part of the world.
Grand Anse is a nice long public beach with clean water and nice sand.
Found a nice marina with a bar, restaurant and pool. A rare place that was new, functional and welcoming.

View from the fort

View from the fort

Grand Anse beach

St Lucia – 6/10

2 nights. La Haut Resort. Way out of Soufrière town.
Taxi from airport to hotel was an hour and cost 80 usd! A signal that this island is not cheap.
Too mountainous which makes for bad beaches, and long travel times.
Gros Piton hike was the toughest I’ve done. My calf muscles were sore for days.
Incredible views from La Haut plantation resort were amazing but the place closed for good the day I checked out. Up for sale. Spooky quiet at night which had me laying in bed thinking I was in the movie paranormal activity.

View from room

From the town pier.

The ‘trail’ up the mountain. Crazy.

View from the top of Gros Piton

After hiking up for 2 tough hours

Up in the clouds

Petite Piton

Having a beer afterwards. Watching the CPL – T20 west indies style.

The hotel owners house!

The hotel owners house! – random rain storm

and rainbow

Martinique – 9/10

2 nights. Can’t remember the hotel as I literally walked off the ferry and checked into the first hotel I found. But it was nice. Except the level 3 elevator door didn’t work. And I was on level 3.
Finally a developed island! A carrefour grocery store, paved sidewalks, street lighting and people leave you alone rather than try to sell you cheap bead necklaces.
Only downside is it’s French speaking, but that could be a positive since people leave me alone!
21st century buses, roads and intersections. Hub of a ferry system.
Bakeries and food that is beyond chicken and Creole
Although I almost got run down crossing a road. I hate crossing roads.
The beaches close to town are not very nice. And full of local children.
Service is snail pace.
I’d definitely come back and couple it with other French islands. I think the French funding and connection to the European Union means they must abide by EU standards which are much higher than the former British colonies that are poor.

Dominica – 3/10

1 night that turned into 2. Fort Young Hotel. Lovely refurbished hotel and best part of Roseau.
Do not return. Undeveloped, wrecked by a recent storm, mountainous with long travel times on bad roads, dull landmarks. Although, no one bothered me to sell stuff on the streets or offer me tours like I was in Lucia.
Roseau is a simple under developed town with nothing noteworthy. Except for my hotel, which was modern, sprawling and good service.
The activities desk while seemingly professional, postponed my organized tour of the island not once but twice. Fully knowing that I only had 2 days 1 night on the island. And although I’d paid already for something they couldn’t offer anymore, did not provide a partial refund or even a genuine apology. Giving me the sense this happens often.
As if Dominica knew I didn’t like her, she punished me further by hovering a rain storm over the island at the time of my evening flight causing it to be cancelled and being put up by liat airlines in a hotel room with no ac and a ceiling fan moving so slow it may as well have been switched off.

Hotel

President’s House and Office, opposite the hotel

Trafalgar Falls

Hot baths. Literally baths.

Says everything about Dominica

Antigua – 8/10

3 nights that was supposed to be 4 except for Dominica. Airbnb apartment in English Harbour. Well located with lovely views, but in a loft with no cross breeze so it was stinking bloody hot.
Very modern airport.
Renting a car was simple and easy to cruise around. Although some hairy corners on what should be single lane one way roads.
Again no hassle from the locals and I rode a public ‘bus’ to town with ease for a dollar. The bus is a mini van that loads in the people, most without seatbelts. Similar to what I rode in Grenada.
Beaches are lovely but not as postcard worthy as I believed from Google images. But I do believe the phrase that there are as many beaches as there are days in the year on Antigua.
I’d likely come back and use this as a base to explore Barbuda, St Kitts and St Barts.

View from my room

Pigeon Beach. My closest beach. Ok

Climbed a hill

Halfmoon Beach. Lots of seaweed washed up recently. Not as nice as claimed.

Jolly Beach

And that’s it. No hurricane. Although it threatened. Some islands I’d come back to, others are firmly on the DNR list. Definitely prefer ferries over planes where I could. Easier to get around than I thought and lots of research online that you can just google and make it up when you wake up!

Antigua – the Historic City not the Island

21 June 2016 / travellingross / 2 Comments

13 – 16 June 2016

Travellingross Rating: 10 out of 10

This city in Guatemala is an infusion of places I have been before. Fortunately the best parts of those places. A bit of Peru, Costa Rica, Cuba and Mexico.

But different to those countries (I know I’m broad brushing entire countries and not comparing to all of Guatemala just yet), here in Antigua city, it’s like the tourist doesn’t exist. Sure there are people trying to sell tacky jewellery and cashews. But other than that everyone goes on with life and it’s authentic. Not like Cuba with their vintage taxis and tourist pesos made solely for the foreigners. Or like Costa Rica where everyone seemed to target the assumed wealthy foreigner. Here kids play basketball with archaeological digs and repairs in the background. A volcano erupts smoke in the near distance. And the stalls on the streets are intended for the locals, not the tourist. All in a relaxed, simple atmosphere that is safer than my minimal research lead me to believe.

A world heritage listed city that literally has an historic site or ruin on every corner. I did not see anything outside the core but I felt that, unlike other world heritage listed towns, this one is a working lived in, functioning city. I really enjoyed my time here and it was a great way to kick off my Guatemala and Belize trip.

How to Make this Trip

Flights: Copa Airlines via Panama City. Long layover in Panama so I paid $50 USD to enter the lounge which was a great decision.

Transport: Pre-arranged an airport pick up and transfer to my hotel through Around Antigua for $43 USD. I read that Guatemala City is hazardous for tourists and not much to see, so I was happy to see someone holding my name on a sign and get straight outta there to my hotel in 45 mins.

Accommodation: Hotel Meson de Maria for $56 USD per night via booking.com. Quiet, perfect location and with a delicious included breakfast. Only downside was the weak Wi-Fi signal.

Ahhhh my hotel from the rooftop terrace

My hotel. Loved the courtyard

The arch. Symbol of the town.

Typical street scene

Basillica

Inside the basillica

Riiiiiight

Creative fountain

City Hall

“The most preserved church in town”

City Hall looking to Cathedral

Typical courtyard

Local beer overlooking some ruins

Parque central. Very peaceful.

Another corner, another ruin

Volcano overlooking the town

A volcano blowing a puff of smoke. I’m sure there was a tremor one morning.

From Santa Cruz look out

Kids playing in front of a ruin under restoration. Such a contrast.

Love this

I don’t normally show food, but here’s some local dish. Food is good here.

Suriname: Parbo and Berg en Dal

8 September 20158 September 2015 / travellingross / Leave a comment

Wednesday 29 July to Wednesday 5 August 2015

travellingross rating = 8/10

My short rotations and short breaks continued. This time a 15 day rotation, then 7 days off then 15 days on before finally getting back to my normal 19 off, 23 on. All to provide coverage for one week when the top 4 environmental staff would be off-site. I don’t mind it all that much but it is hard to get into a rhythm and have people around you wondering what the hell kind of roster you are doing. But for sure I was not going to fly out of the country for just 7 days off. So I stayed in Suriname. Spent 5 nights in Paramaribo at a different and nicer hotel than the Marriott which is what work puts us up at (although I have reached Gold Status with Marriott so the upgraded rooms are growing on me). Had 2 nights at a jungle resort as well. Would like to have travelled along the coast to see the turtles coming ashore to lay eggs but it is wrong time of year.

I tried to make plans with the locals I knew were on break in Parbo but quickly realised the Surinamese are not the greatest for sticking to plans. They don’t know what they’re doing until 5 minutes before they do it. It’s a level of disorganization that grates against my every instinct and motive. But maybe that’s all part of the test. I did spend a day out with some local guys from work and went to the cinema (saw Pixels which I enjoyed), which was good to see parts of town I’m yet to experience.

Berg en Dal (the jungle resort) is considerably larger than I expected. Full bus load of people came along with me for the 2 hour journey from the city. Beautiful setting by the river. Had to wait 2 hours before I could check into room. Food is average. Lots of families. Down side was that everyone speaks Dutch so all the tour info and greetings are in Dutch (this convinced me to download the Dutch language in Duolingo and finally succumb to learning Dutch over Spanish). Very tranquil place with cabins immersed in the rainforest like you’re in a tree house. No ceiling fans anywhere so lack of air movement makes it stuffy in this humid climate, but rooms have air cons. The beds are super comfortable soft, but I do prefer a firm mattress. There was a father and son who wore the same outfit every day – day and night. There are many adventure activities available; I chose kayak on the Suriname River which was a good mix of energy and exploration (the threat of Piranhas is an added incentive not to capsize).

The 7 days spent in Suriname were perfect time off to catch up on life and have some alone time. Work is so time consuming and hectic that there’s not much time to do anything else. Or when I do have a spare hour, I just want to vegetate.

Haven’t even had time to read it 😦

the demon hour?

a balcony! and a view of the pool/river. wow.

They don’t even celebrate Christmas so it is amusing that Macca’s advertises Christmas in July.

Torarica

The tallest wooden structure in South America

Yes, I went.

Kayak time

Miami and a Bahamas Cruise

12 June 201512 June 2015 / travellingross / Leave a comment

Friday 29 May to Friday 5 June 2015

travellingross rating = 8/10

The last work rotation was a hectic 16 days. A short one due to time owed from a longer rotation earlier this year. So there was not much time to ease back into it following my return from Amsterdam, which sucked cause it took me 5 days to get back into the time zone and hit fifth gear (it’s hard for me to admit that, as I used to claim there is no such thing as jet lag). Although that direct flight back was excellent with an economy comfort paid upgrade and landing at a decent afternoon hour versus the usual late night flight. There’s not much to report from a work front so I’ll include a couple photos and say it was training, budget planning, rain (350mm wettest month of the year), co hosting 5 Colorado school of mines visitors, stray dog ‘management’, and Suriname re elected their president. Interesting how developing countries care much more about elections than developed countries seem to.

I departed site a day after my sister’s birthday 28 May and had orchestrated a large group of us who all happened to be in Parbo at same time to have a night on the town. Something I would never do in Ghana so another sign I prefer this place. Great night and a rude awakening to get the 4 am shuttle to the airport for a 7:15am flight to Miami via Curacao. In the morning rush, I somehow lost my external hard drive that has my laptop and phone back-ups on it along with movies, music, and photos. Yeah so, my entire life ready for someone to hijack my identity. Weirdest thing is when I got to Miami the cable was in my suitcase, but not the actual device. I was sure it must be in the Suriname hotel but no. It’s a lesson to protect this like gold in future. Everything on there (except movies) is backed up on another external hard drive thanks to my OCD, so I don’t think I’ve lost much. Just hate losing stuff and this year is not trending well in that regard.

3 nights in Miami staying in a 5 star hotel was bliss. Time to sleep in, order room service each night, tick off some long due to-do list items. I usually file all my property and finance e-documents promptly but haven’t since November 2014. That’s just one example of how my organised life has got away from me since starting in Suriname.

On 1 June I set off on a 4 night Bahamas cruise. I’ve spent years thinking about whether I would like a cruise. Too old, too confining, crowded, hitting an iceberg. The usual hesitations. But with my placement in the Caribbean area I knew it was cruise moment of truth. After researching many farther afield options with different companies, I settled on a shorter Norwegian cruise in case I hated it. The reality was so different to expectations. Hard to spot a 65+ person with a diversity of ages, club techno music on the pool deck with a party atmosphere, big drinking culture, and lots of space. The balcony room was spacious enough with a bigger bathroom than expected but overall dated and tired. There were 3 stops but I didn’t get off at Nassau as it was rainy terrible weather. This suited me to have a chill catch up day. They push the paid shore excursions but no obligation and I did my own thing. Easy enough except Grand Bahamas was a long taxi trip from port and not well organised. The evening entertainment is well structured and sort of corny, repeated. There is a casino on board and that surprised me although it shouldn’t.

Docking back in Miami at 7am, you had to be off the boat by 930am. I’m very glad to have done a cruise finally and rid some of the doubts. I would do another one, on a different company to compare and ideally around a few more islands. I do feel an obligation to get off at each stop so maybe a cruise with a couple full days at sea would suit me more.

My desire for a ‘do nothing’ break was not getting any more realistic as the night before docking back in Miami I booked flights and tickets to see the U2 concert in Denver as well as my good friend who was about to have baby number 1!

Random Observations

I love that USA has everything I can get at home – groceries, snacks, restaurants. But that can be overwhelming to me who is less used to that choice and range nowadays. I walk into a store and almost step back at the number of aisles and check outs.
I went to an Italian cafe and ordered a Greek salad. Delicious.
Losing my external hard drive was eye opening to realise how much personal data I carried on that with such a care free attitude. Now it’s in the hands of someone who could choose to delete all the data by formatting it or go through all my files…and maybe steal my identity.
Miami is easy for me
I go through moments of wanting to party and be around a herd of people, to wanting to be alone in a hotel room without seeing another human being. Miami typically is associated with the former, but I craved the latter. Especially after getting the party out of me in Parbo.
Grand Bahamas – “this is where John Travolta’s son died” stated the taxi driver as the first opening line of her tourism remarks
Cruise ship air con seemingly set to 16C so it is freezing inside
The movement felt on the ship is more than I expected, like you’re drunk and swaying. This was only night one. Other days were never felt. Not sure why.
Food is good
Internet is $25 per day
Champagne selection sucks – Presecco.
Announcements get annoying and too frequent
Many restaurant options, half complimentary. The others with a cover charge of $15-30
Great Stirrup Cay was beautiful and exactly how I pictured the Bahamas. Walk further along the beach to find more secluded bays with some of the clearest water I’ve seen – where kayaks look like they are floating on air rather than gliding across the water surface.

CIL

Mill

Christening my new name engraved glass from Amsterdam

that’s where the cruise ships depart from

cause 1 shower head is not enough

Felt rough, but always better than this guy!

with Miami in background

South Beach

loooooong corridors

Games room

1 of the many bars

Took ages to not see Miami anymore. From the room balcony

Not sure how the poor feel about this

Parked up

The ship in b/g

Recuperating in Tobago

23 February 20156 March 2015 / travellingross / Leave a comment

Wednesday 4 February to Tuesday 10 February 2015

travellingross rating = 6/10

It’s never a pleasant experience going to the airport hungover, let alone get up at 4 am to pack all my belongings, get in a taxi, head to the airport in snow, navigate the Denver airport and spend all day travelling. Fortunately, I had Matt with me as we were both on the same flights through to Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago. Even more fortunately, I was going to a Caribbean island for 6 nights of 100% relaxation. The travel was ok, but I remember sitting on the tarmac during our Houston layover for more than an hour. And United Airlines (as with most USA airlines) have terrible or non-existent in-flight entertainment or food. Didn’t help that trying to watch Dumb & Dumber 2 on my laptop stopped at the 40 minute mark for no reason and then my laptop battery was going flat. Ah, 1^st world problems. Matt and I had enough time for a beer together in Port of Spain airport (yes we can both back it up) as he headed back to Suriname for his last rotation and I boarded a 25 minute flight across to the island of Tobago.

Lots of people have told me to avoid Trinidad, but that Tobago is really nice and worth a visit. Apparently the bigger island of Trinidad is wealthier but full of crime, dirt and people. Tobago only has a 60,000 population and a diversity of things to do. Surprisingly, I had to pay a $67 USD visa to enter T&T which does not apply to USA or Canada citizens. I received mild questioning as to why I did not have a visa before arrival but was able to fill a form and get a visa waiver at immigration.

I stayed at the Kariwak Holistic Haven Hotel. An exotic name for a relaxing retreat. Very close to the airport and tropical with bird feeders, two pools, a yoga hall, hammocks and a general vibe of simple relaxation. This was just what I wanted. I always like to stay by the beach on coastal places but this was perfect. I didn’t drink a drop of alcohol on Tobago. Nor did I swim in the ocean. Time to detox, sleep til midday, laze by the pool (ozone treated rather than chlorine or salt and it was awesome!), read, etc. I did two touristy things – walked to Pigeon Point beach (ok but too touristy for a beach), and a half day rainforest tour of one of the world’s oldest conservation reserves that was founded in 1776 and this was really good. A particular highlight was receiving a random phone call at 10pm from Perth Airport to ask where I wanted my suitcase delivered to!!! Totally out of the blue and unexpected. My bag was finally found. Sure, in Perth which is no good to me, but in safe hands with all contents! Unbelievable.

Overall, Tobago was not that great or memorable. I found Curacao to be better with nicer beaches, better people and cleaner. Tobago felt like Africa in places and too under-developed for my liking. The hotel was great and I’m sure the diving is good. But I think the Caribbean has better to offer than Tobago.

Websites and Tips to Make this Trip

Booked the hotel through www.kariwak.com for USD $205 per night for pool side room

Rainforest tour through Harris’ Jungle Tours USD $65 or 400 TT www.harris-jungle-tours.com

Denver airport – departing

Tobago, Crown Point

I didn’t even try to get the bird in this – so many around

Appropriate shirt

Too small, too public, bad sand

No idea what this bird is, but we spent ages trying to photo it. And it’s not even that pretty.

Bliss

Loved the reflections

I have a thing for moss in rainforests

Like an angel

Home of Curacao Liqueur

15 December 2014 / travellingross / Leave a comment

Friday 14 to Wednesday 19 November 2014

Curacao. Yet another country I didn’t know existed and a name I pronounced entirely incorrect (it’s cure-a-sow not koo-rac-o). But a country that has intriguing character, great people and many turquoise bays to explore. And to be fair to myself for another geography failure, it is a country that only became official in 2010 when the Dutch Antilles were separated under the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Getting to Curacao from Fort Lauderdale I became trapped in a terrible traffic jam of gridlock hell that amplified frustration when trying to get to the airport for a 10:50am flight. I roared into the rental car return, raced to check-in and then I became one of ‘those people’ trying to cram 4 bags into 2 to meet the TSA requirements of only 2 pieces of hand-luggage. All along I was worried they’d weigh my bags but instead it was all about the number of items. Rejected by the TSA security, I was against the wall between the water fountain and the toilet stuffing souvenirs, food and belongings into my back pack and then kneeling on my carry-on suitcase to zip it up. In the end I got to the gate only to be told my suitcase was now too fat and would have to be checked. Free of charge. $25 saving, a lot of sweat and a bit of stress. Next time I’ll know better. This could be the first and last attempt at carry-on only.

3 hrs later and I landed mid-afternoon in Willemstad, the capital of Curacao. In Fort Lauderdale the night before, and under the influence of some beers, I booked the Marriot beachfront hotel through an app on my phone. I have a policy of not staying in Marriot’s because they tend to be the ones targeted by terrorists. But the Hilton was booked and the Marriot had the beach hotel vibe I was chasing for 5 nights ahead of my return to work. Getting to my room and any concerns about expense or being blown up washed away literally with the waves outside my room. I love these kind of hotels and have always enjoyed these vacations whether it be in Zanzibar, Turks & Caicos, or Broome. The check-in process was the best I’ve experienced anywhere.

The sea water here is perfect temperature. It rained a fair bit though and was cloudy 70% of the time which meant it wasn’t really hot enough for me to feel like beach weather. People smoke on the beach which annoys me. I used the steam room everyday. I’ve added ‘steam room’ to my ‘Dream Home’ list.

Other highlights included renting a scooter for a couple of days and cruising around the island to the Sea Aquarium, along the coast to some truly beautiful bays and out to the factory where the Curacao liqueur is made. It’s a brief tour here, but interesting to learn how this orange flavoured blue drink originated and is now the component of many cocktails around the world. All because of importing Spanish oranges that suffered in the hot Caribbean climate to generate the famous liqueur that now comes in many colours but blue is the most recognised. Wandering around the two sides of Willemstad was enjoyable. The harbour inlet separates the two sides but is joined by a mobile pedestrian bridge that opens for ships, tug boats etc. Very relaxing to sit at one of the waterside restaurants with beer in hand watching the ships go by. Ahhhhhh island life.

Websites Used to Make this Trip

Booked the scooter through www.curacaoscooters.com

On a rare clear day