The land of drugs and rebellion

Señores y señoritas,

welcome in the land of white coffee! A shabby Dash5-propellor-airplane took us from Panama City, over the Carribean, into Colombian territories; the colonial city of Cartagena de Indias to be precise.

It has been a haunting but interesting experience so far. We hadn't left the Airport for 2 hours, or already had little bagglets of "snow" in our hands... TWICE! Which we kindly refused.

Colombia is an exhausting country. Not yet the touristy spot that Costa Rica is and not by far the alienated little country that El Salvador was. The people in the streets seek constant interaction. One can't walk through a street without hearing "¿hola amigo, de donde eres?" or "¿quieres drogas, my friend?" repetitively.

This however, doesn´t bother us the least. We know perfectly how to handle these little akward situations. And there is a big plus: Colombian women are among the finest on the face of this planet. And, even though less attractive, the men are among the friendliest we´ve met so far.

According to the 'Lonely Planet' guidebook, Cartagena might be the best looking colonial town on the continent. For once, they might be spot on!









Sharpening our knives, lighting a fine-ass Cuban cigar. Bring it on, South America, we´re ready to go down in style!

The Continental Divide

Boys and girls,

After a seven weeks race through the North- and Central-American subcontinents, we finally arrived in Panamá, La Ciudad.

Burnt by pirates, bombed by the US (during the Noriega-era) Panamá always provails. It's a modern-day metropolis with skyscrapers, highways, musea, clubs and an enchanting 'Casco Viejo' (old town) that takes you back to the Panamá of the 50's.

And last but not least, Panamá has one great asset: The continental divide, also known as "The Panama-Canal". An 80km long artificial waterway, connecting the pacific ocean to the Gatún Lake and from there into the Carribean. Constructed by France and the United States, Panamá finally gained control over the canal-zone in 1999. Taking into account that ships have to pay as much as up to $200.000 to use this waterway, Panamá is now well underway to become the economic and financial heart of Centro America.

Everyone should see this magical place. Now we're off to the land of sugar; Colombia!

Panama Pimps

Hey dudes! It's been two weeks, time for an update! We left Granada, raced through thus skipped Costa Rica and ended up in Bocas del Toro, Panama. Soon, we discovered that life on these Caribbean islands is awesome. That's why we've been here for ten days now. Deserted Islands, 50 cent beers, gorgeous girls from around the globe. No complaining here. We've been horse riding - jihaaa - and scuba diving - blublub. Bocas so rocks!

Managua Mayhem

Hello earthlings,

it's been a couple of interesting days. Yesterday, we swapped some weird-looking black-sand beaches in El Salvador for the capital of Nicaragua aka Managua. A legal agreement between Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua states one only has to pay once entering the region and once leaving it. But entering Nicaragua, a boarder patrol policeman charged 8 dollars on both of us. Locals were asked only 1.

We were told this money is for the benefit of the local community, but locals made it perfectly clear to us the money was going to disappear in the policeman's pocket. We resisted to pay the 16 dollars for a while. Sadly, it was clear the busdriver and the policeman had made an agreement: not to pay the money would've ment the bus was going to leave without us. The busdriver and the policeguy surely divided the money. Viva la corrupcion! These illegal practices are truly sad; the money doesn't go to those in need.

In the bus, a Nicaraguan told us about the situation his country is in. Prices for food and gas are going up, but wages stay the same. Poverty is rising, people are sad and angry. Disputes are solved with sticks and guns. Nicaraguans have no belief in a good future anymore. The rich are getting richer and the poor poorer. The president and his regime are responsible.

The highway into Managua was blocked by demonstrants demanding changes. Angry people and fires all around us. When we finally arrived in Managua, a security officer holding a shotgun escorted us into a cab; Managua wasn't safe to stay. That's how we ended up in small and tranquil Granada.

People Power!

El Salvador, yes kids, El Salvador!

A place not well known by us, westerners. A country that had its difficulties. A country with people that never give up. The Salvadorians have had much to endure. A 12-year-long civil war in which the army slaughtered thousands of people (a massacre funded with over $6 billion by the US), Hurricane Stan in 2005 that killed many and earthquakes gallore. To top it all, the government cancelled the local currency in 2001 and replaced it with the US dollar, rendering the economy totally dependant on Salvadorians working in the United States and sending money back home.

And yet. What strikes us most is the grace with which people seem to carry their suffering. They seem so happy that finally some travellers are taking the risk to visit their country and gladly assist us with any questions we might have.

A country that has had so much to endure. And yet. El Salvador's greatest asset is its people.

Lava Lovers

YES Babies,

PACAYA is the name. The Guatemaltec city of Antigua is situated between 3 Volcanos, of which one really active. Last eruption: August 2006. But that obviously doesn't withhold the locals from organising hikes.

We don't know about you guys, but standig close to actual 1000ºC hot lava was something on our list. Even when standing meters away, the heat is nearly unbearable. And not without risk, because you could actually see the streams of lava underneath the very rocks we were standing on!



We concluded the day by enjoying a free performance of the world famous Buena Vista Social Club in Antigua's Estudio 35.

Ay Caramba!

Hiya folks,

Wazzuup?? We've been movin' a lot again the last few days. A ten hour busride brought us from crazy Ciudad de Mexico to Villahermosa, where we split up. Nick choose to go to San Cristobal de Las Casas, I opted for Palenque. Since then I've seen a whole bunch of deep-into-the jungle-burried-lost-but-not-forgotten Maya cities. Crazy beautiful stuff! Sunday I went to tiny Belize with Toko, Finnish dude. On the upside, I've got some nice Belize stamps in my passport now. Downside is my Belize City bed turned out to be filled with bed bugs, pure horror!! A fifteen hour scratching journey took me from Belize to Antigua, Guatemala.

Nick just chilled out in the Zappatista town of San Cristobal and then took a twelve hour busride to Antigua, where he wisely continued his chillin' and awaited my arrival.



So far, we've traveled one month. Time for some staggering statistics:

RARITIES ENCOUNTERED

quetzal bird

shooting star

FBI in action

woman with beard

TRANSPORTATION

motorcycle rides: 1 hour

boat trips: 2 hours
metro rides: 3 hours

taxi rides: 3 hours

bicycle rides: 4 hours
train rides: 11 hours

flights: 13 hours

busrides: 93 hours

walking: didn't count

FINANCIAL ISSUES
money spent: $1800 each

items lost: Nick: sunglasses; Sebastian: sweater, sunscreen, cellphone
lucky shots: car rental company forgot to charge $300, Nick won $5 on a Vegas bus for knowin' the capital of Tasmania, Sebastiaan intercepted fraude at the Guatemala-Belize border: $3

<-- Sebastian´s Bedbugg Rash

Scarlett and Ruines

3 days ago, a nightbus took us from Sayulita over Guadelajara to Mexico City. And a city it is. With well over 20 million inhabitants it is concidered to be the biggest on planet earth. Taken into account the massive amount of cars and its 2km altitude, it's hard to breathe. Especially with all those breathtaking women (we ran into Scarlett Johansson!) and staggering Aztec pyramids.

We would also like to extend a little thank you to Lieven (Liebherr) for joining us on the first 3,5 weeks of our trip. We surely hope you had fun! (we know we had)

Sayulita, Señorita

Holaaa señores y señoritas,

After an 11 hour ride on El Chepe and three 5 hour busrides, we finally arrived in paradise. The little town of Sayulita is about 2500 km south of the US-Mexican border. La vida es superbien aqui.

A day in paradise goes like this:

- 9 am: jam and toast for breakfast
- 9.30: beach running and swimming
- 11: chillin' in the hostel
- 12.30: going to the grocery nextdoor and cook
- 2 pm: siesta
- 4: surf, sex and rock n' roll
- 1 am: hit the sack, drunk and satisfied

Scheduled to leave today, we deliberately missed our bus. Next one's going Sunday. Brilliant!

See u in Mexico City (perhaps)

El Chepe

Viva Chihuahua

Passaportas por favor

Hi all,

After waking up in our shady motel in Las Cruches this morning, we drove our Sebring (for one last time) across the Texan border to the Mexican bordertown of El Paso. Our initial plan was to already cross the border and spend the night in Ciudad Juarez, but many people advised us not to do that since drug cartels have recently gone a bit mad over there and killed a lot of cops.

So we just crossed the border to get our Mexican tourist visa for tomorrow. And what a strange experience it was. Crossing the border by foot was very alienating. Once more, let the pictures speak for themselves...

Tomorrow we're getting on the bus to Chihuahua, Mexico, to fetch a train to the Pacific. Finally!

PS: Enjoy the weather in Belgica.