Beautiful Baracoa

Within two hours of sitting on the grass outside Barracoa airport we had been fed chocolate from the factory in town, given a lesson in Espanol and had the low down on the best beaches, bars and casas in town. Barracoa is the oldest settlement in Cuba and my favorite by far. It is small, about 50 000 people and with narrow streets running down to the ocean. We danced salsa and ate fish minutes out of the ocean. We soon found out that buying individual Cuba Libres was ridiculous when for $5 you can buy a full bottle of excellent ron and a litre of cola! El Ranchon was the busiest nightclub in town, perched on the side of the hill about 150 steps (risky business after a few Cuba Libres!) Everyone here is born dancing and they are all incredibly patient with foreigners born with two left feet! The next day I was shown the beach at the end of town and drank coconut milk freshly macheted in front of me (with rum and lemon naturally). We walked to the Playa Blanca and ate cucurucha - a local blend of honey, coconut, mango and banana - wrapped up in banana leaf like an icecream cone. There is so much food here - I was invited to a family home for dinner - incredibly fresh fish, rice, beans and fried banana chips .. then more salsa to try and negate the effects of the overwhelming hospitality. The next day I caught the bus out to Playa Maguana .. and drank Malta - a non alcoholic drink that tastes of malt and honey. I promised my Ylena - my casa mama that I would be back ... and I will ...

Cuba and Habaneros

Cuba is indescribable. Driving into Havana from the airport, the streets are full of huge classic America cars, the buildings remind me of Soviet era Russia with enormous murals of revolutionary heroes plastered on the walls. Habana is beautiful, old Colonial buildings, salsa music pumping, Cuba Libres flowing. I wandered down from my hotel the first night, met some Habaneros (locals) who adopted me and guided me around the city at night. We stopped at The Hotel National where US mobsters held a huge convention in the 50s under the guise of a Frank Sinatra concert! The next day we caught up and walked through Old Havana and took an old 50s Chevy taxi to Havana Central, caught a ferry across to Regla, ate a hotdog at Parque Guanicanamar, then back to cheer on the Industriales at Stadium LatinAmerica (Cuban baseball champions). Got a lesson in (and bracelet from) the Afro-Caribbean religion Santeria. That night we went to see the firing of the canon at Parque Historico Militar Morro-Cabana - then more salsa. The people are so very poor but so very generous and open their homes so freely. Amazing place.

Frida's Casa Azul

In today's episode of the Amazing Race, Fiona has four hours to find her way across Mexico City without a map to Frida Kahlo's house armed only with the name of the nearest (give or take 10 blocks) Metro station. She can (and frequently does) ask for directions (which only helped when accompanied by hand gestures and charades as no-one spoke English or even slow Spanish). From there she must use Blanca's Mum's mud map to find Lecaroz Bakery, buy a pollo empanada and pastry, walk across to Coyoctan Plaza, sit (not directly) under the world's largest Piñata and smugly eat her lunch in the sun.
Casa Azul is an amazing collection of Kahlo's work, life and loves. Decorated with her paintings, photos and personal possessions, it's a must see for anyone going to Mexico City ... just take a map..
On the way back I dropped in to say goodbye to my new friends at Culichi Bichi - they fed me (again) this time it was spicy seafood soup and crab empanada whilst inflicting Andrea Rieu "Live in Australia" on their customers in my honour .. priceless ..

The Pyramids of Teotihuacan (or "El Stargate")

On the way to the ancient Anztec Capital we stopped off and had tastings of Tequila, Mezcal and other local liquors. Francisco and I continued with the shots while the rest of the bus went shopping - a bad decision in retrospect as within a few minutes we were at the pyramids. With belly full of molè, head fuzzy with tequila I could sympathise with the Aztec's human sacrifices as I climbed the Pyramid of the Sun, the Pyramid of the Moon and dragged myself down the (aptly named) Road of the Dead to the Citadel and the Plumed Serpents (my favorite obviously).
It may have been the hours of watching Espanol Stargate while trying to learn the language - but I swear there was an uncanny resemblance ..

Of Mojitos and Mariachi

... my hotel map seemed clear, it was a 20 minute walk away and the Paso de la Reforma is the huge and dotted with monuments - so what's the chance of getting lost? But there I was ... map out in front of Culichi Bichi Cafe and Bar when the owners rescued me.. Replying to my abysmal Spanish in perfect English, Hector pointed out that I could attempt certain death trying to cross eight lanes of traffic OR I could sit at their bar on the street and have a beer... The beer morphed into a jug of mojitos (Hector popping next door to get the mint) and we were amigos .. wandering down after closing to Garibaldi Square to eat cochinita pilit (pork with axiote ... for a split second I thought I was going to be eating lung fish but it's a spice), drink more tequila and listen to Mariachi. The bands filled the square and the bars we were in, small groups of men in traditional (read cool Cisco Kid) costumes playing instruments from trumpets to harps. It costs between $6 - 8 per song or you could hire a group for the evening - common practice amongst groups of Mexican men ... I paid one group to play "Jarebe Loco" - a song from my friend's home town - hilarious... We walked back across town and caught a cab .. day one ...

Images of Mexico

Mexico City is an amazing mix of cultures - not to mention a huge clash of colours and smells and noise ... and right now approaching Christmas, with a billion strobing lights and nativity scenes crowding the streets, the chaos is at it's peak! McNifico !!

Pinatas and Patiserias

... I sped back to my hotel last night in the back of a VW taxi (looking exactly like my `68 Beetle I had in the US - except this one didn't have a front passenger seat), Mariachi music ringing in my ears full of tequila blanco and cochinita pibil ... viva la Mexico!! ..
Mexico City is enormous, 8 million people all driving huge SUVs or VW bugs ... in a chaotic frenzy. Exploring downtown and the Zocolo yesterday (3rd biggest plaza in the world - now currently housing an enormous ice skating rink - a novelty that has Mexicans lining up for 2 hours), I noted that I was a head taller and good deal blonder than the general populace - who were really friendly and chatty - though I suspect they were saying - "God Juan, look at that pale, blonde giant, quick get the children out of her way .."
Staying in a much more salubrious neighbourhood than my last trip (paved roads and no packs of wild dogs this time), many of the streets look like Buenos Aires, clean, full of Fifth Avenue shops and uniformed, heavily armed police lounging around toting weaponry that could overthrow governments.
Also like BA, there are thousands of mouthwatering bakeries and street carts toting fried, sugared and creamed delicacies (but this time I packed all loose clothing ..) and I stumbled onto the largest pinata in my whole life!
I treated my inner geek to a second visit to the National Anthropology museum (Anztec human sacrifice and snake worshipers - what's not to love?) and had sopaipillas for lunch (little fried chicken filled pastries) - I thought I had ordered quesidillas, so obviously my Spanish is going to be REALLY helpful this trip..

Countdown to Cuba!!

I'm flying out to Cuba via Mexico and Costa Rica in less than two weeks!!! I’ve had five months to prepare for this trip – weeks and weeks of Spanish lessons (am still abysmal - but it was fun)and hours watching Stargate in Espanol with English subtitles (as a bonus I also feel absolutely confident I will be able to deal with the huge alien bloodsucking scorpions when they descend onto Mexico City). I also roped Linda into doing Salsa lessons (which almost ground to a halt day one when she realised she would have to actually TOUCH people she didn't know – but 3 litres of hand sanitiser later we were fine).

Although the ransom fund is pretty healthy I haven’t had as much luck auditioning for my hostage negotiator team. The most enthused volunteer (who appeared to have the right qualifications) was later exposed as having lost hostages in all his three training scenarios and come to his own grisly demise in at least one of them. So I am looking for volunteers. A common kidnapping practice in Mexico City is to keep the victim over 24 hours so they can return to the ATM to take out the daily limit the following morning which, Randy optimistically pointed out, would take care of my first night’s accommodation….

Very very excited ..driving my staff mad with frenzied versions of La Cucaracha in the hallways and the hourly number-of-sleeps-to-go-tally ….

Finally I'M A BEST BOY AND GRIP !!!!

So not only do I have wonderful memories from the trip - the boy's vids are up for their competition so I can relive the adventure over and over and I got credit for being Jason's BEST BOY AND GRIP - hope Mr Speilberg is watching .....


http://besttraveljobever.com/jason-boomers-travel (I get a cameo at the end) and for all their 5 minute clips - http://besttraveljobever.com/travel-team-southamerica

...and more Buenos Aires

Beautiful Buenos Aires

The city is spectacular - elegant buildings, green leafy plazas, miles of markets in bohemian San Telmo, bright corrugated iron and lattice buildings in La Boca, crazy 16 lanes of Av 9 de Julio, Casa Rosada (the Pink House - where Eva Peron addressed the masses - and btw it's completely impossible not to burst into "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" whilst standing in front of it) and a fast, cheap subway (Subte) with the original wooden carriages from the 1920s (as Bin and I watched it take off with arms and legs still hanging out the doors in peak hour one morning we simultaneously decided to walk). Absolutely glorious city ... I'll be back (after a few more Spanish and Tango lessons).

Life as a Porteño

Being in Buenos Aires during the World Cup is like being sucked up in a whirlpool of blue and white stripes, the city ground to a halt to watch the Pumas beat N Korea this morning, and as I sat and ate my medialunas (teeny little crossiants that are compulsory with coffee - they don`t even ask if you want some - it`s always how many?!) I got completely caught up in the fervour.
Later - walking around all day in a hyperglycemic haze (I have done some serious damage to the medialuna population) I realised that these people all smoke, only eat red meat (or food encased in pastry and/or covered in cream) and follow their team with a passion that surpasses anything I have encountered - and I became really concerned that the entire population are going to keel over with a heart attack by the finals ...
I am also amazed at their friendliness - especially to visitors attempting to murder their lovely language. Today I had two people (both bearing a striking resemblence to Antonio Banderas) come up and give me directions - and I wasn`t even LOOKING at my map - they just took it out of my hands and told me where to go, unfortunately my Spanish is so terrible I got lost and wandered (albeit quite happily) for hours, stopping frequently for cafe con leche e medialunas ..
I also tried yerba mate (kind of coca tea - people walk around sipping on it all day) through a silver straw from a gourd-like cup (the waiter had to demonstrate) accompanied by dulce de leche (caramelised condensed milk) on wafers .. need to learn Spanish for "help I`m developing diabetes" ...

The Complejo Tango - Buenos Aires

My hotel room sits above a theatre in an old building with 20ft ceilings, winding wooden staircases with wrought iron doors and heavy wooden shutters on the window.
Each of the eight bedrooms has a tango theme, either a famous dancer or musician - mine says "Jacinta Chiclana, Guapo nacido en este barrio" and my phrase book isn't any help.
The orchestra pit is about 3 feet from my bed and every night there is a tango show. I sit in the top lobby writing whilst women in elaborate dresses mill around me and guys in black with violins and piano accordians smile as they squeeze past. Coolest accomodation ever.
When Belinda arrives a few days later, we have our tango lesson (and get a certificate - which will go straight to the pool room!), a three course meal (with a steak I can cut with a butter knife), several bottles of Malbec and watch the tango cabaret ... Fabulous night ... and we had change from $60 ... I could live here ..

Ollantaytambo

A fine example of Inca town planning, Ollantaytambo is incredibly impressive, a huge fortress (one of the few places where the conquistadors lost a battle) with steep terraces (more bloody steps), is topped by a spectacular ceremonial area.

The Sacred Valley

The Sacred Valley or Valle Sagrado is about 15 km north of Cusco. We stop at an Intrepid foundation project for lunch and to watch a community demonstration in traditional textile making - a small collection of curious toddlers and children play nearby as we watch the complicated process of dyeing, spinning and weaving. The women sit at the looms 12 hours a day, 6 days a week! They also make unbelievable quinoa soup and a searing salsa criolla mmm....