PANAMA TRAVEL GUIDE

This is my last post about tips in Central America, if you wish to check all the countries I posted about, just click on the Label "Central america" on the right side of the blog page, you will find all information. Oh! And today, although the weather looks grey we will attend a Festival in South Spain called Transition... Coming back on Monday with pictures of the festival ;)

Now, about Panama. You have to be careful with the police here, we know few stories that kinda shocked me. A guy from Venezuela went to Panama one month to sell his beautiful macrame and lether art to save money for his family. One afternoon the police came and put all the 10 crafters, including him on jail, they had to pay a 1000 dolars fee and get out the country. But this is not it. The police took all the handmade products from them... I mean macrame, do you know how long does it take to finish one single necklace?? It can take days :( This is very sad.

But I think Panama is very beautiful and interesting, worth a visit, no doubts! To get in you pay $3 and make sure you have a flight somewhere else before entering the country, otherwise you can't enter the country! And print out the flight info to show in the border. To leave the country by plane you gotta pay $40 fee, sometimes is included, sometimes not (then you pay in the airport with visa or cash). Attention!! If your flight is from Panama City to Frankfurt with Condor you need a USA Transit Visa, since you will have a Scale in San Juan (you can do it in this website BEFORE your flight date) The currency is US dolar, you have some balboa coins (one balboa is one dolar).

COSTA RICA TRAVEL GUIDE

I'm so sorry we had to rush in this amazing country, where you find untouchable Nature pretty much anywhere! In the other hand is so expensive, they say that Costa Rica is the Switzerland of America so you can imagine the prices over there. Plus, when you are backpacking for months and months in a tight budget you have to skip places like this... But, one day I will come back with 2000€ on me hehe

We only spent 5 days or so in this country so I cannot help too much. Basic Info: You don't pay anything to get in or get out the country. The currency is Colon but US dolars are very used as well.

We arrived in Liberia and we found really cool beaches around. Then we head to San Jose and felt that it's hard for a backpacker with low budget to survive in this capital: you pay around $US12 per dorm, it's forbidden to sleep in the street, the bus stations close at night, $3 for a burger and so on. San Jose is just a big city.

NICARAGUA TRAVEL GUIDE

Uhhh so much to tell you about this country, there's a lot of diversity: Islands, Mountains, Ocean and Cities. The currency is Cordoba but US dolars are used a lot as well. We denied from the beggining using dolars in Central America because it wasn't USA so we didn't see any point. We like to use the currency of the country and collect the coins and bills :) To enter Nicaragua you pay $US12 and to leave $US2.

- Matagalpa: Mountain Area, very beautiful. We stayed in Hotelito El Economico C150 - Nice, clean, free wifi, TV in the living room and cool staff. Go to tourism Info Office situated in Museo del Cafe and ask what to do, you have so many options. On weekends everything is closed though. We been and enjoyed: Museo del Cafe (free), reserva natural cerro apante (C30), Hotel de Montañas e Cabañas Selva Negra (C50), Mirador Disparate de Potter; In the North of Matagalpa (we found it poorest) is located the Guanuca Cultural Center which is Movie Night on Fridays and Cultural Night on Saturdays (free entrance); You have this "Matagalpa Tours" store where you can find local crafts selling, spanish school, tours to the coffee plantation ($US15) where you know the producters culture, daily life and productive activities - pretty interesting! You also have the chance of homestays.

Selva Negra

HONDURAS TIPS

Sadly we only spent 4 days in Honduras, due to the rain all the time. When you are travelling is fine 1 or 2 days of straight rain because you can take care of yourself: clip nails, read a book or just rest and do nothing. But when it extends for 3 days is another story. So after 4 days we decided to leave to Nicaragua and be happy again :)

But we had great moments in Honduras: a ride we got from the National Director of Pizza Hut and Staying 2 nights in the "guetto" haha these stories are for later, since this post is to give you some lights of what you can do in this country.

Honduras is not so touristic and I guess there are 2 main things to do there: Visit the Mayan ruins in Coban and Heading to Utila Island to dive (it's cheap and they make this 1 week course with accomodation included). But we only been in Tela and La Ceiba which have nothing really special... only the caribean sea (not really amazing) and exploring the Parques (hiking in the mountains)

The currency is Lempira and you pay $US3 to enter and to leave the country.

GUATEMALA TRAVEL GUIDE

I feel so excited to tell you about this country. Everytime I go back to Portugal I think about my favourite country in the trip because I know that it's gonna be the main question. Not that I like it, all countries I've been are special, always stories to tell. This Central America journey I decided that Guatemala was my fave... 50% of the population is still maya, the landscape is magical and the smiles are constant!

To enter Guatemala you pay Q20 (Quetzal is the currency in this country; discover yourself what is a quetzal) and main language is spanish but watch out!! there're a lot of people (esp. in small villages) who speaks mayan. So if you ask something to someone who doesn't answer, maybe that person doesn't speak spanish.

- Xela or Quetzaltenango: Big city. We went to Zunil to visit the Aguas Amargas but sadly it was destroyed when we got there. Before, we been in the flowers, corn, onion, etc plantations, it's so pretty!  You can also go to the Hot Springs, it's not a big deal but walking around is nice. You can also climb the mountain close to the Hot Springs * We also been in Parque El Baul, it's a good place to have a view to the city from above * The center is nice during the night esp. and you can eat for cheap in one Comedor (small restaurant with local food) in the market. We stayed in tenejon hotel, far from the Center for Q80 a night/room.

(the famous "chicken bus" in Xela)

CAR PLATES IN CENTRAL AMERICA

I have this weird taste when taking pictures sometimes. Car plates are so different from country to country or sometimes state from state (like USA) and the coolest thing is what it says or the image. European plates are very boring, only the numbers or/and letters and then the EU symbol with the first letter of the country.

I got caught several times and people make this face "Why is she doing this?".

INTERRAIL EXPERIENCE: LET THE PARTY BEGIN!

It was 2007, me and my cousin Sam were graduating from Uni and wanted to celebrate this big step in our lives: Stop partying our ass off and start working for real (yeah right). In Portugal, there's this thing of travelling with your class mates to a different country when you graduate from High School or University but my Class was a big mess!! Can you imagine around 35 girls and 1 boy in one class room? Geez! But I wanted a special event, something I'd never forget.

InterRail was stucked in my mind (also in my best friend Ana as well) for a while but we needed a good excuse to our parents and we found the graduation thing a great one! Sam is always up for adventures so the 3 of us bought the InterRail ticket for 21 days. (You can check more interRail info here) I didn't know but this was the beggining of a new Cicle in my life: Discovering the FREEDOM and exploring different worlds.

When you start travelling it's nice to have some stuff well organized and the InterRail ticket was perfect. It's a train ticket that you can use in the whole Europe. In some places you can just jump to the train, but many times we made a reservation when arriving in a city. This time we did some planning of the cities we'd visit: Barcelona, Amsterdam, Vienna, Prague, Rome, Florence, Venice and Nice. We stayed, more or less, 3 days in each city and to save time and money we tried to travel by train at night (didn't pay for hostel).

(this is me in Amsterdam, Holland)

MEXICO TRAVEL GUIDE

Today I will share the places I've been in Mexico. These tips are from a low budget backpacker who considers herself as a traveller, not a tourist (if you didn't notice Iam talking about myself lol). Also very important: don't follow only my advices, go with the flow!! The people we meet along the way can become friends for a life time and travelling is not about the miles you make...

Mexico currency is Peso ($) and helps a lot if you know basic spanish.

I guess you don't pay anything to get in the country but you need a 6 months valid passport to enter. They also ask for a return flight, we didn't have one and said we were backpacking in Central and don't know when going back to Portugal. They accepted the answer. You pay $295 to get out the country but many times is included in the flight ticket, check it out.

We arrived in Cancun airport and stayed there one day. To be honest, you can skip Cancun and Playa del Carmen, go directly from the airport to Tulum. I had a great time in Playa del Carmen because we were hanging around with awesome people but it's veryyyy touristy.

Mexico is HUGE! I'd say that you need at least one year to visit the whole country in a rush. So when planning your trip watch out the time you have. If you have a flight back soon you better stay in only one state, instead of going to North and South.

The food can be crazy spicy so you better ask with only a bit of spicy in the beggining so your stomach doesn't get upset. Get ready for the Tortillas Party and the Pollo (Chicken). Dear Vegetarians I guess you guys will cook a lot in Mexico since they eat meat even for breakfast ;)

* Tulum is more chilled. You can stay in a hostel in the Centre or in front of the beach. You can also camp in some places. You have the beach in one side and the cenotes in the other. If you ever decided to go cannoying in the cenote please be careful, we saw a crocodile there :D

It's very easy to hitch hike back and forward the centre and the beach but don't forget your belongs if you get a ride lol (check out the previous post to understand what I mean).

You can visit: the Ruins and Dos ojos cenotes. We rent a bike in "Iguana bikes" they also give you a snorkling mask which is super fun!

What I love about Tulum is chilling on the caribean sea in an hammock drinking a papaya fresh juice (or licuado in "mexican language)

* Coba: Beautiful Lake - magical by the sunset; Ruins (entrance: $57); Cenotes (entrance for the 3: $100 but the last one, the far one is not so amazing in my opinion) A lot of people go to Coba for a daytrip.

Coba Maya Ruins

* Valladolid: You can stay here if you wanna go to Chichen Itza (very interesting ruins and one of the seven wonders of the World). Rent a bike and visit the cenotes around. Nothing really special about the town but the church at night is beautiful.

* Campeche: Beautiful City with History especially the pirates. You have pacific ocean but no beaches. We only stayed 2 days but there's a lot of sites to visit around town.

HITCH HIKING STORIES - THE LOST BACKPACK

[La Esperanza Camping, Tulum, Mexico]

Me and Bruno were in Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico and damn happy because we were in a dream camping in the caribean sea with beautiful people all around, felt like family <3

Sadly it was time to leave so we decided to sleep on the beach last night. We organized all stuff and hitch hiked to the centre to go groceries shopping for the dinner. We were in heaven, I mean we got a ride from a pick up and we were outside looking at the blue sky, white clouds and the green trees surrounding us. It was those magical minutes I won't forget.

We "woke up" when the driver said that we arrived. So he pulled over, we jumped and said Gracias with an huge smile. It took 2 seconds until I look at Bruno and reconized that something was missing "Bruno where is your backpack???" Bruno looked at me, opened his eyes and started running after the car. Too late. "Crap! We are screwed!"

HITCH HIKING - MY NEWEST ADDICTION

Gosh! If I ever in my life knew that hitch hiking (HH) is so much fun!!!

First time I tried this way of travelling was 2 years ago by accident when I was volunteering in Norway. We had this task: take a paper with a town written and then head to that place and stay overnight with only 10€. First thought was YYEEYYY!! I love challenges. I was so happy that my challenge mate was Ana, a portuguese volunteer and also my roomate, she was adventurous, open minded and spontaneous, "We will survive!" We were lucky enough to get a close town and our sweet driver called her friend so we could sleep over his place! BONUS! 3 days in Norway and we were already sleeping in a real norwegian family house. We chatted a lot, ate great norwegian goodies and slept in a princess bedroom.

Next day was quit fun to know the other volunteers stories, I felt bad for those guys who HH to Oslo (around 400km from where we were) and had to stay in the train station for the night. It was January, we were in Norway, can you imagine the cold??!! brrrr

CENTRAL AMERICA

Hello my dear readers!

I just got back from Central America and I have tons to tell you about that paradise. Along this week I will post about each country: Tips, where to go, where to stay, prices... 

First of all, I'm not sure if this "Central America" expression really exists, I believe is just a good way to organize the Americas, separating North, Central and South but especially the Central from the South. 

The countries that cover Central America are: Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. We travelled all the countries but Belize (reasons: too expensive and out of route) and El Salvador (reason: we had to decide between Honduras and El Salvador because one in up and the other down) and Mexico.