Buenos Aires, Argentina: Some things to think about…

“Words need to be sown like seed. No matter how tiny a seed may be, when it lands in the right sort of ground it unfolds its strength and from being minute expands and grows to a massive size” - Seneca

A couple of weeks before I quit my job and left San Diego, one of my friends who I had met in Buenos Aires last year told me, “One of the best things about traveling, is that all the bullshit gets stripped away. You see what matters, and what doesn’t”.

I remembered those words. Never really forgot them. And you know what?? He was right.

So, I figured that I would take some time and sit down to draw from some of my own experiences traveling through Latin America over the last 6 months, and share a few things that I’ve learned along the way. I hope that my words and experiences may be of some use one day to somebody out there…

- Heath is what’s most important. As I had mentioned in my previous posts, I had been really sick for a while in Guatemala and Colombia. I remember when I was staying in Bogota I had dropped about 8 lbs in a about a week and a half and it was so scary that I actually had realistic thoughts crossing in my head about dying and was wondering if I was going to be “OK”, and that had never really happened to me before. What I’ve come to realize is this… You can be on the most beautiful beach in the world, or have a million dollars in your bank account, and none of that matters one bit when you feel like shit. I remember there were days when I would be out and about and thinking, “Yes, I’m traveling the world, and yes, I don’t have to get up and go to work tomorrow, and I can essentially do what ever the hell I want to; but all I really want to do is feel better.”

- If you don’t like your situation, change it, because in the end your happiness is all that matters. If you’re unhappy about something in your life, change it. If you don’t like your job, change it. And you know what? It’s ok to be in a job that you don’t like, or in a situation that you don’t like, as long as you’re actively working on changing your situation to something better. I have met people who complain and complain about their life, or their job, or what ever. And you know, knowing that things “suck” is half the battle. So if you’re stuck in the same miserable job or are unhappy with something, that’s ok, because you can do something about it. That is, as long as you know that you need to do something about it.

But, to the same point, if you are unhappy about things, and are not working on making a change for the better, and all you do is complain just because you’re scared, or afraid of uncertainty, or what ever the reason…you’re a fool. You do not get that time back that you’re wasting being unhappy. It’s gone forever. I know, and I can say this honestly, because I was a fool for a long time before I figured that one out.

- Don’t follow the crowd. What really matters is not what other people think, but what YOU think. Sounds simple doesn’t it? I remember when I lived in San Diego one day at work I had someone say to me, “If I drove around in your car (meaning my 1976 VW Bug) I would have to wear a bag over my head”. Honestly, I really didn’t really think much about it at the time other than, “That’s pretty cold, and besides, what’s wrong with driving a bug?”

However, at this point I can look back on that event and think, “I just can’t believe that some one would want to put that much value on a car, just so that they can impress other people, or just not to have to ‘feel bad’ because they drive an old car. It just doesn’t make sense to me.” And not to mention, it’s probably also one of the main reasons that I’m traveling the world right now, and that person has to get up tomorrow and go to work to pay for his SUV, or Mercedes, or BMW, or whatever.

Suppose he has a beautiful home and a handsome collection of servants, a lot of land under cultivation, and a lot of money out at interest; not one of these things can be said to be in him- they are just things around him. Praise in him what can neither be given nor snatched away, what is peculiarly a man’s. You ask what this is? It is his spirit... -Seneca

So, which is a more worthwhile investment of your time? Following the crowd, or doing what YOU want to do regardless of what other people think? You tell me… but I already know the answer. ;)

- Don’t spend your time worrying about things that ultimately don’t matter. What do I mean by this? We’ll just take a look at what caused you any sort of stress today… Was it being late for work? Was there a huge line at Starbucks during your break? Or even, was it trying to get that report in on time? I can mention all of these things because I’m guilty of stressing out over each one of them at one point or another in my life. And it’s easy to see how these are just a few examples of things that ultimately don’t matter.

Now, one can argue that being late for work, or not getting a report in on time is a real issue. Well I can tell you, in my career as a financial analyst working for a fortune 500 company, I had been late for work many times, and have stressed out over many, many reports, but ultimately what was the result? Well, I’m sitting here writing this right now and I’m just fine.

One of the things that I really disliked about my profession was that, no matter how many urgent fires were put out, or reports needed to be issued, another one would pop right back up in its place. So over the past 5 years working in finance, I literally put out hundreds of fires, and put together hundreds of reports, and after all that effort, and all the stress, I cannot remember a single one of them. Why? Because ultimately, they just don’t matter.

I heard one of my favorite authors respond to a question that was to the point of, “How do you deal with the issue of getting behind on your work?” His answer was something to the effect of (and I’m just going off of memory here but this is the jyst of what he said…) “How do I deal with being behind? Well, once I cease believing that I am behind, I’m no longer behind.”

Now I’m not saying that your work is not important, or that you should take a lazy attitude towards working. What I am saying is that many of the little things that cause a ton of un-needed stress in the work place, and in life in general, at least in my experience, are just not ultimately that important. They only matter and cause us stress because we make them matter, and we make them cause us stress.

- Value your time, people, and experiences… not “Things”. We can all do with out the gadgets. The I-Phone, the I-pad… all that stuff is crap and we don’t need it. I honestly believe this, and as many of you know I threw a long bomb with my I-phone when I was in Guatemala and watched it shatter into 1,000 pieces. And you know what else? I’ve never looked back. I don’t have a cell phone here, and I don’t want one. And I don’t even want to get one when I return to the US. Why? Because I truly believe that these things, to a certain extent, take away from you life.

Just as an example; I was in Belize eating lobster on the beach one night with some amazing people, when a very attractive girl arrived at the table next to me. I noticed her immediately as she sat down with her group of friends. So there they were… on the beach in Belize, ready to eat some fresh lobster with a group of friends, and basically in an absolute paradise! But, you know what I noticed from glancing over at her from time to time? This girl was on her Blackberry the whole time while her friends were eating, drinking, laughing and having fun. And I mean, she had her head buried in that thing typing away the WHOLE time. So After dinner my friends and I went to the local bar (there were only really 1 or 2 bars on the island) and about 15 mins later guess who came in? Yes, I was watching curiously as she sat down at a table, STILL typing away on the Blackberry. I really couldn’t believe it, but I just had to laugh to myself when I thought, I bet she’s on there right now telling her friends that “Hey! We’re on the beach in Belize, and ready to eat some fresh lobster with a group of friends, and we’re in an absolute paradise!”

Talk about being somewhere, but not actually “being there”. What a damn shame.

I admit that when I was living back in the US, I was just as guilty of doing these things as the girl on the beach in Belize. When ever I had a moment that wasn’t occupied, I was on the I-phone. I mean, you see it all the time. People letting their life pass by as they fiddle with these gadgets. Just take a look the next time your at a bar or in a restaurant and one person gets up to use the restroom. 90% of the time the other person will pull out their phone, because they have absolutely no idea what else to do. What happened to just “being” and just sitting there and taking it all in. When I lived in Antigua, Guatemala one of the things I loved to do was just sit in the park. I would go to the park and just sit there. I would sit there for hours at a time and soak everything in; watching the people, listening to the birds and the running water of the fountain in the middle of the park, and only leaving when I got hungry or when it started to get cold. This is where I learned how to “just be” and I loved it.

So the next time your somewhere and the urge comes over you to look at your cell phone for no apparent reason, please; “just be”. And I promise, everything in your life will be that much better…

In looking back on everything, I still remember those words...“You see what matters, and what doesn’t.” And yes, I have begun to see what matters and what doesn’t. I have had some amazing experiences and have met some wonderful people from all over the world. I have seen people who have everything, and many people who have nothing; and I have learned from all of them.

I will especially remember those out there who couldn’t even begin to imagine being able to afford a BMW, or an I-phone, let alone a dinner at a fancy restaurant, and you know what? Their happier than 75% of the people I know back home.

And if that’s not something to think about, I don’t know what is…

*** I also just wanted to say thank you to everyone has read my blog over the last 6 months. I’m pretty sure that this will be my final post, as I really don’t have much else to say. I have posted a few pictures below from my trip that, many of which, I did not get a chance to post in earlier entries. I hope you enjoy them.

As for me, I’m still in Buenos Aires right now pondering when I will return home to begin living in San Francisco. So to everyone out there, thanks again! I miss you all, and I hope to see you all again one day soon. Cheers - Byron

Buenos Aires, Argentina: Bienvenido a Buenos Aires!

I arrived in Buenos Aires a few days ago and I have to say, Its great to be back!!

Here's an update on whats been going on. Enjoy!...

Medellin, Colombia: Farewell Colombia!

I just wrapped up my trip to Medellin, which was an absolutely amazing time! And, I’d have to say that Medellin has been my favorite city out of my entire trip!! With that said, I’m down to my last few days here in Colombia and I cannot put into words how much I love this country, and I'm already kicking around ideas in my head about moving here at some point down the road.

So I’m headed back to the US in a few days for approximately 2 weeks of much needed rest. I’ve been on the road for 5 months now with out any sort of a real place to call home and I’m pretty well spent. Believe it or not, traveling for an extended period of time is a lot harder than you think.

So, after spending the next 2 weeks recuperating in So Cal, I will be flying to Buenos Aires to spend a month or two eating steaks and drinking fine wine to round off my trip. It looks like, including my 2 week break, my total travel time will be estimated at around about 7 months, which I’d have to say have been absolutely fantastic so far!

Ok, so its time to say so long for now, and see you in Buenos Aires…

PS. I’ve posted a little farewell video to Colombia below which was recorded recently during on one of the many rum filled nights during my trip… Enjoy!

Cartagena, Colombia: Descansando en Cartagena

I’ve been relaxing in beautiful Cartagena de Indias for about 2 weeks now and I’m down to my last couple of days before I take off to Medellin. What a beautiful place! Even though it’s been really hot here, Cartagena has been nothing short of fantastic.

For those of you who don’t know Cartagena, here’s a little background…

Cartagena de Indias is an old colonial city founded in 1533 that sits on Caribbean along the northern coast of Colombia. Cartagena had served as main South American port for the Spanish Empire from the 1500's to the 1800's, and hence held all of the gold that was extracted from Peru and some of the other South American countries during that time. Since there was a massive amount of gold here, Cartagena was subject to some crazy, and famous pirate attacks. Being the site of many great battles as well as one of the 3 seats of the Spanish Inquisition in the Americas, the city has a TON of history.

A few hundred years ago a wall was constructed as a fortification around the city, full of cannons and everything to fend off all the sieges that were laid to the city, and the wall is still standing today. One of the great attacks on Cartagena occurred in March of 1741 led by British Admiral Edward Vernon who arrived at Cartagena with a massive fleet of 186 ships and 23,600 men, including 12,000 infantry, against only six Spanish ships and fewer than 6,000 men (gracias a Wikipedia for the details). The attack by the British was eventually repelled after a few weeks of heavy fighting, as well as the British exposure to diseases such as yellow fever. Coincidentally though, one of the invading troops along side Vernon’s fleet was the brother of our very own George Washington. Washington’s brother returned home so impressed with Admiral Vernon during the Battle of Cartagena de Indias, that he decided to name his estate after him and hence, we have…”Mount Vernon” which was George Washington’s home in the Untied States. I thought that was a really cool piece of history, and it was a really amazing experience to sit up on that wall and look out over the city imagining all that had happened here.

I also managed to make it out to Playa Blanca during my stay and in between all the relaxing that I’ve been doing here. Playa Blanca is located on a tiny island about 30 minutes outside Cartagena and is only accessible by boat, or water taxi, and the only real infrastructure on the island consists of several straw “huts” that have been built up along the beach. It was definitely a great experience, and I got a nice tan in the process!

I’ve uploaded some of my best pictures over the last two weeks…

So sit back, grab a glass of wine, and enjoy beautiful Cartagena!

Bogota, Colombia: A Little Bit of Bogota

Wow, it looks like my blogs been on a month long video drought! Not to worry, here’s a video that will show you a little bit of Bogota…

Bogota, Colombia: Crossing Borders, Riding Buses, Blending In, and How to Mitigate Risks While Traveling… (Part 2)

If you’ve been reading my blog at all, you know I’ve made it through some pretty rough neighborhoods during this trip and there is one thing I know for certain… if someone runs up to you in the street and starts talking to you for no reason, they want something.

Granted, there are many countries such as Guatemala, where the people are very courteous, and will talk to you randomly when you’re out and about, and this is not what I’m referring to. What I’m referring to are the "other" people on the streets, and if you’ve ever been traveling you know what I mean; the people who want your money, or who are just plain and simple, up to no good.

Now there’s all sorts of people that have pestered me on the streets, from people trying to sell me little bracelets, to people trying to sell me heroin, and there are different ways to deal with both. Some situations may be dangerous and others completely harmless.

First, let me start off by stating that I may have a distinct advantage in both situations mentioned above, over other foreign travelers in Central America given my ethnic background. I’m half Latino, and I’ve had the luxury on this trip of people in all the different countries I’ve visited thinking that I’m from that particular country. I’ve had people say, “Oh, at first glance I thought you were Guatimalteco” (insert here: Tico, Colombiano, or any other country for that matter) and I’ve heard that over, and over again, in every country I’ve been to so far.

So, I guess you can say that I may be a little bit like a Chameleon. If I’m not walking around the streets loaded down with my backpack and reading my guide books, I can pretty much blend into the background of whichever country I’m in, unless that is, I open my mouth and my accent comes out, in which case my cover is completely blown. So I believe that when I’m walking around on the streets with my mouth closed, I don’t really appear as a extranjero or foreigner to most people, and for the most part that’s an advantage in avoiding trouble that a lot of foreigners run into many times, just because they are foreigners, or appear to look like foreigners.

(Just take a look at the picture above and try and focus in on the guy in the background. Yes, thats me dancing there! My roomate here in Bogota found this picture online while she was looking at some photos taken from some of the salsa clubs over the past weekend, and Id say that I blend into the crowd pretty well!)

So, back to the people on the street…Lets start with the people trying to sell you things because this is really an easy one. Usually these people are totally harmless, and are not a threat to your safety, but sometimes they can be just down right persistent, and after you’ve been solicited to buy things over, and over, and over again, day after day, you start to think of ways to either avoid them or just get out of the situation all together from the get go.

Surprisingly in my experience, the best way that I’ve found for dealing with people who just won’t leave you alone when trying to sell you something is to believe it or not, talk to them in English. When you’re sitting in the park for example, and a person who randomly walks up to you trying to sell you something, 9 times out of 10, they are only going to know how to speak Spanish, or their native language, what ever it may be, and all this person cares about is trying to sell you this particular item, be it a bracelet or scarf or whatever. I’ve found that when you reply back to them in their own language (being Spanish in this case), they are just like normal sales people who don’t take no for an answer.

For example, I had one girl try and sell me a bracelet while I was sitting in the park in Antigua, Guatemala and I remember the conversation went something like this in Spanish:

Girl: “Bracelets” (showing them to me)
Me: “No thank you”
Girl: “It’s a beautiful bracelet”
Me: “No thank you”
Girl: “Why not, 2 for $1” ( again showing them to me)
Me: “No thank you, I don’t need it”
Girl: “Why don’t you need it?”
Me: “Uh, no thanks because I don’t need it”
Girl: “Why?”
Me: “Because I said so”

And this happens all the time, people just don’t take “no”, or “no thank you” for an answer the first, second, or third time. BUT, I have found out that when you talk to someone really fast in a language they don’t understand, they tend to get “the wide eyed panicked look” like, “what the hell is this person saying?” I know I did when people talked to me when I was first learning Spanish, and they either turn tail and run, because its not worth their time to try and communicate with you, or they just let you go on your way after a few seconds.

Trust me I’ve tried it and it works in every country. If someone is trying to sell me something, and they just keep pushing after I have given them the initial silent universal “head shake” that means “no”, I just say in really fast English, “What did you say, sorry I don’t speak Spanish man”, and I pause and look that them in a serious manner. They usually stop talking at this point and you can basically walk away and if not, just start asking them a bunch questions in English really fast back to back, and at some point they will give up.

But you really have to make sure that you give them no idea that you actually know what they are saying even if you do speak Spanish. The key is, to make it impossible for them to communicate and sales pitch you, and to talk really fast and look at them like their supposed to understand you, in order to activate their feeling of “Oh my god, I have no idea what this person is saying”. If any of you have ever traveled somewhere where there is another language used other than English as the primary language, I assume you know that feeling all to well.

For the most part, I am very courteous and do communicate in Spanish politely 99% of the time, and I am also by no means advocating walking around in a foreign country and advertising the fact that you are a foreigner by speaking English to everyone or even worse, being one of those foreigners that expects the whole world to speak English.

It’s just a simple tactic to be used quickly in a specific, harmless situation with the street vendors. Primarily, I use this “I only speak English” tactic in certain situations with the more aggressive people; for example when I’m walking down the street I see a person who is approaching me that “has me in their sights” and is trying to “head me off at the pass” so to speak, to try and sell me something or solicit me. Or just on some days when I just don’t want to deal with people trying to sell me things at all, and everyone has those.

Now on to the more troublesome situations….

So, your walking along minding your own business and someone one the street comes up to you and says: “Que pasa” (Whats up), “Disculpe” (Excuse me), “Una Pregunta” (I have a question), “Adonde vas” (where you going?)…you need a taxi, you need a place to stay, etc, etc…

Often times, they will ask you a simple question to get you to stop, or will walk along side you talking, as your walking down the street trying to get your attention. When you don’t know someone and this happens, or when you can tell someone is going completely out of their way to talk to you, like running across the street, or coming up to you as soon as you get off a bus or out of a cab, this signals one thing and one thing only…trouble.

I’ve had every kind of situation imaginable, start from these few examples; from asking me for money, to trying to get me to go god knows where with them. Here are couple different examples…

In Costa Rica, I got off of the bus in San Jose with two girls returning from Manuel Antonio and I hear, “Hey, you need a taxi?” and the second I turn around there’s two cab drivers literally screaming at each other arguing over who saw us first, and “who gets to take the gringos”. So I ask the guy who won the argument, “Hey, how much to the airport”, even though I didn’t even need to go to the airport and knowing that it was about $7 one way, and guess how much he quotes me? $25…what a surprise! The guy ended up following us around for 2 blocks badgering us about taking his taxi to the airport and I finally had to tell him, “Hey, if I need your services…I will find you.”

Another time in Belize I was with a fellow traveler after a hard night of drinking rum we happened to be walking down the street and low and behold we found a coconut on the ground. Now after a bottle of rum, when you randomly find a coconut on the ground, what are you going to do with it? You’re going to try and smash it open and drink the milk of course! So I’ve got this coconut and I’m slamming it against the ground at 3am trying to get it open, and this guy rides up to us on his bike and says, “What’s up”. Again, knowing full well, this guys up to something so I ignore him. Finally, he goes, “let me help you with the coconut” and I relented. So he snatches the coconut out of my hand and goes, here hold this. The next ting I know he’s handing me this giant sack of weed, and knowing full well that you can get into some serious shit with drugs in Belize (even though they sell weed right next to the police station on a daily basis), I didn’t want to even chance it, and just said “Hey, keep the coconut and have a nice night” and I left with my friend.

So, these were just two examples, and I’ve got story after story of people trying to stop me on the street that were either trying to scam me, or were just up to no good (see my Managua post on how I found the hostel as another example), and yes I’ve had plenty of things happen. But there’s no need to cry over spilt milk, so we’ll just leave it at these two examples for now.

And they are important examples to learn from, because as you can see, I responded in the most part to these guys initial “set up questions” or statements, which was a mistake. 99% of the time, when you are in situations like these, where you know someone wants something from you, or that they are up to no good, the best thing to do is just not to respond and keep walking, as I have done many, many times.

It seems that people try and prey on the ignorant travelers whom, when someone speaks to them that they don’t know, and when things just don’t feel right about the situation, they give the person the benefit of the doubt and stop to talk. Because most people that are traveling abroad are good people and when you ask them a question on the street they will respond, and even if they don’t know what you are saying they will stop and try and listen.

So my advice for when you’re on the streets of a foreign country is this; to always, always, trust your instincts because their usually right. Most people are really friendly and are a pleasure to talk to, however, if someone comes up to you on the street and wants to talk to you, and it doesn’t “feel right”, it probably isn’t… so keep walking.

A simple, “No Gracias” will always suffice. :)

Bogota, Colombia: Crossing Borders, Riding Buses, Blending In, and How to Mitigate Risks While Traveling… (Part 1)

Since I’ve successfully managed to make it safely through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and hopefully Colombia, I think I may have learned a thing or two about how to travel safely, and how to mitigate some of the risks you will face when traveling.

I figure that I could share a few of my tips and tricks, as well as a few things that I learned along the way for those of you who may decide one day to venture out in to the unknown…

Ok, first off I have traveled through just about all of Central America by bus, so most of my post in this section is going to have to do with that particular experience. If you are traveling by air you really don’t have much to worry about. Yes, you pay a lot more for the tickets, but you also have the luxury of relative security inside the airport, and the security of your bags not being stolen, that is, if they are carryons and if you have enough common sense not to set them down somewhere and get distracted. It’s also extremely easy to change currency in the airport and there are also usually ATMS that will give you a fair exchange rate on the currency. So really as far as I’m concerned traveling by air is a cake walk.

The bus however, is a little bit different. First off, the bus is a lot cheaper and you have all sorts options as to which bus lines you are going to take and at what hours. I found that on average it cost me $30 in bus fare one way to travel from one country to the next. Compare that to paying $200-$500 in airfare and you’ll see why I’m a huge fan of the bus. If you are planning on bussing through Central America, as I did, your also looking at bus rides at a length of anywhere from 5 hours (ex. Northern Guatemala to Belize City) or longer rides, anywhere from 8-10 hours (ex. San Salvador to Managua, Nicaragua).

Now as far as I’m concerned when taking the bus, the number one thing that I had tried to make sure of, was not to arrive at my destination at night, or during the early hours of the morning. Sometimes this is unavoidable, and in many cases it is extremely dangerous. A few times that I got caught here was on the overnight line in Guatemala, returning from Tikal to Guatemala City, for example when my bus was supposed to get in at 6:30 am, but it turned out that we had arrived at 4:30am in one of the most dangerous cities in Central America. This also lead to a guy trying to steal my bag as I got off the bus, as well as me being a bit panic stricken in that situation and fleeing to the Holiday Inn as a safe option that cost me over $200 for a 1.5 day stay (Ouch!!!). This also happened another time as I had mentioned in my last post, when I was arriving in Managua Nicaragua with only 15 minutes until sunset. And trust me, when you’re in a situation like that, simply thinking… “oh shit, this is not good” is a serious understatement. So definitely always try to arrive during day light hours, or at least give your self a good hour or two to find a safe place to stay before it gets dark.

Also, when taking the bus make sure to be one of the first people to get off and do not leave any valuables what so ever in the bag that you “check”, as they put it under the bus and many times there are no claim tickets or security measures to make sure that the right people end up with the right bags. As I had mentioned, when arriving in Guate I was one of the first people off of the bus, and when the conductor took out my huge travel back pack from the cargo hold as I was walking up to claim it, a guy casually walked right in front of me and put his hands on my bag like it was his. The conductor was actually in the process of handing him my backpack when I grabbed it and sternly said, “NO! ES MIO!!”. The guy looked at me, took his hands off my bag, turned around, and walked back out onto the street and disappeared. So by being one of the first people off of the bus you can make sure that no one is going to grab your bag once they open up the cargo hold, or at least if they try you can stop them from taking it like I did.

Also, one of my number one rules, has to do with diversification, which I will talk about in a minute. But as I said, I never leave any valuables in checked luggage, so had that man actually succeeded in stealing my backpack, he would have gotten a pair of jeans, some shoes, a few guide books, and plenty of dirty underwear to go with it, which are all things that I could easily replace in a day or two. When traveling on the bus, all my cash, passport documents, and credit cards, are either on my person, or split up and hidden away in my carryon backpack along with my laptop, and that backpack NEVER leaves my side (for those of you who wonder how I can travel inconspicuously with a laptop, I wrap it in a beach towel and keep it in an old beat up carryon back pack that as I had mentioned, is with me at all times… See the picture above)

Another thing that is critical when going from country to country on the bus is to make absolutely sure that you have the correct currency when arriving because many times you will end up at a bus station far from an ATM and in a location that is really no where near where you want to stay in your destination city. So imagine arriving in Nicaragua where they only accept Cordobas, and you have a pocket full of Guatemalan Quetzales. What do you do? You can’t pay for a cab to get to your hotel or hostel. And do you really want to walk around as a foreigner with all your possessions strapped to your back asking people in broken Spanish “Excuse me, is there an ATM around here?” Talk about being in big trouble. So, what I do is be sure to always exchange some currency at every single border crossing.

Now as I said, if you’re at the airport it’s a cake walk, there’s an official booth that can change every currency in the world, and they even give you a receipt! But at the borders, it’s a bit different. When the bus pulls up there are literally dozens of guys in plain street clothes called “coyotes” with wads of cash in their hands trying to get you to exchange your money. So you really need to research the exchange rate ahead of time, and make sure that when you deal with the coyotes, their giving you the correct amount of the new currency for the old. It can get really confusing sometimes too, as many currencies exchange at 30 to 1 or even 2,000 to 1 in some cases (ex. Colombian Peso to US Dollar).

Now people will tell you, don’t ever exchange your money with the coyotes. Don’t listen to them. Now I’m not saying you need to empty your bank account and exchange all your money with the coyotes, just make sure you exchange $20 or so into local currency so that you can at least take a cab from the bus station to your hostel or hotel. I mean, yes you will lose a few points on the exchange, but in reality were talking about a few cents lost when exchanging $20, as opposed to what? Being stranded some where with no local currency, and no clue where you can get some? It’s a no brainer.

As I had also mentioned above with the brief example of what I keep in my checked luggage, diversification of my valuables is my number one rule while traveling. You can be sure that when traveling through all these countries things will happen, both good and bad. People will be nice to you, and then try and steal from you. So how do you mitigate the risks using diversification? Well, here’s what I do…

First off, when staying in a hostel I always try and get a private room. I think that if you are travelling with valuable items, such as a laptop, or numerous credit cards as I am, you definitely don’t want to stay in a dorm. Its pretty much common sense that having a room with a door that locks, as opposed to having a room with an open door where new people come in and out of everyday, is defiantly a lot smarter way to keep from having anything stolen. Now, private rooms are sometimes very expensive and I do believe that if you’re on a budget and are just traveling with an ATM card and a back pack full of clothes, a private room may not be necessary. However, I’m writing about mitigating risk here, so for someone in my situation, a private room is the smarter play.

Also, and most importantly, I always, always, make sure that I split up my cash, my credit/bank cards, and my travel documents. Here’s how I do it: First, definately make a copy of your passport. Keep your actual passport hidden away in your room, and always keep the copy in your pocket or somewhere on your person. Second, when leaving your room always make sure that you take the cash that you need for the day, plus a little extra, and one credit card. As I said, I travel with 2 bank cards and 2 credit cards just to make sure that I always have a way to either pay for a flight back to the US, should something happen, or incase of theft of my room, or a robbery when I’m out on the street, I will have a way to withdraw money.

I feel safe as long as I have 1 of the cards with me at all times (credit or ATM), and the others I can leave in my room. Now I hear people say all the time, don’t carry a lot of cash with you or carry any of your credit cards just incase you get robbed. Well yes, that’s true to an extent, you shouldn’t be walking around with hundreds of dollars and 3 credit cards, but for those who say that you should carry very little cash and no credit cards… what happens if your room gets broken into while your out during the day? If you think that’s a little far fetched I have 3 words for you… “Tina’s Backpacker Hostel.”

Pick up any guide book on Central America and one of the suggestions of places to stay in Caye Caulker, Belize is “Tina’s Backpackers Hostel”. In fact, in my guide book, that was the number one suggestion, which is exactly why I went there first when I got off of the water taxi to ask for a private room. Luckily for me, they didn’t have any private rooms left, so following my own guidelines for mitigating risk, I moved on to look for another place only later to find out that Tina’s has an average of 5 thefts a month from both the private rooms, and dormitories. In fact, two girls that were stating at Tina’s while I was on the island decided to “play it safe” and keep everything in their securely locked room while they were out during the day, only to come back and find out that everything, and I mean everything, had been stolen. They lost all their cash, credit cards, and even their passports. So in this case what do you do? By not diversifying your valuables and documents, your 100% , undeniably and thoroughly screwed. Imagine, having no way to get cash, buy a plane ticket home, or being able to prove which country you have citizenship. It’s a total night mare situation.

So, to bottom line it, whenever I leave my room, I always have a little extra cash and an ATM or credit card on me. And if I’m robbed, no big deal, I’m out a little cash and I can always hop on Skype and call my bank to cancel that particular card, but I still will have access to my money and my documents that are in my room, or vice versa.

Another thing I do with regards to the cash and credit cards that I leave in my room is to thoroughly hide them. Here’s a little tip on how I do it, I buy just a regular bar of soap at the market (in this case “Dove”) and keep the little square box it comes in. These little soap boxes are perfect for hiding you cash and credit cards in, and when you close them back up and put them in with the rest of your toiletries, I have serious doubts that someone who is breaking into your room while you are out will give it no more than a quick glance while going through all of your things in search for valuables (again, see the picture above).

So we have the bus (Check!), and diversification (Check!), so what about when you’re actually out on the streets?

Thats to be continued in Part 2…

Bogota, Colombia: In Review- The Best, and Worst, of Central America

Since I’ve been chilling out in Bogota and stuffing myself full of empanadas for the last week, I’ve had a chance to work on my blog a little. Here’ a little bit on what I thought was the Best, and Worst, of Central America…

Best Climate: Belize wins this one. Palm trees and a nice breeze…ahhh.

Worst Climate: Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica. Hot as hell + no breeze = Better pray to god that the fan in your room works!

Best Food: The giant lobsters in Belize, Café Sara’s curry chicken in Nicaragua, and definitely Arturo’s pasta carbonara in Guatemala! Mmmmmmmmm!!!!!!

Worst Food: The soggy, rubbery, slimy Chicharron (aka pig skin) at the family’s house in Guatemala…BLEH!! I seriously almost lost it at the dinner table, but hey, at least I tried it! The “hot dog breakfast” in Costa Rica was a close second.

Best Beer: Toña from Nicaragua.

Best Rum: Flor De Caña from Nicaragua.

Best coffee: Definitely café de Guatemala!!

Worst Coffee: For sure the coffee in Managua, Nicaragua. When the best option for coffee is at the local gas station you know you’re in trouble…

Best bang for your buck: Giant avocadoes for $0.30us, and breakfast and lunch for under $2.00us. Plus the coffee is amazing…Now that’s what I’m talking about! Gotta love Guatemala!!

Worst bang for your buck: Do I need to even say it?...Everywhere in Costa Rica!

Best Fruit: Guatemalan Aguacates, and Nicaraguan “Jugos Naturales”… Simply amazing!

Biggest Surprise: Definitely having a blast in Mangua and Granada, Nicaragua. So much fun that was totally unexpected… Muchas gracias to all my friends there. ;)

Best display of common sense: Throwing a long bomb with my I-Phone. Gadgets like that are totally useless things that you think you need, but are definitely better off without. But that’s just my two cents. ;)

Worst Date: The girl in Antigua who: insisted we meet at a bar, was an hour late, showed up with her sister and her cousin, and then took me to another bar because she wanted to meet up with a guy that she had met the prior night. Ummm… NEXT!!

Worst Pest: The talking “loro” next door to the family’s house in Antigua. After you hear the word “hola” 500 times in a row, roasted parrot starts to sound like a great idea for dinner!

Worst Neighborhood: For dark streets, kidnappings, and used syringes on the ground, it doesn’t get better than Barrio Martha Quezada in Managua, Nicaragua. Oh, I also forgot to mention that there are no manhole/sewage covers in the entire city… and that’s a long way down!

Worst Display of Common Sense: Arriving at the Tica bus station in Managua, Nicaragua with no place to stay and 15 minutes until sunset. Yeah, bad call.

Best act of random luck: Not knowing that the drug dealer who didn’t like me in Guatemala, was a drug dealer in who didn’t like me in Guatemala. Sometimes playing dumb, or just being dumb, is usually the best defense. :)

Best dance: Definitely on top of the bar at Reilly’s in Antigua. The best, and by far the most embarrassing! I burned the photos so don’t even ask. ;)

Most overplayed song: “I got a feelin, that tonights gonna be a good night”…

Best Karaoke moment: My room, 3am , hostel in Granada, and singing La Bamaba at the top of my lungs in my underwear after ½ a bottle of Flor De Cana and a few Mojitoes. I don’t think everyone else at the hostel, and especially the manager, thought it was as great a song as I did at the time... "Soy Capitan, Soy Capitan!!". LOL!!

Best Holiday so far: Christmas. So many cool things going on in Antigua! I loved it!!

Worst Holiday so far: 4,3,2,1… In bed with diarrhea and a fever! Happy New Year!! Whooooo!!!!!!!!

Best Bars: I&I in Belize, Reilly’s in Antigua, and that one salsa bar in Grenada. So much fun, so many good friends, and so few things I can actually remember. ;)

El Final!

Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica: What Can I Say About Costa Rica?

Maybe…

Totally Overrated
Super Expensive
Full of too many Americans
Hot as hell
But still a lot of fun!


Sounds like I had a bad time in Costa Rica? Not at all, I actually had a lot of fun there. But when comparing to other Latin American countries, I just think that CR is way too Americanized and it is REALLY expensive for what you get for your money. I remember for example, one morning I went to breakfast at this little café and ordered a “typico” breakfast off of the menu which included rice, beans, eggs, platano, and your choice of ham or sausage links. So I had decided to go with the sausage links and for a price of about $4.25US (which is A LOT for breakfast) I figured, hey this is going to be a 5 star breakfast for that price, and you could imagine my surprise when I was served scrambled eggs with a partially cooked hot dog posing as my sausage links. I don’t know what made me feel worse, paying the $200 for a night at the Holiday Inn in back Guate, or actually paying $4.25 for a luke warm "hot dog" breakfast…LOL. Not to mention that you’ll be paying upwards of around $35 per night for a private room in a hostel and much, much, more in a hotel. Compare that to living on the beach in Belize for $15 a night, or $7 a night in Nicaragua, or even $15 a night for my apartment in an amazing area here in Bogota, Colombia, (which is where I am right now) and you’ll see that Costa Rica is just way too pricey for what you get.

I also managed to surf a little in Costa Rica, which felt great since I haven’t been surfing since summer. The waves ended up being about 2-3 feet with some fun little rides. But what I will say for Costa Rica as a surf “destination” is, that from what I saw, it just seemed like an “ok” place to surf rather than what I had imagined it would be. Back in the US Costa Rica is advertised in the surf industry as this totally amazing place to go surfing, and that theirs great waves everywhere; and I’m not buying it. From what I saw, Costa Rica is a warm water surf spot full of fun little beach breaks, which are fun, but hardly worth the money if your planning a surf trip to another country. If you’re going to actually spend money to go on a surf trip abroad, I think you may be a lot better off going to Bali, or Tavarua, or somewhere where you’re going to score epic surf. If you want fun little beach breaks like CR you can just take a week off and save yourself the money and surf Newport everyday, or better yet, pull all day sessions at Trestles for a week and you’ll probably get better waves, that is if you’re willing to sacrifice the warm water aspect of CR.

With that being said, I actually did have a really great time in Costa Rica. Costa Rica is a very beautiful country with really friendly people. There are some areas along the coastal road where there are rows of palm trees stretching as far as the eyes could see, and one of the beaches that I went to was absolutely stunning. I had a little cold while I was there but managed to survive and hit the beach everyday, and even managed to do a little partying the last night I was there with my surf buddy Mark from the hostel. It was his first trip to another country and we were out at some place on Saturday night drinking a little rum when he turned to me and said, “Can you believe this? Were in a bamboo hut in the middle of god knows where, drinking rum, and listening to this music with a bunch people from all over the world! This is so awesome!…To Costa Rica!!!!”

I simply replied, “I do believe it, and I know EXACTLY how you’re feeling…
Cheers!!” :)

Granada, Nicaragua: Just Perfect!

I ended up hanging out in Managua for 3 days and having a great time at the hostel with my new friends. Since I had made my decision to just relax and take my time going through Nicaragua, I decided that I should definitely do some exploring and head over to Granada which was only about 40 min away by the collectivo bus. I had remembered during one of the conversations with the owner of my apartment in Antigua, Guatemala he had mentioned that his friend from Germany had just arrived from staying a few days in Granada and had said that it was really amazing. Everyone at the hostel that I was staying in seemed to also agree that it was a really great place and that I should definitely check it out.

Now one of the things that I found out while travelling through all of these countries, is that may times the best information that you can get is from other travelers. So here’s a tip; when a bunch of different people recommend that you go somewhere (“different people” being the key words), because that really liked it, or they think that you may really like it, they are most likely right and its probably a good idea to make a little detour and go check that place out. And that’s exactly what I decided to do. Also, on the other side of the coin, if you find that people are telling you to avoid a certain area or certain place to stay, because of this and that, you can bet that they are probably right as well and that place should be avoided. Now I’m by no means saying that what you do on your trip should be dictated by what other people tell you to do or not do, or by what people suggest you should do; but rather the things people say can be used as a great source of information. There’s a quote by Woodrow Wilson that goes, “I not only use all the dreams that I have, but all that I can borrow”, and that makes a lot of sense to me. Despite what some people think, there’s not one person who knows everything. So, what I really love to do is to listen to what people have to say, and listen to their experiences, and borrow their knowledge to expand what I know. And you can really learn a lot from people when traveling.

I ended up in Granada 40 minutes later, and the people that I had listened to were spot on... It was absolutely gorgeous!

I’m going to go ahead and post some pictures below of beautiful Granada, as well as a video that I shot in Granada’s Parque Central. For those that have been reading my blog since Antigua, you know that one of my favorite things to do is to just relax in the park and take in my surroundings. I always found it to be really peaceful and just lovely. I managed to shoot a 360 degree video of Parque Central in Granada and I love the video, because it really shows how beautiful everything is there, and you can really hear all the different sounds of the park. I hope it will give you some sort of feel of what it was like to be there, because Granada was really great.

In the mean time, I’m on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica right now and the surfs up so I gotta go… Enjoy!

Managua, Nicaragua: A Pleasant Surprise

By far, I think one of the coolest things about traveling is that your plans are always changing and you never really know what to expect. As I rode into Managua on the bus, the area seemed less and less like a big capital city, and more like one big barrio in which the poverty had been laid bare. I was totally stunned as we passed an area that I could only describe as a “tent city” where people lived in homes completely constructed out of garbage. There was a fire burning in the middle of the tent city, and it definitely looked like a place that if you walked into, you would not be walking out of. The bus pulled up to the Tica station in Barrio Martha Quezada and it was starting to get dark, so I knew that I had to find a place to stay FAST; because the absolute last thing I wanted to do was to be walking around in the barrio at dark looking for a room.

So I grabbed my gear and headed down the street to a hostel that was in my guide book. I managed to get about ½ way down the block when a guy from the street came up to me and started badgering me about a place to stay that he knew about, that was safe, and really cheap. Now normally I would not stop and listen to some guy from the street who was obviously stoned out of his mind when it’s getting dark in the middle of the absolute worst neighborhood I have ever been in my life, but what the hell. As it turns out, the hostel he was talking about was right next door to the one I was going to anyway, so I decided to check it out. Apparently, for every person these street guys refer from the bus stations the hostels give them a dollar, so I could see why he was so eager to help me.

It tuned out to be Hostel Dulce Suenos and it was absolutely fantastic. The hostel had a really nice common area with a TV, a bar, and little kitchen, and stairs that lead up to a roof deck with hammock and a little table and chairs. I also had a really comfortable room, so I was happy. I settled in, and as it turns out there were some really cool people staying there too. So, we all introduced ourselves and I found out that 2 of the girls at the hostel were working in Nicaragua on various projects to help the people in this country, and another one was an anthropologist doing research and was going to be living in a remote village for a couple of months with the indigenous people, which I thought was really cool.

As our little group headed out for dinner a few blocks away, to what would become my favorite place to eat in Managua “Café Sara”(she makes the most amazing fresh juice smoothies, and curry chicken…OMG), I had asked one of the girls if it was safe where we were going and if we should maybe take a taxi to the restaurant. Now, I know everyone has encountered at least one person in their life who “always has to be right” or who always “has to know everything” because I have encountered several in my time; and why people are like this I have no idea. Anyway, after I asked if we should take a taxi to the restaurant because the area appeared to me to be super dangerous, the girl snapped back at me “are you kidding me!? Its only 3 blocks and you want to take a taxi?! Blah blah blah” like I’m some sort of imbecile or something, and I’m thinking, “given the fact that this place looks like a hell hole and the streets are pitch black…YES, I would like to take a taxi!”. But I figured that she must know the area, and that she probably knows what she’s talking about as far as safety goes, so I just said, “Ok, just asking because I’m not familiar with this place yet, tranqillo”. Well, half a block later she made the most interesting remark, “Hey did you guys know that a few months ago I was kidndnapped from here”.

“RED ALERT”, “RED ALERT”….ALL CREDIBILITY HAS BEEN LOST!!!!

So needless to say, after I heard that I managed to defy millions of years of evolution with in that half block, and became the first human being ever on the plant to actually grow eyeballs in the back of his head.

After dinner the 4 of us ended up buying a bottle of “Flor de Cana”, which is a damn fine bottle of Nicaraguan rum, and went back to the hostel for a few drinks. A few of us sat around until the early hours of the morning on the roof deck sipping on rum, joking about the “safety expert” in the group, and trading stories of our travels and experiences while enjoying the nice cool Nicaraguan breeze. It was really great, and just what I needed.

When I had arrived in Managua from San Salvador earlier that night, I had planned on leaving the next day for Costa Rica, but it’s funny when you open up and talk to people and start to find out what their all about, sometimes you get some really good insight on life. Sitting around that table that night with the rum I guess one of my new friends must have noticed that I had been rushing through my trip in Central America trying to make it down to Colombia and she gave me some really good, simple advice, and that was “to just take it easy”. She was right, after days on the bus, and days of traveling down from Belize, and back through Guatemala, through El Salvador and Honduras, I just needed to settle down and relax for a while. And that’s exactly what I did. I found some great people to hang out with and wouldn’t you believe it, ended up settling down for a few days and having a great time in a place that I would never have believed it possible to…