As you can probably guess, Morenita became my nickname in Mexico. Everywhere I went that´s what people started calling me! Its factually inaccurate given that morena means dark skinned but definitely not black, but who cares, a cute nickname is a cute nickname!
I am currently in Quito, Ecuador (moving fast now aren´t I?) but I shall summarise my last week in Mexico before I get onto that!
So Oaxaca (/wahaka/ Mexico has some of the most unpronouncable names I´ve ever come across!), one of the nicest places I have ever been to. It is absolutely stunning, a lovely little city surrounded on all sides by amazing hills and mountains. I managed to do another tour while staying in the city which took me to see the fattest tree in the world, its only 2000 years old but it takes about 40 people holding hands to go all the way around it. Then we went to see a weaving community project where they use centuries old traditions of making natural dyes and making blankets, carpets and mats. That was quite interesting, but maybe that´s the geek in me again! The high point of the trip was the trip to go and eat in a traditional Oaxacan restaurant. Top of the menu were ant eggs, worms and grasshoppers.
So quess what Lola did? Yes, I tried all of them! You can´t come to these places and not try out local delicacies now can you! So, I´d recommend worms, they don´t taste of much but its a nice texture when they´re fried. Ant eggs taste like corn with a twist, the first taste isn´t so bad, but consecutive helpings may make you feel a lil sick! Grasshoppers well, I´m still not sure to be honest. The only thing I could taste was the chilli and salt seasoning (which Mexicans put on everything!) and a bit of a crunch. These were very small grasshoppers and I had it on good information the bigger ones taste much nicer but I figured I´d leave that till Thailand.
I have to say Mexicans put salt and chilli or chilli sauce on everything. When buying fruit on the street, they´ll peel and cut it for you, but if you don´t catch them on time, you´ll have salt and chilli all over your fresh orange or melon or apple or mango....you name it, they put salt and chilli on it! Trust me, salt and chilli does not go with everything....!
Final stop on the trip was a visit to a mezcal factory. Mezcal is a strong spirit made from a cactus; Tequila is a type of mezcal made in a place called Tequila in Mexico (go figure!). Some of these come at 80% alcohol which is nuts! There are some smoother ones which come as liquieurs with passion fruit (Maracuya) top of my list, but the fact is, going on a trip where you taste 10-13 different types of mezcal in about 5 minutes (their shot glasses are a lil bigger than ours as well!) really isn´t good for you!
I have to say at this point of my trip, kinda halfway through, I´m feeling a little homesick and quite tired from the long list of things that you "absolutely have to do" everytime you get somewhere, so I decided to give myself a holiday. I booked a couple nights in a small hostel up in the hills outside Oaxaca city called La Villada Inn. Talk about 5* experience on a no star budget. I paid $13 a night to be treated like a member of a family (I needed some mummy love), amazing views of the city from up the hill, a swimming pool (a proper one!) and amazing food. I couldn´t have asked for a better place to spend lazy days! It was perfect! I even got to spend some time with their new born grandson who was only a day old! It kinda made me miss my family a little bit more (don´t let that get to your heads folks....you´re just alright! ;-) but it was very nice to be in a family atmosphere for a bit and from the reviews I saw on Hostelworld.com they´re like that all the time!
So, I arrived in Ecuador on Monday and talk about depressing. I landed in 12 degrees and rain rain rain, I felt like I´d gone back to England. They´ve had loads of rain and floods here recently, but yesterday the sun came out! Lets hope it stays around for my week here! I´m staying in another family hostel which is great. Yesterday they threw a party for their first year anniversary of being open and the 23rd birthday of their son and it was fabulous. Great way to meet all the other people staying here and the free pizza and dancing was well received by all! lol!
I have no real niggles this week (hoorah) but I do have some praise to give to ......Miami Airport Immigration. I never thought it possible! Basically although it´s quite silly, I had to fly from Mexico to Miami then catch another flight to Ecuador as there are no direct flights from Mexico City. I expected the worst, only a 2 hour stopover and my last experience 3 years ago of 3 hours of queues to pass immigration in Miami was still fresh in my mind!
So I prepared to have my bags lost (flying American Airlines), I wore very comfortable shoes and was prepared to miss my connection. But to my surprise, flights were on time and after managing to clear immigration AND customs in just 20 minutes I had a whole hour and a half to myself. Plus, on arrival in Quito, my bag was just there waiting for me! Well credit where credit is due folks, I have one more transfer through the US (Dallas), I won´t get complacent, but I won´t expect the worst either!
So I´m off to visit the equator today, a volcano tomorrow and I´m gonna be here for the Easter processions which are a big deal round here, should be good!
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
Tuesday, 11 March 2008
Girl hits Mexico Town!
Yes folks I´m in Mexico and what a place! The very first thing I realised is that two weeks is absolutely nothing in this place, and I mean nothing. It´s huge, people spend months and months here, this is a totally different experience from a lil ole Caribbean island! Mexico city on its own is like a gazillion times the size of London with about 26 million people......last time I complain about London being too big! As it is, I only have two weeks and I´m doing my best to keep the balance between taking in sights, but taking it easy...I´m supposed to be on holiday here!
So, I´ve spent a week in Mexico city which was amazing. I stayed in the Centro Historico, right next to the biggest and one of the oldest Cathedrals in Mexico, built right on top of the site of the Aztec Templo Mayor which has been partly excavated round the back of the cathedral. From the terrace bar in my hostel (Hostel Catedral is not bad as far as hostels go!) you can see way up into the mountains and get a good sense of just how ridiculously big the whole city is! The metro is extremely easy to use to get around, easier than the London Underground, and at $2 pesos a go, really quite cheap (21-22 pesos to the pound), but there is no way to see and do it all in a few days. I managed to go to Chapultapec park and the Anthropology museum in the park (geek I know) which are both amazing! I also did a lot of walking around the historical zone or Zocalo and managed to find a Zara!!!! Eeek!!! I also had a couple of excellent nights out, one going to see Mexican Wrestling, you can´t help but catch the bug, they get right into it, so so do you! The other was in an area called Condesa which is like a Clapham Junction with loads of bars, restaurants and clubs.
There are quite a few ancient ruins around Mexico City as well, I took a tour which took me to Tlatelolco which as well as being an excavated site was also the site of the 1982 masacre of students by the Mexican government. A really interesting but disgustingly tragic story. The tour also went to the shrine of Guadaloupe, patron saint of Mexicans. Amazing shrine and history but really quite shameless exploitation by the Catholic Church. I was amazed to see a billboard offering direct debit contibutions to the church in return for prayers and blessings....anyway.
The final stop on our tour was Teitohuacán, now that was something worth doing! Not only for the free Polque (spirit made from a cactus ;-) and Tequila but for the temple of the sun, which I managed to climb all the way to the top! Definitely worth doing if you´re coming this way!
There was some strange activity though, I´d already noticed that everyone here stares at me; in Mexico City its rare to see many dark skinned and certainly black people. So pretty much from arrival I´ve been open mouthed, stop dead in tracks, slow down traffic stared at. I never thought in this day and age a black person would draw so much attention, but I have. At Teitohuacán, myself and a fellow female tourist from France who was tall, slim and almost platinum blonde (probably the whitest white person many people here have seen!) got asked to take more photos with various school children than I think they took of the pyramids! I guess now I have a sense of what its like to have the paparrazzi on your back......not great I tell ya!
So now I´m in Oaxaca city 6 hours south west of Mexico City. Its a lot quieter which is nice, plus its got just as much character and stuff to do as anywhere else in Mexico. Its shame I won´t get to do more here, but yet again, now I know I have to come back! The food is great, although I can´t imagine that Tacos every day is ever good for your health and there are oodles of interesting places to look around, although I´ve spent today sleeping and reading...bliss!
So, last but not least niggles. Primary niggle here has to be being stared at, its just not something I´m used to and you can´t help but wonder if you´ve got your skirt in your pants, a massive bogie on your nose or bird shit on your head. But this chick is taking some well given advice (;-) and rocking it like she´s super hot and taking it in her stride!
Second but thankfully very temporary niggle was the Air Mexicana flight from Cuba. Apparently landing in a valley as Mexico City is in, is always gonna be a bit turbulent, but that cannot explain why my pilot decided to aim for the landing strip nose first. I´ve never in my life been more terrified on a plane, and it really doesn´t do much for my relationship with unfamiliar airlines!
Final niggle is the cold! Nobody told me it was cold here! Okay so its not UK cold and I don´t need a scarf and gloves, but in the evenings you do need a cardigan AND a jacket...poo... its annoying, I imagined months of summer dresses and flip flops day and night, instead I´m getting far too much use of my jeans and trainers!! Oh and I had to buy another jacket to replace the one that went missing in Jamaica :-(
Big thumbs up for Mexico overall, this place really is worth coming to, shame I only have a week left!
Before I go, I have a book and CD recommendation; Paulo Coelho's The Witch of Portobello, I´ve been reading it in spanish which isn´t easy, but hasn´t made it any less inspiring. I honestly think I´m just gonna go right ahead and join Paulo´s fan club. Sod it. Also, one of the popular sound tracks of my trip so far is Fire on the Mountain by Asa. The whole album actually (also called Asa) is fantastic although she sometimes sings in Yoruba which you´ll love even if you don´t understand! I promise neither will dissapoint!
So, I´ve spent a week in Mexico city which was amazing. I stayed in the Centro Historico, right next to the biggest and one of the oldest Cathedrals in Mexico, built right on top of the site of the Aztec Templo Mayor which has been partly excavated round the back of the cathedral. From the terrace bar in my hostel (Hostel Catedral is not bad as far as hostels go!) you can see way up into the mountains and get a good sense of just how ridiculously big the whole city is! The metro is extremely easy to use to get around, easier than the London Underground, and at $2 pesos a go, really quite cheap (21-22 pesos to the pound), but there is no way to see and do it all in a few days. I managed to go to Chapultapec park and the Anthropology museum in the park (geek I know) which are both amazing! I also did a lot of walking around the historical zone or Zocalo and managed to find a Zara!!!! Eeek!!! I also had a couple of excellent nights out, one going to see Mexican Wrestling, you can´t help but catch the bug, they get right into it, so so do you! The other was in an area called Condesa which is like a Clapham Junction with loads of bars, restaurants and clubs.
There are quite a few ancient ruins around Mexico City as well, I took a tour which took me to Tlatelolco which as well as being an excavated site was also the site of the 1982 masacre of students by the Mexican government. A really interesting but disgustingly tragic story. The tour also went to the shrine of Guadaloupe, patron saint of Mexicans. Amazing shrine and history but really quite shameless exploitation by the Catholic Church. I was amazed to see a billboard offering direct debit contibutions to the church in return for prayers and blessings....anyway.
The final stop on our tour was Teitohuacán, now that was something worth doing! Not only for the free Polque (spirit made from a cactus ;-) and Tequila but for the temple of the sun, which I managed to climb all the way to the top! Definitely worth doing if you´re coming this way!
There was some strange activity though, I´d already noticed that everyone here stares at me; in Mexico City its rare to see many dark skinned and certainly black people. So pretty much from arrival I´ve been open mouthed, stop dead in tracks, slow down traffic stared at. I never thought in this day and age a black person would draw so much attention, but I have. At Teitohuacán, myself and a fellow female tourist from France who was tall, slim and almost platinum blonde (probably the whitest white person many people here have seen!) got asked to take more photos with various school children than I think they took of the pyramids! I guess now I have a sense of what its like to have the paparrazzi on your back......not great I tell ya!
So now I´m in Oaxaca city 6 hours south west of Mexico City. Its a lot quieter which is nice, plus its got just as much character and stuff to do as anywhere else in Mexico. Its shame I won´t get to do more here, but yet again, now I know I have to come back! The food is great, although I can´t imagine that Tacos every day is ever good for your health and there are oodles of interesting places to look around, although I´ve spent today sleeping and reading...bliss!
So, last but not least niggles. Primary niggle here has to be being stared at, its just not something I´m used to and you can´t help but wonder if you´ve got your skirt in your pants, a massive bogie on your nose or bird shit on your head. But this chick is taking some well given advice (;-) and rocking it like she´s super hot and taking it in her stride!
Second but thankfully very temporary niggle was the Air Mexicana flight from Cuba. Apparently landing in a valley as Mexico City is in, is always gonna be a bit turbulent, but that cannot explain why my pilot decided to aim for the landing strip nose first. I´ve never in my life been more terrified on a plane, and it really doesn´t do much for my relationship with unfamiliar airlines!
Final niggle is the cold! Nobody told me it was cold here! Okay so its not UK cold and I don´t need a scarf and gloves, but in the evenings you do need a cardigan AND a jacket...poo... its annoying, I imagined months of summer dresses and flip flops day and night, instead I´m getting far too much use of my jeans and trainers!! Oh and I had to buy another jacket to replace the one that went missing in Jamaica :-(
Big thumbs up for Mexico overall, this place really is worth coming to, shame I only have a week left!
Before I go, I have a book and CD recommendation; Paulo Coelho's The Witch of Portobello, I´ve been reading it in spanish which isn´t easy, but hasn´t made it any less inspiring. I honestly think I´m just gonna go right ahead and join Paulo´s fan club. Sod it. Also, one of the popular sound tracks of my trip so far is Fire on the Mountain by Asa. The whole album actually (also called Asa) is fantastic although she sometimes sings in Yoruba which you´ll love even if you don´t understand! I promise neither will dissapoint!
Tuesday, 4 March 2008
Def*Cuban Horseriding....Very Sore Fanny!!
Yes folks, as predicted, I have yet another sore fanny situation, together with a sore back, sore arms and sore calves. I'm not a rider, haven't ever been (some of you may remember my 5 year old trauma story) and I am NOT ever going to be either. A 2 hour horse ride where the horse is cantering (apparently the most uncomfortable thing a horse can do) for the most part is not my idea of fun. Plus (I found this out after) Cubans have a reputation for having the most uncomfortable saddles.
The view across the Valley of Ingenes was amazing and the mini waterfall, Cascada Ancon (its a cheek to call it a waterfall really) with its stunning pool and natural caves were nice, but to be honest, I would rather have taken a car or even riden a bicycle to get there, but unfortunately you can only access it on horseback. If you go to Trinidad and get talked into giving it a go as I did, be aware, wear jeans and thick socks, and fellas...you might wanna get some padding, the guys on the trip with me didn't fare very well!
I had an excellent few days in Trinidad, I made a few friends from Larndan at Casa de la Musica (yey Kevin, Paul and Bee...see I told you I'd give you a mention) and in true form managed to also break the key to Kevin and Paul's bedroom in the lock (a long story involving alcohol, me needing the toilet and Paul putting the wrong key in the lock, clearly all his fault). I also stayed in a Casa Particular for the first time, the best and cheapest way to stay in Cuba. You can pretty much turn up at a major station or bus terminal and find a casa within a few minutes. You'll get 5* treatment which you will get charged for, but over all its a much better experience than a hotel! Plus you pay for a room but you could probably end up with two double beds, your own dining area (as I had in Trinidad) and in my current casa back in Havana, I have a one bedroom apartment complete with two massive luxury bathrooms with a double bath and shower (but only one bedroom?!?!) all for the equivalent of about 15 quid a night!
So I'm off to Mexico tomorrow, to be honest glad to see the back of Havana, I've had enough of people kindly but persistently asking for money or clothing; there aren't any dirty looking beggars in Cuba, anyone can strike up a conversation with you which normally ends up with them asking you for something. It gets annoying and it means you can't trust anyone's motives. You gotta be firm but it gets very boring very quickly.
Plus, super niggle of all time, I've just left the beach in a huff because I was being followed by a major pervert, and I mean major! This normal looking man of about 40 came up to me on a bike, asked me for the time and wandered off to sit about 10 feet away. I was quite glad he only wanted the time and carried on reading my book only to look up about 10 minutes later and see him facing me and...wait for it.....wanking! Yes folks, this man was having a very good time on my part. I cursed at him, kicked a massive bunch of sand in his direction got all my stuff and moved extremely quickly in the opposite direction. I thought I'd got rid of him, but half an hour later, I had a funny feeling, looked around and there he was again, going at it with twice as much vigour as before and only slightly further away. This time I went looking for a policeman but by the time I found one, he'd dissapeared. I am slightly traumatised, but there are mad people everywhere I guess!
Roll on Mexico!
The view across the Valley of Ingenes was amazing and the mini waterfall, Cascada Ancon (its a cheek to call it a waterfall really) with its stunning pool and natural caves were nice, but to be honest, I would rather have taken a car or even riden a bicycle to get there, but unfortunately you can only access it on horseback. If you go to Trinidad and get talked into giving it a go as I did, be aware, wear jeans and thick socks, and fellas...you might wanna get some padding, the guys on the trip with me didn't fare very well!
I had an excellent few days in Trinidad, I made a few friends from Larndan at Casa de la Musica (yey Kevin, Paul and Bee...see I told you I'd give you a mention) and in true form managed to also break the key to Kevin and Paul's bedroom in the lock (a long story involving alcohol, me needing the toilet and Paul putting the wrong key in the lock, clearly all his fault). I also stayed in a Casa Particular for the first time, the best and cheapest way to stay in Cuba. You can pretty much turn up at a major station or bus terminal and find a casa within a few minutes. You'll get 5* treatment which you will get charged for, but over all its a much better experience than a hotel! Plus you pay for a room but you could probably end up with two double beds, your own dining area (as I had in Trinidad) and in my current casa back in Havana, I have a one bedroom apartment complete with two massive luxury bathrooms with a double bath and shower (but only one bedroom?!?!) all for the equivalent of about 15 quid a night!
So I'm off to Mexico tomorrow, to be honest glad to see the back of Havana, I've had enough of people kindly but persistently asking for money or clothing; there aren't any dirty looking beggars in Cuba, anyone can strike up a conversation with you which normally ends up with them asking you for something. It gets annoying and it means you can't trust anyone's motives. You gotta be firm but it gets very boring very quickly.
Plus, super niggle of all time, I've just left the beach in a huff because I was being followed by a major pervert, and I mean major! This normal looking man of about 40 came up to me on a bike, asked me for the time and wandered off to sit about 10 feet away. I was quite glad he only wanted the time and carried on reading my book only to look up about 10 minutes later and see him facing me and...wait for it.....wanking! Yes folks, this man was having a very good time on my part. I cursed at him, kicked a massive bunch of sand in his direction got all my stuff and moved extremely quickly in the opposite direction. I thought I'd got rid of him, but half an hour later, I had a funny feeling, looked around and there he was again, going at it with twice as much vigour as before and only slightly further away. This time I went looking for a policeman but by the time I found one, he'd dissapeared. I am slightly traumatised, but there are mad people everywhere I guess!
Roll on Mexico!
Saturday, 1 March 2008
¡Viva la Revolucion!
I´ve got revolution fever, it´s everywhere here. Even over 50 years since it actually happened there is still propaganda everywhere, adverts, billboards, booklets, t-shirts and whatever else you want to see propaganda on. There are even billboards with George Bush´s face being equated to that of Hitler! It´s not that surprising, Cubans are living in a bubble and their faith, belief and patriotism towards that bubble must be maintained at all costs even if that bubble has a few holes in it to allow foreign money to come in!
I spent about 3 days in Havana, staying in Old Havana, what a place, the buildings are absolutely amazing even though some of them are almost falling down because they haven´t been restored yet, although there is a lot of talk and activity (in Cuban time) to get the restoration work underway. You also get to see all the classic signs of Cuba, American cars from the 1950s and before, Russian cars from the 60s and 70s; someone needs to say something about the brilliance of these Cuban mechanics!
One of the most interesting places I visited in Havana was the Yoruba Cultural Centre. Now, it was a little strange for me to see how strong traditional Yoruba belief in Orishas (Ancestral Gods) is in Cuba, but it was one of the things I was looking forward to experiencing, being of Yoruba descent myself. It´s bigger than Christianity here (which went out of the window after the revolution anyway) and it´s no longer limited to the descendants of slaves.
The centre has a statue of every Orisha, plus an explanation of its beginnings and how it is recognised. Given that belief in these Gods in Nigeria is almost completely extinct and they are limited to simply being a representation of our history, it is a shock to see people actively practicing it here, wearing all white every day, having huge temples in their homes and giving food and money sacrifices on holy days. Definitely worth a visit if you come here, its a small centre, but it helps to make sense of what you see on the streets and when you pass people´s houses. Santiago is supposed to have a much larger population of people who believe in Orishas hence why I wanted to go there, but the 15hour bus journey and scheduling complications has put that plan to rest.....means I gotta come back!
So, now I´m in Trinidad which is about a 5 hour bus ride from Havana (comfortable bus with reclining seats and a couple of Steven Seagal films!). Tiny town with only one beach, but it is absolutely stunning here. Its almost completely colonial, you´ll struggle to find a modern building and most of the streets are cobbled and oozing with character. The highlight for me has been Casa de la Musica which is in the town centre, free music every night of the week, you can listen, dance or try and dance salsa and stay merry until the wee hours of the morning! Last night, I even ventured into a club inside a natural cave...one word...wow! If you come to Cuba you gotta try it out!
So, onto my now regular niggles. As I mentioned in my last blog, using cards in this country is a bit difficult, any card which may be slightly associated with any American interest, just won´t work. Do not make the mistake I did and think that ¨Transaction Denied¨means a problem with your bank and spend 50CUC calling the UK only to listen to a recorded message which is of no help whatsover.
The next niggle is Cuban money. For about 2 years they´ve been operating two currencies here, Moneda Nacional(MN), which Cubans earn and spend, and Cuban Convertible Pesos(CUC), which all foreigners must use (even if they live and work in Cuba). I say must because even if you get hold of MN some places just won´t accept it from you, as you can imagine I´ve already had a couple of debates with folks on this, trust me.
Now the thing is, you get like 25MN for 1CUC, but when you buy something, the price is the same, so for example; an ice cream has a price on it of $1 (everything has the dollar sign on it?!?!), Cubans pay 1MN, foreigners pay 1CUC. Can you see the problem?! Plus just to make it worse, the CUC is stronger than the US dollar, and if you don´t have cash to change and want to buy CUC using a card, they change it into US dollars first and then into CUC, whilst adding about 5-10% commision which means you loose the advantage of having the pound which should give you just under 2CUC per pound. Sound complicated? Well it is, and its making sure Cuba is working out a lil expensive for me but what can you do?!
Tomorrow I´m taking a horse ride up to a waterfall just outside Trinidad, something tells me there is gonna be another sore fanny blog coming up!
I spent about 3 days in Havana, staying in Old Havana, what a place, the buildings are absolutely amazing even though some of them are almost falling down because they haven´t been restored yet, although there is a lot of talk and activity (in Cuban time) to get the restoration work underway. You also get to see all the classic signs of Cuba, American cars from the 1950s and before, Russian cars from the 60s and 70s; someone needs to say something about the brilliance of these Cuban mechanics!
One of the most interesting places I visited in Havana was the Yoruba Cultural Centre. Now, it was a little strange for me to see how strong traditional Yoruba belief in Orishas (Ancestral Gods) is in Cuba, but it was one of the things I was looking forward to experiencing, being of Yoruba descent myself. It´s bigger than Christianity here (which went out of the window after the revolution anyway) and it´s no longer limited to the descendants of slaves.
The centre has a statue of every Orisha, plus an explanation of its beginnings and how it is recognised. Given that belief in these Gods in Nigeria is almost completely extinct and they are limited to simply being a representation of our history, it is a shock to see people actively practicing it here, wearing all white every day, having huge temples in their homes and giving food and money sacrifices on holy days. Definitely worth a visit if you come here, its a small centre, but it helps to make sense of what you see on the streets and when you pass people´s houses. Santiago is supposed to have a much larger population of people who believe in Orishas hence why I wanted to go there, but the 15hour bus journey and scheduling complications has put that plan to rest.....means I gotta come back!
So, now I´m in Trinidad which is about a 5 hour bus ride from Havana (comfortable bus with reclining seats and a couple of Steven Seagal films!). Tiny town with only one beach, but it is absolutely stunning here. Its almost completely colonial, you´ll struggle to find a modern building and most of the streets are cobbled and oozing with character. The highlight for me has been Casa de la Musica which is in the town centre, free music every night of the week, you can listen, dance or try and dance salsa and stay merry until the wee hours of the morning! Last night, I even ventured into a club inside a natural cave...one word...wow! If you come to Cuba you gotta try it out!
So, onto my now regular niggles. As I mentioned in my last blog, using cards in this country is a bit difficult, any card which may be slightly associated with any American interest, just won´t work. Do not make the mistake I did and think that ¨Transaction Denied¨means a problem with your bank and spend 50CUC calling the UK only to listen to a recorded message which is of no help whatsover.
The next niggle is Cuban money. For about 2 years they´ve been operating two currencies here, Moneda Nacional(MN), which Cubans earn and spend, and Cuban Convertible Pesos(CUC), which all foreigners must use (even if they live and work in Cuba). I say must because even if you get hold of MN some places just won´t accept it from you, as you can imagine I´ve already had a couple of debates with folks on this, trust me.
Now the thing is, you get like 25MN for 1CUC, but when you buy something, the price is the same, so for example; an ice cream has a price on it of $1 (everything has the dollar sign on it?!?!), Cubans pay 1MN, foreigners pay 1CUC. Can you see the problem?! Plus just to make it worse, the CUC is stronger than the US dollar, and if you don´t have cash to change and want to buy CUC using a card, they change it into US dollars first and then into CUC, whilst adding about 5-10% commision which means you loose the advantage of having the pound which should give you just under 2CUC per pound. Sound complicated? Well it is, and its making sure Cuba is working out a lil expensive for me but what can you do?!
Tomorrow I´m taking a horse ride up to a waterfall just outside Trinidad, something tells me there is gonna be another sore fanny blog coming up!
Tuesday, 26 February 2008
Def*Jet Skiing....Sore Fanny!!
Yes folks, I mean exatly what that says, I went Jet Skiing and I can personally verify it gives you a very sore fanny! Now don´t start getting all hissy thinking I´m giving away too much information, its the truth. All that bouncing around on waves is not good for you and you will feel it for days and days and days! I could have stood up, yes, maybe I should have, but I was sh*t scared of the damn thing to start with and standing was just not an option!
On the flip side it was a hell of a lot of fun! I´ve had a good time on water this trip which is saying a lot seeing as I´m not exactly the world´s most confident swimmer! I did have one bummy experience though....night fishing! Now I´m not a fisher, I can´t say I´ve ever looked at it and thought "ooh, I wouldn´t mind". Most of the time it looks boring, but when you´re staying with fishermen, you gotta try fishing, and night fishing kinda sounded more fun.
So there we were, with our radio, fishing lines and some snacks. I, being true to form, felt sea sick as soon as the boat engine started. There were about 8 of us in the boat and there was no way in hell I was going to open my mouth and say I felt sick so I tried some deep breathing, tried looking in the boat, out of the boat (none of which worked) and was about 3 minutes away from emptying my stomach contents when someone else did it first! Funny enough I didn´t feel sick after that! I did almost catch two crabs, but I don´t think fishing is for me!
So I´ve said goodbye to the comfort of my Jamaican family and I am now truly on my own in Havana baby yeah!! Funnily enough, despite being just 45 mins away from Jamaica, Cuba couldn´t feel more different. In fact it reminds me a lot of Nigeria! Old buildings with all manner of businesses, shops and homes but you just can´t tell from the outside! You walk past a doorway and get a shock everytime.
I´m in Spanish mode now as well, not gonna be using English much for the next 2 months which is a challenge I´m def looking forward to! I´m in Havana for the next 2 days and then I´m going to try and brave the 15 hour coach journey to Santiago. It´s a hell of a long way, but at least I´ll get to see the a large chunk of the island! (I think I´ll get a flight back though!).
Before I go, a couple more niggles to add to my hall of shame, first is the Maestro card. They say its accepted all over the world, except it really isn´t, at all, anywhere! In fact, if you have a Cirrus sign on your card but not Maestro, that works!!! I´ve been driven to panic a couple of times thinking something was wrong, I´ve wasted money calling Natwest who tell me nothing is wrong, but yet my card still doesn´t work and they won´t accept that Maestro is crap. So, thanks to that I know have to re-organise my funding. Poo. Air Jamaica are worth another mention, true to form on my way to Cuba they showed that they are a truly useless airline!
So, I shall hopefully update later in the week. I´ve got a whole bunch of photos from Barbados and Jamaica to load up and I shall try to do that as soon as I get a stable internet connection.
¡Hasta luego amigos!
On the flip side it was a hell of a lot of fun! I´ve had a good time on water this trip which is saying a lot seeing as I´m not exactly the world´s most confident swimmer! I did have one bummy experience though....night fishing! Now I´m not a fisher, I can´t say I´ve ever looked at it and thought "ooh, I wouldn´t mind". Most of the time it looks boring, but when you´re staying with fishermen, you gotta try fishing, and night fishing kinda sounded more fun.
So there we were, with our radio, fishing lines and some snacks. I, being true to form, felt sea sick as soon as the boat engine started. There were about 8 of us in the boat and there was no way in hell I was going to open my mouth and say I felt sick so I tried some deep breathing, tried looking in the boat, out of the boat (none of which worked) and was about 3 minutes away from emptying my stomach contents when someone else did it first! Funny enough I didn´t feel sick after that! I did almost catch two crabs, but I don´t think fishing is for me!
So I´ve said goodbye to the comfort of my Jamaican family and I am now truly on my own in Havana baby yeah!! Funnily enough, despite being just 45 mins away from Jamaica, Cuba couldn´t feel more different. In fact it reminds me a lot of Nigeria! Old buildings with all manner of businesses, shops and homes but you just can´t tell from the outside! You walk past a doorway and get a shock everytime.
I´m in Spanish mode now as well, not gonna be using English much for the next 2 months which is a challenge I´m def looking forward to! I´m in Havana for the next 2 days and then I´m going to try and brave the 15 hour coach journey to Santiago. It´s a hell of a long way, but at least I´ll get to see the a large chunk of the island! (I think I´ll get a flight back though!).
Before I go, a couple more niggles to add to my hall of shame, first is the Maestro card. They say its accepted all over the world, except it really isn´t, at all, anywhere! In fact, if you have a Cirrus sign on your card but not Maestro, that works!!! I´ve been driven to panic a couple of times thinking something was wrong, I´ve wasted money calling Natwest who tell me nothing is wrong, but yet my card still doesn´t work and they won´t accept that Maestro is crap. So, thanks to that I know have to re-organise my funding. Poo. Air Jamaica are worth another mention, true to form on my way to Cuba they showed that they are a truly useless airline!
So, I shall hopefully update later in the week. I´ve got a whole bunch of photos from Barbados and Jamaica to load up and I shall try to do that as soon as I get a stable internet connection.
¡Hasta luego amigos!
Thursday, 14 February 2008
Wha' gine on? I'm in Barbados
I'm in Barbados!! Ok, so I've been here twice already and yes there are many islands in the Caribbean but dammit I like this one and its my holiday! (Just thought I'd get that off my chest ;-)
I spent some time on my own in Negril last week trying to psyche myself up for this whole lone adventurer malarkey and it was hard! Nobody told me that travelling on your own as a woman would be so stressful! Trying to actually be on your own anywhere outside your room is damn near impossible. Walking down the street, sitting in a cafe, going on the beach (no surprises there) you name the place, a man is gonna come and try his luck. The funny thing is that they actually don't care if they've just seen one man leave, they'll still try their luck, its everyone for themselves! Maybe its the Caribbean, clearly a woman cannot possibly be travelling alone in this area, what madness!!
One interesting phenomenon I've noted is how I'm being treated before people hear my accent and after. Clearly, before they hear my accent I'm a Jamaican or Barbadian no sweat. As soon as they hear my accent, I'm a tourist and either the price of anything goes up, or I get bracketed as the latest super drug trafficker in the Caribbean and have my bags searched no less than 3 times by Jamaican, Grenadian and Barbadian immigration for one 3 hour flight! Kinda sucks huh?! Fair enough, I can imagine Jamaica to Barbados is a bit of a dodgy route for certain things, but I note (and it is important to note) that of the 10 or so white tourists that I struck up conversation with and that were on my flight from Jamaica to Barbados I was the only one who got stopped and searched.
I might start up a niggle hall of shame, Morgan's Harbour Hotel still have prime place (oh, I've since realised that I'm also missing my little leather jacket that I had worn from the UK, seeing as I didn't need it, I clearly didn't realise I left it at the hotel....funny how they didn't find that either!), but Jamaican Immigration and ALL the staff of Air Jamaica are coming close second!
So, Barbados, I'm catching up with old acquantances, making new ones and checking out the bus routes around the island while I'm here. I'll try to see as much of the island as I can but don't hate me if I spend all my time at the beach! lol!
I spent some time on my own in Negril last week trying to psyche myself up for this whole lone adventurer malarkey and it was hard! Nobody told me that travelling on your own as a woman would be so stressful! Trying to actually be on your own anywhere outside your room is damn near impossible. Walking down the street, sitting in a cafe, going on the beach (no surprises there) you name the place, a man is gonna come and try his luck. The funny thing is that they actually don't care if they've just seen one man leave, they'll still try their luck, its everyone for themselves! Maybe its the Caribbean, clearly a woman cannot possibly be travelling alone in this area, what madness!!
One interesting phenomenon I've noted is how I'm being treated before people hear my accent and after. Clearly, before they hear my accent I'm a Jamaican or Barbadian no sweat. As soon as they hear my accent, I'm a tourist and either the price of anything goes up, or I get bracketed as the latest super drug trafficker in the Caribbean and have my bags searched no less than 3 times by Jamaican, Grenadian and Barbadian immigration for one 3 hour flight! Kinda sucks huh?! Fair enough, I can imagine Jamaica to Barbados is a bit of a dodgy route for certain things, but I note (and it is important to note) that of the 10 or so white tourists that I struck up conversation with and that were on my flight from Jamaica to Barbados I was the only one who got stopped and searched.
I might start up a niggle hall of shame, Morgan's Harbour Hotel still have prime place (oh, I've since realised that I'm also missing my little leather jacket that I had worn from the UK, seeing as I didn't need it, I clearly didn't realise I left it at the hotel....funny how they didn't find that either!), but Jamaican Immigration and ALL the staff of Air Jamaica are coming close second!
So, Barbados, I'm catching up with old acquantances, making new ones and checking out the bus routes around the island while I'm here. I'll try to see as much of the island as I can but don't hate me if I spend all my time at the beach! lol!
Thursday, 7 February 2008
Mosquitos are a menace
I have another niggle....mosquitos. Now I'm no stranger to them and as ever I came prepared with all kinds of insect repellant and the likes, but these bloody things are serious about munching on my blood. As we speak I am the owner of what feels like a gazzillion bites but is probably about 20-30 bites on the back of each thigh and leg....sounds awful?...well it is.
Not only had I never seen anything like it, neither had anyone around me. I'm wondering if a couple of them managed to sneak up my pyjama bottoms one evening and decide to just stay for a few meals. One mosquito bite itches....what I had is the stuff that drives people crazy! Enter my superhero Mr Bliss. A friend of the family I'm staying with and a descendant of a line of herbalists. Thanks to him, a combination of two types of herb and twice daily applications with vaseline (you know I packed loads of vaseline), they no longer itch and will probably not leave scars. Just goes to show, Boots doesn't always have the answer! (part of me actually suspects that my mosquito repellant kit may be attracting rather than repelling them).
So, on the upside, I've had a few more amazing trips. One in particular I forgot to mention last blog was a trip to Sweet River. Sweet River is a natural spring and the water there is the clearest and coolest I've ever seen. It's kind of set on a flat plain and until you get to the water you don't actually know its there. We spent a couple of hours there messing with the water, chilling and talking to a few people who came by to have a dip as people just do around there.
The only down side is that it is 'owned' by one man who occassionally likes to run people off his land with a shotgun. Go figure. I'm hoping I can get as many trips there as possible without running into him, it should be a free and public resource, especially given the fact that it has a kind of mystical pull that keeps people coming there, but this is the world we live in.
I also went out ona fishing boat and saw a dolphin!! Never thought I'd see one of those myself! It wasn't all that close but what a sight!
Not only had I never seen anything like it, neither had anyone around me. I'm wondering if a couple of them managed to sneak up my pyjama bottoms one evening and decide to just stay for a few meals. One mosquito bite itches....what I had is the stuff that drives people crazy! Enter my superhero Mr Bliss. A friend of the family I'm staying with and a descendant of a line of herbalists. Thanks to him, a combination of two types of herb and twice daily applications with vaseline (you know I packed loads of vaseline), they no longer itch and will probably not leave scars. Just goes to show, Boots doesn't always have the answer! (part of me actually suspects that my mosquito repellant kit may be attracting rather than repelling them).
So, on the upside, I've had a few more amazing trips. One in particular I forgot to mention last blog was a trip to Sweet River. Sweet River is a natural spring and the water there is the clearest and coolest I've ever seen. It's kind of set on a flat plain and until you get to the water you don't actually know its there. We spent a couple of hours there messing with the water, chilling and talking to a few people who came by to have a dip as people just do around there.
The only down side is that it is 'owned' by one man who occassionally likes to run people off his land with a shotgun. Go figure. I'm hoping I can get as many trips there as possible without running into him, it should be a free and public resource, especially given the fact that it has a kind of mystical pull that keeps people coming there, but this is the world we live in.
I also went out ona fishing boat and saw a dolphin!! Never thought I'd see one of those myself! It wasn't all that close but what a sight!
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