2013 tagged posts

In America, Guatemala On  24/04/2013  7 comments

Guatemala City, or Guate as they call it there, was my arrival place in Central America. In general, when I travel alone, I avoid stay long time in big cities, so I had only 2 days in town. During this period the city was had always some sort of fog, as it was screening the sun, it reminded me Lima, in Peru.

Guatemala is big, about 4 million people in a country of 15 million, therefore, great part of the action happen here. It is divided by zones by numbers, streets and avenues are also named by number. For example, I stayed at Zone 13, 15 av. “A” 5-30. This way of naming streets and neighborhoods gives me the idea of being planed, that they followed an urban plan. It is had to imagine this kind of nomenclature on Brazilians cities where cities grow randomly and streets come out of nothing.

Another point that caught my attention in Guatemala was the “Americanism”, starting with the way to name streets, like in the US...

In Guatemala On  24/04/2013  7 comments

I wanted to visit Antigua because of Pacaya volcano. It was in my imaginary this Guatemalan small town surrounded by active volcanoes. I had in my mind the image of colorful houses and the triangular mountain in the background. Unfortunately, it was not easy to see this image because there was a lot of fog. Antigua reminded me the images of Licancabur volcano, one can see it from almost everywhere in San Pedro Atacama.

Even though without Pacaya in the background, I loved Antigua. A small town, organized, grounded with cafes, cultural activities and good restaurants. I spent my days walking around, stopping in one café or another, reading, photographing. I enjoy reading in cafes.

On my last day I decided to do a trekking tour to climb Pacaya. We left the hotel around 5 am. When we where picking up everybody, far away I saw the volcano, timidly appearing on the fog. I asked the driver to stop the van so we could enjoy the landscape and take a photo...

In America, Guatemala On  23/04/2013  7 comments

At the same time I thought Guatemala was very “Americanized”, I give a good compliment to Guatemalans on the way they respect the indigenous culture and traditions. A great example of that is Chichicastenango town, or Chichi as they say in Guatemala. So, I decided to go a tour to the market that takes place there every Thursday and Sunday.

The market is very colorful, it reminded me Otavalo (Ecuador) ou Tarabuco (Bolivia). They sell almost everything but handcraft is their main business. It is a good place to buy travel gifts; their clothes and souvenirs are beautiful.  The bargain is obligatory here, if you don’t bargain, there is no fun. On the tour, I met Claudio, a Chilean mountaineer, who was my company to the bargain afternoon. We formed a “team” do ask for better prices and late afternoon we were experts on that art.

Cláudio com a bolsa que comprou para sua irmã, depois de uma tarde de pechincha…

Another stop of the day was the Santo Tomás church, a mix of a Cathol...

In Brazil, Chapada Diamantina, Diving & Snorkeling, Hiking/Trekking On  23/03/2013  No comments

On my first day at Chapada Diamantina I decided to take a tour to get a broad sense of the place. It was “Roteiro1”(Mucugezinho, Poço do Diabo, Gruta da Lapa, Gruta da Pratinha, Gruta Azul, Morro do Pai Inácio) and Mel was our guide. The first stoop was at Rio Mucugezinho where we went hiking to appreciate the river landscape. We followed the trail for about 15 minutes until we arrived at Poço do Diabo, a beautiful waterfall; there we had our first bath of the day. The water was cold but nos freezing as I imagine it would be. And after the walk under the sun, it was exactly what I was waiting for. The waterfall is big, a great shower of transparent water. Stay under the fall was easy, but the stones were slippery, so one has to be careful. The water was wonderful, invigorating as any waterfall.

After Mucugezinho, we climbed up Morro do Pai Inácio in order to see the landscape of the region. The trail is easy, but steep...

In Honduras, Diving & Snorkeling On  03/03/2013  2 comments

The main reason for visiting Utila island was diving. I had seen on the internet that April was whale shark season in the region. So, my vacation destination was chosen for me. My dives there were with Utila Dive Center. On the first day we been to two incredible places: Pinnacle and Ted’s Point (info below). Right on the beginning of the dive we saw a wreck. I love boat, any sort, above or under water.

The corals were beautiful, different formation, like flowers, tress, branches…There was not a huge amount of fish, but we saw some school of small fishes, a sea horse (they are not easy to spot, the divemater showed us), and the most interesting, an octopus. Generally they are hidden o a hole. Luckily, not this time. I was a bit away from the gruop taking photos when I saw an octopus passing by me “flying”. It was gorgeous, I have never seen an octapus like that, it was dancing in the sea. Made my day!

1st dive: Pinnacle: http://www.diveboard.com/karla.brunet/D28YebA
Date: 2013-04-23 – ...