Trip route

I have had a whole day with wireless internet at the hostel so I have created a trip route. Especially for you who thinks that my blog is not up to date, you can check it out using the first link in my list (to the left).

Christmas in Cartagena

I decided to hang around Cartagena for Christmas with my friends from the boat. It was a hassle to find places to stay during the holiday season so after staying one night in a more basic place and managed to upgrade early in the morning next day, it was convenient to just stay around for a couple of days. Unfortunately there is also the New Year coming up soon so once more, one has to struggle with advance bookings. In situations like this, I certainly don't like Christmas.

Cartagena has been a key port ever since the colonial period and its walls have protected the city from numerous pirate attacks. The old city is relatively unchanged from the old time and the city's past prosperity is witnessed by its many buildings with large balconies.

Christmas was celebrated with a few Christmas meals in the old city. There are many tourist traps here but we managed to find a couple of good restaurants. Normally I settle for cheaper but it was Christmas...

Michael Kohler

The sailboat was primarily taking four motorbikes and motorbikers from Panama to Colombia as there are no road between the continents. The options are to either hitch with a cargo-boat, take a sailboat of fly. With a motorbike, the sailboat will be the most viable option. We were in total nine people on the boat, all from different countries (Austria, Germany, USA, Canada, Switzerland, Australia, Sweden, Holland and Italy).

One guy I met on board has been touring the world for the past 2.5 years on his bike, which certainly is very impressive. He is now planning to do South America-Africa and a bit of Europe before returning to Switzerland. I wonder how I should be able to save enough money to travel for 3+ years. Any tips? Can I not become Technical Director soon???

http://www.travelpod.com/members/pajas

Here is Michael's impressive journey so far:

Sailing - Caribbean Sea (Part II)

The sail was far from problem-free. Hearing what happened to the other boats, we quickly realised that things could easily go wrong out on the sea in a small boat. It did certainly not help that our boat was a floating dump, which lacked maintenance in most ways. Normally when a boat is not well maintained, it only lacks a bit of paint or cleaning but on this particular boat, things that were not absolutely necessary to make it to Cartagena were not functional at all. In addition to the paint and cleaning that is.

However, after sailing four days along the coast, we decided to cross the ocean to get to Cartagena faster as the wind direction made it possible.

During the trip, we managed to rip two sails, which made it difficult to go with full speed. When the second sail ripped, it did it in such a way that the line holding it up disappeared up in the mast and got stuck. We therefore had to rely a lot on the engine.

Unfortunately, it was no longer possible to check how much diesel was left in the two tanks due to broken gages. The captain had to check the levels with a stick but as they were somewhat cone-shaped we thought it would be almost impossible to estimate the level of the fuel. When the first tank almost finished and the captain wanted to switch to the second, the tank was broken and all the diesel had leaked out. We only found this out later as his official story was that the diesel in the second tank was dirty and could not be used. I guess the captain was worried and did not want to cause panic as the three extra people on board had made food and water supplies very low. We therefore had to cross the sea on half sail with unfavourable wind and with no engine, doing about two knots to saving diesel in order to be able to get to the nearest island with a diesel pump. With a bit more unfavourable wind, we could easily have drifted around on the ocean for a couple of days without engine.

For this reason, the captain was eager to get the front sail to work. He was in fact so keen that he wanted to get winched up in the mast to get the line down, during the journey at open sea. The waves were not merciful and at the top of the mast, the oscillations were severe. Not knowing the seriousness of the situation, we thought it could wait until we anchored outside the island but the captain got up in the mast anyway. In the current weather, the task was also too difficult and he came down in pain after having hit his ribs towards the mast halfway up.

We sailed during all night taking shifts to steer the boat as the autopilot was broken and it had to be steered manually and finally arrived to the island in the afternoon next day. After stocking up on diesel (the captain had only dollars so he was ripped off by the locals on the exchange rate when buying diesel, he was not too happy at that point), we sailed through the night again and arrived to Cartagena at mid-day on the eight day at sea.

As if the problems were never going to stop, one hour before us a super cruiser with 1500 passengers arrived to the port in Cartagena (it sailed past us on the way in) making the customs clearance difficult as they had a mountain with passports to go through before serving us. We had to leave our passports to the captain and get them back the next day. A bit worrying as it was difficult to recall anything that the captain had said since we departed that actually had come true. Fortunately I got my passport back the next day. With the stamp. Viva Colombia.

Below follows some various pictures from the latter part of the sailtrip, until arriving in Cartagena.

Sailing - San Blas Archipelago (Part I)

The sailing-adventure was a diverse experience. This was one of the last boats going as it was the end of the sailing season and no boats can make it from Panama to Colombia in January-March due to the strong headwinds. Our Italian captain therefore warned us that if we were unlucky with the weather, we may be a day or so delayed from the normal five-day, four-nights itinerary.

The first days we went to the San Blas archipelago and anchored outside small pretty islands during the nights. We did not encounter rough weather but headwinds, which made it impossible to sail across the open sea, the shortest route to Cartagena. Therefore, we decided to travel the longer route along the coast. This gave us the opportunity to experience the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean Sea during four afternoons and nights.

By now it was clear that it was certainly going to take longer than planned (were still far from Cartagena) but as the captain had to feed us as long as we were on board (fixed price), we did not complain too much.

On board we were originally five passengers, four motorbikes plus the captain. However, on the third day we got three more passengers from other boats that departed just before us. These were from a sailboat with a Swedish captain. He had been heavily drunk while sailing and managed to go on the reef twice and broke the mast on his boat. The passengers were therefore stranded on an island due to a damaged boat and we picked up two of them. Another passenger also joined, stranded from another boat with a Spanish captain.

Our boat now started to get full. Some passengers had to sleep on deck due to lack of space in the cabin. As long as there is good weather, sleeping on deck is normally a very pleasant experience; it is warm and fresh and there are no mosquitos etc but unfortunately there were some showers every night. I therefore sticked to my little bench inside the boat.

Following are some pictures from the Caribbean sail.

Deserted Caribbean Island








Another island beach








The Italian captain putting the sail up











Sunset at a Caribbean island

Time to go sailing

The journey from Costa Rica to the location of the sailing boat in northern Panama took 26h. The last part of the trip went through small backroads along the Caribbean coast of Panama. The region was frequented by chicken buses and the interesting and welcoming landscape saw small farms, relaxed villages and a very easy pace of life.
When finally arriving at Puerto Lindo, a little fishing village on the norhtern coast of Panama with a Yacht-club (it sounds more grand than it really is), there was not much to do than to sleep, get in touch with the other passengers and get ready for an early start next day.

Pictures from Central America

Six of my pictures from various places in Central America are posted on http://mewpictures.blogspot.com/

Don't forget to vote for one!

/Mattias

Spanish

nSome people have complained that my blog is not up to date. In fact, it has been pretty much up to date all the time, its just that I didn't travel to any new places for a while as I was busy studying Spanish, and I didn't experience anything funny I could write about. When I have something of relevance that is worth putting in the blog, I will update it accordingly. And there are many more stories coming, I promise. Until then, you have to shut your mouth and wait.

Sailing

Soon I will head off for a 5-day sailing journey across the Caribbean sea, the classic routes once fared by Spanish gallons and pirates in their hunt for power and gold. I will set sail in Panama on the 15th of December and sail via the San Blas archipelago to Cartagena, Colombia.

I hope I won't miss the boat. The adventure is awaiting...

The Panama Canal

The Panama Canal, one of the greatest engineering achievements of the 20th century, dominates pretty much everything in this country. The canal generates one third of the whole country's economy and has been the source of conflicts, wars, political struggles and is in fact the reason Panama is an independent country at all.

A visit to the Canal Area is therefore well worthwhile and the more one learns about the canal, the more intriguing it gets.

Here is a short summary of the canal's history:

The ideas of a canal between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans was broached by the Spanish in 1524. The best location for a canal would be through Nicaragua or through Panama. Any serious attempt on building a canal was however not seen until 1881, when the French started building a canal after having obtained the rights from Colombia (Panama was then a part of Colombia), much to USA's chagrin, who was seeking sole rights to a canal. However, after eight years of engineering problems and 22000 workers dead in malaria and yellow fever, the company finally went bankrupt. The French considered the project impossible and sold it to USA, who later also gained the rights for a canal in Nicaragua. It is said that the final decision for actually building it in Panama was due to an old church in Panama City. The fact that it still stood there meant that the area was not sensitive for earthquakes, which was a problem in Nicaragua.

Colombia, however, was not keen on letting USA into their territory and refused to accept the transfer of the canal treaty. As a result, USA set up a revolutionary junta and backed it with money and weapons. When it claimed independence from Colombia. US warships prevented Colombian forces from even reaching land (there is no road, remember?) and Panama became a nation heavily dominated by the USA.

The canal was successfully built between 1904-1914 and the following 60 years were filled with conflicts related to the domination of the canal zone, which was considered US territory and became an American colony with homes, businesses and english language schools. Senator John McCain (still remember him?) was actually born in the canal zone in Panama.

Panama finally gained complete ownership of the canal on 31st December 1999.

The Panama Canal has three sets of locks. Here is the Miraflores locks where some huge vessels are crossing the canal. Ships pay a fee relative to their weight. The lowest fee of $0.36 was paid by Richard Halliburton who swam through in 1928 and the highest fee was paid by a massive Norwegian cruise ship, which crossed earlier this year.

Panama

Panama is the most eastern country in Central Amerca and hence the last country before hitting South America. Between Central and South America, there is no road, only rain forest and mountain passes so to get to the continent, one has to either fly, take a boat or hike through the forest. The latter option is not recommended by anyone as it is a high-risk project and it is not only possible, but also very likely, that you will get robbed of all your belongings along the way as not even the police dare to enter this area.

Panama is a tiny country famous for:
1) The Panama Canal;
2) The Panama Hat (which for some weird reason is made in Ecuador and not Panama);
3) The palindrome "A man a plan a canal panama"; and
4) Panama City, which is the only capital city that has got a rain forest within the city boundary.

Unfortunately, I have not seen anything like the environment that is featured in the Panama scenes of "Prison Break". I wonder where that was shot. And as Panama is not more exciting than this, I have nothing more to write on the subject.

Panama city - the skyline

Cartago

This little place just outside San José is a university city and a typical Costa Rican mid-sized city, gridlined in concrete blocks with not much to see for tourists.

The main reason for people wanting to come here may be a massive church on the outskirts of the centre, which also is a destination for pilgrimes. Cartago offers no more worth writing about.

Tamarindo

Now it starts getting dark and cold in Europe, so why not spread some happiness with some pictures from my journey. It may feel good to know that there are actually places on planet Earth that are not depressing in the month of October.

I visited a few beaches in Costa Rica and Tamarindo is one of them. During low-season there are plentiful of cheap accommodations all over the country and Tamarindo is full of (ok, not THAT full during low season) merry backpackers and surfers (I still can't do this thing, damn!).



Almost as nice as the beach in Bornemouth, England
-or is it not?







Although its rain period, the weather is OK and most electric showers in England (at least the one's in the houses I've been living in) would be jealous of the water temperature.

What the h**k are you guys doing???

The time is up for voting on the Mexico-pictures and I seriously wonder if you are all having a go at me. How on earth can the cow-picture win???

Anyway, look out for Central American pictures soon. I have some nice ones.

Pictures and result on http://mewpictures.blogspot.com/

Costa Rica

Costa Rica is painful. Mention the country Costa Rica to any Swedish person and he will not associate it with beaches, jungle or national beauty, which normally is the case. Instead, Costa Rica is remembered for the humiliation that occurred on June 20 1990, when the tiny country's football team took a 2-1 victory against the Scandinavians, knocking Sweden out of the World Cup in Italy. It was in fact so unexpected and so surprising, with such high stakes at the same time, that the loss can only be compared to one other game in the country's football history (Japan-Sweden 3-2 in the 1936 Berlin Olympics).

I have now arrived to Costa Rica, the arch enemy.

Managua

Another stop-over was the Nicaraguan capital of Managua. Managua is an interesting place although few tourists linger here longer than it takes to transfer between bus terminals or the occasional overnight in case of late arrivals. Managua can both enchant visitors as well as freak them out.
Whatever you choose to see or do in the city you are bound to come across worried citizens who like to advice you to take care and tell you how dangerous it is. This is particularly true if you are strolling around close to markets or bus stations. Also, taxi drivers are keen on telling you to not walk, that you will get robbed or attacked and that you must take a taxi because this area is "very dangerous" or "muy peligroso", as they say. If you have visited Managua and still not understand the word "peligroso" you better give up as you will never learn Spanish.
There are the occasional story about someone getting killed on this street a couple of months ago, that many robberies occur here or that as a tourist you attract many thieves. Anyway, many sounded a bit exaggerated so it is tempting to ignore most warnings. Especially when a taxi driver who worked for one of the "secure" taxi companies did the cross sign when I chose to hail a taxi from the street instead of paying his inflated fare, I thought it was probably just as likely to get robbed by him.

The historic centre (downtown area) was destroyed in an earthquake back in the 1930s. The area was never really reconstructed and the city instead expanded towards the outskirts. Today there are some government buildings and monuments in the area but people normally dont go here as, yes you guessed it, it is dangerous.
On this plaza, bounded by government buildings, museums and a cathedral, there was apparently earlier a beautiful fountain. But as it was built by another reigm, it was removed by after the change of government. Now it is just a big boring concrete block with a flagpole in the middle. Nicaragua is very poor and I with governments like this, I think they deserve it.

Looking out over downtown Managua. The city is relatively big but there are few skyscrapers and Nicaraguans like to retain trees. Most of the buildings are invisible below the treeline. In the background is Lake Managua, where the city first was founded as a small fishing village.

I hate the cheese-people

That Americans have difficulties understanding the difference between Sweden and Switzerland is nothing new under the sun - but here it is at least ten times worse. Everywhere I go people have no clue about my origin.

In Spanish, Sweden is written "Suecia" and Switzerland "Suiza". If I attempt to pronounce this with my splendid Spanish you may understand that there are some opportunities for misinterpretations. It is especially evident when you come across people who never realised that it is in fact two different countries; there is need for thorough explanations.

I Googled some base facts about Switzerland in case you too are uncertain:

Switzerland is a country that only exists because of the most direct passageway through the Alps. The area was historically controlled by The Romans and then various Germanic Empires but some Cantons finally gained more of less independence as a strategic location controlling the north-south traffic.

In Switzerland today they make cheese and breed sheep and goats in the Alps. Sportswise, the country can only compete internationally in downhill skiing. Switzerland became member of the UN only in 2002 and until then was isolated in the world politics and refused to take on board many of the world-wide accepted protocols regarding for example both human rights and children's rights. In Switzerland they also gather around the ballot boxes every other month for public votes whenever the government disagrees and it is a type example of an inefficient and bureaucratic democracy.

Switzerland's mosts prominent contribution to the world was to host the UEFA Euro Cup in 2008 together with Austria. Swiss citizens also enjoy being mixed up with Swedish and hence are parasiting on top brand names such as ABBA, Absolut, IKEA, Volvo, H&M, Skype and Nobel.

By this time, I am really really sick of Switzerland and I am very happy we don't have cheese-people working for Scotts.

Isla de Ometepe

Ometepe is an island located in Lake Nicaragua, the largest lake in Central America. The island is made of two nearby volcanoes, one still active, raising up through the lake. Lava floating down from the volcanoes united them into a single island.

Ometepe is one of the main tourist attractions in Nicaragua but being a very small tourist country, most places Nicaraguans are proud over are maybe not that unique or attractive in an international perspective. Ometepe is nice and marvellous as a nature wonder, but the various places you can visit on the island is quite sh*t. There is for example a volcanic lagoon with water they claim to be healthy, but it is cold water and a swim in it is not worth the entrance fee. There is also a waterfall remotely located and the long climb (and entrance fee!) is not worth what you see.

Ometepe is beautiful and is best enjoyed through free hikes along the shore or bicycle rides through the fields; and definitely not through low-class "attractions".

Granada

Granada is the most touristy of all Nicaraguan cities. This does not mean that it is incredibly touristy because Nicaragua is a very small tourist destination, although it is considerably safer than both Honduras and Costa Rica.

Nicaragua has tried to expand the tourist industry and tried to encourage foreigners to buy houses and lands in the country. Due to the political stability, it is however much safer to invest in the nearby Costa Rica and therefore Nicaragua has yet seen little success outside the colonial Granada.

Nicaragua is a fairly cheap country but Granada suffers from overprising and is crowded with upscale eateries, which does not cater for the local population with limited economic funds. Backpackers may enjoy Granada's spirit and atmosphere for a couple of days but may choose to look for other places if the main objective is to live on a tight budget.

Overall, Granada is pleasant, quiet, safe, beautiful and tranquil.

William Walker

One of the reasons Central America is so fascinating is its unlikely history, which I find many times more intriguing than the European equivalence. I try to not fill the blog with too much history however, as you probably wouldn't be bothered to read it, but some of the oddities I am sure you appreciate. This is one of them; the story about Nicaragua and William Walker.

Background
In Nicaragua there were in the colonial times two centres; Granada (dominated by conservatives) and Leon (dominated by liberals). Granada was the rich city of trade and Leon, although very poor, the seat of the political power. This inbalance led to conflicts between the two cities as Leon thought it should have more of the wealth and Granada thought it should have more power. After independence, there was even a civil war (1850s) between Leon and Granada. This finally led to the relocation of the capital to Managua (still the capital city) which then was a little bigger than a standard fishing village. Managua was only chosen because it was located between Leon and Granada.

The merits of William Walker
Mr Walker was an american citizen, obsessed with taking over Central American land. In 1853 he led a group to attack Mexico and after arriving, he declared himself president of the Mexican part of lower California. Mexico later drove him out when he became too irritating.

Walker arrives to Nicaragua
In the middle of the conflict, the liberals of Leon asked William Walker to help them seaze power from Granada. He happily arrived with an invading party to Granada and succeded. He had his own plan however: he rigged elections and had himself elected president. He ruled the country from Granada, changed the official language to English, instituted slavery and adapted the "five or none"-strategy, which set out his ambition to also take over the remaining Central American countries. This caused worries amongst the neighbours and they united in order to attack Granada and managed to drive him out in 1957. He avoided capture by surrending himself to the US Navy and he was sent back to the US.

Why did he not learn his lesson? This was not the last time Walker was in action however. He arrived six months later with another invading party, only to be arrested and deported by the US Navy again. He changed his tactics and landed in 1860 in Honduras, with yet a new invasion. This time he was captured by the British Navy, which turned him over to the local authorities. They showed no mercy and made the process short; he was shot shortly after and is today buries in Trujilly, Honduras.

Nicaragua after Walker
With the record of having invited William Walker to Nicaragua, the Liberals of Leon failed to regain any power for the next 36 years. Walker is also one of reasons to why the capital was moved to Managua.

Celebrations in Tegucigalpa

I happened to arrive to Tegucigalpa (capital of Honduras) the day after the Honduras football team had managed to win a game so there was some kind of drumming and celebrations going on downtown. The hope for the 2010 world cup is apparently still alive. I had earlier in the week watched Honduras play Canada in a bar in West End, but no matter how hard I tried, it was difficult working up some sympathies for the Honduran team. It was different when I watched Guatemala play the United States with the family in Antigua. So I ended up supporting Canada anyway and I didn’t pay too much attention to the ongoing celebrations.
Anyway, Tegucigalpa is a quite dull place. So are also the other Honduran cities I visited (La Ceiba and San Pedro Sula). I don’t even know why I bother writing about it. Bye bye Honduras.

Roatán

So what is Mattias doing on a Caribbean island in the middle of the hurricane season? There is no need to worry however because both hurricanes Hanna and Ike passed by on a safe distance through Haiti to the north. Roatán is famous for being the cheapest place in the world to dive, so I passed by here to obtain a diving certificate. I found out, however, that the prices quoted in my guide were nowhere close to the actual prices on the island so it has apparently recently got much more expensive. But as it was off the peak tourist season, I got to do my course with two instructors on my own, which speeded things up compared to being in a class. It took only three days to do four dives, four confined water sessions, theory, swimming tests and final exam.

The West Village on Roátan is an idyllic (but relatively expensive) place. It is formed of one street only running parallel to the sea. Here are numerous restaurants, dive shops and hotels located next to each other, catering for diving tourists only. If you don’t dive, there is little point in going here.