For a girlie week end away, we went to Morelia to see the butterflies. Not just a few butterflies in a contained area, but thousands and thousands of orange butterflies flying around. We got to the spot where they all are by horse, because we were very tired and also lazy. I have now learnt that going horse-riding in a tourist spot in a Latin American country is not advised, the horses are underfed and overworked. You feel like you could just break their backs at any time. However, seeing the butterflies was one of the most beautiful things in the world, and apparently when we went there weren’t that many of them. It just shows you how amazing nature is, they stay here in Mexico during the winter (Mexican winter) and then they all migrate to Canada. All they way from Mexico to Canada, these were Monarch Butterflies, and they’re journey spans the life of 3 to 4 generations.

When you get to the spot, in between 30 or so meter trees, at first you think that they are leaves on the trees but the suddenly they all fly off and its just like a swarm of orange butterflies in the sky.
 

Then suddenly a pair of butterflies would fall straight to the floor, right in front of your feet and mate.

 Like little fairies.

For the rest of the trip we walked around town, saw the most beautiful cathedral in the world, sadly some people had tried to burn it down because they wanted money from the church because they believed it was too rich (or something like that). The front door was all black with ash, the windows cracked, the whole church dusty from the smoke, the paintings and statues gone to be cleaned. But nonetheless, an impressive place.

La Catedral de Guadalupe.

 Looking through the cracks.

 Callejon del Romance.

During the start of December 2011 I went to Cuba with 5 friends. I’ve been wanting to go since watching Dirty Dancing, Havana Nights, it might be kind of sad, but it’s the truth. Cuba is a country with extremely limited internet, only the rich have phones, they have a local currency and another one, everyone gets paid the same no matter what job it is you do, taxi drivers will make more money than doctors and the food is nothing special. However, it is also a country full of tradition, amazing beaches, old american cars, mojitos, beautiful landscapes and very friendly and welcoming people.

We arrived with nowhere to sleep, seeing as there is no internet you can’t book online or even find places to stay, but at the airport we got offered a place to stay in La Havana. Upon discovering the town on our first day there, we go to a restaurant/bar where we drink mojitos and Cuba libres and chat to the waiter who tells us so much about the country, so much information that we could not get anywhere else. He shows us a Cuban nightclub where we are the only foreigners, we try dancing like Cubans, but it is impossible to move your hips like that. Unfortunately, my bag got stolen there, a girl who we were speaking with ran off with it, cards, money, camera, ID, hat (very important).  We went to the police to report the crime, got taken from one station to another in the police car, first time in a police car, hopefully the last. I had to repeat what happened about 5 times to so many different people, all in Spanish of course, I guess it was good practice for me but after 4 hours it gets a bit boring.

 The view of the street from our balcony in La Havana.

After La Havana we took an old fashioned car to Veradero, one of the nicest beaches in the world and the best one on the North coast of Cuba. Still clear turquoise water, you could walk out for ages just being hips deep. The sand was so thin and white and there were so many seashells and hardly anyone on the beach, it was so peaceful and beautiful, the perfect place to rest after the business of La Havana. Just before leaving we had a home cooked lobster lunch in a womans house, sadly it was a bit overdone but still tasted nice and was very traditional. She also needed the money more than any restaurant, we ate in her bedroom, where she, her husband and daughter slept in the same bed. She wanted to get enough money to be able to build a little balcony room for her daughter when she grows up.

 Sunset fishing in Veradero.

Our last place to visit was Trinidad, a small old town, not many tourists which was nice because Veradero was full of them for obvious reasons. There we went horse riding to a waterfall and natural pool where we jumped from rocks and drank from coconuts. We also went to the nicest beach of the south coast, which sadly had 3 big hotels built there, but nonetheless, the beach was beautiful and peaceful. We then returned to La Havana to catch our flight but not before going to a local bar and trying the local tradition, cigars. I have to say they are not my thing but I am glad to have tried them.

 Beach near Trinidad.

 Horse riding in Trinidad.

 Cuban musicians in the streets of Trinidad.

 In the streets of La Havana.

 On the beach in Trinidad.

 In our first old fashioned american car/taxi.

 Our home and Cuban mother in Trinidad.

 The streets of La Havana.

 Our first Cuban meal, pizza. The kitchen had cucarachas, the pizzas had hairs stuck in the dough. All in all, not the best meal.

A little recap from the last post, just so I can add in pictures at the same time.

The first country I visited after Mexico, was Belize. Caye Caulker was rasta chilled beautiful island that just made me feel like I could live there forever. People walking around the 3 main streets barefoot, or driving a golf buggy, turquoise clear water, hammocks everywhere, it was just perfect.

Guatemala was next, we started with Flores to go see Tikal mayan ruins. Impressive place, well worth the 4am wake up. The Lanquin, where we stayed at Zephyr hostel, we had the loft room, despite sleeping on a very thin mattress on the floor with a metal ladder to climb up to the room. We had an impressive view and a nice little balcony. The hostel itself was in the middle of nowhere, there was a river down the hill, very strong current. Trees everywhere, but by far the most impressive view was from the showers. They had a hole in the wall as a window and as you showered you had the whole view in front, ask anyone who stayed there, the showers were great. After doing Semuc Champey, with lots of jumping into water from different points, a bridge, a swing, waterfalls… We went onto San Pedro where we climbed San Pedro volcano in time for sunrise. Well worth it, even though the climb was hellish.

 Victory!

Antigua was next on the list, the place everyone has to go to to get a another bus. Very nice little colonial town, cobbled streets, main little square with traditionally dressed women and children. From Antigua, we went down to El Salvador, the capital, San Salvador. We only stayed 1 day so we just tried to pack in as many touristy things in a short amount of time. A botanical garden, a government building, a market. We then left for the beach, El Tunco, to relax after the stress of a capital city. This little surf town was perfect, the sunset was beautiful, our hostel had a baby raccoon, home baked bread for breakfast.

Our last stop in El Salvador was La Union, a tiny port town with nothing to do, only a market. Thankfully we were not there for long, we planned on taking a boat all the way to Nicaragua so that we would avoid Honduras. However, this being Latin America, there were no boats leaving on Sunday, not sure about Monday, but definitely on Tuesday. We did not want to waste so many days, so we got a buses all the way to Nicaragua. What should have taken us 2 hours, took us a whole day. To cheer us up we headed straight to the beach in Jiquilio. A series of 3 towns with no internet, very rural, rustic places. We stayed in nice little hostel with only vegetarian food, lots of hammocks, right on the beach in a straw and bamboo and wood hut.

 The fish we caught and the woman who cooked it for us.

After the beach we went to Leon to go volcano boarding and see this beautiful little revolutionary town. Biggest cathedral in Central America, burial place of Ruben Dario, a poet. Cerro Negro for volcano boarding, 67km/h, first and fastest on the day. My last stop was Granada, another beautiful little town, we found a hammock shop and factory, where the people making the hammocks are either blind or deaf or something, they made a 17 person hammock. If only I was rich and could find somewhere for such a hammock.

Finally, the 3 day bus journey back to Mexico.

3 days. 5 countries. 5 buses. 54 hours sitting on a bus. Nearly 3,000 km.

Since the family left Mexico I’ve been on a set of adventures. From not having a place to stay during the BPM festiva at playa del Carmen, to randomly deciding to go Belize and buying tickets for the next morning and now Guatemala were I’ve been doing hikes in a pair of plimsolls and struggling a lot.
In Belize we went to San Pedro which was nice, but then we went to Caye Caulker and it was the most amazing place ever. I could see myself living there. We went on a fishing trip with one of the locals who owns a private island. We caught 5 barracudas, I got 2. We also snorkeled and tried to find lobsters but there were none. We then cooked them on his island, there were fish tacos with a home made habanero sauce, boiled fish in a creamy sauce, more boiled fish in olive oil, garlic and herbs and the last one deep fried. All amazing. Possibly the nest day of my life ever. Then on our way to Guatemala we went zip lining and cave tubbing. In Guatemala we saw the Tikal ruins, went on a hike to see the sunset, went Semuc Champey, did a lot of jumping, went in the cave, jumped of a 15 meter bridge, hiked up some more, jumped from natural pool to natural pool. Hiked up 3.30 hours up a volcano, San Pedro volcano, in plimsolls, left at 2am in time to see the sunrise, absolutely beautiful. Now time to rest.

After a long wait for a long an uncomfortable bus ride to see Guanajuato’s Cervantino festival, we decided to stay at a very cheap accommodation at the house of one of boys on the bus with us. Little did we know, it was not his house, but a friends, and he didn’t have the keys or the address. We decided to abandon his offer and look for accommodation somewhere else. Perfectly enough, as soon as we reached one of the squares, we see someone with a sign for renting accommodation. We jump on this opportunity, seeing as it’s already getting quite late and the day has not been very nice so far. There are 8 of us sleeping on 2 couches (the two Mexican girls) and upstairs are the 6 of us on 2 mattresses, but we don’t mind. We go out with Jessie, the girl who’s renting out the room to us, but before we make sure to drink 2L of beer each to make sure that we don’t go out sober. This technique works very well. We go see the end of a dance interpretation show of the birth of a child who is enormous and floats in the sky. Interesting to say the least. We go see where she works, have a few chelas and a sushi cone. Yum. We wonder around this amazing town, music everywhere, people everywhere, we go to a rooftop club where Murray can finally drink some rum, great music and view. The perfect ending to a not so great day.

In the morning we go out separately to see the town, I accidentally make it to the top of the town where you have the most amazing view of all the differently coloured houses. We eventually run into each other one by one until we are all reunited and can get ready for the night ahead. Which is very similar to the previous night, except less wondering around. We end up on the rooftop of the house we’re staying at and the view of the town at night is just unbelievable, lights everywhere.

Sadly we don’t have much time there, but we all wanted to go back as soon as we left.

There’s so much about this town, the art, the music, the people and the food, one of Mexico’s treasures.

View from the top of town.

I picked out my favourite house, it’s the blue and yellow one.

Dogs on roofs.