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Brazil Carnival Guide Parties Solo Travel South America

The Ultimate Guide to Carnival in Rio – Part 1: What to Expect

World famous beaches, bronzed bodies dancing to sensual samba beats, and hundreds of thousands of people looking to have a good time. Who hasn’t thought about partying in Rio de Janeiro for Carnival at least once in their life? Well I have, many times. So I finally took the plunge and went this year, at the ripe old age of 29, and I had a freaking blast. And I totally think you should go in 2016.

I’ll admit there was a small part of me that thought that maybe I was a bit too old to go to Carnival. The same part that loves going to sleep by midnight, hates large crowds, and even secretly hates drinking. But after my plane touched down in Rio, that part of me disappeared.

If you’re thinking about going to Rio for Carnival, I hope that this post will give you an idea about what it’s like and also convince you that it is an awesome, unforgettable experience. This is part of a two post series, so next I’ll follow up with everything you need to know and do to start planning—including flights, visas, accommodations, and how soon to start planning.

Sunset from Sugarloaf Mountain

 

WHAT IS CARNIVAL?
Technically speaking Carnival is a festival held on the Friday before Lent, and continuing through Ash Wednesday. I think there might be more religious significance behind it but you won’t learn about that here, sorry. To me, Carnival in Rio is a giant, nonstop party with elaborate costumes, sexy dancing, and millions of happy people in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The energy is amazing, the dancing is endless, and the caipirinhas are delicious. It’s heaven.

But more importantly, Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is basically made up of two things—the infamous Sambadrome Parade, and blocos, which are basically the most badass block parties you’ll ever attend. There are Carnival Balls (haha balls) and parties at clubs as well, but those cost quite a bit of money, so again you won’t learn about those here. You can drink on the streets in Rio, so why would you pay to go in somewhere when you can grab a beer, walk down the road, and join one of hundreds of street parties for free?

One of the insanely awesome floats at the Sambadrome
This bitch was FIERCE.
Didn’t even realize that these women were topless until I zoomed into the picture at home

 

THE SAMBADROME
All those photos and videos you see of nearly naked women shimmying around in six inch heels and bedazzled costumes are from the Sambadrome. The Sambadrome is the 13-block long outdoor stadium with bleacher style seating, where the various samba schools perform and compete in elaborate costumes alongside even more elaborate floats. Stay tuned for more detailed info on how to snag Sambadrome tickets and where to sit in part two!

THE BLOCOS
Blocos are the street parties scattered all around the city, and in my opinion the best part of Carnival. They’re usually centered around a band in a set area or along a parade route that partygoers follow while singing and dancing along. Many of these blocos have themes or costumes, but they’re free and open to anyone who wants to attend.

In 2015 there were 456 registered blocos in the few weeks just before, during, and slightly after Carnival, with some of them putting on more than one party. Translation: you will have zero problem finding an awesome party at any given moment. Most of the best blocos happen during the day, so it’s not unusual to be out on the streets partying by 9am.

You should definitely look up the official dates, times, and locations posted once Carnival 2016 arrives, but here are a few of the annual blocos you won’t want to miss out on:

– Sargento Pimenta was one of my favorites, and is an absolute must for Beatles fans. The band plays several hours of Beatles music with a samba spin, as the crowd sings and dances along to every word. Sometimes they mix it up and throw some Portuguese in there, but it’s exactly what you’d imagine a lovey-dovey Brazilian Woodstock to be like, and it’s an absolute blast.

– Cardao do Bola Preta started up in 1918, and is the oldest and largest bloco in Rio. One year it had about 2.5 million attendees, so it’s very likely you’ll be partying alongside at least a million other people. The official costume for this bloco (encouraged but not mandatory) is anything white with black polka dots. 

– Banda de Ipanema is a street band that holds three different parties—the first two on the Saturdays just before Carnival, and the third on the Tuesday during Carnival week. This bloco attracts a diverse crowd but is also well known amongst the LGBT community and famous for the parade of drag queens.

– Boitata happens on Sunday morning during Carnival weekend every year. Rafael, the awesome front desk guy at Rio Rockers (who I’m convinced knows absolutely everything about Rio) told me it’s his favorite bloco, so naturally I had to go. It was indeed a blast.

– Boi Tolo is the perfect bloco if you’re a musician and want to play along during Carnival. Boi Tolo was formed when Boitata changed their route one year, leaving a bunch of people standing in the streets confused and forced to create their own party. They’re super inclusive so you should be able to show up with your instrument and just roll with it.

– Super Mario bloco is every 80’s kid’s dream come true. This band marches around alongside hundreds of Marios and Luigis while playing hours of Super Mario songs. And yes people run at warp speed when the Star Power song comes on. Enough said.

– Carmelitas is a bloco in Santa Teresa that was formed in honor of a nun who supposedly jumped out the window of a covent in order to partake in Carnival. Each year they hold two parties, one at the beginning of Carnival to signify her joining in the festivities, and one at the end to celebrate her return to the covent unnoticed. People dress up as nuns as a symbol to “hide” the escaped nun.

Sargento Pimenta
Sargento Pimenta performing an epic show while vendors serve us beer and caipirinhas. Also featured, a guy in a condom hat.
Limbo at Boitata
Caipirinhas and crossdressers
Caipirinhas and crossdressers
A bloco in Leme, just at the end of Copacabana Beach. At least a third of these people ended up in the ocean.

 

IS CARNIVAL EXPENSIVE?

While it’s not super cheap, it also doesn’t have to be super expensive. Unless you’re a super raging alcoholic, transportation and lodging will be the most expensive part of your trip. In that case then yes, Carnival is very expensive. More on that in part two.

Once you’re at Carnival I find you can spend as much or as little as you want. The drinks I bought were usually around $1-$2 USD for a beer, or about $4-$5 USD for a caipirinha. But I’ve found that you can talk the vendors into deals by buying more than one drink. Also you can grab cheap street food for dirt cheap, or walk into one of the many grab-and-go style shops for a quick sandwich, slice of pizza, or bowl of açaí. Then again you can pay like $40 USD and eat like a king at an all-you-can-eat churrascaria (which I definitely recommend doing at least once. I went to Churrascaria Palace in Copacabana and thought I’d died and gone to meat heaven).

Some of the tourist attractions can be a bit steep though. I paid 350 Reais (about $109 USD) to go hang gliding + take home a CD with pictures and a video, but everyone else I met had to pay 650 Reais for that same package (about $204 USD). Don’t ask how we got that deal because we definitely weren’t supposed to, but I’m not complaining. Other things like the roundtrip van + ticket to the Christ Statue was around 50 Reais (or $16 USD). Bottom line, bring some money to play with.

Another way to save money is to take public transportation because taxis are EXPENSIVE. The subway runs 24/7 during Carnival and there’s almost always a constant party on it, so that’s always a fun way to get around. Buses are cheap, frequent, and easy to navigate as long as a bloco isn’t blocking their route.

WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO SEE AND DO IN RIO?
If you’ve never been to Rio then you’ll no doubt want to check out some of the awesome things that make Rio amazing.

These are some of the more popular attractions, and it’s easy to see how you could fill an entire month. Most tours shut down during Carnival, so make sure to tack on extra days before or after in order to plan for these. I arrived on the Monday before Carnival and left on the Tuesday right before it ended and I was constantly rushed to fit in everything I wanted to do. I feel like I missed out on quite a bit and wish I would’ve had at least another week there.

– Corcovado and the Cristo Redentor (the Christ statue and mountain. On a clear day, go in the morning and you’ll have the sun hitting the face of the statue. Since the sun goes behind the statue in the afternoon, taking photos will be nearly impossible unless it’s closer to dusk. There are numerous ways to head up there, but if you’re like me and you hate tourist attractions, and you just want to get up there, snap a couple photos and get back down as quickly as possible, check into the vans that take you from places like Copacabana Beach. They’re not very expensive and they drive you all the way up to the top. Or check out the helicopter tours if you’re loaded.)
– Pao de Acucar (Sugarloaf Mountain, and FYI it’s incredible at sunset)
– Copacabana, Ipanema, and Leblon Beaches
Sunset at Aproador (the rocky area between Copacabana and Ipanema where everyone gathers and claps as the sun sets. Bring beer!)
– Maracanã Stadium (one of the biggest stadiums in the world where local favorites Flamengo play)
– Escadaria Selarón (you know, those colorful steps in the Snoop Dogg and Pharrell Williams video for Beautiful)
– Santa Teresa
– Carioca Aqueduct (the Lapa Arches)
– Fort Copacabana
– Guanabara Bay
– Free walking tours of the city (check out Free Walker for walking tours and pub crawls)
– Favela tours (easily arranged at most hostels)
– Hang gliding and paragliding (do hang gliding, seriously)
– Lagoa and the Botanical Gardens (I’ve heard renting a bike to ride around the lagoon is great)
– And there are a ton of options if you want to get a bit more active: hiking Dois Irmãos, Tijuca National Park, rock climbing, biking, kayaking, stand up paddle boarding, etc. etc. I’m convinced that Rio is paradise.

I definitely recommend picking up a copy of Rio For Partiers too, it’s a handy little book full of information—from what to see, do, eat, and drink, to how to say things, and coupons to save you money and get free drinks all over town. It’s super handy and really explains everything you need to know about Rio de Janeiro.

*Pro tip: Right now you can download the ebook for free on their site, so for all of you broke ass backpackers, take advantage of this! –> Rioforpartiers.com

Cristo Redentor
Of course the Christ statue is annoyingly crowded with tourists
Escadaria Selarón
As are the Lapa steps (that’s the gringo name for Escadaria Selarón)
Sugarloaf
Pão de Açúcar, better known as Sugarloaf Mountain to us gringos
Aproador
Aproador. Bring beer and clap your hands along with everyone else when the sun sets.
Maracanã
Try to catch a match at Maracanã, but be warned that in such a massive stadium you might feel all alone at a smaller match.
Hang gliding in Rio is unbelievable. Do it.

A FEW MORE TIPS AND THINGS TO KNOW

TOILETS
I’m usually not one to drink in crowded places because I have a bladder the size of a water balloon, so the bathroom scene is key to my enjoyment of any alcohol-fueled outing. All throughout Carnival there are a ton of chemical toilets at the different blocos, but their quality and cleanliness definitely differ, as do the lines. In Leme for example there were hour-long lines for basic, stinky, dirty port-a-potties, but in Ipanema I only waited behind three people for a fairly nice, well maintained toilet with an attendant. Peeing in the street is illegal though so don’t get caught doing that!

WHAT TO PACK
February is summer in Rio so it’ll be really hot. Like 30-40ºC/86-104ºF all the time. Pack light, meaning bikinis, swim trunks, tank tops, shorts, dresses, etc. I wore flip flops the entire time but some people opt for lightweight sneakers since the grounds can get pretty nasty and people will step on your toes. It’s totally acceptable to walk around in next to nothing in Rio, so the less clothes you have on the more you’ll fit in. Leave the fancy designer labels and flashy jewelry at home though, and if you can bring a small waterproof handheld camera as opposed to an SLR, do so.

If you have room for some costumes or props then go ahead and bring them, but if not don’t worry. There are plenty of little spots all over the city where you can buy stuff for super cheap.

MAKING OUT
There are people making out EVERYWHERE at Carnival. EVERYWHERE.

Brazilians have a huge make out culture as it is. It’s completely normal for them to make a move within minutes of meeting someone as their way of showing interest. As an almost 30-year-old woman with an undeniable attraction to Latin men, venturing into the motherland itself sounded exciting at first. Like “yes, there’s going to be a ton of hot Brazilian men lining up to make out with me.” But then I got there and reality set in. They’re just like guys anywhere and six out of ten of them are disgusting. The other four are twelve years old. Plus it’s pretty off-putting to see someone make out with one person and then move right along to the next. And call me old fashioned (or just old) but I guess I need at least a little bit of a spark and maybe some conversation before swapping spit.

At Carnival guys will literally grab you by the arm as you walk by and ask “make out with me?” And that’s if they have manners. Other guys will just come right up to you and go for it, usually kissing your ear or near your mouth. Some will be VERY persistent and follow you for blocks, rubbing you down with ice cubes and blowing on your back to cool you off in the the hot afternoon sun. Not that that happened to me or anything…

If you’re not keen to get chapped lips or mouth herpes, my best advice is to stick with a group of people to significantly lower the amount of guys who try to face rape you. And just politely say no to anyone you’re not interested in. From my experience most guys will simply walk away, no big deal.

After about eight of these…
…this happened. Guys in drag are everywhere at Carnival, and they’re all on the prowl. I had to give in to at least one.

 

DRESSING UP
It’s not mandatory that you dress up, but I promise you’ll have way more fun if you do. Wear whatever you want—something simple or something awesome and well thought out. Just remember that it’s hot, you’ll probably sweat a lot, and angel wings will get in the way. You can change it up or wear the same costume every day, it doesn’t matter. You might want to grab a few extra props too, just in case you accidentally lose half of your costume in the ocean on the first day like I did.

You can pick up random odds and ends on nearly any street corner during Carnival, but Rua da Alfândega (the street just outside the Uruguaiana subway stop) is lined with a ton of super cheap costume shops. 

A costume and booze are essential to Carnival
These two didn't know each other.
These two didn’t know each other.

 

STAY SAFE
I’m sure that I was naively seduced by Rio’s beauty and charm, but it seemed perfectly safe to me. At least in Copacabana where I stayed. To the point where I drunkenly walked alone for about twenty minutes to get food one night at midnight, with my phone in my hand, texting. In retrospect that was an extremely stupid idea and I should’ve been robbed just to teach my cocky ass a lesson, but hey, sometimes that’s what happens after drinking a gallon of cachaça.

However, Brazil is still a developing country where poverty and crime are obvious issues, but that’s easy to forget if you’re primarily in the touristy areas doing Carnival-y things. Nearly everyone I met had been robbed or mugged. I was just fortunate enough not to be one of them. One guy had his phone stolen out of his hand by a kid on a bike while walking down the street in Ipanema. Another guy had his phone taken in his hostel by a fellow traveler. A group of Brits I met wandered into a favela after dark and left without their wallets. Another group of guys got robbed at knifepoint near the bus station.

These things happen, and all I can say is just be extra cautious and aware, and use your street smarts. Don’t carry a bunch of things on you, because even sober people lose things in large crowds. If you’re a girl your bra will become your best friend. Keep your money (just enough for the day) in your bra, and tie your camera strap around the center of your bra and keep it stuffed in your cleavage for safe keeping. At least that’s what I did and I didn’t lose a thing!

The closest I came to any altercations happened around 9pm one night as the party was winding down on Ipanema Beach (aka everyone was drunk). I stepped away from the group to grab another drink, but while the guy was mixing it up, two girls approached me speaking Portuguese in a very harsh tone. The only word I could understand was “gringa” as they looked me up and down with a look of disgust. I was a bit tipsy, and these chicks towered over me, so for a second I thought “oh shit, this is where it all ends. I’m about to get knifed right here on the beach.” They got even closer and up in my face, but luckily the caipirinha guy stepped in and yelled at them in Portuguese, and they walked away (but not without shooting me a few mean looks over their shoulders). In my sensitively drunk state of mind I had a hard time grasping why two girls would come at me when I did absolutely nothing to provoke it, but a few locals told me they were “probably just jealous.” Sooo basically Brazilian girls are jealous of white girls, and us white girls are jealous of the insanely hot Brazilian chicks. Sigh, women.

Groups are good.
How about that beer vendor throwing up the shocker in the background? Well done, beer guy.

 

OTHER TIPS TO HELP YOU SURVIVE CARNIVAL
– Drinking alcohol + sunshine can be a lethal combo. Remember to drink a bit of water here and there. Even better, buy a coconut to refuel whenever you’re feeling a bit dehydrated. It’ll change your life.
– Don’t forget sunscreen, and other protection if you’re planning to visit an infamous pay-by-the-hour sex hotel.
– Be prepared for long lines and head to the toilet well before you’re about to pee your pants.
– Since Rio is full of beaches that stay lit up well into the night, there’s a huge chance you’ll end up in the ocean after a day of drinking. Just be careful of riptides and strong currents, they seem extra strong when you’re drunk.
– If you’re a woman who’s traveling alone, find a group to go out with and stick with them. One night during a bloco in Leme I stepped away from the group to pee in the ocean and within six seconds some guy came up and latched onto me from behind. When I tried to swim away I felt his hands grab at my bikini bottoms. It took a good elbow in the side and a loud “NO!” to get him to leave me alone as I swam away. But joke’s on him since I was peeing the whole time.

Check out The Ultimage Guide to Carnival in Rio Part 2: How to Plan. In the meantime, is there anything else you’re dying to know about Carnival? Comment below!

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Adventure Brazil Colombia Guide Solo Travel South America

Ten Days in the Amazon on a Budget: Part 2

Three nights of sleeping in a hammock strung up alongside about 100 strangers. Six consecutive carb-heavy meals of rice, noodles, and beans. Ninja mosquitos with a freakish immunity to Deet. Showers in smelly brown river water. This isn’t exactly a Carnival Cruise, people.

Perhaps this post should be titled something along the lines of “Traveling From Colombia to Brazil on a Boat,” but I wanted to keep it consistent with the first post. But that’s exactly what this post is about, my experience of crossing the border in Leticia, Colombia and taking the slow boat from Tabatinga to Manaus.

The hammocks before it got crowded
Our hammocks strung up before it got too crowded

 

If you’re not uptight you don’t have high standards while traveling, this is an awesome, cheap way to see the Amazon on a tight budget—not to mention a great way to save hundreds of dollars traveling from Colombia to Brazil if you’ve got a bit of time. A flight between the two countries can easily cost upwards of $700 USD, but for only about 70 you can hop aboard a ship from Tabatinga, Brazil (which is only a short cab ride from the Leticia airport, or walking distance from most hostels in Leticia) and head downriver to Manaus to catch a flight elsewhere in Brazil.

So that’s exactly what I did.

I did the trip downstream during the rainy season when the rainforest was flooded, which apparently knocks off at least an entire day. There are several other routes from ports in Peru, Colombia, and Brazil ranging from a few days to closer to a week, but I thought the three-day route between Tabatinga and Manaus was plenty. 

Keep in mind prices will likely vary greatly based on the time of year and how far in advance you book, but here’s my breakdown during the peak of high season just before Carnaval:

– $112 flight from Bogotá to Leticia on a Tuesday
– 200 Reais (about $66 USD) for my 3-day boat ticket (which includes all meals)

– 36000 Colombian Pesos (about $14 USD) for a hammock and rope
– $164 overnight flight out of Manaus to Rio de Janeiro on the following Thursday night.

That ends up being about $356, which isn’t exactly pocket change, but the only other costs over those total ten days were $30 for three nights in Leticia, the free hotel room in Manaus, plus a few bucks for meals and $100 for the Amazon tour. Plus booking the overnight flight to Rio helped me save on one night’s accommodation. Definitely cheaper and more exciting than if I had flown the $700 Bogotá to Brazil flight in seven hours, and way cheaper than booking a touristy Amazon tour through some agency.

Amazon Boat
A quick shot of our ship in port in Manaus

As mentioned, this post is all about staying in Leticia, Colombia and taking the slow boat from Tabatinga, Brazil, to Manaus, Brazil. For more info on an activity-based tour of the Amazon, check out this post.

ABOUT THE BOAT: VOYAGER V

There are several different ships you can take, but I don’t think you have much control over which one you get on. I wasn’t really sure what to expect but I prepared myself for the worst. There was a lot of ambiguity on how long the trip would actually take, and some horror stories about the food being served with a side of explosive diarrhea and vomiting. But overall my trip was a super relaxing, pleasant experience with no nasty side effects—for me at least, some others on board the ship weren’t so lucky. My tiny bout of tummy troubles held off a good few days until I was tucked away in my own private hotel room in Manaus. (Thankfully it was nowhere near as bad as what I dealt with in Thailand.)

Anyway, back to the ship, the Voyager V. Most of the locals seemed to congregate on the bottom level even though it was extremely noisy near the engine. There was a small kitchen in the back half of the ship right alongside the motor, and a picnic table eating area where all of the meals were served. Food was served at a set time every day (breakfast around 6am, lunch around noon, and dinner around 5pm) and yes, I was almost always one of the first people in line for feeding time.

On the second level there was a fully netted-in soccer pitch that stayed lit up well in the night. There’s also a snack counter selling hamburgers, ice cream, beer, soft drinks, and a few other snacks; a common area with plastic tables and chairs, and what looked to be private cabins towards the front of the ship.

The top level was pretty much just hammocks, bathrooms, and gorgeous views.

Sunset match
Only in Brazil
The bar/hangout area
The common area aka the gringo drinking area
The private cabins had a little space to themselves on the side of the boat
People who booked private cabins enjoying some deck space

 

Each deck has several bathrooms containing a toilet and a shower, and some have a sink. On the top deck alongside our hammocks we had four bathrooms with a few additional sinks outside of the bathrooms, along with a TV and about 15 power outlets. There are actually a good amount of power outlets scattered around the boat, but they’re almost all in awkward places high on the wall. You can leave your phone there to charge by tucking it behind a soap dispenser or something but forget about trying to charge a laptop unless you’re ready to stand there and hold it. 

Bathrooms on board the boat
Two of the bathrooms on the top deck. Notice the charging ports on each side, where it’s kind of difficult to leave something charging.

 

DAY 1
Our tickets had a 1030AM departure time. Riiight. Anyone who’s traveled in South America knows that 1030 translates to about 130. Yet we still decided to head down to the port to get a good spot around 9am. In the pouring rain, four of us crammed into this miniature clown car taxi with all of our wet bags. The dirt roads were flooded, so the taxi driver refused to drive us all the way to the port. Instead he dropped us off at the top of a muddy hill where we were forced to make the rest of the slippery trek downhill in the pouring rain. I still don’t know why we paid him the full fare, but I’m glad I’d tucked the flip flops away in favor of hiking boots. After dropping my bag in a mud puddle while digging for my ticket, I went straight to the top deck where all of the gringo tourists were stringing up their hammocks. I had some of the guys help me hang mine, partially because I didn’t trust my own knot-tying skills, but also because I was too short to reach the rafters.

The hammocks on the top deck
The top deck hammock area filling up
Dirty hammock selfie
Snapping a quick hammock selfie on the last day before packing up to head into Manaus

 

The deck filled up within about a half hour of our arrival, but we finally left the port at about 110pm, naturally. 

The first day was rainy and grey so I spent most of it tucked away in my hammock stuffing my face with an embarrassing amount of the snacks I’d packed. Around 5pm we were served a delicious chicken noodle soup and bread. Soup isn’t really my idea of a full meal, but with chicken, noodles, and veggies, it was extremely tasty and satisfying. Once it got dark I decided it was appropriate to start drinking beer, which I quickly decided was a huge waste of money. The mini cans of Brahmas were quickly eating up my budget but not giving me the desired level of drunkenness I had set out to achieve in pursuit of a good night’s sleep. After six I settled for a sleepy buzz, but unfortunately the MMA fight blaring on TV well into the middle of the night had a different agenda.

Port

One of the ports

Sunset after the rain

Tiny Brahmas

The Hammock Crew
My hammock buddies. Daniel (the crazy German smirking at the camera) spent his entire three days trying to become a Rubik’s Cube master

 

If you’re a light sleeper like me, a pair of earplugs just won’t do the trick. Bring headphones and charge your phone/mp3 player. I was constantly waking up every time my earplugs came loose. Also every time a baby screamed, someone knocked into my hammock, or the boat made its cringe-worthy screeching metal sound while turning. At like 12 or 2am (I was too sleepy to read my watch properly) the boat blew its horn and woke us all up while pulling into port. In my sleepy, startled state I shouted “iceberg right ahead!” before drifting back to sleep. Good to know I still have a sense of humor while half asleep.

DAY 2
It seemed like only ten minutes later when I heard a man walking around the deck, shouting in Portuguese while rolling up the sides of the boat to reveal glaring morning sunlight. “What an asshole,” I thought, “doesn’t he know people are trying to sleep?” But he was calling us for the world’s earliest breakfast. And as much as I’m not a morning person, I’m also not one to miss a free meal, EVER. So I forced my grumpy ass out of my hammock at 6am and made my way down to the bottom deck for breakfast.

“Breakfast” was a community bin of shitty rolls (aka hot dog buns as we call them in the States), a tub of butter, and overly sweetened coffee. Definitely not the quality of breakfast I’d normally wake up at 6am for. I smuggled an extra piece of bread back to my hammock to coat with the strawberry jelly I’d packed, scarfed it down, then read about two lines from a book before dozing off again. The only good thing about not getting a proper night’s rest on a boat like this is realizing that you have absolutely zero obligations the next day, so you can nap whenever you damn well please. Finally when I woke up for good a couple hours later I mustered the energy to shower.

Showers on the boat are exactly what you’d expect them to be. They pump out brown river water straight from the Amazon, in the same 4×3 room as the communal toilet. It’s not as cold as you’d expect, but not at all warm either. In the humid Amazon temperature I actually found it rather refreshing.

After that my entire day was an endless cycle of reading, napping, and eating. I think I took four or five naps, only leaving my hammock whenever I heard someone shout that it was feeding time. 

Lunch consisted of a basic pasta, rice, beans, and some kind of beef. It’s a good thing it was delicious because it’s basically what we ate for every single meal the rest of the trip. After going for seconds on the pasta and beans I went back to sleep and woke up a half hour before dinner. (Yes, I’ve gained weight.) Dinner was basically the same meal as lunch, except with chicken instead of the beef.

Pasta, rice, and beans
Pasta, rice, and beans for days

 

After dinner I wandered around the boat with my camera to take some shots of the best sunset we’d see while on the river. I nerded out for a good hour or two before retiring back to my hammock to resume reading Killing Pablo.

I slept much better the second night because I wised up and put my headphones in and blared some Deftones for a good twelve hours. Win.

Another boat at port we'd been following for a few spots
Another boat making the same journey
Cruising along
Chugging along the river
Evening cruising
The scenery doesn’t change too much, but it’s sure nice to watch as it passes by
Sunset on the Amazon
Oh and the sunsets are pretty epic

Sunset on the Amazon

DAY 3
I woke up again at 6AM just long enough to ask the girl in the hammock next to me if breakfast was the same as yesterday. When she said yes I covered my face and fell back asleep until about 830.

Upon waking I fixed myself a rather creative breakfast using some vanilla wafers, strawberry jelly, and a smashed ball of bread I dug out of my bag, then showered up to take another nap. We had lunch around noon, and right after loading up on more carbs I noticed the soccer pitch empty, complete with a shoddy looking ball. I was starting to feel restless and fat, so I gathered the gringos to play a game. Before long we were going full-on gringos vs Brazilians, running barefoot on the pitch and sweating our asses off in the afternoon sun. I only made it about 20 minutes before I had to quit from the unbearable blisters forming on my girly feet. I don’t think they missed me though, I was definitely the worst player on both teams.

Afterwards I went to the snack counter and paid 5 reais (about $1.60 USD) for a ham, egg, lettuce, tomato, ketchup, and mayo sandwich because my body was craving some sort of variety. It wasn’t great but it was a nice change. I skipped dinner that evening and instead watched an episode of Parts Unknown, and did some reading and writing before fading off into yet another early slumber.

DAY 4
On Tuesday morning I woke up around 7am to a lot of commotion. I thought it was just everybody making their way to another shitty breakfast, but I quickly realized people were packing up their bags. I looked at the GPS on my phone and we were nearly to Manaus. That woke me up immediately, so I got up and made my way to the front of the boat to see the sprawling city before us, which seemed to have popped up out of nowhere in the middle of the Amazon. Within the hour, the trip was complete in only about 66 hours total.

Manaus
And just like that, a city of almost two million appears out of nowhere

 

The trip was much more comfortable and organized than I was expecting. It’s not really a good way to see wildlife (or maybe we just weren’t looking hard enough) but you’ll get to see some interesting villages and beautiful sunsets. From what I could tell there are a lot of locals and tourists making the trip, so it’s easy to meet people on board if you’re traveling solo. But really, as long as you’re ready to relax and do nothing for a few days, you’re set. It doesn’t hurt to bring along a book or two and some snacks, but it really is very easy to just sway in your hammock and watch the scenery go by while catching up on some serious napping.

Categories
Adventure Brazil Colombia Guide Outdoor Peru Solo Travel South America Tours Travel

Ten Days in the Amazon on a Budget: Part 1

Part of the reason I chose to do an extended trip through South America was because I couldn’t choose where to visit first on a short vacation: Machu Picchu, Rio de Janeiro, Patagonia, or the Amazon. So naturally, I decided to do them all, plus a bunch of other awesome things in between.

As part of my budget adventure, I planned on taking the three-night slow boat through the Amazon from Leticia, Colombia to Manaus, Brazil because this would only cost me $75 with all meals included, as opposed to the $700+ to fly internationally from Colombia to Brazil (more on this coming soon, stay tuned!). So naturally, it made sense to fit my Amazon experience in during my time in Leticia or Manaus.

(Aside from the cost breakdown at the end, this post is all about the two-day tour I took from Leticia. More info about the other seven days in Leticia, Manaus, and the three-night boat journey coming soon.)

My initial search for Amazon tours brought up a ton of options from Manaus. But they also seemed a bit expensive, and seeing as Manaus is a city of nearly two million, I thought it might be an odd place to go off the grid and spend some time in the secluded depths of the Amazon. Luckily when I arrived in the small tri-border town of Leticia, I met three other solo travelers who wanted to do a tour from there. Since there were four of us it ended up being about 1/3 the price that I was budgeting for one from Manaus, at 240,000 COP (roughly $100 USD). Sold.

We chose the two-day, one-night Javari tour from La Jaganga Hostel, and it was everything I wanted in a quick trip to the rainforest. We considered the three-day, two-night trip, but it really didn’t seem to offer many more activities than the two-day.

The trip took us on the Javari River which separates Peru and Brazil. The idea of an organized Amazon tour was really off-putting to me at first, but it’s pretty much the only option unless you want to end up lost in the Amazon by yourself. Luckily, this didn’t feel like a tour at all. Instead it was just us four and our guide, Francisco, and it felt like we were hanging out with a friend who was just showing us around. We didn’t see another tourist until we were heading back to Leticia on day two.

Francisco
The man, Francisco, and his machete after chopping down some tree branches that once stood in our way

Here’s how our two days went:

DAY 1

We left the hostel around 8:30am in a ten-minute taxi ride to the port across the border in Tabatinga, Brazil, where we met with Francisco. With his round belly and beaming, gummy smile, we all instantly loved him. The five of us jumped in the wooden, canopied boat as Francisco turned in three different directions, pointing out Peru, Brazil, and Colombia. After crossing over to Peru for a quick, yet crucial beer run, we took a leisurely boat ride alongside pink and grey dolphins, brown water, and lush green trees.

Amazon Crew
L to R: Max the German, Josh the Aussie, Francisco the Colombian guide, and Susannah the Colombian

Canoeing through the Amazon

The perfect companion for an Amazon boat ride: rum

About three hours into the ride, we passed a house and waved at the kids as we zoomed past. Next thing we knew, Francisco was turning the boat around to take us for a visit. We climbed the stairs to the wide-open room that hovered over the water on stilts. The family of about nine kids and four adults sat inside, grating and cooking yucca, and spoke Portuguese despite being on the Peruvian side. The kids were in charge of peeling and cutting up the yucca before handing it off to the women to press through a machine and then grating it by hand. Then the man cooked it in a giant pan over a fire, and us gringos ate it by the handful. 

House on the Amazon

Making grated yucca

Cooking the yucca

After our afternoon snack, we continued down the river to another house which was one of only a couple that we passed during the whole 3-4 hour boat ride. Like the last, this house was also on stilts. Since it’s rainy season and the forest is flooded we weren’t able to find dry land to hang up the hammocks, so we stayed the night in this house. It was basically two separate “houses” joined by a short outdoor walkway. One was a fantastic, huge kitchen complete with hammocks, a portable cooktop, a wooden table and bench seats. The other was two stories high, and the main sleeping quarters. The top floor appeared to be for the family, and us guests were split up into rooms: boys in one, girls in the other. Each room had two mosquito-net covered beds and mesh windows that looked right out at the river. The three bathrooms each had a refreshing shower that used rainwater from a tub on the roof, and for the most part you felt like you were showering outside. Quite honestly, it was kind of like a wilderness dream house.

An inside shot of the main sleeping area of the house we stayed in. The downstairs had several different rooms and three bathrooms which you can see into there in the back.

My bed

The kitchen
The ginormous kitchen and baby Victoria who was very curious about my camera

Kitchen

View from the front door of the house. The room in the back is the kitchen area.
Neighbors
I think the family owned this house too, right next door

I unloaded my bag in the room and went for a quick swim because I couldn’t resist playing with the most adorable puppy ever who was climbing on some scraps of wood in front of the house. The water was only about thigh-high, a further reminder that the flooded area around the house is actually dry land during the dry season. Totally unimaginable.

Puppy
Baby puppy! The family pet was walking around on some floating boards trying to figure out how to get back up to the house. I just HAD to jump in the water and play with him!

The family prepared us food which was surprisingly phenomenal. I thought it would be a lot of bland rice and beans like most tours, but again, this was nothing like a normal tour. We had yucca, potatoes and beans, lentils, arepas, pork chops, eggs, fish, piranha, pasta, cucumber and onion salad, carambola juice, camu camu juice, spaghetti, and a few other things I didn’t really recognize but loved the taste. It was like eating at an old friend’s mom’s house; they fed us well and there was a ton food every time we sat down.

Dinner plate #1

Dinner plate #2

The family was so friendly. Apparently they live in town, but they built this house as their kind of getaway house, and to host tourists for an extra income. My only regret is that I didn’t speak more Spanish or Portuguese so that I could’ve conversed with them more like the two in our group who were fluent in Spanish.

After we ate, we set out on the boat again to visit a wildlife conservation area, which looked just like another house on stilts in the middle of the rainforest. When we pulled up in the boat two monkeys immediately ran aboard, climbing on our heads, curling up in our laps, and almost instantly finding and devouring the bag of camu camu berries we’d just picked. The whole time we wandered the property, the monkeys followed us around curiously, hanging from the trees while snacking on fruit and watching our every move.

Pepe, the rambunctious monkey

Monkey Business

Monkey
My flash accidentally went off (seriously, I never use a flash) and this monkey jumped and ran after me while screaming. Scariest moment in the Amazon so far.

Then we got the chance to play with an anaconda that was contained in a wooden shack. Snakes don’t scare me, so I wasn’t so much worried about it biting or choking me as I was about not being strong enough to lift it or take it off without dropping it to the ground and pissing it off. Turns out, with a little help, it wasn’t as heavy as I’d thought and I managed to get a photo with it.

Anaconda
Nevermind the snake, look at this guy’s adorable smile.
Prehistoric Turtle
I think this was called a Mata Mata Turtle, some sort of prehistoric turtle that’s only found in the Amazon region

En español, we learned a bit about the gigantic nearly-extinct arapaima fish and some pretty awesome looking turtles, when suddenly we heard this loud, barreling train-like noise, and looked over to see a wall of rain pouring down about a half mile away and a rainbow forming right in front of us. With my camera and lenses in my hand, two of us sought shelter under the house along with a dog and her pups, a few chickens, and a little girl, while everyone else went up into the house. 

Rainbow

After the brief rainstorm, the sky cleared and we headed to a lagoon to watch the sun set while pink dolphins swam around us. It was definitely one of those “holy shit I’m in the Amazon Rainforest” moments, where my dreams as a third grader were finally fulfilled. Now if only I could figure out a way to see dinosaurs and make it to outer space, third grade Kim would be so jealous.

Amazon Sunset

Sunset on the Amazon

We went back to a delicious candlelight dinner when I realized, and revealed, that this was my first candlelight dinner ever. I think everyone laughed at me. Afterwards, Max and I headed out on a canoe to search for some of the nocturnal animals of the Amazon with the neighbor. This guy had a flashlight that could easily illuminate trees fifty feet away as he searched for the different creatures of the night. It was all kinds of awesome just paddling around this wide open lagoon under the light from a nearly full moon and hundreds of stars. We floated around to the choir of jungle animals as our guide pointed out the different sounds of monkeys, tree rats, frogs, and other Amazonian creatures.

Every so often he’d spot a pair of red eyes and paddle closer. Before I knew it he was pulling small caimans into the boat, letting us hold them before throwing them back in the water. They seemed to freeze up as soon as you touched them, and when we threw them back in the water they swayed their body back and forth like they were still in shock before disappearing.

We also saw a snake swimming through the water, a wide-eyed owl perched on a branch only a few feet away, a tarantula clinging to the side of a tree, and I nearly bashed my face into a bat that was hanging on the side of a branch before it got startled and flew away. It was a truly amazing experience that I couldn’t believe the other two had missed out on by going to bed early.

When we got back, Francisco was partying down with some cachaça caipirinhas he’d mixed up. I tried one but it was a bit too sweet for me, and since I was the only non-Spanish speaker still in the room, I got ready for bed and retired for the night by 10pm.

DAY 2

It started getting light out at the absurd hour of 430AM and the family started stirring about just as early. I looked out the window to see grey skies and decided there wouldn’t be a great sunrise so I went back to sleep.

At a slightly more reasonable hour (about 7AM) I finally got up and showered. After another delicious breakfast, we set out in a canoe to go piranha fishing, which was probably the most hilarious experience of the entire two days. Five of us piled into what probably should’ve been a three-person canoe, without life jackets, and set out again with the neighbor guy. The water was about an inch from spilling into the boat and flooding us out, as we cautiously turned our way into the jungle. Every slight move tipped us to the side as I regretted bringing my SLR on board, so I shoved it in my waterproof bag for safe keeping. After about a half hour we ended up in a pretty strong current, which had us bashing into branches, careening straight for a tree. Josh, the Aussie in our group who was paddling in the front, looked for direction on which way to go but the tide carried us much quicker than the guide could direct us. We crashed right into the tree as Josh calmly stood up, quietly mumbled some profanities, and jumped into the water without even rocking the boat. I knew something had happened, but the slow rate at which he calculated his next move and jumped out without capsizing us was rather impressive. Just as quickly, I realized that he’d just ran right into a swarm of wasps when I saw at least a hundred of them flying around a grey nest. Both Josh and the paddle were being pushed downstream with the current and we kind of just sat there watching as the guide backed us up away from the wasps. Josh eventually climbed back on board with stings all over his face and neck, and I held off on making fun of him until later in the evening.

About an hour and a half after setting out, we dropped our poles (sticks with fishing line and a hook tied on, baited with fish) into the water right in the middle of some shrubbery. Almost immediately I could feel the piranhas biting, but the first few times I pulled the hook up those bitches robbed me of my bait. 

Now you should know that I’m a fairly poor sport. I’m fiercely competitive when it comes to dumb shit. I learned early on that I suck at sports and it’s a waste of energy to get pissed because I suck at soccer, basketball, kickball, running, etc. I just do what I can and have fun. But when it comes to things like bowling, beer pong, Mario Kart, tejo, and apparently fishing, I get livid when things don’t go my way. I focus intently and the only words to leave my mouth are usually curse words. So you can imagine the scene as we all sat quietly in a canoe while the piranhas stole my limited bait right off my hook.

Then the guide caught one.

Then Josh caught one.

Then I got pissed. 

Using that anger, on the next nibble I yanked the hook right from the water and voila—a piranha! I shouted a few obscenities, took some pictures, and to add insult to injury to the piranha, the bait was still in tact when we took it off the hook. I dropped the line back down into the water and felt another bite. Again, I pulled a second piranha up less than 20 seconds later, with the same piece of bait. Talk about killing two fish with one piece of bait, suckersss! 

Lunch! My first piranha catch

 

I was on a roll. At this point, Josh had also caught two and stopped for a smoke, Susannah had given up a long time ago, and I put another piece of bait on my hook. We only had a couple of pieces of bait left, and after my adrenaline wore off I realized what a dick I was for baiting up again when Max had yet to catch a fish and was still trying. After another piranha robbed me of that piece, I reluctantly put the pole down and decided to chill out and let Max try to wrangle one in with the last pieces of bait. He didn’t, by the way.

The ride back to the house wasn’t nearly as dramatic as the ride in, as the guide took the helm and guided us through a calmer area full of giant Amazon water lilies. We returned for our last delicious lunch which also included the freshly prepared piranha. They don’t have much meat on their bones, but piranha meat is delicious. It’s not fishy at all, just super juicy and tender.

Amazon Water Lilies
The giant Amazon water lilies are lined with spikes underneath to ward off predators, and can support around 20kg, if not more
Fish lunch
I took this pic through the green mesh screen of the girls preparing our fish right in the river. If I spoke their language I would’ve offered to help.
Sorry not sorry, piranhas. Thanks for being delicious.

Around 2pm we packed up and left the house for another leisurely ride back to Leticia. We saw toucans and tons of other colorful birds flying in the sky, sloths slowly climbing amongst the leaves, huge towering ceiba kapok trees, and all in all completely different scenery as we cut through the jungle.

I don’t really know what’s going on here, but we were trying to take an interesting selfie.

We made it back to Leticia around sunset, as James Blunt’s “You’re Beautiful” BLARED from the Peruvian border. Definitely a weird choice considering how little English music I’ve heard down here, but it gave us a good laugh.

Should you do it?

Duh, that goes without saying. Visiting the Amazon was one of the coolest experiences I’ve had so far, and I barely scratched the surface. It was a fantastic two days and I really think we saw and did a lot. If you do the same tour during the dry season you’ll probably have more options to hike through the rainforest, sleep in hammocks outdoors, and possibly see even more wildlife. But we definitely got to see much more than I thought we would, and I can’t recommend this experience enough. I would love to go back during the dry season and do a longer trip, but come on, $100 for two days of transportation, food, lodging, and activities? Totally worth it. It’s worth noting that the more people you have, the cheaper it is. And if you need a translator you will pay even more, so it helps to have at least one person in your group be fluent in both Spanish and your native language.

Pricing breakdown for ten days in the Amazon region:
Flight from Bogotá to Leticia: $112 (though one guy I met said he booked one for $40, I have no idea how)
Three nights at La Jangada Hostel in Leticia: $30
Two-day, one-night tour: $100
Three-night boat from Leticia to Manaus: $75 (more on this adventure coming soon!)
Two nights in Manaus: $21 (I redeemed hotel points for a free stay, just had to pay taxes. But you can find a hostel for just as cheap.)

Grand total: $338, averaging about $33.80 per day, plus a little extra for food in Leticia and Manaus.

Categories
Colombia Solo Travel South America Tours

Getting Dirty at Volcan el Totumo

So there’s this popular day trip from Cartagena to a place called Volcan el Totumo. It’s a so-called mud volcano, and the whole experience goes a little something like this: strip down to your bikini, climb a steep wooden staircase, descend into a thick, muddy pool of strangers, and get passed around by a bunch of Colombians while a whole slew of tourists watch. Then you walk down the death stairs covered in slippery mud, and join said strangers in a lagoon where you’ll get even more naked and let some women rinse (aka nearly drown) you with buckets of water.

 And yes, this is the most action I’ve gotten in South America. But anyways, I digress.

I first read about Volcan el Totumo in a book (What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding). Then a few travelers I met raved about how hilarious of an experience it was and insisted that I do it. Since I was still in those first days of a trip when money isn’t an issue, I was sold as soon as I heard the word volcano. So I spent about $35 USD to hitch a ride from Hostel Mamallena for a quick half day trip. Of course the 9:00 AM departure was more like 9:45 AM (because, Colombia), but after another hour or so on the road we pulled up to the giant ant hill.

The mud volcano

Maybe the word volcano doesn’t quite translate, but this thing looks like nothing more than a giant manmade pile of dirt. It juts out of nowhere, and it’s definitely everything you’d expect from a tourist trap. They claim that this measly 50-foot-high pile of dirt was once a legit volcano that used to erupt fire and lava, until one day a priest sprinkled holy water on it because he thought it was evil. Now it’s just full of non-evil mud.

Right. And I used to be a six-foot tall supermodel with a yoga body until some giant squished me back down to 5’2″. I’m calling bullshit on this one. 

When we arrived our group was told to store all of our valuables together in a locker and leave our shoes and clothes out on the table. I threw my stuff in, took off everything but my bikini and my camera, and walked my way barefoot across the stones to the wooden staircase. I followed a line of other tourists up to the top where we waited at least 25 minutes in the sun, awkwardly watching people get rubbed down in the mud.

Screen Shot 2015-01-25 at 12.10.48 AM

Mud pit

Finally when it was my turn I handed my camera over to a pre-pubescent boy who was also snapping pics with about four other cameras. I made my way down the mud-crusted ladder before the man at the bottom grabbed me and pulled me on my back. The mud was thick and gritty. There were bits of rocks, twigs, and who knows what else, but I was surprised how much I floated. I clenched my gut abs and lifted my neck to keep my hair out of the mud. The Colombian man shouted at me in Spanish, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying. Then he lifted handfuls of mud and poured them on my chest, and made a notion for me to lay my head back. I finally relaxed and lowered my hair into the thick mess, and immediately it filled my ears. I raised my head slightly to the side, thinking it would drain out like water does, but no such luck. This stuff was thick and it cut off my hearing almost completely, and the guy seemed annoyed that I was moving so much. So I just lay there partially deaf while this man ran his hands all over my body and people crashed into my feet.

Awkward
Okay… this is weird… 
Oh he’s taking a picture, do something cool!


After a minute or two he passed me along to the next woman in line. I wouldn’t say it’s as much of a massage as it is just some people rubbing their hands all over your body. There were way too many people in the mud hole to be comfortable or even the tiniest bit relaxed, and I kept bashing my head into the side while nearly scraping my nose on a beam that stuck out a good few inches from the side. 

Once the woman was finished with me she passed me on to another pre-teen boy who told me to flip over. I felt like I had entered the Superman pose, P90X style, while trying to keep my face above the mud. He rubbed my belly, which was super awkward as I totally gave up on sucking in.

When I was finished with my rubdown I decided to float around to try and understand why on earth so many people recommended this. And to at least feel like I got my money’s worth. I smeared the mud all over my face in hopes that I’d emerge with younger, healthier skin, or whatever sort of benefit this thing was supposed to have. But it was so crowded I just kept running into random people, our nearly naked bodies knocking against one another as I grabbed for something non-sexual to hold onto. 

Screen Shot 2015-01-25 at 12.12.15 AM

After a few minutes I’d had enough. I climbed the rungs of the slippery ladder, and the mud weighed down my already-loose bottoms as I struggled to hold them up and maintain my balance. Paying no mind to my disappearing bottoms, another Colombian man wiped the mud off of me. I climbed the rest of the way feeling like I’d dropped a huge load in my bottoms and they were sagging off of me. 

The first few steep, wooden steps down were terrifying. I thought for sure I was going to unintentionally slide my way down, breaking an ankle or two along the way. After arriving safely at the bottom I followed the herd to this small lagoon to be rinsed off. Before I was even in the water two women came over to me with buckets and started cleaning me like an infant. The expectation here is that you’ll tip them with a few thousand pesos once you’re sparkling clean from river water.

One woman took my hair out of the ponytail holder and dumped buckets of water over my head in what seemed like slow motion. After my upper half was clean, she then said “bottoms” in a thick accent, which I assumed meant to take off my bottoms. So in waist high water, I kneeled down and pulled my bottoms off. I felt strangely liberated, and the murky water made it so no one could see my girly bits, but I also wondered what was lurking next to my exposed womanhood.

SHOULD YOU DO IT?

I think it’d probably be a lot more fun if you’re with a group of friends, and probably even better if you drive yourselves there and arrive early ahead of the crowds. But when you go solo, it’s just borderline creepy because you have no one to laugh with. I really don’t think you’re missing out though if you skip this, as you can definitely recreate the situation in your own back yard, and probably pull in a profit if you throw in some wrestling.

Categories
Caribbean Guide Solo Travel South America

HOW TO CELEBRATE NEW YEARS (OR ANY DAY) IN CARTAGENA

I kicked off my multi-month Latin tour by ringing in 2015 in South America’s party city: Cartagena, Colombia. From what I can tell, Cartagena is catching on as a major global tourist destination. Even though the city was packed with mostly Argentinians, it’s clear to see that the stigma of Colombia being a dangerously scary country is starting to go away amongst European and American travelers.

So if you’re planning way ahead on where you might want to spend your next New Years, or just thinking about where to visit next for a girls/guys getaway, here’s some insight to get you swinging your hips in the sweltering Colombian city before it catches on with the masses.

THE BASIC INFO
While there are several historical sights to see, I would definitely classify Cartagena as a party destination. So when you’re sick of Las Vegas, Ibiza, and New Orleans, Cartagena might be a good next. Its proximity to the equator keeps it around a sweaty 90 degrees (F, or 32 C) all year long (with humidity to match). It’s a vibrant city that seems to be full of people looking to have a good time. You can carry alcohol on the streets, and on holidays like New Years most of the open-air bars spill out onto the streets, restaurants and cafes take over entire squares, and live music shuts down every street in the Old City.

The traffic is insane, making New York almost laughable by comparison. Cars and motorbikes drive in seemingly nonexistent lanes, stop at the very last second, and haul ass around every corner. Swarms of pedestrians fill every gap between bumpers and on the sidewalks at intersections. Taxis here are cheap and plentiful though, so avoid the stress of driving and take a cab when you need to get somewhere far off.

WHERE TO STAY
The main touristy neighborhoods of Cartagena are the Old City, Getsenami, and Bocagrande.

Cartagena Old City
Plaza de la Aduana in the Old City
Old City
The colorful streets of the Old City have way more foot traffic than vehicles.


The Old City
is full of beautiful, colorful European/Spanish/Caribbean style buildings (at leas that’s how it looked to me, I’m no architecture buff), outlined by narrow streets held tight within the old city walls. On New Years Eve most of the streets are closed to traffic. Instead, every intersection fills with live music and countless people dancing the night away with Aguardiente in hand. It’s impossible not to have a blast while making your way from party to party. This is the area where you’ll find those beautiful sunsets from Cafe del Mar, tons of shopping, and a more European feel.

Getsenami is the backpacker’s area which seems to be a little more rough around the edges, but still feels safe. This area is only a few blocks from the old city, and is full of hostels, cafes, pizza shops, and bars, set right among houses where you can look inside any open door or window and see a family eating dinner or watching television in their living room. Kind of makes you wonder just how “dangerous” a place can really be when everyone’s home is basically wide open, right on the street.

Bocagrande
Luxury in Bocagrande


Bocagrande
is I guess like a Colombian Miami. It’s the peninsula of shiny bright skyscrapers that you’ll see first when you fly in. I hear it’s for the rich peoples, which is why I didn’t spend much time there. I am not a rich people. On New Year’s Day I walked from the Old City to the beach in Bocagrande in about 45 minutes along Santander. The beach was packed, and certainly nothing special with dingy water, meh sand, and right across the street from a giant shopping mall. If you’re going to do the beach don’t waste your time on Bocagrande. Head to Playa Blanca or the Rosario Islands instead.

Playa Blanca
The ridiculously clear waters of Playa Blanca are a hundred times better than the beaches in Bocagrande. If it’s crowded, spend the twenty minutes walking down the beach to escape some of the madness.


BOOK IN ADVANCE DURING HIGH SEASON
If you’re going during high season such as New Years, Christmas, or Carnaval, definitely book in advance. I booked my hotel in October and struggled to find an affordable, decent place. I was looking at a budget of under $50/night which eliminated pretty much every hotel. And all of the recommended hostels were already booked up as well. Luckily I came across the poorly reviewed Hotel San Felipe for about $48/night, but I found it to be perfect for what I needed. It was double the price through most hotel booking sites, but I managed to get it half off on hostelworld.com. Lots of backpackers told me they had trouble showing up and finding room even for one traveler. A few of them had to keep moving between hostels every day because they couldn’t find vacancy for their entire stay.

A few people I met couchsurfed with people outside of the touristy neighborhoods and had absolutely fantastic experiences hanging out at the local bars and paying less than $1 for a beer. As Colombians have been so incredibly welcoming and genuinely nice from my experience, I say if you can find a couchsurfing opportunity, go for it!


LEARN SPANISH
I thought that the hotel staff would at least speak a little English but they did not. Some of the hostel staff spoke a bit, but it definitely helps to know enough Spanish to help you get around and pay for things. Obviously the more Spanish you know the better off you’ll be, and the deeper and more authentic your experience will be too. From my experience Colombians are insanely happy to chat with foreigners and help them practice their Spanish. You’ll meet so many more people and engage in so many more memorable conversations if you just attempt to speak to them in their language. If you’re too timid like I was, drink a couple of beers and give it a go. It’s like they light up when you attempt to communicate in their language.


STAY SAFE
Overall, use your common sense and you should be absolutely fine in Cartagena. But traveling to developing cities in Latin America call for some additional precautions that you might not practice in say, Paris or New York. For example, I would freely walk around most US and European cities with my DSLR strapped across my chest, or use my iPhone as a map while wandering the streets aimlessly. I didn’t really pull out either one in Cartagena very often, as to not draw any more attention to myself as a target for being robbed. Maybe it’s a little paranoid, but poverty in this area was very real and obvious, so I also kind of felt like a dick flaunting that stuff around. You just don’t see it anywhere.

Whenever possible, have the hotel/hostel call you a taxi or book one through an app like Tappsi. Apparently there are some shady unofficial drivers out there who will take you to a secluded area, and before you know it some randoms are jumping in the car to rob you of your belongings. Also, again on the borderline paranoid front, you should always have your windows up, doors locked, and keep your cell phone, camera, and wallet in your pockets. I’ve heard numerous stories from Cartagena and beyond of people being robbed at gunpoint while at a red light, and the taxi driver does absolutely nothing about it but sit there and wait for the light to change. And with the way people weave their way in and out of parked cars at the street lights, it’s easy to see how this can happen so quickly and easily.

Keep your bag strapped on you and in full site at all times. A girl I’d met in Cartagena had her bag stolen from the back of her chair while eating at a cafe in Plaza de la Trinidad. Once she realized what had happened she immediately told the cafe staff, who worked quickly to watch the surveillance and identify the thieves. Hours later when she’d already gone to bed, the thieves returned to the cafe where they were busted by the staff. She got a call to head down to the police station, where she met the thieves face to face. Unfortunately they had already sold her stuff, but the police at least made them give her the money they made from the sale. Sadly this kind of thing happens ALL over the world, especially in hot tourist destinations. And most Colombians I’ve met seem genuinely disgusted with people like this. Their country has transformed so much over the past few decades and they’re finally welcoming tourists and even able to travel the country themselves. The last thing they want is for a few bad guys to ruin their country’s transforming reputation.

If you’re a solo female traveler, just take the usual precautions and you’ll be fine. I thought I’d be a prime target for men to catcall me on the street and aggressively try to pick me up in bars (not that I think I’m hot shit or anything, it just tends to happen a lot in places where my light skin/hair/eyes is a minority), but I can honestly say that that rarely happened in Cartagena. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older and I’ve “lost it,” but I’m told that Colombian men are actually quite timid. I’m not sure about that, but I do know that I was hit on and cat-called more on any given day in New York than I was during my entire stay in Cartagena.

If you choose to buy drugs in Colombia, best of luck to you. I have no firsthand experience with that, but I met a group of Australians who claimed they followed some guy that they’d already bought stuff off of before into some house, where they were robbed of everything they had on them at knifepoint. Also I don’t think the police have much tolerance for tourists doing drugs so again, good luck.

And for fuck’s sake, get the hell out of the hostel, get away from the backpacking crowds, and go enjoy the city with some locals. Meeting these people who stick to the hostel scene and only party with other foreigners blows my mind. You’re going to Colombia for a different experience, so go experience it. Don’t get caught up in the same familiar, English-speaking comfort zone you have back home. You don’t have to know perfect Spanish to try new foods, enjoy good music, or have a Colombian teach you how to dance.

If you do decide to go celebrate the new year in Cartagena…

WHAT YOU SHOULD BE DOING AT MIDNIGHT
Making out with a hot Colombian! Okay, okay, perhaps that’s not exactly in your cards for whatever reason. Luckily there are plenty of parties to choose from, but almost all of them come with a hefty price tag. I didn’t do one of these, but if that’s your scene I would advise you to book early to save a bit of cash. I met several people who booked last minute tickets to some of the most well-known parties and managed to get in just fine, but they PAID for it.

Expect to pay at least $75 for a BYOB & food event, $125 for a fancy fireworks & yacht cruise, and upwards of $200/$300 for an all-out rave/concert with well-known Latin artists.

I chose not to buy a ticket in somewhere because 1-I didn’t want to be confined to just one place the entire evening, especially if it sucked, and 2-I hate spending money just to get into a place. So pretentious.

Luckily you don’t need to shell out a fortune to have a good time on New Years. I met up with a Colombian from couchsurfing and a few other people she’d recently met through friends. We went for tapas, bought a few bottles of beer and some Aguardiente, and walked over to see the fireworks in the Old City. The fireworks definitely weren’t as hardcore as I thought they were going to be (I guess I’m spoiled by the Macy’s Fourth of July show), but they were being lit off only about 100 feet away from us into a crowd full of people so that was pretty sweet. They lit them off near Cafe del Mar, just outside of the wall, so grab some drinks and head to the lawn just before midnight for a front row view.

Fireworks

NYE DJ Parties
One of the many random street parties where DJs blasted music all night while people danced their way through the streets.

DON’T PLAN ON SLEEPING
I lived in New York for eight years and after many nights of seeing the sun rise in a drunken stupor, I thought that city never slept. But I think Cartagena may have New York beat. Again, I am getting older, but after my night of drinking and dancing I was ready for bed at about 330am. As I made my way back to the hotel the parties were still going strong. Most of them had moved off the streets and indoors now, but I was told some would last until well into the afternoon on January 1st. Then on January 3rd I woke up at 3am to loud booms, only to look out my window and see a full on firework show going on AT THREE IN THE MORNING. What the hell?

Cartagena is still relatively cheap for US residents to travel to. Right now 1 USD is equal to about 2300 Colombian Pesos, putting beers at about $1/$1.50, and most basic meals well under $10. Also it’s cheap to get here on a budget airline like JetBlue and Spirit. I paid $350 one-way for a flight two days before New Years. I think round trip was only slightly more. Regardless, Cartagena is definitely a contender for an unforgettable, affordable trip, just make sure you’re ready to party and dance!

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Colombia Living Abroad Solo Travel South America

A New Year, A New Life

South America, I’ve arrived via Colombia!

After what felt like a decade of packing and planning, I finally finished most of my pre-trip list and got to bed at 130am Tuesday morning. I was right back up an hour and twenty minutes later to get ready for my flight. Turns out it’s impossible to sleep when you’ve got a massive trip coming up.

Donning several sweaters, a scarf, and a bulky pair of hiking boots, we drove to Detroit in the pitch black, 18-degree weather at 4am. It felt just like every other Monday morning after a holiday when I would fly back to New York before resuming a grueling workweek. Thankfully that wasn’t the case this time. Instead I was heading to 90 degrees, sunshine, and carefree days spend exploring instead of sitting behind a computer.

After showing proof that I did in fact plan on leaving Colombia despite my one-way ticket, I got my boarding pass and made my way to the gate. One three-hour flight, two-hour (delayed) layover, and a two-and-a-half hour flight later, we landed in Cartagena.

Cartagena Sunset

I dropped my stuff off in my hotel and made it to Cafe del Mar just in time for an incredible sunset. As I stood there watching that red ball fall into the ocean, I couldn’t help but think “this is it. The trip you’ve been planning for so long, it’s here. And you don’t have to go back next week, or ten days from now. You go back whenever the hell you’re ready to go back or when you run out of money. And it’s up to you what “go back” even means. But right now, you have the next few months planned to just do what you love most: travel, explore, and meet new people.”

This is the first time in my life where my focus is to simply enjoy life. I know I haven’t even been here 24 hours yet, but I feel happy and free. I’m incredibly grateful that I learned early on to play by my own rules by going after what I want and building a life that’s worth living. That direction may keep changing as I learn and grow, but one thing’s for sure is that I’ll always be happy with my decisions.

Wherever you may be celebrating in the world, if you’re still looking for a New Year’s resolution why not make it to simply enjoy life in 2015? Rather than setting up a resolution with high expectations and a possibility for disappointment, take the time to focus on the things that really matter to you. Whether that’s family, friends, travel, or spending more time pursuing a hobby, ensuring that you’re able to recognize the important things in life and enjoy every single day that you’re fortunate enough to wake up in good health is one resolution that can’t go wrong.

So as we ring in a new year, the year in which I will enter my 30’s, my New Year’s resolution is to simply see more sunrises. I’m not a morning person at all, but as it’s probably the most peaceful time of day, I want to see the sun come up in some of these amazing places that I’ll be visiting over the next few months. It’s not 2015 yet (in this part of the world), but I woke up to my first sunrise today without even trying.

Happy New Years everybody! Do you have any other great resolutions? Comment below!

Cartagena Sunrise

Categories
Living Abroad Solo Travel South America Travel

I Just Bought My First One-Way Ticket

I’ve been in Ohio for eight days. Most of the time I’ve been sitting on the couch in my pajamas watching TV and playing with the dogs, but today I finally made a move towards my “what’s next.”

After months and months of figuring out destinations, routes, and budgets, today I purchased a one-way ticket to Cartagena, Colombia. I’ll be welcoming 2015 by devouring empanadas and salsa dancing my way through the walled city. Then a few days later I’ll hop on a bus and head off to another part of Colombia for a few nights before packing up and moving on to another spot. For at least a few months.

As of December 30th I’ll be backpacking my way around South America indefinitely (basically until I run out of money, get sick of roughing it, or complete my grand tour, whichever comes first). I’m going to leave most of the trip unplanned and completely open to spontaneity, but I’ll be following a rough path:

through Colombia, eventually making my way down to Brazil in time for Carnaval, then down through Argentina where I’m hoping to spend a few weeks in/around Buenos Aires before reaching Patagonia, then up through Chile and Bolivia before making it to Machu Picchu, and finally finishing up in Ecuador.

Aside from living in a cozy flat in London for three months, the longest trip I’ve ever taken has only been about two weeks, so this is a completely new experience for me. But since I wasn’t quite ready to make the commitment of moving to the West Coast just yet (mostly the whole getting a car thing), I figured it’s time to go live the life that my inner wannabe Latina has always wanted to live. Plus I’ve felt so liberated since selling nearly everything I own a few weeks ago, I kind of can’t wait to live with nothing more than what I can carry on my back for a while.

During this trip I’m going to focus more on my travel writing, perhaps even writing a book—but more on that in the next month or so. In the meantime, any suggestions on where to stay, what to eat, who to meet, or what to see while I’m down there, leave in the comments!

Categories
Adventure Guide Money Saving Tips Outdoor Scuba Diving Solo Travel South America Unesco World Heritage Sites Wildlife

Galápagos Islands Travel Guide & Money Saving Tips

The Galápagos. A cluster of volcanic islands, teeming with rare, exotic wildlife, rising out of the Pacific Ocean some six-hundred miles off of mainland Ecuador. Sounds like an expensive trip, doesn’t it? Sure, it can be. But it doesn’t have to be.

Don’t get me wrong, the Galápagos aren’t exactly a backpacker destination. The costs of getting there alone will run you at least $500—including a ~$400 flight from Quito or Guayaquil, the $100 park entry fee, and the $10 transit control card. (Word of advice: do NOT lose that card, or you may end up missing your flight home if no one is around to sell you a new one upon departure.)

But really, once you get to the islands you can spend as little or as much as you want and still have an awesome time. So if you’re considering a trip to the Galápagos, or even just looking for a unique beach vacation, hopefully this guide will help you determine whether or not the Galápagos Islands could be in your near future.

 

Tourists in a water taxi in Puerto Ayora
Tourists in a water taxi in Puerto Ayora

 

All about the Galápagos Islands…aka the stuff you can easily find on Wikipedia.

The Galápagos are a National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site, so much of the land and surrounding marine area is carefully monitored and preserved by park authorities. The archipelago is made up of about 13-18 main islands and a few smaller ones (everyone will tell you a different number). Of those, only four or five are inhabited, and the rest you need to be with a tour guide to access.

The population is roughly 25,000, with about half of those people living in Santa Cruz. I showed up expecting an untouched, desolate paradise with like a 100:1 sea lion to human ratio, so I was definitely surprised to see the town of Puerto Ayora full of bars, souvenir shops, restaurants, cars, and people.

You can easily research the different islands to find out which are best for your visit, but here are a few notes I took on the ones that stood out to me:

Bartolomé uninhabited island with the breathtakingly scenic Pinnacle rock, and an awesome lava flow that spills right onto a white, sandy, deserted beach.

Española- I didn’t visit but since it’s the oldest island, it sounds like a kickass wildlife spot with tons of endemic species. It’s also the furthest South so unfortunately it’s not an option to visit on a day trip, only on a cruise, which we’ll jump into more in a minute.

Fernandina- basically an active volcanic island covered in old black lava flows. I got excited thinking I’d be able to see active lava flows, but after reading that tours don’t take you anywhere near the crater, I chose not to go.

Floreana- most people I spoke with liked Floreana, but I thought it was worth skipping. We saw some tortoises, did a small hike, visited a painfully rocky black lava rock beach with cloudy snorkeling due to the current, and of course stopped by Post Office Bay. Nothing special.

Isabela- my favorite Island that I visited, and not just because it’s shaped like a seahorse. There are volcanoes to hike, flamingos to see, and penguins and sea lions to swim with. Population is about 2,000 people, and the largest town of Puerto Villamil has dirt roads, no ATMs, and is super chill. I just wouldn’t recommend diving here because there’s only one dive shop on the island and they’re not exactly the most reputable bunch.

North Seymore Island- an easy day trip from Puerto Ayora and a good spot for beginner divers.

Rabida- red beaches. Enough said.

 

The #1 way to save money

The biggest way to save money in the Galápagos is to stay on land. It’s what I did and it’s the only way I can recommend making a trip to the Galápagos affordable (unless of course you have your own sailboat and you’re sailing down there and living aboard your own boat for free).

When most people talk about dropping thousands to visit the islands, that’s because they’re taking a cruise. These small boats of roughly 20 or so people set you up with a tour guide and tout you around to a new island each day. If you book in advance it looks like you’ll spend at least a grand—all food and excursions included—but you can also get some pretty good deals if you book last minute from the islands (not sure if I’d risk taking that chance during high season though). A lot of people aren’t even aware that you can stay on land too, for as low as $15/night in Puerto Ayora (the main town of the Galápagos), and take much cheaper day trips out to visit a number of islands.

The only downside I could see to staying on land is that you won’t be able to visit some of the islands that are much further out. But there’s so much to do and see on those nearby islands, you can easily fill up a ten-day trip without missing a thing.

 

Tell me more about these day trips

Most island day trips head out of Puerto Ayora, on Santa Cruz and will run about $60-$110 depending on the island, usually with lunch included. Walk along Avenida Charles Darwin and you’ll be able to book whatever trips you want from a number of vendors.

I would suggest figuring out which spots are must-sees for you, then choose a good base island or two. For example, I stayed in Puerto Ayora for five nights and took day trips out to Floreana and Bartolomé, while also spending some time exploring the island and beaches by bike and foot. Then I took the $40 water taxi to spend my last four nights on Isabela, where I walked out to the Flamingo Lagoon to see pink flamingos for free, went on a 6-hour hike up to Sierra Negra and Volcán Chico for only $35 (including lunch), and dropped $75 to go snorkeling at Los Tuneles. Sounds like a lot for a snorkeling trip, but this was a guided tour snorkeling through old lava tubes, coming across caves of sharks and manta rays, seahorses, and swimming with baby sea lions. Worth it.

All in all I spent around $300 on at least five days worth of trips and was busy every single day.

Diving is another popular activity, but just like anywhere else it’s not cheap. There are tons of dive shops in Puerto Ayora that’ll likely run you around $110-$175 for a two-dive trip along with some food and underwater photos. But when you’re 40 feet down swimming alongside hammerhead sharks, it’s obviously worth it. Even if you start puking like I did.

Bartolome
Bartolome
Black rock beach on Floreana
A gorgeous but painful beach on Floreana
Scuba diving with manta rays off Turtle Island
Scuba diving with manta rays off Turtle Island

 

Where should I stay?

Like I’ve mentioned a few times already, Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz is a good place to start because it’s basically the main hub of the islands. There are a bunch of hotel options including backpacker friendly hostels for less than $15/night, more private hotels and b&b’s for around $50, and a few fancy way-out-of-my-budget places that I think were around a couple hundred a night. But with so much hustle and bustle, I wouldn’t recommend staying too long or you might start to forget you’re in the Galápagos. There are also a couple of desolate high-end resorts up in the highlands that are pretty far from the coast, and I’d imagine quite expensive.

Puerto Villamil on Isabela is another great town, and one of my favorite places I’ve ever been to. I stayed at Caleta Iguana in the $70/night private room with a private bath, which included a delicious homemade breakfast every morning. It’s right on the beach, and has the most happening happy hour in town. Every evening people come from all over the town to have a few drinks, walk across the tightrope, party around the fire, listen to music, sway in the hammocks, and watch the sun set.

 

Sounds awesome. So how do I get there?

For some reason a lot of people ask me this, and I have to bite my tongue to keep from giving some smartass remark about a booking site and an airplane.

Flights travel from mainland Ecuador either through Quito or Guayaquil, and take about 2-3 hours depending on which city.

There are two airports in the Galápagos, one on Baltra and one on San Cristóbal. Most people (including me) fly into Baltra, which is a tiny island just north of Santa Cruz that basically looks like Mars. After landing you’ll jump on an airport bus which will take you to the docks for free. From there you’ll cram into a water ferry, which is actually like an oversized canoe that will leave you questioning exactly how buoyancy works with that many tourists. As it chugs against the surprisingly strong current, the reality is that you could probably toss a football over to Santa Cruz so it’s a fairly quick transfer for $0.80. Once you’re on Santa Cruz you can catch a bus through the highlands, all the way to the other end of the island to Puerto Ayora. It takes about an hour and only costs about $1.50, but they cram the shit out of the bus. I enjoyed the bumpy ride while crammed between seats on the plastic astroturf-like floor.

Sweating on the bus
Sweating on the bus

 

I can’t tell you much about arriving in San Cristóbal, as I didn’t get the chance to visit. But I do know it’s the easternmost island with a population of about 6,000 people, and I’m told you can sunbathe alongside sea lions if you visit the beach.

Either way, transportation between the islands will run you roughly $40 for a ferry ride, and take about 2-3 hours, so limit and plan your transfers wisely.

 

What are some free/cheap things I can do while on land?

You’ll need a tour guide to access many places, but there are still a ton of free things you can do that are just as cool.

Santa Cruz


– Explore the Darwin Research Center and visit the giant tortoise and iguana breeding center.

– Walk to Tortuga Bay. Once you reach the entry point just outside of town, locals will tell you it’s about a 20 minute walk. Bullshit. I didn’t have a watch or phone on me but it’s definitely closer to 45+ minutes. Despite the heat and humidity it’s an easy walk, but once you emerge from the partially tree-covered pathway, you’ll see a long white stretch of gorgeous, untouched natural beach with perfectly blue and white waves breaking at the shoreline. This area’s a bit too choppy to swim but there will likely be a few surfers in the water along with some sharks flapping about in with the waves. Walk another 15 minutes or so to the end of the beach and you’ll come across the swimming bay which is much calmer, and probably at least a little crowded with locals. You can even pay a few bucks and take a kayak out to explore on your own.

– I didn’t make it up there, but if you’re all about seeing some giant, old ass tortoises in their natural habitat, head up to the highlands and explore El Chato Tortoise Reserve.

– Cliff diving at Las Grietas. Intrigued? It costs like 50 cents for a 15 minute water taxi ride from the Puerto Ayora docks, and a short hike until you’re there. It’s basically a crevice between two cliffs where salt and fresh water meet, and the lack of a current makes it a popular spot to swim and take daring jumps.

– Grab a bike and explore the city. I hopped on a mountain bike and went as far as I could before the hill started to get to be too much for my lazy ass. I rode around the back streets and explored the neighborhoods and it was definitely a day well spent for only a few dollars.

 

Old tortoise
Old ass tortoise
Tortuga Bay
Tortuga Bay
Biking the streets of Puerto Ayora
Biking the streets of Puerto Ayora
Exploring the streets of Puerto Ayora
Exploring the streets of Puerto Ayora

 

Puerto Villamil, Isla Isabela

Isabela is an incredibly behind-the-times island with painfully slow internet, which was absolutely perfect.
 It’s really easy to spend mornings exploring and afternoons napping on the beach without a worry in the world.

– Hike Volcán Chico/Sierra Negra. The guided volcano hike is only $35 with lunch, and in my opinion totally worth it. Not so much worth it if you just hike up to Sierra Negra, but definitely so if you continue on to Volcán Chico. Here’s more in-depth info about what to expect on that hike.

– Walk up to the Flamingo Lagoon. There’s a manmade lagoon where flamingos tend to hang out. A pickup truck taxi will charge $10 to take you there, but you can easily walk or bike there for free. Follow the main road that runs along the water (I didn’t see a name because it’s a dirt road and I really don’t think there even was a name). Pass Caleta Iguana, the hot pink beachfront hostel on the left, and the Booby Trap cafe/restaurant on your right, and turn right up the dirt road. You’ll pass La Jungla hostel and a soccer field along the way, but keep walking. Locals will tell you you’re super close, but it took me about 20-25 minutes to get there. Eventually you’ll come to the Tortoise Breeding Center, and finally the lagoon.

– 
Walk on the beach. There are Galápagos penguins and gorgeous sunsets right there, so really there’s no reason to leave.

– Go down to the happy hour at Caleta Iguana, the Westernmost hostel/hotel on the beach, and hang out for some drinks and watch the sunset.

 

Pink flamingos on Isla Isabela
Pink flamingos on Isla Isabela
Hiking Volcan Chico
Hiking Volcan Chico
Caleta Iguana on Isla Isabela
Caleta Iguana on Isla Isabela
Pausing for a selfie at Los Tuneles
Pausing for a selfie at Los Tuneles
Sharks at Los Tuneles
Snorkeling with sharks at Los Tuneles
Snorkeling with sea turtles at Los Tuneles
Swimming with sea turtles at Los Tuneles
Snorkeling with sea lions at Los Tuneles
Swimming with sea lions at Los Tuneles
Isla Isabela
The perfect dirt roads of Isla Isabela
Sunset from Caleta Iguana
Sunset from Caleta Iguana

 

Other helpful things to remember/expect/know

Go during low season
The weather is generally the same year round, but low season is April, May, September and October. I’d suggest going then to avoid the crowds, and you may even save a few bucks on day trips and cruises.

The Galápagos are a tsunami zone
Especially if you don’t know Spanish, at least learn the escape route so when you hear the sirens start waling and see people start running, you know what to do. On Puerto Ayora I learned the hard way that you should head uphill on Av Baltra until you reach Bellavista.

They’re also not necessarily a beach destination
There are quite a few beaches, but they’re not really easy to get to. You generally can’t stay on a resort and walk outside to lay out during the day. In Puerto Ayora, it’ll take an entire day to head to the beach, and on many other islands the beaches are rocky or take a lot of time to get to via boat.

Don’t flush toilet paper
Sure I bitched about this first world problem in London, but being in such a fragile environmentally-friendly ecosystem, I was actually more than willing to comply.

Bring enough cash
Some of the islands don’t have ATMs, and many places don’t accept credit cards. Puerto Ayora was fine—it had at least one ATM and one bank, but Isabela had neither. I was told sometimes tourists withdrawal more money than the ATM has anyway, so sometimes they’re left SOL. To be on the safe side, bring a bit of cash.

USD is the official currency
Despite being a province of Ecuador, the official currency of the Galápagos Islands is actually the US Dollar. So if you’re traveling from the US you don’t have to worry about losing money in exchange rates or frequent trips to the bank.

Bring protection
No not that kind of protection ya pervs. Okay wait actually, yeah you should probably do that too if you plan on getting freaky. But I’m talking sunscreen. Like any island, items are marked up. Like $30 for a small bottle of sunscreen. So bring what you need, the sun is ridiculous down there. I usually don’t wear sunblock on vacations, but the whole trip I was slathered up in SPF 30 every day and still left with an almost-Latin tan. Than being said, I stupidly took a 4oz Neutrogena sunblock and another travel size stick with me and had to buy more halfway through my trip. Bye bye money.

Walk an extra few blocks for food
If you visit any of the restaurants along Avenida Charles Darwin in Puerto Ayora, you can expect to pay tourist prices. I’m used to New York prices, so $9 for a beer, a cheese sandwich, and an order of fried plantains and queso was a steal. But if you walk the extra five minutes up a couple of blocks to Bordados El Alquimista, you’ll find a road full of outdoor-seating restaurants serving up super cheap traditional Ecuadorian food and $1 beers.

There’s also an amazing little shack/bar on the playground right near the docks. Almost every night I went down and had an empanada and a large, probably 40 oz Pilsener for $4.50. Other tourists told me I was getting ripped off and could’ve gotten the same snack for about $2.50 elsewhere, but I couldn’t help it. It was awesome to sit amongst locals and try to improve my Spanish right in the center of all the port action.

Bring seasickness medicine
If you think there’s the slightest chance that you might get seasick, bring some pills. You’ll likely spend a lot of time on boats down there so it’s better to be prepared than barfing your lunch out over the side of the boat for two hours. The islands aren’t close together, so it’s common to spend 2-3 hours seeing nothing but the huge, rolling waves of the Pacific on every horizon. And those waves are not small.

Bring a water bottle

The Galápagos are hot and you’re going to need a lot of water. The locals don’t even drink the tap there, and all of the hotels I visited or researched had a water cooler in the lobby for guests to fill up on. So bring a jug and keep it full. Some places ask for donations, others don’t.

 

Fried plantains and questo and an iced tea
Fried plantains and queso and an iced tea

 

So, should I go?

For better or for worse (i’m really leaning towards worse), the Galápagos are becoming more and more popular as a tourist destination. Despite the efforts to manage tourism so that it doesn’t destroy the ecosystem, the islands are definitely suffering. You see sheets of oil across the water in the ports and litter carelessly washed up on the rocks of shore. And even though most of the islands are still uninhabited, those that are inhabited are encouraging tourism more and more. Isabela for example, is the largest (size-wise) of the islands with a population of only 2,000. At first they shunned tourism and wanted no part in it—until they started seeing the financial benefits. Now there are buildings being constructed all along the beach which actually made me a little angry. I know I know, this makes me a bit of a hypocrite. But it’s a perfect island with dirt roads and no ATMs, where everybody knows each other. Hell by the end of my trip I knew most of the locals. It doesn’t need hoards of tourists moving in, changing the local cultures and environment.

Sometimes making decisions on whether or not to visit certain places that are honestly better left untouched are difficult for us travelers who are always looking for new, unique experiences and connections. So I really think that anyone visiting the Galápagos should make a conscious decision to do so. Don’t go just for the hell of it. Respect the land, the people, and the wildlife. Learn a thing or two, and give back whenever you can. And if you do go, hopefully this guide will help with your beginning steps of planning.

Categories
Adventure Outdoor Scuba Diving South America Unesco World Heritage Sites Wildlife

Scuba Diving Round 2: Swimming with Hammerheads

I was really looking forward to doing a redemption dive in the Galapagos Islands—just one kickass dive to erase all the bad memories from Florida. But after reading online that the dive sites are best for advanced divers and known for their strong currents, not their water clarity, I wasn’t sure how great it could actually be.

Whatever. I just wanted to dive without emptying my guts into the ocean.

I decided to go with Scuba Iguana based on their reputation (and a solid recommendation from a very attractive Latin diver I’d met). They had one last spot on their dive scheduled for my last day on Santa Cruz, so I paid the $175, signed some paperwork freeing them from any responsibility should I die or get dismembered, got fitted with all of my gear, then went to dinner eagerly anticipating the next morning. My plan was to grab a quick bite then go back to the hotel to hydrate and brush up on my scuba skills before calling it an early night.

An hour later the whole tsunami thing happened and completely destroyed my plans.

I didn’t get back to my hotel until the wee hours of the morning so I started to think diving wouldn’t be the best idea, especially with my nerves still on edge. Plus two divers in the shelter told me that diving the next morning would be a bad idea because there would likely be even stronger currents and lower visibility.

I woke up a couple hours later and tried to call the shop to tell them I wasn’t feeling it that day, secretly hoping it was canceled. I assumed that they would understand since my PADI courses continuously harped on the need to be a responsible diver and not go diving when you’re quite feeling up for it so that you don’t endanger the rest of the group.

Long story short, I couldn’t get through to them until they called me over an hour and a half later, and despite Scuba Iguana’s stellar diving reputation, they didn’t give a fuck about my safety concerns and hesitations. They refused to reimburse me even though it would have been as simple as throwing out the carbon copy of my card they had yet to send off to the bank. So not only did I not go diving, I was out $175.

The next day I was feeling back to my normal self and I was pissed that I’d let fear get the best of me on my last day in Santa Cruz. So I decided to try, try again on Isabela Island. There was only one diving company there and they didn’t have a great reputation. But I had made up my mind, I was not leaving the Galapagos without going diving and $150 later I was signed up for attempt #2.

 

Wall of fish

 

Diving day came and I did everything by the book. I took seasickness pills, ate breakfast, drank a ton of water. I was ready to go. As we sped out to Turtle Island I was actually really excited, and before I could think about it all of us were bobbing around in the choppy water. We didn’t even do any checks to make sure our gear was functioning properly, they just handled it themselves and hurried us into the water.

Just as quickly Harry and the other non-English speaking divemaster were ready to go under. I dumped all the air from my BCD and once my head was under I sank like an anchor. Due to our shitty preparation I think my weight belt was way too heavy because getting neutrally buoyant is actually one thing I’m pretty good at. This time I was all over the place trying not to touch the rock and coral below me. Luckily the sign of struggle is universal, so the divemaster tried to inflate and deflate my BCD with quick bursts, using up tons of oxygen before giving up and grabbing my hand to drag me along. We floated around holding hands for a few minutes before I realized this was the most romance I’ve had in a long time, and naturally after a few minutes I got weirded out and let go.

 

Scuba diving

 

I was using up a ton of oxygen trying to fill my lungs with air as it was the only thing that seemed to keep me slightly above the ocean floor. But I felt great. The vomit-fest of the Florida Keys seemed so far away.

Suddenly everything got really dark like a storm cloud moving in. I looked up to see we were in the shadow of a massive manta ray gliding about ten feet above me. I’ve never seen anything so big, so close in the water. I was half wishing it would swoop down and wrap me up like a pig-in-a-blanket in its massive fins.

 

Manta ray

 

Then it happened, the highlight of my dive. The only thing I really wanted to see while I was underwater. About 15 feet away a hammerhead shark that was at least 9 feet long slowly swam past, not paying any attention to us with its goofy eyes. I’m not particularly scared of sharks, but I wasn’t sure how I’d react to seeing one 40 ft under water, though I definitely wanted to find out. Seconds later three more hammerheads appeared and swam by. Oddly enough it felt just like seeing them in an aquarium. I was simply observing the sharks as they paid no attention to us or anything that swam by. I didn’t feel nervous or scared at all, in fact I felt the urge to swim in front of them and see if they would even notice me head-on.

 

Shark

 

We swam along with tons of crazy-looking fish, reef sharks, starfish, and more unidentifiable creatures. There was something new to see at each turn, which was definitely the selling point to diving in the GalapagosFar too quickly I realized I was already down to 700 PSI in my tank, which was when we were supposed to start heading up. Unfortunately I was the only one even remotely close to going up, so the divemaster motioned for me to head up alone.

 

Sea turtle

Sea turtle

Seahorse

 

If you don’t know much about diving, basically you can’t just pop right up to the surface or you risk decompression sickness, and you can get the bends and/or die (hence the pre-dive paperwork). To stay on the safe side you should ascend slowly, then stop for about 3-5 minutes at around 3 meters/15 feet. Since my depth gauge seemed to be off and I was without a watch, I knew I’d have difficulty determining the right depth & duration for the safety stop. I kept trying to communicate with the divemaster that I didn’t want to go up alone, but it was pretty hard considering you can’t speak under water. And I didn’t want to ruin the dive for the rest of the group so I sucked it up and started up alone.

 

Fish

 

For the first couple seconds I started rising slowly and steadily below my air bubbles. Then out of nowhere I was being pulled up like I was being beamed up by aliens. I tried to slow down but my head was above water in a matter of seconds. Shit.

The surface was choppy, and I started to get dizzy as the boat came to get me. I swam my way against the current towards the boat, which seemed to take about a week and a half. By the time I got there I was exhausted, breathing heavily and my limbs worthless. The crew had me take off my BCD and hand it up to them which was incredibly hard to do. I felt like I was going to pass out. Then they had me take off my fins, but with such little strength left I was worried I wouldn’t be able to stay afloat without them so I latched onto the ladder like a Barrel of Monkeys game piece, my body bashing against it, bruising me with each wave.

I tried to climb the ladder which was even more difficult than all those times I failed trying to climb the knotted rope in gym class. I felt like I weighed 1800 pounds, but with the help of the crew I fell into the boat and made my way to a seat. My head was pounding and I felt dizzy. My stomach started to churn again, just like last time. Except this time I was worried I’d gotten the bends from rising up too quickly. I kept telling myself that I was okay and that I needed to calm down and focus on something other than feeling like shit.

After about 10 minutes the others made their way to the boat as I took a few deep breaths and a few sips of water. The boat crew gave us a snack but I knew that snack was going to turn into fish food if I put it in my mouth.

Everyone suited back up for dive two as I sat staring off in complete silence before deciding to sit it out. My stomach felt the same as it did in Florida, and I knew as soon as I put the regulator in my mouth I would be puking. So I went up to the front of the boat and stared off at the horizon. I made it about ten more minutes before I was bent over the bow, heaving warm bile into the Pacific. Then I wiped my mouth off and posed for this seasick selfie:

 

Seasick selfie

 

I don’t know what it is with diving, but my stomach can’t seem to handle it. I’ve been on countless boats in my lifetime and I spent more than half of my days in the Galapagos on boats, and I’ve never been seasick until after I’ve been diving.

Weird, my stomach can handle Taco Bell’s destructive goodness like nobody should be able to, but I can’t handle a little compressed air.

*All the underwater photos in this post are from a lovely girl named Dorieke, who was kind enough to send them to me since my camera wasn’t waterproof past 43ft. Thanks Dorieke!

Categories
Adventure Hiking South America

Hiking Sierra Negra and Volcán Chico in the Galápagos

While in the Galápagos I felt the urge to climb to the highest peaks and peer down into the very things that created the archipelago (probably because volcanoes are obviously some of the most impressive works of mother nature, ever). So my first day on Isabela I set out to hike Sierra Negra and Volcán Chico.

I was told to prepare for any kind of weather—one minute you could be walking in the pouring rain through ankle-deep mud, and the next scrambling over slippery lava rocks in the scorching equatorial sun. So I stuffed my backpack with plenty of sunblock, a poncho, camera gear, and enough water and snacks to last a couple of days if necessary. Knowing how much of a sweaty mess I am, I threw on a moisture-wicking undershirt beneath a tshirt, along with a baseball hat and sunglasses. The only place I was failing were the mesh running shoes I was wearing since I was too stubborn to weigh down my backpack with hiking boots while traveling.

Once I was all nerded out, I jumped in the bus and we made our way up winding dirt roads for about a half hour, passing the occasional hiking resort and donkey hidden in the trees.

Volcan Chico

The truck dropped us off at the hiking trail and we set out in the already-hot morning sun. Within the first few minutes I was sweating and panting my way up an incline that had me double-guessing whether or not I was physically ready for this. Thankfully the clouds moved in almost just as quickly and the dirt path became more level. There wasn’t much to see for the first hour or so, just the occasional misty panoramic glimpse of lush green trees and hills as we walked through the clouds. Luckily the mist was hardly noticeable and the ground was bone dry which made the hike relatively simple.

As we walked we grabbed guavas right off the trees, ripping them open and eating them like we hadn’t eaten in weeks.


Sierra Negra is an active volcano that rises 1,124m (3,688ft) above sea level, and its caldera is the second largest in the world at around six miles wide.

Before we knew it the caldera seemed to appear out of nowhere. As promised, it was massive, and the clouds quickly broke over top of it finally giving way to vibrant blue skies. The entire caldera floor was covered with old lava flows, some areas much darker from the 2005 eruption that lasted for ten days.

At this point I was having a bit of an “is that all there is?” moment. It was cool seeing Sierra Negra, but other than the fresh guavas I wasn’t sold that it was worth the otherwise uneventful hike.

After walking alongside the rim for a bit, we had a fifteen-minute picnic in the shade of a tree while the guide warned us about the strenuous hike that was to come.

“We’ll make our way across a rocky terrain of loose lava rocks for about 45 minutes until we reach the end of the hike. But the walk back is almost entirely uphill, so only go if you have enough energy to climb back. And you better layer on the sunscreen now because there’s no shade.”

Everyone shoved energy bars and bananas in their mouths and took a few gulps of water. From our group of about 20, only one pair stayed behind—a father and his roughly 8-year-old daughter who was already ready to call it quits (yet another reminder of why I’m glad to have zero children).

Within a few minutes of walking the grass disappeared and the only remaining plants were cacti shooting straight out of dried lava. The ground below us changed from brown dirt to red rock to crystalized black lava. I was completely blown away by the size of the lava fields, the hollow lava tubes running down the sides of the volcanoes, and the incredible amount of dried layers piled on top of one another (but the OCD freak in me just wanted to pick and peel at them one by one). Some areas seemed frozen in time—you could see where the lava flow had rolled over the sides of cliffs.

Volcán Chico is more of a collapsed/extinct crater, where several volcanoes have merged to create fissures and mountains within an environment that seems otherworldly. This made for an impressive landscape where you could look in almost any direction and see lava flows that had made their way down to the ocean below. And though we didn’t see any live lava, there were quite a few sulphuric vents with steam rising and ferns growing up inside them from the rocky ground.

It sounds super corny, but once I was standing at the top of that windy peak it was absolutely incredible to get a firsthand look at how the Galápagos Islands were formed through such raw, uninhabited beauty and force.



On the hike back I was one of the first ones to start the trek and I was determined to keep it that way. No matter how strenuous the journey, I refused to let myself look like an out of shape noob. I was going to make this shit look easy.

So we started walking, and I slipped. A lot. My ankles twisted and cracked every ten steps. My non-hiking shoes and short legs were a terrible combination for making my way up those thigh-high steps of loose rocks. We were all chugging water between deep, hard breaths and it was the first time on the hike that nobody was talking. But you could tell everyone was laser-focused on making it back to the picnic area without looking like a sissy.

Finally after what seemed like 100 treks up a grueling real-life Aggro Crags, we were all stripping off our clothes at the picnic area and splashing down with water. We only had a few minutes to rest before setting out for the last 1.5-2 hours downhill back to the truck.

I was back in my room by 330pm, absolutely covered in dirt. I had a grandeur idea of rinsing off in the ocean and napping on the beach, but when I couldn’t gather the energy to walk outside, I laid a towel across the bed and passed out for my first two-hour vacation nap.

IS IT WORTH IT?
Yes, especially because the tour is one of the cheapest on the islands at just $35 (and that includes a bagged lunch). Like I said, the hike up to Sierra Negra wasn’t exactly the coolest thing in the world, but continuing onward to Volcán Chico definitely made everything worth it. So don’t bitch out at the picnic spot. It’s not particularly strenuous, so long as you’re in decent shape and don’t mind getting a little sweaty. Just come prepared with plenty of sunblock, water, and proper footwear and you’ll be fine. When I woke up the next day I could hardly walk because my toes felt like they’d been murdered in those non-supportive shoes. Lesson learned!