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Flashback: Honduras

June 21, 2011 By Jillian

Sometimes it’s about the journey not the destination. Bumping around in the back of an overloaded Toyota pick up truck on our way into “the heart of darkness” was not my idea of fun. Maybe that’s a bit dramatic, but I couldn’t get Conrad’s book out of my head. We were going into the heart of Central America’s largest wilderness and it was certainly a journey.

We had been pretty “vanilla” in our travels up until Honduras. We hadn’t really gone off the beaten path yet. As we got our travel legs we became more and more adventurous, staying at places not listed in the guidebook, taking guidebook suggestions with a grain of salt and relying on word of mouth recommendations from other travelers above everything else. In Honduras we finally hit our travel stride and took a sharp turn off the beaten path.

By sharp turn I mean we decided to go to “La Mosquitia”, which Wikipedia kindly refers to as: an underdeveloped region of tropical rainforest accessible primarily by water and air. By primarily they mean only by air and water. See, it’s about the journey.

I’ll admit that I was not thrilled when we decided to launched off into the Mosquito Coast, the coastline is heavily used by drug traffickers and it was starting to be rainy season. Torrential downpours, underdeveloped jungle, mud and mosquitos? I’d seen this in a movie before, and trust me it wasn’t a pleasant situation.

I quickly realized my opinion would hold very little sway when we met a solo traveler who had just returned from the region. He enthusiastically gave us all the information we needed and although Danny asked if I was interested in going, I saw that glinting “Indian Jones” spirit in his eyes and decided to quietly squelch my concerns. In the words of a famous fitness retailer I decided to “Just Do It.”

So there we were, bouncing along in the back of a pick up truck, wedged between bottles of Coca-Cola. To say it was an adventure getting into the heart of La Mosquitia is an understatement.

My memories are akin to someone experiencing trauma. Thinking of that journey is like reliving a painful experience and my mind has successfully blocked out all but part of it. I have distinct memories of choking on the dust in the back of the truck, of the intense heat and the physical discomfort. Of riding back to civilization atop the truck’s gear shifter in the cab, of a driver who had been deported a few times from the U.S. telling me how bad the State Police are in Georgia. Our time in La Mosquitia was an exotic adventure (definitely worth a read, click here for Part 1 and Part 2), but it was really more about the journey than the destination. Once there we hiked in torrential downpours and experienced the jungle in rainy season, not something I’d recommend.

Spanish has a phrase vale la pena which loosely translates to be worth it, to be worthwhile. It’s one of my favorite idioms in Spanish. La Mosquitia was our first turn off the beaten track and although the journey is what I’ll remember the most, I can’t help but look back on it and ask myself again was it vale la pena? Even two years later I can say yes. The journey was vale la pena.

IF YOU GO: The entire eastern coastline of Central America is tropical jungle and although we went rather remote, you don’t have to go deep into La Mosquitia to experience the jungle. Winter is the perfect time to go to the jungle so if you’re spending the holidays in Cancun, it may be worth it to take some extra time and overland the coastline. Traveling through Belize and into Honduras is relatively easy and there’s a lot to do. We learned how to SCUBA dive on Utila, which was an enjoyable way to spend a week and also went to a couchsurfing meet up. We arranged our transport into La Mosquitia along the way from La Ceiba and you should be able to get information in La Ceiba on the trip.

Unusual things to do in Shanghai

June 5, 2011 By Guest Blogger

It may be a surprise to learn that in Shanghai, the world’s most populous city, there can be found both a lake and a mountain.

Silver Shovel Lake and Iron Arm Mountain are man-made features of the parkland to the west of the city, and have been designed to transplant nature into the cityscape. They are part of Changfeng Park. Designed in 1958, it boasts a tranquil cherry blossom garden, ornate lily ponds, a fragrant Chinese Rose Garden and examples of significant contemporary sculpture. The Changfeng Ocean Aquarium, a fairly recent addition in 1999 homes over 10,000 species in its sapphire waters. Beluga Whales from the icy oceans of the Arctic and sleek river otters from mainland Asia are just a couple of its vast variety of species. Most notable, however, is its shark tank.

Changfeng is home to the largest collection of sharks in the world, with over 100 animals in total, including huge razor-jawed tiger sharks and aggressive white-tip reef sharks that look as though they’ve mistakenly dipped the very top edge of their dorsal fins in emulsion. If viewing the sharks isn’t a sufficient thrill, it’s possible to participate in the toe-curling Changfeng shark diving program. It must be booked two days in advance, and includes a tour of the aquarium, shark feeding, an exhilarating scuba dive among the giant predators with a qualified instructor, and even the opportunity to find and keep natural shark teeth from the habitat as fearsome mementos. (Editors note: too adventurous or right up your alley?)

The psychedelic tunnel in Shanghai is another experience which can’t easily be replicated. At least, not without the special effects team from an 80’s film and a fistful of hallucinogens. A glass car transports you through an underwater tunnel from Bund in Puxi to the base of the Oriental Pearl Tower in Pudong. The walls of the tunnel are illuminated by strobing lasers, rainbow phosphorescence and shadow projections, all accompanied by an ambient soundtrack and quirky audio commentary. It costs around 50Rmb ($7.50) , but as a one-off is essential.

Jinjiang Amusement Park opens its gates in late July and runs to September, from 8am until 9pm, daily Admission is a humble 70Rmb ($10.50), and travel links to Xuhui in the southwest of Shanghai are exemplary, after all, it is the transportation hub of the city, served by the expressway, railway and over 20 main bus routes. The park has many traditional rides such as bumper cars and a rollercoaster, along with a 108 metre high Ferris wheel with giant colourful lamps illuminating its colossal spokes to resemble a spinning star of glow sticks at night. More modern attractions include the thrilling Space Shot, the Spinning Coaster and Log Flume. For smaller children, rides such as the magical Joyland and the charming ornamental merry-go-round are sure to make them feel spoiled. The stunning parkland includes cafés and restaurants serving refreshing cups of tea or cooling drinks around which to wrap your whitened knuckles at the end of the day.

So, what unusual things would you do in Shanghai?

Author: Thanks to Iain Miller for today’s post. If you’re an adventurous traveler interested in writing for IShouldLogOff, contact us at info [at] ishouldlogoff.com or check our submission guidelines.

Photo Credits: Diving picture from Expat Shanghai, Neon signs from Netflights.

Vang Vieng, more than a happy menu

December 2, 2010 By Jillian

We’d been warned for months about Vang Vieng, a mecca for party-hard backpackers in Laos- complete with restaurants offering “happy” menus of drug spiked food and drinks. Two other bloggers told us that despite the awful things we’d heard it was a not miss and so we decided to chance it. After being completely disappointed with four thousand islands were were hesitant. With a wish and a prayer, we headed to Vang Vieng and somewhere between Britney Spears’ greatest hits and Jameraquai we found a reason to stay.

Nestled in the mountains, Vang Vieng has become a town with two faces, the party-hard scene and the adventure tourism scene. For sure these two don’t normally mix, and as we walked down the street I was shocked at the number of backpackers staring blankly at Friends re-runs on restaurant TV’s. Annoyed, my mood didn’t change until we were sitting in out hotel room overlooking the river. The charm of the place began to grow on me and by the time we were rock climbing the next morning after a great night of sleep, some delicious western food and numerous fruit smoothies I was sold.

We spent a day mountain biking to various limestone caves in the surrounding hills. For sure they are heavily backpacked, but it was lovely floating through the underground river on a tube, that was until navy crawling through the cave I came face-to-face with a large brown spider. “Not dangerous, right?” I asked our guide in pigdin English. “heheh,” he replied. Thankfully there were no other suspicious creatures in the other caves.

It was sunset by the time we got to the “blue lagoon” cave. Up the steep cliff side of a mountain, the cave itself is actually home to a gold reclining buddha. Although there were a few other late afternoon tourists with us, it was really amazing to look up from the bottom of the cave to see the buddha on his platform with a small sliver of late afternoon sun. By the time we left we were the only tourists left on the site, which proved to be a problem because Danny had blown out his bike tire. Hitching a ride back to town in the dark was actually rather easy. The hard part was mountain biking back in the dark. Major kudos to Becka for attempting something she hates, at night, in the dark.

It is easy to see the negative impact of tourism in town. Sitting down to dinner one night we were presented with the “happy menu” of all sorts of food and drink that could be made with marijuana, mushrooms and opium. Never seen that before! Bar after bar has theater style seating facing televisions that play reruns of friends and family guy seemingly 24/7. It’s not pretty.

The long and the short of it was that Vang Vieng way exceeded our expectations. We were sad to go after only three days and with the ridiculously cheap and delicious fruit smoothies, fresh stuffed crepes and baguette sandwiches not to mention gorgeous scenery and good activities we could have stayed much longer despite the “happy” meals and reruns.

Central America Summary

July 6, 2009 By Jillian

Central America has been wonderful, but after almost 4 months (including Mexico) we’re itching to move on. By the time you read this we’ll be in the USA for a mini break. Yay!:) The timing and finances worked out so that we’d be able to take a week or so in the States before heading to South America. Fortunately for us it coincided with the 4th of July (my favorite holiday) and the wedding of our friends Aaron and Alexis. Sometimes the stars just align like that!

Anyway, we’re really looking forward to South America. (Really we just need to verify if the toilets do indeed swirl the other direction!). We’ve met so many incredible people, other travelers, expats and locals each of whom has helped us adapt to life on the road. We’re pro card players at this point and play a mean game of 500. 🙂

We’re definitely looking forward to another continent and exploring new regions, hopefully with some different food (if I eat rice and beans one more time, arg!). Our first stop will be Colombia and we plan to move south and east across the continent. Send us tips if you have them!

So, drum roll please…. here’s our Central America wrap up:

# of chicken bus rides: too many to count

# of times we went through San Pedro Sula, Honduras: 5

# of natural disasters: 1

# of coup d’etats narrowly escaped:1

Most number of bug bites at one time on one appendage,: La Moskitia, Danny’s foot, approximately 50

Nights spent on overnight bus: 2

Most expensive hotel room: $30 Panama City, Panama

Least expensive hotel room: $7 San Pedro Sula, Honduras

Biggest surprise: The size and scope of Panama City

Favorite Country: Honduras

Volcanoes Hiked: 5

Monkeys encountered: tons! yay! 🙂

Hot springs enjoyed: 3

Items Lost: 2 more baseball hats, Jillian’s bathing suit (in Honduras), one yellow spork

Best Meal: Chicken, Rice and Beans on Ometepe, Nicaragua

Favorite Snack: Chicky’s!!!!

Hola Costa Rica

June 24, 2009 By Danny

All – We have been alerted to problems with our feed recently. If you haven’t been receiving our updates over the past few weeks please let us know (ishouldlogoff@gmail.com) so that we can get a feel for where the problem is. Thank you!

With Nicaragua behind us we practically sprinted into Costa Rica…full of excitement for all the eco-adventures that awaited us. We’d planned to take multi-day whitewater kayak trips and spend the better part of a week learning to wind and kitesurf. We allocated just over two weeks for the fun of Costa Rica, hoping against hope that we’d have enough time to do it all.

Our first target upon arrival were the cloud forests of Monteverde in Santa Elena to take a canopy tour. While the name “Canopy Tour” might conjure images of a breezy nature walk through a forest, this could not be further from the truth. A canopy tour is actually a series of zip lines (metal cables strung through the forest that when harnessed in send you flying through to the other end of the line), some of which are as long as 700 meters and cross high above a ravine. This is a thrill ride to the first degree and something we had to do before allowing ourselves the more simple pleasures of Monteverde such as a guided night hike (to see the wild animals of the night…including bats and tarantulas) and a hike through the world renowned Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve.

While in Monteverde we got a bad taste in our mouth. This country has changed since I was here last. In our opinion it has been overrun by tourism. In many parts of the country, little seems to be left of native culture. Expensive restaurants have replaced family run sodas. It seems the largest difference between the people of Costa Rica and Miami is that here people actually speak English. Don’t get me wrong, the landscape is incredible and the biodiversity unmatched, but through promoting tourism at the expense of all other pursuits I believe the government here has thrown away some of the country’s magic. Indeed, much of the pura vida culture I’d experienced 6 years ago has been replaced with condos, timeshares, and greedy tour guides. We arrived excited at the opportunities that awaited us but now that we are here many of those opportunities seem to have lost their luster. Costa Rica is by far a on the beaten track tourist destination, a great place for a relaxing vacation, but not a good place for independent adventure seeking travelers, especially those on a budget.

Having said all that, we realized we needed to readjust our plans. Rather than paying for expensive ($17 pp just to walk through a park, unguided, for a few hours) tours and visits we moved on from Monteverde with the a few new friends we’d made and headed over dirt roads and big lakes to the city of La Fortuna, home of the mighty Volcan Arenal. Regular readers of this blog are well aware that we’ve had our share of volcano encounters and as powerful as Arenal is we’ve already seen volcanos, hiked their peaks, and felt the heat of their lava. While in Xela we also enjoyed hot springs and were a bit dismayed when we discovered the $60 pp option here in Fortuna; a little bit of looking paid off and before long we found the “local” watering hole for 1/10th (that’s $6) of the price. We relaxed, played cards, soaked in the spas, swam in the pools, ate food that was bad for us, and drank a few beers while we were at it too.

We left La Fortuna much much happier than when we arrived. It seems we will be unable to kayak any rivers here in Costa Rica…mostly because we’ve yet to find an outfitter that has any kayaks for a reasonable price. Surf lessons-be it regular, wind, or kite-all cost here as much as they do in the USA so that is also out of the cards. We have a few more tricks up our sleeves to get the most we can out of Costa Rica and then we’ll be heading to Panama to get that whitewater kayaking in and maybe see some sort of “big ditch” (I hear they call it a canal.)

Flashback: Honduras

Unusual things to do in Shanghai

Vang Vieng, more than a happy menu

Central America Summary

Hola Costa Rica

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