Round The Bend Project

So...where to from here?

noreply@blogger.com (Vinko Grgic) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 23:47:00 +0000

So by now a lot of you are probably wondering what we are up to? Why are we back in Australia? Why are we not building that world class eco-lodge in Guatemala's jungles? What is our future direction?

Click here if you are really impatient and want to know NOW!

This blog entry is all about answering those and many other questions regarding our grand future plans. Strap in, grab the popcorn and hold on tight!

During our family visit to Canada, one evening Colette and I were discussing our plans and ideas for the Guatemala eco-lodge project. We got to the question of "What are we really trying to achieve with this and what is the best way to do it?"

The answer to the first part of the question is to create an opportunity to enable people a perspective shifting type of travel experience. Why? Well because you can shout and stomp the ground all you want when it comes to world issues such as; environmental degradation, economic inequality, poverty, famine, war and hatred - but in this age that won't get you very far. In order to change the world, you need to change the way people think - the way you think. But the most important part of this equation is that you cannot force others to change their minds and ways of thinking, they need to willingly do it themselves. They need to be inspired, they need an epiphany.

We realized that we had gone through this very process in our travels and many new perspectives were made possible by our willingness to go out and see the world for ourselves. In the end this is why people travel, not just a vacation where you can relax from your everyday stress, but really a soul-searching kind of travel.

Running an eco-lodge we could really affect a lot of people in positive ways, but probably not enough people and with not enough depth. There is a limitation there, only so many people can visit over a certain period of time. It's located in one particular geographic spot and people are only ever visiting an experience that really belongs to others. So therefore it is not as effective as it would need to be in order to truly create the opportunity for big scale change.

Now comes the second part of the big question: What to do...?

During our travels the most influential experiences were the ones where we were truly able to get into the local vibe. To see, feel, smell and participate in the everyday lives of the people who are there all the time. This enabled us to experience true sharing of one another's world, walk in their shoes, so to speak.

But these experiences were very rare and hard to achieve in the current realm of travel possibility. When you get down to it, currently there are only three different ways to travel:

The guide book - Generally chosen by the younger and more impoverished travel makers. It has become quite the popular option really, and maybe that is the problem - everybody is doing it! You end up in the same places, doing the same things and eating the same stuff as pretty much everyone else who is travelling. This is alright and can be very social, but in reality has little to do with where you actually are and more to do with the international travel community.
The organized tour - Imagine walking into a travel agency and booking a tour to see a country over a few weeks, or even days! Once you get there, you are sharing the private shuttle with another 20-30 people and most of your travel is spent looking out at the world through the windows of a bus. It's the safer option, albeit more costly, and this might well be why many older or unseasoned travelers choose this option.
The independent - Arguably the most frustrating way to travel, particularly if you are entering an entirely different culture, language or climate. This type of travel can be very rewarding but it's a bit of a gamble and the sought after returns on your risky investment are sometimes very hard to accomplish. It is by and large very inaccessible to most travelers. Naturally this also ends up the most 'dangerous' option as you might often end up in completely disorganized situations without any ways out. Solid courage is a necessity and so most independent travelers turn out to be well seasoned before they even embark on their trip.

The gap in the travel industry becomes evident:

Travel needs to be decentralized to prevent a place and its people to be spoiled by mass tourism.
People need more choice and accessibility to truly local and authentic travel experiences.

But what if you could jump online, browse a map or search a few keywords that might interest you in your travels and end up with results showing ranked local 'tour-guides' in limitless locations around the globe? What if there was an easy system, one built on community trust and user ratings? What if it was accessible to all kinds of budgets? And most importantly, what if customizing your travel experience in a uniquely local way was the daily rule and not the annual exception?

Enter Talking About A Travelution, our new blog dedicated to developing these and many other questions and ideas. The ultimate goal - making it possible to revolutionize the way we travel, and share the world in a truly meaningful way.

Naturally, and sadly, this will be our last blog on this website. Please do stay in touch and keep following us, as you already have so faithfully, on to our next big adventure - the travelution project!

Croatian Islands = Love at first sight

noreply@blogger.com (Colette Grgic) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:07:00 +0000

Hooray!!! This is the part I've been waiting for: Installment 4 of Croatia and by far my favourite! Drumroll please as we make our way into the Dalmatian Islands, starting with Korčula but featuring.....Lastovo!

Korčula town on Korčula Island was our first stop.
It's a delight, and a great gateway into the islands.

Korčula is littered with lovely heritage buildings and is allegedly the birthplace of Marco Polo

Looking out for invaders

Vinko's family hails from the islands Lastovo & Vis, and I've been hearing about the beauty and magnificence of these places as long as I've known him. He wasn't lying. It is beautiful and I instantly loved it. The sea around the island is unlike anything I have ever seen. From the ferry coming in to the island you can see meters and meters deep; all the rocks, fish, sea grass, everything. It is incredible.

Would that face lie to you?

The landscape is stark but beautiful on the island's outer edge

There are a lot of beautiful old buildings in Lastovo town

This is the trademark of Lastovo - the Fumari chimney

Soon after settling in, we strolled through town and heard the most magical music coming from the church. We peeked in to see a young guy sitting at the piano, playing this amazing music as if he wasn't even thinking about it. This was the very talented pianist Marko Ivic from Zagreb, who was on holiday in Lastovo and decided to do a concert for free the next night. And there began our adventure, for Marko did not come alone...

The getalonggang: Ugi, Miljenko, Vinko & Marko
at the start of our epic day hike to the blue cave

Pre-sweat, pre-grump. It was a long, hard, hot hike...

...but we found zen and peace at the end by the lighthouse...

...and after a swim and a cold drink I managed to smile again...

...and we rewarded ourselves with a feast at the end of the day!

Lastovo is the last in the chain of the Dalmatian islands, and it does feel a bit like a faraway, forgotten place. Because of complicated, communist-style property laws regarding family homes on the island, most of the houses are legally owned by 16-25 people, many of whom have moved to the mainland or overseas. As such, so many of the houses have no clear ownership and hence no incentive for investment or upkeep, rendering them completely decrepit. It is such a shame because the town, the people and the whole island is fantastic. But maybe that is exactly why it is so charming: only the die-hard locals live here all year, and the few tourists that do make it this far can hardly be found outside of July and August.

The Undertaker's hut in the cemetery

Shot from the cemetery

Building: 0
Nature: 1

The permanent local community take very good care of their homes and gardens

This one might still have a chance?

The Fumari features everywhere in old town Lastovo

Feel like you're in another world yet?

How about now?

View from the Church of Saint Cosmas & Damian, the patron saints of the island.
They were twin brothers who were persecuted in the 3rd century under Diocletian

In front of the church

On top of the world

When the tourists do come, they generally stick to the coastal villages and again I can't blame them. It is gorgeous (I am running out of adjectives here...). I can sing praises and tell you about lazy days spent in the sun, great produce and homemade wine you will not find anywhere else. Instead, I'll let the pictures paint the glory.

Lučica, a small fishing village I fell in love with.
If anybody has a house here that I can squat at, please let me know.

The bay of Pasadur, where Vinko spent all his summer holidays as a child

The vista from the island's highest peak (Hum) over Skrivena Luka Bay

I believe I may have mentioned before that it was dry...

...and beautiful.

Dry and Beautiful!

When we finally did manage to tear ourselves away from Lastovo, we headed to Hvar on the 4am ferry. Not by choice. There is only one catamaran ferry between Lastovo & Hvar daily (the others are super slow barge ferries), and life on the island really does revolve around this ridiculous ferry schedule. It was brutal, especially because we had to get up at 2:30am to tidy and close the house up for winter (involving multiple sheets of plastic and laundry pegs). Just proving to us again that the people survived here for so long by virtue of of early mornings and hard work.

Hvar's small craft harbour. At sunrise.

Vista over Hvar. It's known as a party place and lives up to its rep.
Check out the massive yacht (complete with bouncer keeping curious plebs off).

On the recommendation of our fantastic hosts at Villa Skanski, we hired a scooter and headed out to explore the island. The thrill of being on a moped (yes yes, creeping over the mountain at 20km/h is not exactly thrilling, but the concept and experience as a whole was engaging and free) was only second to the incredible scenery. Add to that a swim in the most beautiful bay I have EVER been in, and a fresh fried fish lunch topped off with local wine and life is pretty much as sweet as it's going to get.

Hvar's castle/fortress looms over the whole bay

The bay of Dubovica. Surely this is where the gods came on holiday.

He has the right to look mighty chuffed. It's awesome.

Token canon at Stari Grad (Old Town), which was much less crowded than Hvar Town,
much friendlier, and less flashy & pretentious

I think I've made it pretty clear: the Dalmatian Islands are incredible. It was the most spectacular way to end our 18 month long travels and I feel so lucky to have had Vinko showing me around, bridging the language gap for me, navigating me through the customs and generally being my "in" with the locals, many of whom remember him as a hyperactive little boy, and were thrilled that he had come back to visit after so many years. (If you've ever seen an old grandma-lady pinch a 29 year old man's bearded face and coochy-cooing him like he was a child, you'll know what I'm talking about here!). Traveling as "partial locals" made a huge difference in how we were received and how we will remember a place. And that, my friends, is why we are moving on to bigger and better things still!

Being a visitor and a guide. Simultaneously.

noreply@blogger.com (Colette Grgic) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 00:14:00 +0000

Just a little note: Because I ended up with a ridiculous amount of photos of Croatia in just one month, I am going to break it down into four rapid-fire parts: Istrian Peninsula, Central Coast, Southern Croatia & Montenegro, and end on a flourish with the Croatian Islands. This blog is the third installment, covering southern Croatia and Monte Negro.
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Pomegranate, such beautiful fruits

Our South Coast Adventure started off with an abrupt, screeching halt. Literally. Just south of Split we drove past two red-faced, wilted people who were half melted over their backpacks by the side of the road and pulled over to see if we could help. Maja and Mariusz, two adventurous hitch hikers from Poland, told us how difficult it has been to to get a ride in Croatia and said that they want to head to Bosnia instead, despite the fact that they loved the coast and have not seen much of Croatia yet. In an instant, we "adopted" these travelers and Vinko made it his mission to show them as much of the country as possible, and make sure they leave with good memories and the desire to return. We absolutely loved our time with them and the perspective we gained from hanging out with open minded foreigner travelers. And we realised just how much of a difference it makes to have a "local" person, or even just somebody who speaks the language, to show you around a place.

Our Polish hitch hiker friends. You gotta be tough to get with us.

Zuljana. Can you imagine a more chilled out place?

Our adventure also had us staying a night in Ston,
where it was apparently imperative to protect the whole mountain,
even though the town is outside the fortress walls. Crazy.
But if you go here, make sure you try the mussels. They are amazing.

After cruising the coast, stopping at a few places to take a dip we ended up in Ston, the gateway into the Pelješac peninsula (which I repeatedly called an island and Vinko repeatedly corrected me on). It does have that certain faraway island feel to it. There are scraggy hills, valleys filled with vineyards, beautiful little coves and beaches. It's hard not to love this place. Especially when you can find a little family run wine cellar every couple kilometers where you can try the wine and other local specialties (like wickedly strong rakija). Divine.

We were sad to part with our new friends, but we were heading south into Monte Negro. First stop was the larger coastal town Herceg Novi, which is transformed into a vibrant, lively city just busting at its seams with young energy at night. There are kilometers of pedestrian paths running along the sea shore (which is brilliantly clear, to say the least) and all along this path there are little cafes, hotels, bars, clubs, swimming and lounging spots. We also headed further south to Kotor, along a spectacular coastal road, fringed on one side by a crystal clear, deep blue water and on the other by towering mountains like grey giants. It is one of the most impressive roads I have ever been on.

Lighthouse along the way

Just to demonstrate how close these gigantic mountains are to the coast

And also to show how big the cruise ship is compared to Kotor town,
and also compared to the Black Mountains

What do you know: Kotor also has its own walled-in mountain!

For a small town, Kotor has an incredible amount of churches, monasteries and convents.
This is St. Tryphon's Cathedral

St. Lucas's Church

Compared to the small-town friendliness of Monte Negro, we were hit full in the face with Dubrovnik's uber touristy and incredibly unfriendly stance. No matter how hard we tried, people were not giving us the time of day, not even a glimmer of a smile. On one hand I can understand: Dubrovnik is completely overcrowded with mass tourists and it is daunting, if not impossible, to maneuver through the street when two of these herded groups collide. These tourists have their blinkers on for anything other than what the guide points out as photo-worthy and I imagine as a local it becomes extremely irritating to live with the masses and the ignorance every day. But on the other hand I would like to think that when you do encounter a traveler who is willing to be a one-on-one human with you, shouldn't that make you more inclined to be nice in return?

The shops in Dubrovnik all have these street lights as name signs.
It's charming in its own way.

The streets are filled with people night and day,
and I'm lucky I got this brief gap where nobody passed by

The contrasting experience between our unique and personal time with the hitch hikers and the impersonal touristy time in Dubrovnik showed us that Travel as an industry has swung too far in one direction. It also clearly illustrated to us that mass tourism eventually ruins the very thing people come to see in the first place. Surely there has to be a better way. We think there is, and we are working on turning that idea into reality. We are talking about a travelution now.

Road trippin' through Croatia's Central Coast

noreply@blogger.com (Colette Grgic) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 22:55:00 +0000

Just a little note: Because I ended up with a ridiculous amount of photos of Croatia in just one month, I am going to break it down into four rapid-fire parts: Istrian Peninsula, Central Coast, Southern Croatia & Montenegro, and end on a flourish with the Croatian Islands. This blog is the second installment, covering the Central Coast.
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A Happy Birthday.

We left Pula on Vinko's birthday. Armed with a bottle of French Champagne that we've saved since picking it up on my birthday in France, we snake along the coastal road heading for Plitvička Jezera (Plitvice Lakes) National Park. We had visited these breathtaking lakes in 2008 with Vinko's parents, and we were very excited about spending a blissful day enjoying the scenery and strolling through the lakes and waterfalls...

...but we got lost. Not massively lost, just a little bit. We took a "side entry" into the park and ended up facing a locked gate on the outskirts of the park. Which turned out in our favour because swimming inside the park is illegal, but there was no mention of swimming on the outskirts of the park. The silence and peace that we found in that little piece of paradise left a great impression. It was the definition of "getaway".

From Plitvice Lakes we drove over the Velebit Mountains towards the coast
(I am glad I wasn't on a bicycle)

The town of Nin, being the first Croatian royal town (around the 7th century), has a rich historical background, particularly because the struggle for a national language and therefore independence has its roots here where the Bishop of Nin was seated. (Much fuss is also made about its sandy beaches, which we avoided because it was blistering hot and there was no shade.) The tiny town has a bizarre collection of even tinier Romanesque and Pre-Romanesque buildings, including the Church of the Holy Cross - also known as the Smallest Cathedral in the World.

Nin old town is technically a little island

Lots of statues everywhere... although I will admit I forgot why this one is important!

Grgur Ninski (the Bishop of Nin), who pushed for a national Croatian language.

Church of the Holy Cross... the smallest cathedral in the world

(Tiny) Church of St. Nicolaus. According to folklore, seven kings were crowned here.
But not at the same time. They wouldn't fit.

Just after we arrived, 3 different groups showed up and all clambered to get their respective photos taken. There were many exasperated sighs and dirty looks, which I found rather entertaining.

Zadar is the capitol of the region and we were surprised just how much we loved it. It might have been because of the spectacular hospitality we received at Apartmani Petra (along with some delicious homemade cherry brandy!) or just the great way this old city was merged with modern functionality. There was an open air film festival playing in the central park of the old town, the streets were of polished stone, the sights and impressive buildings were exceptionally well- marked and described (in multiple languages) and overall it was a very lively, cultured and welcoming place to find ourselves. There were two amazing features in particular that blew us away. The first was the Sea Organ, an architectural and musical work of genius. The motion of the "waves" pushes air through a series of pipes, making an experimental symphony of somewhat harmonic sounds.We sat forever on the organ steps that night, dreaming of whale songs and faraway winds. It is magical. The second achievement by the same Croatian architect (Nikola Bašić) is the Salute to the Sun installation, a solar-powered, shimmering technicolor display of our solar system, with the sun in the middle and the planets lined up in order and relevant distances along the promenade.

This is half of "the sun". Each planet has its own circle of animated lights
in its respective size to and distance from the sun.

Poor Pluto did not get a solar display of its own so we made one from sticks and stones.
We commemorate you, Pluto!

Another big attraction of this area is the Krka Waterfalls National Park. In my opinion it is not quite as awe-inspiring as Plitvice is (that's not really fair to say - few things are), but it is still very beautiful and it is an important wetland wildlife area and water system for the region. It was a sweltering day, and Krka is perfect for splashing and swimming and general water-based fun. Krka is also the site of the first hydro-electric plant in Croatia (or the world, depending on which dates you use).

The wetland area of Krka

The Visovacko Lake, which connects with Krka

The most handsome water fountain I've ever laid eyes on

One of the smaller waterfalls. We were spellbound by the volume and speed of the water.

Looking down onto the island of Visovac, which houses a beautiful Fransiscan monastery.

There were massive fires in the area and I captured this waterbomber flying low after a discharge

Middle-left you can just about make out the waterbomber taking off from Krka lake
with a fresh load of fire-fighting H2O

I don't want to give anything away, but in hindsight this part of the trip was where everything started getting better. The food, the scenery, the people. And it keeps getting better and better the longer we stayed in Croatia so stay tuned for the next installment!

Where do Italians go on holiday?

noreply@blogger.com (Colette Grgic) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 05:08:00 +0000

The simple answer to that is: To the coastline of the Istrian Peninsula in Croatia. Being just a hop away from Italy, the whole peninsula is swarming with bronzed, barely-clad-in-anything bodies and fluttered stacattoed conversations. It's what I imagine the Italian seaside resort towns must have been like...before they became the Italian seaside resort towns people now dislike and can't afford.

Typical midday scene in Lovran, a preferred little seaside resort town.
I couldn't help but feel like I was back in the 60s

Having rented a car in Zagreb, we zig-zagged our way down the peninsula from one beautiful spot to another (and there are plenty such spots). One of my favourite memories is the lunch we had just past Brestova, where there is a long but narrow bay, almost like a little rip in the coastline. Sitting high up on the deck of Hotel & Restaurant Flanona, we feasted on fresh squid and roast lamb, enjoying 180 degrees of what is arguably the most beautiful view in this part of the country.

The view from Hotel & Restaurant Flanona, just south of Brestova

The water is so clear that even from this high up
you can see underwater rocks along the edge

Once you wander off the beaten coastal track, you'll be rewarded with
rustic villages perched on hilltops all throughout the countryside

Rustic, if not slightly decrepit.

Now, because this was the height of summer European holidays and there were a few music festivals over this specific period, accommodation was scarce (to say it gently). On top of that, our CouchSurfing host in Rijeka cancelled on us last minute. Through family friends from Zagreb, we ended up getting accommodation in Pula, famous for its Roman Arena which I admit is quite stunning. We are eternally grateful to Peter, Stella and her family who gave us a last minute helping hand and kept us off the streets for two nights.

The big...

...and the small. Be honest: would you have seen the line of ants
if I didn't tell you they were there?

Temple of Augustus in Pula's main Forum.

Decidedly old-school.

The street signs and maps for Pula are not user-friendly by any stretch of the imagination and quickly had us so irritated that we escaped to some small seaside villages to get away from all the hustle and bustle. Fažana is a small traditionally fishing village which is seeing its fair share of tourism thanks to its proximity to Brijuni National Park. Despite this, it remains small, homey and has a lovely "local" feel to it that is missing in so many other places in the peninsula. In a word, it is charming. We fell in love with Fažana, its friendly beach and its delicious food, and in the end it was the highlight of the Istrian Peninsula for us.

The whole village of Fažana is centered around the harbour

Many beautiful buildings in tucked away squares

Cryptic message

The most beautiful sunset scene - I am VERY proud of this photo!

Both these photos are taken at the Fažana promenade

Here on the Croatian side of the Adriatic Sea, the water is still crystal clear, the umbrellas are cheerfully bright, and the days are long and warm. The wine and olive oil is exceptional, and seafood bounty fresh and tasty. I can't blame the Italians (or anybody else for that matter) for wanting to visit here for a little fun in the sun.

How to hunt an influental Slovenian architect through Ljubljana

noreply@blogger.com (Colette Grgic) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 06:02:00 +0000

So, how many people have heard of Jože Plečnik? I will just go out on the limb here and say probably not many. But, many should have! The first time I heard about this man was in my first post-graduate year in architecture. One of the first design lectures we had on urbanism, urban design and street architecture - Joze Plecnik was shown as a great example of how to do it right. To be honest, prior to this moment in my life I had not really considered a visit to Ljubljana as an important thing. It was love at first sight!

Looking north on a lovely evening toward the Triple Bridge, Prešernov Square and the Franciscan Church...just so charming!

Even now I remember the lecture slides...all these images of street furniture, sculptures, stair cases, bridges. All these places to sit, relax, enjoy taking it all in. A picnic in Ljubljana, I thought, would be a nice thing to have before it's too late.

The ever busy and vibrant Prešernov Square

The Franciscan Church on the Northern edge of the Prešernov Square

Well, we did just that - we took it all in over the course of one busy, busy day in the capital of Slovenia. I told Colette right from the get go that I was really keen on checking out "some" of Plecnik's urban design projects. She being the lovely person that she is - ready for any adventure - agreed and told me to find what I wanted to see and that we would tour the place checking out various projects throughout the day.

I went out, I went ALL the way out...

This raw and provocative sculpture decorates the Butchers' Bridge and was created by Slovene sculptor Jakov Brdar

Couples place padlocks on the newly completed bridge, inscribed with their names and the date, very similar to the Parisian Pont des Arts

More of those creepy sculptures, seems like fish heads, and more of those love-locks...not really a nice thing to do do a sculpture like this

Details on this modern take on the Butchers' Bridge which was completed just last year and it fulfills one of Joze Plecnik's plans for the Ljubljana Central Market drawn up way back in the 1930's

The Dragon Bridge, my bitter adversary!

We arrived there late on Friday evening, went out and had brilliant pasta dinner at Allegria, and retired back to our hotel. The very next morning while Colette waited for a potential CouchSurfer hook-up, I searched the web for information on Plecnik projects in Ljubljana and came upon Plecnik.net. This website is dedicated to listing his works and exhibits lovely photographs describing their appearance within the urban fabric. So with an image of the "Urbanism" list on my iPhone and a tourist map of Ljubljana in hand, I went pen crazy and marked a whole bunch of sites...well, all of them actually!

The intricate fountain at Pogačar Square

The fountain sculpture forms the edge between the square, it's steps and the walkway that leads out of it through an archway

This was the cutest little display just sitting in a parking spot in front of one home-wares shop, in the background is St. James

Trnovo Quay

Trnovo Bridge

She's a little devil I tells ya!

Despite sore feet, thirst and exhaustion - we had a blast of a day! And aside from making the 10km tour on foot which took an entire day, we still managed to truly enjoy the sights and sounds of Ljubljana's charming urban architecture, street-side cafes and Gothic bridges.

A window into a secret garden just off Emona Street

The garden entrance and it's beautiful decoration

The upper part of the garden and some of Plecnik's signature elements

French Revolution Square - I can just hear my professor - "Now, that is how you frame an obelisk!"

The "borrowed" space created by Plecnik between the road and buildings on Vegova Street, some of the most interesting entrances into buildings but not very universally accessible...

Plecnik also worked on the entry to the Slovene National Theatre

We are in love with the beautiful Gerber Staircase

"Take that Paris!" - the dreamy scene of the river Ljubljanica at night

Being a huge geek, I knew that the map scribble I had in my hand was destined to one day become a great online guide for people wanting to walk a tour of some of Plecnik's most influential and lovely urban design projects...well, here it is for your enjoyment and temptation:

View Ljubljana Plečnik Tour in a larger map

Do visit Ljubljana, it is definitely worth it. They have a fantastic night dining scene and day cafe scene, it's extremely charming and romantic, and finally it's one of the best examples of what great urban architecture can do for the success of a city - Ljubljana is just splendid!

Could not resist the temptation, nor the difficulty of standing still enough for this shot - there are parts of Ljubljana like this available all over the place and the city is especially charming at night

A city has to have a certain level of humor or courage to pull this off in a shop window - granted it was a lingerie shop, but still...

...and what's that in her hand, well if it isn't a list of Poker hands - I'll be damned!

* For a great lunch, do try Julija - a traditional Slovenian kitchen serving up delicious and hearty meals.

Switching over to Switzerland

noreply@blogger.com (Vinko Grgic) — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 09:28:00 +0000

Vista of Bern from the Rose Garden

See, who wouldn't want to live here?
(the water of the Aare River really is this colour!)

We took a late afternoon TGV from Paris - Gare de Lyon heading for Bern, and not knowing anything about either the town or Switzerland itself we were going “naked chef” - without recipe. Bern would be the first of many couch-surfing visits we were hoping to make on this European trip. We arrived at Banhoff Bern pretty late in the night and were greeted by two of the world’s loveliest people, Chantal and Marco. They rode their bikes down to greet us at the station and they even let me ride Chantal’s bike back to Marco’s place with him where we would be staying. This was the first event that really allowed me to see just how relaxed, civilized and held together life in Bern really is.

Vinko & Chanti, like old friends.

Marco and Colette and The Unmistakably Swiss Cow

On the way I saw Marco weaving across random roads, in front of buses and cars, onto tram lines and over traffic bridges…and no one seemed to mind! In fact they made space for us and slowed down, they were quite accepting of our presence there. This I thought must be something that many people can do and it is quite normal to treat cyclists with care and acceptance. And there was not a single sign saying you can’t do this or that…wow, common sense rules here.

...well, there was this sign.

Bern immediately took to me, and I took to it. It’s a beautiful town, it is the capital of Switzerland and so no expenses are spared on making it public and pedestrian transport friendly, while keeping it utterly stunning and magical. The landscape is dramatic enough with the river making a strong curve on both sides of the UNESCO centre old town, the banks on either side drop sharply to the cold gushing crystal water and beautiful bridges allow you to cross easily between both sides. From the bridges you can appreciate the lovely water a long way down below you and the charming magic of the amber glowing historical town, it’s castles and churches, bell towers and clocks, houses and cobble streets.

A couple having coffee on their 4th story "balcony"

In a few short words, Bern is what architects and urban planners all over the world dream of. It is picturesque, cultural and historic, easily navigable with outstanding public services and transport, high density and active, with bounds and bounds of beautiful green country side just nearby. Of course Switzerland being Switzerland, and this being the capital, everything works like clockwork, smooth and accurate, and everything runs on time and is reliable.

It would be a crime for a designer to miss out on this
(Lucia, look out for our little pink friend)

We basically stayed in a 5 star hotel or holiday apartment while in Bern. Marco stayed over at Chanti’s place while we were there which meant we had his whole lovely apartment to ourselves! And what a nice apartment it was…spacious, bright, logical and functional, with Swiss taps, sinks, shower, toilet, cupboards, lamps, all of which work perfectly and look well designed.

One thing that really strikes you in Switzerland is just how much appreciation the people have for good graphic representation, and they implement this fantastically which tells me they really appreciate good design. This wonderfully clear visual communication if evident in everything that’s…well visual, from public transport diagrams to street signs, advertising posters to shop signs, warning signs to menus, door numbers to bus shelters. Everything appears thought out, designed and well presented…really, it is a great place for graphic design, architecture and in particular industrial design.

We took a quick trip out to the Westside Shopping Center to appreciate the design.

These were just your average public toilets

Westside, outside. This is a shopping center, for goodness sake!

So you could say we had a very comfortable stay in Bern, Chanti and Marco made sure we felt completely spoiled the whole time. They treated us like good old time friends or family, invited us home for a traditional dinner, took us out in the town, showed us the sights and sounds, and even tried to tell us as much as they could about the towns and countries interesting multi-cultural history. Marco even bought a historical guide book to Bern just to satisfy my intense curiosity!

The Kornhauskeller, founded beneath the 18th century granary, is spectacular to behold (and bedrink)

Homies.

The start of the amazing raclette dinner that Chanti made us.

This was a couch surfing dream, not only a place to stay but what a place to stay and awesome friends to go with. All of this added up to me wanting to live in Bern, without joking if I got a job in Bern tomorrow I would be there at the drop of a hat! Ok, so I may be a little biased…I am an architect after all. Thank you guys for making us feel so welcome and giving us a great introduction to this amazing country! (…and see you soon)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We also spent a day in Lausanne, in the south of Switzerland on Lac Léman. It's also a very pretty place, so here is some eye candy:

Jose, another new Couch Surfing friend, was a wonderful host who took us to a free jazz concert in the park

The End.

Gayer Paree - Bienvenue à Paris!

noreply@blogger.com (Vinko Grgic) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 08:48:00 +0000

That was the title of my good friend Dan Homewood’s email before we met up in Paris, I liked it a lot.

I can hear opera music

As far as I am concerned we covered just about everything one should and could cover when in Paris for only five days. We ate great food (not overlooking the all time favorite baguette and croissant), visited many cultural and historical places, drank good wine and beer, ran ourselves off our feet walking all over Paris and yet never lost that emblematic notion of being happily immersed in a romantic and exquisite place.

Now this looks a little dangerous to do stark naked, right?

The best crepe in town...no, actually really

Finishing one of these babies is no walk in the park!

Here are three myths about Paris that we busted:

Parisians are not all rude, only on the metro and even then only certain cultures.
The prices are not that ridiculously high, you can eat, drink and play at quite a reasonable price – the stunning Tour d’Eiffel was only €4.70!
Nothing spectacularly amazing happens after midnight (damn you Woody Allen), mostly you get exhausted from all the days colorful experiences and you end up in bed.

The fountain at Sainte Michele

This mosque was turned into a rather stunning cafe/restaurant with some really nice garden seating outside too

Paris' own Pantheon

Off with his head!!!

The Vinkoyle...

The watch tower of Sainte Jacques, so many gargoyles...so little time

Now, here are three things you did not know about Paris:

They have an amazing living archive of art history and culture, and they have always been very proud of it so unlike some other nations they have really looked after it.
Contrary to popular belief most people can and will speak English at least to some reasonable degree, some even take English lessons (my sister Ana is a language teacher) and therefore are looking to practice – but you do have to try being respectful and polite, don’t assume everybody should be able to understand your English immediately; try bonjour, s’il vouz plait, merci and you will be amazed at how much more approachable the people become.
Parisians are not just people that wear funny hats, drink coffee and smoke cigarettes all day while plotting their next revolution, some actually hang out at parks and play bocce with a beer in their hand…they are actually quite normal life-loving people!

Colette captures this rather romantic instance in front of Notre Dame in Paris, the plaza in front is swarming with little finches that tourists feed from their hands

This Asian bride wanted wedding photos at night in front of the Paris Opera, how nice!

Miraculously walking on water in front of the Louvre

Ever had the fleeting feeling that you are just flying through a place?

Colette's most accomplished photograph to date, this flying chair ride over the Tullerie allowed us to see Paris in an entirely different way

My family passed through Paris in a flash back in 94’ when we flew out of Croatia for the first time to immigrate to New Zealand. I don’t remember very much from that time, I was only 11, but I remember thinking that I would always like to come back sometime again and get so see it a bit better. I feel very fortunate that I was indeed able to do that again, and as an adult I was really able to get into it for this short but packed-in period of time. Of course it helped quite considerably that my sister and her boyfriend both live and work in Paris, and were excellent hosts making themselves available for touring us in and around Paris.

In front of Sainte Chapelle

Inside the amazing Sainte Chapelle

Intricately carved plates of the Creation Myth at Sainte Chapelle...

...and here is Noah's Ark too!

One really stand out day was the one where all four of us jumped into a Hertz hire car and drove to Champagne to try the origin of sparkling wines! I thought I was a well seasoned wine taster from my days in the wine regions of a few continents, but trust me when I tell you that champagne is something quite different. Sparkling wine tends to make you drunker, quicker…so much so that you are looking at twice the rate usual wine touring would. Add to that really nice hot summer weather and the general fatigue that comes from running about the whole place, and you have yourself quite a challenge to back up. But what an awesome day we had! The absolute highlight for me would have to be the short tour of a small section of the 18km of catacomb tunnels that exist below Pommery, topped off with a tasting of some of their best champagnes…the Blanc de Noir at Pommery is to die for, and still reasonably affordable – I truly recommend you buy the bottle when you see it.

Happy Champagne birthday to these two little happy birds in front of the Notre Dame of Reims!

The man watching over the champagne valley

Tasting champagne at Chateau La Fond

This intricately carved barrel at Pommery was used when sending a gift of champagne wine to America way back in time and it can hold the equivalent volume of 100,000 bottles!

The hippo was shaped using the clay soil which forms the floor of the Pommery dungeon cellar

Champagne at Pommery goes through a very intricate turning and storing process which lasts 18 months, each day during their time here every one of the bottles are turned 1/4 clockwise and then 1/6 anti-clockwise the next day

All in all a massive thanks to Ana and Andrea for hosting us so well, we had a great time in Paris and would look forward to visiting again sometime in the future. Au revoir, bon journé!

Good friends, good food and good drink - it's what life's high points are all about!

Getting back up to speed, and a speedy visit in England

noreply@blogger.com (Colette Grgic) — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 07:14:00 +0000

Whoa… where did July go? Short answer: Baby nephew James. As I told my sister one evening: “I wish I could stop a conversation like that when I enter a room!” He is too cute and gets funnier and cleverer every day. This little trickster melts even the toughests of hearts, and he’s got us all wrapped around his tiny little pinky. My grandmother had flown from South Africa to behold the new addition to my sister’s family and it was a special occasion to have the four generations all together. Being back with my family in Canada made us realize how important family is to us and how much we’ve missed the “permanent fixtures” in our lives over the past few months of being transient and always MIA. We therefore decided that it was indeed necessary to return to Australia for some close friends’ wedding in October (consequences and credit cards can be dealt with later, right?). Having found a cheap flight into London and out of Rome, we took a look at the map of Europe and saw a smattering of countries in between and quickly brewed up a route through Europe to wrap up our trip. I’ll draw your attention to the new logo of the website and leave it at that.

Hint #1

Hint #2

Not an obvious hint, but this giant installation is in Trafalgar Square

So here we find ourselves in London, which I will gleefully dub The Big Gherkin to keep with all the other Famous Big Fruit. We’ve both been in London before but I have family here that I’d like to see so we stay for a few days and catch up. It’s crazy that in ten years my cousin went from being in grade school to taking us out for a beer-soaked night all over London Town (and even crazier that we managed to keep up!). For those up-to-date with their world news, this was the night that the riots started in Tottenham. It always upsets me to see such senseless violence and damage against innocent people and their property*, especially when you consider the possibility that the victims probably suffer the same type of injustice and system failures which sparked the riot in the first place. Really, who the hell needs to burn a double-decker bus and a building down, and then not even have a meaningful message?!?! We end up only going to bed as the sun came up because we watched news all morning (that’s the excuse anyways)…

The Abbey at Hatfield House

Queen Elizabeth I and her chronies

Making Hatfield House look awesome

Liverpool Street Station's chocolate children

It's The Gherkin!

…which means that catching a bus 4 hours later was the lowlight of our stay, although definitely worth it in the end. If I have one bit of advice for you all, this is it: in your life, make sure you make friends with a chef. Other than the obvious reason of fantastic meal prospects, they are also some of the few folks who don’t have a regular 9-5, which means they can sometimes hang out during the day (and they’re awake and on facebook at random times in the wee morning hours – great for time-zone differences!). I consider myself extremely lucky to have the talented chef/ owner of Iberico World Tapas in Nottingham as one of my best friends since we were little. So I took the liberty of inviting myself over to Jacque and Jessie’s place for a visit, mostly because I wanted to congratulate them on their first adorable offspring (geez, what’s up with all these babies?). Nottingham is charming (Robin Hood and all that), but in my opinion the biggest reason to go there is to eat at Iberico. GO THERE. Get the tuna. And the beef-mushroom-truffle oil affair. And the zucchini flowers. Bugger it – get everything, or at least as much as you can possibly eat, because it is all exceptional.

The Tuna.... oh the tuna...

Just chilling with my man Robin, in the Hood

Undercover?

The thing about good friends is that years can go by, and when you see each other again it’s as if it was yesterday. I am so grateful for such good friends, and the good times we shared makes me happy to be on the way back home.

* While out walking in Nottingham Jacque showed us the spot where his car was burned down randomly by a group of hooligans a year or so ago. See what I mean?!?

Hiking around the Highlands of Guatemala

noreply@blogger.com (Colette Grgic) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 20:39:00 +0000

Having heard lots about the beauty of Guatemala's highlands - which stretch from the Sierra Madre de Chiapas in the Northwest of the country all along the border of Mexico into the lowlands of Petén - we headed for the hills to get our fill of green mountains and fresh air. In fact, very fresh air: the temperature up in the mountains, especially in the rainy season, can be downright chilly and reminiscent of misty English mornings.

The homestead at Hacienda San Antonio, in the tiny village of Acul.

Not really a hike, but we huffed and puffed out way up the hill
to appreciate the sprawling mountain scenery

Avoiding the hyped-up highland villages in the Ixil triangle (three fairly traditional Maya Ixil villages), we spent a few tranquil days in Acul, just west of Nebaj in the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes (the highest non-volcanic mountain range in Central America). Nestled cozily at the bottom of converging mountains, there is nothing here except for farms, farmers and farm animals (all very friendly and approachable, I might add). Accompanied by the sound of roosters and cowbells, we stayed on a working dairy farm where we got our fill of fresh cream, cheese, milk, butter... more cream. The village itself is a so-called "model village", one of the many villages created by the government into which to herd the Mayan communities whose own villages were destroyed by the army during the war. To our untrained eyes it seems a happy little village like any other, although we know for a fact that it is so much violence, destruction and sadness that brought these people here.

Then off course I get this crazy idea to try a road less traveled, opting out of a cushy tourist shuttle and coach bus service on a nicely paved road and into dangerously crowded, careening, blood-pressure-raising collectivos that hurtle along dirt tracks on the spines of sleeping mountains. To explain a little bit: there is a tertiary road (and you know what that means in Guatemala!) going east from Sacapulas towards Cobán in the Alta Verapaz. It looks like they are working on upgrading the road to a proper paved road, but it's hard to be sure since, in parts, there are enough potholes to hide an army in and in other parts whole sides of mountains including the road that traverses it have been washed away (I'm really not exaggerating!). And we hit the record of 26 people crammed into a little mini-van made for 12. And I was sitting in the front and could see the speedometer hitting 120km/h in some parts. I am no longer scared of flying.

The gorgeous little rooftop terrace at Hotel Don Gabriel.
You can see the church and views around Uspantan in the background.

Halfway between Sacapulas and Cobán is a pleasant town called Uspantán. Being the municipality of the region, we are delighted to find out it has two very nice hotels to choose from, as well as a small tourist info office (although not a tourist in sight). We somehow manage to get ourselves tagged along with a group of "local Guatemalans" going sightseeing at Laj Chimel (the birthplace of Nobel Peace Prize Winner Rigoberta Menchú) and from where we hike 3 hours through beautiful mountains to the Mayan site of El Soch.

We were supposed to be paying attention to the Corn Tour, but then this little cutie showed up...

Laj Chimel has an awesome rope swing on the way up to the Mirador.

From the Mirador at Laj Chimel you can see EVERYTHING.
This lovely lady is the president of the community tourism initiative, such a sweetie.

Hiking from Laj Chimel to El Soch. We did get caught in a downpour. More than once.

I get tired just thinking about the day now: we left at 5am in an open truck (communication about the details of the trip were non-existent before departure) and the wet-cold alone was enough to exhaust us. We were told that it was going to be a five hour trip. We were also told that we would be back by 2pm (7 hour trip). We arrived home, cold and wet, at 8pm (a 15 hour trip). Turns out the group of locals we went with were a working committee for the tourism board going to evaluate the community-run tourism activities, having breakfast, lunch, coffee and just about dinner with all the local tourism representatives after we tested all the activities on offer. But in the end, despite the confusion and the cold, we got to experience a pretty awesome showcase of all the activities and sights in the area for about $10 because of the situation.

The reward at the end of the hike was the beautiful Finca El Recuerdo owned by Don Julio. Julio has about 40 hectares of protected land next to National Reserves, and it is honestly some of the most beautiful rainforest that I have ever seen. We even saw a Madre Quetzal! Julio's wife cooked us a delicious lunch, and we got to try some Miel de Cana which he makes himself. P.S There is a little cabana being built by the gorgeous bubbling creek if you want to stay over.

The Maya site El Soch is on Julio's land and is a little lush green fantasy world.

One of the tourism board ladies in front of the main temple's staircase

My very own Mayan warrior xx

The search for Black Salt in Sacapulas

noreply@blogger.com (Colette Grgic) — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 18:12:00 +0000

Black tortillas from black maize... but not made with black salt

As I’m writing this I’m shaking my head in disbelief that I have once again been suckered in by the suggestion/ suggestiveness of a stupid guidebook. By now, I really ought to be wiser to the fact that my idea of traveling differs quite a bit from the writers of this particular guidebook (who was this idiot?!?). Nevertheless, while bored and looking for a distraction one day while waiting for the bus that Guidebook proclaimed would come, I started reading through the section on the Western Highlands of

Guatemala

where we were heading. Having been colonized by the Spanish in the 1500’s onwards, most descriptions read something like this: “Lovely little colonial church in centre of town….blah blah blah…town plaza…blah blah blah…market on this or that day bears investigation…blah blah blah…black salt...” Wait, wait wait… black salt? Hook, line and sinker, I was stuck on the idea of picking some of this mysterious stuff up for my mom’s spice rack. So off we head on another treacherous chicken bus journey to Sacapulas in the Western Highlands of Guatemala.

I have a love affair with these toys

Selling rose petals, Chichi

One of the flower ladies in the Chichicastenango market

Meters and meters of cloth on sale everywhere

I forgot what this fruit was called, but it was like a mix of tomato and passion fruit

Having exhausted ourselves at the famous markets in Chichicastenango that morning (colours bustling bumping yelling smelling selling blur of bodies), we arrived late afternoon in Sacapulas. In contrast to the colour overload in Chichi, Sacapulas is a dirty and uninspiring little town situated on a brown river and with a smorgasbord of nasty street dogs and stumbling men (although I will credit it with a nice location nestled in the large looming Sierra los Cuchumatanes mountains – I’m not that jaded yet!). Being too late to source some black salt, we (I) decided we should stay the night in the town’s only hotel (the dark little hospedaje was more than we could handle after the bus ride along cliff faces and hairpin turns). A plate of cold chicken and chips so greasy even I wouldn’t touch them, the StarTrek movie and Avatar in English (score!) later, it was morning and ready to start the hunt. Wait no more my black beauty, I’m coming for you!

Grooming time for all on the steps of Santo Tomas church, Chichi

I wasn't joking - he really was shaving!

Taking a break from the hectic streets below

Mayans are very strong - the way that the guy bottom left in this photo
carries his load is how all Mayans carry heavy loads (up to 80kg!)

Turns out you can buy this stuff quite easily from a lady in the small market, which is next to the town square, which is in front of the colonial church, which is in the middle of town (what a surprise). Even though I was specifically looking for it, I almost missed it. That, my friends, is because it bears no resemblance to salt whatsoever at all, but looks more like grey-brown rocks made from compacted sand. But the little old lady let me try some and it was indeed salty, so I bought five Quetzales worth in defiance of the whole sodding situation. I’d be damned if I didn’t after all that! And sorry mom, it’s not really a surprise anymore, but at least you’ll know what the little baggie of dirty sand-looking substance is when you receive it (customs permitting)!

Back in Guatemala!

noreply@blogger.com (Colette Grgic) — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 00:12:00 +0000

If a picture paints a thousand words, then here are 28,000 words on why we love being back in Guatemala:

1. Great food
This amazing creation of grilled beef & chicken, guacamole and tomato salsa on a garlic toasted bun was reason enough to hang around Guatemala City for half a day. The real reason for our stop here was to see Pablo Aguilar, who we met in San Marcos Atitlan a few months ago. Pablo works in the healing arts and has done magic for our backs, shoulders, hips and knees. The little stand (not much more than a covered parking bay and a gas grill) where these gems are produced is in the parking lot of Pablo's office in Zona 10 of Guatemala City.

Jamaica (pronounced Ha-my-kah) is a delicious drink made from hibiscus flowers

2. Friendly faces & great service

The people in Guatemala are just so friendly and so easy to talk to. Taxi drivers try to give you a service instead of just a ride - they are interested in clients and not just customers. Likewise with dentists. Upon recommendation of an American we surfed with, we spent four days in Antigua to visit Dr. Victoria Recinas, who gave us the best and most economical dental service we've ever received in our lives (as well as a same-day appointment and absolutely no paperwork). Whether shoe polishers or professionals, Guatemalans appear to be proud of their jobs and it makes it a pleasure to deal with them.

A couple on this street in Antigua offered to take our picture without us asking

This mischievous old lady who makes and sells candy told us with a twinkle in her eye
that she was doing community service to keep the dentists in a job

Friendly dogs too!

3. Realising that hot showers are a luxury

Behold the electric shower head!
This regular death trap can be found in showers all over Central America.

4. The colonial architecture is just amazing (especially in Antigua, which we adore)

Hermano Santo Pedro, Antigua

Saucy fountain in Antigua's Parque Central

Strolling the streets of Antigua was a full-time occupation for us

5. The rich and colourful culture
Guatemala has 23 different Maya language and culture groups, which makes it an incredibly diverse and interesting place to visit. We always visit a town's market, a cooking pot of culture and food.

KaqChikel street performers playing the marimba, drums and flutes in Antigua.

The backstrap loom, used by most Maya women to weave amazing cloth,
is common in traditional Guatemalan villages and in Antigua's craft market

You'll find everything and its dog in a market

6. The rich and delicious chocolate & coffee
...which we enjoyed in excess at Fernando's Kaffee in Antigua. If the chocolate drink machine at the front of the store has been repaired by the time you visit, you have to try it. You'll be addicted for life.

Fernando's processes their own chocolate. Fernando showed us the smoothing process
where the chocolate spends 5 days in this machine to become silky smooth.
Talk about temptation!

JACKPOT!!!!

So ask me again why we love Guatemala so much...

Las ultimas palabras sobre Nicaragua

noreply@blogger.com (Vinko Grgic) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:15:00 +0000

Since our final days in Nicaragua we have spent a considerable amount of thinking time trying to nail down exactly why our overall travel experience there left us feeling rather disappointed or negative in its conclusion.

Nicaraguan Sunset - Colette

Like any ‘exotic’ place in the world, Nicaragua undoubtedly has its gems. We had some really good times while we were there. Despite my fear of sounding spoilt or ignorantly judgmental, I have to say that the ‘really good’ times were few and far between, unlike the travel experiences we have had elsewhere. We gave Nicaragua a good enough shot. We managed to see quite a bit of the country and what it had to offer, and in the end we spent a considerable amount of time there, but not necessarily by our own choosing.

Infinity pool at Pelican Eyes resort in San Juan del Sur during 'happy hour'

Through our travels we have learnt firsthand that people are the factor that makes all the serious difference in an experience. With that in mind we are able to recall some outstanding people we met in Nicaragua and their inspiring work. In our eyes, these are the shining diamonds of Nicaragua’s tourism underworld: Diego and his Escuela de Comedia y Mime in Granada, the good people behind the sustainable projects of Selva Negra near Matagalpa and Totoco Eco-lodge on Ometepe Island, our dear hosts and friends at Hotel Valeria in Granada, the welcoming vagabond ex-pats of San Juan del Sur, and of course all the wonderfully warm folk of Tola district near Rivas.

Louise and Andres - just two of the many friendly faces to be found in San Juan del Sur

Despite these truly hospitable and lovely people, we are left with an overall sense that, in all brutal honesty, Nicaragua was not worth such an extensive visit from a traveler’s perspective. It just does not have anything really enthralling to offer when compared to the travel experiences readily available in other parts of Central America.

Nicaragua’s tourism profile paints a very enticing picture for its travel destinations, and in a way this provides clues as to where the focus of the industry seems to be the strongest. The excessively favored Pacific Coast beaches of Nicaragua and its surf scene are actually great destinations, and for that reason are indeed worthy of being placed on the country’s list of travel hot spots. The obvious problem is that not everybody who travels does it for surfing. Likewise, only hanging out at the beaches does not really give you a chance to get to know

Nicaragua

any deeper than the whitewash.

Playa Maderas

The main problem with this one sided approach is that the other leading travel destinations in the country tend to leave you with an uncanny sense of disappointment; they deliver less than what you might have been offered. To give an idea of this misalignment, here are our experiences of the most popular tourist spots in Nicaragua (in no particular order of popularity):

Granada is the colonial tourist heart of Nicaragua. Aside from its pleasing aesthetic exterior, an acceptably good if costly dining experience, and some truly amazing community projects along with their inspiring founders, it really isn’t nearly as nice as it ought to be. The main reason that it remains unimpressive is that most of the good experiences seem to be contrived for the sole purpose of making money and that reason alone. Serve that up with a good dose of scam capital of Nicaragua and a seriously never ceasing beggar scene, and you are left feeling chewed up and confused.
Matagalpa is the tourist centre of Nicaragua’s mountainous north. The surrounding landscape is green and picturesque, and the weather is famously crisp and fresh while the rest of Nicaragua is cooking. You could probably find a similar experience in other highland destinations of the world without the limited choice in available outdoor activities and lack of exploration freedom that surrounds Matagalpa.
Ometepe Island is the third most profitable tourism destination in the country, famous for its peculiar geography and most recently for agri-tourism. Indeed, if you want to volunteer on a permaculture farm or see close up twin volcanoes floating in the middle of a giant lake, then this is your place! Unfortunately this is about as interesting as it gets. It is a hell of a hassle to get out there, only to be greeted by the mucky brown waters of Lake Nicaragua and the island’s sprawling farm practices being utilized to feed its forty thousand residents. Good luck getting around the island on a low travel budget.
San Juan del Sur and its neighboring beaches are a stunning coastline of the Nicaraguan south, and this is more than likely why all the gringos can be found here in dense numbers…or maybe it is because Costa Rica has run out of Gringo-free space, and this being extremely close to the border, well its just similarly good enough and even a bit cheaper, so there you go. Hopefully that little scenario sheds some light on the lack of local ownership and the flash-packer style travel that pervades San Juan del Sur. If Nicaragua had a Cancun, well, this would be its’ own albeit much more interesting version of it.

What rich and breathtaking nature is intended to thrive in Nicaragua’s countryside does not get a chance under the sprawling, low density and generally wasteful farming practices. I am of course referring to slash and burn deforestation closely followed by nutrient depriving monoculture type planting that rapidly devastate the health of an ecosystem, the well known status quo of land rich – money poor countries.

The Jesus statue overlooks San Juan del Sur as the day sets

No good criticism would be complete without providing some basic ideas for improvement, so here are the three main things Daniel Ortega and his government needs to start doing to help Nicaragua become a more rewarding travel destination:

Establish much bolder, more extensive protection of the environment and Nicaragua’s natural heritage, beginning with changes in the approach to land use planning. In order to succeed and sustain, some pretty hard-line federal and legal frameworks will need to be installed to uphold this new approach as new generations of government run through top office.
Identify and highlight the culturally rich and diverse people-scape in their home communities. Bolster the education and skills training programs while pumping a bunch of government financial support into their arts and culture. Recognize its existence and provide support to the ongoing evolution of their traditional values.
Stop placing all the eggs into predominantly one basket and begin diversifying source areas of tourism. Most of the market focus seems to provide for North American tourists and where they might seek travel value most. This approach obviously just can not hold up for too long as much of Central America’s tourism industry has begun to experience a decline in recent years as a result. More diversity in your tourism industry will provide greater stability as the global economy and people’s preferences continue to roller coast.

Time for thinking and reading on our terrace at Hotel La Terraza

In conclusion, Nicaragua has another decade or so left in the major development thrust of its tourism industry; the key to its success lies in taking the right direction now while it is still early days. The responsibility for this is not solely in the hands of the decision makers because travelers are the mass market that votes with its dollar. If you are looking to travel to Nicaragua, my suggestion would be to prioritize your destinations beforehand in order to minimize wasteful experiences and keep the time spent outside of that to a comfortable minimum. Make sure you travel to

Nicaragua

for the right reasons and support those aspects of its tourism that you genuinely agree with by spending your money with its pioneering leaders.

Street lamp pole in San Salvador - on our Tica Bus route back to Guatemala

What to do when your passport gets stolen in Nicaragua

noreply@blogger.com (Colette Grgic) — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 20:05:00 +0000

Now that we have replacement passports in hand (well, sort of for Vinko), I’m going to try and see the humor in this whole 6 week tragedy as a type of therapy and closure exercise.

What to do when your Canadian passport gets stolen in Nicaragua

Weep (shock)
Optimistically issue a reward. Joke about the situation (denial)
When nobody takes the bait for the reward after five days, curse the gods and start searching on the internet for advice from your embassy (acceptance)
Spend a day looping through the “press 1 for English…” telephone system of the Canadian Embassy in Managua. Once through this gauntlet, spend a week corresponding with them trying to figure out WTF exactly they want you to do. Consider moving back into the denial phase.
Drag your ass to Managua. Pay a taxi driver the equivalent of a day’s travel budget in Nicaragua to drive you around from dodgy bus station to armed-guard embassy neighborhoods. Ponder the meaning of life and whether you are likely to make it out of the city alive.
Spend an unpleasant 2 hours filling out repetitive forms, particularly cursing at the question asking you to list all the places you have been in the last 10 years (“Maybe I should consult my passporrr…oh wait.”). Part with a lot of money. Mutter obscenities under your breath when they tell you to “have a nice day” when you are leaving.
Praise the gods when you make it back to the relative safety of Granada!
Bribe mother in Canada to dig out original proof-of-identity documents and take them to a Passport Canada office downtown. Inform embassy that documents have been faxed through and ask for confirmation of receipt. Ask for confirmation again 2 days later. Punch the wall when informed that they have not been received, and need to be resent (“No sorry, the prehistoric fax machine is the only way.”).
Repeat step 8 two more times. Think up numerous torture methods for the poor sod who unknowingly stole the passports. Thank mother profusely for patience and assistance.
Accompany husband through his trial by fire, as per below.

Courtesy of 666games.net

What to do when your Australian passport gets stolen in Nicaragua

Accept your fate to live as traveling tramp in Nicaragua for all eternity to come. Alternatively, solicit a ride on a cargo ship heading for Australia, where the process of claiming refugee status will probably be easier than trying to get a passport replaced from Nicaragua. If you’re feeling particularly patient and strong, ok fine, try the below.
Follow same shock, denial, acceptance steps as above.
Spend a short lifetime in correspondence with closest Australian embassy, located 2500km away in Mexico City, trying to figure out WTF to do. When they inform you that you need to show up in person at an Australian Embassy for an interview before they will replace your passport, and that the cost of replacement alone is in the order of $328 (“You will fine me $100 for my passport being stolen?!?”), plummet rather rapidly straight back down into the denial phase.
Drag yourself our of denial phase long enough to fill out the application forms for the “Document of Identity” which will supposedly allow you to cross borders. Pay DHL a small fortune to send the six measly pages to Mexico City.
Catapult back into shock phase when you decide to tackle the payment process. The Australian embassy has clearly not made it into the 21^st century where PayPal, automatic deposits or any other logical form of payment will suffice. Noooo…the only acceptable payment is via an international bank cheque (“WTF is that?!?”), made out by a US-affiliated bank.
Locate the only two US-affiliated banks in Granada. Wait in line for 45minutes. Lose your shit (silently) when they tell you it’s the wrong line. Shuffle over to another line. Wait 30 minutes. Lose your shit completely when they tell you that you have to be a client of the bank in order for them to make this cheque. Storm home and weep. Have a stiff drink. And then another. Slur drunkenly about the pros of disappearing altogether.
Sweet-talk the hotel owner, as a client of said bank, to request the cheque. Receive information back that this mysterious cheque will take 30 days to make. Spiral into rage, followed by depression.
Have a little bit of fun expressing your thoughts and feelings to the embassy.
Sweet-talk mother-in-law in Canada to obtain said bank cheque from her bank, instantly. Choke on your rice & beans when she tells you it cost $72 to send this bloody cheque to Mexico City.
Commence the waiting period.

Courtesy of Clipartguide.com

The waiting game

Once above steps have been completed by both unfortunate parties, the following steps are to be undertaken jointly, with utmost patience and care not to piss the other party off, since both will be perpetually and uncontrollably irritable:

Move to the coast to twiddle thumbs and wait. Remind each other daily that at least this is a great opportunity to learn how to surf. Which means that every failed surf attempt is a chance to lament your situation. Contemplate skipping borders illegally whenever a faint chance appears.
Take up drinking as a suitable pass-time.
After 3 weeks of the above have passed, hassle the embassy for an ETA. Start giggling hysterically when you are informed that the passports are already there, and that you “just need to come by and pick them up”. @(&$#&*$!!!!!!!
Drag your ass back to Managua (a very hungover ass on a 6am bus, I might note. The folks in San Juan del Sur, where there were plenty of bars to supplement our mood, gave a great little farewell gig). Pay taxi driver a ridiculous amount of money to drive you from hotel to embassy to immigration office. Spend 2 hours at the smelly, stuffy, crowded Nicaraguan immigration office just to get one stupid stamp.
Head to the Tica Bus station immediately and get a ticket for the next bus out of the country.

Victory, my friends!

What the surf’s up with Nicaragua?!?

noreply@blogger.com (Vinko Grgic) — Tue, 31 May 2011 20:02:00 +0000

Firstly, let me state that surfing is difficult. No, not the kind of difficult you experience when learning how to juggle for the first time, this it turns out is just a matter of time and likely does not involve putting your body in any kind of real physical danger. It’s not even the kind of difficult where you try to complete a full length triathlon, because as this also turns out, you just have to get fit enough.

Late afternoons at Playa Maderas where we spent a memorable four days surfing from daybreak to sundown

Surfing is difficult in the kind of way that it might be to stand on one leg while juggling, but only while riding an escalator going downward and only between the hours of two and three in the afternoon, but only when your cousin Bob thrice removed is also riding the same escalator and only if the song “Hit Me Baby One More Time” happens to be playing on the loudspeaker radio. And even then, you will probably mess it up.

The general populace is made up of one surfboard to one person, surf jams are a common event here at Playa Maderas, one of the most popular idyllic surf beaches near San Juan del Sur, the popular seaside tourist town in Southern Nicaragua

The first kids on the block, this hostel was the first business on Playa Maderas, these days profits run low as more and more competition moves in to capitalize on what is becoming a highly visited tourist beach - still it is wonderful and retains a certain kind of charm probably due to being physically limited as a pretty small beach

But seriously, in order to surf you have to have the right fitness and balance skill combined with a good knowledge of the ocean and waves gathered over time and experience, employ it all at the right time, in the right spot and on the right wave…and then when it gets there, you have around three seconds to stand up and ride it.

This photograph was taken at Playa Santana near Juiqiliste and Limon where we spent a number of weeks, the debris here is the next morning result of the first big rain for the year - sadly much of the land on the coast is proximally backed by farm land where deforestation, cows and heavy fertilizer use are commonplace, and towns where modern rubbish is irresponsibly discarded all over

Likewise the towns do not have good waste water treatment infrastructure - this photograph demonstrates how untreated washing water and cleaning chemicals affect the surf beach at Playa Santana (only two locals and three foreigners dared enter the chocolate-brown water this day, all of whom got some eye or ear infections, normally you will see hundreds of people in the water)

A very calm image from our visit to Apoyo Laguna near Granada, not relevant but its a good break from the above!

That aside, I remember a famous wise saying about being brave and stupid, or stupid and brave, can’t remember which it was but this is pretty much what I did. I stupidly, or bravely, continued trying to surf convinced that the angels might at any moment take pity on me and send heavenly ability to carry out this, the most difficult of physical tasks.

At Playa Maderas we stayed at Buena Vista Surf Club, a wonderful accommodation in six unique and beautiful cabins - this is where we rested at the end of the day before our delicious dinners were served up by owners Marc and Marielle

The whole place is beautifully and lovingly crafted, embodying a sense of belonging and love for one's work - this image shows the stairs leading to the restaurant/bar area on the left, bathroom in the centre and the refreshing outdoor shower on the right

Looking toward the beach over the lavish terrace - each morning the surf report was delivered personally by the ocean itself

Now this is how you do a lounge area - Buena Vista Surf Club got this totally right and as a result we enjoyed the perfect space to mingle with other guests and staff over cool drinks

Colette's otherworldly perspective of our cabin at Buena Vista Surf Club - take note of how snuggly it fits between three large trees, the owners refused to cut them down and therefore designed around it

Despite spending somewhere in the order of twenty plus hours in the surf with a legitimate surfboard, in unbelievable opposition to the universal rules of statistical probability, I never once achieved a proper “surf”. I did achieve many, many, many a spectacular wipeout, sore and fatigued muscles, breathing in of sea water, praying both above and below tumultuous ocean swell, sun burns and skin rash to the nth degree, cuts and bruises, burning eyes and utter exhaustion.

"Kicking the shit" after a hard surf session, just another one of the perks of putting your body through the hard work, hard earned and all the better, this activity makes up about fifty percent of what surfing was all about for us

Ghost towels of overheated beach clingers gone splashing

But all was not for naught…ehmmm, yeah. When you are lucky enough to make it beyond the hell portal break that is the “Pacific Man-eater” (not commonly known as, artistic licence generously applied), found here along the entire Central American west coast, you get moments of pure tranquility out in the not-too-cold-not-too-warm ideal sea water, watching the birds fly and swoop, and the fish swim and jump. It is extremely quiet, a real rarity in Central America, and somehow you do count yourself as being awfully fortunate to be able to experience such a crazy adventurous but beautiful thing in your life.

The view out over the ocean as the day sets taken from the Buena Vista Surf Club restaurant /bar lounge

This night image exemplifies the finely selected colour tones employed at Buena Vista Surf Club, as well as the attention to detail applied to light, material and construction selections - all of these add up to creating a more comfortable hotel environment than we had enjoyed up until this point

Likewise I learnt many a trick of the trade, I should remain confident that should I ever find myself in a surfer bar in either Australia or California, I will undoubtedly be able to hold my own in any situation or discussion. If the terms; “right-point-break”, “close-out”, “A-frame”, “reef-break”, “duck-dive”, “big-set”, “offshore-wind” or “turtle-dive” mean anything to you, then you know what I am talking about, whoooaaa gnarrrllllyyy duuuudeeeee. I think that if surfing was a mental challenge I would be at least top ten in the world, because I get it all…in my head it all makes sense, I could teach you if you like…I just can’t do it myself, you know what I mean?

In San Juan del Sur we stayed at La Terraza Guest House, a wonderful converted private three level house come budget luxury stay which offered these comfortable home-like spaces, a small number of guests would share the terrace, living room and kitchen

The view from our kitchen window over the Parque Central and San Juan del Sur's main cathedral

In hind sight, the positives are quite distinct and noteworthy. On the one hand surfing requires an incredible amount of physique, it is extremely tough body work, which means that after all that “trying” I think I am in petty good shape right now - the ladies love it! The other massive bonus has been having a good reason to go and stay for a long time in some of the nicest beach holiday locations in Nicaragua, and this did not go unnoticed as many a sun down was enjoyed watching the beach goers and marine animals play out the theatre of ocean-meets-land.

So, like whatever dude, check you later, Vinko out.

What to do in Granada (when you don’t want to be in Granada)

noreply@blogger.com (Colette Grgic) — Mon, 23 May 2011 19:20:00 +0000

I bite my thumb at you, Granada!

Like a bad rash, Granada is back on our agenda. And, like the really nasty kind of rashes, it’s even better the second time around. The basic reason for our misery is that our passports (and all of Vinko’s already limited possessions except two pairs of clothes) were stolen over Easter Weekend on Ometepe Island. So we’ve been back in Granada to sort ourselves out. I’d rather have the rash. It is an unbelievably painful process, which I've jokingly blogged about in another post. In summary, I wish nothing but a perpetual attack of chiggers onto the thief.

But here we are, in Granada. Again. We figured we deserved a few days sulking and complaining in style so we checked in at Hospedaje Valeria, a Nicarguan/ Italian outfit which is a very good deal in an old colonial house with pretty courtyard and a spacious room with AC, cable TV and private bathroom (with hot water!) for about $35. And not to mention Valeria herself, who, with her larger than life personality and whirlwind manners swept us along into the high life of Granada – family birthdays, nights on the town and beer at home were all in order. She's a trip.

But these frivolities mostly concern our nightly hours. So what to do with all those glorious sunshine hours when we are not dealing with the bureaucratic beast of summoning our passports from many seas away? In other words: “What to do in Granada when you don’t want to be in Granada?” Here are some of my top picks of how we passed the time.

The main palapa, finished in January this year, where classes and shows are held.
There is a giant water storage tank under the foundation.

Diego and his delightful little grandson

Escuela de Comedia y Mime

We feel truly blessed to have come across the Escuela de Comedia y Mime (School of Comedy and Mime) in Granada. This project gives children of precarious family situations the opportunity to develop skills in entertainment and performance very similar to that of Cirque du Soleil. At the moment, 65 children come to the school every day after their normal school classes to learn, practice and share with their circus friends. Diego Gené, the director of the school, invited us with open arms when we went for a day visit to the school, also known as the Casa de Botellitas (House of Bottles), which has been built using plastic and glass bottles.

One of the beautiful walls at the Escuela Comedia y Mime

101 things to do with plastic bottles that would otherwise end up in the rivers

I want this window. Or at least a close approximation of it.

It is an amazing space, not just because of the creativity and beauty of the building and garden, but also because of all the happy faces running around. The atmosphere is that of a giant, happy family and we toiled there all afternoon not wanting to go anywhere else. Since that afternoon, we’ve already returned once for a show featuring local musician Luis Enrique Mejía Godoy and performances by the senior members of the school – a spectacular evening that we’ll never forget. If you are in the area and looking for some inspiration I would highly recommend contacting the school and visiting for an afternoon.

The airplane, with instruction from teacher Rafa
who was in these guys' shoes ten years ago when the project began.
Rafa and other members of the teacher group now tour Europe and Central America regularly.

The start of a pyramid

The kids are so happy and cheerful, it's heart warming and infectious

The kids are split into smaller groups who rotate through
many different skill workshops each afternoon

We watched as Lester patiently taught a group of kids the art of juggling.
The boys in the back were running around on stilts trying to synchronize tricks.

The hope, love and new possibilities that the school gives these kids,
most of who are growing up in very poor and troubled households, is amazing.

Finally, Vinko finds someone to juggle with!

Isletas de Granada / Jicaro Island Eco Lodge

There are 365 tiny little islands scattered in Lake Nicaragua around Granada – the locals like to boast that there is one for every day of the year, but I wonder if there are really 365 or if was just rounded up/ down to suit some marketing scheme. I tried counting them on a map, but got bored. Either way, it is possible to take a little boat trip through some of the islands with any one of the lancheros who will find/ hassle/ chase you down on the street, and it’s a relaxing way to spend a morning or afternoon. You can even see Volcan Concepcíon on Ometepe Island looming in the background.

The whole Jicaro Island Eco Lodge is on one of the isletas of Granada.

We took a special little boat to go to Jicaro Island Eco Lodge, one of the lodges we had on our list and one we were very interested to go see. It really is a beautiful spot, with amazing service and orgasmic food smells wafting from the kitchen. Unfortunately, us poor buggers couldn’t afford to stay overnight, but we had two terrific staff members walk us all around the property to explain the various sustainability aspects of the lodge, including the water supply and processing, which we were very interested in, and their community development programs which stretched further that we imagined. Overall, we were impressed – this is a beautiful, top-noch hotel and would no doubt be a great treat for anyone making a stay.

The island even boasts a little freshwater cenote

The infinity salt water pool in the centre of the hotel

Maybe I should have photoshopped myself into this picture...

Apoyo Lagoon

About 30 minutes north of Granada is Laguna Apoyo, a crystal clear crater lake surrounded by densely forested hills. Even though we picked the only rainy day all week to go (damn you prepaid shuttle!), it was still a nice little escape and the extra moisture encouraged the birds to go haywire singing all day. Vinko and I took a kayak (the shuttle from Oasis Hostel in Granada to Apoyo drops you at Paradiso Hotel, where you can get kayaks and over-priced food) and paddled along the shore. The water was a lovely temperature and we heard howler monkeys in the hills. The shores are still mostly undeveloped and there is only one small village, so the only sound was the paddles dipping in the water and the birds and monkeys. This was one of the most relaxing days we had just kayaking, reading, lying in hammocks and enjoying the peace and silence.

This is the best I could do in terms of photos on this rainy day.
Still, it looks pretty nice despite no sunshine!

We meant to go to the market in Masaya and the Pueblos Blancos (white wall villages) around Granada to go climb the mirador lookout tower in Catarina… but we couldn’t quite manage to get enough enthusiasm together today to get on a bus for another day trip. So we’ll just stroll around town (again), have some lunch and maybe a beer on the restaurant strip (again), laze around our room and waste time on the internet (again) and keep waiting for the day when freedom – in the form of a new passport – arrives.

And when you get completely bored and run out of options,
you can always go for a haircut... and return with unexpected pink hair.

The Ups and Downs of life on a Volcano

noreply@blogger.com (Colette Grgic) — Sat, 07 May 2011 16:54:00 +0000

Ometepe Island lies lazily in Lake Nicaragua, its two volcanic cones poking out of the water like two boobs in a bath tub. (Really, who could have resisted?). Active Volcan Concepcíon with its perfectly conical volcano shape and sparse cover absolutely dominates the northern island, separated only by a thin flat strip of land from the southern island where the dormant Volcan Maderras houses a cloud-forest and crater lagoon. The ferry from Granada docked just outside of the small town of Altagracia on the north island. We took one look at the "Evacuation ---->" sign and proceeded as fast as the rickety 1950's bus could go in the other direction over the 4x4 track known as the main road circling the two islands. Who knows – one day they might actually finish the monumental task of hand-laying all the pavers on the road. But until then, in the event of an actual evacuation I would recommend walking rather than taking the bus - a speedy getaway would be much more likely on foot!

This, my friends, is stage one of chocolate

Stage two of chocolate

We briefly worked up enough energy to climb Volcan Maderras and were rewarded with sightings of parrots, white-faced monkeys and howler monkeys. The cloud forest at the top of the mountain was beautiful and so much cooler than the scorching heat below. But the eight hour hike is no joke and we suffered a substantial amount in the following days.

The crater lake at the top of Volcan Maderras

Ometepe's industry is exclusively agriculture (plantains, cows hanging out on the road and a random scatter of small family farms) and tourism, making it a hotspot for agri-tourism. I'd estimate that half of the island's visitors are WOOFers: backpacker/ volunteer types coming to work and stay on the selection of organic/ permaculture farms run by foreigners who moved here for the off-grid lifestyle (I’m not even sure if there is a grid of any sorts to connect to?). Subsequently, there's also a decent selection of eco-lodges for those who are not keen to get their hands dirty. Although we weren't planning on visiting an eco-lodge here, fate brought us to Totoco Eco-Lodge on the slope of Volcan Maderras above the little town of Balgüe.

Another perfect sunset from our bunk bed at Totoco

It’s hard to describe the serenity that exists in the sun and the silence at Totoco, which sits perched on a hill directly opposite the stately Volcan Concepcíon and affording an infinite view of Lago Nicaragua. Aside from being in such a lovely spot, the triple focus of Totoco was as close to a working example of what we might hope to achieve with our own venture. The construction and operations at the lodge all genuinely focused on sustainability and we were amazed at all the small details and big ideas that have been incorporated into it. We were very happy that we had a chance to talk to all the owner-managers and learn about their experience, and we spent every afternoon in the infinity pool taking in the magnificent view and giddily refining our own plans and ideas. We were also inspired by the lodge’s commitment to the community through the Totoco Foundation, which supports education, health and literacy projects and also issues micro-loans to encourage small-business growth in the otherwise very poor community. The third aspect to the operation is the permaculture farm where we eventually got our hands dirty and realized just how hard it is to get some food out of the earth.

We got to share in the birthday celebrations of Justine and friends from California.

Part of the high-life at Totoco before we moved down to the farm to get our hands dirty

During the few days we spent on the farm-side of things we took to the challenge of being the best little worker bees we could. We watered, made and applied natural pesticide, transplanted plants, dug up whole garden beds, sifted soil for hours and Vinko had the fun job of collecting horse manure in the field to enhance my perfectly sifted soil. After much hype about “beating the crap out of the crap”, I did not eventually get to pulverize the dry manure, but Kelly – one of the loveliest people we’ve ever met, a great friend and fellow garden-worker – demonstrated the two-hand-beating technique in case I ever want to give it a go.

The kitchen and hang-out spot down on the farm

I didn't have the heart to take a picture of Kelly pounding poo.
Instead, here she is demonstrating the technique of garlic chopping.

The pile of sifted dirt is much bigger in real life, I promise!

We also got a chance to hang out a bit in the village, and were pleasantly surprised to find out that the majority of the kids who came out to throw a disc with Vinko, Kelly and I were actually really good! If we were to stay on Ometepe we would certainly have started Nicaragua’s best ultimate disc club! We also spent an afternoon visiting the family of Thobias – the gentleman who walks a cooler of ice the 2km up the hill every day to supply the lodge and volunteers – and he very generously picked us baskets of mangoes from his tree, sent his son to escort us for a swim in the lake and showed up at the farm the following day with seven lake fish for us, refusing payment because the casual exchange of how-do-you-do’s the previous two days meant that “we were friends”. This display of generosity from a man who lives in a stick and mud house with much less than we can ever imagine amazed us. Despite not having had the best experience in Nicaragua so far and experiencing a constant swing between good days and bad days here, it’s little gems like these that restore our faith and convince us that the ups and downs are all part of the journey.

On our last night on the farm, we had a pizza night with about 12 people joining in the fun.
I want one of these ovens!

Another diligent farm worker

A week in Northern Nicaragua

noreply@blogger.com (Colette Grgic) — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:24:00 +0000

There was an amazingly neat and colourful veggie market
where we waited for the bus to Matagalpa

We hiked to the top of the jungle for this view of Matagalpa (white speckle, centre-left)

I remember vividly the first morning I wore my new glasses as a kid: the day the world transformed. Aged 10, I was sitting on the floor of our living room in South Africa, some Sunday morning, dunking my beskuit into a cup of coffee and obsessively sliding my glasses up and down my nose, comparing my old world with the new, and marveling to my family that the green blur hanging over the swimming pool had suddenly transformed into a jasmine plant with individual leaves!

I feel like that now, staring at the bowl of jungle towering up to the sky from across the lake at the restaurant porch at the Selva Negra Mountain Lodge. I can see the wind traveling across the towering trees and the individual leaves shimmering in response. The 180 degrees of green surrounding us isn’t just green – it’s green, olive, brown, grey and black with a smattering of rusty reds and splotches of lime green. The resident howler monkeys aren’t shy to publicize their right to this territory and can be heard barking through the day. Vinko and I are convinced that they speak a different “language” compared to the Howlers we’ve come across in Belize and

Guatemala

– the rhythm and pitch are completely different and we spend a few hours speculating at the chaos that might perhaps ensue if these same-same but different monkeys had a chance to meet.

If I weren't already married, this little church at Selva Negra Mountain Lodge would be it!

...although I'm not sure if the pastor would approve of this...

...or this.

Vinko had to deal with a sinus inflammation up in the mountains.
Not a happy camper.

Compared to the rest of the Pacific Coast in Central America - which is scorching hot, bone dry and pretty ugly-looking right now - the Selva Negra (Black Jungle) of Northern Nicaragua is surprisingly lush, delightfully cool and the perfect place to pass a few days hiking around the lodge’s property, which comprises of a working coffee-dairy-poultry farm focused on sustainable practices adjoined by the lodge’s private reserve and hotel/ conference facilities. After the 10 hour Tica bus journey to get to Matagalpa from San Salvador (no comment, except for “why are bus stations always in the dodgy, dirty, scary part of town?!?”), we indulge in some excellent German food and silent surroundings. Nothing too eventful, just some peace and quiet before heading further south.

Work of art.

The colonial city of Granada on the other hand, was a little less than joyful. We speculate that the unimaginable must be happening and that we are finally getting tired of traveling, because nothing in Granada excites us. Yes, there are some nicely renovated colonial buildings and it was fun for the first hour to wander through the streets. Until it became apparent that the hostels are out to impoverish you, the taxi drivers are out to hit you, the men are out to harass you, the women and children are out to beg as much as they can from you, the horses are out to make piles of shit for you to step in and that the Semana Santa (Easter/ Holy Week) festivities are out to deafen you with music blasted from all corners. At least the beer was cheap but even that wasn’t enough to make us warm up to the city.

Granada's cathedral and Lago Nicaragua in the background

A hidden gem we discovered on a walk

I will concede that Granada has a beautiful cathedral, if nothing else

All of this combined gave us the feeling that we were trapped in Granada for 3 days waiting for a ferry to Ometepe Island in Lake Nicaragua. Some greater force must have taken pity on us, because we managed to just buy the last 2 tickets for the ferry and weasel our way out of there, along with the 300+ other fortunate fugitives crammed onto the rambling old ferry.

I really wanted to like Granada, I did. But every time I slipped my beer goggles up and down my nose to look for a transformation, it was the same blur.

The monsters ate my luggage!!!
I suspect these little gremlins were the cause of our troubled stay in Granada.

Some fun wall graffiti at Oasis Hostel in Granada

In the thriving heart of a Mayan village: San Pedro Columbia, Southern Belize

noreply@blogger.com (Vinko Grgic) — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 15:54:00 +0000

Rodolfo Ash - a Mopan/Kekchi Mayan, father of six, resident of San Pedro Columbia village in Southern Belize and our most generous host

Rodolfo and his family
Rodolfo Ash is a man in his 40’s, one of eight children, he lives in a small village named San Pedro Columbia in Southern Belize, and he is Mayan. Including him and his wife Merlina, they are a family of eight members which consists of three sons and three daughters, a perfect boy-girl-boy-girl-boy-girl pattern with two years separating each child in all cases except one. A self proclaimed rationalist when it comes to religion and advocate of gender equality, he is somewhat of an anomaly in his own village in this regard. You see, many of the village folk are religious and regularly attend one of the thirteen churches in their community. During one incident with the Nazarene Church, the church of choice for his wife and kids, he was asked by other church members why he doesn’t order his wife to wear the regulation white head-cloth when attending mass. To which he responded, that his wife makes decisions for her self and if they would like, they are welcome to ask her themselves. He no longer attends church as he believes that the rules imposed by them are not very rational, he wishes to live differently.

The Rodolfo and Merlina Ash family house - humble and beautiful

We found out about this little piece of paradise from Marfilio, a snorkeling tour-guide working for French Angel in Caye Caulker. Marf is from San Pedro Columbia in the Maya Mountains of Belize and Rodolfo is his older brother. He is a really terrific tour guide, and not just because he is super professional and able in carrying out his job, but also because he is one of those special guides that really, really care. He cares a lot about the environment, both around his village and Caye Caulker, and he cares a lot about the people he works with, both tourists and other guides. We got to talking to him one lovely sun down afternoon in Caye Caulker and he told us all about his village, we fell in love with the idea of a visit within the first few minutes, it just sounded perfect! While Marf wasn’t able to make the trip down to show us around personally, he was more than kind to organize for us to be looked after by his brother. And we are so glad he did! The three days we spent with Rodolfo and his family in Columbia were some of the most enriching and incredible three days we had anywhere on our travels. So much happened in those three days that, although it may appear on the surface as uneventful, the subtle moving simplicity of our experiences there managed to pack our days with so much fun, laughter and warmth that it felt time stood still for one special weekend in the heart of a thriving Mayan village.

Our entire Ash host family and us

Friday - our first afternoon
Rodolfo agreed to meet us at the bus stop in Punta Gorda, the capital of the Toledo District in Southern Belize. At first greeting he came across as a genuinely kind and polite man, his first concern was to ask us if we needed to use the internet for anything and sure enough we actually did. He was eager to show us photos in his email of the family farm taken by one of his previous visitors – Rodolfo had clearly been catapulted into our modern communication world. We were curious as to how he got to be even interested in computers and the internet in the first place, to which he told the story of a peace worker from the states who was keen on setting up a computer lab for the community in his village, she arrived back in 2003 and did just that. Surprised by this, he went on to tell us that the computer lab offered very economical courses for people who were interested in learning about computers and later the internet. It seems that this really worked out well for the people who were keen to learn about computers and today there are many young folk in the village quite adapt to using them, very similar to our own countries. The one problem now, he said, is that the computers are very old and there was no money in the village to upgrade them, but they still serve a good purpose and are useful for people to learn on. This got me particularly excited and gave me extra enthusiasm for our internet project for San Andres in Peten, Guatemala.

Western end of the house - kitchen and dining

We had more than a few hours in town because the only bus leaving for San Pedro Columbia would leave around four in the afternoon, we arrived in Punta Gorda around noon. This worked out quite well as it gave us time to spend with Rodolfo alone and get to know him before diving into the village and his family home. He walked us to the Cotton Tree chocolate factory and showroom that we had been looking forward to. Once inside, the lovely lady from Honduras gave us a free tour of the entire chocolate making process and in the end we got to sample all the different types. Now believe me folks when I tell you that this chocolate is probably the nicest tasting chocolate in the world! This experience was super cool for us as Cotton Tree Lodge was one of the eco-lodges we wanted to visit and it was fantastic to see their success of chocolate production in operation. Merlina’s favourite chocolate was milk chocolate so we decided to buy her a delicious little gift and brave the outside sweltering heat with this super fine chocolate knowing there was another two hours before the bus.

The toilet - a hole in the ground, what more do you need?

Resting after a hard day's work and some filling food

As we walked around town I just couldn’t help but notice the condition of Rodolfo’s shoes. Indeed we knew that his family was not well off, but his black town boots had barely any upper left on them, all that remained were straps of black leather forming the top of the shoe. I wondered if there was a way to get him some newer shoes*, although we tend to throw away good working order items at home and ought to really use them more extensively, this was way beyond used up I thought. I was wearing pretty much brand new steel cap Jackeroo work boots at the time and felt a little awkward at the obvious difference. I would have loved to give them to Rodolfo but I knew that they were needed for much time to come, both while traveling through Central America and working in Guatemala. We ended our town tour, picked up a few groceries at the local bulk discount supermarket and jumped aboard the hottest bus known to man heading for San Pedro Columbia some 45 minutes drive away.

* If you would like to be generous, help out and donate some shoes - read the details at the end of this blog.

Dearest Anthony - swimming day at the river source

We were greeted upon our arrival by Rodolfo’s second son Anthony who warmly came up and just hugged us out of pure excitement, for the whole time in Columbia he remained the sweetest soul we spent time with. We walked together hand in hand all the way to their family house, greeting people all along the way. When you arrive in San Pedro Columbia you get an instant sense of peace and togetherness, everyone seems to know each other and no one is in too much of a rush to say a heartfelt hello. When we reached the house the rest of the kids emerged, the small beaming face of Benjamin their youngest son, the quiet and mischievous looking smile of Jennifer their middle daughter, the shy and reserved mature warmth of Shirley their eldest daughter and second mother in charge, in her arms the tiny Kerilee with that eyes-open-world-wandering of little infants but cute as a button with dark eyes and dark hair, Brian their first child and eldest son showing more focus since being his father’s third and fourth hand, and finally Merlina their mother a soft gentle smile and welcoming eyes she immediately gave us a sense of belonging by silently inviting us into her home and her family. We knew immediately that we wanted to spend time with this most wonderful of families and looked forward to getting to know them all.

Merlina Ash, and ourselves at the dining table - if you wondering why I am staring at the camera like that it is because I was setting up a timer shot for the family portrait...

Saturday - the first adventurous day
After a hearty first night dinner plated up by Merlina who so lovingly prepared all meals and was always the last to eat, we woke early in the morning to the sounds of a busy family. Rodolfo and Merlina wake up each day around five in the morning and begin preparing for the day ahead. They were extremely kind to offer us a double bed tucked together in the one bedroom where most of the children and Merlina slept. Rodolfo and the older two boys slept in the main room of the house, some in hammocks and some on the floor. It gets quiet here at night, and really, really dark.

The new palm thatch roof arriving by truck - we loaded it, brought up back, tied it to a tree and then drove off to remove it from the truck

I proclaimed the night before that I was really keen to come along and maybe help truck the new palm leaves for the upcoming roof renovation. That morning, groggy eyed and having picked up a flu the day before I wondered whether I would be of any use at all. Nonetheless I pressed on and joined Rodolfo, his son Brian, an uncle and a couple of other hardworking friends from the other side of the village. It was incredible to see how as we drove by in the pick-up truck, male friends and relatives would yell out and offer their working hands, people here really help each other out. This whole work project was started by the fact that Rodolfo and Merlina needed to remake their palm leaf roof, it was getting old, fraying and had potential to start leaking. To get this done Rodolfo purchased palm leaves and labor to prepare them, he would go on to pay for the fuel used for the pick-up and later he was planning to employ a dozen men from the village to help rebuild the roof and he would obviously have to feed them that day too. All of this, as he reportedly told us, would set his family back around 400 Belize dollars (just $200 US). This is incredible when you consider how expensive it is to build anything back home and the fact that really this process usually does not bring the community together anything near like what happens here in Columbia village. After transporting the leaves on Saturday morning, they would need the rest of the upcoming week to dry sufficiently and the plan was to rebuild the roof on Friday. That morning Rodolfo and his eldest would wake up extremely early and before anyone arrives and the day began to heat up, would have stripped off the old leaves and prepared the roof structure and the new leaves for the reconstruction, all before breakfast!

Delicious corn from San Pedro Columbia's farms

Rodolfo's delicious cabbage - oh yeah, come get some! (photo taken at the farm)

The food the Ash family eats is fantastic, in fact it is amazing. Rodolfo has a family farm where he grows most of all the produce they eat in the house. During our time in their home we tasted some of the best lettuce, onion, tomato, beans, cilantro and other herbs, and my lord did we eat a good cabbage. I honestly did not think you could get this excited about cabbage, but when it is organic by necessity or tradition, grown on the banks of a pristine spring fed river, on land looked after and maintained by a family for generations – cabbage is the star of the show! This day we got to visit the source of all this great food and indeed the source of live for the village, the spring that feeds the Rio Grande, the river that passes through and enables life in San Pedro Columbia.

Colette's stunning picture of a swimming hole along the way

Rodolfo and kids at the swimming hole near the river source

Shirley and her cousin play - throwing rocks into the river

The cute and fun loving little Benjamin - my new best friend

Filling my water bottle at the source of the Rio Grande - soooooo delicious and fresh

We took off on our hiking adventure, all hands on deck, all the kids except Brian (because he visits the farm every single week for work), Shirley the eldest daughter (because she had to help mum look after the baby Kerilee) and Merlina (because the house work just never stops). We walked through some of the richest forest, jungle and farm land for around two hours before reaching the water source. Once we got there we all took a swim around it and we could all get a refreshing drink right out of the water that cooled us now as we bathed in it. Later on we walked a while back to see the family farm and Rodolfo showed us his amazing produce and pointed out the other Ash family plots, his mums’, his dads’, his uncles’ and finally Marf, his younger brothers’, who was dedicated to a sustainable future for himself and his future family by beginning to work a small patch of land adjacent to the river. Rodolfo and the eldest of two cousins from Merlina’s family that joined us that day, picked a bunch of cabbages, cilantro, pumpkins, lettuces and kalalu (a local spinach-like green leaf favored by the villagers and sold well to Garifuna folk as well). With this load in hand, Rodolfo fashioned a quick traditional bag and head strap to carry it all, using nothing but a potato sack, a thick ribbon sewn by his wife and two hardened bits of dirt. Off we went, heading back to the village and bringing home fresh spring water in small drink bottles, each child carrying one, and the sack of produce for cooking and selling to others in the village.

Me and Benjamin - he was so tiny!

This is where the family farm is - lush and green

We walk back carrying the fresh produce bounty - Anthony insists on holding my hand despite the load

As day receded that afternoon and we all prepared for a tasty dinner, we learnt that there was a church rally taking place just a stones throw from the house. It turned out that this was a popular rally visited by residents of neighboring villages by the busload too, all in all there were a few hundred people attending and the rally included a variety of tasty foods and cakes to try out. Although we didn’t partake in the church singing event akin to most Evangelical communities (it just isn’t our style), we were glad to have witnessed it all and shared a bunch of delicious salbutes, meat pasties, tamales and chocolate cakes with Rodolfo and his kids back at the house while a whole whack of cousin children joined us in watching DVDs. Luckily the sound system was done and removed before 10pm and we went to sleep quietly and bellies full.

Jennifer and Benjamin watch their little sister Kerilee - asleep in her sack

Merlina preparing another delicious meal - young Anthony just clowning around

Sunday - Mayan history and family day
Sunday’s adventure was a little less physically demanding, we walked the hour it took to get to Lubaantun, the ancient Mayan site that once was the spiritual centre for the Columbia village ancestors. Village history tells of Mopan Mayans fleeing the area from Spanish and British occupation, and the war that was taking place between the two colonizing empires back in those days. So some 500 years back the Mopan people of the Maya mountains of Belize, including the inhabitants of Lubaantun and surrounds, fled for the mountains of North-Eastern Guatemala and joined their Kekchi brothers seeking survival. In the early eighteen-hundreds Britain won Belize for their empire and thus removing it from then-Guatemala, and therefore Spanish control permanently. This brought stability to Belize, and the Mopan people – this time mixed with generations of Kekchi – took up once again and headed for home country. The years obscured the location where Lubaantun and its villagers once stood; the area was now thickly overgrown with rainforest and thick tropical jungle. Amazingly the returning families discovered upon settling near a pristine river (the Rio Grande) that they had in fact returned to their original patch of land, the homeland of their ancestors. Fast forward to the year 2011 and what started as a new settlement of just a few Mopan-Kekchi families 150 years ago, has grown into a thriving village of over 1000 families.

Just like the resilient Mayan culture - this Guanacaste tree finds its roots and merges with the rock blocks, growing on top of the Lubaantun Maya site

Today the village is quad-lingual, speaking their two Maya languages Mopan and Kekchi, and most residents can speak both Creole and English due to the multicultural landscape of the British Caribbean. The village is still growing, and with work having started on a new highway from Punta Gorda to the border of Guatemala (it will pass just by Columbia and it is due to be completed in three years), this is sure to increase the rate of growth in the coming years. This growth will no doubt create challenges for this and other Mayan communities, some of which might be land scarcity and environmental effects of overuse and contamination, both water bodies and land biodiversity. The good news, however, is that the Mayan communities of Toledo District in Southern Belize are some of the most progressive and holdfast of the traditional Maya. Some years back they organized themselves and formed a union of Mayan peoples in Toledo and managed to achieve what many native peoples of neighboring countries in Central America could not. They won land rights to their communities and the government of Belize recognizes their rights; this eliminates any threats of the community losing their land without village council permission.

This mango tree finds its home at the Lubaantun Maya site - the family's cousin John provides a touch of modern colour to the scene

The massive rounded edges on temple one at Lubaantun - this picture was not warped by me

The challenge of setting boundaries between one village council authority and another still exists today, but I believe that the strength of their culture and their community will provide innovative solutions to these problems, particularly as each community continues to grow. Spending time with Mayan people in their communities and learning about their culture makes one realize the wisdom of this ancient civilization. In almost all parts of the old Mayan world, Maya people and their traditional ways still survive. I have come to understand that this is only possible because their culture remains hospitable, flexible and innovative. In this way, rather then disappear or dissolve through the incorporation of other cultures, the Mayan way absorbs new ways of life and in its own way evolves to include parts of the new change without losing elements of their own traditions. This makes the culture richer and more established with each new element that is presented, the variety makes them stronger and not weaker. Mayan culture is not lost, it is just changed.

Brother, sister, cousin - these three kids are part of the future of San Pedro Columbia and the Toledo District Mayans (Benjamin, Jennifer and John)

Among other things, Lubaantun is famous for being home to one of only four original crystal skulls of the ancients in the entire world. A Canadian archeologist, one of the first to begin excavations at the site was reported to have found the most perfect and biggest of the crystal skulls ever to have surfaced (the only one of a comparable size to the real human skull). His daughter allegedly still has it in her possession – she refuses to even consider a sale due to the fear of it ending up in the wrong hands, however a non-official value for the Crystal Skull of Belize is somewhere in the range of $250 US million dollars if you could in fact put a price on such a priceless item. Lubaantun is a lovely site, not very big but with some very interesting features. The information centre is probably one of the best and in-depth I have seen to date, much of the history I mentioned above as well as loads of information regarding found objects on the site, including the crystal skull, is clearly available to all visitors.

Colette admiring nature's intricate designs at Lubaantun - she loved this whole experience and the relaxed smile shows it

Rodolfo and Colette discuss village life under the town water tower - right next to Rodolfo's mums house

The trip was rounded off with yet another swim in the lovely Rio Grande, this time much further downstream and right near the village. Here is still very clear and clean, although many of the village women come down to do their laundry just a little down from where we swam. Later that day we took the kids to visit Rodolfo’s mother. She has a lovely concrete house, one of a few in the village, on top of the same hill where the water tower sits and overlooks the entire village in a nice 360 degree view. From here we could easily see the village school, and if you tried a little harder you could also make out the rubble of some of the highest structures at Lubaantun. Rodolfo’s mother was not there for a while as she was attending a village water board meeting, a new water board director was being appointed and this was the reason nobody had water in their taps that day. Apparently they shut the water off to ‘encourage’ village members to attend these meetings and will not turn the water back on until the meeting is concluded. How is that for incentive?!

Anthony and his little brother Benjamin enjoy their fresh coconuts - Benjamin again looking tiny with this medium sized coconut

Jennifer and her cousin - posing so beautifully for Colette's camera

Rodolfo’s mother has a bunch of coconut trees on her property, so he and I took to harvesting one for everybody. Upon cutting them open, Rodolfo treated us to the best tasting, freshest and sweetest coconut juice we had ever tried. The kids loved them too and we all had a great time and a heap of laughs, it seems that days like this occur quite regularly here. It was a real pleasure to get to meet Grandmother Ash. She and her youngest daughter were no exception to the rule of politeness and kindness in San Pedro Columbia. Rodolfo’s mother is one of the elders in the village and regularly attends meetings for all kinds of village matters, she has served as the water board director on more than one occasion in the past. Her youngest daughter attends college and is planning on continuing her education in nursing at the University of Belize. Sunday was a great family day as we met many new family members, close and extended, and once again the evening was capped off with a nutritious meal made by Merlina and her daughter Shirley. This evening Colette and I learnt our hands at tortilla making and although dinner was thirty minutes late as a result, we didn’t do to badly and it sure got easier after a while.

This was truly the best tasting and sweetest coconut we ever tried

Monday - our last day and a sad farewell
Today is the day we sadly say goodbye to our new family, but it is also Monday so all the kids except Brian will be going to school. This gives us a chance to have a good chat with just Rodolfo and his wife, to pack and hand wash a few items of clothing before they come back for lunch. Our bus takes off in the early afternoon and we are planning on jumping off early at the entry road to Cotton Tree Lodge to check it out ourselves. Colette has been super nice during this whole time and every time I wonder where she is, I end up finding her helping to wash dishes with either Merlina, or Shirley, or Jennifer, and sometimes all three. We help to make tortillas again for lunch, this time a little more successfully, and shortly after we are all packed up and lunch is ready, those smiling faces return running toward the house. We all eat lunch together and reminisce on the last few days, recalling old in-jokes and teasing each other like brothers and sisters. After lunch we pile everybody up for a big family portrait and they are all too kind to oblige, even Shirley who normally would shy away completely from the camera lens gave in to family peer pressure and joined us for a group photo.

Merlina's kitchen - this is where all the magic happens, a very efficiently designed and utilized space, and very much like everything in their beautiful home

Earlier that day we copied a bunch of photos and transferred them to the family computer for their keeping, it seems they really cherish the visual memories they retain from their visitors. Colette sits down with Merlina, a few other kids and the baby Kerilee, and runs through the photo album we have created on their computer. Merlina is genuinely happy and pleased that we had taken the time to share these beautiful memories. As the clock ticks on, we near one o’clock in the afternoon which means its time, both for us to depart and for the kids to return to school (all except the youngest two who attend pre-school only for half a day).

To be completely honest, none of us had expected or foreseen such an emotional farewell after spending just three days together with the family. Within moments Merlina and Rodolfo were pronouncing how their kids really loved us and had grown close to our presence. We hugged each little lovely human and squeezed them with genuine care and happiness, indeed thankfulness. This was just too much, so Colette and I following right behind Merlina shed a bunch of bittersweet tears. We promised that we would surely visit again, and indeed we feel completely intertwined in their family story, even if just a little. Rodolfo walks us to the bus stop and we thank him profusely for this whole amazing experience, and of course the generosity of his family for taking us in so amazingly close. The dust picks up as the chicken bus speeds off, we spin to turn our heads and Rodolfo is already on his way home, only his hardworking back now visible, ready for the next laboring task at hand.

Rodolfo is dwarfed by the load of produce he carries from his farm to the house - a regular route that provides for his family, Mayan families depend on the strength of their fathers' backs for survival

Want to help?
If you have made it this far, congratulations, and you obviously are at least thinking of shoes you might be able to send. So if you are, and if you have either black leather shoes or work boots, gum boots and sandals (preferably crocs) that you are no longer using but are in good condition, you could pay the shipping costs and charitably send them to Rodolfo and his family where they will be much appreciated and very much used. Please think size US 8 (mens) and under, Mayan people are not as large as us white folk and so too their feet. Please email us on roundthebendproject@gmail.com if you wish to act on this. Thank you very much.

Pirates of the Caribbean – I’m on a boat!

noreply@blogger.com (Colette Grgic) — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 00:52:00 +0000

Sea, sun and an insane amount of fun

A serious adventure it was!

I’ve been postponing writing this blog for a week now, just because I couldn’t get around the question “How to describe the best sailing tour of your life in one measly blog post?”, (and because for some reason Blogger was blocked at Selva Negra!). So I’ve decided to start at the end: with the collaboration of a few new friends, we made our own version of the parody video “I’m on a boat”. On an actual sailboat. In the Caribbean. Now, if you want to know how the hell we pulled that off, read through the adventure as it unfolds.

We were smiling until the boat launched into waves that even a sea monster would fear!
- Thanks Emily & Alicia for the photo

Pimp mobile?

We should have heeded to notice about "for shady people"

Our salted, sun-drenched escapade kicked off in Caye Caulker, Belize, surely the most chilled out island in the world. Small sandy streets devoid of any vehicles and dotted with wooden beach shacks, palm trees waving in the breeze and calm azure waters thanks to the world’s second largest reef. Lest I forget the unavoidable yet very welcome rum punch and the tempting smell of street-side BBQs. It’s like the best summer Saturday, times a hundred, every day.

My crab won! Go #4!!!!!
Just some of the fun to be had on Caye Caulker

The sunny side of the shady bar (Caye Caulker)

After causing much ruckus with our new friends Emily and Alicia (think white girl rapping Salt ‘n Peppa’s “Shoop” at the local karaoke joint, Michael Jackson dance-offs in a beach side bar, and random wanderings in the street wearing legionary style hats fashioned from palm fronds), we felt sufficiently prepared for a 3 day sailing trip down the reef with Ragamuffin Sailing Tours.

I'll give you $10 if you match the text above to this picture
(not really, but if you skimmed the text, go back and read it!)
- Thanks Emily & Alicia for the photos in this section and the good times

Look a little closer, and you'll see just what a fine establishment we were in.
The text in the pic reads: "Why men put beer on the bottom shelf in the fridge"

Just for the record, I still had Mandingo's hand-made hat the next morning

Normally, when you fuse together a group of adventurous, outgoing and ridiculously silly travelers the outcome is pretty cool. But when you do this on a sailboat in the Caribbean, it’s freaking effin’ amazing! Camping on the tiniest deserted islands, snorkeling the brilliant reefs and kicking back on the deck was the call of the day(s). Tie this together with a crew of three of the coolest cats Belize has ever seen, an abundance of fresh delicious seafood and some cool tunes and you have one incredible vessel of fun cruising the Belize Breeze down the coast. Time lapsed. An outside world seemed unfathomable. Rum punch flowed freely – so freely in fact that our captain had to raid the rum stash from the sister boat, where wiser souls and innocent children were kept out of harm’s way as they trailed in the wake of our debauchery.

What a fine lady she was!

We camped out on this little patch of sand on the first night - Goff's Caye, Belize

Chilling out on Tobacco Caye on the second day of the sail trip

Crew member Shane sang and rapped along to a never ending medley of songs about “Mama’s kitchen” and something about “Rice and Beans” while his dreadlocks kept beat. Captain Kimani expertly navigated and lectured us about the evils of the world while crew member Ally made sure nobody destroyed the reef or chased the dolphins. She got very upset when we tried to follow the friendly dolphins who visited during our snorkeling stops. And she wasn’t too pleased with Vinko and Lars’ spear-fishing bounty (although the squid Vinko bulls-eyed through the eye and the other two fish the guys caught were totally legit!). “Cheers mate!” to the Aussie boys in the back who caught us the delicious Barracuda and Spanish Mackerel for dinner – we needed all the energy we could get…

Captain Kimani

Future rapper-singer Shane

… to produce a hilarious version of the “I’m on a boat” music video. Resident photographers/ media gurus Melanie and “Randy” directed and participated in the making of the next great video to hit YouTube. We may have to wait a bit to see the final cut, but I promise to plague you with its release. In the meanwhile, I’ll let it leak that it may feature some cat crawling on the deck and that Vinko’s behind may feature in a snippet or two. Enough said. It was absolutely awesome.

Randy Ryan in caught in his "cat pose". Melanie was left unharmed (for the moment)
I especially love Vinko's model pose.

The peeps on the boat got along so well that, once on land,
we all congregated again for a little karaoke (or some form of noise making),
much to the despair of the locals who reckoned themselves the Next Idol.

A very special visit to Canada

noreply@blogger.com (Vinko Grgic) — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 11:56:00 +0000

We had decided to make a surprise visit for the expected birth of E and J's first baby, likewise the first of its generation in both our families. This decision saw us bolt over a small forever across the Central American continent. In just two days we had made the trip from Santiago Atitlan to Cancun and later Calgary.

The surprise was fantastic, neither of them suspected a thing and for all they knew we were still in Guatemala. Maybe even for most of what any of you knew, we were and are still in Guatemala. What is even more confusing is the fact that as I write this, we are indeed on our way back to Central America and may well be in Guatemala again very soon.

So what happened over the last three weeks?

Well, our little vacation from our travels to Canada lasted a whole of three weeks and was designed for two things: to see baby Wingert and surprise its parents, and to go on a snowboarding trip. Luckily, both were a smashing success!

Aunty Colette, completely in love with JTW just hours after delivery

Little baby bear James only hours old

Uncle Vinko and James spending quality time

Mum, dad and baby - the new happy family

James not to impressed with posing again with yours truly, Colette and Vinko

"Now that I am licking carpet, how do I get out of this predicament?"

The baby turned out to be little boy JTW and he is just absolutely adorable. His parents couldn't be prouder of their little human byproduct, and indeed his arrival did not come easy as James turned out to be quite a well sized baby boy. This was a very special time for the whole van Heerden/Wingert/Grgic Canadian clan and there were plenty of ecstatic feelings flying about upon his miraculous arrival and radiant presence.

Our CouchSurfing family for the Snowfest 2011, Fairmont in BC

Fellow CS'er John at the top of the Kicking Horse Gondola

Just look at all that snow and the beautiful conditions at Kicking Horse

Taking a well deserved beer break at the main lodge at Kicking Horse

We loved the tree runs at Kicking Horse, just amazing and fresh snow up to your knees!

The snowboarding trip was organized through CouchSurfing (if you haven't heard of this yet, now is the time to check it out) and turned out to be a blast of a week hanging out with a full house of 12 all snowboarders (yeah!) and shreddin' up the mountain resorts at both Panorama in Invermere and Kicking Horse at Golden, both in BC. Colette and I really pushed the boundaries of our capabilities, and particularly so at Kicking Horse where the runs are not for the faint hearted. Most were steep, some nicely treed, but all were packed with fresh powdered snow! All of this was made easier by the fact that they have a fantastic gondola that takes you all the way to the top from the base lodge that lands at the top of these idyllic snowboarding runs and conditions, which also meant we didn't have to brave the wind chill factor of a Canadian winter hanging our one bound foot and board off a chair lift...in other words, awesome snowboarder heaven! Kicking Horse has risen to the top of my list for snowboarding destinations.

The whole new Canada clan in Calgary, we had to say farewell again...

We said our farewell to the Canada family once again, and even more sadly this time with the presence of little James in circulation. Nevertheless, we fly back to Cancun to answer our calling of more Central American exploration and travel...where to from there? Hard to say, only time and the road round the bend will tell.

The Good Ship is a Bad Ship

noreply@blogger.com (Vinko Grgic) — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 22:02:00 +0000

Colette's old hobby, while we lived in Brisbane, was sometimes spending quality Friday nights with this pack of loud, slobbering and twisted scoundrels. I am indeed speaking of the Good Ship, and they have recently begun to make waves and stink up a storm back home.

Their latest video release is nothing short of brilliant, enjoy!

If you like this song, pick your poison and feel free to check out others on their; facebook, myspace, and feel free to purchase any songs from their album "Avast! Wretched Sea" at the iTunes online store.

Ethical Responsibility and the Zeitgeist

noreply@blogger.com (Vinko Grgic) — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 04:25:00 +0000

It has become apparent in these modern times that the impact of human lifestyles globally has reached a level where it can no longer be assumed that nature will take care of it, let alone ignored altogether. Many of the things we take for granted in our modern and industrialized, nay consumerist lives, becomes available and accessible simply because it presently does not take into account what "cost" it imparts on to our mother earth.

Apple image courtesy of UpgradeOSX.com

To illustrate my point, take for example one apple. An apple in Canada or Australia may cost you around $1.50 (at a rate of roughly $4.00/kg). This price usually includes the cost associated with growing the apple, imparted to the farmer, transporting the apple, imparted to the transport company, storing and selling the apple, imparted to the supermarket company, plus profit (hopefully down the whole chain, but usually not especially in the case of farmers...but that's another story).

What this price currently does not include is the cost associated with removing prime vegetation for the growth of mono-culture agricultural practices. It does not include the cost of the reduction of top soil health and quality thus reducing the capacity of future growth. It does not typically include the cost associated with the loss of biodiversity both in flora and fauna, and therefore the wider impact on the surrounding environment, other farm practices and indeed the whole natural world. It also does not include the cost of reduced air quality, carbon dioxide intake and regulation, and reduced water quality due to loss of native vegetation. This is where carbon credits come in.

Biodiversity image courtesy of Greenlifeonearth.mylovetechnology.com

It must be said, especially for the sake of carbon market skeptics, that the carbon bonds available on the global carbon market, not withstanding really poor quality credits in the form of concessions for massive corporations and all other tainted types, are our current best guess scenario. In the same wane that 600 years ago we thought the world was flat, and 100 years ago did not think it was possible to fly, and so on, we are a people of the belief that "this is what we know now to be the best and therefore is the truth". In other words it is an intermediate solution which will aid the transition to a new, green global economy.

Round The Bend Project, and indeed Colette and Vinko Grgic move around a lot...around the world that is, and we usually fly. This is available to us and is of course the most efficient way to get around, especially over such great distances. So we indulge, and we consume, and currently our actions do not contain the consequences of such comfort and ability to travel. In order to correct this fault and to join the ranks of the current best predicted practice on business that includes environmental impact, we are obliged to offset our flights.

Our LittleGreenSpot green certificate, offsetting the carbon emissions of our annual flight travel

We purchased our annual flights carbon offsets from LittleGreenSpot, a very new Canadian company dedicated to providing high quality carbon credits for business's as well as the general public. This seemed a much better method of assuring that our money went to the right place. Usually you will be able to purchase offsets from your airline once you make the booking, however it is difficult to tell where exactly these funds are going and what quality of carbon credit they are providing. There are also other companies where you may purchase your offsets directly but most assume that you are purchasing them only for a single or return flight. LittleGreenSpot is different, they take into account the fact that you may fly more than once in a year and provide an easy to use calculator to offset you annual flights. Our current offsets with them are supporting a wind farm project in India, a massive growing and quickly industrializing economy in dire need of green alternatives. Another one of their projects is the San Jose community conservation effort in Peten, located in Northern Guatemala. We got a chance to visit their BioItza Biosphere Reserve and see firsthand the inspiring enthusiasm they put toward protecting their environment for future generations. You can read all about the projects that LittleGreenSpot is supporting here.

It makes sense to jump start this change, pay your share and even out a little the damage your lifestyle causes to the global biosphere...our life support system.

Merino Wool Clothing is the Best Travel Clothing

noreply@blogger.com (Vinko Grgic) — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 22:47:00 +0000

Hey all, this is a special blog just to talk about a fairly recent product that is available on the market. If you haven't heard of merino wool yet, then just quickly it is sheep wool from the New Zealand alps in the south island. The sheep there are named Merino and their coat is exceptionally well adapted to massive swing in temperature across the year and their vast terrain. Their wool is famous for being ultra fine and ultra dense, and provides an excellent material for making anything from ultra light to thick clothing of all shapes and sizes.

Merino wool performance clothing by Icebreaker (Image courtesy of Treehugger.com)

You might already be aware of a very successful company and excellent business model by the name of Icebreaker (also an excellent place to read all about the amazing powers of merino wool). The brand is now synonymous with endurance high performance wear and thermal comfort clothing based on the fact that every single one of their products is made from sustainable farming practices of only merino wool.

This evolution in endurance clothing has brought about a shift in the travel and camping markets as well. Colette and I got to each really put to the test a thin long sleeved merino wool shirt we got for a bargain price in Canada prior to setting off on our trip. I have to admit that this is by far the most superior product of its kind. We wore these shirts pretty much every single day, they never felt too hot or too cold. They do not stink or build up stench from repeated wear and after sweating. Even better, they dry super, super fast.

While we were in Belize we ran into a lovely lady from Seattle who told us about her friend Georgia Stephenson (she goes by her more delicious nickname Tink) who had started a line of merino wool design clothing for outerwear and the like. Tink being a super awesome person and Nicole being a lovely individual herself, have teamed up and sent us two more long sleeved shirts and a pair of thermal stretch pants as well.

The products are designed and made by Tink using only high quality New Zealand merino wool. They are perfect, and we have decided to take back nothing but merino wool shirts due to their excellent performance once we head back to Central America again. You can check out Tink's website here, her range of Merino Wool clothing is named ElementAll and she is currently building a portfolio for her website.

So there you have it folks, from the horses mouth. There is nothing better than merino wool clothing when it comes to backpacking and saving space. Easy to dry, great in all conditions, never smells and it is super comfortable.

Curva Peligrosa y el Ombligo

noreply@blogger.com (Vinko Grgic) — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 23:20:00 +0000

Antigua - Lago Atitlan - Flores, Guatemala

The amazing Lake Atitlan, Colette took this photo from a lancha heading to the markets in Santiago Atitlan one morning

This week´s title was inspired by none other than the proximity of a common Guatemalan road sign´s texting to the Croatian language (Hrvatski) and, well the amazing place that is Lago Atitlan (Lake Atitlan) in the Guatemalan highlands.

"Curva Peligrosa y el Ombligo" [Dangerous Bend and the Umbilicus]

The lake was named the "Umbilicus of the World" by Martin Prechtel in his amazing book describing his life as an initiated shaman living in Santiago Atitlan some 30 years back (today this is a large town on the sourthern bank of Lake Atitlan, home to 40,000 Tzutujiles).The book is named Secrets of the Talking Jaguar, published in 1998, and if you haven´t read it yet, I strongly recommend it for anyone who feels that some ounce of their natural, wild self still exists somewhere quietly, hidden deep inside their hearts and souls.

Coffee is the rule in Antigua, Guatemala (this sign is from Fernando`s, one of the nicest cafe`s in town)

An antique coffee ball roasting machine desinged by none other than a German

Workers in the coffee drying fields

So much coffee...

These photos are courtesy of a tour we took through the La Azotea coffee farm

This was a little church inside the farm compund, maybe for the workers?

The bus ride from Antigua to Panajachel, the most common tourist entry point to Lake Atitlan, is nothing short of amazing...amazing for having survived that demon ride through hell´s scorned and twisted gates! Picture this folks; our driver is a well worn Guatemalan cowboy doning a white cowboy hat, he drives as if each day is his last and perhaps he is a little hungover from last nights celebration for having survived the previous day on this very same bus.

This is a Subaru Impreza, some 40 years older than Colette`s BAM-056 Canadian version, that we found in Antigua

I bet every morning this man wakes up, makes love to his wife for what might be his last time again, kisses her after breakfast and says "Don´t wait up for me!" and steps out his door facing another day of probable death. once he hits that driver seat he rides that pony like its a bat from the devil´s very own cage for what seems to be his next attempt to score a PB (personal best time) on the leg between Antigua and Panajachel on Lake Atitlan. This journey they say is supposed to take around 4 hours; we get there in 3 hours and 15 minutes!...after many stops along the way picking up the local Mayan highlanders heading for the weekend markets around Lake Atitlan. This bus hurls along the two lane and sometimes one lane highway, around and up and down such tight bends that your liver screams for mercy, and at such a speed that I swear TO GOD, the bus could not, I repeat COULD NOT have gone any faster - for the laws of physics themselves would not permit it!!!

Happy having survived this improbability of life´s existences, we reach the tranquil shores of Lago Atitlan. Despite arriving in Panajachel, the place itself being very beautiful with scores of handicraft shops to browse and quite a welcoming tourist trap, our destination is San Marcos La Laguna. A short lancha (taxi boat) ride across the lake, San Marcos La Laguna sits comfortably on the far North-Western edge of Lago Atitlan, a modern spiritual meccha for many a crusty hippie, artesan and "spiritual healer".

Making another bracelet at Hotel Aaculax in San Marcos La Laguna

San Marcos La Laguna is an amazing place. Even the most hardened sceptic could not deny that after a week spent here they felt nothing, not even a slight change in their attitude. This place evokes tranquility, not only because there are more spiritual or yoga or healing ceremony retreats here than in West End, Brisbane (or Kensignton in Calgary) - but also because its home to the Kakchikeles (traditional Mayan people living along the northern bank of Lake Atitlan), and its just so damn beautiful.

The ornate and beautiful Hotel Aaculax, we spent three nights here

Your happy hosts in San Marcos La Laguna

We fall for its charms, and those of the many little villages around the edge of the lake. There are in fact two major traditional language groups of Mayan people here, Kakchikel (northern bank) and Tzutujil (southern bank). The days are spent quietly, paitently and calmy. San Marcos La Laguna has no roads in Barrio 3, the part of town where the tourists prevail, only little dirt paths with hand painted signs telling you where you can eat, sleep and get "healed". Swimming in the lake just off the rocks to the West of town is a calming and refreshing experience, and if you dare you can take the 10 meter plunge off the timber deck built for this purpose. Colette jumped twice on our last day there!

We take another week of Spanish through the Orbita Spanish School from San Pedro La Laguna, run by Rene, a really clever and very polite man and single parent of two amazing kids. Here in San Pedro La Laguna the local language is Tzutujil, same as in Santiago Atitlan. While their program is really well structured for a period of up to 8 weeks or more, we insist on only practising conversation which turns out to be the right course of action. After many weeks of grammar, we just needed to know how to use it.

Colette studying at the Orbita Spanish School in San Pedro La Laguna (Rene the director was her teacher)

Not a bad view from my study desk hey? (this is my teacher Myra, she was lovely)

In San Marcos La Laguna we stayed at El Arbol, the only Mayan, and in fact Guatemalan owned hotel in San Marcos La Laguna. The owner Rigoberto and his whole family are amazing and outwardly honest and hardworking people. They are also very industrious, owning the hotel, a handicraft shop selling colourful Kakchikel clothes and wowen gifts, a tienda (regular little corner shop) selling water by the volume for your bottles and home made cakes and breads made by doña de la casa (Rigo´s wife) and also a very affordable restaurant serving up some local breakfast choices.

The gorgeous and affordable Hotel El Arbol, San Marcos La Laguna

Our breakfast table at Moonfish in San Marcos La Laguna, the amazing food at this restaurant is all local, organic and healthy - and super tasty!

This drinking spot in Santiago Atitlan does not want guns inside...or your dogs!

I really took to the village, making friends with many artesans (local and foreign) and local children and other townsfolk. The kids here like in many poorer parts of the world are used to being given gifts or money by ignorant toursits. While the intention is sweet and good, the reality and its consequences affect the local people badly since the kids learn that they can just beg or ask for things to get by in life. I refuse to give anyone anything for free and find myself teaching kids how to make bracelets, taking classes in Kakchikel in return for bracelet gifts (which I also had to make while I was there) and just generally trying to teach good examples. Give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach a man how to fish...and well you get the picture.

My young and beautiful Kakchikel teacher Juana Evelia, she is the only girl in San Marcos La Laguna selling pure cacao chocolates made just across the lake in San Pedro La Laguna (she is 11 years old and is wearing the bracelet I made for her as payment for the language lessons)

The outcome is that I really get to know some of the people here quite well, I learn a little of the local language which comes in handy and earns many warm smiles, and finally my experience of our time here is so much richer. The Kakchikel language is beautiful, rich and warm...just like the locally grown coffee and chocolate!

Seq`ar [pronounced sick-arsh] - means Buenas Dias or Good Morning

Xq`aq`ij [pronounced sh-kak-ich] - means Buenas Tardes or Good Afternoon

Utzauach [pronounced utz-ah-watch] - means Como Estas or How Are You

Tiosh`xawa [pronounced tee-osh-shower] - means Gracias A Ti / Muchas Gracias or Thank You Very Much

...and my personal favourite...

Chuac`chic [pronounced chew-a-cheek] - means Hasta Mañana or See You Tomorrow

...I will miss this place, and ache to return soon.

We became good friends after seeing each other lots over the week and had a great time making jokes, she was truly sad when we said goodbye to her the night before we left (it broke Colette`s heart to hear Evelia say "Yo voy a ser muy triste que ustedes salen...")

We leave the lake and its amazing wonders after kitting ourselves in some of the amazing colourful locally handmade clothing, and take a 12 hour bus ride to Flores, in Peten in Northern Guatemala. The journey amazingly takes us past the three largest lakes in Guatemala, first we start from Lago Atitlan, we zoom past Lago Izabal near Rio Dulce, and end up on the shores of Lago Peten Itzà in Flores. All in one day, and what is the meaning behind all this water? Are we not made of 70% water? Interesting...

Where we are off to next we don´t know, maybe its time for a rest in Flores...either way the "Umbilicus" part of the title is very suiting, without disregard to our proximate new family member way up in that cold part of the world. Is it time yet?