The Chick Traveler

Trivop - the best thing since Lonely Planet?

2007-08-26T22:05:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, the most stressful part of any vacation is finding a good budget hotel. We've all been there before, you book a hotel online only to get there and find out it looks nothing like what you were expecting. You want to back out, but it's too late - all that's left to do is cross your fingers that the sheets were changed.

A startup company called Trivop is looking to change all that. They call themselves "The First Videoguide for Hotels" and they are forming a network of travelers with digicams and camcorders, and encouraging them to film their hotels and upload footage.

At the time of this posting, they have 194 hotels in Europe in their database, but they hope to expand around the world quickly.

(As a sidenote - they're hiring! They're based in Paris and secretly I'm dying to apply!)

Belize: Flying to Placencia

2007-08-25T09:54:00.001-07:00

After a long series of flights (layovers in Dulles and Miami), Dave and I landed in Belize City with relief. Our plan was to grab a taxi into town, and take public buses to Placencia - a long stretch of beach-y peninsula on the southern coast of the country. Perhaps knowing that another long, uncomfortable journey wasn't going to be quite as fun as we had imagined, we revised our plan to stop in Dangriga, the main city in the Stann Creek District, and about two hours closer by bus than Placencia.

Then, the most amazing thing happened. We were approached by a Mayan Airlines ticketing agent "Any connecting flights ma'am?" We looked at eachother, trying to read whether the other person was game. I figured it couldn't hurt to ask, "How much would it be to get to.....Placencia?"

$160 well spent US dollars later ($80 each), Dave and I boarded a tiny 10 seater plane for Placencia. I felt spoiled, but in such a great way! I have to admit, this was perhaps the best $160 we spent the entire trip.

It seemed so unreal flying down the coast of Belize. The entire country, the size of New Hampshire, has only 250,000 residents. Los Angeles has 10 million. It seemed impossible for an entire country to have a quarter of a million people when the city I live in has 10 million. The sparse population lives mostly in villages surrounding only a few main cities. When we flew over the land, it was just that: land. The occassional road or tropical fruit plantation interrupted the almost nonstop scenery of dense forested areas and lazily winding rivers and small ponds that result from Belize's sea-level (non)-altitude. It was beautiful.

Since there are so few roads in Belize, I would recommend the splurge on a flight to anyone visiting - it's one of the only ways to see parts of the country. We wanted to take another flight, but the next stop was San Ignacio and, while it has a small airstrip, no local planes fly regularly in or out of the airport there. For visitors not including Placencia in their trip, the other option for flights is to take a small plane to Flores, Guatemala and visit Tikal. You will likely be rewarded by very different scenery than we were, as that flight goes over the Maya Mountains, but I have no doubt it will be just as beautiful.

Coming from any developed country, it is amazing the amount of untouched wilderness that still exists. It's humbling, really.

Leaf-cutting Ants

2007-08-24T14:36:00.001-07:00

It must sound either very strange or incredibly ignorant, but the most amazing part of Tikal, Guatemala for me was the line of leaf-cutting ants Dave and I saw on the trail out to the first pyramid. We were looking up and all around at the forest around us - beautiful tropical plants, so dense you couldn't see past the first foot. Our minds hard at work imagining various wildlife we were missing - could their be a jaguar just beyond that nest of vines? - I tripped, and looked down to see these ants.

The ants are larger than your average kitchen pest, but amazingly small compared to their loads. They soldier on, one by one, forming a line from the tallest trees all the way down to their homes. I felt like I was watching a show on the Discovery Channel but it was so much better in real life.

Recalling a story we had been told by a boy from Punta Gorda in Belize (who had come up to Placencia to sell his family's crafts on the beach), about how the ancient Mayans used these "soldier ants" to stitch up wounds. The magical thing about them was that once they grabbed something, they wouldn't let go. It reminded me of the story of the Raccoon who got his hand stuck in a jar because he wouldn't let go of the shiny object inside. So the Mayans would hold the ants up to a deep cut, and use them to pinch the skin back together. The ants wouldn't let go, and the wounds would heal.

At home, I detest ants. In Tikal, I couldn't keep my eyes off of them.

Belizean attitudes & Hurricane Season

2007-08-23T16:40:00.000-07:00

About thirty minutes before my flight to Miami was supposed to take off, chaos broke out in the Belize City airport. Hurricane Dean was still (at my estimation) about 230 miles offshore, but those first drops of rain caused pandemonium. Kids were crying, adults were whispering, and everyone was flicking their eyes back and forth to gauge the reactions of their peers. Thunder struck, someone gasped.

If this seems a bizarre scene already, it was stranger still when compared to the interactions I'd had with local Belizeans over the past few days as the storm was approaching. Time after time, I would be looked at with a mix of curiosity and amusement when I asked about Dean - as though people were saying "why would you ask such a question, silly girl?"

The thing that I learnt about hurricanes in Belize was that there is a limited window in which to worry. It's either going to hit, or it's not - and it changes it's path so frequently that there really isn't any use worrying until you know you should. Dave and I almost didn't go out to Caye Caulker last weekend, because the storm was brewing. It hadn't yet hit the Dominican Republic, and was still a few days from Jamaica, but we were going to cancel the most relaxing and rejuvenating part of our vacation out of worry. We worried that we wouldn't be able to get back in time, that the weather would be bad, the water would be choppy. In fact, it was beautiful and the boat ride back was smoother than the one there.

On Sunday morning (less than 48 hours before Dean hit), we asked around, and most of the locals seemed intent on staying unless evacuations were issued (which they were, later that day). They said Dean wasn't the first hurricane to sweep into their lives, and wouldn't be the last. A few people started lazily boarding up their windows and Dave and I spend a lovely morning at the Split (the only good swimming area) before packing up and taking a boat back to the mainland.

On Monday, everyone was business. The hotel issued us a non-liability form, basically saying that if we chose to stay and the hurricane hit, we weren't their problem. That made us a little tense, but it was all matter-of-fact. We headed to the airport, past people nailing plywood to their windows, and straight into the ensuing chaos of two hundred or so tourists with nothing better to do than freak out.

It's probably obvious by now that I have no real conclusion to my story. But a lesson was learned about worry, and the nature of stress. I was so impressed with the Belizeans. They didn't worry until it was time, and then they did. For all the worrying in the airport, I believe we all got out just fine. I guess it comes down to the old adage: Don't Worry, Be Happy. (And, of course, be smart).

I'm going to Belize!

2007-08-09T21:33:00.000-07:00

On Monday night, I leave for Belize. That's only 4 days away! I'm going with Dave, and it's coming at a time when we both really need some time off from work (or is that all the time?).

The plan right now is to hit Caye Caulker first, since it's close to Belize City and the airport. We have a somewhat hellish flight schedule (two stops, overnight) so the thought of getting on a bus for several hours probably won't be appealing when we disembark. Caye Caulker seems a perfect place to relax and destress from the flight, but still promises the opportunity to explore. We had considered going to Placencia first, because it's more off-the-beaten path and supposedly the best beach in Belize, but I think the ease of getting to Caye Caulker makes it an obvious first stop.

We'll stay on C. Caulker for one or two nights. From what I've read, you can walk around the entire island with relative ease, and it's pretty laid back. Less touristy than Ambergris Caye, but more so than most of the others. Still, it will be a nice transition into the rest of the country. Plus, there are some cabanas on stilts, right on the water, that still manage to be less than $40/night. A worthy splurge.

From there, I think we'll probably head to San Ignacio, as I'd like to vary it up a little and go inland before we return beachside. I'm a little torn though - from San Ignacio, we can make an easy daytrip to Tikal in Guatemala - supposedly the most spectacular of the Mayan ruins. But if we skip that, we can see lesser ruins in Belize, and spend more time further south in the mountains and in the Cockscomb Wildlife Sanctuary which is huge and looks amazing. We'll probably go to San Ignacio though, and take a day to go to Tikal. A friend of ours backpacked Guatemala and said they were something not to miss.

After that, we will backtrack to Belmopan, then take a bus south to Dangriga, and continue south to Cockscomb. Still on the fence as to whether or not we'll spend the night there - I guess it will depend on how long we stay in San Ignacio. Nevertheless, the end destination is Placencia.

Placencia is supposed to be gorgeous - for anyone who doesn't know, it's a long, narrow peninsula which for years, I believe, only had a sidewalk-sized road. I think Placencia Village at the tip still has that, although the rest of the Peninsula has been further developed and boasts at least a semi-full-sized road. Shame.

I'd like to go further south into Toledo, but the reality of it is, we're taking public transport - which from most accounts is spotty and slow - and we just don't have time. Right now the priorities are: carribean beach, rainforest, and Mayan ruins.

Hopefully I'll be able to report from Belize - although I have no clue yet when we will have internet access as one thing that's not a priority to me is sitting behind a computer!

introduction/about me/why you're here

2007-08-08T14:18:00.000-07:00

Somehow you made it to my travel blog - I don't know how, but I'm guessing you're like me. A girl whose travel aspirations extend beyond the safety net of fancy cruises and resorts. You want something grittier, too. You want to stay in hostels, and take public transportation. You want to see the all parts of the world and experience the world from a different perspective, not just a different fancy spa. You know that today, you could hop on a plane, on a bus, on a train and soon find yourself in a totally new world - unfamiliar but spectacular.

Or maybe it's even simpler. Maybe you walk down the street and find that a new bar has opened its doors. You go in, you sit down by yourself, order a beer - whatever's on tap - and start a conversation. You learn something new, hear stories from a fellow traveler, jot it down in your memory of people and places you love.

Why is it that with all of these options, with so many different ways to experience the world, guys get to have all the fun? It's dangerous to go new places, sure. Especially when you're alone, and when there's no option of calling 911 (as if you have a cell phone), but you're not here for excuses. You have just as much a right to see the world as anyone else. There has got to be a way to do it without getting hurt or taken advantage of just because you have a waistline.