Latin America

Introduction

From all the trips I made, the one to Central America, and then especially Guatemala ranks among the best.
There’s also a site on Cuba written by Steven Buvens and a site made by Guido Gevels.

Guatemala

Guatemala has everything a traveller could dream of (except beaches maybe):
There’s the authentic Indian culture with lively and colourful markets like in Solola. Make sure you have plenty of film there, you’ll need it.
There’s the Mayan culture in the North. Tikal definitely is one of the best Maya sites in the world. A side trip just over the border to Copan is possible.

Colonial architecture can be seen in Antigua, a cosy city, though full of tourists.
The nature is incredibly diverse: there’s the rainforest jungle of Peten, cloud forest of the Verapaz region, Carribean and Pacific coast and the volcanoes around Antigua, Atitlan and also Quetzaltenango.

Mexico

Mexico is another world. It’s more modern, buses are better quality, but prices are also higher. Of course it also has a lot to offer, but you’ll need a bit more money to get it. I did only Yucatan for the moment, so I can’t tell anything about the rest of Mexico.
For beaches you have plenty of choice. There’s an increasing number of possibilities near the ruins of Tulum. Playa del Carmen couldn’t really seduce us, and we passed Cancun.
The Mayan ruins are fabulous. Tulum is not so big, but the setting next to the sea is nice, but especially Chichen Itza and Uxmal are great.
Merida was a nice and cosy city, especially on sundays.

Belize

Belize has a much more Caribbean atmosphere. We didn’t really like it, but we had to pass it on our way to Mexico. It’s a shock to see everything is much more expensive than Guatemala, and the jungle around San Ignacio is difficult to visit (impossible during rainy season) and visits are mainly catering for rich Americans willing to spend 100 US$ a day. The Cayes are quite nice of course.

Costa Rica

Costa Rica is a country where:
nature is protected on more than a quarter of the total area in national parks and private reserves.
beaches are among the most beautiful in the Americas both on the Pacific as on the Caribbean side.
people are among the most peaceful in the world
only drawback might be the weather. Take a raincoat with you ….

Jordan

Introduction to Jordan
I went to Jordan myself in may 2004 and it was an absolutely marvellous trip, probably one of the best trips I ever made. I made this trip as a tour leader for Joker Toerisme, a Belgian travel agent offering adventurous trips, so you will see that this report is a bit different from the other reports. I can give a description of what we did, but I will not give details on practicalities and local contacts (like in the other reports).
For me, it was my first trip as a tour leader, and I must admit that in the past, I was not a big fan of organised trips. Nevertheless, I think that the Joker trip in Jordan contradicts this. It was an extremely active trip, we had a marvellous group of people, and above all, a lot of the trips we did cannot be done by individual travellers, because you always need a local guide, and it would be too costly to do it with just 2 people. Indeed, Jordanian guides are not really cheap contrary to other countries like Morocco or plenty of Asian countries. Also, for many trips, you’ll need your own transport with driver for drop off and pick-up, and this is of course much cheaper in a group.
This is the trip we did:
1: Amman – walk in Wadi Yabis – Um Qais
2: Um Qais – Abila – Jerash – Mount Nebo – Madaba – Faqu’a
3: Wadi Mujib trekking
4: Kerak – Wadi ibn Hammad trekking
5: Dana – Rummana campsite
6-7: Walk Mansourah – Feinan – Al Foron
8-9-10: Little Petra – Petra
11-12: Wadi Rum
13: Aqaba
14: Amman
Travel guides
The best travelguide to Jordan is undoubtedly the Rough Guide. It has more then 400 pages of info (compared to a bit more then 200 for LP), and it is really very reliable and detailed. The main advantage compared to LP is that it has much more info on trekkings, as this part was written by Tony Howard, the man who wrote “Walking in Jordan”, the bible on trekking in Jordan.
For those of you speaking dutch, it is definitely worth considering becoming member of “Wegwijzer”. This is a non-commercial organisation based in Bruges, Belgium. They have an incredible amount of info coming from guidebooks, leaflets but also reports from members. Since 2001 you can now get a lot of these reports online!! Membership is only 25 Euro a year, and this includes a good magazine they publish every 2 months.
An interesting site, especially if you plan to tour the Middle East with your own car, is this one. The site has a lot of practical info on how to prepare your trip, insurance, visa etc… No practical info on sights though. It also has an impressive number of links.

1000 travel tips

The site for the independent traveller

Asia

Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan

Latin America

Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Costa Rica, Cuba, Peru

Middle East
Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Yemen

Africa

Morocco, Mali

Medical Matters

Malaria with info on Lariam, Hepatitis

Rafting

Some of the 1000 travel tips
Honduras has some great Garifuna villages. The most scenic of this is undoubtedly Miami situated between a laguna and the ocean. In Copan the Belgian-run Via Via café has been recently renewed and now offers great value for money at 6 US$ p.p.
You can see the Komodo dragons on a 2-day boattrip for only 100.000 Rp p.p. (if you are a group of 4) including everything: food, accomodation on the boat, entrance fees…

Plan your visit to Angkor Wat in Cambodja

Do the incredible walk through the Wadi ibn Hammad siq in Jordan, North of Kerak
Mountain biking is a great way to explore the Cusco area

You can have a 3-course meal for only 8 US$ at the revolving restaurant on top of the 5-star Cham Palace Hotel in Damascus

You can have an excellent “eat as much as you can buffet” for only 15 US$ p.p. in the highest restaurant in the world (Westin Hotel Singapore).

The Sunday market in Bac Ha, North Vietnam is the most beautiful ethnic market I ever saw
The Massada sunrise tour is a great way to see a lot of Israel’s highlights in 1 day for only 18 US$.Find out about flights from Guatemala City to Tikal, markets in Guatemala, prices on hotels and buses…

Where to book your hotel accomodation in Thailand: on the internet, at the hotel itself, at the airport ??

Do you want recommendations for a guide to visit Dogon country in Mali?

And much more…..

Travel tips on indonesia, singapore, myanmar, thailand, cambodia, vietnam, nepal, tibet, turkey, syria, israel, jordan, yemen, mexico, guatemala, belize, honduras, costa rica, peru and rafting

Belgian list:

Dutch list:
Travel tips on indonesia, singapore, myanmar, thailand, cambodia, vietnam, nepal, tibet, turkey, syria, israel, jordan, yemen, mexico, guatemala, belize, honduras, costa rica, peru and rafting

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