Latin America

[Pat's Van]

Sounds like you have a death wish ??!

there were plenty of other travellers knocking about too actually mate

place I seen that didn't like the look of (what very little I saw of it) was Honduras, gave me the shivers that did

 

[Billy Dean]

there were plenty of other travellers knocking about too actually mate

place I seen that didn't like the look of (what very little I saw of it) was Honduras, gave me the shivers that did

Guatemala attracts something like 1.5 million tourists a year apparently.

Have you been to Honduras? Saw a documentary about San Pedro Sula recently. Sounds like a bit of a hellhole according to that. Highest murder rate in the world and less than 10% of murder cases are even investigated let alone solved.

 

[witchdoc187]

best time I had is without a doubt Bolivia, but deffo the best country to visit (out of those I've see) is Colombia

deffo gonna have to check out some of these docu's getting mentioned, I tend to read about it more than anything, but will need more recommendations, the central library's got a south american section but there'snot a lot to pick from TBH

agree with bolivia - didnt make colombia but going to try and get through the darien gap from panama next year to check it out.

 

[witchdoc187]

also planning to visit honduras, guatemala, belize, nicaragua. Though it is mexico that i am going to be spending most time in.

 

[fatshark]

Anybody been to Costa Rica? from what i've heard its like a piece of heaven dropped down to earth. Keen to check it out some day.

 

[Billy Dean]

Anybody been to Costa Rica? from what i've heard its like a piece of heaven dropped down to earth. Keen to check it out some day.

Never been but hope to go there soon too. Only ever heard good things about it.

 

[Pat's Van]

agree with bolivia - didnt make colombia but going to try and get through the darien gap from panama next year to check it out.

I'd love to do that, how are you planning to do it ???

Have you been to Honduras? Saw a documentary about San Pedro Sula recently. Sounds like a bit of a hellhole according to that. Highest murder rate in the world and less than 10% of murder cases are even investigated let alone solved.

I did not spend very long there at all, just passing through from El Salvador on route to Nica.

The border towns are horrendous, very shady characters knocking about, terribly underage brasses, hellish and horrible, I'm sure there are nice parts obviously, I never got to see them though

 

[mezzrow]

Some essential reading.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Open-Veins-Latin-America-Centuries/dp/184668742X

FFS.

 

[verreauxi]

Spent a summer in Costa Rica. One of the friendliest places I've ever been too. One of the most amazing times I had was at these hotsprings; they had these gardens with little streams that all flowed into this central pool. The pool had a swim up bar and I was there at night with my then girlfriend. In the background, while we sipped on our beers, there was an active volcano (Arenal) which was dripping with bright orange lava against the dark sky...very surreal. The beaches are nice, the food is good, but the jungle is one of the harshest I've ever been to: everything is slippery, wet, full of spines/thorns, or capable of a injurious bite. Very exhilarating.

I also went to Paraguay. Fun place but didn't do much exploring. Instead I spent the month with The Ache, a hunter-gathering group of people (several tribes) that were first contacted in the 50's through 70's. We mostly ran around the southern Amazon while the men hunted monkeys/peccaries/birds (anything with protein on it) and the women gathered grubs/manioc (anything with more protein or carbs), and I tried to look useful, pasty westerner that I was. At nights we'd sometimes sleep on the jungle floor and they'd tell me how one source (not their first source though) of mortality for them used to be predation from jaguars. That blew me away, given our number one source of mortality is cancer/heart disease. Getting eaten by a big-ass cat...what a way to go. But I did spend some time in the capital city of Paraguay and we also made it to Ciudad del Este in Brazil. Both cities have a real bustle about them. I much preferred the country.

I'm planning to go back to South America at some point once I can scrape up the cash. At the top of my list is Chile and specifically a visit to Everton de Vina del Mar, the Chilean football club that was founded by a bunch of Everton fans back in 1909. Other places I'd like to check out is the Old City of Cartegena in Colombia and the Tapui's in southern Venezuela.

 

[Fuleco]

FFS.

Que pasa tio?

 

[Pat's Van]

Spent a summer in Costa Rica. One of the friendliest places I've ever been too. One of the most amazing times I had was at these hotsprings; they had these gardens with little streams that all flowed into this central pool. The pool had a swim up bar and I was there at night with my then girlfriend. In the background, while we sipped on our beers, there was an active volcano (Arenal) which was dripping with bright orange lava against the dark sky...very surreal. The beaches are nice, the food is good, but the jungle is one of the harshest I've ever been to: everything is slippery, wet, full of spines/thorns, or capable of a injurious bite. Very exhilarating.

I also went to Paraguay. Fun place but didn't do much exploring. Instead I spent the month with The Ache, a hunter-gathering group of people (several tribes) that were first contacted in the 50's through 70's. We mostly ran around the southern Amazon while the men hunted monkeys/peccaries/birds (anything with protein on it) and the women gathered grubs/manioc (anything with more protein or carbs), and I tried to look useful, pasty westerner that I was. At nights we'd sometimes sleep on the jungle floor and they'd tell me how one source (not their first source though) of mortality for them used to be predation from jaguars. That blew me away, given our number one source of mortality is cancer/heart disease. Getting eaten by a big-ass cat...what a way to go. But I did spend some time in the capital city of Paraguay and we also made it to Ciudad del Este in Brazil. Both cities have a real bustle about them. I much preferred the country.

I'm planning to go back to South America at some point once I can scrape up the cash. At the top of my list is Chile and specifically a visit to Everton de Vina del Mar, the Chilean football club that was founded by a bunch of Everton fans back in 1909. Other places I'd like to check out is the Old City of Cartegena in Colombia and the Tapui's in southern Venezuela.

hahaha that sounds ace

Didn't think the Amazon extended to Paraguay though. The part we got to was in Bolivia, you start from the town of Rurrenebaque and then head into the basin, fantastic and totally underdeveloped and unspoilt, really cheap by most Amazon trip standards too.
I highly recommend it to anyone.

I'd love to do the Roraima trek in Venezuela one day, looks like the Lost World. Fingers crossed.

 

[rascal]

Some more essential reading:

 

[Pat's Van]

Some more essential reading:

bet ya Simon B's in there kicking @ss and stomping on nutsacks all over the show

 

[rascal]

bet ya Simon B's in there kicking @ss and stomping on nutsacks all over the show

He should have a movie

 

[Pat's Van]

He should have a movie

no, never!

hollywood would ruin the memory of the man, they'd have Steven Segal playing him or something