The Suberriss Blog on RealTravel

Lima journal: Cloudiest City Ever

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 15:25:43 GMT

We arrived in Lima with about 6 hours to kill until our next bus to the beach city of Mancora. Being that we were fasting for Tisha B´Av there wasn´t much to activity we were able to do except for walk around an expensive beach mall and use the internet. In respect to expensive beach malls and internet, Lima is amazing.

We booked some VIP seats on a Cruz Del Sur bus to Mancora (you know how we rolllll!), and were rewarded with large leather seats and movies all in English for our 18 hour journey.

Cuzco journal: Inca Traillin It!

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 15:21:05 GMT

We arrived in Cuzco after another comfortable night bus with Cial and a great movie called White Chicks (movies on buses are held to different standards, especially when its dubbed in Spanish). We arrived early once again, but were picked up by our hostel, or actually hotel called Torre Dorado and had a great room ready for us to take another nap in. This was a great place, very clean with amazing service, excellent breakfast, and a nice family who owned it...though it was pricey for backpackers and difficult to avoid the infamous backpacker questions of ¨Where are you staying and how much ...

Arequipa journal: No Condors For Us

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 14:51:26 GMT

So after a very comfortable night bus with Cial with a great movie (though the stewardess pissed everyone off for a while when she put the movie in French and the subtitles in German) we arrived in Arequipa. Now why is it that all day buses that you want to get somewhere fast are late and all night buses that you want to arrive late so you get some extra sleep always arrive early, we have no idea, but it is a rule here. Just be thankful the bus doesn´t fall off the mountain while you are sleeping....

We setup our bus out to Cuzco for that night, since we were meeting Jason and Jenn the ...

Huacachina journal: Sandboarding

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 14:34:02 GMT

We knew this place was going to be a little weird when our South American taxi driver could help us get ¨mucho mastool¨ with his cocaine dealing friend. Ica was the crappiest town we´ve seen yet and we were quite happy to escape to Huacachina. Huacachina´s sand dunes were really amazing though the vibe wasn´t exactly our style, the people weren´t exactly the nicest and the soberest, and the truth is any place had a tough act to follow after our Huaraz trip.

Nonetheless we setup to stay one night and were relieved to find excellent pizza at the hostal´s restaurant, though lets say the ...

Huaraz journal: Our Favorite Place

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 14:18:42 GMT

So we arrived in Guayaquil, Ecuador and grabbed our supposedly super duper royal class Ormeno bus to Lima, Peru. Though people had wrote amazing things about the bus online, we knew things weren´t that right when the bus stewardess (or whatever you call them) asked Gilad, actually no, TOLD Gilad to give her pen, and then give her a dollar, and then to take out the trash...and after all that woke him up at 4:30 AM for a little early morning arguing. The truth is for a 24 hour bus it wasn´t that bad, but the company is definitely not as good as it used to be, and there a hell of a lot better ...

Montanita journal: Whale Hunting...I mean watching

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 13:51:16 GMT

So after seeing our friends´awesome pics of whale watching tours, we decided we couldnt miss out on the humpback whale migration. After a long bus ride, we checked into our on the beach 8 dollar per person hotel, only to be scolded later by every Israeli in town for paying 50 cents too much. That night we found the Israeli restaurant in town, Tierra Promenada, with great food and the best fresh pita we´ve tasted outside of Israel. The owner was an awesome guy, and set us up the next day for a whale watching tour which was 25 dollars for guaranteed whales...if you dont see them they take you ...

Banos journal: Hiking in style

Tue, 18 Jul 2006 19:19:43 GMT

So from Quito, we headed to Banos which is a nice small town south down the Andes mountains. After a little bit of an annoying wait in the bus terminal (every millisecond someone from one of the million bus companies was yelling Riobamba, another bus destination) and somewhat unnecessary (there were a trillion companies going to Banos but not realizing this we bought our tickets at the first one we saw...this also made us realize the necessity of the Riobamba yellers) we got on the bus and arrived in Banos.

We checked into an Israeli hostal called Transilvania which was great...cheap, ...

Machachi journal: Life on the farm

Tue, 11 Jul 2006 17:59:49 GMT

Well... as we set out this morning to look for a hostel and book our trip to Lago Quilatoa... We were able to merge the two together. The owner of the tour company we were booking with also has a farm about an hour out of Quito that he renovated.. So we decided to head there spend the night and then head out to the lagoon.

So a few hours later we found ourselves at Papagayo - a farm with many animals (who all have Israeli names after the volunteers who took care of them). We went out for a walk in the beatiful area surrounding the farm and unknowingly befriended the wrong dog.. Well we ...

Quito journal: Back On Dry Land

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 19:26:49 GMT

After a slow last day, a delayed flight, and a slow recovery for Gilad we arrived in Quito. After hearing so much about altitude sickness we expected to arrive in a city where everyone is hyperventilating and laying in the fetal position on the ground, but we had almost no problem adjusting (the drugs work!) and really enjoyed the city. We checked into a nice Japanese hostel/hotel called Hauki and after a nice meal at a vegetarian restaurant called El Maple, we got some rest, ready to see the middle of the world the next day.

So the next morning after attempting to figure out the ...

Galapagos Islands journal: Galapagosing

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 18:30:28 GMT

To sum up the galapagos it was, how you say....WORTH EVERY CENT (and there were a lot of them, believe us). Now that we are done with the summary, we'll get into some of the specifics, but as a warning this is gonna be real long, so get some coffee or go to the next entry.

So after a 2 hour AeroGal flight we arrived to the Galapagos (students dont forget to show your student cards before buying the flights for a major discount), found our tour group, and got on a bus to the docks. Everyone on the bus felt the same: apprehensive about whether or not the trip will actually be worth how ...

Guayaquil journal: Killin time in Guaya-kill

Wed, 05 Jul 2006 15:53:35 GMT

We arrived at Guyaquil around 1 AM after a long flight and a very long (11 hour) layover for Sarit. We did get the better-than-first class seats though (otherwise known as the emergency exit aisle) so the flight wasnt too bad.

So not much too say about the city since we kind of landed in, got picked up by the hostel (figured catching a taxi or a bus at 1AM could be kind of risky), slept, woke up, and got on our plane to the Galapagos.

South America journal: South America Journey

Wed, 05 Jul 2006 15:27:27 GMT

And we aint talking about Texas...

Central America / Caribbean journal: Central American Adventure-n

Wed, 05 Jul 2006 15:25:20 GMT

Isn't the title enough?! Jeez.....

Bastimentos journal: Big beach little red frog

Thu, 22 Jun 2006 22:18:24 GMT

After chilling with the turtles, we headed out to Bastimentos, an Island known for its excellent beaches. The hotel was quite a change from Olas - no TV, and a shared cold shower... but beautiful views, and plenty of beaches to explore. The first day our new friends led us to the beach - an interesting 30 minure muddy, slippery hike that ended with a pristine beach of warm clear water. We made some dinner with our buddies, learned a new game of cards, and did chilling as we know best. The next day we continued our hike to an even farther beach "red frog beach" - which is famous for the little ...

Bocas del Toro journal: Amazing location, so-so weather

Thu, 22 Jun 2006 20:02:39 GMT

So this was one of our favorite spots during our whole trip.Bocas del Toro is on the Carribean side of Panama and is made up of an infinite amount of islands, according to Sarit's count. We checked into Hotel Olas which was AMAZING! It was a little over what we were expecting to pay, the rooms were totally clean, with AC, TV, and an amazing breakfast that is included in the cost. The TV was cool since we hadn't seen TV in a while and the weather was only so-so, but we did go from going to bed at 8PM, to going to bed at like 3 AM, mostly because of it.

From Bocas, you have options to ...

Boquete journal: Mountains and Video Games

Thu, 22 Jun 2006 19:47:27 GMT

So we arrived in Boquette after a couple buses, or more accurately a mini-van with a capacity for 10 people that had about 50 and a big yellow pimped-out school bus.

Boquete is a very small and nice town in the mountains, so the weather was cool breezy and fresh. We were at somewhat of a loss with no Lonely Planet since we only brought the Costa Rica one (though we spent the first two weeks saying how much it sucked...serves us right) but we found a nice lodge with not-so nice hosts. The one time we heard a warm "Hola" from them as we walked into the door, it turned out to be their ...

San Jose journal: The end of our journey

Thu, 22 Jun 2006 18:49:45 GMT

Our arrival in the big city (no not NY) was way smoother then expected. We ended up bumping into our friends from Boquette on the bus from Cahuita to San Jose and decided to check in to their hotel with them. We found out about a vegetarian resturaunt and decided to check it out (hoping we would find some more options than our usual rice and beans..). Sure enough it was pretty sweet - sort of like a fast-food resturaunt vegitarian style. It took us a moment to adjust to choosing something from a whole menu and not one line - but we succeeded - until we did the unthinkable.. Our meals came ...

Cahuita journal: The turtle egg eater

Sun, 18 Jun 2006 14:12:51 GMT

So it was time to cross the border again. This time things were calmer (except when we couldn't find our proof of return to the States).. and envisioned ourselves being stuck there forever, when suddenly Gilad pulled out the missing papers from the hidden pocket of the backpack. We continued onto the rickety bridge - with very large gaps, and prayed we would not have to share the slim walkway with a car that every once in a while took over 99% of the standing space. But we survived the bridge, caught the bus, and suddenly found ourselves on the Caribean coast of Costa Rica.

Unfortunately ...

Bocas del Toro journal: Back to Basics...I mean Bocas

Sun, 18 Jun 2006 13:54:01 GMT

So we came back to Bocas in the morning exciting to spend our last day in Panama doing some snorkelling and chilling at our favorite hotel of Olas. Well of course the tour we wanted had already left or doesn't exist, the woman couldn't decide and our favorite hotel was completely booked. So after completely failing all objectives of the day in only 1.5 hours, we decided to sit down and eat breakfast at Olas and let things solve themselves..which they did. After we finished eating, a room opened in the hotel and a snorkeling tour was organized through the hotel so we were good to go.

Un ...

Bahia Drake journal: Land of Scarlet Macaws

Mon, 29 May 2006 18:31:41 GMT

Well the boat ride was quite...interesting. It consists of a going down a river, through a crazy mangrove forest that the boat can hardly fit in, into the ocean through two huge rocks, and then to no man´s land where the lodge was. The lodge was on the beach, so there was no dock, so to get there, we had to go two at a time on a smaller motor boat which the strategy was go as fast as you can towards the beach and see how far up the sand you can get. Trust us, with not warning it is quite an interesting feeling to see the beach coming right at you without slowing down.

Though it was ...

Neily journal: Costa Rica-Panama Border

Mon, 29 May 2006 16:24:35 GMT

So we were so close to Panama and had heard such great things about it we figured what the hey.... From Corcovado Paso Canoas is the closest border, so we headed off in the morning to the bus. We would have totally missed it (like usual) but the nice German couple from Corcovado drove us to the bus, and blocked its way so it couldn't leave until we got on.

The bus from Costa Rica, which by the way had a snake inside it (it was great to see that Costa Ricans also don't like snakes in too close proximity to them) dropped us off in Panama, despite the fact that we had to first go through ...

Sierpe journal: Small Town, Huge Mosquitos

Mon, 15 May 2006 18:47:25 GMT

So we got to Sierpe with some good weather and were both feeling great. We found a Corcovado lodge called ¨Poor Man´s Paradise¨which we believe refers to the status of travellers after staying there, not before...but it was all meals included and probably the cheapest available since the area is so remote. Unfortunately the boat out to the lodge was only the next morning at 11AM, so we had a lot of time to kill especially since we got there at 4PM and have been waking up around 6AM every morning (yes even Gilad believe it or not).

We explored the town, and five minutes later explored ...

Dominical journal: Depressed Surfer Paradise

Mon, 15 May 2006 18:38:17 GMT

So we continued down the Pacific Coast to a small beach town called Dominical. The bus was pretty much direct which was nice for a change, but the road, well..there was no road. At one point we were crossing a river and looked at the bus to see how safe the bridge looked and well...there was no bridge. Our bus forded through the river using its 10 wheel drive or whatever.

We met some Israelis on the bus and chilled with them and when we got to Dominical that night we were all pretty excited because the town just seemed really chill and we found a cheap place to stay that was ...

Quepos journal: Wildlife Overload

Sun, 07 May 2006 16:48:09 GMT

So after learning the hard way, we got a bus schedule and finally made the bus on time! We also got really lucky since it stopped raining right when we left the hostel, and when they say rainy season, they aint joking around.

After a trip through the dreaded city of San Jose, which actually wasn't as bad as everyone told us, at least as a stopever, we ended up in the National Park area of Manuel Antonio. We checked into a nice hotel, near the beach, with reasonable rates (things are quite expensive here), and started walking the path up to our room when we see a bunch of birds totally ...

La Fortuna journal: Let's See Some Lava!

Sun, 07 May 2006 16:28:53 GMT

So our good fortune with great weather kind of changed the morning of our departure from Monteverde, but we took the jeep-boat-jeep, or more accurately our mini-van, boat, mini-van to La Fortuna and arrived after a scenic journey.

The good thing about La Fortuna is that there are a million of cheap places to sleep, but the bad thing about La Fortuna is that there are a million of cheap places to sleep, and we felt like we had to check everyone of them to see which one is best with a view of the volcanoe. Of course, none of them were Cabinas Eddy's, all the volcano view rooms were taken ...

Monteverde journal: Cloud Forest Adventures

Sun, 07 May 2006 16:13:33 GMT

So, it happens to be that our 6AM bus was really a 5:45AM bus, and the next bus was at 9AM, but the important part is we made it, with good timing, to Monteverde using public transportation, so take that Tamarindo people with no faith.

So we get to Monteverde, but actually Santa Elena which is where we were sleeping, and decide to go with the good ole Lonely Planet's top budget choice. We check in, and are "very lucky" because there was only one room left. We drop our stuff down, go take a shower in the shared bathroom, run back to our room since the way to the shower is outside and it ...

San Jose journal: On our way.....almost

Sun, 07 May 2006 15:50:26 GMT

So it is about 1:40AM, our flight is tomorrow at 7:30AM, and we have finally finished getting our stuff together. I said we might as well just pull an all-nighter, or a "white night" as those crazy Israelis say for whatever reason, but Sarit did make a good point that if we stay up all night tonight, and then fall asleep on the bus in Costa Rica, we could probably wake up in our under-garments (if we're lucky and the people who robbed us don't decide to take those too).

Chanyway, so tomorrow we land in San Juan around 12:30, are taking a bus to Liberia (the city not the country) and ...

Tamarindo journal: Beach Time

Sun, 07 May 2006 15:47:57 GMT

Tamarindo was great. The bus ride took a little longer than expected and I somehow lost my pants on it, but we arrive just fine. Of course these weren't the pants I was wearing, but pants that had a really nice pocket for keeping money in it, with velcrow and a zipper, but the pocket's zipper was messed up and wouldn't open. Now of course this is the safest place to keep the money because if I can't get to it how could a thief, and if a thief could figure out how to open it, I would have probably paid someone the amount of money in that pocket to fix the zipper anyway, so win win. Anyway, ...

Liberia journal: Into The Jungle

Sat, 29 Apr 2006 19:39:36 GMT

Well... After updating you on our trip to Liberia. We exited the internet Cafe to find a driver waiting to take us to Rinconcito Lodge. It was quite a bumpy ride - to seemingly nowhere - we started thinking what is stopping this guy from pulling over to the side of the road and burying us, but the road was so long and bad we figured he would have done that way earlier if those were his intentions.

We got to the lodge had our first Costa Rican meal of rice and beans and setup to take a tour in the jungle with our non-English speaking guide who's name is Alfonso, but everyone calls Primo. ...

San Jose journal: Taxi Driver´s On Too Much Red Bull

Tue, 25 Apr 2006 17:28:41 GMT

We made it! The flights were great and even caught some shut eye. Then we landed, got our stuff no problem, and (thanks to Sarit´s great idea) talked to one of the information people there about how to go to our first stop, Liberia. She gave us some great advice so we went on our way to the exit knowing exactly what we were doing, when out of nowhere about 600 million taxi drivers, some even from the same company, start yelling at us ¨Taxi! Taxi!" and one guy wouldn´t leave us alone..kept followng us around and kept insisting the information people gave us bad advice. Luckily with my ...