Car wash anybody?

After racing through the states of Durango and Chihuahua we have collected some dust! Body color of that car is arctic WHITE! What was most memorable? Western movie sets, that have been converted to permanent residences, amazing hot springs, the Tarahumira Indians who are in love with neon colors, the endless dirt roads...
Slowly our trip is coming to an end. It feels like we did not spend much time in any particular place, time did fly...

Barra De La Cruz - First Surfing Shots are up!

Hello Surfers!
On May 4, 2008, Marie and I took some pictures of surfers at Barra de la Cruz. The first 31 pictures are up! Please check at http://flickr.com/photos/1moment/sets/72157605151730505/

Private use is ok, please contact us for any commercial or non-private use.

Good bye Guatemala!

With some sadness we will leave Guatemala tomorrow, which was one of the most colorful, diverse and unpredictable countries we have encountered on our trip through Central America. We have met highland Indians that were very happy to chat with us, in the next village we would only get an icy stare. We witnessed Mayan ceremonies up close and were encouraged to do so, we had pigs roam around our car (in cities!) and we drove anywhere from 0 to 3012 meters above sea level in this country. The rainy season has started and we experienced some powerful afternoon down pours. We will miss this place, and may return sooner than we think.

For The Smiling People of El Salvador

In El Salvador, we discovered another paradise, Alegria. We stayed a couple of nights inside the crater of a volcano along the sulfuric-green water lake and the fumaroles. The place deserves to be the stage for a movie. The campground has a soccer field. Camping is $2.35/night. We were the only campers. We swam and relaxed. But the wonders do not stop there; the village of Alegria and its people deserve a mention. One can get carried away by the residents’ hospitality and the tranquility of this pueblo. It’s clean and safe, a rarity in Central America.



Marie is making friends wherever she goes!


We visited a few beaches popular for surfers; to us, the Pacific is too hot here. We are now driving the “Routa de Flores”, happy to have decided to drive through El Salvador.



In front of the town prison of Berlin, El Salvador that is.

The Forgotten Banana Republics

Back in Nicaragua and Honduras, we faced the poverty again, flagrant inequality between classes. We went to a few beaches, met local kids and tried to teach them a few English words. We visited Leon, Nicaragua because it’s supposed to be comparable to Granada, another colonial city in Nicaragua. To us, there is no comparison, Granada is s a jewel, Leon is not shining so much.

We did not spend much time in Honduras. We abandoned our plan to visit El Tigre island, which is described in the Lonely Planet guide book as being ferociously hot. BTW, when searching for campgrounds, we no longer ask for “agua caliente” hot water, room temperature is hot enough these days, thank you.

Costa Rica …. Costing Riva

Back in Costa Rica, we retrieved the VW Camper in Liberia and drove to Nuevo Arenal. We found a great free campground on the Northwestern shore of lake Arenal. I could have spent days there. To me, the Arenal volcano area is paradise because of its rain forests and its gorgeous fresh water lake at the foot at this pyramidal shaped volcano.

The following day we drove to the Volcano and stayed at a campground across the road from the entrance of the National Park. I wake up in the middle of the night with the enjoyable smell of guavas which grow wild in the area. At night, the volcano offers a light show; the lava comes down, dragging stones along and creating a roaming sound.

The following night, we spent at Sissy’s a noisy-cabin-campground in Fortuna.

We then drove to San Jose and slept in the airport parking lot because we had to fly early the following day to Oaxaca Mexico for a photo shoot. We took hundreds of pictures for a magazine called More for their November 2008 issue.

Back again in Costa Rica, we stayed 2 nights at the San Lorenzo de Belen trailer park and used our last days in Costa Rica to visit a bird zoo near Alajuela and to walk another trail in a rain forest near Tenorio, an active volcano. This 4 hour-trail is a real treat, apart from being a gorgeous rain forest, it offers swimming holes, waterfall, bubbling mineral springs and a unique blue-color river.

In general, our impression of Costa Rica remains the same as before; amazing nature at a steep price.

Kontraste

After traveling a few months in Latin America, visiting Germany in March is such a contrast! Germany is cold, clean, efficient and organized. There are no speed bumps on the autobahn, to the contrary, roads and cars are built for speed. Traffic signs and rules are obeyed, otherwise the men in green (soon blue!) will get you. Mother nature is reduced to parks and gardens, a good example for that is bear Bruno, who was shot to death after roaming outside his protected habitat. No space for a single live bear in this country, instead he is now on display, well preserved and with educational commentaries, in a museum. Garbage is diligently separated, contained and collected. Food? No worries here about contaminated food or water. Markets and stores are well stocked and examples of cleanliness. The choices of tasty treats from the bakery and the butcher store are overwhelming. All that without visible security. Where are the private armed guards, police, military checkpoints?

It seems the stereotypes are true.

But some things are the same, no? Money rules, gas is expensive, every village has at least two churches... Soccer fever, there are national league games twice a week, spiced up with additional cup contests, all live on TV during prime time, including the mandatory interviews of trainers and players before and after the game. Professional German soccer teams look more like delegations of the United Nations these days, but the fans stand behind their teams.
Soaps, yes German TV has adopted this phenomenon, too. And like their universal counterparts they are characterized by exaggerated herz, schmerz and multiple, parallel stories within one episode, leaving the viewer longing for resolution and... more!