Ecuador: Visiting the Highlands

There are so many places to visit in Ecuador but our journey took us along the highland route. Our stops included Ibarra, Quito (Miriam & Juan Franciso), Banos (Ambato - Monte Selva Hosteria) Banos (Cuenca – Dana Hosteria), Cuenca (camped at Yucayana Cabañas), Zamora (Copalinga Cabañas) and Macara (camped at an Ecuadorian Military camp).

We spent a wonderful week in Quito visiting with Miriam and Juan Francisco, Juan Pablo’s family. The whole family accepted us immediately. Ewok loved visiting, hanging out in the garden while Amadeus slept. Thanks for treating us so well!!!

We totally enjoyed our journey through Ecuador the following i-movie captures some images from our travels.



Sharon
Peru
November 2009

Columbia: Soon To Be Discovered

After a short flight north from Panama City we arrived in Cartagena, Columbia. It took some time to clear customs and complete paperwork to bring Amadeus and Ewok into Columbia (we did “lots of paperwork” in Panama before leaving) then we were off to the old city for the next nine days. Cartagena is beautiful and so it was not hard to wait there for the SUV to arrive. During this time Amadeus hung out at the hotel mostly napping. Ewok however was a star around town – she was welcomed everywhere she went – restaurants, taxis. Folks took lots of photos of her!! Our only challenge in Cartegena was the high humidity of the tropical lowlands.

After reading The Lonely Planet section on how to travel safely in Columbia we were ready to venture onto the highways fully informed on how to best cope with all the “perils, dangers and annoyances” of numerous road checks, etc. To our surprise, at our first road check as we headed south, we were greeted by a friendly young man who was curious about us and he wanted to know if everything was o.k. As we traveled throughout Columbia we were pleasantly surprised by the friendliness of the police and the military. The beautiful cities, the expansive landscape, the food and the wonderful people equally impressed us. Columbia was a wonderful experience!!!

The following i-movie captures some of the images along our route from Cartagena to Pasto (just south of Cali, near the Ecuadorian border).

Sharon
Quito, Ecuador
October 27, 2009

Chile: An Amazing Country

Our journey through Chile resulted in many crossings into Argentina then back into Chile and vice-versa; when we headed north we repeated the process -- each time doing all the paperwork (passports, car, pets). This i-movie however covers our visit to Valparaiso area in early February (to check out vehicle shipping options) and our return to Chile at the end of March.

On February 28, 2010 Central Chile was hit by 8.8 earthquake causing extensive damage around the Concepción area. When we returned to Chile at end of March we were amazed to see how quickly Ruta 5 was being repaired. We were equally amazed with Chilean people who were directly impacted by the quake. For example, in a small town called Retiro where many of the adobe style homes were totally destroyed by the quake, we saw a sign “Retiro pensa positivo”.  While the overall damage in the Valparaiso and Santiago areas appeared to be minor everyone we spoke with reported that they felt the quake. We were happy to see again Martin, the owner’s dog at Camping Los Olivos, Laguna Verde. 

The following i-movie captures some images from our travels through Central and Southern Chile.

Sharon
Santiago, Chile
April 13, 2010

Checking Out Spas in Antigua, Guatemala

I have been coming to Guatemala since 1997. Originally in Antigua there were a few Spas doing primarily massages and some basic treatments, like facials. In these days I always thought of them a good value because they were so inexpensive (100-150 quetzales). With the arrival of day spas the number of spas in Antigua has grown to where there are now 10 or more spas. They are the Mayan Spa at two locations (Alameda Santa Lucia Norte) and Petite Mayan Spa (6a Avenida Norte) www.mayan-spa.com, Bella Spa (4Calle Oriente) www.salonbellaspa.net, Healing Hands (3a Avenida Norte), El Reposo Spa (1 Calle Poniente), Minoshka’s Spa (7a Avenida Norte & 5a Calle Poniente), Skin Deep (1a Avenida Sur), Casa Madeleine (Calle de Espírita Santo) www.casamadeleine.com, Hotel Healthy (Body & Face Medical Spa) (Carr. a Cd. Vieja km. 1.5) and Reginadawn Spa Bed & Breakfast (5a Avenida Sur). While these spas now offer a greater variety of treatments the overall level of service is still basic or inconsistent at most. Maybe the downturn in the economy coupled with the need to keep the price at a level to attract costumers has not helped. Typically a 60-minute massage ranges from 150-300 quetzales (at today’s rate of 8.2 quetzales for $1US) Antigua prices for massages are excellent.

Mayan Spa



Very few of the spas in Antigua are stand-alone spas in fact many are actually beauty parlors with some spa service. This unfortunately often results in some of the employees being cross-trained on everything from hair styling to massage therapy. The result is your day at the spa may result in a person with long nails giving you a massage. From a spa users point of view this is scary! In the past I have tried Bella Spa (it has now down sized and moved to a new location), Mayan Spa at both locations, Skin Deep. During my most recent visit I had 60-minute massage at Minoshka’s Spa (200 quetzales), Reginadawn’s Spa (200 quetzales) and a private massage therapist (300 quetzales). Both Reginadawn and the private therapist were good however Minoshka’s was excellent. My husband also had a 60-minute massage with a different therapist and he also felt that the massage at Minoshka’s was excellent. Overall, we both felt that their staff was better trained compared to our prior spa experiences in Antigua.

Reginadawn's Spa












There are some online sources that you can use to check out spas in Antigua. One excellent source is www.tripadvisor.com that posts spa reviews. Two excellent local online magazines in English are the Revue www.revuemag.com and Que Pasa grupoquepasa.com. In addition, the website www.antiguaselect.com posts ads for spa services in Antigua.

Also for information on Antigua's more elegant spas see spaswinefood. You will find the following spaswinefood posts useful:

1. The Ceiba Spa
2. Antigua's More Elegant Spas

Availability of Wines in Antigua is Good

If you are not ready to give Guatemala’s first winery, Chateau DeFay www.chateaudefayvineyards.com a try then you should know that you can purchase good wine in Guatemala. Chilean wines makeup 60% of wines sales, with Argentinean and Californian wines being the next most popular wines, according to 2009 statistics www.CentralAmericaData.com . The same source notes that 45% of sales are at supermarkets, 30% at restaurants, 15% at liquor distributors and 10% at wine stores.

Calle del Arco



One of the best places to enjoy wine in Guatemala is Antigua. In Antigua, you might want to start on Calle del Arco (5 Avenida Norte) where there are two wines shops, Almacen Troccoli and Tobacos y Vinos.


Almacen Troccoli




Tobacos y Vinos







Almacen Troccoli, which use to be a paint shop, later a paint shop and liquor store combo is now offering a good selection of liquor and wine. El Sabor del Tiempo Restaurant is adjacent to Almacen Troccoli. The other shop selling wine is Tobacos y Vinos. Sangre also on Calle del Arco is a restaurant offering wine tastings. In addition, throughout Antigua other than dropping by La Bodega Supermarket there are a number of specialty shops and many restaurants offering a good selection of wines (see www.revuemag.com and grupoquepasa.com for further suggestions).

Guatemala’s First Winery: Chateau DeFay

During our most recent trip to Guatemala I was doing some research on wines when I happened to discover a website for Guatemala’s first winery, Chateau DeFay. We just had to visit and so we did. We followed the directions on their website www.chateaudefayvineyards.com. Upon arriving in Santa Maria de Jesus we discovered that the road to Palin was badly damaged by tropical storm, Agatha. Before hearing this warning we had seen a painted sign on a rock Chateau DeFay 6km – so we thought what’s the problem it is only 6km away on ripio (gravel road) and we have a 4X4. So off we went – after a slow drive where we saw more painted signs at 5km, 3km etc. and finally we arrived at the entrance to Chateau DeFay.

We received a wonderful welcome by the owner, Jacques Defay and were treated to wine tasting. We were pleased to see and hear about the progress of a young winery. Establishing a winery in Guatemala is commendable given all the unique challenges.

Chateau DeFay has a pleasant dinning room where we enjoyed lunch. After the drive from Antigua we were most happy to be able to have lunch in such an awesome setting. If you get the chance it is worth a visit.


Sharon
Antigua, Guatemala
July 8, 2010

Buenos Aires: Una Ciudad Linda, Linda !!!!

Buenos Aires was our final destination. In fact originally we thought we might not visit – it is, after all, a big city. However, in the end we came to the conclusion we could not leave Argentina without spending some time in Buenos Aires. When we did visit we discovered it is in fact a very big city – but it is also a very interesting city. Prior to arriving we located on-line pet-friendly Atenea Suites on Cabrera in Palermo Hollywood. Our original plans were to spend 9 days in Buenos Aires but this grew into 4 weeks due to the change in estimated arrival date for our SUV in Houston.

The typical thing to do when you visit Buenos Aires is to do the touristy stuff -- we did some of that (San Telmo, Recoleta Cementary, Peurto Madero, etc.). Overall, we just took our time to explore the city and did lots of walks in our neighborhood. The more we explored the more we found. Shortly after arriving we discovered that Palermo Viejo was in walking distance. Then walking back one day we discovered Goritti had lots of restaurants -- another day coming back in the cab -- we noticed the Fitz Roy and Honduras area and began to explore it. Later taking a slightly different route to Fitz Roy we discovered the Fin Del Mundo Bodega. My overall recommendation is instead of following travel guides like Lonely Planet find yourself a good neighborhood in Buenos Aires – explore it and you are most likely to discover lots!!!

We will miss the wonderful Argentine wines, freshly prepared food, the charm of the side-walk cafes, the bakery where Juancho (Amadeus’s copy cat) lives, weekend markets, neighborhood stores, seeing the “paseadores de perros” walking 6-8 dogs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaOpzevtvtc and much more. We are saddened to leave Argentina but, we must head back up north; reset ourselves into the North American climatic pattern again (it is fall here-spring there -- go south (it gets colder-here) versus go north (it gets colder-there). It is time to see friends and family.


Sharon & Jack
May 10, 2010
Buenos Aires, Argentina