Tag: central america

Viva México!

Mexico has been on my list of places to visit for long time, however, I ended up discarding it every time, because I thought it was not suitable for a solo vacation, boy I was wrong!

Surely, there are areas that are to be avoided, and certainly in Mexico City, or DF as it is commonly referred to, one should be careful, but not significantly more than you would be in any other big city. Now, maybe I have been lucky, maybe me being a city girl and used to be mindful of certain things, I didn’t make fatal mistakes, so I don’t want to dismiss all concern and say, go straight in, but I do want to encourage other women to take the plunge and explore this amazing country without having to worried about being chaperoned.

My tour started Mexico City where I spent four nights. For three nights I stayed in the beautiful area called Polanco: green, you can walk everywhere, cafes, restaurants, it is truly vibrant. I stayed at Pug Seal Tennyson, a lovely boutique hotel with great customer service. They have other hotels in town and I am planning to try out a different one when I will be back in June for a wedding (long story, maybe for another time). My last night I went to Condesa, just to try out a different area. It was really nice as well, although not as green as cosy, but many great spots here too. One restaurant I would recommend, which is a bit different, is Lardo. I stayed at Condesa DF, a nice, although fairly weird hotel. I enjoyed it, but I wouldn’t necessarily go back.   

There’s so much to see in the capital, that it would be crazy to try to list it all, especially since there are plenty of guides for that (I always start with a Lonely Planet and go from there), but maybe the one thing I enjoyed the most was the walk in Coyoacan a really quaint area, which used to be a village and you can feel it. Of course I visited the House of Frida Kahlo, which is just there and thoroughly enjoyed the visit, but what I retained more than that was the very simple lunch at the mercado. Museums are impressive, especially the Palacio de Bellas Artes, which is a jewel in itself. Diego Rivera’s murals are glorious and so is Plaza de la Constitucion. However on the last one I would say, be careful and choose the quietest time you can, because the square and the surroundings become incredibly busy and loud, uncomfortably so.

Food is excellent in Mexico City, there are so many restaurants to choose from for all budgets and tastes. My favourite one, for the whole experience has been Restaurante Antiguo San Angel Inn. An hacienda converted into a restaurant, set in a beautiful location with a glorious old-fashioned atmosphere.

While in Mexico City, I also went to Teotihuacan, the archaeological site of the Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon. It’s an easy one day trip and it is certainly well-worth it. I was lucky to visit the site on a breezy sunny day with very few tourists around, so I really made the most out of the experience. The museum there is also a very valid addition to the visit. Also don’t miss out on the very charming restaurant that is close to the site, La Gruta. Yes is touristic, but it’s really unique and the food it very good. 

From DF, I travelled north using buses. There are many different companies operating buses linking most cities and travelling great distances. I always used Primera Plus, as it was recommended by a friend and I found it just impeccable. The vehicles are very comfortable and have free Wifi, before you set off you are offered a bottle of water and a snack and, in my experience they are always extremely punctual. One additional benefit is that from DF Primera Plus leaves from Patio Santa Fe, which is a nice shopping mall in a nice area of town as opposed to the other companies that leave from Estacion Norte, which is apparently not that safe. (ETN is the other company leaving from Patio Santa Fe, I haven’t tried, but apparently it is as good).

The towns I visited are Queretero, San Miguel de Allende and Guanajato, all nice all interesting. InQueretero I was with Mexican friends, so of course it was extremely enjoyable and I got to see and do things I would have not done otherwise, including a local wedding which was pretty amazing. San Miguel is charming, artsy and touristy. A different vibe altogether from Queretero which feels more like a city.Guanajato is somewhere in between the two. I would recommend them all for different reasons. They are all within a couple of hours drive, so you can slowly make your way north as I did and then go back at your own pace. I stopped again in Queretero to break the trip and spend more time with my friends. As I went back I headed directly to the airport and flew to Yucatan for the second half of my holiday.

Cancun was pretty terrible. I decided to stay two nights instead of just one, just because a friend recommended IslaMujeres describing it as a paradise island. Now, if you are in Cancun, which I would describe as a bad version of Miami, by all meansisla mujeres is a nice escape, but don’t cross the ocean to go, it’s just as loud and tacky as Cancun, just in smaller scale. The only redeeming factor of my stay in Cancun was an amazing dinner in a lovely restaurant in the old town, La Habichuela Downtown. Bottom line is: fly there, and if you are too tired to continue, then get yourself out of the zonahotelera for a nice meal and move on. 

I took an Uber to go from Cancun to Tulum which was not too expensive. The ride was pleasant, but made it apparent that the coast from Cancun, all the way south is a long stretch of mega resorts, one after the other, one more monstrously big than the other (one has a roller-coaster!), until you get to Tulum. This little town has been spared by massive developed so far. However I don’t think it is for long as I saw numerous constructions. Maybe they will keep them small and upscale as they are now, but there will be manymany more in the next few years. However, as of today, Tulum is still a laidback, lovely town with numerous charming hotels on the beach nicely integrated in the environment. I stayed at the Mezzanine Colibri Hotel and at El Pez Colibri Hotel. Both hotels are part of the same group and have a similar vibe, however the first is more upscale. The best restaurants I tried were Mi Amor and Arca.

A couple of things worth mentioning:

First of all I was there in low season, so I didn’t experience crowds and I biked around easily, but I am told that the traffic is horrendous in December. There’s only one main small road that crosses the town, hence in the high season it becomes unmanageable. 

Then, Tulum is expensive. I am talking Europe/US expensive. While for the hotels I managed to strike good deals (because of the low season and thanks to Booking.com genius level), restaurants prices I assume are kept the same year-round, so one dinner in a nice restaurant is no less than USD 50, and taxis have insane rates. On the other hand, entrance to attractions, such as the ancient ruins or the Cenotes are still cheap.

Finally, the sargassum, the algae that washes ashore on this coast. You will find lots of information and misinformation about the phenomenon. The truth is that it is unpredictable. It depends on the weather and the ties and while there will be better season and worse seasons, the situation can change from a month to the other and sometimes from a day to the next. Case in point, in July-August 2019 there were plenty of algae on the beach of Tulum, a month later in September, it was absolutely clean. I had 5 beautiful days, then two stormy nights brought tons of seaweed all over. They are very well equipped and deploy massive forces to clean the shore as quickly as possible, but the water may remain murky for a while. 

My advice is to book your holiday without worrying too much and if worse comes to worse, you can go somewhere else. Yucatan is beautiful, there are many places I meant to visit, but I didn’t because I needed to pause a bit before going back to work. Merida, for one. The capital looks amazing, then the pyramids and you can even venture further south towards Belize. Don’t let anything discourage you from exploring Mexico, you will love it and you will come back with amazing memories. 

A presto, Veronica 

Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes – Diego Rivera Murales
Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan – La Gruta
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes – Diego Rivera Murales
San Miguel de Allende
Guanajato
Cancun
Archeological Zone of Tulum – Mayan Port City Ruins
Tulum – Gran Cenote
Tulum – Mezzanine Hotel
Tulum – Mezzanine Hotel
Tulum

Costa Rica, Panama, Miami – three weeks as a solo traveller

Costa Rica – Volcano Irazu
Costa Rica – Puerto Viejo de Talamanca
Panama – Bocas del Toro, Isla Cristobal
Panama – Bocas del Toro, Playa Estrella

This was supposed to be a friends vacation, with two of my best friends, but for absurd visa reasons, I ended up travelling on my own. I was very disheartened and the journey from Rome to San Jose, included a cancelled flight, three stopovers and an emergency landing, for a total of 24 hours.

However, as I woke up in my anonymous, yet very comfortable hotel room at the airport Courtyard Marriot the sun was shining and I finally felt the holiday mood.

After an hearty breakfast, I set off to the next door Walmart to get my hands on a local SIM card. The process was not the easiest, it required acquiring the card, then activating it with a phone call, providing a lot of information including my passport number, then buying credit separately. I doubt I would have made it with my not so good Spanish, if it wasn’t for an incredibly nice young man who worked there and was kind enough to dedicate some of his time to this lost tourist.

That was probably the last difficulty of this trip. Everything about this journey was easy, pleasant and safe. So, if you are a woman planning a similar trip, provided the usual precautions that you would have in every place, I can confirm that Central and Caribbean Costa Rica are definitely good destinations. I reserve to speak about Panama, because all I have visited was Bocas del Toro and this is not enough to form an opinion, although I had a lovely time there too and I will recommend some spots.

My first destination was the Orosi Valley in Central Costa Rica, home of the Volcano Irazu, land of coffee and gorgeous mountains. I picked an hotel in the middle of nowhere –  a special talent of mine, you’ll see if you keep following – which I reached with Uber.

Now, this was one of the nice aspects of this trip. I did not want to rent a car by myself and I found several easy ways to move around hassle-free.  The journey took around an hour costed less than 40 USD and the driver was very friendly, we chatted and listened to music together.

Hotel Rio Perlas Spa & Resorts was my home for three days. The place looked like wonderland: surrounded by the mountains, a stream crossing its grounds providing a continous soundtrack, a natural thermal water pool and the amazing Morfo butterflies constantly dancing around. To me it was the the perfect place to unwind, plan the rest of my holiday, read, enjoy nature.

I explored the area by booking a private tour with the hotel, it was expensive, I think 100 USD, but I had the guide for me only, from early morning until well past lunchtime. He took me to all the main sights, the volcano, Cartago cathedral, the ruins of the church of Ujarras, the dam, passing through the coffee plantations and stopping for coffee and cake at a lovely quirky café, which is actually the café of a small guesthouse called the Orosi Lodge.

After this first taste of Costa Rica, where I got to know more about the culture and the country, I headed back to San Jose, but just to be picked up by a shuttle and reach Tortugero passing through the imposing nature of Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo. I did this, and almost all the rest of my movements in Costa Rica, with Caribe Shuttle and I can’t praise this company enough. They are efficient, punctual and with an amazing customer service and very reasonably priced. I certainly owe it to them too, if my journey was so effortlessly pleasant.

Tortugero was one of the highlights of my journey, however I did find it difficult to find reliable information about how to get there and around, so hoping to make it easier for the next person, I summarised my experience here.

I stayed in a beautiful lodge the Tortuga Lodge & Gardens and from there took the turtle tour, which at the time of my travel, i.e. September, meant going at night to see these giants laying eggs. It was moving. A big applause to the Costa Ricans for treating nature with the utmost respect; they have very strict rules and active surveillance during these tours to ensure the animals are not disturbed and after the Wild West experience that was Sri Lanka in that regard, I really appreciated it.

My last destination in Costa Rica was Puerto Viejo de Talamanca which I reached from Tortugero with a transfer, entailing three hours on a small boat and one hour in a taxi. The details of that transfer are in the Tortugero TripAdvisor review linked above.

Oh, how I loved Puerto Viejo! It’s a laidback village of Rastafarian vibe, populated by surfers and many Europeans who chose to relocate in this distant land. The shore is one amazing beach after the other and many bays of quiet waters, suitable for snorkelers and sun worshippers.

I moved around using an old-fashioned bike landed by my lovely host, the owner of the Relax Natural Village, took a beautiful and very instructive chocolate tour at Caribeans, ate in some very nice spots, such as Mopri and Koki beach restaurant and bar and enjoyed some beach life with some fellow travellers met there.

After four days of this absolute bliss, I crossed the border into Panama, archipelago of Bocas del Toro. The border crossing is a bit iffy, but again Caribe Shuttle was top and the employees helped us through the different offices and escorted us along the bridge that joins the two countries. The transfer included the boat to the main island of the archipelago, Isla Colon.

From Bocas dock, I was picked up by a small lancia that took me, in approximately twenty minutes, to the less known Isla Cristobal. That was the only miss of my trip. The island is really secluded and, at least where I was, there was no way to move around if not by using the hotel lancia, which was crazy expensive, and there was pretty much nothing to do at the hotel or in the vicinity.

I am specifically not mentioning the hotel, because it is a family business and I feel uneasy giving bad publicity. This and the other reservations in this trip were made through Booking.com (except the last night in San Jose), which I find very reliable and proved very flexible when I had to make several changes due to my friends last minute cancellation (Booking and all the management of the different hotels were amazing in terms of customer service when it came to waive the reservation fees, they all acknowledged the force majeure). However in this case, either I was not careful enough when reading the description of the facilities, or those were not properly described for what they are. Bottom line is that I was in the middle of the jungle in a very small guesthouse, not an hotel. The place was beautiful and the bungalows furnished with impeccable taste, but there were no amenities, it was very rustic and insects dominated, so it was clearly not for me.

Nevertheless I got to see some impressive jungle, mangroves islands and a private cocoa plantation, before I moved back to Isla Colon and to another middle of nowhere place, this time with all the comforts of a proper lodge. I spent two days in the dazzling Punta Caracol Acqua Lodge. There I got to see some amazing sea corals and marine life and spent a day at the perfect Starfish beach.

My last day in Panama was spent in Isla Colon proper, referred to as Bocas Town, where I re-joined some friends met while travelling. I didn’t like Bocas Town, it’s cheap and load and too young for me, but admittedly it is a good place to base yourself and explore. From there you can take taxis and the like to go around, book inexpensive tours to the other islands and numerous water sports, or for more upscale tourism, rent boats to take you around. I had a very tasty lunch at Café del Mar, a great burger at Capitan Caribe and a good rest at Hotel Bocas del Toro.

The following morning, I made my way back to the border and to Puerto Viejo and after a few hours pleasantly spent at the designated pickup beach resort, took the following shuttle to San Jose where I stayed at Hotel Grano de Oro, a very good choice. I loved the place, had a glorious dinner at their very chic restaurant, and a lovely breakfast in the courtyard, before making my way to the airport and embarking to Miami.

In Miami I spent one night at the Mondrian South Beach and then moved to my family in Delray Beach, therefore I have not many tips to offer on Miami, but I tried an excellent restaurant in Boca Raton, Farmers Table.

That is all for this holiday, which was the longest I ever took by myself, making for a very interesting personal learning experience, along with the cultural journey.

If you enjoyed the reading and found the tips interesting, stay tuned for more.

And if you have questions, do reach out.

A presto