Travelling Mechanic

My New Project "Transit camper"  Crew cab with  factory  fitted windows. The Plan*: The project is underway, with j uggling  work and converting my new van, for  Road Trip  " Spain " 2016.  Going to keep it simple; the van has a workshop in the rear with storage for 2 bikes,  generator , etc..... The living area will have  buck beds, cooking area, table & chair.    * The plan did not happen, also the  beard got shaved off!  I got as far as north of Bordeaux,  returned  to England and flew to Colombia. But I am sure I will get there again soon......... By campervanning you can travel Europe with ease and is the best way to do it, as it gives you more freedom. You can prepare and cook food, just think of all those coffees. Its becomes more cost effective and you can travel for longer. You can stop at beautiful locations, take in the tiny, out-of-the-way villages and enjoy the life! Spain has more than beaches, it has history on every street corner and spe

A taste of coffee plantation life! Always a pleasure to get away from the big city and get to what I call the real Colombia. And visit the Fincas "small coffee farms" set high in the central Andes. This time of year the rain can be heavy, but makes a nice view with the clouds when they clear or sit low through the valley. This trip was a long weekend staying with a family and walking to other fincas visiting more family, as you know Colombians have large families. This coffee area is known as Buena Vista  and another coffee area from Rovira I like to visit is Luisa .  Most Colombian coffee growers live in fincas whose coffee cultivation's plots do not surpass 2 hectares (5 acres) on average. 1 hour off road drive from the town of Rovira in a Willie's Jeep.  High in the central Colombian Andes between the clouds. Scorpion being removed. Typical Cooking on the finca View of lush slops looking down to the coffee fincas we visited for lunch.

On our trip back to Havana from Vinalas, we stayed 2 nights at casa Los Sauces, Candelaria. Only 2ks from the autopista were the bus Viazul drops you off. Only $8 cuc. Ask to be dropped off at the bridge "Puente Cupe Zoroa". We got picked up from our casa owner, you can call the day before 52289372 to make arrangements. The casa has 3 rooms and the garden is very large with many plants. The casa is only 6 kms from Soroa and our casa owner took us and returned us for only $5 cuc. Only 84kms from Havana, we waited under the bridge ( Puente Cupe Zoroa on the autopista to Havana)  for a bus and we took a collective taxi for $5 cuc each. The waterfall at Soroa Car and driver/guide all day $25 cuc Entrance fee to Las Terrazas $2 plus $5 to visit attractions and lunch included. Rio San Juan, swimming pools and where you can buy lunch

Nice beach, few people and Cubans, can get busy at Cuban holiday time, is a nice place to relax. You can make this a day trip, 65km northwest of Viñales and is attached to the mainland by a causeway. You can ask your casa owner in Vinales to book a taxi to take you and arrange a time to return. Causeway. View from resturant Taxi from Viñales $15 cuc each, (5 people) for 6 hours on the beach.  Food 8 cuc, Beer $1.50, Mojito $2.50.  Where you get drooped off and walk on to the beach at Cayo Jutias, you can walk to the right along the beach and through a tiny mangrove covered area and find the beach above.  Music in the restaurant at lunch time.

Pinar del Río Province. Took an collective taxi from Play Larga for $35 cuc each about 5 hours with a stop at a restaurant close to Havana. From here you can do a day trip to Cayo Jutias   and visit the hotel "Loz Jazmines" that you can use the swimming pool, bar and for a  great view of the valley. Stayed at Casa Nene, half way down Calle Adela Azcuy Norte. 0152238860 This time of year it can rain, but makes great rainbows Lots of Bread  Dinner at Casa Nene Out to the tobacco farms 

One of my best beaches for me in Cuba, small easy to relax and forget. I have managed to visit this little beach 4 times. Those who follow/read my posts know that I like out the way and not over built places. Play Giron is growing with the increase in tourism, but at a very slow pace. I like to base myself here for a few days then staying 1/2 hour from here at playa Larga. That is much or as little as you want to do or visit from here. Monkey Cuban food cooked right on the beach, by this kind lady who we spent some of our days with and her family. Who made us very welcome and shared their rum. Liliana also helped cook and we had a mix of Cuban/Colombian lunch. Nice fish lunch Playa Caltea Buena - Only 15 minutes from Giron on the local bus. Last day in Playa Giron - Taking the bus to playa Larga from Giron - Happy as we just left the beach and a empty bottle or rum :)

A very nice Spanish colonial town that was not built with traditional straight streets going North to South & East to West. As this was meant to make it harder for pirates to find their way around. View of Trinidad from our casa with Convento de San Francisco in the back ground   Casa Luis XVIII   Address: 68 Jesús Menédez, Trinidad 62600, Cuba Phone:+53 41 992292 See Trip Adviser   Children at school

While living in Ibague  I mixed some of the typical local foods with what I like to eat. While trying to cut out or at least cut-down on processed foods! Including bread and sugar. Below is a bit of a mix as I was cooking for a family, but they liked to try different things. But they were not all keen on eating hot chilies! Lunch tends to be the biggest meal of the day. But as the family soon found out, I like to eat 3 large meals a day. Some of my experiments: Colombian breakfast. Arepas with cheese and hot chocolate Spanglish breakfast (Tocineta) Bacon, eggs, arepa, tomatoes, avocado. Oven for cooking plantains  Spanglish lunch. Home made burgers with pineapple and fried egg. Salad and chili  Chorizo, scrambled eggs, avocado and fried plantains Making coconut oil Chopped coconut, mixed with water and then squeezed After leaving the coconut milk for 24 hours, the cream forms on top, remove and heat for one hour until the oil separates. 

Cascadas Chicala are 8 amazing waterfalls that are only 1 hour from Ibague. One of Colombia's secret places that only the locals know about. Hotel: Stayed at Club Campestre Chicala in Payande with swimming pool and close to the road that takes you to the waterfall which is about 15 minutes by car. Tel: 287 72 22 Cel: 317 274 38 23 Email clubcampestrechicala@hotmail.com Bus:  From terminal in Ibague to the village of San Luis stopping at Payande. Then a 5 k walk in the hot sun! The road to waterfalls from Payande, we traveled by bike and I hitched a lift back in a car. Its a slow drive, so give yourself 45 minutes. Food: At the car park, there is a restaurant where you can order lunch and then it's just a 5-minute walk to the falls where you can buy snacks and cold drinks. Waterfall 7 When you arrive to all the waterfalls each hides a magical place. In all of them you can bath and some are deep places, as much as eight meters in the main waterfall. Waterfa