Travelling Mechanic

Taganga is on the Caribbean coast only 10 minutes or 3 kilometres north of Santa Marta. A great place to base yourself for tours to  Cabo de San Juan Tayrona  National Park, the Sierra Nevada, Santa Marta and for the Lost City trek. Taganga was once a fishing village, now there are many hotels and restaurants. The beach is very dirty, but it has a coast line that you can walk around and find beautiful spots. Tayrona National Park: From Tayrona to Cabo de San Juan. The quickest way is taking the small boat from the beach, usually 1-hr. Another fun way is getting the bus to the main highway and then a 1/2 moto ride, then a 2-hour walk or horseback ride to Cabo de San Juan. We did the boat ride and returned by horse/walk, moto, bus, and Taxi all in one day! Lost city four-day trek  "Ciudad Perdida" is a highly recommended experience. Do go prepared and in excellent physical condition. Ciudad Perdida was, only discovered in the 1970s Here are some essentials to keep in mind:

Playa Blanca that is part of the peninsular of Barú and less than an hour south of Cartagena . The best way to get here is in a group of 4 and is to pay a taxi from Cartagena. We stayed the night in a tent and was very relaxed when all the tourists have gone home. The beach looks clean, but just back to the beach behind the trees is just full of plastic bottles and bags. Impact of tourism and no infostructure. So take your rubbish with you or re-use your plastic bottles Typical lunch fried fish, fried green plantain "patacon" and rice One of the many dogs you will see 6am  Fruit breakfast

Cartagena de Indias - Very Hot! with a lot of traffic and not everyone likes this place! My seconded time here and the first time I was a little disappointed, but this time spent more time on the outside of the old walled city and a trip staying the night at Playa Blanca We Stayed first night at Hostel Mamallena ($120 mill 4 people) on Media Luna, only 5-minute walk from the old city. The next night we camped on Playa Blanca you can take a taxi from Media Luna $55. There are many hotels/hostels, bars and restaurants in this street also tout's who will help you find a place to stay, but is easy to find somewhere. There are also some roads off Media Luna that are worth a look. Taxi Airport $10 col, Bus Terminal $15 col Medio Luna Caragena Pinchos Cartagena de Indias

Rovira my favourite small town in Colombia, as I feel at home here, due to the village feel and country people. There are a large number of young people, living here, that can give it a lively feel at weekends and holiday times, also the town's main street can get busy the weekends as people visit the town from the coffee farms up in the mountains to buy supplies. April & May is when coffee is being harvested and people come far and wide to help, this also means the town gets very busy as the workers and farmers at this time of year have money and the town can seem a bit wild west at this time of year. For me I like to visit the cantina's, NOT to get drunk but to sock-up the atmosphere from the cowboys and music Rovira is also know as "The House of Springs" You will find the people here are very friendly and away from the main streets are very quite and the beauty of Colombia is near, with mountains and rivers that can be enjoyed most of the year. The geogr

is a river in Guatemala, completely contained within the department of Izabal. It is part of a lake and river system that has become a popular cruising sailboat destination. About 30 miles by boat from Livingston and the Caribbean. Bus from Flores 3.5 hrs and Guatemala City 5.5 hrs and 1 hr on to La Antigua. you can buy your ticket direct at the Litegua bus terminal, twice daily. Best place to eat in Rio Dulce:-   Bruno's Hotel & Marina Back Packers Dorm Bridge over Rio Dulce Very noise with lorries day & night! Just after the river flows from Lake Izabal it is spanned by one of the biggest bridges in Central America. On one side of the bridge is the town of Fronteras, commonly referred to by the name Río Dulce, the local center of commerce for the area. Fronteras has a local vegetable market, attracting locals from the countryside who arrive in dugout canoes. View of river and Back Packers dorm from top of bridge Walking over the bridge Hu

Tikal is the ruins of an ancient city found in the beautiful rain forest of Northern Guatemala. Be-aware of scams from some tour agents in Flores. Especially when arriving by shuttle, upon arriving to Flores your driver will pick up a man claiming to be a travel agent (Known locally as Coyotes) who will tell you all ATM's on the Flores Island are out of cash. He will tell you he has the cheapest tours and that the ONE TIME ONLY prices he is offering couldn't be beat. This man works or touts for other agents in town and makes his %. He also double crosses shuttle drives by not paying them, this type of business gives all the agents a bad name! Buses to: Tikal, Beliz, Rio Dulce and La Antigua can all be taken from the main bus terminal in Santa Elena, that you can walk to or take a tuk tuk for Q5 per person. The buses can be 1/2 the cost you pay to a agent in Flores. We brought our tickets to Rio Dulce 1 hour before departure, from Fuente Del Norte bus line. For bus times

tropical accommodation Situated on the Río Cahabón, only 3 k's from Semuc, 7 k's from Lanquin and 2 1/2 hrs from Coban. Email   reservations@utopiaecohotel.com your details where you are coming from and you will be picked up in Lanquin when you arrive. 50Q per/night in dorm. There is a 10% service charge on food & drinks. Shuttle bus's to Flores, Rio Dulce, Antigua can be arranged from Lodge or in Lanquin at half the cost, where there is also hostels and a small town to buy supplies. Things to do : Hiking, swimming, tubing down the river, chocolate tour, Kan-Ba caves and relaxing. Semuc Champey which means "Where the river hides under the earth." Is a natural limestone bridge, under which passes the Cahabon River. On top the bridge is a series of 6 stepped natural turquoise pools.Underneath the pools, runs the underwater Cahabon River. The pool's water is feed by the rainwater that trickles down the small creeks from either side of the valley and no