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Welcome to my travel log! You will find here a lot more than in the travel reports, stripped from political correctness. Enjoy! 
Dec 24, 2001 07:00 PM Nicaragua - Volcan Masaya
Volcán Masaya is one of the largest natural air polluters of in the world. It is active and all the time it blows sulphur related gases. It was actually very hard to breathe at the crater. Normally visitors are asked to leave the area when an increased activity of volcano results in the emission of large amounts of gas. This even is considered as a risk of an unpredictable eruption. It is unpredictable because the volcano is active and scientists cannot estimate when exactly the mountain can explode. I was actually impressed that people are still allowed at the crater.
Standing at a mouth of an active volcano, an open gate to the Earth’s heart is overwhelming. To hear it groan, to see the Earth’s soul making its way to the top is awesome.
The size of the active crater of the Masaya, near Santiago, is impressive, the most impressive. It is not hard to imagine the immense power of the mountain. From the edge of the crater to the bottom, where from the gases and noises come, is about 100 meters (328 feet). No wonder why the rangers of the park request that you park your car the way that would enable you to escape from the site as soon as possible – normally the cars must be parked backwards so the front is facing the way of escape.
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Dec 23, 2001 07:00 PM Central America - San Jose (CR) to Managua & Granada (NI)
There are so many different bus companies that provide the Costa Rica – Nicaragua service or at least San José – Peñas Blancas (at the border) service, but reservations are extremely recommended. Particularly in the season time, like Christmas!
This is due to the fact that many Nicaraguans work in Costa Rica and travel frequently home. We did not make a reservation and none of the bus companies had room to take two people with large rucksacks, so, say, four people. Therefore the alternatives were, well, limited: walk or hitch-hike (so really walk) or take a taxi.
The distance between the Costa Rican capital and the Nicaraguan frontier is about 320 kilometres (200 miles), hence twice-thinking is quite advisable.
Taxi was the choice. It was not cheap (USD100) but the safest, at least. The bus cost is between USD10-30 per person so the more people in the taxi the less unfavourable against the bus trip the taxi ride is. Right? The taxi is so much better, so much faster, so much more comfortable, extremely more extravagant and you can stop anywhere to take a picture. Ha!
The border business should be described as the best script for a Central American creepy movie (movie = film, picture).
As soon as any vehicle stops, herds of spooky looking characters approach it and say that they all know the secret method to get through the official passport business as quick as the Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon through the hyperspace. They only ask for a small tip and… you need to give them your passport. Right, and pigs fly. My grandmother has always been telling me that at any occasion, whenever anyone asks me to hand my passport, I should just do it, no questions asked.
I chose not listen to what my grandmother, ten thousand kilometres away, says.
The border procedure is not overly complicated at all, just queue for the window for a while, fill in one simple sheet of paper and say ‘buenas’. That’s it. It was simple that I cannot even remember if there is a fee to pay.
Then, after the Costa Rican official business is done, one must walk through the no-one’s land to the Nicaraguan immigration terminal. Not far, but not nice either. The surroundings and the no-one land create an excellent feeling of being on an exotic territory.
Five US dollars it costs to cross the Nicaraguan border and the immigration personnel is really friendly. That was quite surprising, really!
On the wall inside the immigration cubicle, there was a list of nationalities that would not be able to cross the border unless ‘special’ procedure was employed and complete. ‘Polish’ was not on the list yet it took a while for the friendly officer to find out what rights, holders of the Polish passport have while entering Nicaragua. Well, it turned out alright, literally thumbs up – that was the sign the immigration official showed me upon his return from his superior’s office.
The next challenge was to grab some means of transportation to the capital city of Managua, and to get there before the Budget rent a car office closed at 18.00 hours (6.00 pm).
It only took one question ‘¿Tiene espacio para dos personas?’ to a driver just about to take the semi-luxurious bus to Managua and we had a lift off. The bus was fully air conditioned, had huge seats, plenty of legroom but a lot of noise. This is what it was like at the very back of the machine. Well, I was glad, we did not have to wait long and were getting exactly where we wanted within the timeframe that suited us perfectly.
On the way, there were some fantastic views of villages and the volcanoes on the Lake Nicaragua. That was possibly the most dramatic view of this holiday. The volcano on the lake is so big, that it is clearly visible on the satellite picture on page 2. It is a perfect cone.
An awful place, no time to spend there! People are really careless about other people’s lives and their own, too.
One of the saddest things I saw in my life was in Managua. It was a dead woman lying in the street, her, peaceful and lifeless eyes, bunch of shopped items beside her, she must have just got them from the market two streets away, poor person, very modestly dressed. So innocent. Quiet. And that was the Christmas Eve, that’s why she was shopping the extra half a dozen of oranges, bar of chocolate. Maybe for her grand children. No words. No words can describe how sad it felt. And no-one cared.
Everything after this incident was so different. I had known that I was going to an unsafe territory before I took off from the Heathrow airport but only after seeing this first victim I suddenly felt so much worse. I just wanted to come back to my friends to people I care about. I could not stop thinking about the fact that I promised them that I won’t be dragging myself into trouble, but how I was supposed to avoid trouble when it was all around.
That was not fair, I could not promise to ditch bullets. It’s like a war zone, gun shots are heard every now and again everyday, and you just do not know whether it is close or remote, whether you are safe or not, whether you should hide or not, whether it is aimed at you or not, whether the bullets reach you…
People everywhere are carrying guns around, larger then themselves, and they are so reckless. It’s horrible, because all is so unpredictable and then everything is becoming unsafe not only from the psychological point of view but also from the physical point of view.
Though, you think or try to think – this is my holiday, and I should at least try to relax.
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Dec 22, 2001 07:00 PM Costa Rica - Volcan Arenal
Volcán Arenal is the most active volcano in Central America and it erupts every few hours. Well the activity of the mountain varies from one week to another but the lava flows continuously, so it is spectacular to watch the volcano ‘speak’ just before sunset and then through the night. I missed the sunset bit but in the dark, it is actually better to see the red lava flowing down the mountain, and should I have a tripod with me the photograph I took would have been so much better. Well, the photograph is not always the principle, once you get there, make sure you soak the atmosphere. Watch the volcano throw debris, blow smoke and pour the liquid rock from the Earth’s stomach.
On the road, there are many people, most of them local, who picnic at Arenal’s feet with the most scenic views, sometimes dangerously in the middle of the road… They often spend half a night there eating grilled or smoked chicken and drinking beer or rum. Don’t blame them, it is some awesome view!
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Dec 21, 2001 07:00 PM Costa Rica - Monteverde National Park & Volcan Arenal
This park is definitely worth visiting. No commercialism, no bugs, no strings attached, no kidding. Fantastic place!
It is green and there are hills, so the name stands for the attractions. It is just better to drive up them hills rather walk up them, because the air temperature and the humidity will kill you. We, having read in the guide book that roads in Costa Rica were fine, decided to rent a compact car, not a 4WD. A big mistake! A mistake to trust guidebooks.
The road from San Jose up to Monteverde is really bad and it should not be called a road. Spooked out by the condition of a certain fragment of the road we decided to walk up one hill.
On the map, it looked like three kilometres hike, easy peasy lemon squeezy, but it was really uphill and the 40C was not helping at all. Let’s call it a nice sweat hike, but it was worth it, we had just eaten, so the timing was perfect to burn all the excess energy and scenery was also interesting.
Nevertheless, after having hiked for about 45 minutes, we agreed that:
A/ we took a wrong decision and should have challenged the hill with the car, no matter the road condition;
B/ we should have taken at least one bottle of water with us.
Monteverde is a primary cloud forest or rain forest, primary meaning that it was there before humans. It is quite dense and tall. Normally, one would need several days to properly explore the area and there is a plenty of temptation to do the so-called canopy tours and sky walks.
Canopy tours are trips on the tree branches and twigs, high, approximately 30-40 meters (100 – 130 feet) above the ground level using one’s ability to stick to the metal body harness and swing on the ropes like Tarzan. It is fun but one needs to be prepared that the height should not be treated lightly. Also, even the lightest wind makes the trees sway, even a little bit, but when on top you will feel the swaying all right!
In addition, it is always great to learn something new – how to descent down the rope from a considerable height. It may be useful sometimes, depending on a job, obviously.
Sky Walk, on the other hand, does not require any physical effort. It is simply a part of the jungle with artificially but beautifully hung suspension bridges, based on either natural, canopy ropes or most often on steel ropes. The bridges are usually quite high, say about 150-250 meters (490-820 feet) above the ground so people with height sensitivity should be made aware that the feeling might be uncomfortable – most of the time, as the jungle is quite dense, it is impossible to see exactly how high it is or what is on the bottom. Great!!
Volcán Arenal is the most active volcano in Central America and it erupts every few hours. Well the activity of the mountain varies from one week to another but the lava flows continuously, so it is spectacular to watch the volcano ‘speak’ just before sunset and then through the night. I missed the sunset bit but in the dark, it is actually better to see the red lava flowing down the mountain, and should I have a tripod with me the photograph I took would have been so much better. Well, the photograph is not always the principle, once you get there, make sure you soak the atmosphere. Watch the volcano throw debris, blow smoke and pour the liquid rock from the Earth’s stomach.
On the road, there are many people, most of them local, who picnic at Arenal’s feet with the most scenic views, sometimes dangerously in the middle of the road… They often spend half a night there eating grilled or smoked chicken and drinking beer or rum. Don’t blame them, it is some awesome view!
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Dec 20, 2001 07:00 PM Costa Rica - Arriving at San Jose
Surprisingly the customs are not that bad on the Juan Santamaria airport and the passport procedure is painless, too. Good start! Then, naturally, it is a bit more challenging to get a taxi to town. And given the fact that I arrived at 1.30 am it was even more difficult.
It definitely would have been a lot better if all the dodgy characters had glowed in the dark. They do not, unfortunately and your own personal ability to judge a character is the only help you can get. Maybe just because of my intuition, I suddenly decided to get a ride from a private person rather than from a so called ‘official taxi’. I paid $9 while the taxi drivers were charging $10 - $12 for the same trip. Not a massive difference for me, but obviously it is for them.
At 2 o’clock in the morning, the Costa Rican capital city is not a nice place at all. There are strange individuals wandering about the town until the sunrise. Some of them are not real women and definitely not real men either…
In the district where that sort of beings hang around was the hotel where I was supposed to meet with Tomek – my colleague from the office. However, the hotel (Astoria) ceased existence and I, all over sudden, had to solve another, not an easy task – find a different hotel.
I spent about an hour looking around the town with no luck, and then decided to stay in one of the most expensive hotels in San Jose. Only the top end hotels were open at this hour, anyway.
In the morning, there was no sign of Tomek, who actually should have been informed by KLM, Continental and Avis to wait for me on the airport the night before. It took me the entire morning to locate him and it took Tomek entire day – until 10.30 at night to reply to my message.
During the day, San José does not impress either. There are hardly any monuments and the architecture is really dreadful. It resembles south European cities like Athens – uninteresting modern buildings and dirty streets.
There are a few ‘pedestrians only’ areas with shops, restaurants (including McDonald’s) and cafés. People in San José are not particularly friendly, they are not very different from the majority of Southern Europeans, or Northern Americans. Most of them are white and below-average-attractive. Not that I find Southern Europeans unattractive or anything (I would have to think twice about Northern Americans though, with exception to California, US), but them people in Costa Rica do not strike with exoticness. They just do not seem special.
I accept that capital cities are not the best places to judge the nation but as it happens, it’s there when one usually gets the first impression, and the saying that there is never a second chance to make the first impression is very true. Using this example, Poland has to work very, very, very hard to make sure that Warsaw does not scare visitors, because it currently does with the most horrible buildings right in the centre.
Fortunately, Costa Rica has got its landscape and wildlife that makes it up for the… people. Pity, that to date the Costa Rican government has not yet fully understood the power of the tourist industry and its importance to the proportion of the contribution to the national product. I am referring to the tourist amenities as well as the state of roads.
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Dec 19, 2001 07:00 PM Central America - not an easy start!
The trip did not start fortunately, never mind that I needed to get up at 4.30 in the morning.
The bmi british midland airways plane from London was terribly late, well did not even take of off the tarmac on time, as almost usual but waited for weather in Amsterdam. I told them already while on board that I had a connecting flight that runs only once a day and they assured me that they contacted KLM and told them to wait for me as I should only be 5 minutes away from the flight closing. Well, the KLM’s Martinair did not wait and I missed the only flight that day.
After getting really ballistic I convinced KLM that despite the ‘no responsibility’ weather conditions it was their fault and that they need to put me on a first possible flight to ship me to Costa Rica as soon as possible, so I would not miss the meeting with my colleague on the San José’s Juan Santamaria airport.
After about 45 minute long conversation, they booked me on the flight to Mexico City and then to San José. They were also so kind to take a message that I would be late and they promised to pass it to my colleague. I cannot imagine how naïve I was! They did take the message but they did not pass it on!
Then, of course, I had to re-book the car with Avis who were also kind to take the message. This time, they passed it but not completely, and therefore misled my colleague completely who thought that I would be arriving one day late, and not just a few hours late.
So, after having got a little bit annoyed with bmi british midland airways, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Martinair, I finally found that all the way to Mexico City, for the entire 11 hour flight I will have all 62 inches of legroom and almost completely flat bed in the KLM’s Boeing 747-400 Business World Class… Not bad at all, and I managed to watch on my personal and adjustable video screen almost six films: Legally Blonde, Rat Race, The Score, Planet of the Apes, Rush Hour II, The Bird Cage, and part of The Discovery of Heaven.
The problem was the food. It was truly horrible and I could not believe that KLM would serve something like that in their business class! Quite an unforgettable experience for sure. I don’t even want to remember what I had but what I remember is that I definitely regretted to have chosen a vegetarian meal, but what made me feel better was that the person sitting next to me and who chose something that was described as chicken was not happy to eat ‘poultry’ either – we drew this time. So then I thought that it did not matter as I was happy in my bed enjoying the films.
So far, so good, I thought without realising how things were about to get changed.
When I landed in Mexico City, I immediately knew why the Poles use the expression ‘what a Mexico!’ when referring to chaos. First of all, the airport is huge and not sign posted or is signposted very badly. Check-in and departure gates as well as passport control and immigrations are on completely different floors and levels, which are wrongfully signposted.
It also takes a while to understand that the posted directions to the gates are incorrect and even if it does not state that your gate is in this direction, follow a sign of a different gate number and you will get to your gate anyway. Easy!
Then, of course, the gate stated on the boarding pass, will either be incorrect or the gate will get changed several times without notice, That would not be a problem if it was a small airport but gates at the Mexico City airport are sometimes located 10-15 minutes walk from one another.
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Jul 04, 2001 02:00 PM Madagascar - Flight out
Trip back to the UK came suddenly, after five and half weeks of pure pleasure, nothing doing, enjoying talking to people and hand shaking.
The plane was magnificent, the wonderful Boeing B747-400, the largest South African Airways have in their fleet. It takes 377 passengers on board. Beautiful machine!
Blackness, fires of the forest, storms, and Basia – this is what I remember the most from the flight. This is what the flight was to summarise the 11 hours.
Flying over Africa is considered the most dangerous since Africa is the most dangerous place above which to fly. This is primarily due to the fact that there are no flight controls on the ground. Therefore, planes face the risk of crashing at each other.
Johannesburg, Pretoria, Bulawayo, Central Africa, Algiers-Tunis, Marseille, St. Etienne, Lyon, Auxerre, Paris (Fontainebleau) – that was, in general, the route of the flight. In total 9,065 kms (5,632.9 miles), eleven hours, three different films, two meals and unlimited number of drinks. And only two cheeks to sit on, I do wish I had had more as those two I have, got really tired!
There was blackness and fires that could be seen from the plane. Blackness because Africa is a black land and there are not many countries that would be electrified. And, of course, there is just jungle and desert on the way.
Storms were fantastic! The clouds must have been several miles (more than 1.6 times several kilometres) high. The thunders were illuminating the entire cloud and it was really thrilling to be so close to that and seeing how the lightning was hitting the ground!
Basia (Basia Trzetrzelewska) was one of the artists that the airline chose to play in the headphones. The song was ‘Yearning’, an excellent song that normally ends with the extract from the Polish traditional song ‘Szla dzieweczka do laseczka’, but they did not play the song to the very end. How disappointing was it for me?! I felt like home in Poland again.
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Jul 03, 2001 02:00 PM Madagascar - Ramena to Antananarivo
I was sad to leave, but the time came. Inevitably. Miguel decided to wash the car. As he was busy hosing it with water, I came around at the back of the hotel, to see if he was ready. He definitely did not want me to see him in his shorts, all wet and messy, because he screamed when he saw me. It was so funny. And I think it was for the first time that I saw his hair flat. As normally, he had them puffed up somehow, making him look taller!
Then, Miguel, his girlfiend Vony and I took a few last shots together in front of the hotel's lobby and the restaurant's terrace, and then we had to go.
Miguel was driving. The road was at its worst. As usual. I was getting really nervous, as the hour of my flight departure was approaching a little too fast. And in the land of 'mora mora', Miguel was taking his time. He even decided to stop at a petrol station, just as I was sweating there! Thinking what I would do if I missed my plane to Tana and then to Jo'burg and then to London!
We rolled onto the airport some 15 minutes before departure, and luckily the flight was slightly late... So, I managed to still catch it.
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Jul 02, 2001 02:00 PM Madagascar - Montagne d'Ambre National Park
The park is a beautiful rich tropical forest full of amazing plants, most of which have proven to have some medicinal qualities. Fern trees look like they are coming straight from the Jurassic era (most of the massif actually does) when dinosaurs walked the planet.
Some plants, similar to those I have seen in Southern Europe, Cuba, Africa and North America, like agava for instance, reach incredibly humongous sizes. Unbelievable! The Lac Vert (Green Lake) is really green – both the surroundings and the water. The water is actually archgreen. It is believed that this is due to the vegetation within the lake and its brown bottom. It is a pity that there were no crocodiles because it would be more thrilling and the crocodiles are green, too. It is a volcanic lake, like most of them in the area, and a lot of lava debris of the most impressive sizes can be seen all over.
The park is known for its mountains, wet rain forest and waterfalls. Waterfalls are rather small but they are still very photogenic and situated in beautiful scenery. One of them, Le Grand Cascade, is laid on a popular trail but one needs to step away a bit from the main route. The waterfall appears suddenly, from behind trees on a steep side of a mountain. It definitely makes an impression.
There are a few other waterfalls and I saw two of them. They are a lot smaller and there is really nothing special about them.
As for the Lemurs, there are three daytime species and five nocturnal ones in the park but they are not often seen because the trees are very, very tall and the forest is dense. With a bit of luck I have seen nine Brown Lemurs jumping high on the Eucalyptus trees.
More interesting to me were the chameleons as I felt that I had not taken enough pictures of them so far. Albeit they are everywhere, one does really need skills to be able to spot them. My guide (Thomas) was very skilled and he showed me even the small Blue Nosed Chameleon that was no longer than an inch (2.54 cm) long. Larger examples are not at all easier to spot because they sit at places that fit they colour. Usually the match is so good that only eyes moving around 360 degrees give away their presence.
All the trails in the park were sodomy slippery! Even on a beautiful, dry day. It was impossible to walk there, it really did not matter that I had my best £150 trekking boots on. There were these green little plants on the trail that made all the difficulty. Bastards! I am quite sure that many people, including myself, were swearing all over the park trying to walk cautiously not to break a leg. It is a great park but one day, without visiting the peak of Montagne d’Ambre (1,475 m; 4,839 feet), is definitely enough to see everything, and without a rush. Well, the crucial thing is, however, to have a decent guide who would not be lazy and would walk everywhere.
On the way back to Antsiranana, there is an excellent view on the Diego Bay that is said to be the second largest and the most beautiful one after the Rio de Janeiro Bay in Brazil. Only from this magnificent view can you actually understand why they say this natural harbour is so beautiful. It is truly large. There is a steep island in it, which adds to the attractiveness. It resembles a small volcano. It is called Sugar Rock (Pain du Sucre), similarly to that one in Rio.
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Jul 01, 2001 02:00 PM Madagascar - Ankarana Special Reserve
Ankarana Special Reserve is relatively well known and well established park to visit. It features primarily caves, dry rain forest and tsingy.
In the park, I went into one of the most beautiful caves I have seen to date. More beautiful than those in Poland, Slovenia, Majorca, Cuba, States... Furthermore, it is still wild, you need a guide and some form of light. The best are torches as candles may be blown off by the low flying bats. With candles it would also be difficult to see the bats. I have never seen so many bats in my life and also three different species at a time. One of the species were quite large bats, very impressive how they were organised. Tens of thousands of them! Plus the noise they make contributes to the incredible atmosphere of the caves.
It is now very dry in the caves and the kar process appear to have slowed down significantly or stopped completely due to the deforestation resulting in decline in humidity and level of the underground waters responsible for the cave formations. Some of the massive stalactites fell off the ceiling as a result of that.
On the way back from the cave, I realised that one actually need to always remember to stop and look around to admire the nature’s beautiful work as one may be too preoccupied with watching the step with a weak torch light in complete darkness. The cave formations were splendid! I wish I had been able to stay there longer to see some of the stalactites, stalagnites and stalagmites. With a stronger torch I could have stayed in the cave all day.
Apart from bats, I had a chance to see the most fascinating and colourful spider (quite large) and its cocoon. Superb and dazzling! It had long legs. The legs had a special pattern – black and yellow rings. The spider was sitting calmly on the rock looking me straight in the eye when I was taking picture of it.
The ride to and from the park (2x110 kms; 2x68.4 miles) in the cargo bay of a 4WD van made also an additional experience of the escapade. The wind was also strong. It was great sitting there in the cargo bay back t front and watching people walking by on the road and in the villages. Again, all of them were smiling and waving. Every time we stopped, they walked up to the van to shake hands.
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