TRIP DIARY: LATIN AMERICA 2013 - 2014

Another year working for Alitalia, another trip to do after the working season. Travelling Peru has always been my mom’s dream, so we left togheter Italy on the way to Lima via Madrid. Here we met again with my uncle, and after few days Francesca came over as well to join our trip.

SPAIN

17.11 - 19.11 MADRID, by flight “alitalia” from Rome (2 hr) and sleeping at the “Hostal Zamoran”. We decided to stop here to visit the city and one day we also went to Toledo by bus “Alsa” (1 hr each way)

20.11 Flight “Iberia” to Lima (12 hr)

PERU

20.11 - 23.11 LIMA, again here with Maurizio, Cecilia, Juanita and the new entry gigio aka el gato drogadicto, spending good time together and visiting around Barranco, Miraflores and the Huaca Pucllana and huallamarca

24.11 - 25.11 EL CHACO, arriving here with Maurizio’s 4WD car (4 hr), we drove the whole day around the Paracas national park desert, then Maurizio and Cecilia get back in Lima and we stayed in a local hostal called “Refugio del Pirata”. The day after we went to visit the Ballestas islands by boat and the “Candelabro geoglifo”. In the afternoon we felt an earthquake while relaxing in our accommodation

26.11 NAZCA, by bus “Oltursa” (4 hr) and staying at the hotel “La Encantada”, visiting the small city and at night an interesting planetarium. The day after we took a flight over the famous Nazca lines, and visiting in the afternoon the Cahuachi ruins

27.11 Night bus “Palomino” to Lima (6 ½ hr)

28.11 - 01.12 LIMA, back here again, Francesca has finally arrived in Peru, we have been all together around Lima and other suburbs

02.12 - 04.12 TRUJILLO, by flight “Lan” (1 hr) we slept at “Hostal Colonial”, here we met Monica, a nice friend of Maurizio, she helped us to visit around the city,we have also been at the Huaca del Sol y de la Luna, Chan Chan, Huaca Esmeralda, Huaca Arcoiris, la Dama de Cao and the Huaca El Brujo. For the last day we have been in the morning in Huanchaco on the seaside to have all together the famous local fish breakfast

05.12 - 07.12 CHICLAYO, by bus “Emtrefesa” (3 ½ hr) staying at “Hotel Alejandra”, from here we could visit Sipan, Tucume, Lambayeque and the Mercado Modelo, the city market and one of the most famous in South America

08.12 - 10.12 LIMA, back here again by bus “Emtrefesa” first to Trujillo (3 ½ hr) and then by flight “Lan” (1 hr). This time we stayed at the “Hotel el Faro” near by Maurizio’s house, from here my mum flew back in Italy and me and Francesca took a flight to Mexico

MEXICO

11.12 - 12.12 CANCUN, by flight “Lan” (5 ½ hr) sleeping at the cheap “Hostel Laurel”, visiting the old town and the Zona Hotelera along the beach side

13.12 - 14.12 VALLADOLID, by bus “Ado” (2 hr) and sleeping at the hotel “Maria Guadalupe”, staying around this nice colonial city and visiting from here the ruins of Ek Balam first (1 hr each way by collectivo) and the world’s famous one of Chichen Itza the day after (1 ½ hr by collectivo each way)

15.12 - 16.12 MERIDA, by bus “Ado” (3 hr) and staying at “Hotel Los Arcos”, another nice colonial city and capital of the Yucatan state, from here we went to visit some cenote around the city by collectivos and the day after we did a tour to the ruins of Uxmal and Kabah

17.12 Night bus “Ado” to Palenque (9 hr)

18.12 PALENQUE, sleeping at “Posada Nacha Nkaan”, this is a small and so special city but is famous for the Mayan ruins near by. From here we could visit the Palenque arqueological site, and the waterfalls of Misol Ha and Agua Azul

19.12 Night bus “Occ” to San Cristobal (8 ½ hr)

20.12 - 23.12 SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, sleeping at the “Posada Gite Del Sol” and for the last day at the “Posada La Catrina”. This is a beautiful town surrounded by the mountains, and is a good spot to discover the Chiapas region. We have been from here at the Canion Del Sumidero and Chiapa de Corzo village. The indigenous village of San Juan Chamula with it’s famous church, and in the city the Mayan medicine museum and the 2 hills of Cerro de Guadalupe and Cerro De San Cristobal

GUATEMALA

24.12 - 25.12 PANAJACHEL, with 2 different minivan “Tierra Maya” (10 hr) and sleeping at the hotel “Real Santander”, we arrived here just in time to spend the Christmas in this marvellous location over the Atitlan lake, going by boat around the villages of San Marcos, San Pedro and Santiago

26.12 ANTIGUA, by minivan “Tierra Maya” (4 hr) sleeping at “Hostel La Quinta”, visiting this nice colonial town, and we also did the trekking over the active Pacaya Vulcan

27.12 Collectivo to Guatemala city and then a night bus “Linea Dorada” to Flores (11 hr)

28.12 - 29.12 FLORES, staying at the “Posada Tayazal”, this is a small town over an island in the lake “Laguna de Peten” connected to the mainland by a road that cross the lake. From here we could visit the Mayan ruins of Tikal, just an hour away by bus

BELIZE

30.12 - 02.01 CAYE CAULKER, staying 2 days at the “Cindy lane” guest house and 2 days at the hotel “Barefoot caribe”, we arrived here by bus from Flores to Belize city (6 hr) and then with a taxi boat “San Pedro” to the caye (1 hr). On this relaxing island we did a lot of snorkelling around the coral reef, we had the new  year eve at the Split, the northern end of the island, and we have been at the Great Blue Hole, visiting another island called “Halfmoon Caye” and snorkelling in a place called “The Aquarium”

03.01 SAN PEDRO, arriving by the taxi boat “San Pedro” (1 hr) and sleeping at the “Ruby’s hotel”, this is the main city over the Caye Ambergis, just walking around the island we couldn’t do anything special because of the rain never stopped

04.01 As the rain never stopped, we decided to leave this place, taking first the taxi boat “San Pedro” back to Belize city (1 ½ hr) and from there a local bus “BBOC” to Corozal at the border with Mexico, crossing here by walk the border to reach the city of Chetumal

MEXICO

04.01 - 06.01 TULUM, from the Mexican border we took first a collectivo to  Chetumal (½ hr) and then a bus “Mayabus” to Tulum (4 ½ hr), here we found a room at “Maya Hotel”. This town is famous for the Mayan ruins just over the beach, and for it’s seaside which is one of the most beautiful on the Mexican Caribbean coast, but even here the weather wasn’t good at all

07.01 - 09.01 PLAYA DEL CARMEN, by collectivo (1 hr) and sleeping at “Papagayo Hotel”. This is one of the most touristic and expensive city, and even from here we couldn’t do anything because of the every day strong rain

10.01 We arrived at the airport by bus “Ado” (1 hr) and from here we flew back to Madrid with “Air Europa” (9 hr)

11.01 Last day of our trip, waiting in Madrid for the “Alitalia” connection flight to Rome (2 ½ hr)