Hey everybody,
sometimes on a longer trip you realize after a while: This one heavy book should've stayed home, that LED-lamp I took with me saved my life and - oh no - I should've brought better shoes... I'm preparing for a 3-4 month round trip through central america (starting mid february 2018) and like most travellers I'm planing to do a bit of everything (hiking volcanos, exploring nature, watching animals, seeing Maya temples, going to beaches...)
My question is: What things do you as an experienced central america traveller think...
1) should have stayed home?
2) are definetly useful or even necessary?
3) you should've brought with you?
Of course I'm not asking for a packing list, there are plenty on the web. I rather want to know two or three essentials that come to your mind! e.g. sleeping bag (did you bring one? or just a thin linen summer sleeping bag? Or nothing at all?)
I read a nice quote the other day: "List the things you think you need - and leave half of them at home." The question is though: Which ones? ;-) I'm looking forward to some answers and THANK YOU A LOT in advance - see you in february possibly!
Nik
The below is someone else's post from 3 years ago (I can't comment on the thread as it's locked) : just wanted to confirm that all is still relevant and correct (prices etc), use mapsme and you really can't get lost!
To my traveling buddies - if you get a chance to swing by Chachapoyas, it's a really awesome little town. This particular 4-day trek to the amazing ruins of Kuelap includes some raw Peruvian culture with rewarding views, and a guide isn't really necessary unless you gotta have the inside scoop. I personally enjoyed the freedom of it, as I didn't see another tourist until Kuelap. I hope someone finds this useful!
(Note: This isn't meant to be a descriptive blog post, more of a set of instructions)
I just got back from this 4-day excursion, and had an absolute blast. However, there were a few pointers I wish I had before I started, so here they are for anyone else who may be in the mood. Note that I did this without too much preparation so I’m positive there may be more optimized ways - I can only speak from my own experience.
Day 1 - Kajaria/Cohechan:
This is the more laid-back day, and you don’t really need to start early because there’ll be downtime. Take a colectivo from the terminal to Luya (5s). You’ll be dropped off at the plaza, so ask where you can take the next car to Cohechan (4s). You can grab a snack and drop your things off at a hostel. I stayed at Hospedaje Andrea y Jhulisy (or something), which was a bit odd but run by a really warm family that took me to a little viewpoint to be nice. The hospedaje up the street by the plaza looked slightly more legitimate, honestly.
From there, walk up to the plaza on the right side, and when you hit the junction take a right, downhill; there are signs towards Cruzpata. It’s a really pleasant 1-1.5h walk, with slight down/uphills, plenty of animals and extremely nice people as well as good views. I really suggest eating lunch at the little spot in Cruzpata with the fork/knife sign, that lady is a great cook.
Go down to Kajaria (5s entry), 30m steep walk down, come back by foot or horse, and walk back to Cohechan. There are taxis or colectivos you can take if you are tired.
Buy food, snacks, and water for the next day. There won’t be any stops until the afternoon.
Day 2 - Valle de Bellen/Congon
It is important to wake up early and leave by around 5AM the next day, because that’s when the cars and trucks leave for Bellen. Note that Bellen is a valley, not a town. It’s a really bumpy 1.25h ride and could get cold if you’re in the back of a camioneta.
Here you may find some folks fishing; it’s a popular spot for some fresh trucha (trout)
Walk along the same road, which veers right. Kind of depends where you are dropped off but for me it was another 20-25m of walking until the split-off. It’s a beautiful valley.
**This is a potential point of confusion: Look for a sign that says “Roads Chachas The Great Vilaya Route, Here Begin the Adventure”, that’s where you take the trail on the right instead of continuing with the road on the left. It looks a bit unused, like someone’s property, but that’s the one! Follow the trail on the right, and you’ll begin a moderately steep uphill soon
I did not realize that the 3-4 marked spots along the way, such as La Parquilla, are actually archeological sites hidden in the forest. A wiser person than I would do some research to see how to access those and what they are, because I would’ve never guessed by just walking past, as they must be a little hidden.
Depending on your pace, it would be 2-3 hours up, then a knee-busting and at times slippery 2-hour downhill to Congon. Take your time.
There is really one place to stay in Congon, La Parquilla Casa Hospedaje, run by a chilled out man called Armando and his really nice yet stressed out wife. I paid 10s for room, and meals are about 5s.
If you have extra energy after all that walking, you can pay a local kid a couple bucks to take you to a really nice set of waterfalls in the forest. I paid Armando’s nephew, 14 y/o Victor, 10s, and he was awesome. Ask him to grind some cane sugar for you in at the trapiche, which makes for a great snack.
*Be sure to order some cafe naturale; that’s their staple crop for the village, and it’s an amazing treat after all the instant coffee around here. I ordered extra and took some with me to go.
Again, pack snacks and plenty of water for the next day.
Day 3: Yumal
This is the tough one. However, if you wake up early (5ish should do), follow these instructions, and don’t get lost for 2h (unlike me, for all accounts), it’s definitely manageable. Note that from Congon to Yumal there’s a net 1700m altitude gain; and that’s just net, meaning that the numerous downhills offset some hard uphills, so it’s really more.
*Walk down from Congon for about 20m, and the road meets the river. It’ll be obvious when you see it because a part of the road is submerged, and then takes a hard right. Right past this river junction, instead of continuing to the right with the road, straight ahead you’ll see a trail going steeply up, with two houses. That’s the path you need to take.
You’ll quickly pass a tiny village called Amia 2 minutes to left of the path. There’s nothing really there but the nice man (Armando’s brother, actually) may let you have some of the amazingly tart local mandarins if you are lucky. Go back and follow the path for a while, maybe 1.5h.
**You’ll hit a river with a junction. There’ll be a bridge on the right, leading to a house called “Qóri Inka Wasi”, with a little sun on it. Do NOT go there, as tempting as it looks (see my note about being lost for 2h). Your path is straight ahead, not to the bridge. Take a mental break, because this is when the uphills really start.
Note that there are occasional signs with distances and altitudes. Those should be used as vague references (if at all), as the info really does not add up and can just confuse you.
From that point it’s about 2-3h to Lanch (2 houses), which incidentally is where you can have lunch! I stopped at the first house. The lady there is a gem, and you can buy her homemade cheese (quesito) wheel for 2s. She can also refill your bottles with some natural water.
Continue up..and up...Once you get to the unmarked Piedras Blancas (meaning white rocks, which you’ll know when you see), you’re getting close, within 1h. Finally, Yumal (again, a viewpoint, not a village), is the official end of the trail, and is in junction with the road.
Take a left (there’s a clear sign) towards Choctamal. You’ll have .5 hours of a really gorgeous and pleasant flat ridgeline walk, until the path goes hard downhill for over an hour. You’ll have to go through a gate at one point, don’t worry though that’s the right way. Beware of annoying barking dogs as you get closer to town.
There are a couple of restaurants and hostels as soon as you enter town.
Day 4: Kuelap
I waited around for a colectivo (5s) until about 10AM. I’m not really sure if any come before that, so it’s worth asking.
Kuelap is a 40m ride away through nice scenery. The site itself is really amazing, and worth a daytrip regardless. I’ve been told, although I of course would never ever try it, that you can say you’re a student to get half off, and show them your license as ID which they won’t actually check…
I took a colectivo back from Kuelap to Chachapoyas, which took me back through Choctamal. I saw on the map that you can walk to Tingo straight from Kuelap and probably get a ride from there, but you can inquire about that separately
Recommendations to Bring and Leave:
Water treatment drops. I wish I had these, instead of getting parched or having to carry a bunch of water with me. There are plenty of rivers around.
Good boots: Some spots are very muddy and/or slippery. And I did this trek in the dry season.
Rainjacket and bags to waterproof your stuff
The hospedajes all have reliable electricity. No need for your 18 external batterie
Hi,
I'm going on a 9 day trek in Peru, which is one of my great pleasures in life. However, I've developed knee problems over the past year and am worried that the pain may bother me a lot, particularly sleeping. I do have a prescription for meloxicam, which is basically like heavy duty naprosyn or ibuprofen, but that doesn't do much for strong pain. A friend of mine gave me a few vicodin (or maybe it's codeine) tablets for me to bring for my first aid kit, but it isn't prescribed to me, so no bottle. Can I bring these with me through customs, or will I get searched and be in trouble? I'm older and don't look like a recreational drug taker. Maybe this sounds wacky but I have a fear of being in serious pain four days walk from a road!...of course I have an even stronger fear of Peruvian jails :)
Alternatively, can I buy some over the counter in a pharmacy there? Last time I was there I bought some cough suppressant pills there that had codeine and antihistamines etc in them (codipront?) because I had a bad cough going on. I never bothered to take them, still have them in fact. They would work for a last-resort painkiller I guess, so I was thinking of bringing them perhaps, or I could buy them there maybe. If I bought them there originally, would it still be ok to bringing them back with me?
thanks
Cost of buying expensive gear in your home country can be reduced to about 1/4 or 1/2 if you by used in local advert places.
If you are looking at renting in Ktm and don’t trust the temperature ratings use some judgement and make sure it feels thick enough. For example, down feather sleeping bags saying -10 C and only weighing 1kg is near impossible, it needs to be around 1.5kg. Also, feel the gauge and loft thickness of down jackets and sleeping bags to gauge whether it might perform, avoid thin insubstantial looking gear.
I think most of the hired gear will be sufficient, not the top rated, if you apply some common sense in choices.
See previous post on gear list or search online on how to layer clothes.
Hi Mike
Thanks for getting back to me..
It sounds like you had a great trip and well thought out, I envy the time you took over it too, great to be able to get to know each place like that.
Well, in February I set off in my old footsteps, with my two boys, age 7 and 2..
Their mum was working in The Gambia at a music school she set up out there in the village of Gunjur , she’d been away for a couple of weeks and we went to join her for a bit . After a few days we left and went to camp in the bush where a local friend lived and owned some land near the sea. While we were there there was a bush fire that spread for miles. We spent a couple of days fighting it back, clearing the surrounding land and carrying water from the well to dowse it. We manage to save her compound as she’d lost it a year before to wild fire.. some near neighbours weren’t so lucky!
After 10 days, having acclimatised a bit, the boys set off on our adventure, blind.. not literally, but without a particular plan. I needed to be back in the uk by early April as I run a business offer traditional horsedrawn Gypsy Caravan holidays and the season starts soon after that..
I’d hoped to overland all the way home, but ran out of time sadly. We traced from Gambia through Senegal, Mauritania, Western Sahara, and up through the high atlas route to Marrakech were we flew from.
We traveled by local transport, hitchhiking, the kindness of strangers (a lot) and the iron ore train from Atar to Nouadibou .
Mauritania was my main focus as since my rip 25 years ago I’ve had a yearning to return there.
We spent a few days in bush taxis in Senegal, stayed with Couchsurfing hosts and Airbnb and met some lovely people. We spent a couple of days camped on the coast, well in the back of an old truck at the Zebrabar near St. Louis in the hope of catching a ride with an over lander to Diama, but it was quiet, so headed to St. Louis were we negotiated a lift with a local man. At the border we arrived at passport office to a smiling welcome (Senegal side, and at the same time as a lovely Spanish family traveling the other way. We managed to swap currencies with no Commision.. which made life simpler and exchanged useful tips and experiences..
We then set off on foot across the Damn that is “no mans land” and to the Mauritanian side.
I’ve crossed a lot of borders over the years, but never one where there is such dramatic change from one side to the other!
The first guard on the gate attempted to turn us back because we didn’t have visas, but he was bluffing and soon let us through. From we found it friendly if not longwinded but after a while had papers in order.
I have to say that traveling with two young kids is an amazing way to open doors to friendly people! The hardest of border guards literally melted before them! For all the warnings if received that it isn’t possible to do the journey with kids, I’d say it was made more possible by the kids. (This isn’t a recommendation, just my experience) I also have to say that my boys were amazing! We were traveling with one bag between us, which when I weighed it at the airport in Marrakech, was 12kg. This plus a 5litre water bottle that we made a shoulder strap for out of some cloth we found.
Leaving the border at Diama was a long wait. I’d spoken to someone who said they’d sort us a lift, but it never transpired
We waited six hours. In one of the (Berber?) the tea tents and in the shade of the passport office we sat shading from the sun and watching people. The boys spent their time making toys out of rubbing they found, from toy cars to catapults... and making friends with the hustlers and money changers and occasional officials...
Eventually I took the risk of asking the gendarmes about the chance of getting a ride to Nouakchott..Meanwhile the boys were being entertained by some hustlers and fed fruit by a fruit seller girl outside the window.... given the stories of bribes and blackmail etc on this border I thought I was fairly putting our fate in the lap of the gods (even more!) but what happened was the beginning of a hell of a ride!
He asked if we were ready now, shouted to another police man, who led us to his car.
Actually, I’m going to copy some descriptions I sent home rather than rewriting.. so I’m sorry if it’s jumbled.
“From the record....
crossing into Mauritania, a whole different world!
Don’t know where to start with details, but there’s a lot, I’ll try, but will be jumbled....
Crossed from Senegal into Mauritania at Diama yesterday on foot with kids... was slightly dreading hassle etc, but none of it. Senegal side really friendly and helpful. Met a Spanish family heading south, so we swapped currencies.
Wandered across the damn that is nomans land between border posts, with occasional battered car, , donkeys and cartsMauritania side officials, tea sellers, hustlers alike were bewildered by a dad with 7 and 2 year old but no car or mother/wife!
All very friendly and helpful and no sign of extra charges/fees or fines etc. That many travellers write about.. Sat for a long time waiting for a lift from a guy called Omar who I’d been put in touch with, but lost contact with him, but could’ve got one sooner as transport running all morning.. he didn’t show, so after several hours I took the risk of asking gendarmes, while money changes were feeding kids bananas and apples. and rather than extra charges, hassle, etc, the gendarmes sorted us a lift immediately and accompanied us driving like in a getaway car , dodging warthogs and camels cowherds and cattle and eventually bust their sump! then sorted a series of other lifts, we eventually got dropped at a check point where the gendarmes stopped each vehicle asking to give us free lift!
We are now in Nouakchott after a long and eventful day traveling through the desert! Camels, warthogs... rally driving gendarmes....
got dropped at a police check point by a scattered village of tents and huts by a Mohamed Ali who was friends with a police man stationed there who he told to get us a lift.... after some hours sat in the sand, they flagged down a seven seater, that already had 10 people squeezed in and told the driver to take us where we were going....
sheeps head and couscous... lots of sand and dust...
Tired today... we arrived at 3.30 this morning after the last of several lifts being five hours wedged in the back of a seven seater with 12 people!literally couldn’t lift my head up all the way as pressed against the roof... boys slept mostly if wakefully..
Boys loved the food but didn’t know until they’d finished and I showed them the sheep skull in the bowl of couscous , it was dark and we were eating with our hands, on rugs on the roadside of an unlit desert town with robed Berber Arabs lounging about or praying , eating or drinking shots of tea, it was delicious!
Lots of sand and dust and so hot!!
Now in Nouakchott a busy city where their slaves live in tents and camels wander free in the outskirts. Went to the fishing village yesterday, thousands of purogues( traditional wooden fishing boats) colourfully painted, mountains of fish! Battered and beaten vehicles beyond even my dreams! Everywhere people washing themselves before their god, kneeling in prayer...
Walked for too many hours in the sun...I got very sunburned! Luckily, boys were better dressed and with hats...
been Couchsurfing... Airbnb.. camping...
Heading inland next, in search of oasis! (Not the band!)”
To be continued...
Welcome to the forum.
Your budget of $US140.00 per day is sufficient, however you will do well to use hostel dorms, or very cheap motels (such as Motel6, and small independents). Check the HI Hostel website too.
With 90 days you could see most of the national parks west of the Mississippi, but it could become tiring (if not boring).
Parks to not miss, in my view:
- Yellowstone / Grand Teton
- Zion / Bryce Canyon / Arches
- Grand Canyon / Death Valley / Yosemite
- Lake Tahoe (region) / Lassen Volcanic / Crater Lake
Plus visit some scenic coast roads and giant redwood forests right along the West Coast. New Mexico and Colorado are really rewarding too. So are the many national monuments ... buy the Rand McNally Road Atlas, but take a GPS with you too. Buy the annual National Park Pass at your first park ($US80.00).
I would fly from NYC to Denver (or Phoenix, or Albuquerque) and travel the big rough triangle between there, Los Angeles, and Seattle. Start south and move north slowly with the weather getting warmer.
Rent the smallest / cheapest sedan you can tolerate. Drive between Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon NP South Rim for some historic snippets of Old Route 66 ... it's all you need. Don't bother with the stretch from Chicago to Santa Fe. I can't think of any compelling reasons to do it.
Your budget requires discipline ... but self-catering is very cheap, and fresh / cooked food from supermarkets is good. Alcohol from the supermarket too ... eating out / drinking in bars chews up a travel budget.
Buy a tent and sleeping bag ... camp whenever the setting and weather are kind to you.
Out of curiousity, where's the island? In my travels around Indonesia, I've only ever been offered one uninhabited island where I could camp and be supplied.
You don't need a hammock or a mosquito net - unnecessary weight (though mosquito nets are often pretty light, so you might want to carry one anyway). Get a light-weight tent. My tent weighs less than 2kg, fits two people handily, and can (usually) handle tropical rain. Then you need a sleeping mat. I personally prefer a cheap, simple foam mat, but there are a variety of different options. It shouldn't be cold, but at least one light jacket isn't a bad idea. A sheet, if you like sleeping with one.
Otherwise, some camping essentials: flashlight, Swiss army knife. That's about it really. I don't know what you plan on doing for food, that depends on what kind of food you get. If you need to cook, you'll need cooking gear, and will probably need a gas supply of some sorts, which usually can't be brought on a plane. For water, just drink the rain water, as long as there's enough of it.
And enjoy! Being the only person on an island for the night is a pretty cool experience.
In very humid conditions, the trick that works quite well for drying stuff is to take it into your sleeping bag at night. On a jungle tour in Peru my clothes including jeans and shoes were completely wet. I cleaned the mud and went into bed fully clothed, and covered with all the blankets to be very warm. The first 10 minutes were uncomfortable but then the body heat levelled the temperature and next morning I woke up in completely dry clothes and shoes.
It's because of the laws of thermodynamics. The moisture tends to move away from places that are warmer than the surroundings. Warmest place at night = your bed. :-)
I'm curious why you're so against getting gate checked? If you have a pack cover and put your valuables in the smaller bag it's not a big deal to hand them your larger pack and pick it up after landing. A 16l pack late winter even without a sleeping bag sounds way too small. Even if I like to pack light
Hello,
I am polishing my plan of visit in wonderful Dolomites and I would like to ask some questions for more experienced travelers.
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I found an article about watching Enrosadira where is written that famous sunrise/sunset view is Rosengartengruppe (Gruppo del Catinaccio) seen from Pozza di Fassa. I have already booked a hotel in Pozza di Fassa to see Enrosadira there but I am not able to find any precise information which location in Pozza di Fassa is good to see sunrise. Do you know any particular place to see morning sun on the rocky summits around Pozza di Fassa?
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I also booked (by phone) one night in Dreizinnenhütte, the mountain hut with view on Tre Cime. However I was only able to reserve beds in common dormitory and I read on the website that guests should bring bed sheet or sleeping bag with them. I am traveling to Italy by air with small luggage and I am not able to bring so many things with me. Does mountain huts have any rental bed sheet or blankets or there is really no other possibility but bringing them with me?
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Which places do you recommend to see the best view of Alpe di Siusi? Do you have any advices where to park a car to go for hiking around picturesque pastures?
I appreciate any advices.