Sao Paulo

Panama to Bogota, Bogota to Sao Paulo. Early check-in negotiated at the Intercontinental in Jardim Paulista , a nap, a walk to the mall to buy a SIM card, an afternoon at the MASP. Really great modern art displayed rather bizarrely with the info on the back, so you had to circle each piece to read about the artist. In the end we had fun guessing each artist before checking on the back. Can you tell your Modiglianis from your Legers? We were surprised at how good at it we were. Traveling teaches you all sorts of things. We are most privileged to have been to very many of the world's best Art Museums. Something's rubbed off.

And then to art and genius of another kind. In pouring rain, we ubered to D.O.M for dinner. Alex Atala is a colourful and amazingly talented Chef who cooks with traditional Amazonian ingredients.

Watch his episode of Chef's Table to learn all about him and his cuisine. D.O.M has been rated in the Top 20 restaurants of the World for over 10 years. We had a fabulous food and wine pairing. Call me a blog- pooper, but I decided not to try and take photos of everything. It detracts from the sheer enjoyment of the evening. I never want blogging or taking pics to become the reason for traveling. If I happen to take a pic I can add to the blog, great, otherwise it's too bad.

On Sunday, we headed to the suburb of Pinheiros to a Carnival bloco. What fun, walking and dancing in the streets with locals; drinking fewer beers than everyone else due to a lack of public toilets. Fogo de Chao  is a chain of upmarket Brazilian steakhouses. Dinner of buffet style sides and salads and as much red meat as you can possibly eat, brought to your table on skewers by waiters dressed like gauchos. Raise the white flag when you can eat no more!

Trinidad and Panama

Trinidad and Tobago

We didn't go to Tobago, the holiday island, so perhaps I am being a little harsh, but Trinidad isn't high on my list of recommendations.

Port of Spain

We're back at the Hilton on the hillside overlooking Savannah Park. Dirty, scruffy piece of ground. The guidebooks mention the Magnificent Seven, a row of historical mansions bordering the park. Mostly boarded up and derelict. Downtown and Independence Square. Desserted and dangerous looking on a Sunday. Waterfront. We did have a coffee at the Grand Hyatt. And we had brunch at a food court. Well just a few take away windows and some benches. We got some local dishes to try. The place was packed with groups and families waiting for Carnival party boats. You gotta be dressed to the nines;very tight, very colourful, very bling. At noon, the DJ on the boat cranks up the music, a sign that it's time to board. You can take your own coolers on board and by the time they set sail, it's literally standing room only for a day on the water; dancing and drinking. 

Caroni Swamp

We did an afternoon boat tour on the Caroni Swamp. This was amazing. Travelling through the mangroves, the guide showed us lots of birds, including the common pootoo, something like a tree dwelling nightjar. And boa constrictors curled up and hopefully asleep in the trees above our heads. Once out on the lake we saw flamingoes but the absolute highlight was watching thousands and thousands of scarlet ibis coming in to roost. I'd recommend stopping in Trinidad for this spectacle alone.

Panama City

Driving from the airport into Panama City with it's high-rise condos lining the seafront, it reminded us of Singapore about 25 years ago.

Our hotel was well located in El Cangrejo and it was safe to walk everywhere. Stopping for good coffee was back on the agenda. 

The fishing port and fish market is worth a visit. We headed into the Casco Veijo or Old Town, a world heritage site that is fast gentrifying and fun to explore. We found a branch of Marzola Parilla for drinks and a late lunch, with a window table; great for people watching. After lots of googling to find live music in this city, we had a great meal and music at Cafe Pomodoro, around the corner from our hotel.

Birding Panama

Via a bit of research and some luck, we contacted Gonzalo Horna via email and arranged a day of birdwatching for the following morning. He drove us out to Pipeline Road, Gamboa, near the canal. In the trees in the carpark we saw toucans, macaws and parrots. What a fantastic spot to watch birds.We were out for 5 hours. Gonzalo found us 4 out of the 5 different Trogans in the area and we saw more than 50 species. Seeing massive ships cruising through the jungle on the canal is pretty surreal. 

Back in town, the "trendy" nightlife area of Camp Alegre was pretty dead on a Wednesday night but we did have a great meal at La Posta.

Road Trip

On our 3rd day we hired a car. First stop, the Panama Canal. The history of the canal is really interesting and the engineering for the new canal that can take the Supertankers, impressive. For the largest ships, 1 crossing can cost up to a million USD. 

We drove all the way to Portabelo on the Northern coast of Panama. The old buildings have been declared a World Heritage Site but what a shabby, sad and disappointing place. The wooden statue of Black Jesus in the Cathedral attracts Catholic Pilgrims from all over Central and South America; some of whom crawl on their hands and knees for many kilometres to get there.

We drove back to Gamboa to do an afternoon boat cruise on THE canal and to Monkey Island. Rather funny negotiations about price and destination ensued due to our complete inability to speak Spanish, but we jumped into the boat with 2 French ladies who were out to fish and hoped for the best. We saw 4 different species of monkey and lots of birds and our skipper rode the wakes of the giant ships on the canal like a pro surfer.

That night, back in the city, we ubered back to Casco Viejo, ate dinner at a taco joint then went to Danilo's Jazz Club for the evening. An exuberant Caribbean lady fronted the band for an evening of jazzy Bob Marley hits.

St. Lucia, Caribbean

And so the great plane trek... Cartegena, Colombia to Panama City, Panama. Panama City to Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Long taxi ride to the Hilton. Room service and a bed. Long taxi ride back. Port of Spain to Castries, St.Lucia. 

What a delight to finally check into The Bay Gardens Resort for a whole week. Our first floor apartment had a balcony with sea views, literally a few metres from the beach, with a calm swimmable sea and lots of sunshine everyday. We just felt relaxed and happy. Unpack those cases for a whole week. Get your laundry done. Make your own coffee and breakfast in your own kitchen.

Rodney Bay is a very touristy cluster of resorts, a handful of restaurants and bars and a marina. Manufactured Caribbean like the package tourists from North America and Europe like it. Not to say it isn't very, very pleasant. And it's all within walking distance of our hotel. 

Most of the family is here to celebrate Neil's mom's 80th birthday.  Mom from Johannesburg. Sandra, Rob, Lisa and Dylan from New Jersey. Charles, Leonie, James and William from London. Joan and Raymund from North Carolina. Ashley from Dallas. Gail and Neil from Anywhere and Everywhere. 

There are a few excursions on offer. Neil and  I hired a car one day with Mom to tour the island; to see the real St.Lucia. We also did a birdwatching tour one morning. We all went to Pigeon Island one day - a mediocre and touristy experience at best. The family did a catamaran trip. You can use the sailing boats and kayaks from the hotel free of charge.

On the first evening we got together for dinner at Spinnakers, which has a great setting on the beach with sunset views. Our rule that the food is usually pretty mudane if patrons are coming for the view definitely applies here. And our group did go back quite a few times which just goes to prove the point.

For Sunday brunch and to celebrate Mom's birthday we had a great time at Jacques, with it's waterside setting on the marina. Here our rule doesn't apply at all and we did come back too.

Buzz is the other restaurant worth mentioning in the area. 

This package-type of travel is not our thing but we did have a good time with the family.

Colombia 4 : Minca, Santa Marta, Tayrona

10 February We drove 5 hours along the coast to Santa Marta. The port city of Barranquilla looked dirty and dangerous and as we drove along the causeway across the mangrove the environment just deteriorated. Conditions in the fishing communities along the way from there reminded me of Africa. We did see a sloth crossing the road!

At Santa Marta  you drive inland up the  Serra Nevada mountain pass to Minca, a small town in the foothills of the mountains. Arriving on a Sunday we had to contend with the traffic of day trippers from Santa Marta on the tiny dirt roads to get to our lodge, Minca Ecohabs. The basic bungalows are on stilts in the forest, almost like treehouses. Minca is very hot and humid at this time of year and the lodge, built on the side of a mountain, has lots and lots of stairs. Minca is on the backpacker trail, mostly hostels, cheap bars and restaurants filled with dreadlocked yoga drop-outs and gapyear travellers. We love The Lazy Cat for cheap cocktails, great salads and good WiFi. 

11 February Colombia has more birds, almost 2000 species, than any other single country and Minca and Santa Marta have about 30 endemics. Nature conservation and  ecotourism is not well developed in Colombia but we did a great bird walk with a local expert arranged by the hotel. We loved the toucans, parrots and motmots. From the Ecohabs dining room you can see about 10 species of hummingbird! This is a borrowed pic but we did see 40 or 50 Keel Billed Toucans around Minca!

12 February Santa Marta is the scruffy, non-touristy cousin to Cartegena. Some beautiful old buildings around Simon Bolivar Parque, an ugly beach and a cluster of hostels, clubs and bars. We loved our stay at the restored Hotel Casa Carolina, with the swimming pool in an inner courtyard and a pretty good restaurant, Eli's.

13 February Lonely Planet raves about the beach and diving at Taganga. We thought the place was awful, so we didn't stay long. We continued down the coast to Tayrona National Park, which was closed for a month for beach rehabilitation and tribal ceremonies. Luckily we were staying at the Los Naranjos Estate located right on the most awesome wild beach at the river mouth. Finally a gorgeous stretch of Colombian Caribbean coastline! Finca Barlovento Cabin, designed by architect Simon Velez in the 70s, is built on the boulders right on the beach. Lying in bed you just hear waves crashing below you all night.

14 February It's a five hour drive back to Cartegena and this time we are staying in the amazing Legends Sofitel Santa Clara Hotel. We pull up outside to unload our bags and Neil realises he's left his backpack back at Los Naranjos!!! I call the booking agent in Bogota who speaks English and she arranges a taxi to drive the bag to us in Cartegena for 200 USD. We have a rather nervous evening drinking cocktails at KGB bar and in the middle of our valentine's dinner at Sofitel, the bag arrives!