In 1990 I travelled through Africa for one year and then together with my girlfriend I backpacked through Latin America for two and a half years. These trips were amazing, far away lands for us with interestingly different cultures, people and landscapes. But you do not really need to go to faraway lands to have an awesome holiday. That was proved by our last holiday, which we spent in our own province of North-Holland. In two weeks we hiked from couchsurf address to couchsurf address. The result was one of our best holidays ever!

Does this sound familiar: you travel abroad and meet people who have visited your own country, and they've seen things, close to where you live, and you have NEVER been there!!! That happend to us sereral times last 2,5 years. Two famous attractions are the Keukenhof, famous for it's tulips, and the cheese market of Alkmaar. So that's what we did. The tulips we did on our own, but the cheese market we did together with Paul. We met Paul when he was working as a guide for the Quetzaltrekkers in Xela, Guatemala. A volunteering organization raising money for street children. He was our guide on the Sanitaquito trip (see pictures here). Now he came to Holland, so we could guide him to some typical Dutch treats like the cheese market and the world famous Bokketochie!

It's saterday evening. Our last evening in Holland, in the house of my parents. Tomorrow, we'll fly back to Buenos Aires. We planned to spend the december holidays in december with friends and family. But we went a little earlier than planned, because my grandmother was dying. After the funeral and all heavy emotions that come with something like that we 'did' the holiday-parties in a very high speed. To give you a little impression of (way to warm) december in Holland, we're writing this article about our december in Holland.

YES!!! It is still posible to get into the famous San Pedro jail in La Paz. Previously, you could get a tour, but that's over now. Now you have to do a little more work, but it's worth it. But... be quick, because rumours go that the government first wants to get rid of the foreigners in the jail and second, transfer the building into a hospital. And all what's left then is the famous book  Marching Powder, to give you an idea how it's like inside.

Machu Picchu is one of the highlights of Peru and one of the most expensive. If you look in guidebooks and go to the tourist office in Cuzco they will tell you that there are only two ways of getting to Machu Piccu, by train, the cheapest option 44 USD return, or hiking the Inca trail or other hikes offered by the tour agencies, which all are very expensive.

By looking on the thorntree of LP we found another way, taking busses to Santa Maria, Santa Teresa and Hidroelectrico and walking the last 10 km to Aguas Calientes. This will cost about 8 USD. And because we didn't wanted to return the way we came we walked from Aguas Calientes to Km 82 for free. from there you can take a bus (1 SOL = 33 USDcent) to Ollantaytambo or decide to walk the last kilometers.

We did Ecuador very quick, "just" 6 weeks! For us that is VERY quick. And it even included 18 days on the Galápagos. But that was then absolute a highlight of our trip through Ecuaodor; animals where ever you looked. Like the dolphins you see on this picture on the left, 10 dolphins playing around our daytrip-boat to Bartolomé.  We did not do the Galápagos on a cruise, but independent. Bas already wrote an article about that. In this article we give you insight in where we went and what we did in Ecuador.

Galápagos is a great experience but also an expensive one. If you start orientating, you soon discover the prices of cruises start around 1000 USD for a 8 day tour. Not a real budget option for many people. And because most people think that a cruise is the only option to "do" the Galapagos, they skip it entirely. But... you CAN do it on your own, there are budget accomodations, there are boats between the islands, and without doing the more-day-tours you cán see a lot. Because most people don't know that we wrote this article.

We had a lot of discussions on the thorntree discusion forum, people thought we had the opinion that doing it "our" way was better. But, we do NOT want to say that, we don't want to say that doing a tour is a waste of your money. But ... not all people want or can afford these tours. We enjoyed our way very much, very relaxed and we saw a lot. But ofcourse, by cruise you get to places you can not go on your own. But on the other hand, we've been to places where the cruise-people don't go. So, maybe the best way is, to do both ways, by cruise AND on your own.

In this article with Panama City Tips, we'll give you info about a very nice hostel, a superfast and cheap internet place, and cheap, filling and traditional Panamanian food "Mamallena".

Mamallena Backpackers
Mamallena is not only the name of food, it's also the name of a new hostel in Panama City. Started by a Belgium guy Xavier and his Panamanian girlfriend Isabel. As always with our tips, it's not mentioned in the guidebooks, but ABSOLUTELY worth going. It's clean, spacey, has good beds, includes breakfast and internet, located in a nice, safe area with shops etc. and just has a very nice atmosphere. Especially that atmosphere makes people come back. Right now they have 2 dorms with airco, a kitchen, a big terrace, and livingroom with cable tv. To find it, look in the guidebooks for the Voyager, Mamallena is located right next to it. See also their Mamallena website, or our fotoalbum of Mamallena pictures.