So you’re going to slide down a Nicaraguan Volcano – then you’ll need to journey from Managua to the town of Leon. It’s a pretty little place but the town is pretty spread out. Even with no urban planning, the town is very walkable – in fact I walked around the entire town in about 4 hours. In keeping with the lack of planning, the restaurants and bars are all over the place and not concentrated in any particular area … this is why a couple of different parks and areas have become the place to congregate. Frankly, even for a Nicaraguan town, I thought it was quite dirty …  the usual garbage in the streets and different types of people hanging around.
In spite of all this, Leon does have a lot of cool Colonial buildings and a LOT of churches – the town has the most churches per capita in Central America . So when I wasn’t heading to the volcano to slide down, I spent the majority of my free time wandering through the churches of Leon. To this day, I don’t know why I like churches … I’m not even Christian or religious.

Leon Cathedral

Walking around the town, your logical start to churches in Leon will be the Cathedral of León. It’s pretty big, in fact it’s the biggest cathedral in Central America.  There is the usual asssortment of famous Nicaraguans buried here, but you’ll want to head over here to climb the stairs up to the roof, where you can get a nice view of all of León’s churches and the surrounding volcanoes, and you can go into the cellars beneath the cathedral. On the roof you can see close up the giant sculptures holding up the cathedral bells, just don’t ring them. If you want some basic facts on the Cathedral, you can always head over to the Wikipedia entry.




After you’ve passed through the Cathedral, you can also walk through the markets, to get a local flavor of things on your way to Iglesia de El Calvario.

Iglesia de El Calvario

It’s at the top of Calle Central … and a 4 minute walk from the Cathedral.  It’s a nice little church although I did find that the gory, full-sized statues of Jesus and the thieves being crucified was a bit much. Architecturally, the brightly painted facade between the red-brick bell towers, with brightly colored bas-relief biblical scenes that resemble comic-strip panels are very pretty and interesting, but nothing that would occupy you for more than 15 minutes. Then you’ll probably be heading to Iglesia San Juan.

Iglesia de San Juan Bautista de Subtiava

This church looks like a church should … in many ways, this is a typical Central American cathedral., and I loved the historic worn out facade of the church. It’s spacious, elegant, beautifully designed, and so very badly in need of restoration – down to the upside down name plate. The doors in the church had that “Baptist barn door” feel from American movies about the Old South,  but the wooden altar-piece is probably the church’s highlight with its detailed carvings. Looking at the ceiling, I was confused about the prominent sun imagery but I learned that this was in an attempt to persuade the indigenous people into worshiping at the church.





After these churches, you’ll wander around to San Jose and San Felipe – then you’ll be hit by the heat in the town. With all these churches and concrete, stone and asphalt … it gets pretty warm in these parts. So chances are that you’ll stop for a drink or lunch in the main square and check out La Merced.

Convento de Nuestra Señora de la Merced

This church like all churches around here has a long name … Convento de Nuestra Señora de la Merced. It’s way easier to ask for La Merced. I was surprised that even with the super central location, this church is quite small inside … but everyone knows La Merced because of its central location within the town. You also can’t miss Iglesia La Recoleccion, it’s has the huge giant yellow facade.

In keeping with the whole church/Christianity theme to Leon, I’ll suggest that you stay at Hotel El Convento in the heart of the town. Where else are you going to find a boutique hotel that used to be the San Francisco Convent in 1639. There is a nice feel to the place and the grounds are very well kept. Before you end up thinking this to be an advertorial … it’s not. I just liked the hotel – they didn’t pay me to say anything but how many times are you going to sleep in a nunnery? Just don’t go expecting 5 star conforts … but it’s one of the best you’ll do in this town.






If the Christian overload I’ve hit you with, isn’t enough, then you’re in luck because Leon has many more churches than I listed here, you just need to leave your hotel, wander a few lefts and a few rights and you’ll stumble upon one  … I guarantee it. I counted about 13 interesting churches that could easily occupy your day.

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Wandering through Turkey, you’re going to end up seeing fairy chimneys in Cappadocia! It’s absolutely inevitable! You’re also going to head to Goreme – which is a town of cave dwellers (people live in caves … so do tourists), even more fairy chimneys, rock-cut churches adorned with ancient Christian frescoes and underground cities. I’ve seen photos of the famous ‘fairy chimneys’ for years, but nothing quite prepares you for this bizarre almost Martian landscape; not that I’ve been to Mars – it’s what I imagine it to be. These tall stone formations look like they have mushroomed up randomly, some in valleys, others on the side of the road. They have of course been there for thousands of years, and the modern-day and now very touristy town of Goreme has been built around them.

What is a Fairy Chimney?

You’re probably wondering by now what a fairy chimney and how it came into being. The region of Cappadocia is made up of valleys, canyons and large areas of volcanic rock. With volcanic activity, a soft layer of solidified ash covered the landscape. This layer known as “tufa”, was ideal for carving out homes, stables and places of worship many centuries ago during the middle ages -  it has also been eroded by strong winds, weather and flood waters to create the bizarre shaped peaks known as fairy chimneys. Cappadocia was inhabited as early as the Hittite era around 1800 to 1200 BC. Its history goes back in time with many different clans making the dusty terrain their home. It eventually became home to early Christians during the 4th century who sort refuge from the Romans. Today, many of these dwellings have been converted into museums, cave hotels or dovecotes. The strong winds in the valley and the mystical feel of the area lends itself to a memorable experience. The fairy chimneys come in various shapes; cone, pointy, capped, pinnacled and in some cases remarkably phallic. If you have a chance to play with some of the the rock, you’ll find that it’s soft, like pumice stone. This is why it could be hollowed out to form cave dwellings. The largest fairy chimney is The Ortahisar Castle – unfortunately it was closed for restoration when we were there.

Egyptian Heads Chimney?

Predator Alien Chimney?

Camel Chimney?

Sitting Cat Chimney?

Awesome Chimney?

Definitely a Camel … and not a Chimney

Super view of lots of Chimneys

More views …of chimneys

You’re going to ask where this was taken!!

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When you’re in Kandy, along with the cricket ground where Murali grew up and the elephant orphanage, you will visit the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic. This temple complex houses one of the most important Buddhist relics in all of Sri Lanka, an object so sacred it bring throngs of devotees to the temple threshold every year.

I’m sure from the name, you can guess what’s housed in the temple – a tooth of Buddha himself in a golden box. According to legend, the tooth was taken from the Buddha as he lay on his funeral pyre. It was smuggled to Sri Lanka in 313 AD, hidden in the hair of Princess Hemamali who fled the Hindu armies besieging her father’s kingdom in India. There is a statue in honor of both of them in the complex grounds.

It was moved from place to place and over time the belief spread that whoever was in possession of the tooth had the right to rule the land. Replicas were created to protect the integrity of the tooth and even today the location of the original relic remains unclear. Whether the tooth housed in this shrine is the real deal or not, it still possesses great religious significance for Sri Lankan Buddhists who strive to pilgrimage to its threshold at least once in their lifetime.

Entrance Fee & Dress Code

The grounds of the temple are very manicured and taken care of  but the entrance fee for tourists visiting from SAARC countries is LKR 100, and alternatively LKR 500 for other foreign nationals – so be prepared to give up your shoes and $10USD each in order to enter the temple. As with most religious sites in Sri Lanka, decent attire is expected of all visitors; below-knee length pants or skirts, shoulder covered tops and no head gear.

The complex consists of three sections

1. Royal Palace
2. Audience Hall
3. Mahamaluwa

Regardless of the story of how the tooth came to be, the temple is the highlight of Kandy town. It’s situated on the lake and has a little moat wrapping around the outside which doesn’t really deter anyone or any monkey; but it makes it look lovely. To get into the complex you will have to cross the moat but from an architectural and stylistic perspective, there are so many wonderful elements that you can photograph, that you will surely spend at least two hour shooting macro details of the complex.



If you’re into architecture … then you can’t help shooting all the small elements, from the ceilings with support beams to the stucco walls and ceilings of the Royal Palace,




On most days, there will be a crowd lining up, but thankfully when we went there wasn’t a large crowd to deal with but nearly everyone there came with flowers or other offerings. Many of them queued for what seemed to be a rather lengthy wait in order to present those offerings in the appropriate sanctuaries.

Another of my favorite areas was the Buddhist museum with shiny marble floors, numerous statues of Buddha from around the world, and a soundtrack of chanting filling the long, highly reflective hall. It was lined with paintings which each were a ‘story panel’ of the famous tooth and how it came to be in Kandy.



If you’re tired of all the architecture, you can always watch some dogs playing with cloth.

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Post tags: Kandy Tourists Attractions, Main Tourist’s Attractions in Kandy, pinnawela review, Popular Tourists Attractions in Kandy, temple of the tooth, temple of the tooth blog, The Royal Botanical Garden, The Temple of the Tooth, Tourism in Sri Lanka, Tourists Attractions in Kandy, Tourists Attractions in Sri Lanka, What to do at Kandy, What to see in Kandy

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After my experience at TBEX ’13, I took away four things

1. Using Twitter to increase your travel brand is MANDATORY. It’s not possible to succeed in Social Media without Twitter feeds
2. Tourism boards, hotel chains and credit loyalty programs have absolutely come around and see the value of travel bloggers – the ROI is substantive, especially if you’re looking to change or target specific demographics.
3. Trinidadian tourism and TDC are set up for failure because of the lack of recognition of social media’s impact on tourism.
4. TDC social media efforts are basically non-existent (I would love to see if there is actually any … since Google wasn’t my friend in that search)

It’s sad when you go to the world’s largest travel blogger conference in Toronto – with exposure to bloggers from all parts of the world … and there’s nothing from Trinidad. We have an embassy here in Toronto and 1000′s of Trinidadians living here … hell, I would say that we have about 100,000 Trinis or Trini descendants just in Toronto alone. When tourism organizations from Israel, Jordan, Belgium or Denmark can send someone to Toronto – why couldn’t someone from TDC pick up the phone, call the T&T embassy in Toronto and work something out?

It’s completely ridiculous when you read about repatriation tourism efforts and the tripe that you see on the government tourism website. I laughed when I read the following from the press release – they sent Stephen Cadiz and some flunkies (High Commissioner to London, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, the Secretary for Transportation and Tourism in Tobago and a number of Stakeholders) to Germany for the International Tourism Bourse … the listed benefits are

• To stimulate an awareness of Trinidad and Tobago as a prime Caribbean tourist destination.
• To participate in a forum that provides the ideal opportunity for networking with the travel trade and decision makers in the international tourism industry.
• To maximize the opportunity for international press coverage.
• To achieve an increase in European stay over visitors to Trinidad and Tobago.

What a !$!$!~$$ joke … who in their right mind would come to Trinidad – aside from German women looking for “dangerous”, dark flesh? This is like Rupert Griffith making waves when Trinidad and Tobago was officially recognized with awards for the “World Best Tourism Destination 2012″ and “Favourite Cultural Destination 2012″ by the ECTT.
That award by the “ECTT” made such a huge difference … I can see it now … all those people coming to Trinidad to sample our food without ratings, swim in our inaccessible and undeveloped beaches, wallow in pools of sweat made by staying in traffic or using our super fast transportation system at night after drinking at Smoky and Bunty.

If TIDCO and the government wanted to excel and spread the word, they would take all that money that’s been spent and spend a little on one or two full time experienced social media consultants. The ROI would be easy to prove when running Klout scores, Google Page Ranks, Facebook reach scores and Twitter penetration rates within identified target demographics. When large multinationals corporations and much larger tourist boards can recognize the value offered through social media and travel bloggers – doesn’t it make TDC look even more stupid, incompetent and embarrassing?

We are destined to fail at our tourism efforts because the stakeholders, decision makers and governmental associations have no understanding of the new media landscape. They are dinosaurs at the helm and like the dinosaurs … well you know what happened to the dinosaurs …

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Post tags: fail, failures of TDC, failures of Trinidad tourism, social media, TDC, trinidad tourism fail

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If you’re on a low carb diet, this isn’t the place for you

I can’t even begin to tell you how much food you get here. Their portion sizes are beyond ridiculous. You know something is up, when they give you a loaf of bread to go with the salad. As for the Chicken Parm … it’s three slabs of breaded chicken with tons of tomato sauce and about a pound of cheese to cover it. At La Bella Sicilia, they believe in cheese … I don’t even know how much cheese they go through in a day, but I assume that half of the kitchen must be just for cheese storage.



As for my pizza … I have to say that while it was GIGANTIC, it wasn’t fantastic. If you’re wondering why there are so many peppers on this pizza … it’s because I asked for “a pound of peppers!” … they obviously obliged. They definitely didn’t skimp on the toppings. If you read this and order the large … know that it will feed 6 people easily, and yes the pizza is almost as wide as my shoulders … which are pretty wide.




The service sometimes is a little curt, but it’s a busy place – but I mentioned that the pizza was dry and my waitress brought back a bowl of pizza sauce for me (free!) …. how can you not like that?

By the time I was done eating, I still had enough leftovers to fill up two medium pizza boxes. As mentioned, you’re not going to go hungry after you’ve left this place.

And the bill was very reasonable, considering that I order probably the most expensive thing on the menu.

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Post tags: Buffalo, La Bella Sicilia, la bella sicilia blog, la bella sicilia buffalo review, la bella sicilia review, trini travel, trinitraveller

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Before meeting Pam, who’s the PR rep for Visit Nova Scotia, I had no idea what Dulse was. Pam mentioned that I could go out and have a Dulse cooking course at TBEX. I even found out, that in Atlantic Canada, they eat a DLT sandwich (Dulse, Tomato and Lettuce).  This week, I’m in Saint John, New Brunswick and I’m having lunch everyday at the Central Market. I love eating in Markets … whether it’s St. Lawrence Market in Toronto, Mercado de San Miguel in Barcelona, fish shopping and cooking in Boracay, Phillipines, or eating in Mercado de San Lucas, Guatemala. I went for the fish and chips on the first day.

As much as the fish and chips was great, I then stumbled upon a counter of Dulse while wandering around the market.

So you’re still wondering what Dulse is? Well here’s what it looks like in the dried form …

When you get to Central Market in Saint John, you can have tons of bagged dulse, and it’s available year round. I assume that around the Bay of Fundy, you can get it in any corner store and that people here munch this stuff like Potato Chips. I was actually told that people eat it like Potato Chips … I don’t know if I actually believe that. Doing some research on Dulse, like any other seaweed, it’s a natural source of essential vitamins, ions, sea salt, iodine and roughage. It is harvested from the cold waters of the North Atlantic, then sun-dried to preserve the natural nutrients. It provides you with a variety of essential vitamins, minerals, protein and trace elements.

• Supports thyroid gland activity and function
• Provides several essential minerals, protein and trace elements that help support thyroid gland activity and function
• Provides a natural source of iodine, an essential trace mineral that is needed by the thyroid gland to maintain proper metabolism. Iodine helps the body regulate temperature, blood cell production, muscle and nerve function and other bodily functions

I don’t know how much anyone would want to eat Dulse, as it’s simply plucked out of the water at the lowest of low tides then laid out above the tide line to dry (so it doesn’t get washed back out into the Bay when the tide comes in!). This activity is fairly low tech but it dries the dulse to perfection! At the market, it’s just put into paper bags and sold like this.

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This morning I was stumbling around the net and I saw this story about the World’s most “dangerous” zoo, where you can ride lions and feed bears with your mouth. I’m not a rabid animal right advocate, but there is something inherently wrong with a person can ride a full grown lion. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time, before someone is hurt badly or worse. Anyway, my memories of Lujan aren’t big lions or crazy people petting bears but rather the town itself. Getting to Lujan from Buenos Aires, is very simple … take the Transporte Atlántica bus – Line 57 from Plaza Italia – it’s about a 90 min bus ride and it cost me 30 pesos. I assume that it should be a similar price now. Don’t forget to get a street dog … “Super Pancho” time … I love it!





Once you’re there, here is a high level list of things and places you can visit while you’re there.

1. National Basilica Nuestra Señora de Luján
2. Downtown Historical Area
3. Devotional Museum of the Virgin
4. Provincial Historical and Transport Museum (Museum Complex “Enrique Udaondo”)
5. Paleontological Museum “House of Ameghino”
6. Río Luján Riverside
7. Religious images and objects Street Market

As a photographer, I was mainly interested in the Basilica and riverside areas … but everything else is right the corner. It’s a small town.

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Post tags: lujan argentina, lujan argentina blog, lujan photoblog

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It’s official … TBEX ’13 is finally at a close. I’m glad that I was in Toronto for the last couple days and not at a client’s site in some other city, since I would have missed out on an incredible learning and networking opportunity. After getting home last night and thinking through all my notes and looking at feedback received on my previous post : 7 lessons learned from tbex 13 – I thought I would close the loop and list out what I thought worked and didn’t work at TBEX ’13 in Toronto. By figuring out what worked, I’ll list out my pros and cons of attending a future TBEX like the one in Dublin.

What didn’t work well

• Travel Blogger Speed dating:
  I found this to be an exercise in futility. After some conversations with other bloggers, the consensus was one of a “Your mileage may vary” perspective. The effectiveness of this exercise had nothing to do with your preparation or how great your pitch was, but rather timing, what you looked like and other extraneous factors.
  • I spoke to 10 different tables and the worst of the bunch were two luxury tables : Four Seasons and Langham Hospitality/Eaton Hotels. They seemed completely unclear as to why they were actually there or what their mission was. If I could articulate what I was about, my demographic/focus and some personality in 8 minutes, why couldn’t they replicate this.
  • Public relations people aren’t all the same. Many are very engaging but I found that many of them, just weren’t professional or could convey their brands.
  • I heard a story about the PR reps from Maui … making statements like “You’ve made the first cut!” … like WTF? It’s goddamn Maui … it’s an island and you’re a PR rep selling your brand, but you’re not exclusive, else you wouldn’t care to sell your brand. So the reps from Maui can go F$$% themselves.
• Evening Event Networking
  I’m very social and once I know one or two people, I can go out and expand that network. I saw many people who were out of place and trying to make contact. It would have helped to have a 30 minute ice breaker at the evening networking socials. Sponsoring a party with 100′s of people from out of town will ensure some cliques or people who know each other, but there will be a lot of people like me, who didn’t know anyone. If you didn’t attend the Wednesday or Thursday evening social events, then it would have been exponentially tougher to meet people.

What did work well

• Great PR People makes a win for everyone:
  When you have PR people who are articulate and passionate, it’s a win for everyone. For instance I met up with Guy and Natalie from Parks Canada – meeting them and learning what they do to support travel bloggers, completely made coming to TBEX worth it. When I layer in the contact with Janine from Central Newfoundland Adventure and Pam from Visit Nova Scotia, I was very glad I made time to visit and chat with them.
• Informative Sessions
  There were many very good speakers and lectures. The vast majority of speakers were succinct and articulate in their presentations. The feedback was great on many of them, and the keynote speeches were quite inspiring for many in the crowd.
• Event Organization
  The entire series of events and programs were very well run. Everything seemed to be flowing well and I didn’t hear of any major mishaps or “fails”. The Toronto Convention center is a vast venue, but the location was central and allowed attendees with easy access to side events and/or their hotels.
• ROI Value for your time and ticket price
  I bought a “Super Early Bird” ticket ($55 USD) from another travel blogger. My ROI on that ticket included
  • Discovery Canada pass from Parks Canada (136$CDN value … which made the financial price of my ticket worth it right there)
  • At least 4 tourism board supported trips to Atlantic Canada this year. I didn’t get to meet the New Brunswick rep, but I’m going to find the media contact for sure.
  • Discount on my Antarctica adventure later this year
  • Conclusion : Completely worth the attendance fee and the time.

What I’m going to do immediately

• Learn THE Twitter
  When you work in corporate, you try to minimize anything that creates a stream of consciousness communication. Your digital reputation is as important to your career as your resume. I’ve avoided twitter for years, because I didn’t truly see the value. That changed this weekend – I think it will be my primary vehicle to correspond with the travel community. It’s immediate and is an easy dispersal communications vehicle.
• Continue to optimize my old posts
  SEO is a big thing. It’s a buzz word, but ensuring that your content can be found, is just as important as writing quality content.
• Continue pushing my Facebook page
  https://www.facebook.com/AhTriniTravelogue. I’ve gotten tremendous engagement from my facebook presence, now I have to tie twitter into this.
• Create an “Advertise with me” page
  Although I’ve resisted overt banners and advertising for years, if I want to work with companies and create those experience, they at least have to know that I’m open to being pitched and reviewing their products. I know … DUH!!!!

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Post tags: lessons at TBEX 13, lessons learned from TBEX 13, pros and cons of TBEX, TBEX '13, What worked and didn't work?

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It’s been 4 days of activities, food, drinking and networking at TBEX ’13. It’s been inspiring to say the least – even though there has been a lot of hot air spewed by many a travel blogger this weekend (You can’t help but overhear a lot of side conversations and just roll your eyes). A couple bloggers even took over a Q&A session to basically promote themselves … #dotheythinkpeoplearestupid … they know who they are … I’ll mention no names though. All that being said, it’s still inspiring to go. You don’t feel like a freak, when everyone else around you knows about Google Analytics, traffic stats, followers and takes pictures of everything they see and eat. Here’s 7 lessons learned from TBEX 13 … so far.

1. Networking and working a new room is brutally intimidating
   As a consultant, I’m paid to walk into a new client, credentialize myself and lead from the front. As a consulting manager, I’m paid to walk into the client’s office and coach them on best practices within the marketplace. This is an excellent mindset for the business world. So what happens when you’re in a room where you’re NOT the expert and more importantly, no one knows who the hell you are?
   Networking in a cold room is one of the psychologically intimidating actions that most people will attempt- it’s socially terrifying to walk into a crowded, warm room, where appears to be highly engaged in conversation and seems to know everyone – except for you. I am not a stranger to this feeling and in fact – while I appear to be the social butterfly, working a crowd is among my least favorite items in the world … along with dairy. I didn’t know anyone TBEX ’13, in fact my first conversation was with Lauren and Kenin of the Constant Rambler. It was good to see another Trini face … and that helped get me into a conversation and I moved around from there.
   Lesson : See new people and faces as a challenge not an obstacle. They’re contacts and friends you haven’t made as yet. If they don’t like you or think you’re weird, you didn’t lose anything by saying “Hi!” – and they lost out on knowing you.
2. The answer to every question you don’t ask …. is NO!
   This is a consulting and sales axiom, yet people are afraid to ask questions, as though there is some financial, social or emotional cost to asking questions.  I came into TBEX ’13 with two clear goals in mind
   • Meet 40 travel bloggers
   • Get a part sponsorship for my trip to Antarctica.
   • Discover, create and build a relationship with Canadian travel organizations

   I thought meeting 40 travel bloggers would be the most difficult task on my list – since I’m not the warmest, most fuzzy person around. In fact, I’m a bit of a grouch. My first night at the G Adventures event ended up with 3 people. My second night at the Travel Massive event at Irish Embassy went much better and got that count up to 24 and by the third night at the Tourism Toronto event at Roy Thomson Hall, I had reached my target.
   My second target of sponsorship was successfully enroute with a 90 second elevator pitch at the Irish Embassy event and my third goal was done by networking and pitching at the TBEX marketplace before the speed dating event – which leads me to point #3
   Lesson: Have clear, precise, reasonable and actionable goals for your time at TBEX. Having a plan in your mind about getting to those goals will help tremendously. You’ll be happier and if you’re smart about things, you’ll achieve them.

3. Travel Blogger speed dating is a complete and utter waste of time
   In it’s current iteration, it’s a complete crock of shit. It creates unnecessary stress on people who aren’t used to pitching on the spot. It creates a completely false sense of urgency and provides little or no value added communication. My better half mentioned that it’s only good in a scenario leading to second stage interviews, for example: At international teacher job fairs, which I agree with. If organizers evolve it, where speed dating on the first day leads to longer time on the second day … then fine. As of right now, I would advise any travel blogger who is new to TBEX – to completely avoid speed dating. You’ve spent countless hours and written tons of content – why should you have to distill this into 3 minutes of shilling. F$!$ that …
   Lesson : Don’t stress about getting your agenda filled with people wanting to meet you. They don’t know you, and there could be a lot of external circumstances that prevented them from contacting you.

4. Pitching is a skill and an art. Practice with a friend.
   Selling yourself and your brand is hard. We’re taught that self promotion is no promotion … in the islands, the cliche is “self praise is no praise”. I call bullshit! There is a fine line between thoughtful self promotion and shameless self aggrandizement. If you don’t know the difference, then definitely don’t expect to learn the difference at TBEX … there will be a lot of shamelessness on display. Companies want to work with you but if you can’t answer the following three questions appropriately, then there might be some work to do …
   • What can I do for you?
   • What can you do for me?
   • What can we do together?

   Lesson : Do practice your elevator speech – if you can’t articulate what you’re about in 90 seconds, then another person won’t get you, in 5, 10 or 30 minutes, and more importantly, they’ll get bored and move along mentally.

5. You don’t need a 1000 friends in real life, you also don’t need 1000 travel blogger friends at TBEX
   My social and networking goal was to meet 40 travel bloggers in person, which I did. That being said you’ll never have time to chat with everyone equally. Get to know one or two or three people well during your time. Everything will come naturally from there. I was very lucky to meet up with Melissa, Kate and Erik … and it was nice to have a base of people to roam around TBEX with.
   Lesson : Quantity is nice, but you’ll need quality over time. Just like real life!

6. PR people need stats, but PR people are looking for personality too … they’ll personality over stats
   Consultants all talk in terms of ROI and Value Proposition. It’s quite easy for me to talk to PR people … I’m in sales. That being said, I don’t have gigantic numbers and nor do you need to. I do have a niche and focus though. Everyone starts small, so don’t worry if you only have 1000 page views a month, still come and pitch and try.
   Lesson : Personality and relationships will always get you a start, but do have some stats, however small to back up your words.

7. Travel Bloggers definitely enjoy themselves … but
   After years in consulting, the only people I know who are amazing after drinking till 5am in the morning 5 nights in a row and still can present a 40 slide deck on Benefits Administration or Oracle OLAP cubes are consultants. BOOM!
   I’ve seen many faces struggling into the conference looked brutally hungover at noon.  I wondered how they would be able to sell themselves. Obviously, I love having a good time too, but to be taken seriously, one has to look the part … never mind how terribly fat I look Damn Guy Theriault’s twitter.
   
   Lesson: Do as you please, but unless you’ve had years of drinking, flying and working within a 18 hour span for a couple years, then get some sleep or don’t party as hard, if you want to be taken seriously.

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Post tags: lessons learned from TBEX 13

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After my recent trip to Peru and Hiking Inti Punku, I know a couple things …

• There are way harder ways to make money, but I can’t think of many others than being a porter for hikers on the Inca Trail
• I would never ever do the Inca Trail … too much time spent with too few showers. Trinis and/or brown people are not cool without showers!
• Altitude sickness doesn’t affect me, especially if you drink 1 liter of Coca tea per hour
• Machu Picchu is awesome in the afternoon
• Lima has some sick ceviche … in fact I would recommend going to Peru just to eat ceviche
• The thought of someone asking me … you didn’t do “So and So <insert Machu Picchu item> while you were there?” was enough to keep my fat ass moving along .
• Hiking Inti Punku (to the Sun Gate) from Machu Picchu offers some pretty spectacular vistas
• I’m completely uninterested in seeing sunrise at the Sun Gate – I’m sure it’s awesome and spiritual and stuff for a lot of people. Good for them but I’ve seen a lot of sunrises and sunsets, at a lot of places across the planet – but I wouldn’t hike the Inca Trail for a sunrise … seeing the sun setting over Machu Picchu was pretty awesome though.

Now this whole Machu Picchu thing was pretty awesome, but hiking to Inti Punku was a very, very long 60 mins for me. It took a while … in fact I think that the space/time continuum slowed down and that it could have been 45 mins to climb up, but my legs felt like I had been hiking for 6 hours. I grew to really, really hate these god damn signs. It was though they were taunting my every step … and everytime I saw one … it could hear the following in my head …. “Retorno? hahah, eres una perra  (Return? … hahaah, you’re a bitch)” … the voice saying this in my head had Antonio Banderas’ voice. I don’t know why I didn’t have the Dos Equis guy’s voice saying it to me … but I digress




Let’s not kid ourselves … the vistas were spectacular.

That’s a lot of switchbacks …. seriously

Machu Picchu in the distance

In the end, you get to the top of those stairs and you’re huffing and puffing, but the view is all worth it.

As usual, if you’re looking for poor but actual video of my death march up the hill along with a lot of huffing and puffing and some rather pretty vistas, feel free to spend some time watch a shaky video or two. My goal next year, is to be able to create a nice looking and well edited travel video … small goals, I tell you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut6rRRf5PjI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSR0iQYX-yk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkTN8apUSnY

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Post tags: hiking up inti punku, inti punku, sunrise over inti punku, sunset over inti punku

The post Hiking Inti Punku : A lesson in humility and my cardiovascular weakness appeared first on Rishi Sankar: Ah Trini Travelogue / Ah Trini Traveller.

Last night was a quick and dirty drop in at the TBEX Preparty at Tryst NightClub. I was quickly reminded of why these types of social situations make me awkward – it’s not liming, it’s not true networking and everyone seems to know someone else.

1. Walking up to people who’s blogs you’ve read but never commented on, is difficult.
2. Not having a travel website business card can make you feel lame. Those business cards are like a blogger’s resume. Weird!
3. Eating your tacos and avoiding a conversation about your tacos can make people think you’re rude.
4. The stories you will hear from other travel bloggers can be amazing and inspiring. If you ever need fuel or inspiration to travel more, just talk to a travel blogger for 5 mins – you’ll be stoked!
5. Nothing better to give you a dose of reality about your blog than reading writers who are better than you and who pour their soul into it.
6. Having a travel blogger party in a nightclub venue can only work, if the organizers are socially aware of the music. People are there to talk and network – not hookup.
7. Networking in a corporate setup is way easier than networking at a travel blogger party – but maybe it’s because I don’t know the rules and I don’t know the important people.
8. My hatred of Twitter is not good when networking with travel bloggers … I said hi and immediately people asked for my twitter handle. It made me wakeup this morning and redo my twitter introduction – I tried to be funny, factual and something else … lemme know if it works
   
9. Tonight is another event : http://twtvite.com/TravelMassiveTBEX13 - to see if I can get some traveller business cards to hand out by 8pm tonight – I doubt this is going to happen though! Ah the sweet optimism of the morning!
10. I have to get with the times and work at Twitter!!

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Post tags: TBEX '13, TBEX 2013

The post 9 thoughts from my first TBEX ’13 social event … appeared first on Rishi Sankar: Ah Trini Travelogue / Ah Trini Traveller.

This weekend is the TBEX conference in Toronto. Of course, you’re wondering what the hell is TBEX and why does it matter to a traveller? From a Trini perspective, it’s like Carnival for travel bloggers. It’s the the world’s largest gathering of travel bloggers, writers, and new media content creators – so this is a pretty big deal for anyone who is in travel/social media game.

Nothing about physically travelling bugs me anymore. I can take last minute trips to the far ends of the planet like Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, yet as a newbie TBEX attendee about to attend my first conference with over 1000 other travel bloggers, where there will be several major potential travel companies all looking to make connections – I can’t say I’m not nervous. As my day job affords my life of travel and bouncing around, the main reason for wanting to attend this conference is about a new challenge and to learn what’s going on. Networking with other travel bloggers will be great and while I do want to learn about all the things I should be doing as a blogger – I also recognize that I’ll never be a global blogger – it’s too much work for far too little pay. That being said, I do want to learn from others who are living with the same travel passions and wanderlust, while sharing it with the masses. Making some connections to help grow my blog and maybe learn a couple things to share with Trini and Caribbean bloggers is just a bonus
Now if I were going about this whole thing as a professional and if it weren’t in Toronto, I would layout the number of tasks, but then I found a task list online and then I put my thoughts about those tasks …

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Post tags: TBEX '13

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It’s been a year since my last Carnival in Trinidad. I really thought I would miss being home … but I’m getting older… so here’s what I don’t miss about Trinidad Carnival

• I don’t miss the high price of appearing at fetes. When was the last time you checked the price to fete for Carnival week? Don’t know … well I’ll tell you. If you’re going to fete for the entire week and if you’re a world boss and if you don’t have any regard for money and your liver and your stomach … here’s the fiscal damage
  • Saturday – a week before Carnival : Mirage – Bryden’s All Inclusive : 625$ TTD
  • Sunday : Addiction All inclusive breakfast party : 400$ TTD
  • Sunday : Normandie under the Trees : All inclusive breakfast party : 550$ TTD
  • Monday : Rest up … no fetes on that Monday
  • Tuesday : Eyes Wide Shut at the Hilton : 450 TTD and it’s not all inclusive.
  • Wednesday : We Wednesday at the Queens Park Oval : 300$TTD all inclusive.
  • Thursday : Headley All Inclusive : 950$TTD all inclusive … what d’fuck? Yep that’s the price
  • Friday : Island People GirlPower : 600$TTD all inclusive … btw see my Fuck you Island People post.
  • Saturday : Ultimate One All Inclusive : 65o$TTD
  • Saturday : Triniposse Cooler Fete : 300$TTD
  • Sunday : Moka All Inclusive:  1000$TTD

  • Grand Total of 5825 TTD or 900 USD!!! To fete for a week – for one person!!! If you’re taking someone along with you … well then only middle class American/Canadian/British tourists can pay 

• I don’t miss the laborious process to actually find tickets. Where else in the world would you pay top dollar to go to a party and not be able to figure how to get tickets to the aforementioned party. Questions like
  • You know anyone on the committee?
  • You have a link to get tickets?
  • Who know “so and so” … you know Trinis .. last minute?
• I don’t miss the traffic … this isn’t a Carnival thing … but I don’t miss it one bit. We’re not Mexico City, Bangkok or Manila but we definitely rival them on the murder stats and the time wasted due to traffic.
• I don’t miss actually trying to play in a “prestige” band. You can always find tickets for one of the smaller bands with less sexy costumes, but God help you, if you’re trying to play in Harts, Tribe or some other “high class, high colour” band if you don’t have the right connections. It’s absolutely preposterous how difficult the process is … yet another reason that we will always be a third rate tourist destination. It’s too difficult for the average tourist to figure this stuff out.
• I don’t miss the lack of creativity in costumes. The whole thing has just turned into a street party. Maybe that we should change the slogan from “World’s Greatest Show” to “World’s Most Awesome Street Party” … it’s definitely not a great show anymore!

I do miss walking with a cooler to a fete though …

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Post tags: What I don't miss about Trinidad Carnival

The post What I don’t miss about Trinidad Carnival 2013 and 2014 edition appeared first on Rishi Sankar: Ah Trini Travelogue / Ah Trini Traveller.

It’s been about two months since I left Uzbekistan, but I can’t think of a place I’ve been that I’ve expected so little from that offered so much. As a Trinidadian, the idea of vast mosque complexes, rugged terrain and amazing food would be something that I would expect in the much more well known Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran etc … but not Uzbekistan. As for Bukhara, it’s one of the holiest places of Islam and was one of the key stops along the Silk Route. In the Middle Ages, when the region was at its zenith, scholars travelled from all over the Islamic world to study here, including two giants of Persian culture, Ibn Sina and Firdausi. Once you’re in Bukhara, there is so much to do and see, that making a decision on where to go can lead to mental paralysis.
Thankfully, I brought along a list of all major sights in the city. There are a lot of mausoleums, mosques and madrassahs. In fact, there are so many, that you’ll have to spend two full days wandering around, if you wanted to see everything. In the end, I condensed my list into the following high level sights.

1. Poi-Kalyan complex comprising of the Kalyan Minaret, Mir-i-Arab Madrassah and Kalyan Mosque
2. Ark Fortress
3. Mausoleums (4) :Naqshbandi, Boharzi, Chashma Ayub, Samanid,
4. Madrassahs (6) : Chor Minor, Ulugbek, Djuiboriy Kalon, Gozien, Ensemble of Kosh-Madrassah, Labi-Hauz Ensemble
5. Mosques (3) : Namazgokh, Balyand, Magoki-Attari
6. Necropolis Chor-Bakr
7. Gate Talipach
8. Trading domes
9. Sitorai Mohi-Khosa
10. Bolo-khauz
11. Ensemble of Khoja Gaukushan
12. Khanqah Faizabad

Starting your time wandering around, I’d recommend that you visit the Poi-Kalyan complex per my list. There is a lot to see and if you’re a photographer, you’re going to spend a couple hours trying shoot from the different vantage points.

Poi Kalyan in the shadows

This isn’t going to be your typical Poi Kalyan photoblog … So once you’re at Poi Kalyan, then you’re going to see the Kalyan Minaret, which is one of the most famous sights of Bukhara. It towers over everything in the city – which is amazing since it was built in 1127AD (It is still the tallest minaret in East Asia!). In fact, when some random guy named Genghis Khan (I think he’s famous or something like that) passed through the city in 1220 – it was the only thing left standing. Local legend says that Genghis Khan was so awe struck with the exquisiteness of the tower that he specifically forbade its destruction. Here’s some facts about the Minaret – don’t say I didn’t provide some knowledge …

• Made of of burnt brick with plaster mortar
• Height of 45.6 metres
• Base diameter of of 9 meters which tapers to 6 meters.
• It is topped with sixteen-arched skylight rotunda and its entire height is decorated with 14 parallel bands none of which are repeated.
• The tower has a brick spiral staircase built around the central pillar and provides access to the rotunda.

Wondering where the Kalyan Minaret is? Look for the tallest freestanding structure … there you go!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T45UJJnnpRs

After wandering around the Kalyan Minaret, you can also walk into the Amir Alim Khan Madrassah. It’s just a fantastic structure – the colours and detail make it impossible to take a poor photograph. It’s best to photograph in the afternoon, as the light will be at your back. This madrassah is still a working school, so unless you can chat with the guards at the door, you won’t be allowed in … doesn’t mean you can’t take pictures of all the detailing.

Amir Alim Khan Madrassah .. I had to take notes of everything – there are so many Madrassahs

Inside the main portal of the Kalyan Mosque, it’s quite spartan and bare. Walking around, you will get some great vantage points of the entire complex and you can do a shadow/silhouette shot like the one I took below.

Just in case you forgot your praying times … I’m assuming this is what this is

Once you walk out of the complex, you can wander over to the main wall to capture the city.

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Post tags: Bukhara Sightseeing, Poi Kalyan photoblog, trini in uzbekistan, what to see in Bukhara

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For the Trinidadian palate, we’re accustomed to many types of tastes, but eating raw fish isn’t one of them. Now what if I told a Trini that I was eating or making a “chow” … you would instantly see a Pavlovian type response of drool and watery mouth! Peruvians have the same reaction when you mention the word “ceviche”. I would like “ceviche” to a “fish chow” … especially with all the chilies and sourness that goes with it.  Ceviche is the combination of Japanese sushi/sashimi tradition along with Incan/Spanish/ Moorish traditions of letting raw fish marinate for a period in lime and other citrus juices. That effect of pickling or “cooking the fish makes everything fresh and light … and if you love raw chilies like me, then you get a kick in the mouth too!
Ceviche in Miraflores, Lima is some of the best ceviche in the world … if not the best. So while on a long flight delay … I decided to do an epic 6 hour gut busting, EPIC ceviche tour of Miraflores, Lima. I chose the following blog post to drive my adventure … once I had my list, then I had to zone in which area would give me the most cevicherias in the least amount of time. Then finally I had to figure out when each of the cevicherias would be closing. Here is the list of cevicherias I came up with in Miraflores and the relevant closing hours

1. Pescado Capitales : 5:00pm
2. El Mercado  : 5:00pm
3. Canta Rana : 9:00pm
4. La Rosa Nautica : Midnight
5. La Red : 5:00pm
6. La Mar : 5:30pm
7. Cinco Esquinas : 5:00pm

Now that I had my list, I attacked the first one escado Capitales. This place is “high falutin” ceviche at it’s best. You wander in and you know this is some of Lima’s finest eating here. The place itself is airy and has an opulent feel … it could also be all the rich Peruanos eating lunch in here. This is definitely not the place to save your pocketbook. The name means Capital Fish, which is a play on the phrase Capital Sins (Sins in Spanish is pecados, which sounds almost like pescados). In English, I thought this wasn’t as funny … since we talk about the Cardinal rather than Capital Sins.



The service was decent and I was seated within 5 mins of getting there. I was offered an English menu to start and it’s a hefty menu based on those Cardinal rather than capital sins such as Greed, Gluttony, Vainity, Lust, Envy, etc. It takes a while to go through the entire menu … thankfully I was all about the ceviche.

Let me tell you know … the two dishes I ordered were simply sublime. The ceviche mixto and the tuna ceviche was so fresh and flavorful … it was  a challenge not to eat everything on offer.




I had to leave everything else on the plate uneaten, since I knew that an epic day of eating would require lots of digestive space. Also they served this lime pepper sauce … I was almost in Chaguanas, Trinidad. I basically drank the entire container of pepper sauce – as evidenced by the empty container below. The lunch wasn’t cheap … but the meal was completely worth it. I would fly back to Lima to eat at Pescado Capitales!!

Next on the docket was a visit to the Peruvian institution La Mar. Everyone in Peru knows La Mar as it was founded by Peruvian superstar chef Gastón Acurio – in fact this Cevicheria in Lima is so famous that there are now sister restaurants as far flung as San Francisco, Panama City and Mexico City.  I’ve eaten at 4 of his locations … so I guess I’m contributing to the Mr Acurio’s vast pocketbook, but the ceviche in his restaurant has always been sublime. Walking into the location, like Pescado Capitales … it has a light, affluent and breezy feel.

Walking into La Mar … his iconic sign

As I was on a time crunch, I asked to be seated at the bar. The hostess Cinthia Pella was extremely hospitable and she definitely helped out my research for this article, while I was at bar munching on ceviche – if only all hostesses were as friendly! My first order was the Tiradito Nikkei off the menu.

I’ve ordered this item 4 times before, so I know what to expect with this dish. It should be fresh and salty with a hint of sweetness/sourness from the tamarind.  They also serve fresh plantain chips with three types of salsas/sauces. I always have the orange pepper sauce, which comes in the middle of the three little bowls shown below.

Nikkei Tiradito ..

I had two bites of the Nikkei and I wasn’t pleased at the taste. It was overly sweet and inconsistent with the excellence that I’ve had before at other locations. So I sent it back – the staff was more than receptive to my feedback. I also wanted to see what the reaction would be in Lima. When you have an issue with your food in the US or Canada, there is zero push back. They come back, accept the feedback, take the food and don’t charge you for something you didn’t like. I was very pleased that the same happened at La Mar in Peru – so this is an excellent customer service story on their end. My next order was the Tiradito Clasico … but in typical Trini style … I asked for them to kill it.

Super Spicy Tiradito … the only way a Trini should eat it!

Look at all the fresh pepper … just lovely

While I was eating, there was a birthday celebration. I guess all Latin Americans love the birthday singing – it happened at Pescado Capitales also. I’ll never get it … I think all the waiters coming to sing Happy Birthday to you, is just cheesy and weird … but it’s definitely a custom down here. The other thing I really like was the honesty of the servers … I asked a couple of them to nominate my next stop. They all intimated that if I had been to Pescado Capitales – then I had basically hit the best of the city … “even better than La Mar?”  …. “Si … even better than La Mar”. I appreciated their honesty … since I agreed with this assessment. As for the bill …

It was now 5pm as I left La Mar … based on the list and the closing times … I could only head to two places :La Rosa Nautica (closes at midnight) and Canta Rana (closes at 9pm). Cinthia recommended La Rosa Nautica … not because she thought the food was good, but that I would enjoy the sunset view. She definitely wasn’t kidding … La Rosa Nautica is something from Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco … on the beach and completely cheesy in decor. I’m sure the tourists ABSOLUTELY love this place. It’s also quite the fancy little place … who knows how many proposals go down in this place.

Sunset at La Rosa Nautica

Anyway … I’m here about the ceviche and seafood … so I decided to go with the Scallops outlined below and a ceviche sampler. I definitely wanted to try the Octopus … but it was getting late and no Peruvian eats ceviche or raw seafood this late … which is why the cevicherias only open till 5 or 5:30 pm.



I can’t lie … these scallops in drenched in this terrible looking sauce was one of the best appetizers I’ve eaten in years. The carmelized bacon onion skins that dress the dish makes this an absolutely superb combination. In typical server fashion, when I told the staff what I was doing … they recommended two other places not on my list : Al Frescos and Matteos. Everyone was super supportive of my epic ceviche quest. Peruvians are definitely crazy and passionate about their ceviche. It’s too bad that the service and the second dish was so poor afterwards. My second dish of the ceviche sampler (Costeno) was simply a fetid imitation of ceviche.




The overall quality of the dish was poor.  The presentation and taste was even worse … especially at the price point that this place is charging. The crowning failure of the evening on top of the ridiculously poor service, was the fact that my bill got “lost” … so that the waiter tried to take a 32 sole tip. The names on the bill were Caiero : Ovid Vera and Empleado : Janeth L … I really don’t like being played for an ass. In the end, Guillermo (the only English speaking waiter) was there to clean up this mess and get my change back. He apologized profusely for the whole mix up and he was very good … but based on the slow service and poor food … I would say that like any tourist trap, you can go for the view but don’t stay for the food.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sasPzpX4I-o

Here’s a couple lessons learned

• Start your epic Ceviche tour at noon sharp – you only have 5 hours to try and hit as many places and you can
• Most of the best Ceviche restaurants are in Miraflores. I don’t suggest you try the local ones … go for the best while you’re in Lima
• Avoid La Rosa Nautica … tourist trap!
• You can only eat so much raw fish … before you go into ceviche overload.
• Don’t eat all the starch on your plate – you won’t have room to continue eating.

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Post tags: 6 hours of ceviche, lima, miraflores, peru

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On Being a Food Douche in Israel
By: Anabelle Harari

It wasn’t until I read Rishi’s eloquent post about being a food douche that I realized that I in fact was one too. You see, when you surround yourself with foodies, constantly are up to date with the latest food trends, diets, nutrition, and can comb through what is real and what is not- you begin to forget that most people don’t care as much as you do about food.

Sure, everyone eats food (except supermodels) and relies on it for their sustenance. But do they know which farm their eggs are from or if the chicken they ate for dinner last night was abused its whole life? Do they know what raw milk is and do they care if it’s available in their state? For the overwhelming majority, the answer is no.

And while the food movement is moving beyond “trend” and into full scale national hype, the fact remains: I, like Rishi, am a bonafide food douche.

And like the many food douches before me, I use my extensive travel experience to justify my douche-like tendencies. For example, just last week when my friends in New York urged me to try falafel from a place in the East Village, I simply scoffed at them. Nothing I would eat in their quaint city could compare to the falafel of the Middle East.

Other friends don’t even bother anymore, and hide their packages of Sabra hummus before I lecture them about what real hummus actually tastes like.

“Oh you must try the hummus from Abu Goush- it’s a tiny Arab village on the outskirts of the Jerusalem hills- it’s the only place for hummus. Anything else- don’t even bother!” –yes, I’ve actually said that out loud before- what a douche, right?

Despite these setbacks I stand behind my words and beliefs- if you want real hummus go to the Middle East, and if you’re in Israel- please go to Abu Goush. If you want to know what real falafel tastes like, go to Egypt- where the crispy outside and gooey green fava bean and chickpea paste simply will not let you down.

When you travel as much as I do it’s pretty hard to accept the bastardized versions of such Middle Eastern delicacies. But alas, what’s a food douche to do?

Anabelle Harari is a food blogger and the community attaché for Birthright Israel Experts. You can find her reading the latest copy of Bon Appetite and eating cheese in the Jerusalem shuk. Connect with her on twitter @thelocalbelle.  

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Post tags: food douche, im a food douche, indian food douche, jewish food douche, trini food douche

The post Guest Post : On Being a Food Douche in Israel appeared first on Rishi Sankar: Ah Trini Travelogue / Ah Trini Traveller.

For many of you who follow this Trini’s blog, you’ll know that my first source of travel inspiration was the Hillman Wonders website. There wasn’t anything super special about the list … I even wrote an open letter to Howard Hillman about the low placement of Trinidad … still didn’t get a response. One would think that with no response from him, I would take him off my website as a source of travel inspiration. It doesn’t work that way … his list will always be the source of my main bucket list. If you’re a traveller, you need to have a bucket list.
I even keep a photo gallery of my Hillman Wonders list … not that I could forget where I’ve been. Actually, scratch that … there have been times where I’ve forgotten where I’ve been. It’s completely embarrassing. It’s like forgetting that whether you’ve been to the Pitch Lake or Devil’s Woodyard in Trinidad. If you’re wondering about my travel inspiration … here’s 11 reasons why I travel or my bucket list page.
Here’s a couple of my favorite pics from that gallery.

#30 – Ballooning in Cappadocia, Turkey

#42 : The Canals of Venice, Italy

#58 Mezquita of Cordoba, Spain

#85 : Night view of the Djemma El Fna in Marrakech, Morocco

#82 Steps into the ocean at Santorini, Greece

As for Machu Picchu … here’s a couple videos from my hikes to keep you entertained … especially with my very poor cinematographical skills. Anyway my point is … you’ll never have anywhere to travel, if you don’t have your dream list … it’s Monday, go out and make one – don’t wait till you’re dying to start living!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN10VDy4PI8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQr1nvqPyZ8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkSXZiYP-0w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkTN8apUSnY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2iEQUJq8uc

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Post tags: hillman wonders, trini in peru, trini travel blog, trini traveller, trinidad travel blog

The post Machu Picchu = 52/100 on my Hillman Wonders list appeared first on Rishi Sankar: Ah Trini Travelogue / Ah Trini Traveller.

• Inflated prices – most of the prices are on par with American prices
• Incorrectly calculated bills – always check your bill. I was overcharged twice and I had to show them. Super annoying!
• Bait and switch menu specials …  you’ll see many places with a 15 Soles menu of the day. If you order, they’ll try to insert 10-15% more than advertised due to the “tax” and “servicio”. There is no tax and service – the price is the price. If you’re unsure, then simply ask “No tax, no servicio, no nada mas.” They might conveniently forget … don’t let them play you for a fool. Only ever pay what is advertised.
• Taking a long time to bring your change. This happened to me also … don’t leave your change … demand it.

The food though is quite good. In fact, I can’t say that I’ve had a bad meal in Peru and I haven’t been sticking to tourist places. As for choosing a hotel, I definitely do NOT encourage you to stay in a high end hotel here. It’s simply a waste of good money. I ended up staying in a very reasonable hotel with a great river view for the grand total of $25USD for the night. There are other hotels on the river that charge a fortune for the same view.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF8XXsMfLY0

Since you’re not going to be spending any more time than you need to in Aguas Calientes, you could also visit the hot springs that the town is named after. If a 5 – 8 min walk uphill … and you can rent towels and sandals if you don’t have any on you at the time.


Aside from the hot springs, drinking and eating – there is almost nothing else to do here. I was fortunate enough to be around for the local primary school’s graduation ceremony – it was a 2 day affair, since they were dancing in the evening and then the following day. The costumes and the dancing was so cute … I don’t know what it costs, but the parents must put a lot of time into those costumes – since I didn’t see a Walmart selling this stuff, especially with the level of detail in the costumes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNZzEFKlP6k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8VbATSCSwU

You can also hang out in the main square and do a photo shoot with the signs. One thing to note is that even though they renamed the town Machu Picchu Pueblo … everyone still refers to it as Aguas Calientes.




Finally … the last thing you can do is walk along the river and take some pictures, if you didn’t do the walk down from Machu Picchu. It does make for some excellent photography.




So there you have it … your plan on how to spend 24 hours in Aguas Calientes Peru. This assumes that you layer in Machu Picchu in that 24 hour span, otherwise why else would you be in this town?

© rishiray for Rishi Sankar: Ah Trini Travelogue / Ah Trini Traveller, 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 24 hours in Aguas Calientes, 24 hours in Aguas Calientes Peru, trini in aguas calientes, trini travel blog, trini traveller, trinidad travel blog

The post How to spend 24 hours in Aguas Calientes Peru appeared first on Rishi Sankar: Ah Trini Travelogue / Ah Trini Traveller.

If you’re on a slow connection, you might want to get a coffee, there are a lot of pictures in this Machu Picchu photoblog. In one day of shooting, I took about 500 shots over a 7 hr period at Machu Picchu.

© rishiray for Rishi Sankar: Ah Trini Travelogue / Ah Trini Traveller, 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: photoblog, Trini in machu picchu, trini in machu pichu, trini machu picchu, trini machu pichu, trinidad machu picchu

The post Wednesday Photo Nights #15 : Machu Picchu Photoblog appeared first on Rishi Sankar: Ah Trini Travelogue / Ah Trini Traveller.

Once you’re in Peru, you will have to figure out how to use a taxi or collectivo. I found that getting around in Peru is really not that difficult at all … it all depends on quickly you want to get around and what level of comfort you want while you’re travelling.

Here are the 4 options that you’re going to have

1. Private hotel shuttles or private driver:
   This is the most expensive option. There is no need to ever use this option, unless your company is footing all your bills while travelling
2. Renting a car
   I DO NOT recommend this option, if you’re not from the region or have driving skills from the movie “Heat” or “Taken”
3. Using public taxis
   This is a good option, but it can become pricey depending on your negotiating skills. The good value is about using your time. If you’re on a time sensitive travel mission – then I wouldn’t bother with collectivos or buses, as the lowest cost isn’t your main objective. There is a safety factor in using these taxis though, unless it’s a radio taxi – so be cautious.
4. Using a collectivo (shared bus)
   For this Trinis, this is like a maxi-taxi, so you’ll be quite at home using this option. My caution is that like Trinidad, they operate different routes and you’ll have to find out which route they’re taking. Spanish will be super helpful here … so if you speak it, then you’ll be perfectly fine.
   

   Trinis … recognize anything?

If you’re going to Machu Picchu, you have to go through Cusco – there is no other rationale way. My path involved getting to Urubamba first and relaxing at the Tambo del Inka.  Getting a taxi was super easy and I had a number of missions to accomplish in Cusco before I could get to Urubamba. Here’s all that I had to get done … as a last minute Machu Picchu-er

• Buy a ticket to Machu Picchu (this was done at the Ministerio de Cultura)
• Change my train ticket at Perurail (The office is in Plaza de Armas)
• Make a reservation for a hotel in Cusco
• Actually negotiate a taxi from Cusco to Urubamba

Here’s what it looks outside the airport

Don’t take a taxi here … just in the Cusco airport

Once you’re out of the airport, walk outside … do not take a taxi in the airport – you’ll get hit with much higher prices sometimes charging 2 or 3 times the normal rate. The moral of the story : Walk outside and negotiate (Anything between 40-70 soles for a taxi from Cusco to Urubamba seems to be a fair price … all depends on your ability to haggle, wait around and be inconvenienced)

Since I had extra steps to make, I ended up taking a taxi from the airport to Plaza de Armas (which is the center of Cusco) – it cost me 4 soles ($1.35USD) for a 10 minute ride. I tried to negotiate a price with my first driver, which turned out to be an epic fail. He offered me a price of 100 soles … which was ridiculous, I told him 50 soles … he shook his head and countered 80 soles … I shook my head and said no – he wasn’t giving me the price I wanted.
Once in Plaza de Armas, I found the Perurail office and my ticket was changed with no hassle. After the ticket changing, then I had to make a reservation at a hotel … I walked over to one, used their free Wi-Fi to price check them and negotiate them down from $120USD to $80USD a night. Finally, it was off to Urubamba, but I had no taxi.
I ended up having to flag five taxis before I found one that I was happy with. The final price ended up being 60 Soles ($22 USD), but his car was a regular sized Hyundai rather than some of those old “beat up” taxis. You must know that the trip is a long one though a maze of roads, so avoid small ‘Tico’ type taxis which are not the safest of vehicles in Peru – hence pay a little bit more for a larger vehicle. Many taxi drivers didn’t want to drive to Urubamba since it’s a long way to go. Here’s another reason to have a taxi rather than a collectivo – you can tell your taxi driver to stop anywhere you want to take pictures and on your way to Urubamba, there are lots of places to take pictures or even buy something.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skDXo32eStw

There will many other stops – don’t be afraid to ask your driver to stop as many times as you want … I’ve found everyone to be very accommodating. As Urubamba is about an 60-75 mins from Cusco, you’ll pass through the agricultural landscape and you’ll see the plots of Quinoa – you can ask your driver to stop and check it out. Remember you’re paying them more than a local will pay them, so they’ll be happy to indulge you. Also, whether you’re a single person or three people … the cost will be the same. You’re not going to be charged per head. Don’t fall for the ripoff.
Here’s  a couple pictures of the drive along the way …

© rishiray for Rishi Sankar: Ah Trini Travelogue / Ah Trini Traveller, 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
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