Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave, Belize

Today I did a tour into a cave called Aktun Tunichil Muknal. We hiked a couple miles through the jungle and then went deeeeeep into this cave that has a river running though it. We had to swim through the cave in parts! We had headlamps, it was pitch black, slippery. Not too claustrophobic and tight, except in one or two places. Once we had hiked/swum in a half mile or so, we climbed to a dry section where the Maya had performed religious ceremonies. There were broken pots everywhere that had not been touched in over a thousand years! They just found the cave in 1989. In the far back end of the cave there was the big finish....HUMAN SACRIFICES! Yep, remains of at least 14 people that were sacrificed to the gods 12-13 centuries ago. I got pictures of skulls and one complete intact skeleton. Pretty cool. Although, the price you paid for getting to see that was being wet and cold in a cave for four hours. So, tomorrow I'm off to Belize CIty again to meet the folks and then we fly a puddle jumper to the coast. I'm currently in negotiations for transport tomorrow. One guy has offered to take me there at 7am for $37, I'll probably end up going with him. Another American guy from today's tour said he might be able to get me a ride, I have to go check in with him.

Tikal, Guatemala

When I arrived solo at Belize City Airport, my ride didnt show up. This was concerning because there was no bus leaving for San Ignacio that late in the afternoon, so I was pretty much screwed. After an hour, in desperation, I asked a couple that was waiting for their ride if they were heading west? They were heading to San Ignacio, and said I could ride with them! I was so psyched. Not only did I have a ride, but now I didn't have to pay the exorbitant fee of $90 for the shuttle. Then, just before we left, a young kid shows up in 1987 Toyota Corolla with a smashed windshield, one headlight, and no gas, and says "Does anyone know Sam?" Damn! I left my new friends, and got in the kids car. He said he got a flat and that's why he was late. Might have been true. Then he wanted to stop for beers! I said no, that I'd wait until I got to my hotel. The Casa Blanca in San Ignacio is very nice, squeaky clean, with TV, plenty of room, and for $24 a night, probably the best value I've ever had. Belize has a great local beer, Belikin, which I had a lot of. Food is OK and really cheap. I spent the first day just hanging around San Ignacio. The town is pretty dull. Nothing going on, no shopping, no decent bars, nothing. It looks nicer than Mexico, but not as nice as Costa Rica. People are very friendly, and I feel completely safe. In the morning I ran to some small Mayan ruins. In the afternoon I saw the whole town in about one hour, and then just sat in a park and read a book.

Today I took a tour to Tikal in Guatemala. It is an awesome sight. The temples are enormous, very well preserved, and you can climb to the top of two of them. The Maya had more advanced cities than anything in Europe as of 900AD. It's crazy that people lived better 1100 years ago here than they do now. Guatemala seems OK, not dangerous or noticeably poorer than Mexico or Belize. The border was a piece of cake, the passport people even smiled! I was expecting Nicaragua again. People all have livestock in Guatemala, so the van is constantly swerving to avoid pigs, cows, horses, chickens, dogs, goats, sheep, and children. The driver told us that there is no auto insurance in Guatemala. If you hit anything you pay for it on the spot. If you hit someone's horse, you have to pay for the value of the horse then and there, or you go to jail, until someone comes up with the money. Yet we never braked to avoid animals, just swerved and hoped for the best. Ive never seen so many domesticated animals running wild before. Also, we changed vehicles and drivers three times, to avoid bringing a van across the border. By the time I got to Tikal it was some guy I just met saying, "Hi Sam, I'll be your guide, and then Hernando will drive you to Melchor e Mencos, then Francisco will be waiting for you, then he'll take to the border, and after you cross Jose will be there with the van." And I'm thinking "What?, which guy was Jose?" But it all worked out like clockwork. Good people here. I was with four other Americans in my tour group, two couples from California, and we had a fun trip. At the end of the tour we bought beers and carried them up the highest Mayan temple and drank Belikin with a view over the jungle. We all had dinner together last night and went "bar hopping" in the 3 empty bars in town all blasting horrible reggae music.

Recognize this shot? It's the exact same view seen at the very end of the movie Star Wars as the rebels are landing at their base after blowing up the Death Star, right before Han and Luke get their medals.

End of the road

Today was the end of the line for 2007. We caught a cab to the Helsinki airport at 530am. We both boarded British Air to Heathrow. At Heathrow, Josh had a short tube ride home, but I had a looooong way to go. I then flew to Los Angeles, then to Honolulu, then to Maui. By the time the day was done, in one calendar day I had travelled for 31 straight hours and crossed 13 time zones! Great trip, already thinking about next year...Italy? Southeast Asia?

Helsinki, Finland

Another day, another country. This afternoon Josh and I marched off to the Tallinn port and boarded a fast ferry to Helsinki. Finland is country number 35 for me! And it number 36 or 37 or 38 for Josh depending on whether or not he counts his layovers in Copenhagen and Reyjavik airports. I'll leave that up to his conscience to decide.
Helsinki is at first glance a very pretty and liveable town of 560,000. Just outside the port is a huge marketplace selling every type of craft and food in Finland. Beyond that is a beautiful park filled with people laying in the sun, eating ice cream on benches, and just watching the world go by. Next to the park were four young shirtless Finnish boys holding a breakdancing exhibition circa 1984, to an enthusiastic crowd of buisnessmen and shoppers.
We went for a run to the 1952 Olympic Stadium and were psyched to find statues commemorating two of Finland's running legends; Paavo Nurmi and Lasse Viren.

We were too tired at this point to sample much of Helsinki's nightlife, though we can recommend the pub "Vlatava", a remake of a Czech pub serving delicious pints of Budvar at the painful price of $7 per.

Tallinn, Estonia

This morning Josh and I caught the bus to the airport and flew Baltic Air yet again to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. Tallinn has the most well preserved old town we have seen yet. While Vilnius and Riga were badly damaged in WWII, Tallinn survived unscathed. The city is partially surrounded by 15th century stone walls. 36% of the 400,000 residents are Russian, many of them not meeting Estonia's strict criteria for citizenship. In fact, Tallinn has the most non-EU citizens of any city in the EU, over 27%. St Olav's Church, the white spire in the center of the picture, was the tallest manmade structure in the world from 1549 to 1625. It made Tallinn visible from far out in the Baltic Sea.

Here we stumbled upon a newly married couple exiting Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. They released two doves and waved goodbye to them as the flew over the Tallinn skyline.
We think Tallinn is the most picturesque of the Baltic cities. Bar to recommend; The Hell and Hunt bar. It's name sounds strangely like Helen Hunt after a couple of their excellent home brews.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/27865

Riga, Latvia

Above is the Freedom Monument, erected after Latvia gained independence from Bolshevik Russia in 1920. During the Soviet occupation, it was left standing, but Latvians were punished when they would place flowers at the feet of the monument. Today it's base is covered in flowers each day. As a sidenote, the worlds slowest McDonlands is located directly opposite the monument.

This small pyramid commemorates the five people who died when Latvia declared independence from the Soviets in 1991. The Red Army opened fire on a group of Latvians defending the new Latvian parliament. One journalist's last words to his wounded cameraman were "Keep filming."

Lest you think everything in Riga is about oppression; you can see here what Josh looks like after flying from Australia to Latvia and not sleeping for three days. We spent both nights in Riga at a big beer tent in the central square. I never saw a sign with the name of the place, but you can't miss it. They served excellent Latvian beer at $3 each and Krusovice and Budvar for $4. We saw several bachelor parties cruise through the cobblestones, one group ominously dressing in matching white plastic jumpsuits presumably to allow for the easy removal of spilled beer and/or vomit. The club owners cringed when they saw them coming. Even better than the beer tent is a bar strangely named "Nobody Writes to the Colonel". Inside are mostly students listening to awesome American 80's music and drinking decent Latvian beer in plastic cups for just $2.

Riga, Latvia

Today we caught a cab to the airport and boarded a short Baltic Air flight to Riga, the capitol of Latvia. Riga is the largest city of the Baltics at over 700,000 people. Riga actually has more inhabitants of Russian descent than of Latvian. Josh and I instantly noticed a different look than the people of Lithuania. Designer clothes, high fashion and high heels are de rigeur for Rigan women, while many of the men look like they could be cast in a James Bond movie as Russian mafia goons.

The old town has beautiful Art Nouveau architechture, though much of Riga was destroyed in WWII. Josh and I visited the Museum of Occupied Nations, which was an eye-opening lesson on the recent history of the Baltic countries. While most Americans would simply think of the Baltics as "former Soviet republics", these countries are adamant about proclaiming the 45 years of Soviet rule as an occupation. This museum outlined the horrible atrocities of the Red Army in 1940, then the Nazis from 1941-45, and then the Soviets again from 1945 on. When the Nazis forced the Red Army out of the Baltics in 1941, the people hailed them as saviors at first, until they proved to be equally as murderous as the Russians. Once it was clear that the Russians would be storming back in in 1945, and not the Americans, over 200,000 Latvians ran for their lives, many crowding into rowboats and fishing trawlers desperately trying to make it to Sweden. Those who were left behind lost their property to communism, their religion to forced athiesm, and their language to forced Russian teaching. Many received banishment to a Siberian gulag or outright execution.

Vilnius, Lithuania

We awoke late today to walk around beautiful Vilnius. The bell tower and church pictured above are stunningly white in the late afternoon light. Vilnius has a small old town, easily seen within an hour or two. The people here seem to be the friendliest of the Baltics. When we arrived at our hotel, the clerk couldnt make change for us when we wanted to purchase a few beers from their fridge. Instead she said to take whatever we wanted and just pay tomorrow. This would contrast sharply with our hotel in Estonia where the clerk looked us up and down and after evaluating our grubby, unlaundered, backpack-laden appearance; demanded that we pay for our room immediately rather than upon checkout.

Vilnius is quite inexpensive. We found several places serving great Lithuanian beer for $2.60 a pint. Right down the street from our hotel was a rockin club called Prospekto that we visited both nights. Once you get past the massive Lithuanian bouncer at the door, we found a place playing American music, full of expats from all over Europe.

Zurich, Switzerland

This morning I went for a quick run through southern Liechtenstein, then caught a bus to the train station in Buchs, Switzerland. Two hours later I arrived in Zurich. According to Mercer, the people of Zurich enjoy the highest quality of life on earth. That's quite a statement, and from walking around the city, I think it might be true. The city is sparkling clean, sits by a pretty lake, with a river running through it. There is very little traffic, and lots of green space and bike lanes. This is a world capitol of banking, and I saw hundreds of buisnessmen in designer suits walking around town on their lunch break. They must pay these guys well, cause I purchased the most expensive Starbucks Venti frappucino ever at just over $7.
A nice couple from Sri Lanka took a picture for me with Lake Zurich in the backround.

After an enjoyable five hours in Zurich, it was back to the train station, off to the airport, and an Air Baltic flight to Vilnius Lithuania.

Milan to Como, Italy

My time in Italy today was short. I flew into Malpensa Airport in the morning. I quickly boarded a bus to take me into central Milan to the train station. I arrived there just in time to book a ticket on the express train to Zurich, Switzerland. The train crossed the northern part of Italy into the Alps, and past the fantastic Lake Como area. My face was plastered to the train window as we went in and out of tunnels and from one side of the lake to another. This part of Europe, the lakes within the Alps, is defenitely a place to come back to another day.

Milan, Italy then Zurich, Switzerland then Liechtenstein

Whew, what a day. Four countries in one day. Never done that before.

Lindso and I left the hotel via cab at 430am. We parted ways in the Barcelona airport, Lindso heading back to Maui and me heading on to the Baltics. First I would fly to Milan, Italy (country #29). I quickly rode a bus from the airport to the train station where I boarded a train for Zurich, Switzerland (country #30). Once in Zurich I switched to a train to Buchs, Switzerland. Then I rode a bus to Schaan, Liechtenstein (country #31). I checked into the only hostel in Liechtenstein, where for the princely sum of $31 I got a bunk bed in a room with Bernd, a biker from Germany. There ain't much going on in Liechtenstein folks. Picture Switzerland, but more boring. Pretty though. Click on the following link for some recent news about Liechtenstein: http://www.theonion.com/content/video/liechtenstein_successfully_tests

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/liechtenstein_andorra_forced_to?utm_source=a-section

Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona, the center of the anti-fascist rebels during the Spanish Civil War, the home of the 1992 Olympics, the city with no hotels under $400...
We had booked all our hotels for our trip before we left. All but Barcelona. I couldn't find anything online for under $400, and thought for sure something would open up later on. As it turns out; Formula One was in town, (that's the Euro version of NASCAR), and everything was sold out. After several days of frantic searching on Craigslist by Lindso, she finally secured an apartment 15 miles outside Barcelona in Premia De Mar, for a reasonable $100 a night. This ended up being one of the best experiences of our trip. We stayed in a nice little town right on the Med with great beaches. We spent a whole day there and enjoyed the relaxation after wayyyy too much driving over the previous three days.

The next day we headed into Barcelona by the quick, cheap, and scenic train. Barcelona is a bustling, crowded city! While Madrid seemed somewhat deserted on the Sunday that we were there, Barcelona on a Formula One Saturday is packed! We walked along the tourist trail seeing all the required Gaudi architecture, which is indeed quite pretty and strange. The Sagrada Familia is especially huge and strange, and nowhere near finished. We traversed the length of La Rambla which is kind of like Boulder's Pearl Street except with three times the people and four times the body odor. I still liked it though Lindso was a bit put off by the mass of people packing you in from all sides. The shopping in Barcelona was the best we had found. As it was our last stop in Spain, we grabbed some Spanish fashion to bring home. After a long day of walking we forced ourselves to a trip up the funicular to Montjuic, the home of the Olympic Stadium. Great views were had there, though we were too tired to actually find the stadium. Time to call it a trip!

Ordino, Andorra

Off from Valencia and back onto the highway again today. What should have been a five hour trip, soon turned into six, then seven. A wrong turn near Barcelona, then some white knuckle switchback driving in Andorra had me near the end of my rope. I was ready to run down any Andorran bovine who strayed into my path. Just when the swearing had reached it's apex, our hotel magically appeared before us. Once I shut off all 63 horses of the Citroen, and took a deep breath, I realized we were in a beautiful mountain valley! Andorra is a mini-Colorado, much like Liechtenstein. Lindso and I went for a run on a mountain trail next to a bubbling brook that slowly climed a thousand feet or so. For the first time on the trip we were really out in nature, and it was very nice.
We found a pub that served Spanish beer and olives, and listened to the ringing church bells and watched little Andorran children run around the cobblestone streets. The pub had a bullfight on TV, which I kept popping in to watch, though I do agree in principle with Lindso that they are horrible and should be banned.
We found the one restuarant that was open (Andorra's high season is winter for skiing); and the French couple running it were very friendly and helpful, perhaps because we were their only customers. We both agreed that Andorra was a place that deserved a second look next time we're in town.

Some recent news on Andorra:

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/nation_of_andorra_not_in_africa?utm_source=videoembed

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/liechtenstein_andorra_forced_to?utm_source=a-section