Thank you Brasil, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Perú, Ecuador, Galápagos, Colombia, Panamá, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Belize and of course México. Thank you so much for everything I was able to see, to do and to experience. Every country brought something new, something unique to my view of South and Central America.

This trip has been absolutely amazing! Really really amazing! Something no one can ever take away from me. I had so many great moments with great people from around the world. I have done so many things I never thought I would do. I have seen things so amazing I can’t even explain. I have seen people from cultures so different from ours. I have tasted things I didn’t even know they would exist. I walked through nature so pure and beautiful as if it was from a fantasy movie. I walk over mountains so high you barely can’t breathe.

For 8 months I wandered around south and central America – crossing 14 countries, traveling more than 19.000 KM - taken hundreds of buses, cars, taxis, trains, subways, planes, bikes, motorcycles, boats, horses and I walked very very much (thanks shoes, you were great!)

There are so many highlights in this trip that it´s hard to tell which my favorites are, which country was the best, which beer I liked the most. All I know is that I could do it all over, doing all the things I did again and enjoy it as much as I did it the first time!

Happiness only real when shared!

You can do a lot of things on your own, enjoying it quietly, taking it into your mind and maybe share it later back home. But doing things together with someone, or more people, is much more fun! I met so many people in hostels, on buses or just on the way, that I shared most things with someone. Therefore I want to thank all the people I met on my journey, and I hope I didn’t forget someone. So thank you..

.. Andy (UK), Jen & James (UK), Sara (IT), Helen McC., Natalie & Amy (UK), Lapa (CA), Anita (CH), Noam (IL), Yaron (IL), Oz (IL), Tal (IL), Ute & Kerstin (DE), Carla & Taff, Jessie R. & Kevin B. (USA), Ran (IL), Josephine (NL), Caroline (AR), Laylian (UK), Nick (ZA), David (UK), Monica (AU), Kelsey (CA), Carole (FR), Craig (UK), Max (UK), three girls from the UK, Heidi O. (USA), Janna K. (CA), Chris K. (UK), Nicki S. (UK), Julian J. (SE), Maria P. (SE), Michelle C. (AU), Christian (ZA), Gal (IL), Nail A. & Ludovic J. & Guillaume  M. (FR), Alfred & Manon (NL), Joëlle S. (FR), Emmanuelle M. (FR), Swen & Nado (DE), Noga (IL), Ido (IL), Ariel (IL), Irina (DE), Cameron J. (UK), Chris T. (UK), Fabricio (PE), Lula (PE), my Spanish teacher, Sonja (NL), Anne (NL), Mike & Jenna (CA), Danitza (PE), Jonathan & Jonathan (CA), Rachel & Scott (USA), Carla W. (NL), Karen (NL), Kirsten & Maarten (NL), Sam (UK), Shakar (IL), Gunner (DE), Shelly (PG), Tali (IL), Jorden with his girlfriend (CA), Fee C. (AU), Myles G. (UK), Tamara C. (AU), Suzie J. (UK), Megan McC., Lucy (UK), Olly K. (UK), James (UK), Emma (UK), Katherine (AU), The Galapagos Team (6x IT, 1x DE, 1x CH, 3x FR), Anna H. (CH), Adrien G. (FR), Christopher B. (UK), Mark K. (CA), Justin & Victoria (AU), Bella (UK), Kate B. (UK), Anna P. (DE), 4 guys from Argentina, Lyndsey B. & Greg W. (CA), Adam H. (CA), Edgard S. & Gorjana R. (AU), Kai & Dulce (DE&USA), Corinna B. (AU), Tim B. (DE), Danielle K. & Shimrit S. (IL), Fiona R. (AU), Steffen  H. & Thomas H. (DE), Hugo (NL), Charlie B. (UK), Nicole H. & Laura H. (USA), Dudy (IL), Brooke C. (AU), Hanne (BE), Ingrid G. (DE), Sergio (IT), Renata B. (SI), Leon (NL), Tom (AU), Erika (MX), Gaby & Tim (MX), and everyone I forgot!

This list is incomplete! For sure! Please don’t be mad if I haven’t mentioned you!

The End?

Tomorrow, saturday the 31st of october I have a flight out of Mexico City. But going where?

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¡Esta ciudad es grande! Muy grande! And I like it. I arrived with ADO’s first class bus and took a taxi to my hostel. I am staying at the Mexico City Hostel which is right in the middle of the city, next to plaza Zocalo.

My first night I met up with Dudy from Israel – member of the Unbelizeable team – and we had some beers here at my hostel. We talked about what happened since we splited and about what we did. The next day we met up and together we went to the biggest museum I even been to!

Museo Nacional de Antropología

The National Museum of Anthropology, located in historic Chapultepec Park is truly big! It contains significant archaeological and anthropological artifacts from the pre-Columbian heritage of Mexico, such as the Piedra del Sol (Aztec calendar stone) and the 16th-century Aztec statue of Xochipilli. The museum has 23 rooms for exhibits and covers an area of 79,700 square meters, almost 8 hectares.

If you visit this museum, take a couple of days. I really mean it. I went walking through it reading maybe 2% of all the information and it took me easily 4 hours. And all that for only 51 pesos!

Museo de Arte Moderno

The second museum I visited was the Museum of Modern Art located near the Anthropology museum. It had 4 different exhibitions but I wasn’t really fan of what I saw.

Centro Histórico

This historical center is so big, it takes again at least a full day to walk around and see all of it. Luckely my hostel is next to Zocalo so all of it is close and within minutes I can visited the sights. On this plaza you will find the great Cathedral Metropolitana of which you can climb the bell towers, the Palacio Nacional and the Templo Mayor with its adjoining museum. Than there are all the small streets with great tall buildings.

Torre Latinoamericana

The ‘Torre Latinoamericana’ is one of the best-known skyscrapers in Latin America. For 50 pesos you can go up to the highest floor – 37 – and watch the city. Amazing to see the streets, the buildings, the parks and even the international airport.

Mexico City

What else can I tell you about this great city. I have been here 4 full days – 1 day I have been outside the city to visit Teotihuacan containing some of the largest pyramidal structures built in the pre-Columbian Americas – and it not enough. There are so many museum I haven’t seen yet, so many plazas still to walk through, so many religious buildings, so many historical houses, ahhh too much!

I NEED TIME!! But time is running out.. Tomorrow is my last day here in Mexico! Yes really, my last day..

Photos are here!

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Me gusta! Me gusta! Bigger tan San Cristobal but just as nice. Oaxaca has a hugh historical center with many old colonial buildings and cathedrals. There is a big market just off the plaza Zocalo, which covers two big halls where you can find really everything you need. There are great art museums – free entrance! – trendy cafes and restaurants with reasonable prices, a car free zone with many shops and theaters with live music.

We arrived early with the 11 hour night bus from San Cristobal. I didn’t sleep much so after we checked in at hostel Don Pablo we went for a short sleep to catch up. When we woke up again we went exploring and sat down at one of the many restaurants on plaza Zocalo. From here we could observe the people walking buy and got the feeling of Oaxaca – the modern city, lots of locals mainly Mexican tourists, street sellers and music.

After the lunch we walked around towards the Santa Domingo cathedral. I already saw that something was going on soon on Zocalo, something looked like something is going to finish here. Not knowing what we walked around and after seeing some more of the historical center the sound of racecars catched my ears. I hurried up to the street where it came from and yes, old timers escorted my the police raced through the city center towards the Zocalo.

After almost all the cars passed by me and Hanne went to the main plaza to see the cars there parked in a line surrounded by hundreds of Mexicans who all wanted photos and autographs of the drivers. I also made lots of photos of course!

While standing on the street I also saw a Belgium car, and once we saw the car parked we got in touch with the driver and co-pilot. Two really nice Belgium man how bought their car in the stats and now racing along with 40 other wealthy international people. We got in the car, made lots of photos, talked about the really and what they were doing back home. Later that day, in the hostel, we googled the names of those two drivers and to our surprise, we just talked to one of the richest people of Belgium! Christian Dumoulin, a Belgium business man.

Anyways, that evening we went out for dinner and met up with a local girl Hanne got in touch with through CouchSurfing. She took us to a local café where we drunk some cervezas and Mezcal – a sort of tequila, very strong stuff. After that we went to Café Central, a funky café with live music and after midnight you can dance on all kinds of music from salsa to pop.

The next morning we checked out at the hostel and went CouchSurfing! Yes my first one. We found two really nice people called Gaby and Tim who hosted us and gave us so many tips and showed us around. First me and Hanne splited up, both going another direction to explorer the city a bit more. I went to several museums; most of them are for free, went walking in the small streets of Oaxaca and finally ended up in the big market.

I went to the Photo museum which had a nice collection of sliced human body´s, the Institute of Graphic Arts which has a large collection of art books which you can read for free, and the museum of Contemporary Art, which was under renovation so it was kinda small.

In the evening we went for diner with Gaby and Tim and went also to a jazz pub for some more local beers and we talked a lot about traveling, Oaxaca and their experiences with CouchSurfing.

The next day we went on a tour! Yes also backpackers do tours. 5 sights were on the menu, the first a visit to the largest tree trunk in the world – Mitla! Yes with a diameter of 14,5 meters it’s the biggest in the world! Than up to a weaver factory where they made lots of handmade carpets in the old fashion way. The third item on the program was I think the best, tasting Mezcal! Learning how they actually make it and then tasting about 8 different sorts of Mezcal. Cheers! With some alcohol in the blood we headed to a archeological sight called Monte Alban, a pre-Hispanic city that was an ancient capital of the Zapotecs. Nice, but not really impressive. The last sight was a natural wonder as they say. Can’t remember the name of it, but just take a look at the photos.

Oaxaca is really a nice place! A place which is easy going, has much to offer, a place from where you can explore the surrounded mountains. Definitely a place to come back to! Gaby and Tim, thank you very very much for hosting us! I enjoyed your company!

From here I am heading up to Mexico City, my final destination!

Photos are here.

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San Cristóbal de las Casas is again a small colonial town in Mexican highlands of Chiapas – 2160 m above sealevel – where you could spend easily a week or two. It reminded me of towns as Arequipa or Cusco – both also colonial, small and really nice. There were plenty of small plazas, low buildings, beautiful churches, markets, restaurants, art cinemas, bookstores and a lot of cafés serving Chiapas coffee.

I arrived here in San Cristóbal together with Hanne but didn’t go to the same hostel. I went to hostel Rossco Backpackers Hostel just two blocks away from Templo de Santo Domingo – also knows as the handcrafts market – which had an online promotion – book online through HostelWorld.com or HostelBookers.com and pay only 65 pesos instead of 119 pesos, great deal! And Hanne went CouchSurfing with a girl called Erika.

My hostel was great, but the first night I got again bedbugs all over my neck and arms. Fucking hell, I can tell you those bits are worse than mosquito bites! So the next morning after discovering my bits all 14 people had to move to different dorms and the one infected got cleaned up.

In the three days that we spend in San Cristóbal I met up with Hanne and Erika and together we explored the city. After a day walking from cathedral to church and back to the market, Erika took us to a small art cinema called Kinoki, playing all kinds of great art movies. They play three movies a day: one at 16:00, one at 18:00 and the last at 20:00. We took the first show which was free. ‘Zeitgeist 2: Addendum’. A documentary about how corrupt the whole system is and gives examples and this time also solutions about the problems. If you haven’t seen this movie you should definitely watch in on YouTube.

The next day Erika took us to a small town about 45 minutes by bus called San Juan Chamula. The town is really small and the most beautiful church I ever saw! Maybe not from the outside but from the inside! Inside the Templo de San Juan there were no bank to sit on and no altar. The floor was covered by pine-needles and everywhere you see hundreds of flickering candles. It’s so impressive! Chamulans revere San Juan Bautista above Christ, that’s why there are no banks or altar. People coming in making a free space on the floor somewhere in the church, putting about 4 rows of candles on the floor – each row contains about 13 candles – lighting them and doing their prayers. You are not allowed to take photographs inside the church – also not outside when people are coming out of the church – because that takes away their spirits and causes bad luck! After the Templo de San Juan we went to the small cemetery of the town which is an open field, while walking of it, you are exually walking over the graves. And each grave can contain more crosses, which mean that there are more people buried on top of each other. There are also three colours, black for the old people, white for younger people, and blue for children.

Around noon we went back to San Cristóbal and met up again at Kinoki for another art movie. This time a documentary about the Zapatistas. On January 1994 the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) came into effect, and on the same day a unknown leftist guerrilla army, the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN) emerged from the forests to occupy San Cristóbal and other towns in Chiapas. A fight broke out between the Zapatistas and the government army killing about 150 people, mostly Zapatistas. The documentary shows why the EZLN came into life, what they are fighting for and how the situation is nowadays.

I was – and still am – fan of Rage Against The Machine, and they made songs about the problems of the Zapatistas. Didn´t know that before, so it´s interesting to watch this docu.

Nightlife in San Cristobal

And if you just want to go for a beer or some live music I recommend the Bar Revolución. Every night live music and lots of locals and gringos. Also great food!

San Cristobal has been really great and fun. A place to keep in mind and to return to on a next trip through Mexico. That’s Erika for showing us around, showing us San Juan and thanks a lot for the great gift!

Photos are here.

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