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Places to Stay, things to see See and Do

Guatemala

We are spending the 2010 hurricane season at Mario's Marina in the Rio Dulce where it is like a "summer camp for adults". Great mooring prices, and wonderful food at the Cayuco Club. Jim the Manager and Marco his assistant are extremely helpful. They run three free launcha trips to the town of Fronteras daily and will run you over or back anytime for a minimal charge.

Guatemala City (Quistales Q8= $1(usd) )

Flores

Antigua

Lake Atitlan

Honduras (Limpera L19= $1(usd) )

Copán de Ruinas-- The site of the wonderful Mayan ruins where they have the most detailed stelea in Mesoamerica. a

Hacienda San Lucas--We spent four wonderful nights at the Hacienda where Doña Flavia Cueva made us feel most welcome at her hacienda where the main building was built by her grandfather over 100 years ago. Argi her onsite manager was wonderful and saw to our every need. She even tried to move us away from an unexpected large dinner party as she was afraid it would be too noisy for us. Little did she know we loved being in the middle of the party. The rooms were eco friendly with lighting run by solar powered. No need for A/C as we were up at an elevation where it was not needed and the food what can we say but fantastic. The price was about $125/night, breakfast included.
Frida Larios--Frida is married to Tyler Orsburn who's mother Doña Flavia owns Hacienda San Lucas. Frida is from El Salvador but earned her Bachelor and Masters degree in London, England. She has lectured in London and has many awards. Her passion, other than her family, is her project the new Mayan Hieroglyphs. Check some of them out here.
Finca El Cisne--A working Finca (ranch) where they raise beef, coffee, and a host of other crops. They have guest houses and provide a wonderful opportunity to see a finca in operation and eat a great home grown lunch and if you spend the night dinner and breakfast.
Twisted Tanya--We didn't get the chance to eat out very often as we opted to eat the wonderful food at the Hacienda San Lucas. We did, however, eat at Twisted Tanyas where they have a wonderful menu that changes daily. If you get there early you can get the backpackers special for a really reasonable price.

Roatan

Fantasy Island Marina
Barefoot Cay Marina
Bulk Gourmet Food
Lighthouse Restaurant--West End.

Cartagena Columbia (prices in Col Pesos + $2000 to $1 (USD))

The old town in Cartagena is a lovely old city that reminded us in many ways of New Orleans, lovely old buildings tiny narrow streets often crowded with fruit vendors and horse drawn carriages and well yes the frequent tourist vendors who were a bit more abundant on days when cruise ships were in town. Honestly we haven't liked any place we have been when the cruise ships have been in port as it brings out the worst in the locals. Just to keep you on our toes while in the old city (Centro) each block has a unique street name. So if you are on Calle Santo Domingo and go one block up you could be on Calle Ayos. A tad confusing but when you find out an address you don't have to wonder which block it's on. If you are calling these numbers from the US you must dial the country code and area code which for Cartagena is 57 (5) unless it is a cell phone which has an area code of (3xx rather than a 5

Boat Work

Refrigeration-- Hermanos Malo (Bad Brothers) very capable at boat refrigeration Reinaldo 316-841-7639 speaks a little English.
Yard Work Bottom paint ect. Elkin 310-630-0996 His crew works out of Feroalquimar. They did a great job on our bottom and boot stripe paint.
Boat sitting Club de Pesca--Fernando Jose Murillo Mercado cel. 311-663-7985 tel. 671-9313. Fernando kept an eye on Equinox when we were gone and has been our boat guy while we were in the marina. Wonderful and honest worker. Never had a worry about leaving the boat when he was working either inside or on deck. If you go into Club de Pesca look him up and say hi for us. We understand from our friend Lee Miles that he is also a great deck hand to have onboard while out cruising.
Carpentry Nilson Caro cel. 315-323-5868 email: Nilcarpintiernautico@hotmail.com Nilson can handle small to large jobs. He built a spice rack on Equinox and did a wonderful job of building a drawer on another IP 440 (was out of country when we wanted ours done) and we observed him rebuilding a new pilot house in the yard and the work was great. We only wish we had been able to contact him when we had our drawer built. Nilson does not speak English but is quite understanding that we speak poor Spanish.

Boat Yard

Ferroalquimar Probably the largest haul out facility, they handle most boats and work on ships. Get a pilot when entering as he channel is shallow. Most cruisers hire their own workers who must be approved to work in the yard. The yard has basic apartments that are air conditioned. Wifi is available mostly in the evenings and weekends and they have a restaurant that serves the workers where you can get great breakfasts and lunch for very little money. Lunch is $5500 (pesos). Be aware however that as a boat yard it is a dirty place and not high on the fun meter.

Custom Clothing & Upholstery

Jorge E Torres--Jorge does excellent work, will come to your boat and go with you to buy material necessary for your job. Reasonable prices. Getsemani Av. Del Pedrigal 25-75 cel. 314-537-6391 bronzeeverane@yahoo.es

Dentist

Dental Spa--Dr. Felipe Frieri Martinez Extremely modern office did cleaning and a filling on us and extensive oral surgery on a friend. He speaks English staff does not his cell phone # 313-535-7602

Jewelry

Misteremerald--Lee Miles is Mr. Emerald, he is an American who has lived in Columbia for 30 years and has raised a family here. He is quite helpful and helped us recondition a very old emerald ring and modernize it for our daughter. We also purchased some new items at great prices from Lee. His shop is in the Pierno Gallo Center in Laguito in the Boca Grande area. tel: 665 6781 Laguito, Pierino Gallo Center L. 2-10, .
Lucy Jewelry-- Located in the old town 1/2 block from Plaza Santo Domingo. Owned and operated by Lucy Sanchez a wonderful lady who will spend the time with you to pick out your favorite piece of jewelry. Since she does not deal with tour guides she passes on her savings. If you go in make sure to say hi for Hank & Betsy from Equinox, she should remember us. tel: 664-4255 Centro, Calle Santo Domingo, No. 3-19.

Marina

Club de Pesca-- This is the only marina where we would put our boat in Cartagena. It is a very well run and secure marina with hard working and friendly staff. It is a private yacht club and does permit transient boats but you must make your reservations well in advance. We joined in with the club members on several events, entered a cooking competition and even won 3rd place. While there is another marina not that far away it was a disaster while we were here. They were under major construction were stopped by the city and maybe be torn town. They had no showers nor permanent heads but still charged the same price as before construction.

Restaurants Honestly there are too many to list here. These are the ones at which we have eaten and can recommend. There are others that we would like to try on our next visit to this lovely city.

Amazon Pepper Sauces Although not a restaurant, we listed these wonderful sauces here. They have several hot sauces that we love but their Mango Sauce and Chipotle Sauce are fantastic. In fact when we left Columbia we went and stocked up with 12 bottles of a variety of their sauces. For our friends in the US who loved the Chipotle Mayonnaise and can't get it I'd suggest finding some Amazon Chipotle sauce and make your own. Their website shows an address for a US distributor. We plan on doing so when our supply of our Chipotle Mayonnaise runs out.
Chevichiera Trattoria Wippy Centro Calle SantoDomingo 33-81 tel. 664-8790 Specalizing in pastas, ceviches, and seafood. We had a ceviche appetizer which was wonderful. Reasonable prices good food, and a few seats on the street which made for great entertainment watching the cars, people and horse drawn carriages share the same space. An interesting twist is that they serve Romanian wine. This was a first for the Equinox crew.
de Oliva Manga Av. del Pastelillo no. 24-116 tel: 660-6861 An interesting blend of Mediterranean and Arab food. One of the best values in town considering the quality of the food. Excellent presentation with prices easy on your pocket book. A nice steak can be had for $22,000. Try finding that in the US.
El Bistro Pandaria Europa Resturante-Bar Centro. One block up from Lucy's on the same street not same street name however. Calle de Ayos, No. 4-46 cel. 312-666-3550, Great lunch menu changes daily fantastic soups, fresh bread, German owner. Great bread and we bought flour here to make a friends German dark bread recipe.
El Pique Mexican Restaurante Manga, Calle 26 and Carratera 21. We were skeptical of going to a Mexican restaurant in Columbia, as we had become such a fan of good Mexican food in our 2 1/2 years in Mexico. We were pleasantly surprised. The menu was not just tacos and burritos. We had chicken in salsa mole and chicken enchiladas in salsa verde. Although the mole sauce didn't have the complexity of a good Oaxacan mole it was never the less very tasty. We understand that they have good margaritas but we stuck with the local beer although they did have Negro Modelo. I'm sure it's near impossible to get the necessary dried chilies in Columbia to make really complex Mexican salsas. Overall a great find.
Enoteca Centro
Quebracho Centro Calle Baloco No 2-69 tel: 664-1300 664-1190 Fantastic food, known for their steak, in fact you can recognize the restaurant by the stuffed steer in front. Their signature dish is the roast suckling pig which you can see roasting in their glass enclosed roaster. Good bar with great selection. A bit pricey by Cartagena standards but the roast pig was $52,000 or about $26 US.
Restaurante Plaza de Armas Centro Artillery Street No. 36-86 tel: 660-1889 Both indoor and outdoor seating. Italian food. We were there for a birthday party and were fortunate enough to be entertained by a trio playing wonderful music. Service and food were great.
Rugula Manga Pizza and wraps across the street from Carulla market. Split a wrap if you order one or you will be stuffed.
San Pedro Centro, Plaza San Pedro Claver No. 30-11 across from church. In addition to continental quisine the restaurant has fantastic Asian fusion food like sushi, nasi goreng, and pad thai noodles. All the food is impressively prepared with lovely garnishes and colorful Caribbean touches, and the servers are friendly, well-mannered, and accommodating. Large open air (some seating inside if you need A/C) fancy dining great food at reasonable prices.
Pacho y Guillo Manga When Club Nautico (the other marina) closed down their bar and common area, Sandro & Suzanne De Dominicis stepped up and started holding happy hour on Wed. evening and allowed cruisers to use the restaurant on Sundays for Dominos. They serve a great pizza and beer is $2000, check them out at Magna, Cra. 17 No. 25-46 across from the park. Tel. 660-6517

Tour Guide

Alex Rocha--Alex speaks excellent English and gives wonderful walking tours of the old city. His email address is rochapreach@hotmail.com and his cell number is 300-766-9290 be aware that sometimes folks loose their cell phones and their numbers change. If you can't get in touch with him by phone try email or ask around on the net for his number I'm sure other cruisers will know it.

El Salvador (prices in USD)

Bahia del Sol A wonderful hotel and marina. If you like Paella it is to die for and was only $15 but if you join the cruisers club there is a 30% discount on all food and the local beer is only a dollar. There are also some other great finds in the area. The local papusas are one of the local food you must try. If you are there on the weekend try eating in one of the stilt palapas that are found toward the eastern end of the lagoon. A great way to spend a weekend day.

Mexico (All prices are in pesos unless otherwise stated.)

Guadalajara

Hotel Francis. A nice clean hotel located n the heart of downtown, steps away from the Cathedral, theater, and the government palace. Room rates start at about $650 (pesos)/night

Tequila

Los Abuellos Tequila Fantastic brand made in the old fashioned method, of roasting the pinas for 36 hrs and stone crushing. Bottled in hand blown bottles with a decorative stopper. Made by a fifth generation Sauza on the old family distillery used by the first generation Sauza.
Casa Duce Maria Hotel A wonderful small hotel with reasonable rates 2 blocks from the central square.

Oaxaca (City of)

Artesanias

La Mano Magica An art gallery owned by the famous rug maker Adolfo Mendoza. His rugs are the finest quality we saw in Mexico with incredible detail. Pricey but well worth the investment.
The Bug in The Rug The shop of the famous Teotitlán weavers Isaac Vásquez García & Jerónimo Vásquez García. We visited their shop and Isaac gave us a good lesson in the natural dies that they use. Yes we did purchase one of their rugs.

B & B's

Cooking Schools

Resturants

Casa Oaxaca

San Miguel de Allende

Alba Del Castillo B&B. This wonderful B&B is owned and operated by Mario Ruiz Uribe, you can contact him at albadelcastillobnb@hotmail.com . The B&B is in the Los Frailles district which is south of the centro district. Wonderful views of the lake, no traffic (well an occasional freight train) NO Parking Problems which is a big plus, great place to say if you have a car. Room rates start about $850
Traditional Mexican Cooking School. If you like cooking and want to learn how to cook Mexican food the real way you can't find a better place than this wonderful school run by María Ricaud who will not only teach you how to properly cook but gives you some history about Mexican food. See our recipes section for more info.

Taxco

Los Arcos Hotel This was an inexpensive hotel we stayed at in Taxco. Saved our money for the silver. Parking was nearby which is a must in Taxco. Rooms in the $500 night range.

Michoacán (State of)

Tesoros A fantastic association of bed and breakfast hotels that are independently owned and operated. We stayed in three of them on our inland travels and can't say enough. Price range varies.

Morelia

Hotel De La Soledad Convenient and downtown. Parking was by valet.

Patzcuraro

Hotel Los Sueños Although we didn't stay there we did eat at Pricillas Resturante and had a fabulous dinner that included one of the best Cesar salads we have had, note I have my own recipe. The preparation was fantastic, and in the middle of winter we there was a warm glow of a fire in the fireplace to add to the experience. A Tesoros B&B
Hotel Mansión Iturbe A 17^th century muleteer’s house that once belonged to Don Francisco de Iturbe. Great breakfast included with many traditional Michoacán dishes including Corundas and Huchepos tow unique types of tamales from the Michoacán region. A Tesoros B&B
D’Arte-Sano A copper factory in nearby Santa Clara de Cobré. Very interesting tour of the factory and great prices on copper goods. They even ship to the US.

Uruapan

Hotel Mi Solar A newly renovated B&B that was a joy, the decorations were beautiful . A Tesoros B&B

Zitacuraro

Rancho San Cayetano One of the nicest B&B we have had the pleasure of staying in. They arranged our tour of the butterflies which was well worth the entire trip. A bit pricier than many but a definite must on your stay in Zitacuraro. Another Tesoros B&B

Panama

Embera Village Tours & Artesania. Anne Gordon de Barrigon runs this tour company with a unique perspective. She came down to Panama to train animals for the movie The Tip of the Spear and met her soul mate who was a member of the Embera Pura village. So when you take her tour she is taking you to her second home to visit her relatives. Phone number within Panama 6758-7600 or from the US 011-507-6758-7600

Guatemala

Guatemala City (Quistales Q8= $1(usd) )

Flores

Antigua

Lake Atitlan

Honduras (Limpera L19= $1(usd) )

Copán de Ruinas-- The site of the wonderful Mayan ruins where they have the most detailed stelea in Mesoamerica. a

Roatan

Mexico (All prices are in pesos unless otherwise stated.)

Guadalajara

Hotel Francis. A nice clean hotel located n the heart of downtown, steps away from the Cathedral, theater, and the government palace. Room rates start at about $650 (pesos)/night

Tequila

Oaxaca (City of)

Artesanias

B & B's

Cooking Schools

Resturants

San Miguel de Allende

Taxco

Michoacán (State of)

Morelia

Patzcuraro

Uruapan

Zitacuraro

Panama

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