Hey, did you hear about all the great coke in Colombia? It's becoming the point of trips to the country rather than a sideline, says The Guardian:
It's hardly shocking that some travellers in Colombia can't resist trying the country's most famous product, but it seems the drug is becoming a tourist attraction in itself. Just as you try steak in Argentina and caipirinhas in Brazil; in Colombia, you sample the coke.
Backpackers are doing lines in their dorms, signing up to visit cocaine factories and word is going round that somewhere in San Augustin lies a place where you can make your own.
In South Texas, peyote is getting harder and harder to find. The Houston Press sent a reporter to chat with the men who rustle the cactus to find out how dire the situation is getting, with supplies drying up and endangering a traditional part of Native American culture. It's grim enough that peyoteros are now supplementing their income by leading hunting trips.
On the southern side of the border, though, business is booming. The tourist town of Real de Catorce has become hippie central in the past 10 years. That's thanks in a good part to local peyote enthusiast Humberto Fernandez who built the first boutique hotel in the area:
On street corners, young men harass foreigners for a "ride in the desert." For about $70, they'll take tourists out to the peyote gardens below the mountains. It's technically illegal, but no one seems to care much. As Don Humberto says, peyote tourists are the core of the town's livelihood.
Even Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts stopped by when they filmed "The Mexican." They apparently didn't risk a run-in with the police to go peyote hunting, but they certainly could have.
Just remember, if you get caught picking peyote and can't bribe your way out of trouble, you're looking at up to 25 years in prison. A Mexican prison. We can think of better places for a lengthy vacation.
Airport police busted two travelers in as many days when they tried to smuggle cocaine through Toronto Pearson International. The two 21-year-olds both used the same technique to conceal the drugs: Gluing baggies inside the bindings and covers of Bibles.
A border security agent had this helpful explanation:
This is not something we see on a regular basis. Bibles are what people read for spiritual support and not for smuggling drugs.
The two ran afoul of the authorities by stashing too much coke in each Bible. One book had four kilos (9 pounds) of drugs inside, tipping off customs agents who expected the book to weigh much less.
We have one more note for any potential smugglers out there: Toronto airport police are now tooling around terminals on three-wheeled motor scooters, so your quick getaway will probably be foiled promptly. When it comes to drugs, you might have better luck in Spain.
Your next trip to Amsterdam may have to be a little bit longer than you planned, at least if drug tourism is on your agenda: The city's mayor has proposed a three-day waiting period for buying magic mushrooms.
Without the ban, the mayor says, tourists might make an impulse buy they either don't want or aren't ready for. If history is a guide, visitors to Amsterdam--including one girl who jumped to her death from a bridge--could benefit from the waiting period.
Of course, last month, authorities considered an outright ban on hallucinogenic mushrooms--which are illegal in Britain, Ireland and the US--but that's yet to happen; the mayor's proposal sounds like a stopgap measure to us. So for now, it's open season on mushrooms, if that's your thing--but act fast.
Claire Duffett lives in New York City and recently completed a 10-day trip from Guatemala City to Antigua, Lake Atitalan, Tikal, and the cayes of Belize.
Not a bad way to escape this downright dreary North East April weather, huh? Claire will be sharing her field trip experience with us over the next week. Enjoy.
In Caye Caulker, dozens of travel agencies line Front Street, the island's main drag. Each hut sustains itself by selling snorkeling trips. In short: it's the thing to do.
The Rough Guide to Guatemala was Jaunted Contributing Editor Claire Duffett's weapon of choice, during her March 2007 jaunt through Guatemala City, Antigua, Lake Atitalan, Tikal, and the cayes of Belize. Sometimes these guide books get it right, and sometimes they are off. In this feature, we will tell you what the guide pros said about a place and then give you our take.
Rough Guides Says:
Guatemala City (or Guate as it's referred to locally) has a distinct flavor. There are rickety urban buses roaring along in thick black clouds of diesel, trawling for ever more passengers. There's the shocking contrast between the glitzy Zona Viva, home to luxury hotels, gourmet restaurants and trendy nightclubs and the poverty-stricken outlying shantytowns.
Our Take: Everyone warned us of the perils of Guatemala City. Co-workers and friends shared with us friends' of friends' of friends' horror stories, and instructed us to leave the airport and head immediately to Antigua.
When I stepped out of the airport, the smell of leaded fuel stung my nostrils. Freshly washed, white BMW shuttle buses lined the parking lot, waiting for tourists. The city, like any enormous metropolis in a second-world country, has its poverty. Yet there is a surprising mix of wealth. Between crowded outdoor markets and abandoned shacks, symbols of capitalism dot the roads. I spotted at least 10 multistory, high-end car dealerships while driving through Guatemala City. The fast-food chain Pollo Campero is as populous in Guate as Starbucks in Seattle.
The billboard-lined roadways are clean, new, and pothole free. Grass medians with manicured bushes separate the lanes. The city's main infrastructure shames any in the U.S. Our shuttle wove between chicken buses spewing out heavy diesel and young people driving shiny new SUVs on their way home from the office. Driving through Guatemala City felt less foreign to me than I expected. It reminded me slightly of my hometown, Buffalo. A sprawling hodgepodge of an economically-depressed but modern city.
The Rough Guide to Guatemala was Jaunted Contributing Editor Claire Duffett's weapon of choice, during her March 2007 jaunt through Guatemala City, Antigua, Lake Atitalan, Tikal, and the cayes of Belize. Sometimes these guide books get it right, and sometimes they are off. In this feature, we will tell you what the guide pros said about a place and then give you our take.
Rough Guides Says:
Hotel Mansion del Lago, right above the Pana dock. The most comfortable place in San Pedro, where the spotless, superb-value rooms all have nice pine beds, private bath and balcony areas with lake views. Also has a rooftop Jacuzzi and Internet café. Book ahead at weekends.
Our Take:
Weary and eager to drop off our bags, we assumed upon arrival that we found a bargain. We believed the guidebook's promise of hot water and booked one of the last remaining rooms.
The place looked pretty from the outside. Inside, our room felt sterile and institutional rather than simply "clean." It reminded us of a hospital room. The place still smelled of aerosol from the bubbly white flowers spray-painted on the walls.
The clerk charged us for Internet and refused to sell us coffee from an urn sitting in the middle of the lobby. The "Jacuzzi" -- an empty cement pit on the roof filled with leaves.
Sleeping near the bars and restaurants surrounding the main port presented a challenge. We lay awake, listening to the bohemians' celebratory drumbeats and the ruckus of the alcoholics loitering near the dock. In the morning, sleep-deprived and surly about our ill-advised choice, the water remained fiercely cold between lukewarm bursts.
Worse, we paid Q50 each (about $7). We discovered cheaper places dotted throughout the town when we explored the next day. These hostels, tucked behind charming gardens and atop the hills, cost about Q20 per person. Most had actual hot water, a clean but still cozy feel, with porches facing the lake.
Claire Duffett lives in New York City and recently completed a 10-day trip from Guatemala City to Antigua, Lake Atitalan, Tikal, and the cayes of Belize.
Not a bad way to escape this downright dreary North East April weather, huh? Claire will be sharing her field trip experience with us over the next week. Enjoy.
Fernando's Kaffee does Guatemalan breakfast best. The perfectionist owner has mastered each facet of desayuno tipico, from the warm, doughy tortillas to the soft, fried plantains and the exquisite coffee, made onsite and sold to Ferndando's followers in air-sealed bags.
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by pbb
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