Caribbean Sea 2002 (coming soon) and Central America 2004
In the last two years I visited a lot of small countries around the Caribbean Sea. On this page I'd like to give you my impressions of them.

Central America 2004
After a flight from Germany, with a brilliant clear-weather view when we flew over New York, our plane landed on Bob Marley's Island Jamaica. We started our Carribean trip hours later when we boarded the cruise liner AIDA at Montego Bay. Our first port of call was San Miguel, a harbour on
the Mexican Isla Cozumel.

It was the first touch back to a relaxed life, endless beaches, palm trees, sunny weather and mysterious animal sounds coming out of the tropical rainforest. After one day we left Mexico for Belize, formerly known as British Honduras.

The ship anchored outside the harbour of Belize city. With a speedboat, I travelled one hour into the second largest reef of the world to a place called Shark Ray Alley. In the middle of the sea you can dive with hundreds of Sting Rays and harmless Sharks. The unbelievable thing is that you can
touch and hold these big animals. It's a strange feeling, some of them are bigger than me. Another crazy thing was that a billionaire from Kentucky built a golf-course in that area. Big ships brought tonnes of sand from the USA to fulfil the dream of that crazy guy.

The next day we arrived in Puerto Cortez, Honduras - beautiful sleepy village with long beaches. We took the chance for some swimming and walking around this republic. A tip for women, reading this page, shoe-shopping is very cheap here. The country was devastated by Hurricane Mitch in 1998,
which killed about 5,600 people and caused almost $1 billion in damage. At some places you still see that disaster.

From there, our ship went to George Town on Grand Cayman, a island group in the Caribbean Sea, nearly one-half of the way from Cuba to Honduras The Cayman Islands were colonised from Jamaica by the British during the 18th and 19th centuries. Administered by Jamaica since 1863, it remained a
British dependency after 1962 when the former became independent.
Beautiful, but very expensive. Nearly every big bank has an office in this tax paradise.

After a sunny day, the ship brought us back to Montego Bay, Jamaica, where we watched a local game after some swimming in the clear blue water. The reggae boys are crazy for football.

After one and a half day of heavy seas, our second week started in Puerto Limon, Costa Rica. Costa Rica is a Central American success story: since the late 19th century, only two brief periods of violence have marred its democratic development. Although still a largely agricultural country, it has expanded its economy to include strong technology and tourism sectors. The standard of living is relatively high. We walked around the small town and took a bike tour into the rainforest. Everywhere big vultures flying around and I was happy not to have an accident. I destroyed their hopes of some German meat.

The next day we arrived in Cristobal, Panama. We used our time for a trip to the Canal. The entire Panama Canal, the area supporting the Canal, and remaining US military bases were turned over to Panama on 31 December 1999. It was impressive to watch the big ships travelling through the Canal.
Sometimes they have less than a metre either side of them when they sail through.
But we did not go into the closest big town: Colon, too dangerous for strangers, they told us. However, another highlight was that the Queen Mary 2 was in the harbour with us.
Over night, after we left Panama, our ship went to Colombia. Welcome to one of the most beautiful colonial cities in America: Cartagena de Indias.

Cartagena, "Pearl of the Caribbean", has long been a city of legendary fame. It was here that the incredible riches of the New World were shipped to Europe. Pirates and raiders like Sir Francis Drake and Henry Morgan had attacked the city countless times. The Spanish built beautiful mansions and
palaces here, and guarded the city with massive ramparts and fortresses.
The city was among the earliest to rise up against the Spaniards in the South American struggle for freedom, and Simon Bolivar began one of his campaigns here. Now, the historic centre of Cartagena is protected by UNESCO as World Heritage. A must to see.

Back on the sea, two days later we'd reached Ochos Rios on Jamaica. With its wonderful beaches and high waterfalls, this town is one of the best parts of the island. We spent our last relaxing hours, saw a beautiful sunset, and on the next day we left the island.
We returned to Montego Bay, and then left the Carribean by plane, back to cold, good old Germany.
One day, if you find the time and... of course the money, you have to travel to Central America, not only because of the beautiful beaches and the emerald green water. The people there are wonderful and very friendly. They show you that you are more than welcome, and I am sure to go back one day.
The world is so beautiful, why can't we live in peace all together? 

© by andre@ak-tsc.de

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