The Wanderings of busman7

Having done a couple AI vacations to The Bahamas & Cuba I had already figured out that there was a big world out there that we in North America really knew little about & that was basically what CNN wanted us to know.

Well this winters little trip proved that in spades. Firstly while an AI trip to the Caribbean gives you a taste of what some thing different & a chance to meet tourists from other countries people tend to be more interested in sun, sand & booze, not necessarily in that order. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Mexico or one of the islands you go to  it’s all pretty much the same. Now of course if you visit the travel forums like Trip Adviser that cater to the package tourist you wouldn’t think that as nearly every on has their favorite destination it can get pretty ridiculous & heated at times on which is the best “Fantasy Island”. All you have to do is read some of the complaints to see my point: 20 most ridiculous complaints by travelers.

That’s the reason I cancelled my account with trip adviser & stick to the independent traveler boards like bootsnall.com & seat61.com both independently owned & operated.

Traveling the backpacker hostel route has given me access to many experienced world travelers with insight into the next town or countries on your trip also places to put on your bucket list & without exception Thailand came up. Also on the day after Xmas had a few cerveza’s with a chap from Boston who mentioned one of the problems with travel being that our governments are feeding us such a load of crap about how unsafe countries

 are’ especialy in Central America that when you go home with the truth no one believes you.

Now most have heard the quote (can’t remember the author) “statistics don’t lie but liars use statistics”. Now my two favorite Central American countries, Guatemala & El Salvador are rated number 1 & 2 as most unsafe but most incidents are drug gang related & don’t involve tourists. Case in point on the TA Cuba forum one of the know it all (in his own mind) posters in a snit posted some statistics on crime in Guatemala against Americans, I then challenged him to post like statistics from Ontario which he ignored. On the list was the death of an American but as the CIA is one of the biggest drug dealers in the world chances are it was related, also a few thefts from parked cars, like hello that doesn’t happen in America. The thing that stood out was NO home invasions which happen all the time in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). Bottom line I feel just as safe here in Guatemala as back in Canada.

While traveling you also come across some interesting reading material like when I was in Vinales Cuba on my way to Santa Clara to see the memorial to Che Guevara I came across a book titled “the CIA against Che” which tells the true story of how the CIA with the help of 4800 men, the use of a Nazi war criminal, torture & illegal wire taps & mail openings in  Bolivia finally managed to capture Che & what was left of his 50 men, then with White House approval ordered his murder, thus making him a martyr & revolutionary hero. It also explains that he was basically forced into exile from Cuba by Fidel who was afraid of his popularity.

The documented facts in this book have been backed up by US ex-pats I have met here in Antigua including a Vietnam vet who was given CIA training before becoming disillusioned by the whole US propaganda machine. When one has a few facts it’s easy to see why Fidel labels the US “The Evil Empire”

Seems ex-pats on the whole are the most & informed people around & you meet them all in Plaza Mayor (Central Park) where they congregate every morning & you can find out anything, if not immediately there will be an answer tomorrow. Heck even found the explanation on why there are no candidates worth voting for in elections from an ex-pat at Spanish school. Want to pass on a website to look at & judge it as you may: www.infowars.com

Also anyone interested in how Easter (Semana Santa) is celebrated in Antigua: http://www.aroundantigua.com/culture/easter.htm  also click on the left side for history etc. of Antigua, note the hotels, restaurants etc listed are only a very few of the total.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 6th, 2009 at 11:11 and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.