Caitlin’s story:

We had set off in my mums work car. It wasn’t that flashy, just right for a group of five: Me, Deanna, Rosie, Doggy and Mum. It took us a while to get there because the traffic was so bad. It said to follow a black dot, so we did. And it led us to where we didn’t want to go. So instead, we just used our instincts. Anyway; we got there in the end. When we arrived, there were a few parking lots. We went to one just nearby us and parked.

When we got out, we decided to walk around. We had seen the castle on the way and were ideally going to go there first. But then we saw Canterbury Cathedral, and decided to go there. Me, mum and dad went to Canterbury a long time ago. I could hardly remember the Cathedral, except for the gift shop which sold kaleidoscopes. But that’s all.
So we went into the Cathedral. They had Family tickets: Two adults and three children cost about 19 pounds, An adult and three children cost 15 pounds. They also had student tickets and senior tickets, but no children tickets [which we found to be quite a pain at the time.] After paying, we went in. We decided to visit the cript first, because it was shutting in about 15 minutes. The time then was about 2:00 or something, I can’t exactly remember when. So we decided to walk around.

It was a nice Cathedral, very big and it had carvings in several places. But the Stain Glass windows were really something. Blue, red, green…The windows were very nice. Once we even saw the sun shining through one.
After viewing the cript, we came outside and viewed some praying areas. We had to be very quiet while we walked through here. Me and Deanna both took pictures of statues.

We then left the Cathedral, after wandering around for about an hour or so. We decided to view the gift shop, and see what it was still like. The prices were ASTONISHING. Nearly everything was overpriced. Some little toy doll was nearly 4 pounds. A ruler; two pounds. A chess set cost 69 or something pounds. Me and Deanna only had 2 pounds to spend, and being wise, we definitely didn’t spend it there. Unfortunately, they didn’t sell kaleidoscopes anymore. We left shortly after.

After that, Deanna kept insisting that there was a Build-A-Bear-Workshop because of all the bags that had the logo on that people were carrying. I kept saying that there wasn’t. We ended up having an argument about it. We were then dragged into a Coffee shop to get some lunch.
At the Costa Coffee shop, we all had some lunch. Me and Deanna had a chicken and bacon sandwhich, except mine was toasted. Rosie had a meatball sandwich. Doggy and mum also had something, but I cant remember exactly what it was. Deanna had some water, but it was sparkling. Deanna hates sparkling water, and so she didn’t drink much of it.

After that we went down the street. There was a man who could make balls come out of his mouth. We tipped him. We went into some clothing shops, then Deanna complained that she felt sick and dizzy. So I was sent outside to look after her while all the adults went into the shop.
Me and Deanna saw a puppet shop, and asked Doggy if he could take us in it. He said he would, and so we all went in. There was this dice there that was called the mums dice, and on all the sides it said things like: Cook, clean, have a cup of tea, have a relaxing bath, and things. I wanted to buy it, but I didn’t have enough. Instead, me and Deanna brought two rubber chickens that when squeezed, would make some goo come out of its butt. Deanna also brought a paper whacker and annoyed us all by wacking it near our ears.
We then stopped by another coffee shop and had some snacks. It was at that time that Deanna’s rubber chicken broke. The goo splattered everywhere. Deanna then put it in her pocket and let the rubber chicken dry.

It was then getting late. We decided to head back and try and find a place to eat. We were walking down the path and when we arrived at the car park, we turned around to find out that Doggy wasn’t behind us. In desperation, we ran to the tunnels in which we came from, and looked around for him. I spotted him, and pointed him out to the others. But by the time they turned around, Doggy had disappeared again. Rosie tried calling him, but his phone was switched off. We decided to wait for him, and in the end we saw him again. We then went to the car in peace; checking every few seconds that everybody was together.
Rosie said that earlier she had spotted a nice looking carvery near the edge of town, and so, following her directions, she led us there. Me and Deanna were starving and we decided to play Eye Spy to pass the time away. When we arrived; we all ordered a Carvery. It was very delicious, and I nearly finished all of it. Then me and Deanna both ordered Ice Cream Sundays. Then with full and round bellies, we travelled home.
And that’s my day, in a Nutshell!

PS: We never solved the mystery of BABW [Build-A-Bear-Workshop]. We couldn’t see the shop anywhere, though, so I guess I won the argument.
PPS: The best parts of the day were doggy spotting and the Cathedral.
Fin.

Deanna’s story:

This is Canterbury cathedral.

The cathedral is a holy place. The cathedral is alive with history. The friends of the cathedral are fans. The friends are a group of people who look after the cathedral.

Caitlin, Helen, Doggy, Rosie and I took lots of photos of flags ,a dragon, glass windows, a ship, an eagle , a Roman and the cathedral itself.

I thought that the glass windows looked really fantastic.

After we went to the puppet store and I brought a paper whacker. I and my cousin brought a rubber chicken each.
We then went to the Costa coffee shop and Rosie had spicy meatball Panini. Helen had a chamomile tea while Doggy had an espresso. Caitlin and me had chicken and a bacon sandwich but Caitlin had hers toasted .

I loved it.

For more information about visiting Canterbury click here
For more information about Canterbury Cathedral click here

I took a TransNica $28 bus to cross the border into Costa Rica today. Most of the paperwork was done by the bus conductor: he collected our passports and returned with visas in hand a while later. We proceeded to customs down the road but they did not require inspection of luggage as we saw them doing to other busloads of people.
I got to Liberia at 6 PM.

Tried hotel from Lonely Planet–no rooms. My other choice was no longer in business so the taxista took me to Hotel Liberia–$12 for a private room, the room has bunks and a double bed, right across from front desk so may be loud but is old and clean.
Nice and cool here after people told me it would be hot in Liberia.

I am already freaking at the prices compared to wonderfully cheap Nicaragua–calzone and beer with 10% tip included was $11 USD!! Beer is $2.40. We never paid a dime over a dollar a beer in Nicaragua.

To read more about Regina’s travels visit www.mytripjournal.com/reginaodyssey

It was raining in Manchester. It was raining everywhere in the UK according to the radio.
It had been raining for almost the whole six weeks we had been back in the UK. Did we care? Not then we didn’t, we were sitting in the airport, watching planes take-off in clouds of spray. Waiting to catch a flight to Bulgaria, where it was rumoured that people were dying of heatstroke. People were drowning in the UK, swept away by floods. We decided to accept the risk of heat-stroke.
The plane was full, full of farting holiday-makers and screaming kids, but a bottle of Boris Jelzin vodka helped us get to Burgas airport. The same bottle helped us onto a green bus that took us through the dark to the Globus Hotel at Sunny Beach. The Globus overlooks the beach, if you get a room on the right side. Our room faces the car park and a pleasant little square lined with restaurants, a hair salon and a travel agents.
We eventually suss that the air-con doesn’t work while the balcony door is open and the room starts to cool. This is the first time for weeks that we’ve been too warm. Nice.

Sunny Beach – July 2007

What a sleep. It’s early afternoon by the time we get out of the room. We’re hungry, so we walk, looking for somewhere to eat. There’s plenty of choice and plenty of places offering five or six hours of Happy Hour.
We get ‘breakfast’ in a place called The Corner. It looks more of a nighttime cafe than a place to get breakfast. The girls wear outfits that look like costumes from a Flintstones movie and the roof in part of the cafe is held up by statues of topless ladies. What the hell, they serve food. Herself orders a salad and I make the mistake of ordering a toasted sandwich of cheese and salami. A couple of beers and a small confusion over the bill later and we’re back on the street looking for a supermarket. There’s no shortage of estate agents and we glance through the photos in the window but most of the adverts are for apartments in the town. We find a shop and buy water and something to add to the remaining vodka.
Even though there’s plenty of people on the beach, the streets are not crowded and there’s a very relaxed feel to the town. We wander for a while but it’s very warm and I should have worn my hat to protect my baldie head, so we retreat back to the hotel for an exiting night in front of the tv.

We spent the first two nights in Tsarichino, the nearest village to Balchik about 3k along the road to Kavarna, at Andy and Rita Hursts property (see Trusthydrania) and if they had had an internet connection in their upstairs apartment we would have stayed a little longer. Unfortunately it was a Sunday when we decided to move, as Kelvin was getting net withdrawals and although Andy was on the phone trying to get the bits to connect us it didn’t look likely to happen until Monday. Their home was a useful location for us though as one of the properties we wanted to view was in the adjoining village Briastovo.

As you would expect for November, most of the hotels by the port were almost empty and willing to negotiate their rates for the rooms.
One hotel that we inquired at in the summer (see Victoria hotel) charged 75 lev a night but at this time of year was willing to drop to 40 lev and offered us a further reduction of 10 lev a night if we were staying for more than a week.
This included breakfast, satellite tv, fridge and net connection although, like most of the smaller hotels we have stayed in around the world, when it actually comes to it the net connection never seems to work. This for us is a problem as most of our work is on the internet and every time it happens we vow that we will not book a room unless we try out our laptops in it first. Needless to say we have never actually done this yet.

There appeared to be a lack of internet cafes around the port area although the Lonely planet states that there is one near the Town hall (maybe it’s a virtual cafe) but we did find one internet gaming hall near the supermarket in town where the owners were most accommodating.

As you would expect of a small fishing port, there isn’t a lot to do in Balchik in the winter months, apart from eat, relax with the locals and take in the sea air – oh – and catch up on your blogging when you get a connection!

How could I forget the sights we saw on the way to the main plaza and cathedral?
There are vendors everywhere. They are usually women called cholitas in native dress which consists of a shiny fringed shawl over a skirt with many meters of fabric and many pleats. The best part of their traje is the bowler hat perched on the head.
I’ve been observing the long braids under the hat and marvel at how they balance the hat on top of the head. They tell me they’ve had a lot of practice since girlhood and always manage to keep them on.

We walked through Mercada de Las Brujas where all sorts of roots, leaves, potions, crystals, and charms are sold in addition to llama fetuses which are in all the Mercado de Las Brujas stands. You buy them to bury under the cornerstone of your new house for goodwill and good omens. They are dried up and about the size of a skinny dog. I toyed with buying one as a gift for some new homeowner in Ajijic but I think I’ll just continue to give statues of St. Joseph to help friends sell their homes.

Enough already of the local color, now what about llama meat? That we ate llama steaks last night is TRUE! There are llama medallions, llama in mustard sauce, etc.

I plan to continue my exotic menu choices when I see guinea pig (complete with their little feet on the platter) offered in Peru.

To read more of Reginas travels click here

If you love Oriental food make your way to Oriental city, 399 Edgeware Road, Colindale, north-west London where you’ll find a small shopping mall with a large food hall and Oriental supermarket.
This relatively unknown gem is home to a variety of independent shops where you can purchase every thing from beautifully carved furniture and Chinese pottery to Hello Kitty accessories.

Unfortunately a few of the shops are empty now as the local council are threatening the centre with closure to make way for – wait for it – another DIY centre!
Still, it’s well worth a visit just to sample the amazing food in the dinning hall, which for me, conjured up memories of a Bangkok kitchen we used to eat in several years ago while travelling through Asia.

Once you’ve decided which of the stalls in the food hall that you want to order from you are given a number. When your food is ready the number is displayed at the chosen stall.

It’s a large hall with communal seating surrounded by food stalls serving up meals and snacks from all over the far east – Korean, Malaysian, Japanese and Vietnamese to name but a few – and although a lot more expensive than you would find in Asia for London it was all very reasonably priced with meals from as little as £3.50.
There is also an incredible selection of drinks and non-alcoholic cocktails and if you fancy something a little more intimate or have embarrassing eating habits you could opt for one of the restaurants on the top floor.

After you’ve sampled some of the delights that are on offer you can make your way to the supermarket next door and buy the ingredients to make your own dishes at home or, if you’re not over confident at juggling woks, you could just get take out from one of the stalls.
By the check out tills of the supermarket you will also find a sushi bar complete with high stools and conveyor belt sushi.

The opening times for Oriental City are from 10.00 – 22.00 hrs seven days a week. It’s a great way to spend an afternoon and is easy to get to by tube on the Northern Line heading to Edgeware. Get out at Colindale Station and it’s a short 10 minute walk from there, you can also take a number 32, 142, 292 or 303 bus.

However you decide to travel it’s well worth the effort but hurry or you might find yourself wandering around another B&Q looking at tables rather than eating at them!

You can’t get close to the ferry pier in Playa del Carmen without being hassled by ticket sellers. The first to approach us used the ‘conversational’ method, big mistake, we were looking to buy tickets for a ferry, not a tour. We moved on before he finished, the ferry was leaving soon and so we gave our money to another seller. The tickets are a fixed price and the same for both companies, the timetables are the same also. Long live the competitive spirit.
The trip to Cozumel was all a ferry trip should be, uninteresting and uneventful. So both boats arrived at the same time and we all poured off and along the jetty and into the town. Herself and I walked one block inland and turned left. stopped at the ATM to fill our pockets and walked a few more yards to Rentadora Isis and hired a convertible VW Bug for the day, or was it a semi-convertible, there was a cover over the two front seats.
Finding our way out of town was easy using the map and instructions provided by the hire shop. Turn left at the second junction and left again at the next. Soon we were threading our way through the pedestrians from the ferries and cruise ships that visit the island. In no time we were out off town and driving in very light traffic on the west coast road. We passed two cruise ships moored at the south end of the town but there was not much else to see until we stopped at the Money Bar at Dzul-Ha.
The Money Bar is just a few tables and chairs under parasols at the side of the road just above the beach. Herself waited for the breakfasts to arrive while I donned mask, fins and snorkel, not forgetting shorts, and flapped off to look for a fish and a reef. I never found the reef but did see lots of fish of many colours. The ground was rock with boulders strewn across it and the fish, as fish do, congregated at the rocks. At one point I thought I was looking at a brain coral but realised it was a dense shoal of mustard-coloured fish. There was a party of about ten novice snorkellers in the water at the same time and I followed them, presuming that their guide knew the location of the good spots. I got back to the beach just after breakfast arrived on the table. A very satisfying few minutes in the water. Another party of novices were entering the water just as we drove off on our journey south.
The old road runs alongside the new road on this section of the coast and somehow we found ourselves on the old road. Most other vehicles were on the old road too, I don’t know why as there were many potholes.
At the southern tip of the island we came to a collection of buildings painted in Rasta colours were we had a drink, though we didn’t see any Rastas. After paying our US$10 entrance fee we drove into the National Park at Punta Sur. We parked beside an old building that we were told was a Mayan lighthouse. I presume that the dune blocking the view of the sea formed after the Mayans abandoned the lighthouse. Nearby was an observation tower occupied by half-a-dozen vultures who flew away as we climbed the steps. There were a few crocodiles lazing in the water below it, probably waiting to be fed by the wardens. A ‘crocodile’ of green ATVs stopped by the lighthouse and we stayed to listen to their guides explanation of the structure.
We moved further into the park and parked beside a more modern lighthouse. This was the nautical museum and there were displays of a maritime nature from Mayan to modern times, including the pirates, of course. Our entrance fee included a a ride in the back of a 4wd truck from the museum to what was probably the nicest beach we had seen in the whole of our journey in central america, possibly because it was the most deserted. After spending a couple of hours lounging in hammocks, snorkelling and exploring along the beach we caught the truck back to the museum and then headed on around the island.
The sea state changes dramatically at Punta Sur, the calm waters of the west coast replaced by the surf of the east coast. We managed to drive a flying pelican for hundred yards or more and made an attempt to video it, it was only fifteen to twenty feet away, but soon it swung away down the beach and away from the road.
We came across an American couple who had managed to get their hired 4wd jeep lodged on top of a rock and stopped to render assistance. It was one of the ‘crippled’ jeeps with the 4wd disconnected. With the help of some locals transporting a motorbike in a truck and some others they called from fishing on the beach we managed to get the jeep back on the tarmac.
Drove north as far as possible without an off-road vehicle and turned west towards the town. There are some Mayan ruins north of this road but the gates were being locked for the day as we arrived, so we fueled the Bug and returned it, unharmed, to Rentadora Isis.
A great day out on Cozumel.

Hot Coffee

We manage to fall out of bed at a reasonable time, it’s still morning, and get down for breakfast in the hotel. Then it’s back up to the room for a cuppa.We head down to the beach to marvel at the acres of browning and burning flesh and drink an espresso. One of our first impressions of Bulgaria is that a decent espresso is easy to find, and we are confirmed espresso addicts. A cup of hot espresso, try finding that in the UK.

Vodka

I looked at the shelves in the corner of the shop. There were a lot of brands of vodka. Which to choose. Lots of them were cheap, or at least a lot cheaper than the imports, and if it’s to be mixed with orange juice does the quality really matter? So I chose the one with the dope leaf logo. It wasn’t the cheapest, it wasn’t the dearest, I didn’t really look at the prices and I didn’t really look at the full display. I saw the one with the leaf and the choice was made. Slightly over 3 quid. Sold.
Back at the hotel I noticed that the name of the brand was The Spirit of Mary Jane Vodka. Ahh, that explains the leaf then.

Bathroom Service

Call me an old fuddy-duddy stick-in-the-mud, but what’s a telephone doing in the bathroom? A hotline to reception? Help, I need more toilet paper, can you send someone to scrub my back?
We should be told.

As things slowly return to some kind of normality after Hurricane Dean tore it’s way through Mexico I received an email from an acquaintance I met in Bacalar. We only spent a brief time in each others company but we had quite a lot in common and talked non stop, mainly about our one main love . . . food.
Bob a.k.a ‘the barefoot chef’ is whipping up quite a reputation in the Bacalar region where he resides. He provides meals for hotels in the area catering for the tourist palate, especially those on the South Beach diet.
Luckily Bob and his homestead survived the raging winds and it appears that Casita Carolina, the little hotel next door, where we rented one of the palapa cabanas in the grounds, came off a little better than was first expected.

Bob writes:

Sorry that I have not written sooner. We have been a little busy as you can imagine and the internet service is still limited, which is why I am bundling this Email….
As you probably know by now, everyone surrvived…..That´s the good news. The not good news is that about 1000 families lost their homes ( mostly in the barrios across the hiway )
Caroline´s hotel made it through with only the loss of 3 palapa roofs and the little palapa in Frank´s side was pretty much leveled when a couple of palm trees came down on it….Almost all of the trees on her property were destroyed…..
Things are just now starting to get back to normal. The electric and water came back on a few days ago, cell phones are working again and most of the stores have re opened….The huge clean up continues.
Hats off to the Mexican authorities. They were mobilized within 3 hours of the storm passing.Crews of electric workers and crews with chain saws to open the main streets and roads. Water trucks and helicopters with food arrived shortly after
SPEAKING OF FOOD……….
After a couple of days without electricity my fridge of course started to unthaw and I had to use up the stuff….So a new recipe was born.

BOB´S HURRICANE SOUP

INGREDIENTS:
The contents of 1 slightly thawed fridge
( include meats, veggies, and the unmarked container
that is either stewed tomatoes or maybe spaghetti sauce)

Water

Your choice of whatever herbs, spices and condiments surrvived

METHOD:
Slice, dice, chop or julienne all the stuff
( Be creative with this step )
Place all the stuff in a big pot. Add water to just cover stuff
Add salt, pepper and what ever else that that seems like a good idea.
Simmer untill done.
Adjust seasonings and serve

TO SERVE:
Ladle into bowls, clean plastic yogurt containers or whatever else you can find
Serve to hungry people passing by…

Love ya all,
Be in touch
The Barefoot Chef