Havana, Cuba made a huge impression on us. First of all, I was not expecting to see such a grandiose, large, bustling city. And everywhere you go you are surrounded by the victory of the revolution. So what better place to see it for yourself than at the museum that tells the full story.

Revolution Museum

Cretins and Horrible Guys of Cuba

Guarding the Famous Granma Yacht that Brought Fidel and Che from Mexico to Cuba

 Granma Yacht

Equipment Used for the Cuban Revolution

I love to find new hotels in Antigua! One of the biggest surprises, I’ve found is that from the outside most of the hotels and restaurants are not at all what they seem!

This is exactly the experience we had with Casa Del Parque. When we first entered, the front desk girl greeted us with friendly smiles and took us on a tour.

Normally, the hotels are centered around a tiny courtyard. This hotel had two and they were huge.

Plus, in the back they have a large pool with amazing volcano views.

We entered the dining room for breakfast and continued to enjoy the views.

The most fun we had, though, was during breakfast. The two ladies that home cook the meal in front of you and serve you are typical and true Guatemalan women with big smiles and even bigger hearts.

The breakfast was also typical Guatemalan style with delicious Tacitos (small tacos with meat) that were a huge hit with my overly picky eating kids!

The rooms are spacious and some offer really great views of the volcano!

Thank you for a great breakfast and a chance to visit your hotel.

La Bocona Hotel in Granada, Nicaragua is one of the most unique and grandest hotels we stayed at while traveling in Central America.

My husband and son are climbing junkies. Every weekend they head over to Lake Amatitlan. I’m not into rock climbing, but my hubby said I should join him in the area since it’s so gorgeous and he recommended I visit a popular spa right next to the rock.

Kawilal Spa is nationally known for the best thermal baths heated from Pacaya Volcano and their amazing treatments. After reading all about them on the web – I knew I had to check it out!

I had no idea what I was in for. Upon arrival, I couldn’t believe how enormous and absolutely gorgeous this place was. I’ve been to tons of spas in Guatemala. All are usually small one or two room places calling themselves full service spas. Granted, Kawilal is known for it’s thermal baths, I was still impressed of it’s enormity.

Joseline greeted me at the door and gave me a tour of this place.  There are many sections of the spa that you can visit. Some are very well priced and kids of all ages are permitted to join in the fun. The best for the families are two zones that are sets of pools ranging in temperatures.

Then there is the circuit thermal spa package. This is the one I did. Here’s what it’s all about:

There are four pools ranging from super hot to quite cold. The first round is ten minutes in each pool starting in the super hot one, jumping to the cold one, hot and then finishing off with a warm one. Then you go for round two which is five minutes in each one. This is supposed to help with circulation, De-stressing, tightening the pores on your skin and over all goodness. Kids are not permitted.

The cold water was really cold for me and I couldn’t wait to get to the second part of this package – the Massage!

The massage rooms are located in the main building where you can choose the oils that you would like to use for different properties they offer. You can even have the mixture of two or all.

The massage is 25 minutes long. After you are nice and kneaded, you can head over to the steam rooms. There are over 20 private steam rooms with a private sitting room that are just glorious!

But for me, the best part after the massage was lunch. I couldn’t believe the variety of food offered and on top of it, how delicious the cooking was.

What impressed me most, aside from all the amenities and delicious food was the service. In this day and age, I feel that most places have lost that special something when it comes to giving service. They are usually fake about it or simply can’t be bothered. The staff here literally go above and beyond and you can really feel that their friendliness is genuine!

Thank you Joseline for a super afternoon at the spa!

Hi Marina

Back in the USA after a fantastic trip to Costa Rica. Thanks so much for all of your help. All of the connections were timely and the tours worked out perfectly. We felt like we has included just the right amount of adventure and ended on a nice relaxing note at the beach.

Some feedback:

Monteverde – was truly beautiful and the most wild of the areas! We liked that it wasn’t as developed. Our cabin was roomy with plenty of space to spread out. We probably could have used one more day to explore Monteverde, but were glad we went. Only complaint was the that the cabin had really poor dim lighting. Other than that perfect! The Skytrek people were great! We loved the zipline. I also heard great things about Selvatura while we were there. Went to the frog pond and it was fun, just wish we would have had time for a night tour but the times were changed and left too early.

Arenal – lovely grounds at the Los Lagos spa/resort. We used the pools and loved walking through their gardens. The room worked well although it was a bit snug with three large teens. I didn’t realize that the beds for the kids were trundles, so when pulled out, we had no walking space. Everyone very friendly and laid back at the resort. Restaurant had good food and we had many good meals in La Fortuna. The highlight (although it rained all day!!) was the rappelling and and white water rafting day. Desafio was great and our tour guide was awesome. I would not recommend the Liquid Lava hike. It was a big disappointment for us as Desafio told us that lava had not been flowing for over a year. The Springs resort was nice and the buffet dinner was good (not great). If we had to do that day over again we would have gone to Tabecon where the springs were not pools but right in nature like a river. LOVED the horseback riding with Alberto’s Horses. Beautiful ride and the kids swam near the waterfall at LaFortuna.

Manuel Antonio – wow, the Buena Vista was BEAUTIFUL!! Much nicer than what I expected. The unit was perfect. We loved walking to the beach and used the boogie boards and the kayaks to take to a small reef where we saw beautiful fish. So glad that we didn’t book a sunset cruise/snorkeling trip as the boats came to our cove where we had free access to kayaks and could see the sunset on our own. Juan was a great tour guide. We had two lunches with him and enjoyed learning about his life. It was great to have him drive us back to the airport too, as he was our only driver who spoke English so it was more of a tour rather than just a drive. Our drivers from San Juan to Monteverde and from Arenal to MA were super nice, but neither spoke a word of English, so we just did our best to communicate. (the kids helped interpret too!)

Thanks again for all of your help! We truly had a wonderful time!!!

Susan Aaron, USA

Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the national language. Which is great for travelers, but for us took us for a little bit of a spin when making reservations because I kept on wanting to talk to them in Spanish!

Planning your Belize Trip:

1. Find out the best areas to visit – Belize is small but has so much to offer. The top locations I found that are must visits:

• San Ignacio Rain forest and Jungle area
• Hopkins Village
• Placencia Peninsula
• Caye Caulker
• Ambergris Caye

2. Buy your tickets – I found that because we were flying during off season the tickets were a bit cheaper

3. Hotels – for me this is the best part of planning our travels. There are soooo many amazing hotels in Belize that it was way too hard to nail down the ones I liked most. But, again, being the off season, we had the best choices for each place.

4. Tours – There are tons of tours you can go on when visiting Belize. After tons and tons of research we decided to stick to water fun, biking and golf cart rentals.

5. Rent, Fly, Boat or All – When you stay on the mainland of Belize, we decided that driving is the best way to get around. It’s super expensive to do private transfers and the buses, as safe as they are, take almost double the amount of time, which is precious to us.

Guatemala is most known for it’s Markets! As a matter of fact, the largest artisan market in all of Central America, Chichicastenango, is located in Guatemala. Aside from the colorful Mayan traditional fabrics and crafts, you can find some of the best Jade in the world here as well.

Ancient Mayan Jade Mask

Little Boy Working With His Mom at the Central Market

Antigua’s Market Day

Shopping at an Indoor Craft Market Traditional

Guatemalan Girls Playing While Working

Typical Guatemalan Paintings

More Typical Guatemalan Art and Paintings

Typical Guatemalan Handmade Masks

Guatemala Hand Crafts Central Market

Antigua is famous for it’s hidden finds. Either a great restaurant that is tucked in some corner or a hotel that looks tiny and opens up into a huge place with a courtyard.

We just happened to ‘happen upon’ a restaurant with all these elements and more:

• It’s tucked away on a cobble-stoned
• It looks like a quaint, but tiny cafe – until you walk inside and it has a large courtyard with a fountain
• The restaurant is designed like a street cafe in Paris
• The menu is one of the most creative I’ve seen in all of Antigua. Reason being – it’s done up by a husband and wife team that are both professional chefs!

The place is Cafe de la Rua! And is definitely worth a meal!

When I visit a restaurant, I always love to hear what are the specials of the place. Victor Ruano, the owner, recommended two eggplant appetizers that I have NEVER heard of before and couldn’t wait to try.

Eggplant Carpaccio – an awesome creation!

Eggplant with caramelized onions and mozzarella cheese

After these tasty appetizers – we checked out the main meals which are mainly nacho dishes and sandwiches. The Sandwiches had the most appeal by far due to the special sauces!

Baguette with chicken and special coffee sauce

Phyllie Steak Ciabbatta

We had such a great time and can’t wait to go back – thank you!!!

Granada’s Islets are one of the most popular tours to take. It’s 365 tiny islands that were formed when the nearby volcano erupted over 20,000 years ago. Each island is distinct, with most having homes on it – and for sale.

Isletas Tour in Granada

Chaotic Docks

Our Boat

The Archipelago

My Family

Anticipation is rapidly growing in London as we prepare to play host not only to the world’s most important sporting event, but also to the visitors from every continent who will join us to celebrate the Olympics. The Games will provide visitors with the chance to see London as they have never seen it before; we will be in the midst of a fortnight-long, city-wide celebration. What better time could there possibly be to visit the city?
However, if you are travelling to London from Central or South America, you couldn’t be blamed for feeling a little daunted by the prospect. To help you make the most of London during the Olympics, here is a little bit of insider’s knowledge to help you get the best out of your stay.

Discover East London.

The Olympic Park is located in Stratford in East London, giving you the perfect excuse to explore this colourful and historic area. A good starting point is Spitalfields Market, which makes for a perfect morning excursion. The oldest market in London, it boasts a glorious glass ceiling and is full of stalls spilling with kitsch homemade goods andvintage delights. When you’ve worked up an appetite browsing the stalls, the myriad cafes and restaurants are sure to satiate the appetite of even the most discerning foodie. A favourite for ‘good old fish and chips’ is Poppies, which has a fun 50’s vibe complete with a jukebox. Venturing further east still, you can explore Brick Lane and its vibrant Bengali culture.

Get involved in the Olympic festivities (even without tickets).

Even if you haven’t managed to obtain tickets for any Olympic events, don’t feel that you will be missing out. Instead head to one of London’s loveliest open spaces including Victoria Park, Hyde Park, Potters Fields and Trafalgar Square, where live Olympic screenings will be taking place. The atmosphere is sure to be electric, so take along a picnic and soak up the sun whilst watching the action. If you are looking to get a good dose of culture as well as sports, then the ‘River of Music’ won’t disappoint. It is an entire weekend of free music preceding the Opening Ceremony, with events at popular landmarks along the River Thames, including Trafalgar Square and the Tower of London. Major stars and home-grown talents will be performing, home with all Olympic and Paralympic nations being represented.

Know where to stay.

The Olympic period is a difficult one in terms of accommodation; with millions of visitors to the capital hotel rooms are hard to get hold of. With vacation rentals from onefinestay you can stay in a distinctive private home whilst the owner is out of town; as you have the entire home at your disposal onefinestay a great choice for families, and can offer better value than hotel rooms.

Also check local hostels, such as the YHA who may have accommodation available in time for the games, which may leave you some extra money for entertainment and other travelling expenses.