Travel and Romance?

Hi there fellow travel fanatics,

Going out on a limb a little here, I want to share with you some reflections on travel and relationships. A short while ago I received a response to one of my earlier entries from somebody asking how my wife and I manage to be working and travelling together so intensively and still maintain a healthy relationship, and whether it was a good idea for a new couple to travel together. I was first kind of surprised and not sure what to write back, but then I realized I actually had some thoughts about the matter to share with her. Also, she had the courage to approach a stranger for advice and I found that to be pretty amazing, so I decided to tell her about some of my personal experiences and ideas. I never expected her reaction to it to be as positive as it turned out to be so I asked her if she would mind me sharing this reply with all of you. She agreed, so here goes.

I realize this is not what you are used to read on this spot, but I hope you will like it anyway. Or not, but that is a risk I am willing to take. In that case I promise to get back on the road ASAP!

Still, in the end this is my blog and it reflects my thoughts on travel, so why not a little bit about life as well? Let me know what you think; maybe we have found some ground for an entirely new set of entries!

Looking forward to your feedback, as ever…

Dear …..

Thanks for your message and also for your trust in my perspective on things. I must say I am a bit overwhelmed by the idea of giving you advice on how to manage your relationship through something like a trip around the world. I will be happy to share with you some of my personal experiences, but would strongly urge you to rely on your own insights, feelings and capability to make your own decisions before acting upon what I tell you.

Relationships are a very funny thing to begin with. They are nothing more and nothing less than the product of two people wanting to be together. In my opinion many people overestimate the power of a relationship and too many people seem to be dependent on their relationships, whereas a relationship is nothing in itself really; it is merely a name, given to a social state of mind because two or more people decide to interact for a certain period of time (which might be for life, of course). What I try to say is that a relationship exists because you and your partner want it to exist. You do not depend on it; it depends on you. That means the power is in your hands, at least partially; as long as you and your partner are convinced you want to move on together, the relationship will continue to exist.

From personal experience I can tell you that a relationship is something that needs constant care. As soon as the first weeks of butterflies etc are over, you will basically have to work on it on a daily basis. Well not on the relationship, but on how you decide you want to relate to your partner and how you wish him to relate to you. Being two existentially different beings form the start, a relationship implies making concessions, to yourself and to your partner. The way in which you both manage this, how much you want to remain “yourself” and how much you allow your partner to be “himself” combined with how much you both are willing to give in to one another on that front, will define the nature of your relationship as well as the durability of it. I have been in the same relationship for over 14 years and we have gone through all kinds of experiences, good and bad, internal and external, and there have been many situations that could have broken us up, bit in the end, we somehow always managed to come out of them stronger. I guess that has much to do with the both of us being convinced we really want to be and remain together and always being open to discuss openly what it is that is bothering us, to communicate about practically everything in order to make sure we maintain the balance between our personalities that keeps us together.

Traveling together (especially for a longer period of time) can lay some serious strain on a relationship, because it is about intense, continuous being together in all kinds of situations that are not common, may require you to learn new skills, adapt to new surroundings and influences, and demands a high level of flexibility on both partners. In 1990/91 I traveled together with a friend for 4 months through Latin America and we split up halfway because we couldn’t stand each other anymore. Still, we met again at the end of the trip, flew back home together and have been good friends ever since. On the other hand, Karin and I travel together all the time and it is actually the thing that binds us most. It is travel that brought us together and while travelling we feel closest to one another.

Now, knowing this, would it be smart for you to go on a journey around the world together, being your age and having been together as ‘shortly’ as you have been. I am close to being married for 10 years, so I feel somewhat like a grandpa here which is something very difficult to comment on. I would say that if there is anything that would show the durability of a relationship it would be travel. Once you get to the point you are thinking about being together for a longer time, a nice long trip might just be what you need to find out if you are really meant for each other. It will force the two of you to get to know each other very well very soon. I would say it is the perfect way to find out about things that in ‘normal everyday life’ would perhaps take much more time to come to the surface and therefore, if it does not work out, it might very well not have worked out in the long run. If it does work out well, you are probably capable to withstand many situations together, which makes it very well possible you are a strong couple. But, having said this, I must admit that to “travel that road” you need to be willing to put things to the test, willing to take the chance that it might not work out and accept that possible outcome. It means you need to be sure of yourself, not depending on your partner, and willing to try out life without fear. For me there is no other way; I find it liberating and extremely comforting to know that my life is about me and that in order for me to be able to give love to my partner I first need to love myself and vice versa.

I think in order to live life to the fullest you should not shy away from the possibility of new experiences, such as a nice long trip. On the other hand, you should not make this trip out of fear of losing your boyfriend; you should make it only if the idea of it appeals to you; if you would make such a trip on your own or with anyone else, because you feel motivated to do so. If not, then don't go.

As you see it is a bit difficult to tell you what to do because it basically all depends on you. I would not make a trip of this nature just because your boyfriend wants to, especially if you do not feel like it. Still, if you want to travel too, but are afraid it might put too much strain on your relationship, then you may want to think about your goal with it. A long-term relationship thrives on knowing, accepting and respecting each other. Travel can be a fine way of getting to know each other better, but it can also end things pretty drastically. In the end it is about you; are you up for that? Do you prefer to know where you stand in your life and with respect to your (future) partner and take some risks while finding out, or do you feel better taking things easy and see how they glide along? None of these approaches is any better than the other.

Please think this over thoroughly and try to figure out what it is YOU want out of this life, this relationship. Once you have that clear, the decision will be a lot easier to make.

Happy trails

Bart

www.cat-travel.com

Cusco Dining – The Top Five Eateries in the Ancient Inca Capital

Well – I thought I’d follow up my last Lima Restaurant entry with a write up about my favourite Cusco Restaurants. Cusco, the capital of the ancient Inca Empire is a Mecca for any tourist traveling to Latin America. The old citadel – surrounded by numerous ruins that stand testament to the ingenuity and everlasting legacy of the Inca – has a number of very fine restaurants on offer. From traditional Andean cuisine to modern Spanish culinary delights, there is a never ending amount of cuisine available for the travelers looking for a good meal in the city. So here they are – my Desert-Island All Time Top Five Cusco eateries in no particular order (except perhaps for the first which is my favourite):

Cicciolina’s
Cicciolina’s is Cusco best known and highest rated restaurant. Both the food and service are excellent. With great views over the crisscrossing street so of Cusco, the restaurant has some fantastic decoration that creates a warm and welcoming ambiance. The menu is made up of mainly Mediterranean dishes, many made with traditional ingredients. The salads are simply delicious and the homemade pastas are superb.

Tikka
A small bistro nestled in a corner of San Blas; it is located directly next door to Boutique Hotel Casa San Blas, a warm dining room atmosphere. The cuisine you’ll find at Tika is unlike anything you have ever tasted, combining Thai and Vietnamese flavors and cooking techniques with traditional Peruvian ingredients. Prepare to be pleasantly surprised with new flavors and combinations. Chill out ambiance music gives a nice rest from the traditional panpipes so commonly hard all over the city.

Jack’s Cafe
Jack’s Café is a great place for vegetarians, as they order huge salads, and a wide variety of cooked dishes made only with vegetables. The restaurant has a special hot chocolate which is very worthwhile. They have a neat ginger tea, which has an interesting taste, and it’s very good to ward off any colds. The menu is extensive—with a variety of sandwiches, salads, soups, and main dishes. The restaurant uses homemade bread to make their sandwiches and this is especially delicious!

Baco
Baco has the best wine selection in town. The restaurant provides a warm, relaxed atmosphere, entirely decorated in wood and iron, where you can enjoy finger foods like their grilled seafood platter, gourmet pizzas or the finest Argentinean beef in red wine and mushroom sauce, all cooked with the restaurant’s own particular fusion style. Also available is a series of grilled veggies platter. Open Monday to Saturday from 6pm to 11pm

Incanto
This restaurant opened in June 2006 and was built within an old Inca palace, magnificently located only a few meters away from the main square. Contemporary and minimalist, Incanto offers over 80 dishes with an Italian influence and often involving the grill, creatively infused with typical Peruvian ingredients. Their aji de gallina ravioli and smoked trout fetuccini are great examples of their accomplishments in fusion cuisine. Also try their entrees and grilled dishes like the Alpaca loin. The glass-encased kitchen and live harp music give Incanto a unique, classic touch among Cusco’s finest restaurants. Open Monday to Sunday from 10.30am to 11pm .

I hope this information helps any travelers heading to Cusco who'd be looking to eat well. As always - please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about traveling in the area.

Bart

www.cat-travel.com

Ten Years in the Latin American Travel Game

Hello again fellow travelers. Recently Class Adventure Travel turned ten years old. It’s quite a monumental moment for us to tell the truth and both Karin and I feel very proud. Over the past ten years we have been working very hard to build up what we hope will one day become the preferred incoming tour operation company in Latin America. The journey so far has been fantastic and while the work has been hard, we have – over the years – traveled to so many extraordinary places, witnessed so many incredible things, and had the privilege to work with such great people that we both feel truly blessed.

It all started a little over 12 years ago when I was traveling through one of Ecuador’s innermost jungles, spending some time living it rough and experiencing the Amazon first hand. It was in the middle of some spectacular jungle trail – somewhere not to far from Misahuallí – (after being bitten by a spider and cured by a cacique!), where the idea first came to me to start a travel company in Latin America. It all centered around two of my deepest wishes; firstly that of turning my greatest hobby (travel, of course) into a professional way of living, and secondly trying to establish possibilities to help build a bridge between Latin America and the rest of the world.

I returned to Holland where Karin and I began working on getting some money together in order to be able to move back to Latin America and get a company started. Many people thought us crazy, the idea of starting a tour company in South America back then was not the type of initiative embraced for its financial viability. Eventually however, we managed to borrow enough money from a few friends and family members and were ready to get started. Against the advice of quite a few people, we both finally agreed that Peru would be the best place to begin. In the beginning of the nineties, Peru had just come out of a bloody civil war. Abimael Guzman, the leader of the notorious Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso), had only been captured a few years before we chose Peru, and while stability had returned to the country, many still feared some form of Maoist revolution would come. These fears however seemed blown out of proportion, and with a phenomenal array of both natural and man-made wonders, a peaceful Peru was a tourist Mecca just waiting to happen.

And so we went to Peru, with little more than a couple of suitcases, a little borrowed money, and a couple of really big dreams. Karin and I opened our first office in Lima in 1997. The first year was incredibly difficult, and I often had to work other jobs in order to support us while Karin kept on working tirelessly on getting and keeping Class Adventure Travel off the ground. We came very close to giving up that first year, but luck was on our side and after one year, more or less, business began to pick up. At the end of that famous first year we had received a grand total of 27 passengers… The work experience was what made all the difference though!

The following year I returned to Holland to work for a few months in order to gain some more capital for the company while Karin continued working in Lima. By the end of our second year we were gaining ground, and while we weren’t making any serious money, we could finally consider the company to be fully self-supportive. It was finally beginning to look as though we were going to succeed and at the end of the second year we had actually received a total of 303 passengers.

After over 4 years of courting, Karin finally decided to marry me in 1998; and when we returned to Peru from the wedding in Holland, things finally began to take off in earnest. We began to hire our first employees, we moved into a bigger office, and in the beginning of 2000 we formally opened our first office in Cusco. In 2003 we organized tours for over 2,000 clients, and it was time to start looking outwards to the rest of Latin America. Not only did Karin and I want to open new offices in other countries, we began thinking about moving to another Latin American country in order to get a new perspective on the continent. The options were many and we ended up traveling through Chile, Argentina, and Brazil looking for the right place to settle down.

It was in Sao Paulo, Brazil, that we opened our next office in 2004. Later that same year, Karin and I moved to Buenos Aires where we set up a regional head quarters for Argentina and Chile. In August that year our first daughter Edie was born – the first proud Argentine-Dutch member of our family. Please note Karin basically went through this entire expansion and emigration phase pregnant (Edie was born 2 months after we had arrived to Argentina)… She is a strong woman and most definitely more than my significant other half; without her this company would not have survived, I am pretty sure of that.

As our family grew – so did our company. We began to form alliances with a number of affiliate travel companies in other Latin American countries – and it wasn’t long before the company was able to offer tours across the continent. Most recently we opened a proper office in Costa Rica– a venture that will give us the opportunity to offer tours in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Panama, and will give our clientele the opportunity of undertaking the very best there is on offer in each of these Central American countries.

Karin and I celebrated the birth of our second daughter Noa earlier this year, increasing the number of family members to 4 (2 Dutch and 2 Argentine!). Noa just turned 2 months old, while Class Adventure Travel turned 10 years old. In retrospect it seems like quite a journey, although in everyday working life one hardly realizes what has had to happen for our little company to become what it is today… After ten years in Latin America, we have seen so many breathtaking places, have learned so much, we’ve grown, we’ve been graced with the presence of two incredibly beautiful daughters, and we’re delighted that we get to continue our adventure through this extraordinary continent together with all the wonderful people in our team.

Oh yes, I almost forgot: as an anniversary special – We have decided to knock 10% off all tours publicized on our website. The offer stands on all tours purchased before the 31^st of December this year – regardless of when you’re actually traveling. It’s a good deal (at least I think so…), and our special way of trying to encourage all of you to travel to Latin America and witness some of the many beautiful things we have been lucky to see over the years. For more information take a look at CAT’s Special Promotional Offer on the Class Adventure Travel website. Hope you all like it; let me know what you think!

Bart

www.cat-travel.com

Save the Bahuaja Sonene National Park

An urgent appeal to all fellow travelers. It has recently come to my attention that the Peruvian Government and a number of large multinationals are planning to reduce the size of one of the country’s key national parks by 200, 000 hectares. If the proposed bill – soon to be deliberated by the Peruvian Congress – gets passed, concessions will be granted to a number of gas companies in the Bahuaja Sonene National Park. As surreal as such a plan may seem, pressure from large wayward conglomerates has led the Peruvian Government to make some very poor decisions in the past, and it is not inconceivable that such a bill could be passed.

Located in the South Eastern department of Madre de Dios, Bahuaja Sonene (sometimes called the Tambopata Candomo Park) has historically been off limits to everyone. It is perhaps one of the most biologically diverse areas on the planet, and is home to a number of endemic and endangered wildlife. The park is also home to an area of Amazonian savannah, the sole of its kind and unique to the area. Recently, members of an indigenous group, thought to be the Mascho Piro, were spotted living north of the park. This sighting makes the existence of indigenous groups living inside the secluded park extremely likely.

Not only it seems will this project endanger the extraordinary flora and fauna found in the reserve (much of which remains undiscovered), but it also seriously risks destroying an already endangered culture and threatening the health of members of indigenous groups who are still believed to be fatally susceptible to such maladies as the common cold.

200,000 hectares. I know it just seems like a figure, but let’s put it into perspective. Comparatively speaking, we’re talking about an area of land about the same size as Luxembourg, just a little smaller than Rhode Island. This isn’t just a few football fields – it is an enormous tract of untouched land. And not just any land either. We’re talking about what is probably the most biologically diverse environment on the planet – and in one fowl swoop, a group of backward greedy institutions would have this reduced by an area the size of a small country.

In a time when global warning is the most prevalent threat to the continued survival of us all, it seems that there are people out there determined to destroy this beautiful planet even further. The destruction of this beautiful park for financial gain – or any other gain for that matter – simply cannot be allowed. An appeal needs to be made to the Peruvian Government as soon as possible. They need to know just how atrocious and devastating this proposed bill will be, and they need to know the extent of the opposition towards it, so that when the bill gets deliberated, the right choices can be made. Currently there is petition online at http://www.salvemoscandamo.com/. I urge everyone to take a minute or two to sign this and get their voices heard. I would also encourage people to oppose the US-Peru Free Trade agreement which will give large US multinationals free reign to plunder the country’s many natural treasures. A petition against the agreement can be signed here - Democracy in Action. If anyone has any further information on this issue, and knows of ways which could help us unite against this bill being passed, please let us know.

Bart

http://www.cat-travel.com/

Jose Luis talks about Lake Titicaca

Hello to you all. In order to again attempt to try and diversify this blog I’ve decided to publish an entry written by CAT’s Marketing and Communications Officer Jose Luis Pastor. Jose Luis is our very own Peruvian man of mystery, and being a well accomplished travel enthusiast, we here at CAT are always eager to hear his latest take on South America’s numerous travel destinations. He recently traveled to Puno and Lake Titicaca, and – like so many others – came back raving about the place. He wrote the following piece about the area which I found to be fantastic. I hope you guys find it to be as useful and informative as I did.

– Bart!

Jose Luis talks about Lake Titicaca

On my last trip to Puno and Lake Titicaca the increase in quality and quantity of lake side accommodation impressed me – as well as how Puno’s ever-friendly people are doing such an incredible job in maintaining a level of sustainability whereby both culture and environment benefit from tourism. As you may know, Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world and is usually included in tour programs as a complement to Cusco and Machu Picchu; Puno and Titicaca however are much more than just that.

Steeped in legend, the lake is said to be the birthplace of the Inca – they say that the children of the Sun and Moon were sent out to found the empire from its waters. With a mysterious past, the area has its own mystic personality and appeal. And looking out over the majestically blue waters of the Lake you can feel it. Less than an hour from Puno in a comfortable boat, one arrives at the Floating Islands of Uros. A seemingly odd miracle of ancient invention, the Islands of Uros are in fact manmade – having been put together by tortora reeds in ages past. The ingenuity of the islanders never ceases to amaze me – they have their own schools, markets and even their own mayor. It is an extraordinary culture that flourishes on an absolute marvel of ancient engineering.

The Uros however, are just the entry way to the wildly diverse and beautiful universe that makes up Lake Titicaca and her culture. There is Taquile Island, which is filled with quaint island houses and cobble stone streets. There is the island of Amantani, where a local family took me in and where I got to wonder at Pre Incan temples dedicated to the earth’s fertility. And finally there is Suasi Island; an island shrouded in mythology and filled with friendly faces willing to tell you something about their ancient past. Everything about Titicaca is commendable and after traveling on its mysterious waters I am always comforted and awed by the beauty of Peru. Titicaca is fantastical and if you get the chance to go, I must recommend it.

- Jose Luis

Information on Lake Titicaca

If you’re traveling to Lake Titicaca – then the best time of the year to travel there is between May through to October when warm day time temperatures are coupled with mildly cold evenings. The seminal event on the region’s calendar is the Festival of the Virgin of Candelaria. Celebrated for 18 days in February, Puno transforms itself into the folklore capital of the country. On the main day of the festival, the Virgin is led through the city in a colorful procession that includes both Christian and pagan icons, while troupes of musicians and dancers take to the streets, performing and dancing throughout the city.

If traveling to the region it is highly recommendable that one spends an evening on either of the Islands of Suasi, Amantani, or Taquile. All are distinctive and unforgettable and make a trip to the area very well worth while. For more information on Puno and traveling to the deep blue waters of Lake Titicaca please visit - http://www.cat-travel.com/peru-tour-15-machu-pichu-cusco-titicaca.asp.

Until next time - take it easy and keep on traveling.

Bart
http://bart-cat-travel.blogspot.com
http://www.cat-travel.com

New Bridge to be Opened to Machu Picchu

Good day fellow travelers. As I am sure some of you already aware, a new bridge is about to be opened near the base of Machu Picchu. I thought I’d address this issue in my latest blog entry and ask what exactly it is this bridge will do for the region, what implications the bridge has for Peru’s most sacred site, and what can we do about it?

Sometime back I heard that the mayor (now former mayor) of Santa Teresa – a small town less than a stone’s throw away from Machu Picchu – was planning to have a bridge built crossing the Vilcanota River. This bridge will be inaugurated in February. As I began to wonder about the implications this bridge might have on Machu Picchu and tourism in the region, a storm of arguments arose in the international media regarding the issue. On the one hand people argue that the bridge has the potential of so over-crowding Machu Picchu with tourists that both the hallowed ruins and regional ecology will be destroyed; on the other hand people are arguing that the residents of Santa Teresa – long cut off from the rest of the world – deserve a bridge with which they can more easily reach Cusco and make a living. In Peru the dispute over the bridge is very heated, and so with this blog entry I thought I’d attempt to tackle the problem in order to hopefully shed more light on it for those of you who are interested.

Traditionally there has only been one way to reach Machu Picchu, that being by taking the train from Cusco to Aguas Calientes, the town closest to Machu Picchu. In reality there is another way – through Santa Teresa – but in order to get there one has to travel over a network of very nasty roads. The 20 or so hour drive from Cusco to Santa Teresa leads through jungle swamps and over cliff faces with drops so unimaginably high that sky diving aerialists would shudder in fear. This route has been the only road the residents of Santa Teresa have been able to use to take their produce to Cusco. One does however need to take into account the wider repercussions the bridge could have on the ruins, the region, and even the country as a whole.

The base concern presented against building the bridge is that it will bring in such an influx of tourists that both the ruins and ecology of the region could be badly damaged. Remember that one of the major sources of Peruvian income is tourism, and a that the major source of Peruvian tourism is Machu Picchu.

The price of crossing this bridge on a bus from Cusco is estimated to cost somewhere in the region of four US dollars. Anyone who has ever been to Machu Picchu will know how much of a price cut this is on the train ticket. The amount of people traveling to the ruins is estimated to shoot through the roof with figures this low. The development of a new tourist infrastructure needed to cope with such an influx of tourists in the area would of course also be hugely detrimental for the ecology of the surrounding area, as well as for the ruins themselves. And so understandably many environmentalists/cultural activists are calling for the bridge to be closed – perhaps even destroyed.

Machu Picchu currently receives over 4000 tourists a day, that’s just shy of 1,500 000 tourists a year. It is hardly a wonder that UNESCO is currently in the process of changing their classification of Machu Picchu to an Endangered World Heritage site. The UN group is in fact at the moment engaged in talks with the government that would have them drop the number of tourists permitted to enter the site from 4,000 to 2,500. If anything this shows how dire the problem already is. With the new bridge however, the number of visitors could likely so overly surpass the current levels of tourists visiting Machu Picchu that the ruins may quite likely disappear, making the many efforts that people have made towards their preservation futile.

Another argument against the construction of the bridge is that it provides a much shorter route for local Coca Farmers to transport both coca paste and cocaine to urban areas, from where it is transported and shipped overseas. Still, some people argue that a more accessible road to open up this region would hardly make the transport of drugs easier, but would more likely make it harder as police and military would be able to make their presence more felt in the area.

And so this is how it stands. On the one hand we have a national treasure that is under threat, and on the other we have a group of people who are effectively being denied the right to an easier way of life. It’s a tough argument and both sides have their points. I would of course choose to preserve Machu Picchu at all costs, but there’s also the real need of a community trying to develop itself in order to better the lifestyle of its people. So I guess a compromise between the two arguments would be the best result of this dilemma – a compromise I have heard a few people talking about already.

One feasible solution would be to open the bridge and disallow tourists the right to cross it. This would benefit both the people of Santa Teresa and the majestic ruins themselves. This approach would however also deny those who would be otherwise unable to afford getting to the ruins a chance to see them.

Obviously losing Machu Picchu is a nightmare Peru will never actually allow – the country relies too much upon it economically. What is worrying however, is how long it will take to put the effective wheels into place that will advert this tragedy. If it takes too long, how much of an impact will have already been made?

It is a complex situation with many differing arguments and points of view. Please take my points of view and opinions as they are – a means with which to more clearly envision the depth of what could be a difficult situation for Peruvians and travelers alike. For those interested in finding out more I suggest you look into the following websites:

• Convención - www.laconvencion.com (Spanish), an environmental group dedicated to cultural and ecological preservation
• Prom Peru -http://www.peru.info/perueng.asp, for news about tourism in Peru
• Peruvian Ministry of Tourism http://www.mincetur.gob.pe/index_f.asp?cont=1240602
• My own company’s tour to Machu Picchu - http://www.cat-travel.com/peru-tour-16-machu-pichu-cusco.asp

I hope that some of you may have found this helpful and interesting. If anyone out there has a point of view regarding the situation please feel free to post a comment and we can further discuss it.

To all you travelers out there – Keep on discovering!

Bart

www.cat-travel.com