The “Different Israels” Inside of Israel
Being from Israel is not easy… Everyone has heard something about Israel, and often it’s not the good things. It is probably one of the places that people have the most misconceptions about, prejudices and strong opinions even without knowing much. Lately, while travelling we started saying that we are from Canada when asked, it just seemed easier, simpler if you like. But the fact is that we were both born and raised in Israel and (still) have lived there for most of our lives, even though each time we visit we feel a bit more like tourists, and a bit less like locals. Don’t misunderstand me either, I’m the…
Amsterdam: “Every Day is a Critical Mass”
In my sweetest dreams I see a city where everyone cycles – everywhere. No matter if you’re old or young, on your way to work or to the pub – you ride. This is what I do in Vancouver, and so do many of my friends. But a recent brief visit to Amsterdam made me realize how far Vancouver, and most other North American cities, still have to go. A while ago, during one of the biggest June Critical Masses, where hundreds of cyclists take over the streets of Vancouver for one afternoon, we spoke to a group of cyclists from Holland who participated in a bike conference in Vancouver.…
A Mini-Guidebook to Cycle Touring in Central America
The Number One Question: Why? This is often the first question we are asked, and perhaps the most difficult to answer. Why do we cycle tour? Why travel at all? Lots of books and articles have been written listing reasons to travel. The truth is that there are many reasons, but no particular reason at all is necessary. In other words, go out and explore the world, even if you don’t have a good “reason”. You are guaranteed to be rewarded, at least if you take your time, live in the moment, and keep an open mind and attitude. Why travel to Central America? It’s an unbelievably dense region both…
Cycling + Sex Hotels = Big Bang
Lately we developed a serious obsession with one of the most successful TV shows of all times, “The Big Bang Theory”. When people ask me how did we start watching the program, as it is well known that we don’t have a TV, I reply: “Oh, we became addicted to it while cycling in Central America”. Most people raise their eyebrows and say: “How did that happen?!” As I find getting hooked on a TV show while cycle touring quite surprising myself, I decided to ‘unravel the mystery’, and tell the true story of how cycling and sex hotels created a Big Bang. While cycle touring you very often find yourself…
Living the Moment in Central America (Video)
For five months Gili and I rode our bikes around Central America on a journey from Panama to Belize and all the countries in between. Not taking the direct route allowed us to explore, connect with people, take our time and truly live in the moment… I couldn’t think of a better song than U2’s “Stuck in a Moment” to describe the feeling that I had while riding in the heat and in the hills, not thinking about anything except from the moment I was “stuck in”, in a good way 🙂
Belize: Small Country, Big Attractions
Bang! The boat jumped into the air and crashed hard again. The ocean was rough, the waves were huge and we were going at full speed. We had arrived to Puerto Barrios, Guatemala that afternoon after a pleasant ride from Honduras and were surprised to discover that we could still catch a boat to Belize that day. We left late and the captain was in a hurry. As we were leaving it started raining hard and we were given black plastic bags to cover ourselves. When the rain stopped I peeked out and saw the most beautiful double rainbow, and I thought that maybe I died and arrived to heaven,…
Honduras (Part 2): A Five Star Country
In the end, we barely cycled in Honduras, this time around, despite spending three weeks of our cycling trip there. The first hurdle was that I got dengue fever in Copan, soon after leaving Guatemala. The blood test was a bit of a scare, when my blood just wouldn’t come out, and eventually a thick black liquid was drawn. The other hurdles, a short volunteering stint and a scuba diving vacation, were planned by us, so I can’t exactly complain. We usually find it extremely tiring to spend a day exploring ruins, but the Maya ruins of Copan were on our route, so we made an exception. We arrived early,…
Guatemala: or Should I Say Guatemaya
It all started with a long and steep uphill, after an easy descent from El Salvador. I could hear Maya muttering under her breath: “I hate Guatemala”. After all, no other country we have visited on this trip dared to serve us roads with grades of up to 20%. We often found ourselves pushing our bikes uphill, and in some cases downhill. On one occasion I could smell our brake pads roasting, and got a small burn from passing my finger too close to the disc. Several times in Guatemala we exclaimed: “we’ve arrived to a different country”. After the intense uphills of the mountainous highlands, arriving to the flat…
El Salvador: A Country Off the Beaten Track
I never thought I would spend a night at a police station. But life has a tendency to surprise you, especially on cycling trips, when in the morning you never know where you will spend the night. Sometimes you end up in a beautiful garden surrounded by mango trees, sometimes in a sex hotel and sometimes in a police station. We crossed the border from Honduras at El Amatillo, entering an extremely poor area of El Salvador. We passed through desert like scenery with not much on the side of the road. There were no towns with accommodation in sight, so when we passed a small village we asked some…
Honduras (Part 1): Border to Border in Less Than 48 Hours
It’s impossible to capture a country in only two days, and what we’ve seen from Honduras is only a corner, the tip of the iceberg. Although speaking of ice in Honduras does not describe our experience in the country. Our experience was a hot one. We crossed the border from Nicaragua through the surprisingly quiet border at El Espino. We had spent that day in the Canyon de Somoto, still on the Nicaraguan side. We arrived to the border in the late afternoon tired and sweaty after a long climb. A Canadian couple crossed on foot just after us. While they waited for the bus from the border, we cycled…
