Archive for the 'Latin America & Caribbean' Category
Travel to Mayan ruins in Copan, Honduras: a twist on your average hotel deal
October 28, 2009 5:52am
With all the travel deals around these days, a traveler can be picky. If you’re like me, it’s easy to pass on deal after deal with the thinking that there’s got to be something better down the line. Now, better might mean more luxurious for the price of $100, or it might mean a more exotic destination like Honduras. That’s why when I found that hotels in Copán Ruinas were discounting room rates up to 50% during their high season this winter, I got excited at the idea of a holiday in western Honduras in a village known for its tranquility and rich Mayan history.
Deals: There really are accommodations to fit any budget. Backpackers looking for hostels and guesthouse properties can find rooms ranging from $5 per night (En La Manzana Verde) and $16 per night, double or triple occupancy (La Posada de Belssy). If you are prepared to spend more, try a bed and breakfast inn with a view of the Copan River Valley for $50 per night, double occupancy (La Casa de Cafe), or a boutique hotel with Wi-Fi and fresh local coffee for $65 per night, double occupancy (Yat B’alam Boutique Hotel). I also liked the looks of the Spanish colonial-style inn La Casa Rosada ($87 per night, double occupancy) and the well-regarded Hacienda San Lucas, starting at $125 per night.
Normal waits reported at San Ysidro after Mexico border checkpoint reopens after shooting
September 23, 2009 10:02am
If you’re driving to or from Mexico today through the San Ysidro Port of Entry near San Diego, you can expect the usual waits of 45 minutes to an hour, not the hours of backups that plagued the checkpoint last night after a shooting incident, officials said this morning.
After the shootout involving U.S. agents and a convoy of suspected smugglers Tuesday afternoon that injured several people, all 24 northbound lanes were shut, said Angelica De Cima, spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in San Diego. At 8 p.m., half the lanes were reopened, and at 4 a.m. today, the rest were reopened. Southbound lanes were not affected by the closures, she added.
As of 9 a.m. today, Customs and Border Protection was reporting 45-minute delays for passenger vehicles at San Ysidro, after posting hourlong delays earlier this morning, which is pretty normal there, the spokeswoman said. The agency regularly posts and updates a chart showing wait times for commercial and passenger vehicles and pedestrians at various checkpoints.
—Jane Engle, assistant Los Angeles Times Travel editor
Photo: A federal agent with a security dog watches vehicles waiting to enter the U.S. on Tuesday at the San Ysidro border crossing near San Diego. Credit: Lenny Ignelzi / Associated Press
Top 10 snorkeling spots: Catalina, Hawaii and more
September 22, 2009 8:56am
Grab your goggles and flippers and head for Lover’s Cove on California’s Catalina Island, which rates among the top 10 places to snorkel in a list compiled by Coastal Living Magazine. Papalaua Wayside Park on Maui, Hawaii, was another entry on the magazine’s list in the July-August issue.
The snorkeling spots, compiled by underwater photographer Tanya Burnett-Palmer, are all in the U.S., Central America and Caribbean. The complete list includes Dean’s Blue Hole, Long Island, Bahamas; Buck Island, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands; Crystal River, Fla.; Rockhouse, Negril, Jamaica; Pigeon Cay, Honduras; Stingray City, Grand Cayman Island; Hol Chan Marine Reserve, Belize; and Bimini Islands, the Bahamas.
The article says Catalina’s Lover’s Cove is a “protected area [that] sports kelp forest, rock reef, and a menagerie of cool-water inhabitants. Guides and operators can help you in by boat, or try heading out on your own from the Pebbly Beach access stairs; just don’t forget your flag marker.”
—Rosemary McClure, Special to the Los Angeles Times
Photo: Dean’s Blue Hole in the Bahamas is prized for its snorkeling. Credit: Bahamas Ministry of Tourism
Bound for Brazil? Beware of visa delays
September 16, 2009 3:54pm
A drastic slowdown in Brazil’s visa processing is threatening the plans of travelers who live in California and neighboring states.
“It’s a crisis,” said Julio Victor do Espirito Santo, Brazil’s deputy consul general in Los Angeles. “We are trying everything to improve it.”
The problem, Victor said, is a new processing system adopted on orders from officials in Brazil’s capital, Brasilia. At current staffing levels, Victor said, the Los Angeles consulate can’t keep pace with the rate of applications.
“I don’t know what Brazil’s thinking,” said a spokeswoman at Adams Passports and Visas in Burbank. “We have had to turn away so many clients because we’re not able to get them a visa.”
Cruise ships shift course to avoid Hurricane Jimena in Baja California, Mexico
August 31, 2009 5:42pm
At least four cruise ships sailing out of Southern California are making last-minute itinerary changes to avoid powerful Hurricane Jimena, which today, Aug. 31, is heading toward Baja California, a resort-studded peninsula in Mexico. Although Jimena’s course is unpredictable, landfall could occur by Tuesday, forecasters said.
In Cabo San Lucas, part of the area under a hurricane warning, workers this afternoon nailed sheets of plywood to storefront windows in the marina, and hotels and restaurants cleared away umbrellas, chairs and other outdoor furniture, the Associated Press reported. Jimena has been classified as a Category 4 hurricane.
Among the ships being rerouted:
Carnival Elation, which left San Diego on Aug. 29 for a five-day cruise, will call on California’s Santa Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico, rather than Cabo San Lucas.
Mexico travel alert from U.S. State Department
August 21, 2009 12:16pm
Citing rising violence, the U.S. State Department’s latest Mexico alert urges travelers to delay trips to parts of Michoacan and Chihuahua states.
The alert, issued Thursday, advises U.S. citizens to delay unnecessary travel to those areas and to exercise “extreme caution” if a visit is necessary.
The alert notes the abduction and killing of two resident U.S. citizens in Chihuahua in July. It gives no details from Michoacan (which includes the city of Morelia and the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, which draws many visitors), and a spokesman said he was not immediately able to supply more than was in the posted alert.
Discovery Channel offers adventure trips inspired by shows
August 19, 2009 10:55am
If you’re hooked on the Discovery Channel, you might enjoy the network’s new venture into reality travel for viewers: Discovery Adventures.
The travel site offers soft-adventure-style trips to 18 domestic and international destinations that will “immerse viewers in the diversity of cultures as seen every day on Discovery Channel,” said Elizabeth Bakacs, a spokesman at Discovery Channel. Travelers will be able to explore regions featured on programs such as “Man vs. Wild” (Costa Rica, Mexico, Alaska), “Out of Egypt” and “Discovery Atlas” (China).
“Each tour is developed to include off-the-beaten-path experiences and deeper exploration into the history and traditions of each destination, delivering a non-traditional tourist vacation,” said Bakacs.
Trip lengths are from three to 24 days, with prices starting at $499 per person, excluding airfare.
— Rosemary McClure, Special to the Los Angeles Times
Photo: The ancient Inca ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru are featured on some of the new Discovery Adventure trips. Credit: Courtesy of Discovery Adventures
Gay & lesbian travel: A carbon-neutral, voluntouristic Caribbean cruise
August 15, 2009 12:00pm
Does guilt ever stop you from booking a cruise? After all, the cruising industry has long had a reputation as a big bad wolf of the eco-world. Then there’s the fact that your week, or weekend, or however long you’ll spend aboard, will be spent in purely self-serving recreation — nary a finger lifted for anyone but buffet-food-grabbing, cocktail-carting you.
That’s just too much indulgence for some of you to handle.
Enter lesbian-travel company Sweet, which is offering a seven-day western Caribbean cruise on the Norwegian Spirit, departing New Orleans on Nov. 8. The trip is designed to help even the environmentally conscious do-gooders among you feel absolutely fine about hitting the high seas.
First, the company is billing itself as “carbon-neutral,” planning to offset the voyage with the help of partner Carbonfund.org. The beneficiary of the company’s offsetting practices is a project that aids in reforesting part of a river area in Louisiana that was strip-farmed for cotton, according to Sweet’s website. Read the rest of this entry »
Galapagos Island wildlife threatened by traveling mosquitoes
August 12, 2009 5:26pm
In preparing for trips to Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands, we tourists may cart in with us more than we mean to. Disease-carrying mosquitoes, which may have devastating effects on the islands’ unique wildlife, have been increasingly found on airplanes and boats to the destination. And these little guys, called southern house mosquitoes, are island hoppers.
Why should we be concerned? Scientists are afraid that their spread “could have the same devastating effect in the Galapagos as in Hawaii during the late 19th century, when disease wiped out many indigenous birds,” reported Reuters. “The mosquito was first spotted in the Galapagos in the mid-1980s, but its presence then was considered a one-off.”
Research has shown that once the mosquitoes reach the islands, they can breed and island hop, and, with more and more boats and planes making their way to the popular tourist destination, this is a real worry. Read the rest of this entry »
Pleasant Holidays offers cancel-for-any-reason coverage
August 6, 2009 10:26am
Pleasant Holidays, the giant package-tour operator based in Westlake Village, this week began offering cancel-for-any-reason coverage to customers who book its trips to Hawaii, Mexico, the Caribbean and Costa Rica.
Unlike its regular Protection Plan, which refunds trip deposits if you cancel for reasons such as illness, death or job loss, the new Cancel Anytime Protection Plan Plus covers you for virtually any unforeseen cause, said Jack E. Richards, president and chief executive.
The downsides: Cancel Anytime Protection costs more (starting at $119 instead of $89 per adult) and reimburses you for only 80% instead of 100% for many of the covered causes. And of course, as with all such plans, there’s plenty of fine print.
For plan details, visit Pleasant Holidays’ website, call (800) 448-3333 or contact your travel agent.
— Jane Engle, assistant Los Angeles Times Travel editor
Photo: Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve in Hawaii. Credit: Annie Wells / Los Angeles Times
