Chronicles of On The Road Travel

Fiesta in Antigua, Guatemala

Although La Antigua’s official holiday in honor of the city’s Patron Saint Santiago is actually on July 25th, the festivities take place throughout the month. Pop Concerts, beauty pageants, Marimba and the famous “Gigantes” processions will all take place Saturdays and Sundays at the Central Park. The Gigantes procession, unlike the Holy week processions, is upbeat and the giants dance to the sounds of the marimba band following them in a truck.

Another interesting attraction is the town fair located behind the market, where you will find everything from bingo games to an “I’ve-seen-better-days” Ferris wheel. Although riding the aforementioned wheel is not one of OTR’s recommended activities, the fair does offer a great chance to see Guatemala’s pop-culture in a less tourist oriented setting. Visiting the fair can be an intense experience for the senses with loud music, the smell of fried chicken and cotton candy and a million pulsating neon lights decorating the various rides and food stands, and as with all crowded places you should watch your belongings while there.

For more events in Antigua, check our Calendar of Events. You can ask for a detailed list of events at the “Municipalidad” at the Central Park. Find out more by reading our full article on the Fiesta de Santiago.

This article was posted by Yvonne Fass, our editor in Antigua.

Travel Advice & Recommendations From Local Experts

Snow in Buenos Aires!

A once in a life-time occurrence happened it Buenos Aires yesterday: it snowed. The last time it snowed here, was 89 years ago on June 22, 1918. While the city's shirts may been wringing their hands about freezing cold temperatures in the midst of an energy crisis here, a festive spirit spread across the city. Young people gathered at the Obelisco, snow ball fights broke out in every park and young Joanna of San
Telmo, who had never seen snow before, built her first snowman."

Photo and post by Ande Wanderer, OTR's editor in Buenos Aires.

Travel Advice & Recommendations From Local Experts

Live Earth in Rio de Janeiro Carries on

It almost didn't take place, but at the last minute a local judge gave the green light and an estimated 400,000 people made their way down to Copacabana Beach to enjoy the free entertainment. The concert started ahead of schedule (an unusual occurance in Brazil) with an unexpected opener from Brazilian pop singer Guilderme  Arantes who sang an appropriately named 'Planeta Agua'. The act was followed by a variety of other performances including Macy Gray and Samba legend Jorge Ben Jor. The event was closed by Lenny Kravitz who piped in with a few words in Portuguese. Here is a video of his performance of 'Let Love Rule' at the concert. For more footage of the concert check out the Live Earth website. For information about other events in Rio de Janeiro, including the upcoming Pan-American games, check our Calendar of Events.

Travel Recommendations & Advice From Local Experts

And The Winners Are...

The results of the New 7 Wonders were announced on Saturday. For better or worse the winning sites are:

Machu Picchu, Peru
Christ Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro
The Great Wall of China
Chichén Itzá, Mexico
Petra, Jordan
The Colloseum in Rome
The Taj Mahal, India

Although I'm happy to see Latin American sites getting this international recognition, it is also a bit worrying. Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail have already suffered considerably from uncontrolled tourism. Although the Peruvian government has put regulations in place which have helped to protect this outstanding souvenir of the Inca Empire, the mobs of tourists who descend on the ruins each day have lessened the site's appeal. Each traveler on the Inca Trail is required to have a permit (and be escorted by a registered tour guide). At the moment the permits are sold out almost through the end of the year. If you were planning to make the trek in the near future, fear not - there are plenty of wonderful alternative treks in the area. For those planning a bit further in advance, Enigma Tours is a reliable local operator offering a variety of options both on and off the Inca Trail. Enigma is a well-run establishment that has carefully selected and trained a group of people, all originally from Cusco, Lima and Arequipa, to be the best guides, chefs, porters and office staff.

Travel Advice & Recommendations From Local Experts

Live Earth in Rio de Janeiro is Back On

It has been touch and go for the past few days, but the Live Earth organization announced yesterday that Rio de Janeiro's concert will go on as planned.

The 7/7/07 Concert for a Climate in Crisis (to raise awareness of climate change) is taking place in 8 cities worldwide (New York, London, Johannesburg, Rio de Janeiro, Shanghai, Tokyo, Sydney and Hamburg). Rio is the only one where no admission is charged. The line-up includes Lenny Kravitz, Pharrell Williams, Macy Gray, Xuxa, Jorge Ben Jor, Jota Quest (Brazilian rock), Vanessa da Matta, O Rappa (hip-hop), MV Bill (rap/hip-hop) and Marcelo D2 (samba/hip-hop).

Earlier this week the concert had been cancelled due to concerns that there was not enough local security on hand for the event. The city has been overwhelmed with the preparations for the upcoming Pan-American games. However, the local authorities have reviewed the situation and the event will go on as planned.

For details about this and other events taking place in Rio de Janeiro, check our Calendar of Events.

The 07/07 Phenomenon

For those of you who won't be traveling to a wedding on this, the most popular wedding weekend ever (07/07/07), or one of Las Vegas' luckiest weekends, here's a fun read describing a 07/07 phenomenon of a different sort.. turns out the 7-7 travel game is quite popular amongst the young travel crowd: seven continents, seven encounters. Yes, that's right, travelers strive to hook up with one person from each of the seven continents. The author's conclusion provides a good Friday Funny:

7-7 is a lofty goal and it is not to be taken lightly. It requires a lot of time and a lot of effort, even occasionally, a lot of money - I see nothing wrong with wining and dining your way into one more continent if that’s what it takes.

But I for one, feel that it’s important to have goals in life and surely none can be more fun to attain than this!

Travel Advice & Recommendations From Local Experts

Shopping in Buenos Aires

When people ask about Buenos Aires, one of the first questions I usually get is 'how's the shopping?'. True, there are many other, more cultural aspects to Argentina's capital city, but Buenos Aires is increasingly becoming known for its high quality internationally renowned designers – whether it is fashion or home décor -- whose creations can be obtained at reasonable prices. Watch for names like Pablo Ramirez, Nadine Zlotogora and Fabian Zitta. Buenos Aires is a shoppers haven providing something for everyone.

The LA Times recently ran an article detailing one author's joys of shopping in Buenos Aires. The self-proclaimed 'reluctant shopper' gets swept up by the bargains created through Argentina's low currency, and the stylish attire worn by porteños (inhabitants of Buenos Aires) who frequent the city's trendy night scene.

Be sure to check out our own guide to shopping in Buenos Aires, including recommendations for our favorite boutiques.

Travel Advice & Recommendations From Local Experts

New 7 Wonders - Last Chance to Vote

This is your last chance to vote for the New 7 Wonders of the World - which will be announced on Saturday 07/07/07. Although the contest is clearly marketing at its best (or worst), 50% of the net revenue raised by the project is to be used to fund restoration efforts worldwide. Unfortunately it is the publicity from events like this that drive hoards of tourist traffic to 'manmade heritage' sites such as Machu Picchu and Angkor Wat - both examples of sites that have suffered from a high traffic to maintenance ratio.

Saturday will mark the culminating point of a project that began back in 2001 - pioneered by Swiss adventurer Bernard Weber. By 2005 the N7W panel had narrowed the list of nominees from 77 to 21, and will now be narrowed to 7, not including the Pyramids of Giza, the only remaining Wonder from the original list, which has been awarded an honourary nomination.

Although you can only vote once online, you can pay $2 to vote as many times as you like (paying each time) and receiving a certificate, or by sending a $1 text message. I suppose it is a good way to raise more money (in addition to the t-shirts and various paraphernalia that you can buy) for the cause, but i'll be interested to see how much 'net revenue' is left after the adventurers travel costs have been covered!

Either way, I felt obliged to cast my vote in support of my favorite sites: Peru's Machu Picchu,  Rio  de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer statue, and Cambodia's Angkor Wat.

Travel Advice & Recommendations From Local Experts

The Best Airfare Websites

Bob Cowen at Internet Travel Tips just released the results of his comparison study of airfare websites. The study included Expedia, ITASoftware, Kayak, Orbitz, SideStep, Southwest and Travelocity, qualifying them by the speed and ease of which they display the best prices and fligths.

Kayak was the winner with the best user-interfaced for quickly finding the lowest price and the most convenience. However, the site does suggest using Kayak to locate the best price and then going directly to the airline's own website to avoid ticketing fees and additional schedule change costs.

             

Another site worth pointing out is Vayama - a new one that I came across recently. Although it has a nice interface (if a little bit slow), what I like most about it is that it aggregates the smaller, international airlines that you might not even know existed. I haven't used it yet, so can't comment on its efficiency, but thought it was worth pointing out for those planning international travel.

Travel Advice & Recommendations From Local Experts